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
3. and that brought on the Treaty betwixt that King and Gregory the Eleventh which after two years debate ended with this express Agreement (t) Walsingham Hist 1374. Page 184. Quod Papa de caetero reservationibus beneficiorum minime uteretur which Dignities Henry the Fourth made no scruple to collate to his own use notwithstanding his being anointed with that Oil which came from Heaven the vertue whereof was to encline all the Princes that were inaugurated therewith to be favourable to the Church His Son Henry the Fifth for his exemplary Piety stil'd the Prince of Priests thought fit to demand of Martin the Fifth several Ecclesiastical Priviledges which his Predecessors had got from the Kings of England at several times and his Ambassadors finding the Pope to stick at it and give them no ready answer told him plainly That the King their Master intended to use his own mind in the matter whether he consented or no (u) In vit Hen. Chichley Pag. 56 57. Edito Anno 1617. Vtpote quae non à necessitatis sed honoris causa petat Thus the Papal power as it was interrupted in all times so from this time it sensibly languish'd till it received its fatal blow from Henry the Eight who if I may so say did as it were beat out the Popes Brains with his own Keys and had he not afterward used violence to himself by referring the point of his Supremacy to the Parliament to be confirm'd by Statute Law that was sufficiently firm'd before by the Common Law that cannot change he had undoubtedly been more absolute Lord of himself than any Christian Prince whatever and acknowledg'd Head of the Church nullis Exceptionibus as Tacitus expresses it in another case but laying the burthen of that weighty Question of the Supremacy upon the Shoulders of Divines which had been better supported by those of the great Lawyers he was perplext with many Scruples and in the end forced to enter the List in Person and fight the (w) Antiqu. Brit. Eccles p. 384. 37. Pope at his own weapon the Pen wherein by great good fortune being a great master of defence that way he had the better of it and by the Authority of his Example drew many to Second him his Supremacy being afterward Justified by the whole Convocation of Divines in both the Universities and most of the Monastical and Collegiate Theologues of the whole Kingdom whilst only four adventur'd to assert the Pope's Right to be de Jure divino 29. And now to conclude this whole discourse The Government of this Isle alwayes Monarchial it may perhaps be thought a Point of glory not unworthy our Remarke to observe that the Government of this Isle was never cloath'd in any other form but what appeared Monarchial notwithstanding the many chances and changes I cannot say alterations which Time conspiring with Fate hath brought forth wantonly disposing the Scepter of these Isles not only to several Persons and Families but different People and Nations The Genius of the very first Natives the Aborigines as Caesar observes of their Ancestors the Gaules being always inclinable to be rul'd by one single Person affecting Monarchy as Naturally as the Greeks did Aristocracy the Romans Democracy or the Germans and indeed all the Northern Nations Oligarchy and however we read of no less than four Kings in Kent by which may be guest a proportionable number of the like kind in other Provinces which Cesar had no Knowledg of yet it appears by those who wrote after him with more certainty That all these Reguli were under one Chief Tacitus to whom it matters not what Title was given by themselves Speaking of Caraciacus since Tacitus calls him more Romano Imperator Britannorum After the Romans got the Government into their hands though there was a seeming Pentarchy yet the Emperour saith Herodian reserv'd to himself all Appeals from the Presidents and Lieutenants not excepting the Cesars themselves here During the Saxon Heptarchy when each of those Royteletts had a distinct Legislative power within his own Kingdom striving like Twins in the Womb of their Conquest which should be born first yet one saith Bede was saluted by common consent with the stile and Title of Rex Anglorum So during the still-born Tetarchy of the Danes Knute was not only Primus but Princeps Uniting the Trine Power of his Predecessours in his single Person Neither did the Genius of the Normans affect any other form notwithstanding the intestine Feuds betwixt divers of those Kings and their Nobles these striving to recover what they had lost those resolving to keep what by advantage of time and sufferance they had got ingaged them in desperate Resolutions for however the Populacy prevail'd against King John Henry the Third Edward the Second and Richard the Second taking the boldness to commit so many Insolencies as sullied the memory of those times and gave Strangers occasion to brand the whole Nation with one of the basest Characters that malice could invent Les mutins Anglois yet was not their ill disposition heightned to that degree of madness as to follow Providence in the pursuit of their Liberties beyond the bounds of Magna Charta for though they left succeeding Ages a President they never found in deposing the two last acts no less dishonourable to themselves than them yet they admitted the Son of the one and the Uncle of the other to succeed Nor was it want of power to do otherwise Vox Populi being at the same time Preached up by no meaner a man than the Primate of England to be Vox Dei and pass'd for as good Divinity as Policy The like may be observed in those disorderly times when the two fatal houses of York and Lancaster justled one another out of the Throne with such alternate success as gave advantage to the Plebiscitum to Elect which they pleas'd the Soveraignty being so weakned by the blood lost on either side that the people had it in their power not only to turn the Scale as they thought fit but to break the Beam of Majesty on which the weight of that destructive Quarrel hung and so by taking away the Cause have prevented the Occasions of ensuing mischiefs yet still we find they kept within the Circle of their Allegiance and though they directed it variously to several Lines yet all tended to supporting the main Nave of the Monarchy continuing the Government as it had ever been in a single Person which Devotion to Monarchy was as St. Hierome observes in one of his Epistles rewarded from Heaven with this great blessing upon the Incolae in general of this Isle That by their Obedience to one Prince they were the more easily brought to the belief of One God who blest their early Faith with the Honour of having the First Christian King and Emperour of the World amongst them 30. But This last Age of ours I confess hath brought forth an unnatural Race of
their Gentility by Charters from St. Edward and others from King Edgar whose Pedigrees do yet fall short of many of the Welch by many Descents In fine from the Normans we first learn'd how to appear like a People compleatly civiliz'd being as more elegant in our Fashions so more sumptuous in our Dwellings more magnifick in our Retinue not to say choicer in our Pleasures yet withal more frugal in our Expences For the English being accustomed to bury all their Rents in the Draught knowing no other way to out-vie one another but as a †Jaq. Praslin Progmat French Writer expresses it by a kind of greasie Riot which under the specious Name of Hospitality turn'd their Glory into Shame began after the Conquest to consume the Superfluity of their Estates in more lasting Excesses turning their Hamlets into Villes their Villages into Towns and their Towns into Cities adorning those Cities with goodly Castles Pallaces and Churches which being before made up of that we call Flemmish Work which is only Wood and Clay were by the Normans converted into Brick and Stone which till their coming was so rarely used that Mauritius Bishop of London being about to re-edifie Paul's Church burn'd in the Year 1086. was either for want of Workmen Materials or both necessitated not only to fetch all his Stone out of Normandy but to form it there So that we may conclude if the Conqueror had not as he did obliged the English to a grateful continuance of his Memory by personal and particular Immunities yet he deserv'd to be Eterniz'd for this that he elevated their minds to a higher point of Grandeur and Magnificence and rendred the Nation capable of greater Undertakings whereby they suddenly became the most opulent and flourishing People of the World advanc'd in Shipping Mariners and Trade in Power External as well as Internal witness no less then two Kings made Prisoners here at one time one of them the very greatest of Europe whereby they increased their publick Revenues as well as their private Wealth even to the double recompensing the loss sustain'd by his Entry whilst himself however suppos'd by that big sounding Title of Conqueror to have been one of the most absolute Princes we had got not so much ground while he was living as to bury him here when he was dead but with much ado obtain'd a homely Monument in his Native Soil THE ORDER AND SUCCESSION OF THE Norman Kings I. date of accession 1066 WILLIAM I. known by that terrible Name of the Conqueror gave the English by one single Battel so sad experience of their own weakness and his power that they universally submitted to him whereby becoming the first King of England of the Norman Race he left that Glory to be inherited by his second Son II. date of accession 1087 WILLIAM II. surnam'd Rufus who being the eldest born after he was a King and a Native of this Country succeeded with as much satisfaction to the English as to himself but dying without Issue left his younger Brother III. date of accession 1100 HENRY I. surnam'd Beauclark to succeed in whose Fortune all his Friends were as much deceiv'd as in his Parts his Father only excepted who foretold he would be a King when he scarce left him enough to support the dignity of being a Prince As he set aside his elder Brother Robert Duke of Normandy so he was requited by a like Judgment upon his Grandson the Son of his Daughter Maud who was set aside by IV. date of accession 1135 STEPHEN Earl of Blois his Cousin but she being such a woman as could indeed match any man disputed her Right so well with him that however she could not regain the Possession to her self she got the Inheritance fixed upon her Son V. date of accession 1155 HENRY II. Plantaginet the first of that Name and Race and the very greatest King that ever England knew but withal the most unfortunate and that which made his misfortunes more notorious was that they rose out of his own Bowels his Death being imputed to those only to whom himself had given life his ungracious Sons the eldest whereof that surviv'd him succeeded by the Name of VI. date of accession 1189 RICHARD I. Coeur de Leon whose undutifulness to his Father was so far retorted by his Brother that looking on it as a just Judgment upon him when he dyed he desired to be buried as near his Father as might be possible in hopes to meet the sooner and ask forgiveness of him in the other World his Brother VII date of accession 1199 JOHN surnam'd Lackland had so much more lack of Grace that he had no manner of sense of his Offence though alike guilty who after all his troubling the World and being troubled with it neither could keep the Crown with honour nor leave it in peace which made it a kind of Miracle that so passionate a Prince as his Son VIII date of accession 1216 HENRY III. should bear up so long as he did who made a shift to shuffle away fifty six years doing nothing or which was worse time enough to have overthrown the tottering Monarchy had it not been supported by such a Noble Pillar as was his Son and Successor IX date of accession 1272 EDWARD I. a Prince worthy of greater Empire then he left him who being a strict Observer of Opportunity the infallible sign of Wisdom compos'd all the differences that had infested his Fathers Grand-fathers and Great-Grand-fathers Governments and had questionless dyed as happy as he was glorious had his Son X. date of accession 1307 EDWARD II. answer'd expectation who had nothing to glory in but that he was the Son of such a Father and the Father of such a Son as XI date of accession 1328 EDWARD III. who was no less fortunate then valiant and his Fortune the greater by a kind of Antiperistasis as coming between two unfortunate Princes Successor to his Father and Predecessor to his Grandson XII date of accession 1377 RICHARD II. the most unfortunate Son of that most fortunate Father Edward commonly call d the Black Prince who not having the Judgment to distinguish betwixt Flatterers and Friends fell like his Great-Grand-father the miserable example of Credulity being depos'd by his Cosin XIII date of accession 1399 HENRY IV. the first King of the House of Lancaster descended from a fourth Son of Edward the Third who being so much a greater Subject then he was a King 't was thought he took the Crown out of Compassion rather then Ambition to relieve his oppress'd Country rather then to raise his own House and accordingly Providence was pleas'd to rivat him so fast in the Opinion of the People that his Race have continued though not without great Interruption ever since His Son XIV date of accession 1412 HENRY V. was in that repute with the People that they swore Allegiance to him before he was crown'd an honour never done to any of his Predecessors
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
unsettledness of the Times or of mens Minds rather whilst some were led by Conscience others by their Temporal Concerns some out of Love to Reformation and others out of fear of Superstition some again out of desire of Change but most out of dread of Forreign Servitude that the Conclusion of this Match gave beginning to a desperate Rebellion which though at first it seem'd despicable enough being headed by no better a man then Sir Thomas Wyat a private Knight of Kent the Duke of Suffolk who was in the Conspiracy being apprehended almost as soon as he appear'd yet before it could be supprest the wise Match-makers found they had met with their Match in that Rebel who was so fortunate as to rout the Queens General and take all their Ordnance and Ammunition Upon which he march'd up with full Assurance of taking the chief City into which though he brought but sive Ensigns 't is probable he might have carried it had not Heaven taken part against him as usually it doth against Rebels first arming them with Impudence and then disarming them with Fear making the Arch-Traytor a terrible Example of unparallel'd Insolence who whiles he was at large continued bold as a Lion but being once apprehended prov'd so base a Coward that brib'd with the hopes of Life he made himself guilty of a greater Treachery then he was to dye for accusing Edward Earl of Devon and the Princess Elizabeth the Queens Sister to have been privy to his Conspiracy which gain'd Credit not so much from the Suspect of any private Affection betwixt them two although he alleadged they were to be married as from the secret disaffection either of them had he to the King that should be as being his Rival she to the Queen that was as being her Disseisor the two Sisters as little agreeing in point of Right of Succession as their two Mothers in point of Right of Marriage but fain he would have acquitted them when he found he could not be acquitted himself by it for having serv'd their turn of him the Statesmen gave the fatal turn to him However the malitious Chancellor Gardner resolving to take the Truth at the wrong end and believe it as he pleas'd secur'd them in several Prisons till he were at leisure to examine the matter being then deeply ingaged in providing Fire and Faggots for those Learned Hereticks Cranmer Ridley and Latimer c. who were to make a Holocaust preparatory to the Queens Nuptials which having been defer'd by this unexpected Rising was now propos'd in Parliament For the greater confirmation the three States of the Kingdom assenting thereto upon the Conditions following First That King Philip should admit no Stranger into any Office but only Natives Secondly That he should Innovate nothing in the Laws and Customes of the Realm Thirdly That he should not carry the Queen out of the Realm without her consent nor any of her Children without consent of the Councel Fourthly That surviving the Queen he should challenge no Right in the Kingdom but suffer it to descend to the next Heir Fifthly That he should carry away none of the Crown Jewels nor remove any Shipping or Ordnance Sixthly and lastly That he should neither directly nor indirectly intangle the Realm of England with the Wars betwixt Spain and France Upon which Terms 't was hop'd by those affected not the Match that Philip would knock off there being neither Youth or Beauty to tempt him But as the House of Austria did ever prefer their Ambition before their Love so designing the universal Monarchy he thought he made a great step to it by being put in possession of England and so near intituled to France And now the most Catholick King being joyn'd with the Faith defending Queen it cannot be imagin'd but that they must begin with Religion In order to the Regulation whereof Cardinal Pool being first restored again in blood and reputation was sent for over who arm'd with his Legatine Power and a natural Force of Eloquence press'd hard upon the Parliament and shewed them the danger they were in by their late Schism being become as he said Exiles from Heaven and in no capacity to have been ever readmitted had he not brought from Rome the Keys that opened the gates of Life and thereupon he advised them to abrogate those Laws which lay as blocks in their way urging them thereto from the Example of their good King and Queen who he said had resigned their Title of Supream Head to shew themselves true Members of the Mystical Body and had made Restitution of those Lands which had been sacrilegiously taken from the Church by their Predecessor Which Speech of his being very Methodically digested and delivered with great gravity startled many of the Lords who reflected upon their Fore-fathers Devotion to the holy See but those of the lower House having it seems lower thoughts and deeming it a rare Felicity to have shaken off that heavy Yoke that had so long gall'd their Fore-fathers necks did not so readily assent to receive his profer'd Fenediction at so dear a rate as to part with their Lands which having been divided by the Queens father amongst them were by several Settlements and Alienations so translated from one Family to another that without great Inconvenience they could not be sever'd from their Temporal Proprieties However they so far complyed as to agree That the first Fruits and Tenths granted by the Clergy to King Henry Anno 1534 should be remitted But after they came to consider the Poverty of the Treasure the reason of the several Pensions that had been granted in Lieu thereof by the said King to divers Religious Persons that were still living they revok'd their Decree again Upon which the Legate not skilful enough to deal with a Multitude as appear'd afterward by his loosing the papal dignity desisted content it seems with the honour of having prevail'd over the more devout Queen the heat of whose Zeal had so softned her heart that it was fit for any Impression Now as he had a better Faculty in Canvassing of the Feminine Sex which Cardinal Carraffa afterward Pope Paul IV upbraided him withal in the open Conclave so he prevail'd with her to give up all that she had in her own possession who to move others to imitate her piety did it with that detestation of the Sacriledg of her Predecessors that when one of her wise Counsellors yet of the same Religion told her it would be a great Diminution to the Revenues of her Crown she answered piously and as she thought prudently that she had another Crown to look after that she valued a thousand times more then that But while she is thus careful for the eternal King Philip her Husband was no less busie to secure his Temporal Crown In order to which he went over to receive the Blessing of the Emperour his Father then in Flanders who upon his Arrival delivered up to him the possession of the Low
Countries having given him the Kingdoms of Naples and Jerusalem before of the first of which the Pope either envying or fearing the Emperour's Greatness had made the French King some Assurance purposely to ingage him thereby in a War that might weaken them both Great Preparations were made by either Party to secure themselves both with Arms and Alliances the Emperor leaving all his Dominions on this side to his Son whilst himself retires into Spain to alarm the French on the other side and by his Vicinity to Italy whose petty Princes he suspected not to be firm to his Interest makes himself as terrible to his Neighbours as his Enemies But whilst this great design was in Prospect only King Philip was suddenly called home by a Brute that his Queen was with Child the Joy whereof was so universal that it is strange to tell how much it transported the whole Kingdom raising them by the hopes of a young Prince to a degree of seeming Infatuation for they not only mock'd God Almighty in the Church with causeless Thanksgivings but troubled the King and Queen every hour in Court withâ—s groundless Petitions for Places of Attendance on the unborn Child and so far did the Delirium prevail to delude even the Parliament themselves with extravagant apprehensions of their future happiness by the enjoyment of such a Prince who however he were like to be Lord of the greatest part of Christendom would yet in all probability make England the Seat of his Empire that they humbly besought the King in case the Queen should dye in Travel that he would be pleas'd to take upon him the rule and government of the Child and Kingdome such ado have great Princes to be born as well as to dye in quiet But this mistaken Embryo proving at length to be nothing else but a Mis-conception whereof she could not be delivered so as to make way for any better Conception turning to such a fleshy inform Substance as Physitians call a Mole and we vulgarly English a Moon-Calf it put King Philip so ouâ— of Countenance that he tarried not a Month here after her time of Reckoning was our but passing into Flanders put it out of his head since he could not put it out of her belly by beginning a War with France whereto he had a good ground upon the account of the Five years Truce being broken that had been made but a little before The Queen to requite him for her late Miscarriage broke with her People and resolving not to stand Neuter whilst her Husband was ingaged found occasion to make the French Aggressors upon the Crown of England Whereupon the Earl of Pembroke was sent over with Ten thousand Horse and Four thousand Foot who joyning with the Kings Forces which were Thirty five thousand Foot and Twelve thousand Horse before they came they all of them sate down before St Quintins a Town of great importance which the French in vain indeavouring to succour lost Twenty five thousand upon the place Amongst whom were divers of the greatest Quality as John of Bourbon Duke of Anguin the Dukes of Monpensier and Longevile the Viscount Turein c. the Lord Chadenier the Mareschal St. Andrew the Rhinegrave the Constable Mount Morency and his Son Brother to Count Lodowick Gonzaga Brother to the Duke of Mantova the Admiral Coligny and his Brother with divers other Lords of no less eminence who being all taken with the Town made it look like the beginning of a War which every Body judged could not end till the Rupture reach'd to the middle of France The report of this Victory gave great matter of rejoycing to every Body but most especially to the Queen her self yet could it not divert that Melancholy occasioned by the conceit of her Misconception which brought her into a Distemper that not long after kill'd her by her Physicians mistaking her Malady who giving her improper Medicines without regard to the over-cooling of her Liver which it seems is the mischief attends those Moles found not their error till she was so far gone into that desperate kind of Dropsie which they call Ascites that there was no help for her now That which added to her Distemper was an over-nice resentment of the Popes displeasure who offended at her breach with the French punish'd her as Princes use to be by whipping their Favourites with taking away the Legatine Power from her beloved Minister Cardinal Pool to whom as she had ever a great regard so she opin'd that the disgrace put upon a Man of so great Authority and Credit who had been so active in the Conversion of the Nation would as indeed it did not only reflect something on her honour but hazard much the reputation of the Catholick Cause whiles the Roman Religion was not so fully establish'd as she design'd it should and the Enemies of the Church no less dangerous to that of her State This gave her great trouble of Mind and that trouble being heightened by the absence of her beloved Husband brought her into a burning Feaver that foretold a death that might have proved a living one had it not been hastned by the news of the revolt of Calais which being lost in less then six dayes time after it had continued English above Two hundred years came so near her heart that drying up all her Blood brought her under such a fix'd sadness as left her not till she left the World Now to say truth she had great reason to resent the loss for as it was the only Key left to let her into France so it was no small over-sight to hang it by her side with so slender a String as she did there being not above Five hundred Souldiers in it when it was attach'd which were much too few to defend a place of that Importance where there was a kind of necessity to keep the Gates alwayes open HONI · SOIT · QVI · MAL · Y · PENSE Christ was the Word that spake it He took the Bread and brake it And what the Word did make it That I believe and take it Which however it seem'd an obscure and uncertain Solution so baffled all her Adversaries that the Priests themselves who hop'd with like Success to have soil'd her as the First Temptor did the First Woman upon the First great Question of Take and Eat found themselves left in the dark to grope after her meaning as well as they could whilst she shut her self up from further Pressures within the Closet of her own private Sense But as Wisdom is perhaps the only Vertue that is distrustful of it self so to shew how little Confidence she had in the strength of her own Abilities she made it her first business to fortifie her self with able Counsellors In the choice of whom her Affections gave place to her Judgment as her Fears to her Foresight admitting divers of her Sisters great Ministers who having been privy to all the Secrets of State were like sharp
should be but short were easily drawn into many desperate Conspiracies which ending with the Forfeiture of their own brought her Life and Government into continual Jeopardy The next great thing that feâ—l under her Consideration was the point of Marriage and Singularity For it being doubtful in what state the Kingdom would be left if the Queen of Scots Title should ever take place who besides that she was an avow'd Papist had married the French Kings Son who in her Right bore the Arms and Title of England as well as of Scotland it was told her she would not shew her self a true Mother of her Country without she consented to make her self a Mother of Children Whereunto King Philip of Spain as soon as he heard of Queen Mary his Wives death gave her a fair Invitation by his Ambassador the Conde Feria whom he sent over publickly â—o Congratulate her as a Queen but privately to Court her as a Mistress assuring her that he much rather desired to have her to be his Wife then his Sister and as the Report of her being Successor to his Queen had much allay'd the grief he conceiv'd for her death so he said 't was his desire she should take place in his Bed as well as in his Throne that so by giving her self to him she might requite the kindness shew'd by him when he gave her to her self after her Sister left her exposed to the malice and power of her Enemies In fine he omitted no Arguments to gain his end that might be rais'd from the Consideration of her Gratitude or his own Greatness But she being naturally Inflexible not to say as some have said Impenetrable lest it to her Councel to return this grave Answer for her That she could not consent to have him of all men for a Husband without as great reflection on her Mother as her self since it could not be more lawful for two Sisters to marry the same Husband then for two Brothers to marry the same Wife Secondly That she could not consent to a Match that was like to prove so unfortunate as this would be if without Issue and yet so much more unfortunate with it in respect her Kingdom of England must by the same Obligation become subject to Spain as she to him Thirdly That nothing could more conduce to the Establishing that Authority which had been so industriously abolish'd by her Father and Brother of blessed Memory and conscientiously rejected by her self Fourthly That it could neither be satisfactory to her self or Subjects to have such a King to her Husband whose greatest Concerns being necessarily abroad could neither regard her nor them as he ought much less as they desired This Denial though it seem'd reasonable enough yet King Philip inferring that she dislik'd his Person rather then his Proposal very temperately recommended his Suit to his more youthful Kinsman Charles Duke of Austria second Son to the Emperour Ferdinand who was Rival'd by Eric eldest Son of Gustavus King of Sweden as he by Adolph Duke of Holst Uncle to Frederick III. King of Denmark But neither of these being more successful then his most Catholick Majesty the whole Parliament became Suiters to her to think of Posterity and to eternize her Memory not so much by a Successor like her self as by one descended from her self Which serious address she answer'd with a Jest telling them she was married already And shewing them a Ring on her Finger the same she had received at her Coronation told them it was the Pledge of Love and Faith given her by her dear Spouse the Kingdom of England which words she delivered with such an odd kind of Pleasantness that all the Wise men amongst them thought she made Fools of them and the Fools thought themselves made so much wiser by it as to understand her meaning to be that she would not look abroad for a Husband but take one of her own Subjects Amongst the rest thus mistaken was Leicester himself who having the vanity to believe he might be the man obstructed his own preferment when he was propos'd as a fitting Husband for the Queen of Scots The Catholick King however he had been rejected hoping that the Catholick Religion might find better acceptation continued his Frâ—endship a long time after his Courtship was ended being so respectful to the Nation not to say to the Queen her self that he would make no accord with the French at the Treaty of Cambray without the restoration of Calais to the English But when he understood how far the Queen had proceeded in point of Reformation how she had as resolutely refus'd to be the Popes Daughter as to be his Wife how she had disallow'd the Councel of Trent and set up a Synod of her own at London he not only left her as slightly as she left him but made such a Conclusion with the French as gave her more cause of Jealousie being not his Wife then she could possibly have had if he had been her Husband For marrying the Lady Isabella eldest Daughter to that King it was suspected that the two Crowns might thereupon unite against England upon the account of the Queen of Scots her Claim who being the Daulphins Wife and the next in Succession after Queen Elizabeth or as some will have it in Right before her as being the undoubted Heir of the Lady Margaret eldest Daughter of Henry the Seventh was therefore the only Person in the World to whom she could never be reconciled holding her self oblig'd by the Impulse of Nature Honour and Religion to oppose her as after she did to the death wherein perhaps there was no less of Envy then Reason of State being as much offended with her Perfections as her Pretensions For that t'other was a Lady that equall'd her in all surmounted her in some and was inferiour to her in no respects but Fortune only This as it prov'd a Feud that puzled that Age to unriddle the meaning of it charging all the Misunderstanding betwixt them upon the despite of Fate only which to speak Impartially was never more unkind not to say unjust all Circumstances of the Story considered to any Soveraign Princess in the World then to that poor Queen so it was the wonder of this till we saw by the no less fatal Example of that Queens Grandson our late Soveraign how the best of Princes may fall under the power of the worst of men For it was Flattery and Feminine Disdain questionless that first divided them beyond what the difference of Nation Interest or Religion could have done which heightning their mutual Jealousies insensibly ingag'd them before they were aware in such a Game of Wit and Faction as brought all that either had at last to stake and made them so wary in their Play on both sides that the Set ended not as long as the one liv'd or the other reign'd The Queen of Scots had the advantage of Queen Elizabeth by the Kings in her Stock the Kings of
so unreasonable a Story or not be able to write it so plainly as that it may be intelligible How a King was made a Subject to his Vassals and how they were made Slaves to one another How every man who had any honesty was afraid and every one who had any honour asham'd to own it How they that had any Reason were forc'd to deny or disguise it lest their Wisdom should bring them under Suspect and that Suspect under Condemnation whiles Loyalty was the only proper Subject for a Tragedy and Religion for a Farse God with us being set up against Dieu mon Droit For all which we have no excuse to give to Posterity but must disclaim with the Poet and say to each Reader Desit in hac tibi parte Fides nec credite Factum Ovid. Metam Vel si credatis facti quoque Credite poenam But we have this to attenuate our dishonour if the condemning them can any whit excuse us that the Scots were not disunited from us in point of Shame more then in point of Guilt who having the impudence to make their King their Prisoner sold him back to their Brethren of the Covenant here at a dearer rate then the Jews paid for Christ or then possibly those here would have given for him had they not thought it the price of their own Freedom rather then his But as the buyers found themselves not long after miserably disappointed by the Regicides who took the Quarrey from them so those that sold him to them liv'd to see themselves sold at a lower rate then he was and bought by those who bought him of them The Genius of the whole Nation of Scotland feeling a just reverberation of Divine Vengeance in being rendred afterward no Kingdom I might say no People if we consider the Akephalisis that follow'd but a miserable subjected Province to the Republicans of England without any hope of Redemption but what they must expect from the free grace of his Son against whom they had thus sinned And however they have since recover'd something of their ancient Glory by the Merits of some great Persons amongst them eminent for their Loyalty but more particularly by the merits of the brave Montross whose incomparable Example alone is enough to buoy up the dishonour of their lost Nation as being more lasting yet 't is to be fear'd they as well as we yet suffer so much in their reputation abroad that the very Pagan Princes of the other part of the World how remote soever have been alarm'd at the report of so unpresidented an Impiety and accompting themselves therefore more secure in the Fâ—ith of their Bruitish Subjects then our King can be in ours rejoyce at the happiness of having no Commerce with us exalting himself in the words of the Poet Ovid. Metam Si tamen admissum sinit hoc Natura videri Gratulor huic terrae quod abest Regionibus illis Quae tantum fecêre nefas THE ORDER AND SUCCESSION OF THEIR KINGS I. date of accession 1603 JAMES the Sixth of Scotland and first of England being after the death of Queen Elizabeth the last of the direct Line the next Heir as only Son of Mary Queen of Scots sole Daughter and Heir of James the Fifth Son and Heir of James the Fourth by Margaret eldest Daughter of Henry the Seventh of England was on S. James 's day 1603. Crown'd King of Great Britain and Prince Henry his eldest Son dying before him the Crown descended to his second Son II. date of accession 1627 CHARLES the First a Prince who deserving the best of any other was the worst used by his People that ever any King was but Heaven has been pleas'd to recompence him for the indignities he suffer'd here on earth by compelling all those who would not allow him the honour of a KING whiles he was alive to reverence him as a PROPHET being dead themselves being made the instruments in the accomplishment of his dying Prediction That God would at last restore his Son III. date of accession 1648 CHARLES the Second our present Soveraign who bless'd be Divine Providence for it after twelve years rejection by those Sons of Zerviah that were too hard for him was brought back triumphant and placed upon the Throne by an invisible hand which having now recorded hu right as it were with the Beams of the Sun unworthy are they of that light who do not willingly submit to him being as he is the undoubted Heir to his Fathers Vertues as well as to his Kingdoms HONI · SOIT · QVI · MAL · Y · PENSE DIEV ET MON DROIT Now if it be one of the most desirable points of happiness because the most durable to have such Subjects as wish no other Soveraign but himself as himself desired no other Subjects but those he had so we may believe he had a large share of Joy with the People and possibly more transcendent then most men conceiv'd in respect of the Reflections he could not but make upon his past Troubles which in some sort may be said to have taken their beginning even before he took his there being such a Sympathy in Nature that he could not but have some Convulsion fits in his Mothers Womb at the time when that unhappy Prince received his death to whom he was indebted for his life especially since the same men by the same Principle they were mov'd to deprive him of a Father were obliged to deprive him of his Soveraignty as after they attempted to do when they disputed his Right of Succession Thus far he suffer'd being yet unborn Now being born he seem'd to be in no less danger in his Cradle then that great Legislator of the Jews was at the same Age in his Bull-rush Ark being toss'd and tumbled by the agitation of several swelling Factions as t'other by the motion of the troubled Waters whilst they that made away his Father began with no less Audacity to fall upon his Mother and as they strangled the King first and then blew up the House afterward so now they restrain'd the Queen under so streight a Confinement that she could scarce breath and blew up her Power which we may call her Castle by a train of Popularity to which Buchanan gave Fire by that Invective he wrote against the Monarchy of that Kingdom intituled De Jure Regni apud Scotos wherein as much as in him lay he subjected Kingship to be trampled underfoot by the Beasts of the People affirming that they had the Right to create or depose their Princes as they pleas'd And accordingly they compell'd his Mother to resign into their hands the Crown she had receiv'd in her Cradle to be given to him that was now lying in his Thus far he suffer'd being yet uncrown'd Five dayes after his Mothers Resignation he was Crown'd and Anointed and being but thirteen Moneths old was acknowledg'd King by the Name of James the Sixth But at very same
which were likewise confirm'd by Act of Parliament the great Lords having as yet heard nothing of any Commission of Surrendries which was that great Rock of Offence against which his Successor King Charles the First did so unluckily dash himself to pieces Due care being thus taken for Establishment of Truth and Order in the Church the next great Work was to establish quiet in the State that Righteousness and Peace might kiss each other which he judged to be a consideration not less necessary then prudent the active Government of his Predecessor Queen Elizabeth who led all the brave men in her time to hard duty having tired out almost a l the stirring Spirits of the Nation However though it did ease it did not generally please the People the humor of Fighting being not so wholly spent but that it broke out afterward to worse purpose it being in our Fate as has been observ'd by some Melancholy States-men that whenever we are long kept from quarrelling with others we are apt to quarrel with one another But that which discontented the Men of Mars most was to see the Faction of the Gown-men pricking up and wholly predominant Upon this lower Orb as in the Skie Aleyn Vit. H. 7. Sol constantly is nearest Mercury Neither did he take part with them so much out of the pleasure he had in Books as out of an aversness to Arms whereunto he seem'd to have such an Antipathy that by his good will he did not care to see any Sword-man within his Palace whereby the Court came by degrees to loose two points of its ancient Lustre one in the Exercise of Tilting which was an Entertainment that added much to the Grandeur and Magnificence of the late Queen and King Henry her Father the other in the choice of the Gentlemen Pentioners an Order which being set up by the Wisdom of her Grand-father Henry the Seventh a Prince of severe Gravity she was so fond of and so curious in ordering the state of their attendance that none could attain to that honour all her time but who were men of very good Quality and yet more goodly Stature who by their graceful Personage might set forth the place as she design'd the place should set forth them so that in time it became a kind of Nursery for Officers and Men of Command who were sent abroad into France and the Low-Countries to learn the Art of cutting Throats if need were and so return'd again But this King it seems being taken with no such armed Pomp neglected it so far that some of the ruffling Gallants about the Town began to speak of it with more freedom then became their Duty or Discretion taxing him downright with Pusillanimity and causless fears saying that he trifled away more money in insignificant Embassies and Negotiations for a dishonorable Peace then would have maintain'd an honorable War But he having before shut up the Gates of Janus all his talk was as we commonly say without Doors for he esteem'd it honour enough that he had conquer'd himself according to that of the Poet Fortior est qui se quam qui fortissima vincit Moenia Peace he had at home without his seeking for it O Neil the great Disturber of his Predecessors quiet being presented to him as a Prisoner by the Lord Mountjoy as soon almost as he came in which gave him the occasion to begin with the settlement of Ireland first by giving the possession of the whole Province of Ulster O Neil's Country and the sink of Rebellion to the Citizens of London who thereupon setled two Colonies there the one at Derry every since call'd London-derry t'other at Colraine which they stor'd with Four hundred Artizans whilst the King for the better supplying them with Souldiers erected a new Order of Knighthood call'd Baronets from their taking place next the Sons of Barons each of which was ingaged to lay down as much money at the Sealing of his Patent as would maintain thirty Foot Souldiers one whole year at the rate of Eight pence a day a piece which came to twenty shillings a day And the Complement of these Knights being Two hundred there was a compleat Establishment of Three thousand Souldiers without any further noise to be ready for his Service whenever he had occasion to make use of them Now in order to the having Peace abroad there needed no more but to renew the Leagues he had made before with the Princes his Neighbours under another stile The great Question was Whether he should accept of the Olive-branch from the King of Spain with whom his Predecessor had so long contended for the Laurel and upon debating the whole matter besides the motives of the Half-peace already made with him whilst he was King of Scotland and the whole benefit of Trade that he was like to have as he was King of England the certainty of setting the Catholick and the most Christian Kings together by the Ears the uncertainty of being able to raise monies to maintain a War so easily as Queen Elizabeth did who had the knack of borrowing money which serv'd her to as good purpose as if it had been given the Parliament being for the most part the Pay-masters there were many Reasons of State some whereof were not fit to be publish'd perhaps not to be understood which induced him to call in the Letters of Mart and conclude that League which how acceptable it was to both Kings may be guess'd by the mutual Caressings of each other with extraordinary Embassies and Presents and the more then ordinary Ratification of the Articles of Peace but how far the People were content to have any Friendship with the Catholick King it is easie to guess especially after the discovery of that Catholick Plot commonly call'd the Gun-powder Treason which as it was contriv'd in a hotter place then Spain so it was hatch'd up in Darkness never to partake of the Light but when it was to be all Light and to give such a terrible blow as was at once to Extinguish the Light the Hope and the Glory of this Nation This the All-seeing Eye of Providence which pierces thorow the dark Womb of Conspiracy and blasts the Embrio of Treason before it can be form'd miraculously detected to the amazement of all Mankind no body imagining there could be such danger by Fire so near unto the Water the meaning of it being so little understood even after it was discovered that neither could the Lord Monteagle who receiv'd the first notice in a Letter writ in an unknown hand tell to what Friend he owed his Preservation nor any one else guess from what Enemy they were to expect their destruction till the King himself by inspiration rather then instinct yet admonish'd perhaps by the subversion of that House wherein his Father was murther'd apprehended by the word Blow what the Element must be that was to be so subtil in its Execution as that they who were hurt for
lib. 2. Gildas lib. de victor Au. Ambrosii descent from the first Christian (n) Marc. Sabel in Anead 7. lib. 5. Bale lib. 2. King and the first Christian Emperour of the World and so allow'd by the two great Councels of (o) The first Anno 1335. the last Anno 1414. Bazil and Constance for however the King of France would be thought Fils aisne de l'Eglise and accordingly stiles himself Christianissimus i. e. as they themselves interpret it Primus Christianus yet it is notorious that our first Christian King Lucius was three hundred and five years before their first Christian King Clouis and Constantine our first Christian Emperour no less than 466 years before Charles their first Christian Emperour And it is as evident that the very Title it self of (p) Bede vit Oswaldi Christianissimus take it in what sense they please was in use with us above two hundred years before any of their Kings took upon them to usurp it add to this that the Kings of England deduce a (q) Bed Hist Eccles Angl. Lineal descent from the Loins of Christian Princes for the space of near one thousand and three hundred years together without any Interruption or breaking of the Line which no other Princes of the World besides can pretend to or scarcely have been Christians half that time those of France only excepted but then 't is further noted that there have been more Princes out of our Royal Stock Priests Confessours Martyrs and Saints than of any (r) Vincentius other Royal Stock in the World those of France not excepted 11. The Excellence of the British Empire upon a Threefold Accompt The next thing considerable after the natural Dignity inherent in the Person of our Kings is that honour which may be said to be peculiar to them resulting from the Topical Excellence of their Dominion which as it is now branch'd into three Kingdoms so it may be said to have ever been thrice famous 1. For being disjoyn'd from all the World 2. For having no need of the rest of the World 3. For being it self esteem'd another World Though there seems to be no great matter in that remark of the Poet when speaking of us 1. In being disjoyn'd from all the World he saith that we were Toto divisos Orbe Britannos but what may be as applicable to any other Islanders in the World as to Us yet there is an Emphasis in the Conceit that shows he intended it for an Elogy as did our Countryman Mr. Waller by that queint Paraphrase of his 'T is not so hard for greedy Foes to spoil Another Nation as to touch our Soil Which agrees with that we find in old (s) De excidio Jerus l. 2. c. 9. Hegesippus who personating King Agrippa speaking to Claudius of the Britains concludes much like Florus speaking of the Ligurians Major erat Labor invenire quà m vincere as if the difficulty of conquering lay in the difficulty of finding them out hereupon the Isle was call'd by the Antients (t) In Catalect Virgil. de Sabino Insula Ceruli the Isle of the Sea So Lucan speaking of Cesar's conquest here saith (u) Lucan Pharsal 3. Vincula dedit Oceano Now the reason why they call'd this the Isle of the Sea more than any other Island was because that Britain saith the (w) Paniger Maximian Dict. Si mihi Panegyrist did not seem as the rest to be comprehended by the Sea but to comprehend the Sea it self the Ancients taking this Isle to be the very utmost bounds of Nature beyond which there was no day or light which when Agricola had detected by compassing it with his Fleet Tacitus saith of him that he did Aperire maris secretum enter into the very Closet of the Sea and hence it was that (x) Emeritae apud Gionhernon p. 49. Augustus claiming the Dominion of this Isle in right of his Uncle Julius whose Heir he was as Claudius after him in his own right look'd upon themselves to be by a Parasiopesis Lords of the Sea the first giving thereupon for his Symbol a Dolphin the last a Ship and from them our Kings have ever since with no less reason but more right prescrib'd to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being in this more properly like Gods as Holy Writ stiles Kings in General than any other Princes whatever For that they do Incubare Aquis as a (y) T◠Dun. Serm. 43. on the Anniverse of the 5th of Novemb alluding to the 1. Gen. 2. Divine of great Eloquence has express'd it Move upon the Waters with such mighty Fleets as seem to give Laws to that Indomitable Element it self 2. In having no need of the rest of the World 12. The next Excellency ascrib'd to this Isle was that it had no need of any other part of the World Quae toto vix eget Orbe The reason whereof is plain from what has been said before Nam qui mare teneat cum necesse est rerum potiri saith Cicero He that possesses the Sea must necessarily command all things but to recite the benefits of the Sea were to enter upon a Subject as profound as that is and give occasion to our next Neighbour the Dutch who can give a better Account thereof than our selves to upbraid our glory with the shame of having so long suffer'd their depredations who with indefatigable Patience penetrate the Womb of that dark Element to seek for Treasure which we either know not how to find or how to value Pass we then to the consideration of the Land only on which Charles the Great who was wont to call it the Store-house of the Western World made this observation that it not only stands in no need of any other part of the World but every Nation else stood in need of it Cujus totus indiget Orbis ope Nature and Providence having placed us so advantageously as to supply the whole World out of our Superfluities being stor'd with all sorts of Grain saith Zosimus with all sorts of Cattel saith Tacitus with all kind of Timber saith Cesar with all kind of Minerals as Strabo with all kind of Jems but especially Pearl as Suetonius testifies indeed with so much variety of all things necessary profitable and delightful that without vanity we may conclude as (z) Ad An. 1246. Mathew Paris doth that England is the Lady Queen and Mistress of the Sea 13. All Nations have been ambitious to make themselves Masters of this Isle A Mistress that has had many Suitors of almost all Nations to whom the ROMANS that exacted Homage from all others willingly pay'd Homage themselves there having been no less than twenty of their Emperours to Court her here in Person the Canine appetite of whose insatiable Ambition having before devour'd all other honours was not to be Satisfied with any other Title but that of Britannicus Divus habebitur Augustus Horace Od. v. lib. 3. Adjectis
did not offend him so neither did he desire that his Authority should offend them but as soon as this Austin came hither he found yet more matter of Amazement For part of the Isle being Pagans and part Christians these last seem'd to him to be more inhospitable than the other at least they were so far from submitting to his Legatine Authority after the Ignorant Pagans had own'd it 1 Cor. 14.1.11 that as St. Paul expresses it by not understanding one another each seem'd to the other alike Barbarian whereby it so fell out that they fell from Arguments to Arms and he having no probability of Subjugating them under his Jurisdiction Baptiz'd almost as many of them in (r) He caused 1200 Monks of the Brittains to be murthered at one time Blood as he did in Water but as it appeared that he brought them no new Faith so neither would they suffer him to bring in any new Lawe amongst them defending their own Church so well with their own Cannons that neither he nor any of the Roman community could break in upon them or infringe their liberty in the least for the space of near five hundred Years when Henry the Second reducing both State and Church under like Paction of Servitude forc'd them by the laws of Conquest to part as well from their Ecclesiastical as Civil Rights and at the same time they became no Church to become no People being so Cantoniz'd with England that they were no longer considerable which had yet been Impossible for him to have Effected had he not at the same time he set up his own declared against the Pope's Supremacy But to proceed from that of the Britaines to consider the Primitive State of the English Church it may yet be allow'd for good Prescription and that we know is a (s) Lit. Sect. 170. Title implies a long continued and peaceable Possession derived ab Authoritate Legis if it can be made out that any of the Saxon Kings converted by the aforesaid Austin from the time of the Proto-Christian King Ethelbert himself until the Norman Conquest did at any time so far Agnize the Pope's Authority as to forbear the Exercise of any part of that Spiritual dominion which they challenged Proprio Jure For as it is evident that they did constrain as well Ecclesiasticks as Laicks to submit to the final determination as well of Spiritual as Civil Pleas in their temporal Courts so they not seldome made the Ecclesiastical Censures without and sometimes against the Consent of the Bishop if it displeased them even after Excommunication pronounced and did they not (t) Leg. Alfred cap. 8. p. 25. dispense even with the Offences themselves if they were only (u) As were Priest Marriage Basterdy Non-residency Pluralities c. Mala per accidens and not mala in se as the Casuists distinguish Nay did they not permit even Nuns to marry against the usual practice of those Times and the Judgment of the Church doing many other things of the like nature which whoso reads M. Paris Florentius Eadmerus c. will find more at large than becomes the brevity I design and all this they did without any Exception or Scandal or to use (w) Baronius Tome 3. Anno 312. N. 100. Baronius his own Phrase Sine ullâ Ecclesiarum Labe. Indeed such was the plenitude of their Ecclesiastical Power that each King of them was as the Priest pray'd at their (x) See the old formula continued til H. 6. time Coronation that they might be Sicut Aaron in Tabernaculo Zacharias in Templo Petrus in Clave as appears by their several Edicts yet Extant Some for the better Observation of the (y) Leg. Alured C. 39. P. 33. Lords day Some for the due keeping of (z) Bede lib. 3. Cap. 8. Lent Others for the right administration of the (a) Jornal l. 761. C. 2. Sacraments the Regulation of (b) â—eg Canut C. 7. p. 101. Matrimony and ascertaining the degrees of (c) Leg. Alured uâ— supâ—a Consanguinity Some for permitting Divorces others for perfecting Contracts in fine they did whatever might become the wisdom and honour of such as had the sole care of the Church all Christian Obedience being enforced Providentiâ Potentiâ Regis as (d) Hoveden fol. 41â— Hoveden expresses it or as we find it in some (e) 2 H. 4. N. 44. Records Justitiâ fortitudine Regis for however the Bishop was always joyn'd in Commission with tâ—e Lay Magistrate as having in him Jus Ordinis as some (f) Belâ—arm Pontif. lib. 4. Divines call it yet this was not so much in affirmation of his Ecclesiastical as for Prevention of his disputing the Regal Authority and to take off all clashing (g) Treisden Eccles Juris Regis Inter Placita Regis Christianitatis Jura that is to say in M. Paris's own words ne contra Regiam Coronam dignitatem aliquid statuere tentaretur Episcopus who was to the King as the Arch-Deacon to him Tanquam Oculus Regis as t'other was tanquam Oculus Episcopi But the greatest Instance of all was that of the (h) Jan. Anglor lib. 1. Pag. 85. Investiture of the Bishops by the King who gave them the Ring and the Pastoral Staffe the antient Emblemes of Supream dignity and Authority which he himself had accepted at his Coronation the first signifying the Power of Joyning such an one to the Church the last denoting the Jurisdiction Ecclesiastical in Foro interiori or as some term it in Foro animae but he kept the Scepter in his own hand as the proper Ensign of that Jus Potentiae or Soveraign Power by which he stood particularly obliged to defend the Church to which King Edgar doubtless Referr'd when he told his Bishops at a general Convocation Ego Constantini vos Petri gladium habetis in manibus and as Christ commanded Peter as soon as he had drawn his Sword to put it up again so did he as Christ's Representative forbid St. Dunstan who would be thought St. Peter's to sheath his weapon when he began to draw upon the Lay Magistrate and would have been medling with those things that were (i) as Socrates expresses it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 forbidding any Inquity to be made de peccatis subditorum Add to this that in all general Councils the King himself presided Tanquam Papa Patriae Thus Ina for I chuse to begin with him because Baronius stiles him Rex maxime Pius presided in the great Synod at Winchester An. 733. by the Title of (*) Tom. 9. Anno 740. N. 14. Vicarius Dei (k) Jornal Lib. 761. Edgar at another meeting gave the Law to all the Clergy Tanquam (l) Vide Tit. Gar. Edgar Pastor Pastorum The like did Ethelred under the stile of (m) Eadmer 146. 16. Eadmer 155. 6. Vicarius Christi after him again Canute presided in another Council at Winchester by the Title of (n)
little disordered by it but those since who have found the benefit of having the Laws mysterious and less intelligible have little cause to decry him for it unless for this cause that they are never pleas'd with any fighting King In fine he strain'd not the Prerogative so high but his Son Henry the First let it down again as low when he restored to the People their ancient freedom of General Assemblies or rather permitted them a kind of share with himself in the Government by instituting a form of Convention so much nobler then any thing they had been acquainted with in elder timety in that the Peerage sate as so many Kings parting stakes with Soveraigns if what * Who was Lord Chief Justice to his Grandson Hen. 3. Bracton tells us be true who saith there were many things which by law the King could not do without them and some things which legally they might do without him which those that have read upon the Statute of Magna Charta can best explain This was not therefore improperly call'd the Parliament in respect of the Freedom of parlying after another fashion then had been permitted to their Ancestors in former Meetings which being Ex more or as they were wont to phrase it of Custome Grace during all the time of the Saxon Kings we cannot imagine their Debates to be much less restrained then themselves who attending in the Kings Palace like the Lords of the Councel at this day having had the honour to give their Opinions in any point of State submitted the final Judgment and determination to the Kings will and pleasure And whereas then the Commoners were wholly left out of all Consultations unless with the Learned Lambert we may think them included in the word Barones which seems to have been as equivocal a term heretofore in England as that of Laird yet in Scotland they now were made partakers of the like priviledge of voting as the Lords so that in Henry the Third his time to look no further backward we find them call'd by the yet continued stile of Knights Citizens and Burgesses to consult together with the Lords pro Pace asseverandâ firmandâ c. as the †lib. St. Alban f. 207. 4 H. 3. Record expresses it neither sate they when they met as Cyphers to those great Figures For when Pope Alexander the Fourth would have revoked the Sentence of Banishment past upon his proud Legate Adomare Bishop of Winchester for that he was not as he alledged subject to lay Censure they took upon them to give their Answer by themselves and it was a bold one That though the King and Lords should be willing to revoke it ‖ Vt pat Chart. orâ—g sub sigil de Mountford Vic. tot Communitat Rot. Parl. 42 Hen. 3. Communitas tamen ipsius ingressum in Angliam nullatenus sustineret How far their Priviledges were afterward confirmed and enlarged by several Kings successively but more particularly by that most excellent Prince Henry the Fifth who first allowed * 2 Hen. 5. The Petition of Right and permitted it to be entred in their Journals as the Great Standard of Liberty is not unknown from which time it hath been esteemed the second Great Charter of England whereby we were manumitted into that degree of Freedom as no Subjects in the world enjoy the like with like security from the fear of future bondage For as no man can be made lyable to the payment of any more or other Taxes then what himself layes upon himself by his representatives in that great Pan-Anglio call'd the Parliament so all the Kings of England since that time have been pleas'd to accept the Aids given by them even for the necessary support of the Government as so many Freewill-Offerings And well it is that they esteem them free since they are not obtained without a kind of Composition I might say obligation to give good Laws for good mony wherein the performance on the Princes part alwaies precedes that on the Peoples But there is yet something further then all this that renders the Norman Conquest so much more considerable then either that of the Romans Saxons or Danes by how much it spread its wings over the Seas into those goodly Provinces of the South never known to the English before thereby not only giving them Title to keep their Swords from rusting as long as they had any Arms to draw them forth but the Advantage therewithal of a mutual Conversation with a civiliz'd People who introduced so happy a Change in Laws and Language in Habits and Humours in Manners and Temperature that not only their rough I might say rude Natures no way inclin'd before to any kind of Gaiety admitted of smoother Fashions and quicker Motions but their dull Phlegmatick Complexions pale and wan by the continued use of dozing dreggy Liquor Ale became as ruddy as the Wine they drank which having more of Spirit and Fire then that other heavy composition sublimated their Courage and Wit and render'd them more lofty and eloquent both in Action and Language the last being before so asperous harsh and gutteral that an hours discourse together would have indanger'd the skin of their throats but being softned by the French and Latine Accents it became so gentle and smooth that as a Modern Master of Elocution hath observ'd 't is now so soft and pleasing that Lord Faulkland Prefat to Sands his Translation of the Psalms those From whom the unknown Tongue conceals the Sence Ev'n in the sound must find an Eloquence From the Normans likewise we had that honourable distinction of Sirnames which however they borrowed in the first place from the French who as Du Tillet tells us were about the year 1000 much delighted with the humour of Soubriquets * Vid Buck. Vit. Rich. 3. or giving one another Nic-names as we commonly call them insomuch that two of the very chiefest Houses amongst them the Capets and the Plantaginets had no other rise for their Names were continued no where with that certainty and order as amongst us here to the great renown and honour of our Families whose Nobility if it exceed not the date of the Norman Conquest may yet without any disparagement compare with any of those who call themselves the unconquer'd Nations of the World It being space long enough considering the vicissitude of time and power of Chance to antiquate the glory of great States much more of private Families and few there are that have attain'd to that Age. For however Honour like old Age magnifies its reverence by multiplying its years yet it is to be considered that there are visible decayes attend Veneration and it may so fall out that Names as well as Men may out-live themselves while the glory of a Family by over-length of time being less known may be the more suspected to have been but imaginary as some who exceeding the common bounds of certainty do pretend to justifie
headless Queens The Lady Anna Buloigne and the Lady Katherine Howard either as far divided in Religion as they were in their Affections Eight dayes and upwards past between the proclaiming of this Queen and the calling her first Parliament during which time the two Religions were publickly permitted with equal Indulgence The Divine Service being so blended with Superstition that as one observes the State of England before her Persecution was not much unlike that of the Jews after theirs who presently upon the Captivity took a mid way between Hebrew and Ashdod on the same day that Mass was sung in the Quire at Westminster the English Service was sung in the Body of the Church And the two Religions if divided Opinions may deserve that Name being thus brought to confront each other no marvel if the Demagogues of each Perswasion justled for Precedence the Protestants being back'd by the present Laws the Papists by the Prerogative these incouraged by the Queens Opinion those by her Promises But as in the close of Day light and darkness contesting for Superiority seem equally match'd till in the end the latter prevails So happen'd it now upon the death of the late King whose Religion being different to that of his Successor the Question was which must take place and become the Religion of the State She her self being not so forward to declare after she came to be Queen as she was before But to palliate the matter in discharge of her Obligations to the Loyal Protestant Gentry of Suffolk and Norfolk that were the first set her up she seem'd content to call a Parliament that might take off the Odium from her making way to it by a general pardon which had so many Exceptions in it as shew'd there would be more found at the Convention And now being fearless of any more danger by Rivals happy in the single possession of her self and Throne there wanted nothing to compleat her felicity save that she knew it not Whereby it fell out so unluckily that she brought upon her self very great hatred and clamor by that whereby most Princes secure the love of their People to them whilst being wholly guided by those of her Councel she submitted her Reason to their Passions who under the pretence of Religion ingaged her in the greatest Persecâ—tion that ever was known under any Christian Government causing her to shed more Blood although she reign'd only five years four months and some odd dayes then was spilt by those two great Tyrants Richard the Third and her own Father putting both together there dying for Religion only not to mention what suffer'd on Civil Accompts no less then Three hundred whereof there was one Arch-bishop four Bishops and twenty one Divines of note But that which made it the more supportable was that however she was prodigal of her Subjects Lives she was yet more sparing of their Livelyhoods For she began with a rare Example in pardoning the very first Subsidy she had and she never had but one more So that putting that which was remitted against that which was received she had upon the matter none at all all her time And yet we find she was in continual Action at home or abroad having alwayes as her Father before her occasion to make use of men at Arms either to defend or inlarge her Dominions For as she was obstinate in the Resolution she had taken of restoring the Popes Authority contrary to the promise she made to those who first set her up being perswaded by the Priests that rul'd there that she had no such way to manifest her Faith as by the breach of it So she cut out so much matter for Rebellion by the Violence she offer'd both to Conscience and Interest that she had little Rest but no Peace all her dayes Now whether it were a natural Distrust of her weakness as she was a Woman or a Feminine Diffidence of her Wisdom as she was a Maid or that in truth she desir'd a help meet for satisfaction of her Affections as well as for support of her Affairs is not otherwise to be judg'd then by the choice she made But so it was that finding she could not stand by her self without a Husband no more then an Adjective without a Substantive she propos'd it as the first thing to her Councel directing them to make choice of such an one for her as might be as fit to give Laws to her as she to them Three there were in Proposal for her Philip Infant of Spain Son to the Emperour Charles the Fifth the old Cardinal Pool and the young Marquiss of Exeter to each of which as there were some Motives to draw her Affections so there were many Arguments to disswade her from them Those that had respect to the settlement of the Kingdom thought Philip the fittest match as being a Puissant King strengthned with many great Allies and who had as great an Enmity to the French the only Enemy England ought to fear as they themselves But against him the first Objection was That he was a Stranger The second That being Native of Spain he probably might by this Match bring England into some danger of Subjection to that Kingdom And lastly That there was somewhat of undecency not to say inequality in respect to his Person for that it seem'd strange that she should be the Wife of the Son now who thirty years before should have been Wife to the Father Those that stood for the Cardinal urg'd his Love to his Country and the Love the Country had for him in respect of his great Sanctimony and Wisdom which rendred him particularly acceptable to the Queen then for his Dignity he was not much inferiour to Kings and by his Mother descended from Kings and for his Age it was more agreeable to that of the Queens then that of either of the other two But the principal end of Marriage being Procreation he fell under an exception not to be answer'd as being a Batchelor of near Sixty four years old and so needed a Nurse rather then a Wife The Youth of the Lord Courtney being a brisk Cavalier and by Birth as well as the best Blood of England and France could make him gave him the preferrence above the Cardinal But some of the Juncto objecting That he lov'd Popularity more then ever he could be brought to love the Queen and that he smell'd too ranck of Lutherism to be her Bed-fellow they carried it by a general Vote against him for King Philip as well to take off all Exceptions by the Disparagement of marrying a Subject as for those seasonable and most Incredible Advantages it brought to England which were express'd in the Instrument of Marriage yet extant whereof there needs no further mention then the addition of the Netherlands and Burgundy to be for ever a Member of the Imperial Crown of this Realm in case there had been any Issue betwixt them All this notwithstanding such was the
the Thirteenth to reassume the Country into his hands as one of the Kingdoms reputed parcel of St. Peter's Patrimony and held of the Church as he alledged by the Kings of England upon no other Condition but that of Fealty to the See of Rome and therefore Forfeited by the Heresie of the Queen His Holiness who has been ever very captious of all Advantages of this kind was easily prevail'd with to bestow it upon his Natural Son the Marquiss of Vincula to whom one Stukely an Englishman being therefore dignified with the Title of Marquiss of Lempster and Earl of Wexford was appointed General having Eight hundred Italians under his Command Before whom was sent as a Vant-Currier one Fitz-Morris with a Consecrated Banner two Priests and three Ships These dull Rebels were to joyn with those more active ones the Earl of Desmond and his Brothers and were to take Livery and Seisin till the rest could come upon the Place But as was the Cause so was the Success and sitter it was that he should meet with a Cross then a Crown that being but Christs Vicar should be so ambitious of having a Kingdom in this World when his Lord had none for himself Stukely ended his life before he began his Rebellion Fitz-Morris was betray'd by his Fellow-Traytors before his own Treachery could take any effect San Joseph that succeeded him one that was half Jew and half Italian was glad to secure his own with the loss of all their Lives that were under him whiles Desmond the Great Rebel was forc'd to yield to lower Conditions then any of them and the two Priests that attended the holy Banner were starved upon the Mountains But after these there started up yet several others as the Mac Williams since call'd the Burks the Mac Connels in Connaught the Mac Mahons and O Rorks in Monagan the O Connors and O Mulloys in Ophaly and some of the O Brians and Cavenaghs in Lempster who did what they could to raise Tumults but so faintly that we may rather call them Riots then Rebellions signifying no more to her than the bitings of Fleas to a Lion However doubting how she might be pestred with more such Vermine in the heat of the Summer following she took timely care to prevent the worst and having Intelligence given her that they intended to dispute her Soveraignty at Sea as they had done her Right by Land she muster'd up all her Naval Forces determining to carry the War as far from home as possibly she could These were commanded by the famous Drake who resolving to fight them in the other World as well as in this advanced to the place where 't was said the Golden Apples grew where finding no Dragon to keep them so fierce as himself he made himself Master of as much Treasure as might have been a sufficient Found for a greater Empire then that he fought for had either his Covetousness held any proportion with his Courage or his Ambition with his Activity for he brought home besides what was imbezled and conceal'd above two thousand pound weight of uncoyn'd Silver and twelve Chests of ready coyn'd and no less then five hundred pound weight of Gold besides Jewels of an inestimable value having several Carcanets of Diamonds Rubies Topazes Saphires and Emeralds of an incredible Magnitude issued Silks and other rich Commodities of the growth and manufacture of the Country being thought not worth the Portage This added no less to the Fame then to the Wealth of this great Queen who being before compar'd to Solomon for her Wisdom seem'd now not unlike him for her Opulence But not content with this single income of Glory she commanded her Fortunate Admiral back again the second time to brave them at Land as before at Sea where after having taken St. Jago St. Domingo and Cartagena three of the most considerable Towns they had he return'd even surfeited with Victory his Head being as giddy with new Contrivances as his mens were with the Calenture who in the midst of all their Abundance wanting health only were forc'd to take leave of the place being troubled that they could bring home no greater a booty then what was esteem'd at One hundred thousand pounds Sterling and Two hundred and forty pieces of brass Cannon to report their Victory But because this look'd like wounding that King in the hinder parts only she was not satisfied till she gave him one blow in the Face and accordingly sent to defie him before his own Doors entring his chief Port of Cales in which they took and fired no less then One hundred Ships and furnishing themselves with great store of Ammunition and Victuals made for the Cape of St. Vincent where having demolish'd the Forts they pass'd on to the Assores under the great Meridian where they took a great Carack returning from the East-Indies which having the name of St. Philip it was by the Superstitious Seamen look'd on as an ominous Presage of the Future ill Fortune of their King Philip by Sea Whilst Drake was thus active to the Southward Candish was no less busie to the Westward who having destroy'd several Colonies in Chily Peru and Nova Hispania return'd home Laden with the Spoils of Nineteen rich Ships taken in his way And now King Philip provok'd no less by the shame then the continued loss he had sustain'd for above two years together with redoubled diligence and charge got ready a mighty Fleet hoping to perform some wonders suitable to the Expectation of the Time as well as of the Importance of the Affair it being by Astronomers call'd The wonderful Year and being the great Clymacterich of the World they concluded it must produce some extraordinary Effects Neither indeed was there any thing then in the World so extraordinary and amazing as the sight of that moving Wood of his consisting of no less then One hundred and fifty tall Ships which carri'd in them besides all Habiliments of War Twenty thousand men and expected Fifty thousand more to be joyn'd with them that the Duke of Parma was to bring out of Flanders all which were to be Landed in the Thames mouth that so by seizing on the Head they might the more easily command every Member of the whole Body of the Kingdom Well may we imagine that the report of such a Preparation as this the work of no less then three years time was heard further then the noise of their Cannon could though 't is incredible how far they were heard and one would have thought the Sound of that terrible Name they gave their Fleet El Invincible Armado might have been sufficient to have made an universal Earth-quake throughout Christendom But it seems the Adamantine hearts of the Neighbour Princes were so impenetrable that it did not much move them for being satisfied in the Counterpoise of the Queens Power they stood at Gaze seemingly unconcern'd The Queen had prepar'd a double Guard one for the Land t'other for the Sea that by
Land was divided into two Armies the one consisting of Two and twenty thousand Foot and One thousand Horse commanded by the Earl of Leicester whose Post was at Tilbury The other consisting of Four and twenty thousand Foot and Two thousand Horse which were the Guard of her Person were Commanded by the Lord Hunsden the Sea-ports being Garrison'd with Twenty thousand old Souldiers who were seconded by the Train'd Bands in the respective Counties where they lay The Guard by Sea consisted of One hundred and forty Ships divided into three Squadrons The two first consisting of Fifty each under the Lord Howard the Admiral and Sir Francis Drake the Vice-Admiral waited the coming of the Enemy in Plymouth Road The last Squadron of Forty Commanded by the Rere-Admiral the Lord Henry Seymour second Son to the Duke of Somerset rode between Dunkirk and Callais to prevent any Conjunction with the Prince of Parma With this great Body she design'd to shew the World her Grandeur but when she meant to shew her Power she made use but of Fifteen of them Now as it happens oftentimes that great Calmes precede great Storms so the Catholick King hoping to out-wit the Heretick Queen a little before his great Fleet was ready to come forth dissembling a passionate desire of Peace press'd hard for a Treaty but whilst he thought to deceive her he was deceiv'd by her For she to return the trick upon him consented to the Proposal and by the sending her Commissioners to Ostend so possess'd him of the suppos'd Advantage he had gotten by it that it's thought it made him appear a little sooner then he would for before they could enter into the business he was entred into the British Seas and was no less shock'd when he found her in readiness then he expected she should have been if he had taken her unawares This made them resolve rather to make a Chase fight then lye by 't though they had the advantage of the Wind their honour being preserv'd till they came to Callais for that it was suppos'd all the haste they made away tended only to the Conjunction with the Prince of Parma but after they cut their Cables having not the Courage to stay to weigh Anchor and made all the Sail they could to fly from only eight Fire-ships it then plainly appear'd they neither understood their own Strength nor hers But these Ships being the first of that kind that ever were seen we may allow them to be The Wonder that gave Name to that wonderful Year In this great Conflict were lost more then half of the Spanish Fleet of the English only one Ship and that of no great Consideration so that 't was believ'd having sounded the danger of our Dark Seas passing round by the North they had taken their final Leave of England However the Queen was resolv'd not to leave them so but after much mischief done them by several Privateers whom she permitted to go forth upon their own Charge she resolv'd to become her self the Aggressor and repay to him the great dishonour of his Invasion it being an Indignity not to be forgiven by Princes because it cannot be forgotten by their People who can never be discharg'd from the Fears they have of him who has once set upon them till there be some Confront given that may assure them their own Prince is not so weak as the Enemy by seeking him out would have the World believe The Fleet she set forth consisted of One hundred and fifty Sail yet was not call'd the Invincible though it prov'd so being commanded by the Earl of Essex as General at Land and the Lord Howard as General at Sea who setting upon Cales the second time took it and in it all the Wealth that may be imagin'd to be lodg'd in such a Store-house as that is and after having burn'd all the Ships they found there for which they were offer'd Two Millions of Ducats if they would spare them they spoil'd the whole Island and demolish'd all the Forts and did as 't is thought as much Damage as amounted to Twenty Millions of Ducats more To requite which the King of Spain rigg'd up another Navy and mann'd it with Irish Runnagado's but either their Skill or their Courage failed them at least the Winds did not so favour them but that the Expedition came to nought And now when all the Storms at Sea seem'd to have been blown over and past there rose a Cloud at Land which gave the Queen greater apprehensions of danger then ever she had before The French King who was joyn'd with her in a League Offensive and Defensive against Spain and had reap'd this good Effect by it to recover Amiens which the Spaniard had surpriz'd by the help of the English only yeilding to the Importunities of the Pope and his own People made his Peace without her who quitting his Religion at the same time he quit her Friendship 't was believ'd they would all joyn to set upon her at once Hereupon there were great Debates in Councel upon the point of her closing with the Spaniard who seem'd much to desire a Peace Essex the great Idol of the Sword-men was for continuing the War Burleigh who was the great Patron of the Pen-men was for the Peace And it seems they argued the matter so warmly that being scarce able to keep Peace amongst themselves 't was not likely they should obtain it abroad For Essex could not forbear unseemly Reflections upon the old man nor he from retorting them back as sharply who 't is said being more witty in his Anger call'd for a Bible at the Table and shewing him that Verse in the Psalms where 't is said The bloody minded man shall not live out half his dayes gave him grave warning by an ominous Presage of that which follow'd for we know how shortly after he swell'd and burst However the Queen mov'd with like Zeal to Religion as Essex was with hatred to the Spaniard inclin'd to his Opinion whereupon Cecil submitted to her Judgment but pray'd to have the Question put first to the States of Holland her Confederates Whether they would agree to her making Peace and knowing it to be against their Interest so to do he took the Advantage of their Refusal to demand an aid towards the carrying on of the War out of whom by that trick of State he did her this good Service against her will to screw Eight hundred thousand pounds which being to be paid by Thirty thousand pounds yearly for which the Queen had Cautionary Towns given as a Security it look'd so like a Tribute that after their having offer'd her the Soveraignty as they did 't is hard to prove it was not so And now casting up the Accompt betwixt her and the Spaniard who was her greatest and not to say her only Enemy for the Pope however he bore no less hatred to her yet being at that distance as he was he could not come to close
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