universal darkness (t) Tertullian Tertullian that liv'd not long after taking thence occasion to upbraid the unbelieving Jews by telling them that the Britains whom the Romans could not conquer were yet subject unto Christ and to say truth their obedience to the Cross was the chief cause of humbling themselves under the Fasces Lucius being the first King that stipulated for the enjoyment of his own Laws at the price of a Tribute which if it were some diminution of his Majesty was made up with advantage by his Successour Constantine the Great whom therefore the (u) In M. Ant. In Arc. Cott. Panegyrist not unfitly stiles Divus Orbis Britanniae Liberator 7. However in respect the Romans had some hold-fast here for near a hundred years after Constantine's death it may be by some perhaps thought more reasonable to begin our Computation from Vortigern who having neither Competitor nor Compartner in the Government there being not one Roman left in the whole Isle to controul or contend with him was without doubt the first that as Tacitus speaks of Augustus Nomine Principis sub Imperium accepit circa An. Chr. 440. At what time all the Neighbour Princes round about him were under the common yoak of Servitude The French themselves who stand so much upon the Antiquity of their Monarchy falling short of this Account near four hundred years who being govern'd by Dukes till the year 420 had not in almost thirty years after any more of France in their Intire possession then that Canton which the Romans call'd Belgicum which was the more inconsiderable by being parcel'd out into many Petty (w) As were Burgundy Lorrain Guien Aquitain Normandy Champagne Fâ—ix Orange c. Royalties that could not unite till the time of Charlemaine who liv'd about the latter end of our Heptarchy after whose death the whole fell into five pieces again four whereof ceas'd to be French which gave so great disturbance to all their Kings of the Second and third Race that they were so far from being Masters of that little that they had that they were scarce (x) Vide Du Serres in Proem Hist Lords of themselves being forc'd to pawn the best part of their Inheritance to enable them to keep the rest none of their Successors being in condition to redeem any considerable part till Lewis the Eleventh who happily having recovered the Earldom of Provence and Dutchy of Burgundy made his boast that he had brought his Kingdom Hors de Page Much more distorted was the Empire of the Spaniards if so be we may allow them to have any thing like absolute Soveraignty till this very last Age when Ferdinand the Second worthily reputed their first Monarch happily united Castile and Aragon with their Appendixes their Predecessors till then being so inconsiderable that the Kings of Scotland took place of them In how obscure a condition all the Northern Kings were for by that common appellation those of Muscovy Sweadland Denmark and Norway past undistinguish'd till about the year 800 I need not say Since by being thought not worth the conquering there was not much more notice taken of them than of the rest of the barbarous Nations their Neighbours who may be rather said to be antient then honourable the Germans only excepted of whom to speak slightly were to defile our own nest since by them we derive our selves from Kings as great before the Flood as since The Precedence of the Kings of This Isle 8. Now as the Monarchy of this Isle is as Lanquet the Chronologer expresses it antienter then the Records of any time so the Kings thereof having held out a Succession of an hundred thirty nine Kings where as France reckons but sixty four taking in First Second and third Race have by the right of Custom as our particular Law expresses it Du temps dont memorie ne cúrt a le contrarie and by the consent of all Nations which is the Law universal to Ratifie and Regulate all respects taken and been allow'd the (y) As appears by the old Roman provincial second place inter Super Illustres for by that term Civilians make a great distinction and difference in point of Majesty even amongst Kings themselves A term which who so understands not may see the difference plainly in that old Formular printed at Strasburgh Anno 1519 where there is set down a Quadrupartite Division of Supream Principality the first place allow'd by them as reasonably they ought to their own Soveraign Kesar i. e. the German Emperour the Second to Romischin Koning i. e. the King of the Romans his Successor and their Countryman too The third place they gave to the Vier Gesalbt Koning i. e. the four anointed Kings In the last place came the Mein Koning or Ordinary Kings The difference betwixt these last and the Quatuor Vncti which were the (z) Javin Theatramundi Kings of France England Jerusalem and Sicily was this that with the holy oyl they receiv'd the Title and Adjunct of (a) Rhivallus ap Tooke in Carism Sanct. Cap. 6. Sacred being therefore anointed In Capite to signifie their glory above the other Princes of the same Rank In Pectore to denote their Sanctity In Brachiis to Emblematize their power this appears by the Styles of the Literae Formatae the antient forms of Addresses and the Frontispicians to the antient Councels where we find the various Styles of Sanctio Sacrietas and Divinitas apply'd to these to those were given only that of Dominatio and sometimes Celsitudo Regia conformable to this were all the phrases of the antient Laws of this Realm which Style the Crown-Lands (b) Cook sur Littleton Sect. 4. Sacra Patrimonia the Prerogative Royal Sacra Sacrorum the Laws themselves in respect they take their life and being from the King (c) Fortescu Leg. Aug. fol. 8. Sanctae Sanctiones The Kings presence was held so Sacred that if a (d) Plowd Com. 322. Villain heretofore cast himself ad Sacra Vestigia as they phras'd it his Lord could no more seize him than if he had been in the Sanctuary before the Altar it being upon the same Ground as great a crime to strike in the Court as in the Church and as if this were not enough they ascribe unto the King as unto God Infallibility (e) Edw. 4. 25. 24. Rex non potest errare Immortality (f) Crompton Jurisaic fol. 134. Plowd 177. B. 1 Ed. 5. Rex non potest mori for in all Pleadings they never mention the death of the King but call it the Demise Justice in perfection Rex non quam injuriam fecit Omnipresence in so much that he cannot be non-suited in any of his Courts because he is suppos'd to be always present and for the same reason all Persons are sorbid to be cover'd in his Chambers of presence though he be not there Lastly they give to him as to God the Issues of Life and
Bowl once put besides its Byass goes the further from its Mark the more 't is inforced THE FIFTH DYNASTY OF NORMANS OF NORMANS THE Normans so call'd by the French in respect of the Northern Clime from whence they came heretofore call'd * Dionis Patav l. 8. c. 4. Scandia since Norwey were another Branch of the antient Cimbri seated near the frozen Sea whose Country being too barren to nourish so fruitful a People they disonerated their Multitudes wheresoever force could make way for them Some stragling as far as the Mediterranian others farther Southward some few lost in the Frozen Sea attempting the Desert Isles far Northward but most following the Sun infested their Southern Neighbours About the time of Charles the Great they began to grow very troublesome by their frequent Pyracies making several Inroads into England but especially into France pressing so hard upon Lewis the Holy that he was fain to empty all his frontier Garrisons and quitting the Maritime draw them into the interior and more considerable parts of his Empire as the Spirits are drawn to the heart upon all Commotions to preserve life Their Successes in Germany England Scotland and Holland having made them so bold that they doubted not to advance as far as Paris where after divers disputes with Charles the Bald Charles le Grosse and Charles the Simple which concluded with an honourable Composition they six'd their two Chiefs Hastang and Rollo in the most fertile and best parts of that goodly Country the first being made Earl of Charters the last Duke of Neustria from him call'd afterwards Normandy the seventh in descent from whom was Duke William better known to us here by the Name of The Conquerour who with like confidence and not unlike Injustice invaded England as his Ancestors did France pretending a Donation of the Soveraignty from his near Kinsman King Edward the Confessor confirm'd as he alledged by his last Will and Testament in the presence of most of the English Nobility a pretence that could have been of no validity had it not been back'd by more then humane Power to disinherit Edgar Atheling who as being of the whole English Blood was rather Heir to the Kingdom then to the King and so by no Law could have his Right collated to a Stranger but the use he made of it was to convince the World that he had more Reason not to say Right to demand than Harold to detain the Crown who having put Prince Edgar besides the Succession desied the Justice of all Mankind as he was an Usurper and so it was a design worthy his Sword who had so fortunately vanquish'd even before he wrote Man those great difficulties at home given by the Opposition of Domestick Rivals no less puissant and populous then Harold to put him at least out of Possession But that which seems strange and was questionless a great surprize upon Harold was the conjunction of the Peers of France in an Action that was so apparently hazardous to the greatness of their own State every addition to so near and dangerous a Neighbour grown long before too powerful being a kind of diminution unto them whereof there can be no probable Cause assign'd beyond their natural affectation of Glory and wantonness of Courage but that Influence which the Conquerors Father in Law Baldwin Earl of Flanders had by being then Governour of the King and Kingdom of France who not only ingaged most of the grtatest Persons there as the Duke of Orleance the Earls of Champaigne Blois Brittain Ponthieue Maine Nevers Poictiers Aumale and Anjou but drew in the * Henry IV. Emperour himself and many of the German Princes to side with him This Preparation being such as it was it cannot be thought that the English lost any honour by mingling blood with men of that Quality and Condition the sound of whose Names was perhaps little less terrible then that of their Arms much less takes it from the reputation of their Courage to have heâ—d up the dispute but for one day only having fought it out as they did till the number of the slain so far exceeded that of the living as made the Conqueror doubt there would not be enough left to be conquer'd Who knows not that Fate made way for the Normans where their Swords could not guiding them by a Series of Successes near about the same time to the expectation of an universal Empire having but a little before made themselves Lords of Apulia Calabria Scicily and Greece and inlarged their Conquests as far as Palestine But what we allow to the Courage we must take from the Wisdom of the English that being subdued they continued Nescia vinci vexing the Conqueror after they had submitted to him by such continual Revolts as suffered him not to sheath his Sword all his Reign or if he did urged him to continue still so suspicious of their Loyalty that he was sorc'd alway to keep his hand upon the hilt ready to draw it forth having not leisure to intend what was before established much less to establish what he before intended So that they put upon him a kind of necessity of being a Tyrant to make good his being a King Yet such was the moderation of his mind that he chose rather to bind them stricter to him by the old Laws then to gall them with any new guarding his Prerogative within that Cittadel of the Burrough Law as they call'd it from whence as often as they began to mutiny he batter'd them with their own Ordnance and so made them Parties to their own wrong and however some that design'd to pre-occupate the grace of Servitude gave him the ungrateful Title of Conqueror which he esteem'd the greatest misfortune his good Fortune had brought upon him thereby to proclaim his Power to be as boundless as his Will which they took to be above all Limitation or Contradiction yet we find he suffered himself to be so far conquer'd by them that instead of giving to he took the Law from them and contentedly bound himself up by those which they call'd St. Edward's Laws which being an Abbreviation of the great triple Code of Danique Merke and West-Sexe Laws was such a form of Combination as he himself could not desire to introduce a better and if any thing look'd like absolute 't was his disarming them when he found them thus Law-bound hand and foot After which he erected divers Fortresses where he thought fit dispos'd all Offices of Command and Judicature to such as he could best confide in and by that Law of Cover feu obliging them to the observation of better hours of Repose then they had formerly been us'd to gave himself more rest as well as them As for his putting the Law into a Language they understood not whereby they were made more learn'd or less litigious then they were before it was that the Lawyers only had cause to complain of whose practise at the first perhaps was a
of action takes the measure of his hopes from that of their fears and whilst they judg'd it hard to repress them because they were thus divided he took that advantage to break them like single sticks as he found them lye scatter'd one from the other who had they been united under one Bond could not have been so easily confounded After which he heal'd the wounds he gave them by gentle Lenitives relaxing their Tributes remitting their Priviledges and indulging them to that degree as never any King before him did by which means he prevail'd with the very same men to carry the War into Normandy whereby wounding his Brother Robert with the very Arrows taken out of his own Quiver and the same which he had directed against him it appears how much he had the better of him in point of Understanding as well as of Power This breach with the elder gave him the first occasion of breaking with his younger Brother for having a strong Army on foot Duke Robert after his having concluded a dishonourable Peace with him desir'd his aid in reducing the Castle of Mount St. Michael detain'd from him by Prince Henry who being not paid the money he had lent him to carry on the War against King William for Robert had pawn'd to him the Country of Constantine but afterwards took it away again seiz'd upon this Castle in hope by the help of some Britains he had hired to serve him for his Money to have done himself right but Robert made this advantage of the dis-advantage King William had brought upon him to ingage him in reducing t'other unhappy Prince that doing a kindness to one lost both his Brothers the one taking offence at his demand t'other at the Occasion whereby both set upon him at once and besieging him forty dayes brought him to the point of yeilding but the same evil Spirit that first divided them to do more mischief did this good to unite them again working upon the good Nature of Duke Robert and the ill Nature of King William the same effect for upon his Submission William to be revenged on Robert for having entertain'd his Competitor Atheling judg'd Henry to be satisfied his Debt by a day certain out of those very Lands which the other had assign'd to Atheling for a Pension upon which Robert's pity turn'd immediately into spight and when Henry came for his Money he clap'd him up in Prison and kept him in Duress till he releas'd the Debt Henry complaining of this Injustice to the King of France his Brother William being then return'd into England was by him put into Arms again and by the surprizing the Castle of Damfront recover'd back most of his Security with all the Country of Passais besides Robert hereupon pleads that King William had fail'd of paying him in certain Sums of Money due by promise to satisfie Henry and that by reason of this failure he could not perform with him and to satisfie himself for the Damages done him by this pretended breach of Williams he fell upon King William's Castles This drew him over the second time whether to right Prince Henry or himself was not declar'd who putting on a Vizard of Indignation to afright Duke Robert as if he had intended nothing less then the Conquest of all Normandy sends back into England for an Army of 30000 to joyn with those Forces he had there by the fame whereof having done more then perhaps any body could with the men themselves if they had arriv'd he sent private Orders to his General being then at the Water-side to dismiss every man that would lay down ten shillings by which queint trick of State never practised before he rais'd so great a Sum as not only serv'd to pay the King of France his Bribe for not assisting his Brother Robert and to defray his own present charge but in effect to purchase all Normandy which thereupon was Mortgaged to him by Robert to furnish himself for that great Expedition of recovering the Holy Land from the Infidels An Undertaking politickly recommended by Urban the Second to all such Princes as he fear'd or had a mind to fool as so meritorious a work that it was indeed as he represented the matter a kind of taking Heaven by Violence whereby he so wrought upon the easie Faith of that Active and Ignorant Age that without any great difficulty he prevail'd with them to cast themselves under a voluntary Ostracisme whilst himself and those that were Parties in that holy Cheat imbarazed in a Contest with the Emperor about Superiority were deliver'd from the men of Power and Credit they most suspected to take part with him and by the purchase of their Estates and Seigniories greatly inriched the Church af erward King William thus happily rid of his elder Brother who as I said before had pawn'd his own Land to recover that for the Church was at leisure to return home to make even all reckonings with his elder Enemy the King of Scots by whose death and his Sons both kill'd in the act of Invasion he made himself so far Master of their Country as to compel them to accept a King from him who having serv'd him in his Wars and being for that Service prefer'd by him they durst not yet refuse though they might reasonably expect he would be alwayes at his Devotion This made the King of France so jealous of his growing Greatness that to prevent his coming over Sea again he tamper'd with the discontented Norman Nobility to set up Stephen E. of Albemarle his Fathers Sisters Son upon what pretence of Right appears not but he whose manner 't was to meet danger and not tarry till it found him out prevented the Conspiracy by seizing on the chief Conspirators Mowbray d'Ou and d'Alveric who being the first Examples of his Severity were so cruelly treated that if any men could be said to be murther'd by the Sword of Justice they were but the Ill of this Severity had that good effect that this first Instance of his Cruelty made it the last occasion to him to shew it so that from that time all War ceasing he betook himself to the pleasures of Peace And now deeming himself most secure he met with an unavoidable I cannot say unexpected Fate for like Caesar his Parallel he had sufficient warning of it both by his own and his Friends Dreams the night before the Nature whereof was such as he could not but contemn it because he could not understand it and having never been daunted by his Enemies he was asham'd to seem now afraid of himself however the perplexity of his thoughts disorder'd him so far that in despight of his natural Courage which was perhaps as great as ever any mans was he could not find in his heart to go out all the morning of that day he was kill'd and at Dinner which argued some failure of his Spirits he drank more freely then his usual custome was that accelerated his Fate
year there but the taking only one Town and besieging another which upon notice of the Disorders at home that a wise man might easily have foreseen and prevented he quit with no less disorder leaving the whole Action with as much precipitation as he took it up insomuch that his Wife and Sister that accompanied him and all their Attendants and Officers were forc'd to shift for themselves and get home as they could which Inconsideration of his met with that pitiful Event before mention'd to redeem him from which his People were fain to strain themselves beyond their abilities Lay-men and Clergy parting with a fourth part of their Real and a tenth of their Personal Estate all not being sufficient to make up his Ransome till they pawn'd and sold their very Chalices and Church Ornaments Being thus as it were un-king'd and expos'd naked to the Vulgar stript of his Honour as well as Treasure he thought himself not secure of the fai h and reverence due to his birth by any other way but a Recoronation which being as extraordinary as the rest of his Actions for he 's the first we meet with twice crown'd was notwithstanding the poverty of the Nation that had paid in two years time no less then jj hundred thousand Marks of Silver the vastness of which Sum may be guess'd at by the Standard of those Times when twenty pence was more then a Crown now perform'd with that solemnity as shew'd he had the same mind though not the same purse as when he began his great Adventures After this he fitted out a Fleet of 100 Sail of Ships to carry him into Normandy to chastize the Rebellions of his Brother John who incouraged by the King of France the constant Enemy of England had during his absence depos'd his Vice-roy Long-champ and forc'd him to lay down his Legatine Cross to take up that of the holy War and had put himself in so good forwardness to depose him too having brought the People to swear a Conditional Fealty to him that there wanted nothing to give him possession of the Crown which was before secur'd in Reversion but the consent of the Emperor to whom there was offer'd a Bribe of 150 thousand Marks to detain him or 1000 pounds a Month as long as he kept him Prisoner But such was the power of the Mother who was alwaies a fast Friend to the younger Brother and had indeed a greater share in the Government of the elder then consisted with the weakness of her own or the dignity of his Sex that she made them Friends and obtained an Indempnity for all the Faults committed during Longchamp's Reign who indeed was more a King then his Master so that his Indignation being wholly diverted upon the French King he began a new War that was like to prove more chargeable then the old which he had so lately ended To maintain which he had new Projections for raising Money but Providence having determin'd to put an end to his Ambition and Avarice offer'd a fatal Occasion by the discovery of some Treasure-trove out of which the Discoverer the Viscount Lymoges voluntarily tendring him a part tempted him to claim the whole and so eager was he of the Prey that being deny'd he besieg'd the Castle of Challons where he conceiv'd 't was hid from whence by a fatal Arrow shot from the hand of one whose Father and two Brothers he had kill'd with his own hand he was unexpectedly slain leaving no Issue either of his Body or Mind that the World took notice off excepting his three Daughters before mention'd father'd on him by the Priest by the disposal of which though it were but in jest we may see what he was in earnest For he bestow'd his daughter Pride on the Knights Templars his daughter Drunkenness on the Cestercian Monks and his Daughter Leachery he left to the Clergy in general which quickness of his as it savour'd of Irreligion so it made good that in him which makes all things else ill the comprehensive Vice of Ingratitude the Clergy being the only men to whom he was indebted for his Honour Wealth and Liberty but the unkindness he shew'd to them living was sufficiently requited to him dead by one of the same function who reflecting upon the Place where he receiv'd his fatal wound shot an Arrow at him that pierc'd deeper then that which slew him Christe tui Calicis Praedo fit praeda Calucis This mounted him on the wings of Fame but that unexpected height was attended with a fatal Giddiness which turn'd to such a kind of Frenzy as render'd him incapable of all advice So that intoxicated with the fumes of his Power he committed many outrages not sparing his own Brother Jeoffry Arch-bishop of York who using the freedom of a Brother in reprehending his Exorbitances had all his Estate taken from him and confiscated a whole year before he could recover it again by the help of all his Friends The Earl of Chester fair'd yet worse who was banish'd upon the like accompt of being too faithful a Counsellor Neither did the Lord Fitz-Walter suffer less then either because he would not consent to prostitute his fair Daughter Matilda to his Lust And whether he shew'd any foul play to his Nephew Arthur after he was his Prisoner is not certain who surviving his Imprisonment but a few dayes gave the World cause to think he was not treated as so near a Kinsman but as a Competitor and that which confirm'd this Opinion was the Judgment from Heaven that attended it for from that time he grew very visibly unprosperous loosing not only his ancient Patrimony the Dutchy of * Which his Ancestors had hâ—ld in despight of all the power â—f France and the rest of their potent Neighbours above 300 years Normandy and that as strangely as t'other did his life but with it all the rest of his Possessions on that side the Water all taken from him in less then a years space not so much by force of Arms as by process of Law whiles the King of France proceeded against him as an Offender rather then as an Enemy And to aggravate that by other Losses seeming less but perhaps greater he near about the same time not only lost his two great Supporters Hubert Archbishop of Canterbury and Fitz-Peter his Lord Chief Justice as wise and faithful Counsellors as any Prince ever had but her that was the Bridle of his Intemperance his Indulgent Mother Elinor a prudent Woman of a high and waking Spirit and therefore a most affectionate Promoter of his because it tended to the supporting of her own Greatness These stayes being gone he prov'd like a mounted Paper Kite when the string breaks which holds it down for taking an extravagant flight he fell afterwards as that usually doth for want of due weight to keep it steddy and being no less sensible of the shame then the loss instead of taking revenge on his Foes he fell upon
as often as any advantage was offer'd to him during the Barons War playing fast and loose sometimes as an Enemy otherwhile as a Friend as it made for his turn and having it alwayes in his Power by being in Conjunction with Scotland without which he had been inconsiderable to disturb the Peace of England at his pleasure never neglected any occasion where he might gain Repute to himself or booty for his People Upon him therefore he fastened the first Domestick War he had entring his Country like Jove in a storm with Lightning and Thunder the Terrour whereof was so resistless that that poor Prince was forc'd to accept whatsoever terms he would put upon him to obtain a temporary Peace without any other hope or comfort then what he deriv'd from the mental reservation he had of breaking it again as soon as he return'd whereunto he was not long after tempted by the delusion of a mistaken Prophesie of that false Prophet Merlin who having foretold that he should be crown'd with the Diadem of Brute fatally heightened his Ambition to the utter destruction both of himself and Country with whom his innocent Brother the last of that Race partaking in life and death concluded the Glory of the ancient British Empire which by a kind of Miracle had held out so many hundred years without the help of Shipping Allyance or Confederation with any Forreign Princes by the side of so many potent Kings their next Neighbours who from the time of the first entrance of the English suffer'd them not to enjoy any quiet though they vouchsafed them sometimes Peace Wales being thus totally reduced by the irrecoverable fall of Llewellen and David the last of their Princes that were ever able to make resistance and those ignorant People made thereby happier then they wish'd themselves to be by being partakers of the same Law and Liberty with those that conquer'd them he setled that Title on his eldest Son and so passed over into France to spend as many years abroad in Peace as he had done before in War in which time he renew'd his League with that Crown accommodated the Differences betwixt the Crowns of Scicily and Arragon and shew'd himself so excellent an Arbitrator that when the right of the Crown of Scotland upon his return home came to be disputed with Six some say Ten Competitors after the death of Alexander the Third the Umpirage was given to him who ordered the matter so wisely that he kept off the final Decision of the main Question as many years as there were Rivals put in for it deferring Judgment till all but two only were disputed out of their Pretensions These were Baliol and Bruce the first descended from the elder Daughter of the right Heir the last from the Son of the younger who having as 't was thought the weaker Title but the most Friends King Edward privately offered him the Crown upon Condition of doing Homage and Fealty to him for it the greatness of his Mind which bespoke him to be a King before he was one suffer'd him not to accept the terms whereupon King Edward makes the same Proposition to Baliol who better content it seems with the outside of Majesty accepted the Condition But see the Curse of ill-got Glory shewing himself satisfied with so little he was thought unworthy of any being so abhor'd of his People for it that upon the first occasion they had to quarrel with his Justice as who should say they would wound him with his own Weapon they appeal'd to King Edward who thereupon summon'd him to appear in England and was so rigid to him upon his appearance he would permit none else to plead his Cause but compell'd him in open Parliament to answer for himself as well as he could This being an Indignity so much beneath the sufferance of any private Person much more a King sunk so deep into his Breast that meditating nothing after but Revenge as soon as he return'd home securing himself first by a League and Allyance with the King of France to whose Brothers Daughter he married his Son he renounced his Allegiance and defied King Edward's Power no less then he did his Justice This begat a War betwixt the two Nations that continued much longer then themselves being held up by alternate Successes near three hundred years a longer dated difference perhaps then is to be found in any other Story of the World that Rancor which the Sword bred increasing continually by the desire of Revenge till the one side was almost wholly wasted t'other wholly wearied Baliol the same time King Edward required him to do Homage for Scotland here prevailed with the French King to require the like from him for his Territories there this began the Quarrel that the Division by which King Edward which may seem strange parting his Greatness made it appear much greater whilst himself advanc'd against Baliol and sent his Brother the Earl of Lancaster to answer the King of France Baliol finding himself overmatch'd as well as over-reach'd renew'd his Homage in hopes to preserve his Honour But King Edward resolving to bind him with stronger Fetters then Oaths sent him Prisoner into England whereby those of that Country wanting not only a Head but a Heart to make any further resistance he turn'd his Fury upon the King of France hastning over what Forces he could to continue that War till himself could follow after But Fortune being preingaged on the other side disposed that whole Affair to so many mistakes that nothing answered Expectation and which was worse the Fame of his Male-Adventures spirited a private person worthy a greater * Wallis Name then he had to rise in Scotland who rallying together as many as durst by scorning Misery adventure upon it defied all the Forces of England so fortunately that he was once very near the redeeming his despairing Country-men and had he had less Vertue might possibly have had more success For scorning to take the Crown when he had won it a Modesty not less fatal to the whole Nation then himself by leaving room for Ambition he made way for King Edward to Re-enter the second time who by one single Battel but fought with redoubled Courage made himself once more Lord of that miserable Kingdom all the principal Opposers Wallis only excepted crowding in upon Summons to swear Fealty the third time to him This had been an easie Pennance had they not together with their Faith resigned up their Laws and Liberties and that so servilely that King Edward himself judging them unworthy to be continued any longer a Nation was perswaded to take from them all the Records and Monuments whereby their Ancestors had recommended any of Glory to their Imitation Amongst other of the Regalia's then lost was that famous Marble Stone now lodg'd in Westminster-Abby wherein their Kings were crown'd in which as the Vulgar were perswaded the Fate of their Country lay for that there was an ancient Prophesie
dispend a thousand Marks a day which I have the rather noted to shew how the Kingdom flourish'd as well as the King gaining as all wise States do by their layings out for the whole Revenues of the Crown in his Grand-fathers days were esteem'd to be not much above a hundred thousand Marks a year Five years the French King continued Prisoner here in England time enough to have determin'd the Fortune of that great Kingdom and dissolv'd their Canton'd Government into parts had it not been a Body consisting of so many strong Limbs and so abounding with Spirits that it never fainted notwithstanding all its loss of Blood but scorn'd to yield though King Edward came very near their heart having wounded them in the most mortal part their Head The Scotch King could not recover his Liberty in double the time being the less able to redeem himself for that he was upon the matter but half a King the other half being in the possession of Baliol who to secure a Moyety to himself surrendred the whole to King Edward whose Magnificence vying with his Justice he gave it back again upon Terms more befitting a Brother then a Conqueror shewing therein a Wantonness that no King perhaps besides himself would have been guilty of nor probably he neither had either his People been less bountiful to him or Fortune less constant which to say truth never forsook him till he like his Father forsook himself leaving all Action and bidding adieu to the World ten years before he went out of it declining so fast from the fortieth year of his Government that it may rather be said his famous Son Prince Edward commonly call'd the Black Prince reign'd then he and happy 't was for him that when his own Understanding fail'd him he had so good a Supporter who having it in his power to dispose of Kingdoms whilst he liv'd ought not to be denyed after he dyed the honour of being esteem'd equal to Kings in the Prerogative of a distinct Character Begin we then the Date of his Government from the Battel of Crassy which happening in the Sixteenth year of his Age makes the Computation of his Glory to commence near about the same time his Fathers did who however he was King at fourteen rul'd not till after Mortimer's death by which Battel he so topt the Fortune of France as his Father had that of England that he may be said to have taken thereby Livery in order to the Seisin of that Kingdom And after the Recovery of Calais it may be said the Keys of the Kingdom rather then of that Town were deliver'd into his hand for that he therewith open'd all the Gates of almost every Town he came to till the King of France incompassed him like a Lion in a Toil with no less then 60000 of the best Men of France and brought him to that streight that it seem'd alike disadvantageous to sight or yield and which made the danger more considerable as things then stood England it self was in some hazard of being lost with him here he seem'd to have been as well accomptable to his Country as to his Father for his Courage and Discretion and how well he acquitted himself appears by the Sequel when forcing Hope out of Despair like fire out of a Flint he necessitated his Men to try for Conquest by shewing them how impossible 't was for him to yield and by that incomparable Obstinacy of his made Fortune so enamour'd of his Courage that she follow'd him wherever he went while his Sword made its way to Victory and his Courtesie to the Affections of the Conquer'd whom he treated with that regard and generosity that many of them were gainers by the loss being dismiss'd with honourable Presents that made his second Conquest over them greater then the first the King of France himself being so well pleas'd with his Bondage that he return'd voluntarily into England after he was redeem'd to meet two Kings more that might be Witness of his Respect and Gratitude In short he was as King of England on the other side the Water as his Father was on this side keeping so splendid a Court in Acquitaine that no less then three Kings came to visit him too all at once these were the King of Majorque Navar and Castile the last of which craving Aid of him against an Usurper who was back'd by an Army consisting of no less then One hundred thousand men if the Writers of those times say true was re-instated accordingly by his single power to shew the World that he could as well make Kings as unmake them His second Brother who had the Title of King by marrying with the King of Castile's Daughter and Heir being principally indebted to him for the honour of that Title and it prov'd a fatal Debt both to him and his Son Richard the Second costing the one his Life the other both Life and Kingdom too for as himself never recover'd the health he lost in undertaking that Expedition so his Son never recover'd the disadvantage put upon him afterward by his Uncle Lancaster who by that means having got the Regency of his drooping Father King Edward who tyred with Action rather then Age fatally submitted to the loss of more years of his Government then he got by his unnatural Anticipation from his own Father and suffer'd himself to be buried alive as we may say under his Cradle put fair for setting his Nephew aside but wanting a Colour for so apparent an Injustice his jealous Father the Black Prince having declar'd him his Successor in his life time to prevent all tricks he thought it enough to make way for his Son to do it and accordingly put such an impression of dislike upon the innocent Youth at his very first Edition as prov'd Indelible in his riper years for the very same day he was presented to take his Grandfathers Seat in Parliament as Heir apparent to the Crown being then but eleven years old he taught him to demand a Subsidy purposely to turn the Peoples blood who were then big with their Complaint of Taxes But possibly he is made more splenetick as well as more politick then he was for it was scarce possible to make the Youth more odious then he had made himself before by disgusting those two potent Factions of the Church and the City of London who to shew how weary they were of his governing the old Child his Father would not after his Death let him longer Rule the young Child his Nephew but purposely depos'd him to the end as they said that he might not depose the other Thus this great King ended as ingloriously as he began who having stept into the Throne a little before he should 't is the less wonder he left it a little before it was expected he would especially if we consider that in out-living the best Wife and the best Son in the World he had a little out-liv'd himself being so unfortunate
better Neither was he less fortunate then forward in Peace as well as in War So that as upon the one side he look'd like Caesar or Augustus rather both of whom as they were armed with Lightning so their Pardons went ever before and after their Swords so on the other side he was not unlike those two famous Legislators Solon and Licurgus who principally regarding the People were yet so wise for themselves as with the publick safety to secure their own Authority for he was an excellent Judge of times and seasons and knew when to strain up the Laws to his Prerogative and when to let down his Prerogative to the Test of the Law And though 't was observ'd never any man lov'd his own way nor his own will better then he nor perhaps ever had so much Reason to do it being as another Solomon wiser then his Counsellors and yet they perhaps as well chose as ever any Kings Counsellors were yet we find he was sometimes content to part with both for the more orderly administration of Justice leaving the disposition of his Mint his Wars and his Martial Justice things of absolute power not to say the Concerns of his unsetled Title which was yet of higher and tenderer consideration to the wisdom of his Parliaments And least the thing called Propriety which is the same to the Subject as the Prerogative to Majesty should be thought to suffer in the least he gave himself the trouble of hearing many Causes at his Councel-board where sitting at the Fountain of Justice assisted by the most learn'd as well as the most reverend Professors of Law and Conscience it was not to be suppos'd that any Cause could lose any thing of its due weight and allowance yet it seems the Common Lawyers unwilling the determination of Meum and Tuum should go besides their own Courts traduc'd him with distrusting his Judges in matters of Common Right as the Souldiers complain'd of his not trusting his Generals in point of common Security And some there were who would have aggravated it to a Grievance however 't was apparent to be rather their own then the Peoples who are apter to complain of the chargeableness then the due Administration of the Laws But these Causes being for the most part heard in the Vacation time 't is possible he had in his Thoughts something beyond their reach with respect to the splendor of his Court and the profit of the City to which as he was alwayes a Friend so by this dispatch of Justice while there was no other Courts sitting he drew such a concourse of Clyents to Town as kept up a kind of Term all the Year round and so quickned Trade that by adding to theirs it increas'd his own Wealth to that degree that amongst other Reasons given of his neglecting the benefit of the Discovery of the Indies first offer'd to him by Columbus 't was not the least that he had no want of Money and having made himself a Member of the City that by the benefit of that Community he might find his account as well in their Chamber as his own Exchequer and prove as after he did the only Dragon that kept their Golden Fleece sharing with Solomon himself in those two great points of Glory to be reputed the wisest and richest King of his time 't is no wonder he should by Works Immortal as he did make his way to Immortality leaving his Son Henry nothing to do but to inherit his envied Felicity HONI · SOIT · QVI · MAL · Y · PENSE Now as he began his Reign at the time when every thing begins to grow and blossom it being in the Spring of the Year as well as of his Age so the Season complying with his Constitution made it hard for him to resist the heat of his blood yet we do not find that he ingaged in any War abroad till he had secured Peace at home making his Justice as renown'd amongst his People by revenging their wrongs as he made his power afterward when he came to revenge his own executing Empson and Dudley as a terrour to all Promoters to shew he did not esteem them faithful Servants to his Father that had so betraid their Country Which Act of Justice being clos'd with another of Universal Grace in restraining his Prerogative to inlarge the Subjects Confidence and Affection made him so clear a Conquest over all Discontents arising by the Oppression of his Predecessor that having nothing more to do at home he bethought himself of what was to be done abroad Providence offering him a Projection suitable to the greatness of his mind to render the esteem of his Piety no less famous then that of his Justice by undertaking to rescue the Pope out of the hands of the King of France as a Dove deliver'd out of the Talons of a Vulture who having already drove him to Covert as we say that is besieged him in his City of Bononia and having his Confederates the Emperour and King of Spain ready at hand to make a retreive doubted not but to devour him in a very short time This as it was a Design of Super-errogating Merit so it carried in it no less of Advantage then Glory giving him a fit occasion to shew at once his Zeal and Power and in serving him to serve himself upon him in the promotion of his Title to France it being no small addition of Credit to his Claim that his Hoâ—iness as an Earnest of his Spiritual Benediction had bestowed upon his Majesty the forfeited Stile of Christianissimus However before he would move himself in Person out of England he thought it necessary to prevent any Motion of the King of Scots into England who he knew would be ready to bruise his Heel as soon as he advanced to break the Serpents Head and accordingly he got not only a confirmation of that Excommunication which Julius the Second had formerly granted against the said Scotch King in case he broke his League with him the Curse whereof followed him to his Grave for violating his Faith he died in the attempt but obtain'd a plenary Indulgence for all that should assist him Thus arm'd as it were with the Sword of God and Gideon he entred that goodly Kingdom and long it was not ere he got the Maiden-head of that Virgin City Tournay who having repuls'd Caesar had the Testimony of her Pucillage written upon its Gates as the only Town had kept her self unconquer'd from that time but now was forced to yield to him by the Name and Title of Roy tres Christien as appears by the Original Contract yet extaâ—t The same day he receiv'd the News of the †James the Fourth slain in Flodden-field Scotch Kings death who attempting as I said before to divert the War lost his Life and 't was happy he lost not his Kingdom too a Victory so seasonable and super-successful that Fortune as enamor'd of him seem'd to prostitute her self
to him and rais'd the Expectations of his future Successes to that height that the Emperour Maximilian who had before submitted though Lord of no less then eight Kingdoms to serve him in the condition of a private Souldier for the wages of One hundred Crowns a day now as some report profer'd to surrender his Empire and Dutchy of Milan to him and the King of France resolving to purchase his Friendship at any rate condition'd to pay yearly to him and his Successors Kings of England for ever Forty six thousand Crowns de Soleile and twenty four Sols Turnois with One thousand five hundred Crowns more as a Tribute out of the Salt of Brovage as may appear by the Agreement Anno 1527. the confirmation of which Treaty cost his Son Charles after the death of his Father who did not long survive the Composition a Million of Crowns more Now if his Enemies had such dread of him what esteem must we imagine the Pope had who owed his Deliverance to him Silver and Gold he had none to tender but such as he had Glorious and Grateful Titles he was very prodigal of For besides that of Liberator Urbis Orbis the Stile of his Ancestor Constantine the Great and therefore though only fit for Henry the Great it being occasional and temporary the Conclave had under consideration such as might be perpetuated to all Ages Some mov'd to have him call'd Defensor Romanae Ecclesiae others propos'd Protector Sedis Apostolicae others again lik'd better to have him stil'd Rex Apostolicus as some Rex Orthodoxus but at last all agreed in that of Defensor Fidei After this he was made Head of the Holy League out of belief That there could no Authority Superior to his be interpos'd either for the Conservation of good men in Peace or repressing those that are ill by War for so are the words of the Fourteenth Article of the League This shews that he was so much greater then any of the Kings were before him by how much they only gave Laws at home but he throughout all Christendom disposing War and Peace as made most to the advantage of his own People who were thereupon so well satisfied with the Conduct of his Government that his Will seems to have been the Supream Law For as he needed to have said no more to his Parliaments then as one of the Roman Emperors cited by Suetonius was used to say to the Senate Scitis quid velim quibus Opus habeo So they could say no more to him nor indeed any Parliament to any King then was declar'd by their giving up themselves and their Liberties wholly to him in that Act of highest Trust and Confidence that ever Subjects pass'd when they consented that he should in case he had no Issue of his own dispose the Imperial Diadem of this Realm as his Highness pleas'd by Will or Patent Thus great was this King whiles he continued to be himself keeping the Rains of Government in his own hands but after he suffer'd himself to be govern'd by others who took advantage of his to serve their own Lusts like one drawn from his Center his motions were so irregular and the intreagues of State so perplext that we cannot wonder at those Disorders which followed to the great interruption of his Peoples peace and prosperity but much more of his own whilst that which private men esteem their greatest happiness fell out to be his greatest curse the enjoyment of a most vertuous discreet and loving Wise who being a Lady of that quick-sight that she look'd thorough all his great Ministers Ambitions and occasionally detected their Designs was undone by the same way she hoped to preserve her self and him For the jealous Cardinal Wolsey his great Minister doubting that she might interpose her self betwixt the King and him as the Moon betwixt the Sun and the Earth and thereby deprive him of those warm influences of Grace from whence his power took life he design'd to blast her as it were by Lightning from Heaven or rather by a Spark from Hell casting a Scruple into the Kings Conscience which quickly set it on fire upon the apprehension of being guilty of the incestuous Sin of knowing his Brothers Wife This was so craftily managed that it was not known for a while out of what Quiver the Arrow came but a Treaty being had about a Marriage of the King of France with the Lady Mary the Kings Daughter by her it was so order'd that the Bishop of Tarbe the principal Commissioner on that side should make some doubt of the Legitimacy of the Princess thereby to bring on the Question of Incest This though it was urged with somewhat more then usual vehemency yet his Authority not being such as to move the King much at that time The Cardinal secretly ingaged the Bishop of Lincoln his Majesties Confessor to press him farther upon it knowing well as he acknowledged afterward that whatever was once put into the Kings head would hardly ever be got out again nothing doubting withal but that it was in his power at any time to conjure the Devil down again as soon as he had done his Service and after be had tumbled the Queen down or at least brought her into a necessity of making use of his Friendship wherein he had two great ends First to flatter his great Patron the French King with the hopes in case of a Divorce of marrying his fair Sister the Dutchess of Alanson to the King whose Alâ—yance was then of great Importance to that Crown Secondly to perform a very real Service to his distressed Chief the Pope who beâ—ng now more persecuted by the Emperour then before by the King of France and at that pâ—esent in Duress might possibly be releas'd by the very menace of such a Divorce as this the Emperor both as Uncle to the Queen and as Competitor with the French King for the Universal Monarchy being moved by Affection and Interest to prevent so violent a breach in his Allyance But as a Mine when it is sprung doth oftentimes other kind of Execution then they who fire it intended it should so happen'd it in this Case For instead of making a small breach upon the Kings Peace that might amount to no more but the causing a temporary abstinence from the Queens Bed de praesenti only to which 't was hop'd she her self might give occasion by a voluntary Retirement into some Cloyster where she might remain civilly dead till his Excellency the Cardinal made up the breach again it begat such a rupture in his Thoughts that he could have no rest and as one sick at heart thought himself not safe in the hands of any one Physician neither indeed of all those that he had at home till he had the Opinions of those in all the Universities abroad which made the business so publick that Luther who had a little before set up for himself finding there might be a good
neither was he less singular in his Fortune then his Glory having united the Lilies of France to the Roses of England and made of both one Diadem to place on the Head of his Son XV. date of accession 1422 HENRY VI. who whilst he was a Child could have no sense of the honour or happiness he was born to and when he came to be a Man so despis'd it that every Body thought him fitter to be a Priest then a King only those of the House of York thought him fitter to be made a Sacrifice then a Priest and accordingly crook-back'd Richard murther'd him to make way for his elder Brother XVI date of accession 1460 EDWARD IV. the first King of the House of York descended from the fifth Son of Edward the Third who made the White Rose to flourish as long as Henry the fourth did the Red and had kept it flourishing much longer had he not been more unfortunate by the Ambition of those of his own then those of his Enemies Faction his two Sons XVII date of accession 1483 EDWARD V. that should have succeeded him with his innocent Brother being both murther'd by their unnatural Uncle who yet call'd himself their Protector XVIII date of accession 1483 RICHARD III. Duke of Gloucester who having kill'd one King before to make way for their Father kill'd them afterward to make way for himself but his Usurpation lasted a very little while both Nature Providence agreeing to deny him any Children of his own for that he had so ill treated those of his nearest Relation so that for want of Issue rather then want of Success the Crown came to the House of Lancaster in the Person of XIX date of accession 1485 HENRY VII a Prince that was observ'd to be no great Lover of Women and yet all his Greatness came by that Sex that is to say his title to his Confirmation in and his Transmission of the Crown to his Posterity whose Advent to the Crown being foretold by no less then two Kings Cadwallader and Henry the Sixth the one prophesying his union of the Britains and Normans the other his joyning of the two Roses together 't is no marvel his Son XX. date of accession 1509 HENRY VIII Heir by his Fathers side to the House of Lancaster by his Mothers side to the House of York entred with so general a satisfaction to all at home and with so great a terrour to all abroad that they submitted to make him great Arbiter of Christendom his Son XXI date of accession 1547 EDWARD VI. being very young when he dyed and dying before he was sixteen years old had not time to lay a sutable Superstructure upon his Foundation whereby the glory of his Family past away to his Sister XXII date of accession 1553 MARY who wasted as much blood to shew her self to be Defender of the Faith as her Father before to make good his being Head of the Church her Successor XXIII date of accession 1558 ELIZABETH worthily intitled her self to both declining the being a Mother of Children to the end she might be a Nursing Mother of the Church which having defended with great honour and success for forty six years together dying she bequeath'd a Peace to her Kingdoms and her Kingdoms to that pacifick Prince James the Sixth of Scotland who began the next Dynasty The only Province refus'd to swim down the common stream of Servitude were those of Kent the first Invaders when the English came in the last Invaded at the coming in of these Normans who yet only made a Pause as it were to file their Fetters smoother and make them easie by such Conditions which pleasing themselves might not be distastful to him After this there were some attempts to set up Edgar by some of the discontented Nobility who though they appear'd to be but like Drones which make a great noise without being able to sting yet they provoked him so far that every Body expected he would take that occasion to make himself a real instead of an imaginary Conqueror nothing so much advancing Soveraignty as unsuccessful Rebellions but as the Lion disdains to fall upon those Beasts that crouch and prostrate themselves at his feet so he scorning that any who submitted to him should have so much the better of him as not to be pardon'd prevented their Fears by a general Indempnity in which he did not except against his very Rival Edgar who however he had in respect to his Title of Athelin which was as much as to say the Darling some place in his Caution was it seems so much below his Jealousie that when he came to render himself as after he did with all humility upon his knee he receiv'd him with that magnanimous declaration Petits se vengent je pardonne his Generosity so far vying with his Magnanimity that as he pitied so he preferred him making up in happiness what he denied him in greatness whilst he allowed him a competent support to maintain the respects due to his Birth secur'd from the danger of suspition But it was not in the power of his Clemency Courage or Wisdom so to oblige over-awe or satisfie the common People but that Envy Ignorance or Malice found out frequent occasions of complaint and murmur some repining at the new Laws they understood not others at the continuation of the old they understood but too well amongst which that of the Burrough-Law seem'd to be no small grievance in respect they were so bound for each other or rather one to the other that like tedder'd Horses they could not break out of their bounds all thinking it grievous so hard of digestion is every thing that savours of Conquest to be wrested from their present usages and forms of Sâ—ate though the change was much for the better as when he confin'd the Bishops to the rule of Souls only who before assisted with the Greve or Alderman as he was then call'd that is the Earl of every County were absolute Judges in all Cases and over all Persons and when in the room of the Greve he constituted Judges of Oyer and Terminer by special Commission to decide all matters of Law assisted by * vid. Holinshed 8 but some Lawyers are of opinion Justices of Peace came not in till the time of Edw. 1. neither is the name of Justices of the Peace to be found in Terminis till the Stat 36. of Ed. 3. c. 12. till when they were nam'd Justices Itinerant or Justices in Eyre Justices of the Peace as he call'd them taken out of the Minores Nobiles of every County who were made Judges of Record and from henceforth had the power de Vita de Membro as the Lawyers express it the mighty Current of the Earl's Power that had over-born whomever he had a mind to destroy was on the sudden sunk so low by the running down of Justice and Judgment in so many lesser streams that every man how mean soever could
Officers whom their places confirm'd that stuck close to him and serv'd him to the last by whose Assistance he not only recover'd Ireland reduced Wales and kept those of Scotland to their good behaviour but notwithstanding all the Troubles he had at home forc'd the Chief men of either Place to give him as the manner was in those dayes their Children to be pledges of their future Subjection by which may be guest how far he had gone in the Recovery of his Transmarime Dominions had not the cross-grain'd Barons stood it out as they did who refusing to aid or attend him until he was absolv'd by the Pope and after he was absolv'd stopt until he had ratified their Priviledges and after they had the Grant of their Priviledges declined him yet until they had back the Castles he had taken from them resolv'd it seems to have both Livery and Seisin of their ancient Rights but whilst they thus over-bent the Bow they made it weak and unserviceable the visible force us'd upon him in bringing him to that Concession unloosing the Deed and taking so much from the validity of so solemn an Act by the bare illegality of their Coertion that his new Friend the Pope to whom themselves forced him to reconcile himself thought it but a reasonable recompence of his Humility towards him to discharge him from all his Condiscentions towards them dispensing with his Oath by which all the Agreement was bound and by definitive Sentence declaring the whole Compact null which was confirm'd by the Excommunication of the Barons till they submitted to the Sentence Here the Scene chang'd again and now the Pope being ingag'd on the Kings side the French King on the Rebels behold the whole Kingdom in Arms but because there were so few to be trusted at home the King sends for Forces abroad whereof he had so great Supplies that had there not been which is almost incredible to relate no less then forty thousand Men Women and Children drown'd coming over Sea out of Flanders he had even eat his way out to a Conquest of his own People as universal but more miserable then that of the Norman for with those he had left he marched over most of the Kingdom in less then half a years space reduced all the Barons Castles to the very Borders of Scotland and made himself once more absolute Master of all the Cities of note London only excepted which in regard of their united Power being so desperate as they were he thought not safe to attack This Extremity of the Barons drew over the French King in person to their relief who making incredible speed to land at Sandwich as quickly became Master of all Kent Dover only excepted which never would yield through which marching up to London he was there received with such universal joy that several great Lords quitting King John came to render themselves to him In the mean time the Pope pursued him with an Excommunication to please King John who all this while acted the part of a General so well beyond that of a King that many who never obeyed him in Peace were content to follow him through the War It was near a year that this unhappy Kingdom continued thus the Theatre of Rapine and Cruelty enduring the oppression and horrour of two great Armies headed by two great Kings each chasing the other with alternate Successes through the most fertile parts of the Isle till it pleased Providence in Mercy to the innocent People to take off this Indomitable Prince whose heart long flaw'd with continual Crosses broke at last by the slight stroke of a small loss the miscarriage of some few of his Carriages which in passing the Washes betwixt Lynn and Boston were it seems overtaken by the Tyde a misfortune which though of no great Consideration yet falling out in such a juncture of time when the Indisposition of his Body added not a little to that of his Mind carried him out of the World with no less Violence then he forced into it who however born to make himself Enemies had yet perhaps been happy enough had not himself been the very greatest Enemy himself had Upon his Death the King was crown'd as his unfortunate Father and Uncle before him the second time being willing the World should know he was now arriv'd at a degree of understanding to rule by himself which occasion the jealous Barons took hold of to press again for the Confirmation of their Liberties the Denyal whereof had cost his Father so dear This put him to a pause and that discover'd his inclination though not his intent for by not denying he hop'd to be thought willing to grant and yet not granting he had the vanity to be thought not to yield But this cunctation of his which shew'd him to be his Fathers own Son plunged him into such a Gulf of mistrust before he was aware of it that it was nothing less then a Miracle he had not perish'd in it for as he could never get clear out of it all his Reign the longest that ever any King of England had so he was necessitated as all shifting men are that entertain little designes they are asham'd or afraid to own to make use from that time of such Ministers onely as in serving him would be sure to serve their own turns upon him which reduced him to that indigence that had he not found out a way to prey upon them as they upon the People he had undoubtedly perished as never King did being at one time come so near to Beggery that for want of Provisions at his own he was forc'd to invite himself shamefully to other mens Tables his Credâ—t being brought so low that he could not take up an hundred Marks and his Spirit so much lower that he told one that deny'd him that Sum that it was more Alms to give him then to a Begger that went from Door to Door A speech betraying so strange abjection that it takes off the wonder of those affronts put upon him afterwards when a weak Woman durst tax him to his face with breach of faith and honour and a pitiful Priest threaten him with being no King when a private Lord durst give him the Lie publickly and tell him he was no Christian and which is undecent to tell had it not been so well known one of his * Hubert de Bâ—ughâ— was charg'd to have said thus own servants call'd him Squint-ey'd Fool and Leaper The first great action he was ingaged in was the recovery of the Ground his Father lost in France into which he was drawn not so much out of affectation of Glory as by the Solicitation of his Father in Law Hugh Earl of March who having a quarrel with the Queen Dowager of France upon the accompt of some dispute that had pass'd between her and his Wife the Queen Dowager of England call'd in the King her Son to take advantage of the present discontent Divers of the
Troyes she should be there to be espoused to him and with her he should have the Assurance of the Crown of France after the Decease of her Father and to gain the more Credit the Bishop secretly deliver'd him a Letter from the Princess her own hand which contained in it so much sweetness as had been enough to have made any other man but himself have surfeited with Joy his happiness being now so full and compleat that he had nothing beyond what he enjoyed to hope for Upon his Marriage with her he was published Regent of the Kingdom and Heir apparent to the Crown the Articles being published in both Realms and the two Kings and all their Nobility Sworn to the observance of them only the Daulphin stood out in utter Defiance both of his Right and Power Against him therefore the two Kings his Father and Brother together with the King of Scots who was newly arrived the young Duke of Burgundy and the Prince of Orange the Dukes of Clarence Gloucester and Bedford and twenty one Earls forty five Barons and Knights and Esquires sans nombre advanc'd with an Army of French English Scotch and Irish to the number of six hundred thousand if the Historians of that time may be credited and having taken in all the Towns and Places that denied to yield they return'd to Paris where King Henry the Articles being ratified the second time and a Counterpart sent into England began to exercise his Regency by Coyning of Money with the Arms of England and France on it placing and displacing of Officers making new Laws and Edicts and lastly awarding Process against the Daulphin to appear at the Marble Table to answer for the Murther of the Duke of Burgundy But being willing to shew his Queen how great a King he was before she brought him that Kingdom he left his Brother Clarence his Lieutenant General there and brought her over into England where he spent some time in the Administration of Justice and performing such Acts of Peace as spoke him no less expert in the knowledge of governing then in that of getting a Kingdom But he had not been long here before he received the sad News of the death of his Brother Clarence who betrayed by the Duke of Alansons Contrivance into an Ambuscade was slain together with the Earls of Tankervile Somerset Suffolk and Perch and about two thousand Common Souldiers whereupon he deputed the Earl of Mortaine in his room and not long after went back again himself with his Brother Bedford to reinforce the War taking in all the Fortresses in the Isle of France in Lovaine Bry and Champagne during which time the Daulphin was not idle but industrious to regain Fortunes savour if it were possible made many bold Attempts upon several places in possession of the English But finding the Genius of our Nation to have the Predominancy over that of his own he diverted his Fury upon the Duke of Burgundy betwixt whom and King Henry he put this difference That as he dreaded the one so he hated the other Accordingly he laid Seige to Cosney a Place not very considerable in it self but as it was a Town of the Duke of Burgundy's King Henry was so concern'd to relieve it beyond any of his own that he marched Night and Day to get up to the Enemy and making over-hasty Journeys over-heat himself with unusual Travel and fell so sick that he was fain to rest himself at Senlis and trust to the Care of his Brother the Duke of Bedford to prosecute the Design who relieved the Town and forced the Daulphin to retreat as he thought a great Looser by the Seige but it prov'd quite otherwise For the loss of the Town was nothing in comparison of the loss of King Henry who died not long after and which made his Death the more deplorable was That he no sooner left the World but Fortune left the English whereof having some Prophetick Revelation 't is thought the knowledge thereof might not be the least reason of shortning his Dayes by adding to the violence of his Distemper For 't is credibly reported that at the News of the Birth of his Son Henry born at Windsor himself being then in France even wearied with continual Victories he cryed out in a Prophetick Rapture Good Lord Henry of Monmouth shall small time Reign and get much and Henry of Windsor shall long time Reign and lose all but Gods will be done Which saying has given occasion to some to magnifie his Memory above all the Kings that were before him not to say all that came after him in that he was in some sense both King Priest and Prophet HONI · SOIT · QVI · MAL · Y · PENSE A Prince of excellent Parts in their kind though not of kindly Parts for a Prince being such as were neither sit for the Warlike Age he was born in nor agreeable to the Glory he was born to but such rather as better became a Priest then a Prince So that the Title which was sometimes given to his Father with relation to his Piety might better have been applyed to the Son with reference to his that he was the Prince of Priests Herein only was the difference betwixt them That the Religion of the one made him bold as a Lion that of the other made him as meek as a Lamb. A temper neither happy for the times nor himself for had he had less Phlegme and more Cholar less of the Dove-like Innocence and more of the Serpentine subtilty 't is probable he had not only been happier whilst he liv'd but more respected after he was dead whereas now notwithstanding all his Indulgence to the Church and Church-men there was none of them so grateful as to give him after he was murther'd Christian Burial but left him to be interr'd without Priest or Prayer without Torch or Taper Mass or Mourner indeed so without any regard to his Person and Pre-eminence that if his Obsequies were any whit better then that which holy Writ calls the Burial of an Ass yet were they such that his very Competitor Edward the Fourth who denied him the Rights of Majesty living thought him too much wronged being dead that to him some kind of satisfaction he was himself at the charge of building him a Monument The beginning of his Reign which every Body expected to have been the worst and like to prove the most unsuccessful part in respect of his Minority being but Nine Months old when he was crown'd happen'd to be the best and most prosperous there being a plentiful stock of brave men left to spend upon who behaved themselves so uprightly and carefully that it appear'd the Trust repos'd in them by the Father had made a strong Impression of Love and Loyalty to the Son The Duke of Bedford had the Regency of France the Duke of Gloucester the Government of England the Duke of Exeter and the Cardinal Beauford had the Charge of his