King or Queen who actually Reigns the Subjects of that Kingdom are bound by Law Duty and Allegiance to obey the next immediate and lawful Heir either Male or Female upon whom the Right and Administration of Government is immediately devolved And that no Difference in Religion nor no Law nor Act of Parliament made or to be made can alter or divert the Right of Succession and Lineal Descent of the Crown to the nearest and lawful Heir according to the Degrees aforesaid nor can stop or hinder them in the full free and actual Administration of the Government according to the Laws of the Kingdom but obliged also His Majesty for the preservation of the Peace and Tranquillity of that Kingdom with Advice and Consent of the said Estates of Parliament to declare That it is High Treason in any of the Subjects of that Kingdom by Writing Speaking or any other manner of way to endeavor the Alteration Suspension or Diversion of the said Right of Succession or the debarring the next lawful Successor from the immediate actual full and free Administration of the Government Nor is it to be doubted but that the Commons of England who now begin to grow sensible of those Precipices of Ruine whereinto they were ready to tumble through the Contrivances of of those malicious Incendiaries that by terrifying the People with panick Fears of Popery and Arbitrary Power endeavoured to kindle a Fire of Rebellion in this Nation will whenever it shall please His Majesty to call a Parliament shew themselves no less Zealous than the Scots have done to assist and defend according to their Oaths the Kings Rights and Priviledges the chiefest whereof upon which all the rest depend as on a Corner Stone is the unalterable Hereditariness of the Monarchy and thereby defeat the Designes of those cursed Achitophels who labor by involving us in Confusion to establish their beloved Democracy the very worst of Tyrannies CHAP. XIII Of the present Monarch of Great Britain His Name Surname Genealogy Birth Baptism Court Education Departure out of England Coming into Scotland Escape from Worcester Restauration Coronation and Marriage Name THe now-reigning Monarch of Great Britain is CHARLES the Second of that Name His Name of Baptism in Latine written Carolus in English CHARLES in the German Language Karle is contracted from Car-eal which is it self an Abbreviation of the old Teutonick Gar-edel and signifies All or wholly Noble Not improperly then was this Name given to this Prince whose Subjects may justly glory in the Enjoyment of that Happiness for which Salomon pronounces a Land blessed that their King is the Son of Nobles Surname Tho Surnames are neither used by Soveraign Princes nor necessary to them as they are to other inferior persons whose Surnames preserve the Memory of their Relations and Families yet as Bourbon and Austria which were but the Possessions of their Progenitors are now generally esteemed the Surnames of the Present French and Spanish Royal Familyes So Stuart or Steward the Abbreviation of the Saxon Word Stedeward signifying the same as Locumtenens in Latin and Lievtenant in French which was originally but the Name of Office to Walter Son of Fleance by the Daughter of Gruffyth ap Lhewelyn King of Northwales and Progenitor to Robert the IId King of Scotland from whom our present King is descended who was by King Malcolm Canmore created Grand Seneschal or High Steward of Scotland has by Prescription of Time and long Vulgar Error so far prevailed as to be accounted the Surname of the now-Royal Family of Great Britain and of many other Families descended from him Nor is this Name unfit for any King as being in his Kingdom the Steward Lieutenant or Vicegerent of Almighty GOD. Our Soveraign Lord the King Genealogy now reigning does for Royal Extraction and long Line of just Descent excell all the Monarchs of the Christian if not of the whole World being lineally and lawfully descended from and by Right of Primogeniture next Heir unto the British Saxon Norman and Scotish Kings and Princes of this Island his Grandfather King James who by along Descent of Royal Ancestors was was derived from Malcolm Canmor King of the Scots and the Lady Margaret his Wife Sister and Sole Heir of Edgar Atheling the last surviving Prince of the English Saxons joyning the Saxon and Scotish Titles to the British and Norman already united in the Person and Posterity of Edward the IVth King of England He is from the first British Kings the hundred thirty ninth from the Scotish in a continued succession for almost two thousand years the hundred and ninth from the Saxon the forty sixth since the Norman Conquest the twenty sixth from the Uniting of the Royal Families of York and Lancaster the eighth and since the Union of England and Scotland the third sole Monarch He is the first that was born Prince or Heir apparent of Great Britain and hath in his possession larger Domininions than any of his Royal Ancestors His Father was Charles the Martyr and his Mother the Princess Henrietta Maria Daughter to Henry the Great Sister to Lewis the XIIIth and Aunt to the present Lewis the XIVth most Christian Kings a Lady who needeth no other Character than what is found in the seventh Chapter of that unimitable Book compiled by him that best knew her From these two Royal Stocks he hath in his Veins some of all the Royal Blood of Europe concentred This most Excellent Prince was born on the twenty ninth of May 1630. at the Royal Palace of St. James's Birth near Westminster over which there was the same day at noon by thousands seen a Star impending and soon after the Sun suffered an Eclipse which was by some even at that time regarded as a sad Omen that the Power of this Prince should for a while be eclipsed and that some Subject signified by the Star should have more than ordinary Splendor Baptism On the twenty seventh of June following he was baptized by Dr. William Laud then Bishop of London afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury who was in the year of our Lord 1644. by a pretended Ordinance of the rebellious long Parliament barbarously murthered for his Fidelity to his Soveraign His God-fathers were his two Uncles the most Christian King Lewis the XIIIth and Frederick Prince Elector Palatine of the Rhine then called King of Bohemia represented by the Duke of Richmond and Marquess of Hamilton his Godmother being his Grandmother Maria de Medicis then Queen-Mother of France whose Substitute was the Dutchess of Richmond He had for his Governess Mary Countess of Dorset Wife to Edward Earl of Dorset In May 1638. he received the Order of Knighthood Court being immediately after made Knight of the Garter and installed at Windsor About which time he was by Order not Creation first called Prince of Wales having all the Revenews of that Principality with divers others Lands annexed and the Earldom of Chester granted unto
majorque premebat Te Furor extremum Zephyri Cornubia Limen Here lodgd of Old A Race of Titans impious and bold Their Bodies with raw Hides they clad allaid With Blood their Thirst of hollow Trees they made Their Cups their Beds were Mosse Bushes Dens Their Houses were their Chambers craggy Pens Their Hunger Prey Rape did their Lust supply The Sport of slaughtring men did please their Eye Force gat them Rule Fury them Courage gave Rage Arms a Battle Death a Grove a Grave These Monsters dwelt on Hills and did molest Each Quarter of the Land but most the West Thou Frighted Cornwall never having Rest The Druids officiated only in Groves of Oak planting for that purpose very many up and down the whole Island for they highly venerated this Tree and more especially the Missletoe growing thereon without a Branch whereof they performed no Sacrifice and which being found on a Tree was esteemed a sure Sign that the GOD whom they were then about to serve had made choise of it This was by them gathered with many Superstitious Ceremonies and great Devotion 1. They observed that at the time of gathering it the Moon was to be neither more nor less than six dayes old 2. Having prepared their Sacrifices under the Tree they brought thither two young Bullocks milk-white whose Horns were then and not before bound up 3. The Priest cloathed in white climbed the Tree and with a golden Bill cut down the Missletoe which was received below in a Souldiers white Cassock 4. They blessed the Gift mumbling over many Orisons The Missletoe thus gathered was reputed a Soveraign Antidote against Poyson and Barrenness Caesar at his coming into Britain Manners found it Inhabited by two sorts of People The more inland parts by such as esteemed themselves 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or to have had their Original out of the very Soil they lived in quos natos in Insula ipsa memoria proditum dicunt as he has it The Maritime parts being possest by such as resorted thither from Gaul and Belgium for the sake either of Traffick or Conquest The want of observing this Distinction is the Cause of the seeming Contradictions that are found in such Writers as discourse of the Manners and Customs of the ancient Britains Those on the Sea-coasts were more civilized had Houses Orchards Gardens tilled and manured their Grounds and agreed very much in manners with the Gauls but the Inlanders for want of Converse and living in a perpetual State of War were more rude and barbarous symbolizing with the Germans from whom they are thought to have had their Original The Britains are generally represented by most Authors to be of a kind and gentle Disposition not having the Craft and Subtilty of other Nations but a fair-conditioned People of a plain and upright Dealing That they were valorous none can doubt who considers with what difficulty notwithstanding the many Divisions and Quarrels amongst their own petty Princes they were subjected to the Romans how serviceable they were to them afterwards in their Wars how vigorously tho then very few their Land having been dispeopled by the Romans they withstood the numerous Forces of the Saxons whom their own Invitation first gave footing amongst them and when over-powered by them they were forced to retire into the more Western Parts of this Island how stoutly they maintained their Liberties against the English Kings both of the Saxon and Norman Race and how by a voluntary Submission rather than Force they were brought under Subjection to the Crown of England Since which time they have been out-gone by none in Loyalty and Fidelity to their Prince The Inlanders had all things amongst them in common and would not admit of any Propriety insomuch that ten or twelve of them promiscuously made use of the same Women Brethren with Brethren and Parents with their own Children the Issue which was bred up by a common Stock being more particularly reputed his who had the first Enjoyment of the Mothers Virgin Embraces They inured themselves to all Hardship being able to undergo any Cold Hunger and Labor whatever so that they would stick themselves in Boggs up to their very Heads continuing there many dayes together without any Sustenance The Britains were generally very much addicted to Magick as are their Descendents the Welsh even to this very day Punishments It was the Custom of the antient Britains that when any great man died his Relations made Enquiry if there were Suspicion amongst his Wives concerning his Death who if they were found guilty were punished with Fire and other Torments From whence Sir Edward Cook derives the Law of England at this day for burning those Women who kill their Husbands Thieves and Murderers were reserved by them to be offered in Sacrifice to the Gods and so were Captives taken in their Wars The greatest Punishment not capital amongst them was Excommunication which was issued out by the Druids not only against private but also against publick persons Those upon whom this Censure was inflicted were accounted impious and profane uncapable of any Honorable Office and excluded the Benefit of the Law none daring to approach them or converse in talk with them tho at a distance for fear of being infected by them The old Language of the Britains Language who have been above all other Nations curious to preserve it entire without any mixture was the same setting aside some small Variations that is spoken at this day not only by the Britains of England but also by those of Armorica in France Which altho it has in it many Phoenician and more Greek Words yet the Idiom of it as to the main appears to be Teutonick and the Words which they received either by Trading with the former Nations or the Invasion of the Gauls seem much to be modelled to that Dialect Besides this generall Language of the Country the Greek or at least a Dialect thereof was preserved entire amongst the Druids who not only therein concealed the Mysteries of their Religion which they committed not to Writing but delivered down by a Traditionary Conveyance to those only who admitted themselves of that Order and underwent the Severities of a long and tedious Discipline But their Records also were preserved in the Greek Tongue and Characters which unintelligible by the Vulgar none could have Recourse unto but Persons of Repute and Learning Nor were they permitted to take any thing away in Writing but by Memory only the Trust of keeping these things being reposed in some persons who for their singular Fidelity Integrity and Learning were chosen for that purpose Stature The antient Britains were of Stature taller than the Gauls whose Expression concerning them to Caesar was that other Nations seemed as Nothing in their Eyes their Hair not so yellow nor their Bodies so compact knit and firm having but bad Feet to support them but the other Lineaments of their Body were well made and their Features
Vlpian for a Rule of the Civil Law Princeps Legibus solutus est The Prince is not bound by the Laws Agreeable whereunto is what is said in the Laws of England Potestas Principis non est inclusa Legibus The Power of the Prince is not included in the Laws Hence no doubt it was that Mr. Grivel in the Thirty first year of Queen Elizabeth said in Parliament That he wished not the making of many Laws since the more we make the less Liberty we have our selves Her Majesty not being bound by them Yet is not this so to be understood that Kings have hereby a right to do Injury but that it is Right for them to go unpunished by their People if they do it The King cannot be impleaded for any Crime No Action lieth against his Person For the Writ goeth forth in his Name and he cannot arrest himself If he should which God forbid violently seizâ— upon the Estate of any Subject having no Title by Law so to do the only Remedy is by Petitioning him to amend his Fault which if he shall refuse to do it will be Punishment sufficient for him to expect that GOD who has given him his Prerogative of being above all Laws for the good only of them that are under the Laws and for the Defence of his Peoples Liberties will severely avenge the Cause of oppressed Loyal Subjects But altho whatever the King shall do he is not questionable for it by his Subjects yet there are divers things which he cannot do Salvo Jure Salvo Juramento Salva Conscientia sua For by an Oath taken at his Coronation the King obliges himself and indeed without any Oath he is by the Law of Nature and Christianity as are all other Christian Kings obliged to procure the Safety and Welfare of his People to protect and defend them against their Enemies to maintain and preserve them in their Properties just Rights and Liberties to administer upright Justice with Discretion and Mercy and in order thereunto to consent to the enacting of good Laws and repealing of Bad. Thus the King can do nothing unjustly nor can he divest himself or his Successors of any part of his Regal Power Prerogative and Authority inherent in the Crown and necessary for the Government and Protection of his People Two things there are especially which having somewhat of Odium in them the King doth not usually do without the Consent of his Parliament that is make new Laws and impose new Taxes the one whereof seems and does but seem to infringe the Peoples Liberties and the other to entrench upon their Properties To take away therefore all Occasions of Disaffection to the Anointed of the Lord stiled in Holy Scripture the Breath of our Nostrils and the Light of our Eyes the Wisdom of our former Princes his Majesties Royal Ancestors has contrived that for both these there should Petitions first be made by the People to the King Tho these and divers other Prerogatives do rightfully belong unto and are enjoyed by the Monarch of Great Britain yet doth he ordinarily govern his people by the known Laws and Customs of his Kingdoms making use of his Royal Prerogative for the Benefit not Damage of his Subjects in some rare and extraordinary Cases only Hereunto may be added a singular and Miraculous Priviledge enjoyed by the Kings of Great Britain quatenus Kings conferred first by the Divine Benignity upon that Blessed King of England St. Edward the Confessor and ever since continued to his Successors which is by the Imposition of their Sacred Hands to drive away and cure that stubborn Disease called the Struma or Scrofula and by us commonly from this supernatural manner of its Cure the Kings Evil. Upon certain dayes almost every Week during the cold Seasons his Majesty graciously permits all that are afflicted with that Disease having been first carefully viewed and allowed by his Chirurgeons to be brought into his Royal Presence Where an appointed Form of Divine Service consisting of some short Prayers pertinent to the Occasion and two Portions of Holy Scripture taken out of the Gospel being read the King at the pronouncing of these Words They shall lay their hands upon the Sick and they shall recover gently draws both his Hands over the Sore of the sick person the same words being repeated at every Touch. And at these Words This was the true Light which enlightneth every Man that cometh into this World he putteth about the Neck of each Sick person a piece of Gold called from the Impression an Angel being in value about eleven Shillings Sterling This evident Cure is by many malignant Nonconformists those true Sons of Belial daily despising and speaking evil of Dignities ascribed to the Strength of Fancy and exalted Imagination but little do they reflect upon how many tender Infants no way capable of such Transports this stupendious Cure is effectually performed Respect In consideration of these and many other transcendent Excellencies to no Prince or other Potentate in Christendom is done more Honour Reverence or Respect than to the Monarch of Great Britain All his Subjects at their first Addresses kneel unto him At Table he is served on the knee All persons the Prince or other Heir apparent not excepted are bare-headed in his Presence In the Presence Chamber tho the King be not there all men are not only uncovered but do or ought to do Reverence to the Chair of State The Kings only Testimony of any thing done in his presence is of as high a Nature and Credit as any Record And in all Writs sent forth for the Dispatch of Justice hee useth no other Witness but himself viz. Teste meipso As the King of Great Britain is thus reverenced and respected at home so is he no less honored and esteemed abroad For if he be regarded solely as King of England we shall find that the Emperor was accounted Filius major Ecclesiae the King of France Filius minor and the King of England Filius adoptivus That in General Councels the King of France took place on the Emperors Right Hand the King of England on his Left the King of Scots having Precedency next before Castile And that tho since the time of the Emperor Charles the Vth. the Kings of Spain have challenged the Precedency of all Christian Princes which nevertheless they have within this twenty years yielded to France yet in the time of our King Henry the VIIth Pope Julius gave it to the English before the Spaniard But if looking upon him as succeeding to the ancient British Kings whose true and undoubted Heir he is by Lineal and unquestionable Descent we shall consider the Antiquity of his Predecessors either as Kings Reigning here above a thousand years before the coming in of the Romans His Majesty now regnant being from the first British Kings the hundred thirty nineth Monarch or as Christians this Island having not only shewn to the World the first Christian King