more Masculine Spirit than to acquiesce in the forementioned dishonorable Conditions and because it was a Crown that the Duke of York chiefly affected She caused his Head to be cut off set upon a Pole and Crowned with Paper but the death and disgrace of the Father Edward Earl of March his Eldest Son doth speedily revenge to the utter ruine of the Lancastrian party Nor will this Edward as did his Father await anothers leasure and prove expectant of a Crown in reversion but immediately assumes it by the actual deposing of King Henry whom he takes Prisoner and commits to safe custody in the Tower of London But there was an accident which had well-nigh nipped the white Rose in the bud and restored the red Rose to its pristine vigour Edward the fourth late Earl of March now King of England sends his great General the Earl of Warwick to treat a Match between him and the Lady Bona Sister to the Queen of France But our youthful King in the mean time consulting only his own affections takes to Wife the fair Lady Gray Widdow of Sir Iohn Gray of Groby which so inceses warwick that he Rebels against his Master beats him not only out of the Field but also out of the Kingdom delivers King Henry from his Prison and reseats him in his Throne but all this is but as Lightning before Death Edward returns from beyond Seas fights with defeats and kills the Earl of warwick routs also Queen Margaret newly landed and the relicts of her Lancastrian Associates takes her and her Son Edward Prisoners which last is stabbed by Richard Duke of Glocester King Edwards Brother and not long it is but the Father Henry is dispatched by the same hand in the Tower of London whither he was remanded by King Edward after this fortunate and victorious successe The cruelty of Richard Duke of Glocester whose nature was more crooked than his body did not terminate in the blood of the Enemies but begins to practise on his Friends and nearest Relations For perceiving that King Edward by reason of his incontinency whereunto no English Prince was ever more subject was not long liv'd he secretly plots the attaining of the Crown for himself And for the more expedite compassing this ambitious design he first incenses King Edward against their common Brother George Duke of Clarence not only exaggerating the hainousaesse of his former disobedience which had been pardoned but insinuating a blind Prophecy that one whose name began with the letter G. should prove fatal to Edwards posterity Hereupon the Duke of Clarence is committed to the Tower and there by Richard drowned in a Butt of Malmsey however it was given out that he dyed of a discontented passion But the Ominous G. which the King so much dreaded was found in the sequele to appertain to Glocester himself who was the Contriver of this mischief and Butcher of Edwards innocent Sons of whom after the Kings decease he was made Protector The young Prince Edward the fifth was at Ludlow when his Father Edward the fourth dyed from whence his Mother was over desirous to have him forthwith conveyed to London But his Unkle the Duke of Glocester meets him by the way at Stony-Stratford and having secured all his faithful Attendants and Kindred by the Mothers side takes into custody the person of the young King which was the game that this mighty hunter did mainly intend Yet was there one obstacle to his aspiring ends still behind to wit Richard Duke of York the Kings Brother in Sanctuary with his Mother at Westminster whom to allure thence for to do it by Violence was accounted Religion in those days he imploys the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury to perswade the Mother and in case she proves obstinate to interpose his Authority to part with her Son under colour that he might be a companion and great lenitive of the Melancholy disposition of his disconsolate Brother Glocester having thus compassed the Wardship of both his Nephews makes shew as if he would proceed to the Coronation of the Elder but whilst the Lords of the Councel are debaring of the time and manner of it he arrests and on a sudden makes shorter by the Head the Lord Chamberla in Hastings whom though he had used as a forward Coadjuter in depressing of the Queens Relations yet knew him to be altogether averse from yielding any Countenance to the disinheriting of his Masters King Edwards Children Hastings thus removed the Duke of Buckingham who had received several disgusts from his Brother-in-law Edward the fourth is pitched upon as the fittest agent to carry on this Devilish attempt who having prepared the Mayor and Citizens of London comes in their name pretending Bastardy and insufficiency of Edwards race to make a tender of the Crown to Protector Richard and in case of refusal with threats to elect some other worthy and deserving Person Richard in seeming amazednesse makes strange at first of this by himself-devised proposal but after some importunity grants his forfooth unwilling consent not without a dissembled regret of his Nephews condition whose murder in the Tower doth immediately ensue Buckingham supposed not privy to the making away of the harmlesse Princes upon this and other distasts retires from Court to his Castle of Brecknock where with his prisoner Morton Bishop of Ely he contrives the Match between Henry Earl of Richmond and Elizabeth Daughter of Edward the fourth which proves Richards downfall and the union of the Yorkish and Lancastrian line Henry Earl of Rickmond was the Son of Margaret Daughter of Iohn Duke of Somerset Son of Iohn of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster by Katherine Swineford relict of Sir Ores Swineford and though this Iohn and other Children were born before espousals yet was the issue made legitimate by Act of Parliament and confirmed by a Bull from Rome Of this Henry there goes a tradition for current that in the heat of the Civil Wars between the House of York and Lancaster Henry the sixth having espied him in the presence laid his hand upon his head and in a Prophetick manner said Behold this youth who is to enjoy that for which we now contend Which his Mother observing and treasuring up in her heart sent him into Britany in France as into a safe Harbour to be there educated and preserved till the sury of the tempest were over which then did so terribly rage throughout the Land Richard the third earnestly Solicites the Duke of Britany to deliver up Richmonds person to him which was well-nigh effected by the treachery of Peter Landoys the Dakes especial Favourite But Richmond having timely notice of this Clandestine negotiation flyes to the French Kings Court for at that time the Dukedom of 〈◊〉 was a distinct Principality from whence having sworn to consummate the projected marriage with the Lady Elizabeth he hastens to redeem poor England from the jaws of an usurping Tyrant Richmond Lands at Milford Haven in Pembrokeshire where he was heartily
her head in whose room the very next day succeeds Jane Seymour who dies in Child-birth And so he continues shifting and putting away or to death his Wives as well as other Subjects till his own appointed time came a little before which it is recorded that in great Agony he should say unto Arch-Bishop Cranmer Is there any mercy for him who never spared man in his wrath nor woman in his lust In his life he little regarded but rather endeavoured to defeat by Parliament the titles of his Daughters Mary by Katherine of Spain and Elizabeth by Anne of Bolen with both whose Mothers he had been grievously displeased and seemed more inclinable to the off-spring of his youngest Sister Mary Dowager of France by Charles Brandon Duke of Suffolk but at his death by his last Will and Testament he constituted his Son Edward by Jane Seymour his next immediate heir and then in case they dyed issulesse the Lady Mary and the Lady Elizabeth to succeed in their order Henry the eighth being dead Edward the 6th of that name his Son is at nine years of age proclaimed King and Edward Duke of Sommerset by the Mothers side ordained his Protector whose candid nature exposed him to the cunning wiles of Dudley Duke of Northumberland which at last brought Sommerset his Brother Thomas Marquesse of Hertford Admiral of England and even the King himself to their untimely ends The Fox Northumberland observing the differencee between the Protector and the Admiral begun by th womanish emulation of their Wives doth underhand so soment it that the Admiral is brought to the block and the Protector not long after follows which renders the Pupill King more obnoxious to Northumberlands ambitious practices now that his two faithfull Uncles who should have supported him are removed out of the way Northumberland taking advantage of the Kings weaknesse of mind and body where unto he is shrewdly suspected to have contributed advises him to make a Will wherein the King declaring that he was past his minority thoughot above sixteen years of age and that it appertained to him to dispose of the Kingdome as he pleased doth disinherlt his Sisters Mary and Elizabeth as Persons of whose legitimation there was a question as likewise the issue of his eldest Aunt Sister Margaret married to the Scotish King as foreiners and aliens bequeathing the Crown to his Cousen Jane Grand-daughter to the Dutchesse of Suffolk the youngest Sister of his Father King Henry the eighth Gutlford Duke Dudleys Son was husband to this Lady Jane who upon the death of Edward was proclaimed Queen but Mary the eldest Daughter of King Henry by the assistance of the Norsolk and Suffolk Gentry recovered that which both by birth and her Fathers appointment was her undoubted though for a small time detained right Notwithstanding Mary by the Protestants aid attained the Crown yet her Education in the contrary profession and the memory that for her Mothers sake it suffered its first detriment obliged her to recall the Catholick Religion that had been banished in her Predecessors days keeping as one wittily observes the Kingdom by pater noster which she had gained by Our Father which are in Heaven Her zeal and over-ardent desire to extinguish that which she thought Heresy kindled many fires in this land for which she hears ill among the vulgar to this day and bears the brand of tyranny though of her self she was of a mild and merciful disposition Among other passages her severity to her Sister Elizabeth is much taxed of whose sincere devotion though outwardly conformable to the Romish Church the Queen much doubted and fearing a relapse of things after her own death could have been content that her Sister Elizabeth though the youngest had had the Precedency therein But Philip King of Spain Queen Maryes husband had other thoughts of and intentions towards Elizabeth whom he preserved from her Sisters violence and designed for his second we would say third wise for he was a Widdower when he married Mary by whom he now begins to despair of issue and by reason of her Dropsy perceives she was in no wise immortal here Queen Elizabeth at her first entrance makes shew as if she would tread in her Sister Marys steps whereby she so charmed the Catholick Clergy and Nobility that they created her no disturbance And she did further so temporize with King Philip that he was a great favourer of her admission hoping shortly to be a Copartner with her both in Bed and Kingdom But the lancy which Philip though no Babe had builded in his brain quickly appears to be but an aerial Castle for Elizabeth soon undeceives him and other Romanist who had promised themselves other matters by declining Marriage disowing the Popes Jurisdiction and reducing Ecclesiastical Affairs to the same state and condition lier Father and Brother had left them in The aversenesse of this Queen to Matrimonial Bondage as she accounted it gave occasion to that great and by her alwayes disliked dispute about the Succession That it belonged of right to Mary Queen of Seets Daughter of James the fifthe Son of Margaret eldest Daughter to King Henry the seventh none could reasonably deny but Maâ—y say the State Politicians of thosetimes will prove another Mary and our Religion will be depressed if she be advanced to the English Throne Her own Subjects have expelled her upon that account and shall we accept of her for our Princesse whom we have so much disobliged by detaining so long a Prisoner For this unfortunate Queen having been educated in France did after the decease of her first Husband the Dolphin return into Scotland of whose fashions by reason of her forein breeding being somewhat ignorant she could not consequently but be guilty of some miscarriages which her Enemies so aggravate that they stir up the people to a sedition seize upon her Person force her to resign to her Son James by Henry Lord Darly Son of the Duke of Lenox not full eighteen Months old of whom Earl Murray her Bastard Brother is made Regent who was the beginning and continuer of all her troubles Mary late and by right still Queen of Scots after this extorted and therefore invalid resignation fearing further attempts against her life escapes out of the loathsom Gaol where she was secured and betakes her self into England for succour sending news to her Cozen Queen Elizabeth imploring not only present protection but also such convenient aides as might restore her to her Kingdom of which she had been forceably deprived by her Mutinous and Rebellious Subjects Elizabeth at first gives good words and sends her large attendance which were yet but in the quality of an honourable Guard but afterwards more and more abridges her liberty at which hard and unworthy usage of a suppliant and Heir apparent of the Crown some English Lords and Gentlemen conceiving a just disdain project and propose to her means of deliverance whereunto she as all other living
and entwisted together But we cannot dissemble what few take notice of to wit that the better that is the more Masculine Bloud-Royal of the Saxon Race which in comparison of the Norman though both founded in Conquest was much to be preferred by reason of its much elder prescription did still reside in the House of Scotland For Margaret bare to Malcolm besides that Daughter Maud three Sons Edgar Alexander and David who to pass over the Intrusion of Donald the Brother and Duncan the Bastard of Malcolm because each did soon expire were all Kings in their Order but only David had Issue from whom the Kings of Scotland have ever since however they have alwayes abstained from their claim to the English Crown upon that account derived an undoubted and not to be disputed descent Henry David's only Son departed this life before his Father but left three Sons behind him Malcolm William and David which last was Earl of Huntington in England whereof Malcolm the 4. succeeded his Grandfather him being childless his Brother William him his Son Alexander the second him his Son Alexander the third and him should have his Grandaughter Margaret who was bred in and sent for out of Norway but that she died before her arrival on the Scotish Coasts And now the rest being extinct recourse must be had to the Off-spring of the late mentioned Earl of Huntington when lo two Grand Competitors appear Iohn Baliol who fetches his stock from the eldest Daughter Margaret and Robert Bruse who confessedly came from the younger Isabell but alledges that he is in a nearer degree of Consanguinity to Earl David than the other either did or could pretend himself to be The Controversie in regard of the Potency of both Parties being not capable of a decision at home without the danger of a Civil War it was referred to Edward the first King of England who rather brought Oyl to encrease than Water to quench the flame and was resolved to bestow it on him only who would profess homage and swear fealty unto the English Crown To this Imperious demand Baliol though conceived superior in Title yet proving meaner in Spirit did readily condescend which Bruse whose Plea was thought weaker but Courage found greater did utterly refuse to assent unto Whereupon Edward pronounces sentence on Baliols side who is acknowledged King by many of the Scotish Nobility but rather out of fear of Edward's power than any satisfaction or delight they took in this dishonourable and as they esteemed it unworthy submission Yea Baliol himself doth soon repent of it and bids defiance to Edward who now afresh cajols Bruse urging the performance of promises he returned a scornfull Negative As if saies he we had nothing else to do than to conquer Kingdoms for you to enjoy Baliol at last surrenders himself unto Edward and is by him sent Prisoner into England and there detained until the Pope's Intercession and Engagement that he should create no further trouble in Scotland he is released and retires into France where having resigned his whole right to his Counsin Bruse he spends the remainder of his days in a more quiet and contented estate But Robert Bruse Son of Robert the Author of the Contention which he lived not to see finished was little pleased with Eeglish Edward's fishing in disturbed streams and therefore he sets up trading for himself at first with smal probability of thriving but afterwards he caught the prey where at he aimed which was almost ravished out of the mouth of his Infant-Son David by Edward Baliol Son of that Iohn who had once renounced it but it was again rescued by Robert Stuart the Vice-roy and Baliol with his Issue if he had any failing the Brusians became legal Owners of that Kingdom whereinto at the beginning they seemed to have made but a violent and forcible entry Robert Stuart even now remembred was David's Sister's Son and consequently his Heir he having no Children of his own but David notwithstanding old benefits upon some new displeasure was inclinable to have put him by had he not been over-perswaded by the Nobility who were as well sensible of Robert's worth as that his Grandfather Robert the first had before his Son David was born designed him to the Kingdom Nay the Fates themselves if credit be to be given to some Scotish Chronicles had long ago destined no less for they report that Macbeth the after Tyrant and Banco one of Robert's Progenitors walking in a Wood encountred with three women of more than humane aspect who saluted Macbeth then a private person King of Scotland whereat when Banco shewed himself aggrieved they told him that Macbeth should only the King himself which presently came to pass but that the succession was reserved for his Posterity which though somewhat with the slowest is now at length exactly fulfilled For this Robert was the Son of Walter the Son of Iohn the Son of Alexander the Son of Walter the Son of Alexander the Son of Alan the Son of Walter Stuart the first of that Surname and Office in Scotland the Son of Fleance the Son of Banco whom Macbeth to defeat the Prediction slew and sought to do the like to his Son Fleance who prevented his bloudy intentions by fleeing into Wales and there as it hath already been touched in gross he married Nest by whom he had that first and famous Walter the Daughter of Giffith ap Llewelyn the Son of Angharad the Daughter and Heir of Meredith the Son of Owen the Son of Howel Dha the Son of Cadelh the Son of Rodri Mawr the Son of Esylht the Daughter and Heir of Conan Tyndaithwy the Son of Rodri Moelwynog the Son of Edwall Twrch the Son of Cadwallader last King of Brittany and first of Wales beyond whom in point of pedegree we dare not wander but must here erect our Pillars and fix our Ne plus ultra lest by wading further we should be swallowed up in the vast Abyss of an unbounded and fathomless Ocean And here we might likewise put a period to the whole Tract as having traced this Robert's lineage in the Brettish Story as far as with any confidence we can well proceed and being able with much more ease and assurance to resolve our present Sovereign's into his for Charles the second is the Son of Charles the first the Son of Iames the sixth the Son of Mary the Daughter and Heir of Iames the fourth the Son of Iames the fourth the Son of Iames the third the Son of Iames the second the Son of Iames the first the Son of Iohn whose name upon the Assumption of the Kingdom was converted into Robert the third the Son of the aforesaid Robert the second c. but that it is demurred by some First Whether Nest Walter 's Mother were an Heir or no 2. Admitting that she were whether her Ancestor Cadelh were the eldest Son of Rodri Mawr who being King of all Wales was the first that