Selected quad for the lemma: england_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
england_n	great_a	king_n	year_n	21,498	5	5.0090	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A47681	The representation of the case of Sir John Lenthall, Knight, in his late sufferings	Lenthall, John, Sir, Knight.	1654 (1654)	Wing L1067; ESTC R41658	19,906	45

THE REPRESENTATION OF THE CASE OF Sir JOHN LENTHALL Knight IN HIS LATE SUFFERINGS Printed in the Yeare 2654. IF the life of man could be wafted on in his voyage of this World with a constant Gale of happinesse we should love that too well yet should bee unhappy in this that wee should never be brought to a remembrance of our selves and condition nor to a due acknowledgement of that supreame power in whose hands wee are but as Chaffe before the Wind to whose just and wise wil we ought absolutely to resigne our selves without murmuring or grudging He drawes light out of darkenesse and consolations out of afflictions His corrections are instructions which lesson my troubles taught mee and my experience found in my late darke and sad condition when my God was graciously pleased constantly to give me inward comfort in my unparralleld sufferings when there was nothing but outward appearances of discomfort there being risen up against me malicious and blacke mouthed adversaries formerly Prisoners who were for their mutinous behaviour while they were in Prison sent by the Judges to Newgate whose false tongues were dipped in the Poyson of Aspes and yet they received encouragement and countenance from Mr. Fountaine who being advanced in his owne thoughts to a high place should have preferred Justice before partiality and selfe ends yet were Heavens dispensations soe wisely disposed that these fiery trialls did purifie my innocency and make it appeare as I hope brighter Their prosecutions against me were beyond measure violent malicious and bloudie But their false accusations when they were filed did onely polish truth and made it more splendid They belched out the fowlest accusations that their owne wicked imaginations could devise or invent hoping thereby to make mee odious to all good and pious men but their injustice could not obscure the Almighties justice the bright beames whereof dispersed the blacke Clouds of their hellish plots and so displayed them to all mens eyes and eares that hee hath clothed them with shame and established I trust my innocency and credit with them that were Auditors and spectators Their calumnies were very fierce and that 's the way which malice thinkes the best to prevaile and they raysed a triple accusation of a dangerous and horrid nature against me First the breach of publicke trust which struck at my reputation and fortune The second that of delinquency which strooke at my being in the Common-wealth and the well being of my posterity And the third that grand one of Murther which did strike not onely at my life in this world but at my happinesse in the world to come Which accusations were most forcibly carried on and injuriously countenanced But because every man cannot possibly bee satisfied of all perticulars by generall rumor and report I thought it charity to them and justice to my selfe faithfully and impartially to set downe all the passages of that cruell prosecution which I shall doe with all the truth and modesty that a just vindication will permit If that malice which hath brought this affliction upon me could have been contented with ordinary and legall prosecution and if my estate and livelihood were the things onely in question and my good name not sullied with infamous filchy slanders I should in all probability rather patiently have sate downe under my sufferings then have beene induced to lay open my condition unto the world But since I cannot but be of opinion that many persons both of worth and conscience content to rest in the first representations may by this meanes bee brought to a just knowledge of the whole matter and consequently bee reduced to the moderation of doing what is but just and that my good name which to an honest man ought to bee dearer then life may bee in some measure retrived I could not but put downe as well the true circumstances of my condition as the violent and passionate proceedings of my prosecutors against me I have been these twenty three yeares together Marshall of the Kings Bench now the Upper Bench Prison by Letters Patents under the great Seale of England wherein as I am inwardly satisfied to have behaved my selfe uprightly and legally so till this storme overtooke me I hope it was without infamy or reproach But it is the misfortune of such employments as mine that wee must necessarily in doing our Offices raise up to our selves Enemies For it is so difficult if not impossible to carry our selves even between Creditor Debtor that there is no avoyding or it but one of them will be dissatisfied For if the Debtor be either unruly or unable to put in security for his true imprisonment so kept safe he straight crieth out of Restraint hard usage but if hee put in security lie in the Rules or legally goe abroad about his occasions with a Keeper then does the Creditor crie out of too much liberty it may be files a Bill for an Escape So that let a man carry himselfe with all the care circumspection which is possible he shall be sure to meet with clamors enemies And these so much the more in regard that being persons either in low condition or decayed fortunes they account it somewhat either of ease or pleasure to revile or vex those whom they look upon as the instruments of their misfortunes After the dissolution of the former Parliament then some persons did take upon them a power by what authority or order I know not to enquire into all matters concerning Prisons and Keepers of Prisons by vertue of whose power I was summoned to appeare before them which I obeyed But it was a wonder to me who had been a faithfull servant to the Parliament in their most doubtfull and difficult times and who had beene constantly in all their Commissions and stucke to them thorowout when others declined them to see Mr. Fountayne in the Chayre one of the most active for the late King and one by whose power and interest at Oxford my place was given away for disobeyng a Warrant of the late Kings dated the 23. of November 1643. for the discharge of William Cobb Yet humbly submitting as it was my duty to the Authority over mee and withall weighing with my selfe the Right that all Governours have to call whom they please to their assistance besides hoping that Mr. Fountaine had manifested unot them his hatred to his former principles and courses I with all the submissiō I could prepared my selfe to give the best satisfactiō that lay in my power unto that Cōmittee The Generall things they fell upon were first About the List of my Prisoners a perfect and full Copy whereof I delivered in Next about the Extent and Liberty of the Rules of the Prison by which means as was alleadged there are many Escapes occasioned and Creditors extreamly delayed if not absolutely defrauded In answer to this I only sayd That the Prison house being so little as that it is not able to