the Dirt and Mire and at last threw them into the Flames The Bells were rung in several Parishes the great Guns roared from the Bastile and in short for compleating the farce nothing was omitted which was usually done upon the most solemn occasions neither was this rejoycing confined to the narrow bounds of one day but lasted several Neither could the publick news from Holland and other parts that expresly imported the contrary make them abate one jot of their vain credulity nay the questioning the truth of it was almost a crime unpardonable And because nothing should be omitted to enforce the belief of it upon all that seemed in the least dubious the Opinions of the learned Physicians who I must tell your Lordship did not want practice upon this occasion were hotly urged for it and who for the most part mercenarily agreed to resolve their patient's Questions in the affirmative viz. That the wound of a Cannon Bullet was mortal from whence it was inferred as a natural consequence that because King William had received such a wound he must of necessity be dead of it Nothing could be more vain and frivolous than to tell them of the number of People that have had their Leggs and their Arms shot off by a Cannon Bullet and yet have lived in a good state of Health for a long time after for to this it was readily answered That all that was alledged upon that head was formerly true enough but that now Chirurgery was quite another thing and from that time forward whoever was but touched with a Cannon Bullet though the skin were but only a little rased was condemned to die Strange is the effect of prejudice my Lord and how easily do Men believe what they would have to be so but I shall not detain your Lordship any longer with so ridiculous a Narration though I question not your kind acceptance of it from My Lord Your Honours devoted and most faithful Servant Paris Aug. 10. 1690. N. S. POSTSCRIPT Just now there is a report spread up and down that the late King is to go forthwith on board the French Fleet and to endeavour to land in England where they are very confident to find a very considerable party that will declare for his interest but whether there be any such design in reallity I cannot yet penetrate into I am My Lord Yours c. LETTER XVI The French Court mightily concerned at the Proceedings of the Duke of Savoy and his declaring for the Confederates yet try one stratagem more to bring him to their side My Lord I Do not find notwithstanding whatever I subjoined in my last to your Lordship of a Descent or some such thing upon England that the same is any more talked of but generally concluded to be at this instant impracticable neither do the affairs of Britain seemingly half so much perplex this Court as those of Savoy at this Juncture I do not doubt but your Lordship may have heard of many attempts made by them to keep the Duke from falling in with the interests of the Confederates and especially that of the King of England but the last and sliest Effort of all is what but few know and an account thereof I know cannot but be pleasing to your Lordship now I have nothing more material to inform you of Monsieur de Croissi as I suppose your Lordship knows very well being the grand Minister of State in this Country for Forreign Affaiâ—s finding by his secret intelligence that the Duke of Savoy had declared for the Confederates hastened to give the King an account of it whereupon two of the Duke's Ministers were somewhat confined but after a little consultation upon the matter the King thought it advisable to give his subtil Minister orders to confer with the said Embassadors once more yet so to order it that it might not look like a formall conference or a thing concerted before hand Croissi ordered his matters so well that he met them one day in the street when he told them that he wondered he never could see them that Madam de Croissi had thought they would have come and drink a dish of Coffee with her to which purpose he would invite them to his House at such an Hour The Ministers to be complaisant and being not accustomed to deny Ladies such Civilities willingly accepted his offers and promised to wait upon the Lady at the hour appointed which they did accordingly and the Venetian Embassador who had the word given him meet there also but made as if it had been by meer accident After they had discoursed of several things too and fro by the bye the Venetian Minister very dexterously turned the discourse into the Battle of Fleuri and the Engagement at Sea against the English and Dutch Fleets and so took occasion to aggravate to the utmost of his Eloquence the advantages which his most Christian Majesty had reaped thereby and to lessen at the same time as much as he could the power of the Confederates From thence passing forward to the affairs of Italy he laboured to shew how difficult a task it was for the Spaniard to resist the Arms of the most Christian King and laid the chief stress of his Arguments upon the pressing desire which both the Pope and the Venetians had to prevent the fire of War from flaming over the Alps and so take hold of all Italy To all which decoying Discourse Monsieur de Croissi said no more but only so much as he adjudged necessary to shew the Venetian Embassador spoke nothing but what was true for fear least the Savoyards would have occasion to discover the concertship between them and that the Venetian said nothing but what the Monsieur put into his Mouth However it seems the Savoyards were not so stupid but that they apprehended quickly a good part of the Truth And therefore being unwilling to engage themselves in long disputes to no purpose they thought it sufficient to answer once for all that the Duke their Master had made choice of his side and that no consideration whatsoever could oblige him to fail in his promises to his imperial Majesty King of Spain and the rest of the Confederates And if the Court are so highly perplext for the ill success they have had upon the Duke and his Ministers the common Vogue is they are not a whit less at Monsieur Tourville's Conduct after his Sea Victory that he has made no more improvement of it but I can say nothing positively upon this head and therefore shall only subscribe my self My Lord Your Lordships most Humble and Faithful Servant Paris Sept. 1. 1690. N. S. LETTER XVII Of close designs hatched in France of Monsieur de Tourville and the rumour of his being disgraced for his Conduct and of the reports concerning the Dauphins's marrying again My Lord NEver were frequenter Consults held than at this time here both as to the Sea and Land Affairs and the King's time is
for Spectacle did not inordinately break forth into any bitter Words but only said with a calm Temper If the faults were true which have been laid to their Charge the King had done nothing but what is Right and Just unto them As this King's Reign was usher'd in with the foresaid Troubles it continued to be in a ferment upon other Accounts and particularly for the great Pension raised for his Ransom and for raising of other Moneys which tho' the Revenues were exhausted was interpreted Covetousness in him But in the thirteenth and last Year of his Reign a sharp Rencounter happening between Henry Percy and William Dowglas Earl of Angus at a place call'd Piperden in the Kingdom of Scotland James thinking himself injured hereby by the English as the Scotch Historians write but Hall and Graston charge him home with Ungratitude herein raises a great Army and lays Siege to the Castle of Roxborough but when as the Scotch write he had almost brought his Work to Perfection and that the besieged began to capitulate about surrendring of the place the Queen in all haste came to the Camp and acquainted him there was a horrid Conspiracy framed against his Life and conjured him to use all the Precautions imaginable to secure himself The King was surprized with the Message he forthwith raised the Siege and returned home to provide for his better safety tho' all avail'd little But that you may have a clearer Idea of the whole Matter we must a little look back and tell you again that Robert II. had three Sons by his Concubine whom he afterward married and so settled the Crown upon them to the Exclusion of his two legitimate Sons by his Queen Euphemia Ross who were Walter Earl of Athol and David Earl of Strathern Now these two tho' they found themselves injured by such a Preference of an illegitimate Race before them Yet being inferiour both in Years and Wealth they dissembled their Resentment for the present The Death also of the Earl of Strathern weakned their Hands who left one only Daughter behind him who was given in Marriage to Patrick Graham a noble Youth and a most potent and illustrious Family as any in that Age on whom he begat Melisse Graham whose Parents did not long survive And the Child not many Years after being then a Stripling was sent into England among those who were Hostages till the Money for the Kings Ransom were discharg'd and paid But Atholl tho' he were every ways inferior to the opposite Faction yet ever made it his Business to take off his Kindred and did not lay aside his Hopes of recovering the Crown and because he was not capable of doing any thing by open force he craftily sowed Discord among them and so plied the Matter that as has been already in some measure set forth a very numerous Family were reduced to a few for the most part by his Council For many were of Opinion that it it was by his Contrivance that David Duke of Rothsay King Robert's Son was cut off neither had James escap'd his Snares unless he had spent the greatest part of his Life in England far from his reach He would have encouraged the Earl of Fife to seise upon the Kingdom taxing his Brother with Slothfulness and fit to be taken off and when the King having now no Children to succeed him for James was then a Prisoner in England and obnoxious to the Pleasure of his Brother had suddenly died of Grief there was only the Governor now and his Children that impeded his Hopes But when Robert the Governor was dead and his Son John kill'd at the Battle of Vernole in France he re-assumed his former Thoughts with greater Vigour and strain'd all his Wits to compass the same first by getting of King James released and then contriving Duke Mordo's and his Children's Death and since it was almost inconsistent that all these should subsist and be safe together he foresaw that which soever fell of them he was one degree nearer to the Crown Therefore when James was at last return'd to his Country he set all his Engines on work to hasten Mordo's death finds out fit tools to bear Testimony against him and set himself as Judge upon him and his Children and when they also were cut off there was only King James and a young Son of six Years old that stood in the way and when he by a conjuration of the Nobility were once removed the Earl did not doubt but himself who was the only surviving Person of the Royal Stem should be advanced to the Throne Atholl therefore I say being night and day agitated with such Considerations did however keep all his Designs close and secret and thro' a counterfeit Zeal for the King's Welfare made it his Business to cut off his Relations and Friends and more especially to advance his own Estate by the Misfortune and Crimes of other Men and so to lessen his Adversaries In the mean time King James to further his own Misfortune deprived Melisse Graham who we have said was one of the Hostages in England of the Earldom of Strathern alledging it was bestowed on his Grandfather of the maternal side and his Masculine Line and for want of such Issue to revert to the Crown The Misfortune of the young Man induced many to commiserate his Case but made Robert his Guardian almost stark mad and so being more impatient of the Injury offer'd to his Kinsman stuck not to accuse the King openly of unjustice and being cited to appear to make his defence but did not a Sentence of Banishment pass'd against him This did but enrage him more and more and his whole Business seem'd to be to engage others who had been injur'd in their own Persons or Friends to entertain the same Sentiments of the King in respect to his Avarice and Cruelty as he had done but it had been well if he had rested here You have heard before how the King was advertised of a Conspiracy against him at Roxborough and how the King to obviate the same retired home and took up his Lodgings in the Convent of the Dominicans at Perth and what Designs Walter Earl of Atholl had been hatching from time to time Now this Walter the King's Uncle tho' he were Principall Author and Contriver of the Conspiracy yet he did his utmost endeavour to put off all manner of Suspition of it from himself therefore he privily sends for and discourses with Robert Graham afore-mentioned who as being an active bold rash Man and an hater of the King upon account of his own Imprisonment and â—anishment and the Injury done to his Nephew by divesting of him of the Earldom of Strathern he thought to be a Person most fit for his purpose and with him he engaged his own Grandson Robert Stuart a stout hardy Youth who readily engaged in the Work He instructs them what they were to do assured them of his favour when the Fact was perpetrated
Sycophant or other that his kindred laid in wait for his life and that he was in great danger which agreeing with the sayings of the Witches which he had Consulted and who had told him that the Lyon should be devoured by his Whelps it made very deep impressions upon his suspicions mind and so from a Prince at first very hopefull and of great expeâ—â—ation degenerated to a Monstrous Tyrant So that now these suspicions having once possession of his mind from henceforth he looked upon his neer Relations and almost all the best of the Nobility as his Enemies The Nobility on the other hand finding none preferred by the K. but Men of base degree were not a little disatisfied and began to alienate their Affections from him wherefore they met together upon this occasion to concert measures how they might purge the Court of those abject Fellows and reduce it to its former State of Grandeur The principal of this Assembly were the Kings two Brothers Alexander and John the latter whereof having discoursed of the Irregularities and the present State of that Kingdom somewhat frankly and liberally and with less Caution than the rest he was suddenly taken by night in his own House by the Court Faction and conveyed to a place called Crâ—gmiller and there Imprisoned by the King's order and not long after by the same Courtly Crew was adjudged to Die and Executed accordingly in the Cannon Gate by cutting his Veins and letting him bleed to Death And as they had thus barbarously murdered his Person they proceeded also to murder the Earls fame for they gave out that his Crime was that he had had Secret Consultation with Witches about destroying the King and to put as good a Colour as they could upon this unnatural Act tho' it were by heaping up iniquity upon iniquity they brought several other Witches and Sorcerers to their Tryal for the said Fact and burnt them at Edenburg for the same So that here is one of the three Brothers dispatch'd you 'll here of the rest by and by Alexander the other Brother and Duke of Albany tho he had neither acted nor said any thing that might Justly disgust either the King or Courtiers that were about him yet as he was next of Kin so it seems he was next in danger for these Blood-suckers mistrusting with themselves that they could ne'er be safe as long as he was alive got him suddenly seized and sent Prisoner to Edenburg Castle He was kept close there by such as did believe his power might be Fatal to them and finding there was no way by his Friends for to pacify the Kings displeasure he had nothing to do now but to consider how he might make his escape he had none to communicate his design to or to further him in it but one only Servant of his own that was left to be with him in his Chamber him he sent to get a Ship ready to attend him at the next Part at the time appointed which he does effectually In the mean time his persecutors to Plague him the more with their delusions sent several Messengers from the Court who feigned in the presence of his Keepers for he was not allowed to talk with any privately that the King's Anger began to be pacified and that he might shortly hope for his Liberty but when the day appointed for his escape was come he puts as good a meen as possible he could upon the matter and begins to feign a belief in what the Messengers said in Favour of him and Questioned not but to have a speedy and honourable deliverance And to further the Design treats his Keepers with a splendid Supper and Drinks with them till it was late at night but when they were gone and fast asleep he falls to work and makes a Rope of the Sheets of his Bed long enough as he thought to reach the ground and first for to make a Tryal therof le ts down his Man by it by whole fall he finds it was shorter then it should have been Having therefore lengthened the Rope as much as the present Circumstance would admit he follows his Man who in his descent had broke his Leg takes him up upon his back and carries him about a mile to the Sea-side and having got a Favourable Wind set sail for Dumbarton and from thence having first well secured the Castle he sailed into France The Duke was honourably received in France and Married the Earl of Bologn's Daughter but upon the Death of his Wife who lived not long with him finding Affections cool towards him he goes over into England and was entertained by Edward IIII. then King of England who assisted him with an Army to invade Scotland under the Command of his Brother Richard Duke of Gloucester King James makes all the Force he could to oppose them but being Governed by his former Councells the Nobility took it in high disdain and therefore they met together in the Church of Lowder where the King and his Army then were to deliberate what they should do in such a conjuncture Where Archibald Dowglass Earl of Angus takes upon him to set forth the occasion of their meeting which he did in a very pathetick Speech and shew'd at large all the enormities of the King's Reign down to the present time the danger they then stood in from a Foreign Army and therefore exhorts them first to shake of the Domestick Yoke of servitude they were under before they Engaged with the Enemy c. this Oration wrought so effectually upon their minds that they were immediately ready to run in headlong into the Pallace without any Consideration of what they were to do But the principal Men amongst them appeasing the tumult advised that a sufficient number should only enter in without any shew of Commotion and take out the Criminals lead them to Judgment and Punish them according to Law In the mean time while these things were in Agitation comes a Rumour into the Court that the Nobles held a Consultation together before day in the Church the subject whereof was uncertain but that it must be strange that such Men should Assemble together without the King and his Councellors Knowledge The King hereupon being hastily awaken out of his sleep enquires of those about him what he had best to do in the mean time he sends Cockram before to observe what was done and to give him an Account of all with speed he with a few followers goes towards the Church and meets the cheif of the Nobility advancing towards the Court whom they no sooner espied but Dowglass laid hands on him and catching hold of a large Gold Chain he had about his neck squeezed him first a little and then sends him to Prison himself with the rest going directly to the King's Bed-Chamber Where when they came they filled all with Astonishment so as that there seemed to be a little pause upon the matter for the present but it was not
long e're they seized upon the Kings Evil Councellors that were about him and sent them all away save only John Ramsey a very young man that clung to the King and who intreated for him that he might be spared The rest were lead to Judgment and with the loud cries of the Army calling for Justice upon those miscreants were hanged out of the way and such forwardness was shewed to have them dispatched speedily that when they wanted Ropes upon such a sudden occasion every one was ready to offer his Horses Halter or the Reins of his Bridle for that purpose These Wretches were charged with many private injuries and among the more publick ones was their advising the King to Coin base Copper Money which the Common people by way of reproach called Black-Money and that this was the principal cause of the scarcity that was in the Land the want of Trade and many other Calamities too long to be incerted To the Kings charge was laid the unjust death of the Earl of Mar his Brother his advancing of Cockram a Mason to the said Earldom his practising of Magick and resolvedness to destroy his Relations This done they returned to Edenburg and appointed the King himself to be kept in the Castle of the said City by the E. of Atholl and in the mean time they send to the English Army for a Cessation of Arms for three Months The Duke of Albany was honourably received into his Country again and had the Castle of Dunbar with the Earldoms of March and Mar conferred upon him and was withal Proclaimed the Kings Lieutenant General While things were in this state the English take the Castle of Berwick the Town having been surrendred to them before The Duke of Albany making a faint of relieving the same but did nothing At length the Duke accompanied with the Chancellor Archbishop of St. Andrews and others went to Sterling to pay the Queen and Prince a visit they had not been there long when the Queen entering into a secret Conference with the Duke unknown to the rest about the King's Confinement and urging how noble and generous as well as advantagious an act it would be in him to imploy his power for his releasement he consents to the undertaking and so returning to Edenburg besieged the Castle and took it remov'd the Earl of Athol and so sets the King and all his Servants at liberty for which extraordinary favour the King shewed him great tokens of his affections but they were not long-lived for the remembrance of old offences are of greater force in a degenerous and impotent mind than fresh kindnesses And to foment his jealousies he had always those at his Elbow who never ceased to upbraid the Duke to him of affecting too much popularity and to construe the same as an infallible sign of his intentions to snatch at the Crown when ever a fit opportunity presented The Duke who was not ignorant of those jealousies entertained of him and at last finding there was a design formed against him of no less than taking away his Life and that as appeared by poyson withdraws privily into Dunbar Castle And the King as conscious of his evil doings fearing the displeasure of his Nobles hereupon withdraws also into the Castle of Edenburg where the Earls of Angus Buchan and others forsook him and assisted the Duke But the King being haunted still by his Evil Spirits I mean those vile fellows whom he had again placed about his Person he summoned the Duke and his adherents to appear and answer for such treasonable Crimes as he had to lay to their Charge and withall prepared an Army to Besiege Dunbar which the Duke having notice off he flies into England And afterwards being accompanied with the Earl of Dowglass and others was engaged to invade the Marches of his own Country but meeting with ill success and being checked by the King of England for his ill Conduct he grew sullen thereupon and withdrew secretly into France where not long after according to the usual fate of his Family running at Tilts with Lewis Duke of Orleans he was wounded with the splinter of a Spear and thereof Dyed So that here is two of them gone the fate of the third is now approaching with winged hast For the King having once got a Peace with the English and the Castle of Dunbar into his hands which seemed for some time to put a check upon his exorbitance he returns to his old haunts gives himself over not only to be guided by Favourites and mean Persons as before who were his Leeches to drain his Subjects to satiate his covetous desires but to unlawful pleasure with loose Women Among the men Favourites John Ramsey saved as you have heard before by the Kings importunity from an Halter was chief This Man having been advanced to the dignity of Lord Stuard K of the ing's Houshold and endowed with many large demesns became so elated in mind that not being content with that large fortune nothing would serve but he must have an order that none besides himself and his Companions should go armed in those places where the King resided designing by this devise to fortifie himself and his Faction against the Nobility of the Kingdom whom he found to go frequently armed themselves and accompanied with such as were well provided for their defence But this Edict procured him more hatred than it wrought fear in his Enemies In the mean time the King minded nothing as much as to gratifie his mind with the blood of those who were thought to be the Authors of Rebellion And seeing he could not bring about his purposes he endeavours to surprise them by cunning for feigning to be reconciled to one of them after another he entertained them with that gentleness and in so soothing a manner as came below the Dignity of a Prince to do Others of them who excelled in Riches and Power he accumulated with Rewards and Honours making David Lindsey Earl Crawford Duke of Montross and George Earl of Angus he would have frequently in his Company carrying it so by communicating his secret Counsels unto him as if he were throuhgly reconciled But his Rewards and Blandishments had but little effect upon any of them in respect to any opinion his Sincerity for they who knew his disposition doubted not but all that semblance of Goodness and Favour tended to no other end than either to surprise them one after another or to set them at variance one against another which when he had got the chief of Nobility to Edenburg did more clearly appear for having sent for Dowglass to him into the Castle he shewed him what a brave opportunity he now had to be revenged on them for if he did but secure the Heads of the Factions and punish them the rest would be quiet That if he lett his opportunity that presented it self slip he could never afterward hope for such another Dowglass who well knew that the Kings mind
seeing his Enemies were unprepared of all things necessary for a Siege That his Fleet also which he had prepared to be an help to him at all adventures might be at hand This advice did indeed seem to be sound and real and had been safe enough in all probability in the event had it not been that the Governour of the Castle being corrupted by the opposite Faction excluded him from admittance And now all things conspire to his ruin for the Lords were now at his heels that he could not possibly retire to the Castle of Edenburg again and the Forces raised by the Earls of Huntley Errol Athol and diverse other Noblemen who stuck to him and which they said amounted to the number of Forty Thousand Men being not yet come up he would not stay for them and so with those Forces he had with him hazards a Battle The Battle was at first very fierce and the first Wing of the Nobâ—es Army gave way but the Annandalians and their Neighbours who inhabite the Western parts of Scotland press hard upon the Kings Forces and with their huge Spears much longer than their Adversaries quickly broke the King's main Body who finding now it was in vain to stand it and being injured with the fall of his Horse retires to a Mill that was not far off from the place of Battle with a design as was thought to get aboard his Ships which were not far off where being taken with a few more he was slain It 's not fully agreed who killed him but pursued he was to the foresaid place by Patrick Grey Sterling Keiry and a Priest whose name was Borthick and who it was said being asked by the King for a Confessor roughly replied That though he was no good Priest yet he was a good Leech and with that stab'd him to the Heart And here you see how contemptible the Majesty of a Prince is that is sullied with degenerous actions and there was this further ignominy affixed to his Death That it was enacted in the next Sessions of Parliament that he Justly suffered and strictly forbidden that any who had bore Arms against him or thier descendants should be upbraided therewith Young he was being about 35 years when he died and of them had Reigned near Twenty Eight in the year of our Lord 1488. The Son who had headed this Army is now advanced to the Father's Throne and known by the name of James the IV. being then about Sixteen years of Age. Wood who Commanded the Ships before mentioned was with great difficulty brought to submit and did afterward this King great Service who it seems had some remorse for his contributing so much to his Fathers Death for in token thereof he wore continually an Iron Chain about his middle all the days of his life made frequent visits to Religious places c. all which methinks seems to have been put upon him by some crafty Priest tho Historians are silent in that particular but he had hardly been warm in his Throne when those Nobles that were of his Father's Party sent their Emissaries to all the parts of the Kingdom and exhort one another not to endure the present state of things That so many brave Men should not suffer such publick paricides who had murdred one King and kept the other in servitude so proudly to illude them and to charge them with being guilty of High-Treason who fought for the King's defence and safety but that they should arrogate to themselves who were violators of all Divine and Humane Laws the title of being defenders of the Honour and Dignity of the Commonwealth and preservers of their Country in whose hands the King himself was not free as being enforced first to take up Arms against his Father and King and having wickedly slain him to prosecute his Father's Friends and such ns engaged in his defence by an unjust and Cruel War that was intollerable When many things of this nature had been bandyed about amongst the Common People Alexander Forbes to excite in them a greater hatred towards the present Administration caused the dead King 's bloody Shirt to be hung up on a long Pole and exposed publickly at Aberdeen and other places where there was great concourse of People This being as it were a publick Edict to stir up all Men to revenge so foul a Deed. Nay many of them who had engaged with them actually in the slaughter finding that all things did not go as they would have it now joyned with these Malecontents And as things were transacted in these parts about Aberdeen much to the new King's prejudice Matthew Stewart Earl of Levins a popular and potent Man in his Country summons all such as he had influence over this side the Forth to come to him and having raised a good body of Men finding he could not make his way over Sterling Bridge which was guarded by the Royalists he hastens towards a Ford not far from the River-head at the foot of Mount Grampias with a design to joyn with his Friends in those parts Now when John Drummond had notice hereof by Alexander Mac Alpin his Tenant and who had joyned the Enemy and found plainly that all things were so careless and secure in the Enemies Camp that they dispearsed themselves up and down as every one pleased and had no Centry nor Scouts and destitute of all Military Order and Discipline he immediately with the Courtiers and a few Voluntiers he had with him sets upon them un-a-wares and in a manner all asleep which was in too many of them continued by Death the rest unarm'd run back headlong from whence they came and many were made Prisoners but some known Friends and Acquaintance were let go they were severe only upon such as wrote or spoke very contumeliously of the Government and so this storm blew over and not long after a Parliament was called wherein past a general Act of Indemnity so that now nothing was expected here but Halcyon Days but a Storm quickly arose which terribly shook not only this but the Kingdom of England also by one Perkin Warbeck's pretending himself to be Richard Duke of York and second Son to King Edward IV. and so to have an undoubted Right to the Crown of England He came over from France into Scotland and possest this King so far with a belief of his Right and the Justice of his Cause that he not only gave him the Lady Margaret the Earl of Huntley's Daughter for a Wife but also raised an Army to defend his Cause which took up some Years of his Reign little enough to his or the Kingdoms Commodity and Advantage At last a Truce for some Years was agreed on between him and the King of England and the Consequence of that was first orders for Perkin of whom you may read at large in my Lord Bacon's History of Henry VII to depart the Realm of Scotland then a Marriage between King James and the Lady Margaret
and taking occasion to send her other Companions about frivolous Errands was secretly by him conveyed out of the Lough where she was kept Her escape being told those who were then at Dinner in the Castle they made a great stir but to little purpose for all the Boats were haled ashore and their loop holes to put out their Oars were all stopped up that so no speedy pursuit might be made She was no sooner got out of the Lough but that there were Horsemen ready on the other side to receive her who carried her to the several Houses of the Partisans in the Design and the day after to Hamilton a Town 8 miles distant from Glasgow and and at the noise thereof many resorted to her and in a short time she gathered an Army of about 6500 men In the mean time the Regent was not idle but got together what force he could at Glasgow yet not enough to equal their number however understanding that the Enemy designed to march by Glasgow and to leave the Queen in Dunbarton Castle and so either to fight or lengthen out the War as they pleased or if they found him to be so bold as to stop their passage which they believed he durst not do they resolved then to Fight and were confident they should beat him and the Regent I say understanding this resolved to be before hand with them and to urge them to Fight as soon as ever he could and to that end drew out his Men into the open Field before the Town the way that he thought the Enemy would march and there for some hours waited for them in Battle Array but when he saw their Troops pass by on the other side of the River he presently understood their design and commanded his Foot to pass over the Bridge and his Horse to Ford over the River which they might do it being low Water and so to march to Langside which was a Village by the River Carth where the Enemy were to pass situated at the foot of a Hill to the South-West the passage on the East and North was steep but on the other side there was a gentle descent into a plain thither the Regent and his Army hasted with such speeed that they had near possest the Hill before the Enemy who aimed at the same place understood their design tho' they marched thither by a nearer cut but there were two things that did very much contribute to the advantage of the Regent and his Party as they were no less a disadvantage to the Queen and her Followers for the Earl of Argyle who on the Queen's part commanded in chief fell suddenly down from his Horse sick and by his fall much retarded the march of his Party the other was that their Forces being placed here and there in little Vallies could never see all their Enemies at once whose paucity as indeed they were not many made the other despise them and the disadvantage of the place to At last when the Queen's Forces drew nigh and saw the Ground they aimed at taken up by the Enemy they advanced to another little Hill over against them and there divided their Party into two Bodies so did the other Party into two Wings placing their Musketeers in the Village and Gardens below near the Highway Both Armies being thus Marshalled in Battle Array the Queen 's Cannoneers and Foot were driven from their Posts by the Regents Forces on the other hand the Regents Horse being fewer in number were beat back by the Enemy and when they had performed that Service they endeavoured also to break the Battalions of Foot in order whereunto they charged directly up the Hill but were beat back by the Archers placed there and by some of those who after their rout had rallied again and joyned with the rest of their Body In the mean time the Left Wing of the Enemy marched by the Highway where there was a rising Ground lower down into the Valley where tho' they were gall'd by the Regents Musketeers yet passing by those straits they opened and rang'd their Body There it was the two Battalions held out a thick stand of Pikes as a Breast-work before them and fought desperately for half an hour without giving ground on either side insomuch that they whose long Pikes were broke threw Daggers Stands pieces of Pikes or Launces yea whatever they could come at into their Enemies Faces but some of the hindermost Ranks of the Regents Forces beginning to fly away whither for fear or treachery is uncertain no doubt their flight had much disordered those who stood to it unless the Ranks had been so thick that the foremost did not well know what the hindmost did then they which were in the second Battalion taking notice of the danger and perceiving no Enemy coming to Charge them sent some whole Troops to wheel to the Right and to joyn with the first whereupon the adverse Party could not bear their Charge but were wholly routed and put to flight but the Regent upon the pursuit forbid the Execution The Queen stood about a mile from the place to behold the Battle and after the discomfiture fled with some Horsemen of her Party who had escaped out of the Battle towards England from whence she shall never return to see her Native Country more being arrived at a place called Workinton in the County of Cumberland she dispatched away a Letter to Queen Elizabeth full of Complaints of hard usage in Scotland and craving her Assistance and Protection and leave to come to her but the Queen denied her access and ordered her to be conveyed to Carlisle from whence she wrote again to the Queen which brought her case under the Deliberation of the English Council who at last resolved to detain her in England till such time as she should give satisfaction for Usurping the English Arms and answered for the Death of the Lord Darnley her Husband for Darnley's Mother the Countess of Lennox had of late grievously complained to Queen Elizabeth about it and earnestly besought her to call her to a Tryal for the Murder of her Son as Mr. Cambdâ—n in his History of Queen Elizabeth has it But because her Detention in England might appear to be just in all Foreign Courts Secretary Cecil and others of the Council prevailed with Murray the Scots Regent to come into England to accuse her before such Commissioners as Queen Elizabeth should appoint and the place of meeting was to be York and to that end the Duke of Norfolk and the Earl of Sussex with several other Councellors went to York to hear the Regents accusation It was observed the Duke delay'd to receive the Accusation but at last speaks to Secretary Lidington that before that time he had ever esteemed him a Wise Man until that time he came before Strangers to accuse the Queen his Mistress as if England were Judge over the Princes of Scotland but continued the Duke how could you find in our
Heart to dishonour the King's Mother or how could you answer afterward for what you were doing seeing it tended to hazard the King her Sons Right to England intending to bring his Mothers Honesty in question it had been rather the Duty of you her Subjects to cover her Imperfections if she had any remitting to God and Time to punish and put order thereto who is the only Judge over Princes Lidingtown shewing his Innocence and Desire to have the accusation supprest the Duke asked if the Regent could keep secret and being thereof assured by Lidingtown he took occasion next day to enter into a Conference with the Regent and after some preliminary Discourse spoke to him to this effect That he would be very faithful to the Queen his Mistress as long as she lived but that she was too careless what might come after her about the Peace and Welfare of her Country tho' it was the Interest of the Kingdom of England to take greater notice thereof by determining the Succession to prevent Troubles that otherwise might ensue that tho' they had divers times essay'd to do something therein at every Parliament yet their Queen had evidenced great discontent thereat shewing thereby that she cared not what Blood was shed after her for the Right and Title of the English Crown which consisted only in the Person of the Queen and King of Scotland her Son which had been put out of doubt ere now if matters had not fallen out so unhappily at home and yet he and other Noblemen of England as Fathers of their Country were minded to be careful thereof watching their opportunity but that they wondred what could move him to come there and accuse their Queen for albeit she had done or suffered harm to be done to the King her Husband yet there was respect to be had to the Prince her Son upon whom he and many in England had fixed their Eyes as Mr. Mâ—lvill who had been late Ambassador there could testifie he therefore wished that the Queen should not be accused nor dishonoured for that to her Sons sake and for respect to the right both had to succeed to the Crown of of England and further the Duke said I am sent to bear your Accusation but neither will I nor the Queen my Mistress give out any Sentence upon the Accusation and that you may understand the verity of this point more clearly you shall do well the next time that I require you before the Council to give in your Accusation in Writing to demand again my Mistress's Seal and Hand Writing before you shew your Folly that in case you accuse she shall immediately Convict and give out her Sentence according to the proof of the matter otherwise that you will not open the Pack which if her Majesty shall refuse to grant unto you which doubtless she will do then assure your self that my Information is true and take occasion hereupon to stay from further Accusation This Discourse catched the Regent and he promised to comply therewith in every part and so at the next meeting with the Council demanded the foresaid security from the Queen before he would give in his Accusation hereupon they sent Post to Court to know what to do and the Queen's answer was That being a true Princess her Word and Promise would be abundantly sufficient Cecill and Wood the Regents Secretary were amazed at this manner of procedure and therefore it was advised to desire the Lords on both sides to come from York to Court where the Queen was able to give more ready answers and resolves In the mean time the Duke Regent and Lidingtown put their Heads together and agreed That the Regent should by no means consent to accuse the Queen and that the Duke should obtain to him the Queen's Favour with a Confirmation of the Regency and so would go on as sworn Brethren the one to Rule Scotland and the other England c. When the Regent was arrived at Hampton-Court where the Queen then resided he was daily prest to give in his Accusation especially by those about him who thought it strange that he should be so slow until at length they were advertised by one of the Lords of the Queen's â—action of all that had past between the Regent and Duke of Norfolk for the Duke had secretly given the Queen of Scots notice of what he had done she to one of her Confidents who advertised the Earl of Morton of the whole Morton took it very ill that the Regent should engage in any such thing without his knowledge but before either he or his Friends would take upon them to know any thing of the matter they consult together and resolve to get Mr. John Wood to acquaint Cecil with the whole desiring him to press forwards the Accusation wherein of himself he was abundantly eager They left nothing and one for their part to effectuate the same putting the Regent in hopes one while that the Queen would give her Hand and Seal that she would Convict the Queen of Scots if he accused her others of the firmest of them persuaded him that she would ne'er give it under Hand and Seal designing thereby to distract him to see what he would do in case he obtain'd his Desire Mr. Wood said it was fit to carry in all the Writs to the Council and he would keep the Accusation in his Bosom and would not deliver it till the thing demanded of the Queen was first granted The rest of the Regents Lords and Councellors had concluded among themselves that as soon as the Duke of Norfolk as chief of the Council should require the Accusation they would all with one Voice persuade the Regent to give it in Lidingtown and Sir James Melvill prest the Regent to remember his Engagements to the Duke who replied he would do well enough and that it would not come to that length and being accordingly brought before the Council the Duke demanded the Accusation the Regent required assurance from the Queen for the Prosecution in case he gave it in 〈◊〉 to this it was answered as before that the Queen was a true Princess and that her Word was sufficient and all the Council cryed Would he distrust the Queen who had given such proof of her Friendship to Scotland The Regents Council chimed in with them and said the same thing whereupon Cecill â—ed If they had the Accusation there yes says Mr. Wood and with that pluckt it out of his Bosom but I will not deliver it says he till her Majesty's Hand and Seal be delivered to the Regent for what he demands he had no sooner said the Words but the Bishop of Orkney snatch'd the Paper out of his hand saying Let me have it I 'll present it Wood ran after him as if he would have taken him but up gets the Bishop to the Council Board and gives in the Accusation which made the Lord Chamberlain of England cry out Well done Bishop thou art
was so put to it that he was forced to flee out of Edenburg to save his own life whereupon he enters into a Confederacy with his Friends for his own security which together with some Depredations made in the Lord Ferres Lands by some of the Earls Tenants without redress from him upon Complaint made thereof enraged the King to an high degree against him But sore disorders still increasing through the Earls not punishing of the offenders at last Ferres makes an inroad by way of reprisal into his Lands was taken and by the Earls command was put to Death tho' the King by an Herault commanded the contrary so that upon serious Deliberation the King finding his power unsufficient for curbing him had no other way left than to send to him in a most Courteous manner to come to him who was then in Sterling Castle The Earl apprehensive of some design upon his Person refused without he had an assurance of safe Conduct under the Kings great Seal which being Granted he came and was received with a great semblance of good Will by the King who toâ—k him into a Room by themselves and there after some other Admonitions expostulated with him about the Confederâ—cy he had entred into with the Earl of Crawford and others and would have urged him to forsake the same Alledging it was no ways Honourable for him but hurtfull and tho' he took it very ill at his hands yet he allowed him the Liberty to disâ—null it tho' himself had full power to command it Dowglass was very obsequious in all things 'till this business of the League came in Question whereunto he did not Answer distinctly but would have put it off 'till he had discoursed with his Confederates thereupon neither could he well see at present what could be in that League which could be offensive to the King that he should insist so much upon his breaking of it whereupon the King who it's likely had already determined to commit the perjur'd Fact tho' his flattering Courtiers would have his displeasure only to arise from the Earls present stubborness said if you will not I will break it and without any more ado struck him with his Dagger in his breast those that stood at the Door hearing the bustle rushed in and dispatched him by many wounds His Brethren and Kindred being at first surprized and then exasperated at the horridness of the Fact and the faithless proceedings of the King towards the Earl flew to their Arms and made no less than a Civil War of it which was waged between the King and them with various Fortunes at last the King prevailed which brought great Destruction and Calamity upon that Noble Family of the Dowglasses And then it was that King James began to Reign as the Historian says their greatness having been hitherto a Check upon him But his Civil broils were scarce ended when he was brought to engage in the fatal controversy which happened in England between the Houses of York and Lancaster He at first sided with King Henry VI against Richard Duke of York but afterward faced about Upon the Duke's promise that Cumberland and other Lands should be restored unto him that had been in the possession of his Ancestors if the Duke prevailed and so assisted the Yorkians having therefore raised an Army as he was entering into England he was for a time diverted cunningly by an English Gentleman who took upon him to be the Pope's Nuncio His Speech Habit and Retinue were perfectly Italian and to make the matter more plausible with the Cloak of Religion he had a Monk along with him and so with the Popes Counterfeit Letters they approached to the King and charged him to proceed on no farther and threatned him if he did to curse him For that the Pope to the end the War might be carried on against the Common Enemy of Christianity with greater vigor having now Composed all differences in Europe was set upon Accommodating this matter in Britain That they indeed were sent before to preadmonish him but that another Legate would quickly follow with an Ample power to Compose the Civils Discords in England and to procure satisfaction for the injuries sustained by the Scots This bait took him and so he Disbanded his Army But alas nothing could divert this Prince's now impending Fate for being soon after advertised of the trick put upon him by the foresaid Counterfeit Nuncio he re-assembles his Army and because he could not directly Joyn with York's Forces He marches to the Siege of Roxborough and having quickly master'd the Town lays close Seige to the Castle which made a brave defence The Duke and his Companions having in the mean time prevailed sent to give King James thanks for his Assistance desire him now things were amicably terminated to return home least the English being incensed they should be forced to march against the Scotch Army The King having received the Message asked those that brought it whether the Duke of York and his Friends said any thing in relation to the promises they had made when he came into their Assistance but finding no satisfaction in that point he proceeds with great Fury to assault the Castle and Batters the Walls with Cannon which began then to be much used as they were much dreaded and being very forward and intent upon his work one of his Guns being over-charged burst and a slice thereof struck the King dead to the ground and hurt no other besides himself a strang fatality that brought him to his end when he had lived twenty nine Years and of them Reigned twenty four Anno. 146â— He left three Sons behind him James that Succeeded him Alexander Duke of Albany and John Earl of Mar who were a plague to one another while alive and not one of them died a natural death as we shall shew in its proper place James III. a Minor of seven Years old as his Father before him came to the Crown and at first fell under the Care and Regency of his Mother as did the whole Kingdom a Woman after the decease of her Husband James II. that lead a Scandalous life keeping one Adam Hepborn who was himself a Married Man for her Gallant but death put an end to her Lewdness and Government together about three Years after Then he came into the hands of the Boyds who Ruled the roast for a long time but at last made a fatal Catastrophe he took to Wife Margaret Daughter to the King of Denmark and Norway Anno. 1469. And about this time began to Exercise the Royal power himself He involved himself at first with the Affairs of the Church and not long after became miserably enslaved with the predictions of Astrologers and Witches to which he was strangely addicted and which brought not only destruction upon his kindred but also at last upon himself which we shall now prosecute as they fell out in order He was on a time it seems informed by some
long Wound his left Arm almost cut off in two several places could scarce hang to his Shoulder and had been besides shot through several parts of his Body with Arrows and this seems to have the greatest appearance of truth in it tho' what Buchanan and others his Countrymen alledge is not improbable viz. That after the King found the Battle encline to the English without any hopes of retrieving it he passed the Tweed and near Kelso was slain by Humes's followers it remaining uncertain whether it was done by his Command or that these Ruffians thinking to gratify the humour of their Patron were in hopes when the King was once cut off they might transact what villany they pleased impunedly but if he survived they were in great apprehensions of being called to a severe account for their tardiness during the Battle To which they also add other conjectures that the very night after the Battle the Monastery of Kelso was seised by one Carr a confident of Hume and the Abbot chasheered which its likely he durst not have attempted if he had known the King had been alive But these things are so uncertain says Buchanan that when Hume was afterward called to an Account and Tryed for the Fact by the Earl of Murrey the King 's base Son it came to nothing they were not able to prove it upon him but withal adds that Lawrence Faliser a Person of integrity but then a Lad and spectator of of the Action did often affirm to him that he had seen the King on Horse Back pass the Tweed and hence many took occasion to report which lasted many years that the King was alive and would appear in due time after he had pay'd his vow of going to Jerusalem to view the Holy Sepulcre But this savours two much like the legendary Story of Arthur of old and of Charles Duke of Burgundy not many Years before of whom they related such another Tale But to return and take for granted that he died as before noted upon the place of Battle his Body being enclosed in a Sheet of Lead was brought into England and by the Kings Command laid in some bye Vault or Corner without any Funeral rites he saying That it was a due punishment for one who had perjuriously broken his League So that Death it self had not put a Period to his misfortune Tho' otherwise he was a Prince of great perfections both of Body and Mind and endued with most of those Royal Virtues that are necessary for the equal poize of a Scepâ—er which caused that sharp but true saying to drop from the Pen of a learned Author upon him that he perished Non suo sed Stuartorum Fato The loss of James IIII. in this manner seemed to carry with it the most dreadfull presages of Confusion and Misery that ever threatned any Country for he left his Queen Margaret and two Sons behind him the Eldest whereof James V. that succeeded him in the Kingdom being not fully two years old most of the Nobility who bore any thing of Wisdom and Authority before them being slain in the foresaid Battle and the major part of such as survived by reason of their Youth or Incapacity of their mind very unfit to meddle with matters of State especially in so teachy a time as that was And those who were left alive of the better sort who had any thing of Prudence through Ambition and Covetousness abhorring all Counsels tending to Peace and Concord However something must be done for the Publick weal and as the fittest expedient for a settlement a Parliament was convened at Sterling who Proclaimed James V. King and according to the Deseased King's Will The Queen was constituted Regent of the Kingdom so long as she remained a Widdow But she soon after Marrying Archembald Dowglass Earl of Angus a young Gentleman who for Lineage Comliness and other Accomplishments might be ranked amongst the prime Nobility of Scotland lost her Office and Authority and this occasioned a great feud among the Nobility The Dowglassian Party endeavoured to have the Queen continued in the Office Alledging That this was the way to have Peace with England which was not only advantagious but highly necessary for them at that time as matters stood with them But the Humes whereof Alexander Hume Warden of all the Marches and a very Potent Man was head making up the adverse faction under pretence of publick Good and that it was against the old Laws of the Kingdom to have a Woman however otherwise dignifyed to be Regent stiffly opposed the Queen and her Adherents so that at last after they had passionately struggled about the choise either out of wicked Ambition or secret Envy They past by all that were there present and incline to choose John Duke of Albany Son of Alexander of whom we have spoken before Brother of James III. and who lived then in good Repute in France from whence soon after he arrived in Scotland The Duke was ignorant of the old Customs of the Country as having been bred abroad all his Days which John Hepburn a Crafty Knave and one who had contested with Andrew Foreman about the Archbishoprick of St. Andrew's a little before well observing makes it his business to insinuate himself into the Regents Favour under pretence of informing him of the Laws and Manners of the Land but in Truth and Reality that he might advance himself upon the wrack and ruine of others And to this End he tells the Regent there were at that time three Factions in the Kingdom the one headed by Archibald Dowglass Earl of Angus the Queens Husband who was wonderfully Popular and upon the account of his Alliance with England and his own Personal and Hereditary Merits bore a Spirit too big for a private Man Alexander Hume was the next whose Power and Interest was so great that there was a necessity of repressing of him in time Foreman his former Competitor was the third who said he 't was true was not to be feared upon the account of Kindred and Nobleness of descent yet by reason of his great Wealth he would make a great Accession of Strength to what Party soever he inclined But to this last Part the Governor gave little heed as knowing it to be an invidious accusation of Hepburn proceeding from the noted feuds between Foreman and himself But the suspicion of Hume sunk deeper into the Regents mind which the other quickly perceiving he falls in for his own security with the interest of the Queen and her Husband and lamenting the danger the young King might be in if he should fall into the Regents Hands who was next Heir and bent to translate the Kingdom to himself he perswades the Queen to retire with the King to her Brother into England But these Consultations were not so secretly carried on but that the Governor had notice thereof who being an Active Man hastens with all his Forces to Sterling and quickly took the
the frankest Fellow among them all none of them will make thy leap good meaning his former leaping out of the Lord Grang's Ship to save himself but Lidingtown seeing the Regents unconstancy rounds him in the Ear that he had disgraced himself and put his Life in danger by the loss of so good a Friend as the Duke of Norfolk and that he had lost his Reputation for ever The Regent soon repents his Folly and desires to have the Accusation again alledging he had some more to add thereto but was answered That they would keep what they had and were ready to receive any addition he should please to give in The Duke of Norfolk had much ado to keep his Countenance Wood tip'd the wink upon Cecil who smiled upon him again the Regents company were Laughing only Lidingtown had a sorrowful Heart and the Regent himself left the Council with Tears in his Eyes and retired to his Lodgings at Kingstown and continued there for a long time in great displeasure and fear without Money to spend or hopes to get any from the Queen In the mean time the Agreement between the Duke and Regent was told the Queen for Morton caused one John Willock to declare what had past between them to the Earl of Huntingdon who caused the Lord Leicester to acquaint the Queen therewith The Duke finding how all things stood thought to out-brave it and stuck not to tell the Queen her self While he lived he would ne'er Offend her but Serve and Honour her and after her the Queen of Scots as in his Opinion truest Heir and the only means for saving of Civil Wars and much Bloodshed that might fall out which Words were as a Dagger to the Queen's Heart though for the time she dissembled her Displeasure but to further this great Man's Fall though Sir Nicholas Throgmorton seemed to mean honestly he got the Duke and Regent reconciled again and then the Duke declared to him that he was resolved to marry the Queen of Scots his Mistress and that he would never permit her to come into Scotland nor yet that she should ever Rebel against the Queen of England during her time and also that he had a Daughter who would be a fitter Match for King James than any other for many Reasons and so procured the Sum of Two Thousand Pounds from the Queen for the Regent for which himself became security and was forced afterward to pay the same When the Regent had got the Money he was easily induced by some about him to acquaint the Queen with all that had past between the Duke and himself and withall engaged to transmit back unto her all the Letters which the Duke should write to him when he came into Scotland which was done accordingly The Duke was then the greatest Subject in Europe he Ruled the Queen and all those that were familiar with her and was Courted by all Factions both Protestants and Papists both paying him a very great Deference and at that time commanded all the North of England and it was in his Power to have set the Queen of Scots at liberty if he had pleased but when the Queen had had his Letters from Scotland she sent for the Duke to come to Court whereupon he first posted in haste to Secretary Cecil on whose Advice and Friendship he much relied who told him there was no danger he might come and go at his Pleasure no man would or durst offend him and so the Duke only with his own Train came to Court Cecil in the mean time informed the Queen that the necessity of the time obliged her not to omit this occasion but to take the matter stoutly upon her self and forthwith command her Guards to lay hands upon the Duke or else no other durst do it which if she did not at this time she would endanger the safety of her Crown The Queen embraced the Advice and so orders the Duke to be secured when he thought all England was at his Devotion who after a long Imprisonment was Executed ending his Life as Sir James Melvill says devoutly in the Reformed Religion From Carlisle this forlorne Queen was removed to Bolton under the custody of Sir Francis Knowles and from thence to Tutbury under the Care of the Earl of Shrewsbury and in whose custody she remained for the space of Fifteen years but the many Attempts made for her Liberty and other more dangerous suspicions increasing against her caused her to be committed to the keeping of Sir Anias Pawlet and Sir Drue Druery where she sollicited with more greater importunity than ever the Bishop of Rome and the Spaniard by Sir Francis Inglefield to hasten what they had in hand with all speed against the Queen of England whatever became of her and at length holding correspondence with Babington and the rest of the Conspirators against Queen Elisabeth's Life which you may read in Cambden's Elizabeth at large this drew on the fatal Day whereon she was to be called to an account for what she had done and to this end it was agreed to have her Tryed upon the late Statute made against such as should attempt any violence against the Queen's Person c. and 24 Lords and others of inferior Degree were Commissionated by the Queen's Patent for her Tryal who met Octob. 11. 1586. in Fothringham Castle in the County of Northampton where the Queen of Scots was then in custody and next day sent Sir Walter Mildmay and others to her with the Queen's Letter about her Crimes and Tryal which when she had read she complained of her ill usage excused her carriage and seemed to question the Commissioners Authority but they justify their Authority and advise her to appear to her Tryal but she excepted against the new Law and required to have her Protestation admitted which was denied at length she is brought on the 14 th Day to appear to whom Bromley the Chancellor made a Speech how Queen Elizabeth their Sovereign being informed of her Conspiracies against her Life she was now called upon to Answer for the same and to clear her self if she could and make her Innocency appear to the World here she would have urged her Protestation again of being no Subject of England but a Crowned Head but that being again rejected she submitted her self to a Trial and after a long Hearing and several proofs made of her being privy to the Design against the Queen's Life and of her intention to convey her Title and Claim to the Kingdom of England to the Spaniard c. The Court Adjourned till the 25 th of October to the Star-Chamber at Westminster at what time Wacee and Curle her Secretaries did viva voce voluntarily and without hope of Reward avow all and every the Letters and Copâ—es of Letters produced at the Trial to be True and Real upon which Sentence was pronounced against her and Ratified by the Seals and Subscriptions of the Commissioners in these words By their unanimous
to the abrogating of which by the enormous power of the Sword because he could by no means be induced he was brought thither to undergo a Martyrdom for his People Then he prayed and being minded by the Bishop to satisfie the Spectators as to his Religion he said that he had deposited the Testimony of his Faith with that holy Man meaning the Bishop That his Life and Profession had been well known and that now he died in the Christian Faith according to the Profession of the Church of England as the same was left him by his Father of Blessed Memory And then turning about to the Officers and professing the hopes he had of his Salvation he began to prepare for the Circumstances of Death The Bishop put on his Night-cap and uncloathed him to his Sky-coloured Sattin Wastcoat he delivered his George to the Bishop's hands and charged him to remember to give the same to the Prince and having prayed again he stooped down to the Block and had his Head severed from his Body at one Blow about Two of the Clock in the Afternoon the day aforesaid in the year 1648. dying the same death as to kind as his Grandmother Mary Queen of Scots had done sixty two years and eight days before at Fothringham Castle in Northamptonshire and I think was no whit inferior to her in the misfortunes of his Life And to note a few his three Favourites to wit Buckingham Laud and Strafford undergoing a violent death and the two latter falling by the Axe as forerunners of his own destiny And as to his own Personal errors when Bristol was cowardly surrendred by Fines had he then marched to London as he might have done very well all had been his own but loytering to no purpose at Gloucester he was soon after well banged by the Earl of Essex When he had worsted Essex in Cornwall he neglected the like opportunity of getting to London Guilty he was of the same oversight in not commanding the Duke of Newcastle to march Southwards toward the Metropolis of England before the Scots entred the English Borders and in not doing the like himself after he had taken Leicester for there was nothing then that could have hindred him to become Master of the City The same ill success he had as to his Treaties about being restored And in short he was generally unfortunate in the World in the esteem not only of his Enemies but in some sort of his Friends too for as the later were n'er pleased with his breach of Faith so the former would say he could never be fast enough bound and the Blood that some years before dropt upon his Statue at Greenwich and the falling off of the Silver Head of his Cane at his Trial were interpreted as dismal presages of his disastrous fate His Head and Trunk after the Execution were immediately put into a Coffin and conveyed to the Lodgings in Whitehall and there Embowelled and from thence conveyed to St. James House and Coffined in Lead About some fortnight after the Duke of Lennox Marquess of Hartford Earl of Southampton and Bishop of London got leave to bury the Body which they conducted to the Chappel at Windsor and Interred it there in the Vault of Henry the Eight with this Inscription only upon his Coffin Charles King of England And herein he was more unhappy than his Grandmother Mary for whereas her Corpse were some years after her death taken up by her Son King James and Reposited with all the Funeral Pomp that could be in the Chappel of King Henry the Seventh her Great Grand Father This King's Remains notwithstanding the Commons had Voted in 1669 the Sum of 50000 l. for the Charge of taking it up a Solemn Funeral had of it and a Monument for it yet lay neglected as if it had been blasted by fate King Charles the Second his Son they said forbidding of it A Physician that made inspection into the dissection of the Body related that nature had designed him above the most of mortal men for a long life but Providence ordered it otherwise for he was cut off in the Forty ninth year of his Age being his Climacterical and twenty fourth of his Reign leaving six Children behind him three Sons Charles Prince of Wales James Duke of York and Henry Duke of Gloucester whereof the two Elder were Exiles and three Daughters Mary Princess of Orange Elizabeth a Virgin who not long survived him and Henrietta Maria born at Exeter Charles his Eldest Son who was then at the Hague when he heard of his Father's disastrous fate assumed the Title of King of England c. tho an Exile and without any Kingdom to command He was born at St. James's May 30. 1630. it was said a Star appeared over the place where he had been born in broad day which in those times was interpreted to prognosticate his happiness but the Ecclipse of the Sun which happened presently after was no less a presage of his future Calamities There was little remarkable in him or concerning him till the year 1639 when the unhappy disaster of breaking his Arm befell him and that not long after he was afflicted with a violent Feaver accompanied with a little of the Jaundice but having at length recovered his perfect health and the fatal differences begun long before but now daily increasing between the King his Father and the People he accompanied him into the North of England where he was a Spectator of that dismall Cloud which tho small at its first gathering yet was pregnant with that dreadful storm which in a short time spread it self over him his Father and three Nations For going to take possession of Hull as they thought they were by Sir John Hotham denied Entrance and forced to wait several hours at the Gate all in vain From this time forward the War increasing between the King and Parliament he was first spectator of that successless Battle to his Father's Arms at Edgehill staid some time after at Oxford From thence returning to the Field and the King's forces in the West under the command of the Lord Hopton of which the Prince was nominally General being routed by General Fairfax he was necessitated to retire to the Isle of Scilly and from thence betook himself into France To whom his Father now depriv'd of Command himself sent a Commission of Generalissimo of those few Royalists that survived the late unhappy overthrows and this brought him to the Isle of Guernsey where he possest himself of some Vessels that lay there and having joyned them to those he had brought with him out of France he sailed from thence into the Downs where he seized several rich Merchant-Ships and expected some Land-forces from Holland raised by the Prince of Orange for his Service But alas he was as unfortunate now in his Warlike attempts as his Father had been before and was still in his Treaties of Peace for Poyer and Langhorn who made a