proclaimed her and the Prince who was at that time also in France Enemies to the Kingdom banish'd them and their Adherents and strongly guarded the Seas with three Fleets to intercept their passage The Queen by the help of Foreign Friends got together a considerable Army and landed near Harwich and was presently reinforced by the conjunction of the Earl Marshal the Earl of Lancaster the Earl of Leicester and many other Lords and Bishops The King was astonish'd at the News being utterly irresolute what course to take He had no Counsellors about him but the Spencers London was not to be trusted his Army was wavering the people from all Counties flocking in to the Queen In this perplexity he secretly withdraws from the Court attended by the two Spencers and a very few others and being disappointed of his Retreat to the Isle of Lundy He hides himself in the Abby of Nethe where within a short time he was taken his Followers all apprehended and the two Spencers publickly and ignominiously executed and himself committed to the custody of the Earl of Leicester After Christmas a Parliament was call'd wherein it was agreed to Depose the King and set up his Son who refusing to take the Crown unless his Father would freely resign it the poor King as tamely surrender'd the Scepter as he had before unworthily weilded it and having formally renounced and abdicated the Government and the Speaker of the Parliament renounced all Allegiance to him in the Name of the whole Kingdom he was taken from the Earl of Leicester from whom his Enemies thought he had too kind usage and being hurried from place to place and wearied with all manner of severity and indignity wasted by starving tormented by noisome stinks and attempted by Poyson he was at last barbarously and inhumanely stifled to death between two Pillows The Murder being disavow'd by the Queen the Executioners of it fled and died miserably THE LIFE and REIGN OF RICHARD the Second IF Magnanimity Valour Piety Gentleness Liberty and other Heroick and Princely Qualities were communicable by Generation if vertue could be intayl'd If the gifts of the mind descended by Inheritance or were demisable hy Will or inseparably annex'd to the Body no man could ever have a juster Pretension to Glory and Fame than Richard the Second the only Son of that incomparable Hero Edward the black Prince and grand Son of that most illustrious and victorious Edward the Third But Children do not always resemble the Features of the Father to the great shame and scandal of the Mother Wit and Vigor are seated in the Brain and Children are not begotten by the Head. Richard was a Child at the death of his Father and never acted like a man during his own Life A Crown was too heavy a Load for his tender Brows and the Reflection of its Brightness daizled his Eyes The Transactions of State during his Minority are not to be the Subject of my Recital since the Event of all Affairs that were prosperous is to be imputed to the Conduct of his Guardians and where any Accidents interrupted his Prosperity it ought not to be attributed to his misfortune I shall therefore pass over such Occurrences as are recounted by Historians during his pupillage and begin my Remarks at that Period when he assumed the Regal Government And first he deposed the Lord Scroop from his Chancellor-Ship because he refused to seal some extravagant grants made by the King and receiving the Seal from his Hands he kept it for a certain Time and with it seal'd such Grants and Writings as he thought fit at his own absolute will and pleasure His Army sent against France commanded by the Bishop of Norwich was not very prosperous but laying Seige to Ypres as they past through Flanders were forced by the Power of a French Army coming to their Relief to raise the Seige and retreat And tho the Bishop advised the King to lay hold on that Opportunity to try the Fortune of a Battle with the French and he pretended over Night to be in a mighty hast and Eagerness to ingage in that enterprise yet in the Morning the Humor was off and consulting his own ease and safety he appointed the Duke of Lancaster to go on that Inployment who spinning out the Time with dilatory Preparations till the Bishop was return'd the Project was disappointed the undertaking came to Nothing and the Dispute was ended in a short lived Truce Neither did the Expedition into Scotland tend to the Honour of the King or Advantage of the Kingdom for the Scots having made Incursions into England taken and burnt divers Towns upon the Borders and enriched themselves by a general depredation of the Country The Duke of Lancaster with the Earl of Buckingham was dispatcht with a mighty Army to repress them but having entred Scotland and not being able by any Art or Stratagem to provoke the Scots to Battel they returned without obtaining any further Satisfaction then a suitable Revenge in burning and destroying many Towns there And tho a truce was made with the Scots yet without any Regard to the Stipulation they again entred the Borders and took Berwick But now the unfortunate King began to form Plots against his own honour and Quiet for being incensed against the Duke of Lancaster whether upon real or upon imaginary Provocations a design was laid to have that great man Arrested and arraign'd of Treason before Sir Robert Tresilian chief Justice tho by the Law of the Land his Tryal ought to have been by his Peers and it is easie to imagin what would have been the Issue of such irregular Proceedings but the Duke having timely intimation of the mischief and contrivance against him withdrew himself opportunely to his Castle of Pomfret where he stood upon his guard till by the laborious travel and powerful intercession of the Kings Mother tho by reason of her Corpulency she was most un-fit for such an Imployment the King was pacified and reconciled to the Duke The Scots still meditating Revenge and the French King still ready to foment the quarrel prepared for a fresh Invasion of England and receiving auxiliary Ayds of great Number and strength from the French once more entred the English Borders King Richard receiving Advertisement of it with great Speed rais'd a mighty Army and marching in Person at the Head of them entered Scotland burnt Edingburgh proceeding without Control but could by no means draw the Scots to Battle they in the mean Time to divert the Kings progress made a descent into Cumberland and Besieged Carlisle to the relief of which the King approaching with so formidable an Army obliged the Scots to retreat into their own Country and upon their Recess the King returned into England bringing with him neither Honour nor Advantage by so fruitless an Expedition After these things and some other passages not so directly appertaining to the History of his Life King Richard began to hasten his own
having got matter enough against the King at least to justifie their taking up Armes march'd directly to London with forty thousand men and some of them going to the King in the Tower they shew'd him the very Letter which he had writ to the Duke of Ireland to levy an Army for their destruction as also the Letters writ to him by the French King importing a safe Conduct for him to come into France there to do Acts tending to his own dishonour and the prejudice of the Kingdom which being done they civilly retreated upon the Kings promise to come next day to Westminster to concert all matters but the fickle King alter'd his mind before he went to Bed and discover'd his purpose to avoid the meeting next day The Lords being advertis'd of this sent a peremptory message to him That if he did not come according to his promise they would choose another King that should hearken to the faithful Counsel of his Lords The King sensibly touch'd with this sharp message gave them a meeting and they positively insisting that the Traytors so often complain'd of should be removed from the Court he at last with much reluctancy consented to their Desires and so the whole Nest of Vipers was dissipated some expell'd the Court some bound by good Sureties to appear and answer and some committed to Prison When the Parliament met they proceeded roundly the corrupt Judges were arrested in their Seats of Judicature and carried to the Tower for acting contrary to the Agreement made in the preceding Parliament the Duke of Ireland and the rest of that Crew cited to appear and answer to certain Articles of High Treason and for non-appearance banish'd and their Lands and Goods seized to the Kings use Sir Robert Tresilian was hang'd Sir Nicholas Brember beheaded several others executed and the Judges condemned to die and the King obliged by Oath to stand to such order as the Lords should set down Some years after upon a Riot committed in London the King seised on their Liberties and took away their Charter which could not be restored till they paid a Fine of ten thousand pounds I intend a compendious Abstract and not a compleat History therefore I studiously omit the recital of many Transactions and Occurrences coincident with this relation as not having a direct and principal concernment in the Estate and Life of King Richard. Unstable Fortune had the Ascendent over all the Affairs of the poor King and the course of his Reign was imbroiled with a strange Vicissitude of prosperous and adverse Accidents The Duke of Gloucester and other Lords entring into a combination to seise upon the King the Plot was detected and their lives taken away for the assurance of his safety A Parliament was call'd wholly conformable to the Kings will they that opposed him were banish'd confiscated and executed and the whole power of it devolved on a certain select number of Commissioners to the great prejudice of the State and a dangerous example to future Times a Pardon was granted to all the Subjects except fifty whose Names not being expressed he kept the Nobility under an awe that if any of them offended him they might come under the notion of exempted persons and thus the King seem'd secure against all mischances But an unforeseen Accident grounded on a very slight occasion produced an extraordinà ry Revolution by which the whole frame of Government was unhinged and that Cloud which at first appear'd but of the bigness of a hand soon overspread the sky and dissolved in a tempestuous shower of Blood. The Duke of Hereford was banish'd the Kingdom for six years and several Persons of Note and Quality either by voluntary withdrawing or a compulsory Exile went beyond the Seas The Duke within a short time was advertis'd that his Father was dead and thereby he became Duke of Lancaster and that King Richard had seised into his hands all the Estate descended to him by his Fathers death And meeting often with the Archbishop of Canterbury then in Exile and mutually lamenting the deplorable condition of England the enormous actions of the King and the Impossibllity of ever reclaiming him they began to enter into Consulation by what means best to get him removed and in the very Nick Solicitations came from several Parts of England to urge the Duke to hasten over and to take the Government upon him promising all ready Assistance to that work The Duke presently grasp'd the Opportunity and without further Deliberation prepared for his Return and with a very few Lords and Gentlemen and about threescore Persons presently put to Sea and landed in York-shire which was no sooner known but several Lords and great Numbers of the Gentry and Common sort flockt into him And tho he was invited to come and take the Government upon him yet he pretended no other cause but to take Possession of the Inheritance descended from his Father and most unjustly seized and detain'd by King Richard. His Forces increased dayly and a mighty Army was got together and all the Kings Castles forthwith surrendred to him many of the Kings Friends were Arrested and some put to death All this while King Richard was in Ireland and for six weeks by reason of contrary Winds had no Notice of the Dukes Landing After which time wasting many daies in a dilatory Preparation he landed in Wales but hearing that all the Castles from the Borders of Scotland and Bristol were delivered up to the Duke of Lancaster that the greatest Part of the Nobility and Commons were joynd with him and his principal Counsellors taken and executed he fell into absolute Despair dismissed his Army bidding every one to shift for himself and the next Night stole away and got to the Castle of Couwey The Duke proceeded on his March and every day some Lords and Gentlemen of account came in to him and having proferred Conditions to the King with which he seem'd to be content he agreed to meet the Duke but upon his Journy was seis'd by an Ambush laid for him and carried to Flint-Castle Thither the Duke came and carri'd the King with him by easie Journeys to London and the next Day lodged him in the Tower. Presently a Parliament was called by the Duke but in the Name of King Richard aad many heynous Crimes laid to his Charge ingrost and sum'd up in three and thirty Articles for which the Parliament adjudg'd him to be deposed from all Kingly Honour and Princely Government thereupon the King by a formal Instrument made a Solemn Resignation of his Crown and Authority making it his Request that the Duke of Lancaster might be his Successor and in token thereof taking the signet from his Finger and puting it upon that of the Dukes Which being reported to the Parliament they approved of it and appointed the Sentence of his Deposition to be publickly proclamed We have followed this most unfortunate Prince to the last Scene of his Life but the manner
have no warrant to make any Asseveration Let the future Writers of History adjust that matter to the clear information of Posterity All I have to say is the News of his Death was published before there was any Report of his Sickness He died of an Apoplexy the Sixth of February 1684 and the whole Body whereof he was the Head was presently seised with convulsive Motions THE REIGN OF JAMES the Second THE Reign of James the Second was so lately begun and by the mercy of God so soon determin'd that every mans Remembrance of it may justly supersede the Trouble of a Repetition There needs no Art nor Arguments to convince the World that he was more unfortunate than all his Predecessors and every impartial Observer will allow that he was the principal Engineer that sapped the Foundations of his own Happiness If he had arrived at the Throne by an indirect Road If he had gain'd it by Conquest and ow'd his Title to the Umpirage of the Sword If he had come in by Intrusion Invasion or Usurpation by Craft or Violence by Force of Arms or the prevalency of Pensions If he had justled out the true Heir or supplanted the lawful Pretender or out-stript his Competitor by the aid of the people or over-topt his Opposers by the Assistance of Foreigners It had been no wonder that the Crown had totter'd on his Head that his Seat had been uneasie and his Government Short lived But when his Title was not disputed when he was saluted King by an Universal Acclamation welcom'd by the Addresses and congratulations of all his Subjects his Revenues settled and augmented his Enemies subdued and his Throne establish'd by a Loyal Parliament and a submissive people his Ruin must necessarily be imputed to himself and all his misfortunes undeniably accounted the Result of his own miscarriage So that while the Histories of all Ages and Nations do abound with Examples of the Strange Cruel False and unnatural Methods used by ambitious men to gain principalities King James must remain single upon Record as the only Person that willfully and industriously dethron'd himself We read of aspiring men who have dissembled changed and comply'd with the fashionable Religion of the Country to insure their possession But it is without president that a Prince quietly settled in his Throne courted by his Neighbours Obey'd by his Subjects without reserve or distrust not grudged nor affronted in the private Exercises of his own perswasion should be so intoxicated by the Fumes of Zeal to attempt the subversion of the general Religion current thro Three Kingdoms establish'd by Parliament and incorporated so into the Laws that the Religion of the Nation is the Law of the Nation and to obtrude upon his Subjects a way of Worship as dissonant from their Humour as repugnant to their Conscience a way exploded by the former Age and detested by this and so forseit his Right to the Imperial Crown of Three opulent Kingdoms upon a fallacious assurance of a Reprisal in Heaven is such a stupendious Act of supererogation as may serve to supply half the Roman Catholick Church with a superfluity of Merit On the Sixth day of February 1684 Charles the Second put off mortality and by his Death revived the Languishing Hopes of the Popish Expectants He departed about Noon and in that very Afternoon James the Second was proclaim'd in London and Westminster by Order of the Council To convince the World that howsoever the Parliament labour'd to Exclude him from Succession by political Ordinances and by a Course of Law yet that Design not being accomplish'd they would not so much as hesitate or demur upon the right of his Inheritance He on the other side saluted them graciously promised to imitate his Brother in his Tenderness to the people Celebrated the Loyal principles of the Church of England and past his Royal Word to take care to defend and support it The Collection of the Customs and the Duties of Tunnage and Poundage which were annexed to the Crown during the Kings Life were continued de bene esse till the Meeting of a Parliament All Men were Quiet and Contented and he was Congratulated with Addresses from all parts of England testifying a ready Obedience to his Commands and devoting their Lives and Fortunes to the defence of his person and the maintenance of his prerogative His Accession to the Crown was Solemnised with great Acclamations of Joy thro' the Kingdoms of England Scotland and Ireland Ambasladours from Foreign Princes and States arrived daily presenting their Complements of Condolence for the deceased King and their satisfaction in his Assumption of the Regal power On the Twenty third of April the King and Queen were both Crown'd and at his Coronation he took the accustom'd Oaths to maintain the Laws and the establish'd Religion No King ever Ascended the Throne with less Opposition Disputes or preluminary Cautions none was ever attended with more apparent circumstances of Felicity or had a fairer prospect of becoming Glorious at home and formidable abroad The Parliament of Scotland having prevented him in his wishes and out done all their Predecessours in a redundancy of Zeal and Loyalty A Parliament met also at Westminster to whom the King reiterated his assurance of supporting the Church of England preserving the Government in Church and State as by Law establish'd and a resolution never to invade any Mans property In this very Juncture when the King had so endear'd himself to the Parliament by such Gracious Expressions and they reciprocally Courted him with all dutiful respect the unfortunate Earl of Argyle whose persecution was unparellel'd Attainted for Treason before the Law that made it so was promulgated and condemn'd only for scrupling to take the Test which in a short time after it was a Capital Offence to subscribe Landed in the Highlands of Scotland and set forth a Declaration to justifie his undertaking and to renounce all Allegiance to the present King who immediately communicated the Intelligence he had received to the Parliament and both Houses without delay express'd their Resentment in Raputres of Love and Zeal with protestations to stand by him with their Lives and Fortunes against all Opposers and particularly the Earl of Argyle and to demonstrate that it was no Complement they presented him with a Bill for settling the Revenues on him for Life and resolved on an extraordinary supply for these incident Occasions While these matters were transacting News came to the King that the Duke of Monmouth was Landed in the West of England an unseasonable Landing for that unhappy Gentleman when the Parliament was Charm'd with the good Words and amused by the great and gracious promises of the King with a small party but every day increasing who presently were proclaim'd Traytors and the King imparting the News to both Houses they forthwith in a transport of Loyalty reassure him that they will stand by him with their Lives and Fortunes against the Duke of
Norman Followers he promised a restitution of their Ancient Laws and an indulgence to some Priviledges which were much valued by the people of those times but with the necessity the obligation ceased and he became a Bankrupt of his Word and Promise As little did he regard his Promises to God his Creator for being dangerously sick at Gloucester and despairing of Recovery he made a Solemn Vow that if he were restored to his Health he would lead a New Life and give over all his disorderly Courses but the restoration of his strength was accompanied with the return of his former vicious inclinations and he became ten times more the child of wrath than he was before He is reported to be very lascivious and incontinent but in regard he did not defraud his own Wife having never been married and was not observed to debauch the Wives of other Men he only passeth for a simple Fornicator and even in that not at all curious not entertaining a select Concubine but promiscuously trucking with any Woman that came in his way To shew how conscientious he was in matters of Religion take the words of Sir Richard Baker in his Chronicle of England p. 35. He appointed a Disputation to be held between Christians and Jews and before the day came the Jews brought the King a present to the end they might have an indifferent hearing the King took the present encouraging them to quit themselves like Men And swore by St. Lukes face his usual Oath that if they prevailed by Disputation he would himself turn Jew and be of their Religion A young Jew on a time was converted to the Christian Faith whose Father being much troubled at it presented the King sixty Mark intreating him to make his Son to return to his Judaism whereupon the King sent for his Son commanding him without more ado to return to the Religion of his Nation But the young Man answered he wondred his Majesty would use such Words for being a Christian he should rather perswade him to Christianity With which Answer the King was so confounded that he commanded the young Man to get him out of his sight But his Father finding the King could do no good upon his Son required his Mony again Nay saith the King I have taken pains enough for it and yet that thou mayst see how kindly I will deal you shall have one half and the other half you cannot in Conscience deny me In one Act he shew'd himself a Tyrant and an Atheist for fifty Gentlemen being accused for Hunting and killing the Kings Deer he caused them to be condemned to the Trial by Fire which they escaping untouch'd by the miraculous Providence of God and he thereby defeated of his greedy expectation by the Confiscation of their Estates fell into an outragious Passion and cry'd out How happens this is God a just Judg in suffering it Now a Murrain take him that believes it But vengeance from Heaven soon overtook him that did not believe it for the King though warned by Dreams and other uncommon Presages of some approaching Disaster appointed a Hunting in the new Forest upon the second of August When the day came he began to be perplexed with the remembrance of those ominous Bodings and stay'd within till Noon But having at Dinner driven away all care and fear by drinking himself into hardiness and security he mounled his Horse and eagerly folowed the Chase shortly after Sir Walter Tyrrel a Knight of Normandy to whom the King at their going out had given two Arrows very strong and sharp telling him That he knew how to shoot to purpose having a very fat Buck in view and at a convenient distance to be struck let fly an Arrow which glancing on a Tree or else grazing on the Back of the Deer reach'd the King hit him in the Breast and he immediately dropt down dead Thus fell Nimrod the mighty Norman Hunter destroy'd by that very sport in which he took such excessive delight violently brought to death on that occasion by which he had deliberately design'd the destruction of many others and in that very place where his Father had depopulated so many Town and ruined so many Religious Houses for the accommodation of wild Beasts and to gratifie his own inordinate pleasures THE LIFE and REIGN OF HENRY the Second THO' the Accession of Henry the Son of Geoffrey Plantagenet Duke of Anjou to the Crown of England be not branded with the unsavory Terms of Intrusion or Usurpation yet whosoever will impartially revolve the Chronicles of those Times may modestly conclude that he jumpt into the Throne over the back of his Mother Maud commonly styled the Empress was the only Daughter and Heir of Henry the first and tho she was an Empress and afterward a Dutchess yet she could never arrive at the Station of a Queen Stephen usurp'd the Crown and kept it from her and Henry her Son confirm'd the Disseisin by compounding for his own Succession without any regard to his Mothers Title Whether she was lockt up in an unknown Prison or estranged by Banishment or secretly made away it were a great Presumption in me to assert since the Writers and Historians of those days make no positive Determination in the matter But that she was civilly dead that no Notice was taken of her Right and Legal Claim to the Government after she had so unsuccessfully contended with King Stephen nothing can be more manifest Henry her Son was a young active and Valiant Prince very potent endow'd with great possessions and in expectation of greater Additions He was in his own Right Duke of Anjou in Right of his Wife Duke of Guyen and Earl of Poietou and in Right of his Mother Duke of Normandy and presumptive Heir to the Kingdom of England This greatness of Estate added to the Greatness of his Spirit and buoy'd up by the Hopes of a far greater augmentation of his Fortunes push'd him on to set up for himself in a competition for the Crown of England to the Achievement of which many accidents concurring as the untimely Death of Eustace the Son of King Stophen the melancholick despair of his Mother the Empress upon her improsperous contest with Stephen and the Loss of her Brother and other her fast Friends he came to a composition with King Stephen and a perfect Reconciliation was made between them choosing rather to succeed him by Adoption than to wait the natural Descent of his Inheritance by the Death of his Mother Whether a Prophetick foresight of the short Period prescribed to the Reign of King Stephen or a secret design to catch some opportunity to accelerate His own Investiture prompted Him on to this Accommodation lies only within the compass of conjecture but so it fell out that his Possession by Survivership was not long Prorogued the Agreement being made in January by mutual consent and consummated in October following by the Death of King Stephen Henry the Second being
Destiny and by Imprudent Actions pernicious Counsels and an Arbitrary Assertion of his indisputable Prerogative to kindle those Flames of Mutiny and Discontent which never were extinguish'd but at the Expence of his own Blood and the Loss of his Crown Robert Vere Earl of Oxford and Marquiss of Dublin was his Darling and Michael de la Pool was his Favorite The first a Gentleman of commendable good Parts he created Duke of Ireland tho he himself was but Lord of it the other a man of mean extraction he made Earl of Suffolk and Chancellour of England both very obnoxious and not accomplish'd with such Merits as might advance them in Titles or Offices beyond the Ancient Nobility without Envy or Obloquy These Wicked Counsellors set a false Glass before the short sighted King and abused him with erroneous representations of his own sufficiency absolute Authority and uncontrollable Power Insomuch that in a Parliament then call'd the King began sharply to expostulate with the Lords and by an undecent Comparison with the Freedom of their Tenures to Challenge to himself an unquestionable liberty This haughty Carriage of the King exasperated the Parliament and fermented them to such a degree of dissatisfaction that instead of consenting to grant him a Subsidy toward his Wars they fell foul upon the New Chancellour and never gave him over till they obtain'd a severe Judgment against him to the Forfeitures of his Life and the Confiscation of his Estate The adverse Party were highly nettled at these proceedings and being push'd on by Revenge and Malice they combined in a horrid Design to Murther the Duke of Gloucester and such other Lords as cross'd the King in his extravagant Courses which Flagitious Plot was to be perpetrated upon an invitation of them to a Supper in London Sir Nicholas Brember the former Lord Mayor was a prime Instrument in this Enterprise but the King imparting this matter to Richard Exton the present Mayor and endeavouring to make him an Accomplice in the Action he would by no perswasions be induced to consent to so vile an Attempt and thereupon they desisted from the further prosecution of it Notwithstanding this and many other untoward passages a Subsidy was granted to the King under certain Limitations but the Parliament were so disgusted because the King had respited the Execution of the Judgment against the Chancellour that they positively declared unless the Chancellour were removed they would proceed no farther in a Parliamentary Course The King hereupon grew Cholerick and plainly told them he would rather apply himself to the French King for Assistance than submit to his Subjects Yet upon good Reasons offer'd by the Lords a great change was made in the Ministers of State and particularly the Chancellour was removed and so desirous were the Lords and Commons to have the Duke of Ireland excluded from the Kings Presence that they were content he should receive thirty Thousand Marks on condition he would transport himself into Ireland But no sooner was the Parliament dissolved but the King recanted all his condecensions revoked all Orders against the Chancellour the Duke of Ireland and the rest and received then into higher Favour than they were in before And tho' the Earls of Arundel and Nottingham performed a Noble exploit hardly to be parallel'd in History yet their Service was disregarded and their persons slighted because the Duke of Ireland gave them no countenance By whose contrivance a New Plot was laid to destroy the Duke of Gloucester and the easie King surrounded with Parasites and corrupt Judges suffer'd them to pursue their extravagant practices and Two Thousand Persons were at once indicted before Sir Robert Tresilian the Chief Justice He then propounded certain Queries to Robert Belknap Lord Chief Justice and other Judges which they soon resolved in defiance of the Law and the priviledges of Parliament And notwithstanding he stood in such ill Terms with his people yet a way was found to pack Juries in London and Indictments were found of many Crimes against some of the Lords Whom having a design to persecute he summon'd the Judges Justices and Sheriffs of the Kingdom that he might be informed what power of Men they could assure him of to serve him against the Lords And intending shortly to call a Parliament he tamper'd with them to have no Knight or Burgess chosen but such as the King and his Council should Name But finding by the Answer of the Sheriffs that they could not raise any Forces upon such a pretence nor infringe the Ancient Liberty in Elections to Parliament the King and the Duke of Ireland sent into all parts to raise men in this Quarrel against the Lords consulting on some Devices how to intrap them The Duke of Gloucester being advertised of this had a secret Conference with the rest and assembling a numerous Body of Men stood upon their Guard and sent Commissioners to the King requiring such Traytors and Seducers as were about his Person to be delivered up to them The King was advised by the Duke of Ireland the Earl of Suffolk and others about him to offer Calice to the French King to procure his Assistance against the Lords and with all sent to the Mayor of London requiring to make an estimate of how many able men might be rais'd in the City who making Tryal of what could be done on such occasion received this Answer from the People that they would never fight against the Kings Friends and Defenders of the Realm In the mean time the Earl of Northumberland interposed with his advice and perswaded the King to send for the Lords under safe Conduct and friendly to expostulate with them to which the Lords consented upon Oath given by the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and the Lord Chancellour that no Fraud or evil practice should be used against them But being ready to come according to appointment they received intimation of an Ambush laid to intrap them and so desisted If the King was privy to this Plot he was guilty of an Action most unworthy of a Prince But the Conspirators were certainly known yet not call'd to Account for it After this upon a more secure Conduct from the King the Lords presented themselves before him and after some cholerick contest a Reconciliation was made and it was concluded that all matters should be heard and regulated in a Parliament speedily to be call'd Hereupon the Favorite-Lords were highly dissatisfy'd and plainly told the King they would not hazard their appearance at such a meeting and so the Duke of Ireland and the rest of that Faction withdrew from Court and absconded But the King not able to brook their absence ordered an Army to be rais'd for the safeguard of the Duke of Ireland and to reconduct him to his Presence who being encounter'd on the way by the Earl of Derby he fled and escaped by leaping into a River but after two or three years dy'd miserably in a foreign Country And now the Lords