now drawing neer her time and it being generally believed that the Earl of Essex with his Forces had some aim at Oxford as the Seat Royal of the King the residence of his Court and Council and the Sanctuary of a considerable part of the Nobility Gentry and Clergy it was thought fit that the Queen should remove to Exceter lately taken in by Prince Maurice as a place more free from the power of the Enemies and not far from the Sea by which she might take shipping for France as occasion served Yet was it not fear that perswaded her magnanimous spirit to depart from Oxford though the Parliament at Westminster had proclaimed her Traytor and belched forth many scandalous falsities against her but over-perswaded by those who had a greater care of her safety then her self she went And on the sixteenth of April she began her journey towards Exceter conducted by the King Prince Duke of York and most of the chief Nobility and Gentry as far as Abingdon where she took her last leave of the King though neither of them without doubt had the least presage that that parting kisse should be the last that ever they were like to give each other Being parted from the King she was Convoyed on her journey by a sufficient strength of Horse purposely appointed for her security and at her arrival at Exceter was received by that City with all possible magnificence where soon after she was safely delivered of her fourth Daughter who was christned Henrietta The weakness and sicknesses incident to Childe-bearing being passed over the young Princess was committed to the charge of the Lady Dalkeith Daughter to Sir Edward Villiers one of the half-brothers of the Duke of Buckingham and Wife to the Lord Dalkeith eldest Son to the Lord Morton which having done she took Shipping at Pendennis Castle on the fifteenth of July 1644. and so passed into France there to negogotiate according to instructions received from his Majesty for some supplyes of Money Arms and Ammunition for the advance of his service in which if she could not prevail yet however to continue in the Court of the King of France till his his Majesties Affairs here might be brought into such a capacity that she might return again both with honour and safety In the mean time the Kings affairs in England went on with a great deal of seeming prosperity for not long after the Queens departure he gained a signal Victory over Sir William Waller at Cropedy-bridge and then marching after Essex who was with the other part of the Parliaments Army gone into the West to reduce those Counties to their obedience he followed him so close at the heels that at last he brought him into that straight that himself with Sir Philip Stapleton and some others escaped away in a Cock-boat leaving the whole Army to his Majesties mercy The Horse taking the occasion of a dark night made their way through and escaped but the foot came to Capitulation and had liberty to march away but their Arms Artillery Baggage Ammuntion were left to his Majesties dispose Severall other successes the King had by taking in of Garrisons c. and several Messages notwithstanding his success he sent to the Parliament for peace and accommodation but could not be hearkened unto But a hard destiny attended this pious King for whilest he solicites the Parliament with continual Messages of Peace they make all possible preparations for War and the next year viz. 1645. on the 14 of June at Nazeby gave the King his fatal and final overthrow making themselves masters of his Camp Carriages and Cannon amongst the rest of his Majesties Cabinet of private Letters which had passed between him and the Queen which to their own disgrace they published in Print A barbarity which very Heathens would be ashamed to be guilty of The King saved himself by flight from this battell and gathered together as many of his scattered Troops as he could but was never after able to make head against the conquerors but still losing one place after another was at last reduced to have Oxford only for his shelter where finding himself not safe without a Field Army on the 27 of April 1646. he in disguise leaves the City and throws himself upon the Scots Army at Newark who having taken that Town carryed him to Newcastle where they kept him in restraint The Queen after her departure from England had long time and with great industry laboured to bring a design to effect which was the procuring of the Duke of Lorrain who being at leisure with a rambling Army and Money in his Purse was in a capacity to assist any body who stood in need of him The Queen of England therefore treated with him for his assistance Many Debates there were which way his Forces which were then neer Collein should pass to the water-side through France or Holland and where they should land in England Westward or Northward but all came to nothing though there were hopes of his aid till the very time that the Kings ruine was consummate by his trusting himself with the Scots who had before been so basely treacherous to him And now the Parliament make their Victories over the King and his friends absolute Oxford is yielded up to the Parliaments Generall Fairfax and in it the Great Seal Privy Seal and Signet as likewise the Duke of York and the Princess Henrietta who were both sent to Westminster but both shortly after escaped the last conveyed by the Lady Dalkeith into France and the first by Capt. Bampfield in Womans apparel into Holland the Prince having before escaped thither from the Scillies The next design of the Parliaments was to get the King into their hands which Money was likely enough to effect three hundred thousand pounds does the feat and so his Majesty is delivered up into the hands of the English Parliaments Commissioners and with a strong party of Horse hurried from Newcastle to Holmby and so about from Prison to Prison betwixt Army and Parliament till at length the Independent Army having selected a choice Juncto of their own Gang and by force thrust those who accorded not with their murderous designs out of dores instruct these to vote That a High Court of Justice should be erected to try the King as a Rebell and a Traitor A design so horribly traiterous as not to be parallel'd in all preceding ages The Queen at Paris hearing of their wieked determinations writes to the King and with much diligence gets her Letter conveyed to him by one Wheeler servant to Major Boswell Wherein she expresses The deep sence and sorrow which she had of the Kings miserable condition in which the bonds of nature and affection enforce her to bear more then an equal share wishing with all her heart if it pleased God that she might die for him without whom she cannot nor will not live
Mothers approbation yet he must return her thanks for her after ordering them intimating thereby That she would rely and rest upon him but lodge his Son in her heart But before the Conclusion of this Treaty it pleased the Almighty to put an end to King James his dayes a Prince who all his life had kept this Kingdome in a continual Peace and quietness and had often been an Umpire in the difference of Neighbouring Princes who were in as continued Combustions about him whilest himself was never plunged in any War till now lately in one with Spain for the Restitution of the Palatinate Prince Charles upon the death of his Father is immediately declared his lawfull Heir and undoubted Successor whereof by his several Ambassadors he immediately acquaints all the neighbouring Princes But to the King of France he sends over the Earls of Carlisle and Holland not only to acquaint him with his Fathers death but to treat of an Alliance with the Princess Henrietta Maria which Negotiation was concluded in fewer months then Spain had spent years in her Treaty And soon after Letters of Procuration or Proxie were sent to the Duke of Chevereux of the House of Guise for espousing his Mistress and making her his Consort the Ceremony of which was celebrated on Sunday the First of May according to our stile but the Eleventh according to theirs in the Church of Nostre-dame at Paris with a great deal of pomp and magnificence she being given to the Duke of Chevereux in behalf of the King of England by her two Brothers the King and Mounsieur About a fortnight after the Duke of Buckingham put in Commission with the English Ambassadours there is with a train of the best quality to accompany him sent to attend the Queen and to bring her over to her Spouse in England whilest in the mean time King James's Funeral on the 14 of May was magnificently solemnized at Westminster King Charles himself contrary to the old custome attending the Obsequies On the second of June the now Queen of England set forward from Paris and at the Town of Amiens staid fourteen days by reason of the Queen her Mothers sickness and indisposition who would willingly have accompanyed her to the Sea side but at length was forced to leave her here and so with her Brother the Mounsieur she set forward towards Bulloigne a longer passage by sea to England then that of Calais but the infection there forced them to accept of this Here the Queen received the Duke of Buckinghams Mother with a Train of very many Ladies of quality from England whom Mounsieur so much honoured as to condescend to give her a visit at her Lodging for no other reason but her being Mother to the King of Englands chief Favourite and the Dutchess of Chevereux that great Princess both of Match and Blood was forced to give her the precedency The King had commanded a good part of his Navy Royal one and twenty Ships to attend the Queen on which she imbarques but in her passage findes the same rough and tempestuous weather which Mary Queen of Scots found when she was wafted over from Calais This some interpreted as an ill omen and have since taken it as a token of the succeeding tempests of her life Yet on Trinity Sunday the 13 23 of June she arrives at Dover about seven a Clock at night his Majesty the next Morning coming from Canterbury to meet her with joy received her at the top of the Stairs whilest she on her knee endeavouring to kiss his hand he seeming as it were surprized takes her up in his arms and salutes her with reiterated kisses And so conducting her into an inner Chamber after his congratulation of her safe arrival and expression of the sad fears of her danger at Sea finding her somewhat surprized and to let fall some tears to see her self now in the hands of a stranger whom she had never before seen he tells her That she was fallen into the effects of Gods Divine Providence to forsake her Kindred and cleave to her Spouse professing that he would be no longer Master of himself then he was a servant to her The Ceremony here was accomplished and the Duke of Chevereux having rendred her up to his Majesties bosom here and to his bed the same night at Canterbury they the next day set forward towards Gravesend the whole way being laned with millions of people who made the very air thunder with renumerated Ecchoes of God save their Majesties they were likewise accompanyed with a most gallant Train of the English Gentry who came from all parts of the Kingdom to wait upon their Majesties at so great a Solemnity At Gravesend on the Thursday after their Majesties entred into the Barge of State and accompanyed with an infinite number of other Barges and Boats went by water to Somerset-house whilest the Ships all the way being placed in ranks on both sides the River did volly out wellcomes to these two Princes The Third after their arrival at London their Majesties appeared in State to the Nobility both having seated themselves upon their royal Thrones And soon after the Marriage was publiquely proclaimed with excessive joy to all And from thence their Majesties by reason of the great infection then in and about London removed to Hampton-Court Where and in all other places they for many years lived in the greatest content and enjoyment of conjugal love that possibly could be The King most singularly indulgent of his Royal Consort and she correspondent with him not only in personal affection but also in bringing him forth a Progeny of Royal Princes and Princesses The best for Alliance and Stock that ever the Earth had being immediately descended from the blood Royal of England and France allied to the Emperour Kings of Spain and Denmark and all the most potent Princes of the Western World So that if ever any these might most properly be said to be sprung de semine Divûm of the seed of the Gods Yet there happened an accident on the first of July in the year 1626. which not only created a difference betwixt Lewis the thirteenth King of France and his Majesty of England but might likewise have caused a breach between him and his dearly beloved Queen and Consort had not her incomparable prudence taught her how to submit to her Husbands pleasure The King had several times been informed of misdemeanours committed by some of the Queens Domestiques towards her person and his Majesty and therefore on the first of July having the same day sent a Message commanding all the Queens Servants to be there in readiness he came to Somerset-house attended by the Duke of Buckingham the Earls of Holland and Carlisle and other principal Officers and tells them Gentlemen and Ladies I Am driven to that extremity as I am personally come to acquaint you that I very earnestly desire
your return for France True it is the deportment of some amongst you hath been very inoffensive unto Me but others again have so dallyed with my patience and so highly affronted Me as I cannot I will not longer endure it This accusation though not determined to any particular made all guilty and every single person was concerned to clear himself Whereupon the Bishop of Menes answered Sir If this accrimination be levelled at me let me I beseech you know my fault while I am here to make defence And Madam St. George said Sir I make no question but the Queen will give me a fair Testimonial to your Majesty But the King replyed no more then I name none and so commanded their speedy return to France This suddain action of the Kings overwhelmed the Queen whose tender years were not yet fit for so harsh an encounter with a great deal of impetuous passion against the King she at first taking it as the greatest extremity of unkindness that having so small a company of her native friends and servants to attend her they should in an instant be all cashiered and in lieu of them she to expect not a Train of Honour but a Guard of disaffected persons not so much to attend her as her actions whereby she should be treated more like a Prisoner then a Princesse That there could not be a higher affront put upon a Daughter of France or Queen of England The King observing her transportation endeavoured by all sweet and gentle perswasions to pacifie her but finding her inexorable he resolves to be so too and therefore the beginning of the next Month the French were all sent packing having their Salaries paid them to a penny and some of them large Gratuities given them contrary to that scandal of a Modern French Historian who writes That they were dismissed without their Wages and appointment Yet the doom fell heavy upon some of them who having sold all they had in France out of hopes to raise themselves Fortunes under the Queen in England were by this cashierment almost totally ruined Their misdemeanours were of several sorts The Ecclesiasticks stood charged with imposing several unhandsome and unbecoming Penances upon the Queen as particularly the forcing her to make a Progress bare-foot to Tyburn there to present her Devotions which action the King said could have no greater invective then the Relation The Bishop of Mends was blamed likewise for contesting with the Earl of Holland about the Stewardship of those Mannors which were setled upon the Queen as her Joynture that Office being conferred on the Earl by the King whilest the other claimed a Grant from the Queen Madam St. George was accused for having endeavoured by cunning insinuations to beget a disaffection between the King and Queen wherein she had gone so far that whatever she suggested found more credence with the Queen then whatsoever the King could alleadge an affront not to be comported And it appeared clearly after their departure that the Queens frowardness proceeded not from any natural disposition or inclination of her own but from their evil counsels and the products of their malicious spirits for ever after the Queen comported her self with so loving a complacencie and complyance that the whole world could not afford a couple more mutually endeared to one another Yet notwithstanding the Majesty of France highly resented the sending away of his Sisters Servants and Domestiques who filled his ears with many lyes and scandals one of which was the aforementioned That they were sent away without their Salary Whereas they had not only their full Debenters paid them but large Rewards besides Yet King Lewis his ears were so open to their complaints that he dispatches the Marshal de Bassompiere extraordinary Ambassador to the King of England to demand the restitution of the Queens Domestiques taxing our King with breaking the 14th Article of the Matrimonial part by which it was agreed That all the Domestique Servants which the Queen should bring over into England should be naturall French and Catholiques chosen by the most Christian King And in case of death she to choose other Catholiques of France provided the King of Great Britain should assent Yet this Embassage proved vain and ineffectual for it could not be expected but that although by the Articles the King of France was to choose the first set of Servants for the Queen yet they could not binde the King not to turn them away in case of misdemeanour for if so his power was so restrained that those Servants might take upon them to contradict his Majesty In sum their re-admission was utterly refused Whereupon King Lewis proceeded to an utter breach of the peace between both Kingdoms by seizing and securing the English Merchants Ships in the River of Bourdeaux and by employing the Vantguard and the other six Ships formerly lent to the French against Rochell contrary to Articles and their first Predestination This War proved unfortunate to the English for their first second and third attempts were all unsuccessefull and the Great Duke of Buckingham who commanded in chief in the first Expedition for relief of Rochell being to set forth again upon the same design was by one John Felton an obscure fellow stabbed to death at Portsmouth The Qu. in the Spring of the year 1629. was delivered of a Child which coming somewhat before its time lived not much above an hour yet having some life in it the Priests which attended the Qu. were very earnest to baptize it but the K. stepping in prevented them and commanded Dr. Web one of his Chaplains to officiate and name him Charls which immediately after he had done the Childe expired But on the 29th of May in the Year ensuing was her Majesty delivered of a Son both living and lively to the surpassing joy and exultation both of the Court and whole Kingdome Heaven it self seeming to rejoyce For at the time when the King rode to St. Pauls Church to give thanks to God for the Queens safe delivery of a Son though it were then neer Noon-day there visibly appeared a Star in the Firmament upon which these Verses were presented Rex ubi Paulinas accessit gratus ad aras Immicuit medio lucida stella Polo Dic divina mihi tractans aenigmata coeli Haec oriens nobis quid sibi stella velit Magnus in occiduo princeps modo nascitur orbe Moxque sub eclipsi regna Orientis erunt Thus Englished by Mr. Sanderson When to Pauls-cross the grateful King drew near A shining Star did in the Heavens appear Thou that consults with Divine Mysteries Tell me what this bright Comet signifies Now is there born a valiant Prince i' th West That shall Eclipse the Kingdoms of the East On the 27 of June following was the Prince baptized at St. James's with most refulgent pomp and Princely Ceremony and named CHARLS the Godfathers and Witnesses at