have been so artificially debated and the Laws of God and Nature the Law of Reason and that of Nations so partially and slily as well as learnedly confounded that the true Idea of our own Government and Law was perplex'd and lost So that no wonder if Mistaken Principles sometimes misled King and People where they might mean well enough both and at other times either King or People might have a latitude of construing them perversely when they did not so Now though 't is confess'd we cannot arrive at any degree of Perfection in Government nor any thing else here in this troublesome uncertain World Yet Experience convinceth us That some Times have been better than others and that this Nation hath been happier under some Princes than Others i. e. happier under those whose Conduct and Government have agreed best with the Laws and Constitutions The only Design of these passing-Observations and Reflections is to point out the Errors and set a Mark on the Rocks that we may avoid them To shew Kings and People the Principles and Practises by which they Miscarried or Succeeded upon Rational Grounds and Natural Consequences so that Measures may be taken which may more probably secure the Peace and Welfare of this Nation for the future I go no farther back than the Conquest or Descent here by King William the First That being as I think enough for our Instruction enough to Inform without confounding our Memories and Judgments WILLIAM I. NOT to play the Grammarian on Words nor to repeat Old Stories though I can scarce pass by Mr. Spelman's Definition of him Conquestor dicitur qui Angliam conquisivit i. e. acquisivit purchas'd non quod subegit But to take William the Conqueror as they call him in the usual Acceptation there can be but little Observable during the Transactions of his Reign to ground Remarks of Civil Policy As he trimmed between Conquest and Title by Gift from Ed. the Confessor he was also Kin by his Mother's side so he divided his Government between Acts of Justice and Wrong not to mention the old Story of Warren the Norman and Sharnborn an Englishman It is plain the Kentishmen had their Laws Confirm'd to them by Treaty and were never Conquered He granted to the City of London their Charters as they had them in the Time of Saint Edward 'T is true he Alter'd the Laws and introduced the French Language but the Alteration seems to be for the better and he was generally Just to the Laws which were made He alter'd Pastimes also and 't was of course for Englishmen are ever fond of New things The worst thing he did was Depopulating so many Towns and overthrowing so many Churches for Thirty Miles round to make a Chase or New Forest in Hampshire and the Execution of severe Laws against Destroyers of Deer or Game by putting out their Eyes c. for which for ought I know his Two Sons and Nephew might come to untimely Ends in the same place But in the main he was modest enough for a Prince who came in with his Sword in his Hand And at last after all his Bustle he was forced as it were to come to a Parly with the English Nobility and before they laid down their Arms this mighty Conqueror engaged for Peace and after in the presence of Archbishop Lanfrank and others took a Solemn Oath upon the Evangelists and all the Relicks of the Church of St. Albans from thenceforth to Observe and Keep the Good and Ancient Laws of the Realm which the Noble Kings of England his Predecessors had before Made and Ordained but especially those of Saint Edward which as is said were suppos'd of all others to be the most Equal and Indifferent for the general Good of the People If the Churchmen can Forgive him for he Repented of it the taking them down somewhat in their Temporal Power and calling in the Jews they may forget his Ransacking the Monasteries if thep please also because he spared the Profits of Vacant Abbies and Bishopricks His Life ended in a Circle and as he pretended to take the Crown by Gift so he disposed of it and left it by Gift also WILLIAM II. DURING this King's Time the Government and Laws seem to be in a continued Ferment and State of War As he was attack'd on all Hands and put to great Charges so he spared neither Church nor State for Taxations but pillaged both in an unreasonable extravagant manner It is said he doubted of some Points of Religion but one would rather believe he doubted of it all by his Life and Expression to the Jews and the Management of Churchmen and their Benefices and Religious Houses He Died so suddenly that he had not time to tell his Opinion at his Death If he did not keep his Word so devoutly as he ought if he was trifling in things appertaining to Religion and profanely free with the Patrimony of the Church the Historians of that Age have assign'd him the Judgments of God in the End and I shall leave him to the Pope's Mercy for with-holding Peter Pence In this King's Reign we find the first Exercise of a Prerogative which seems reasonable and natural enough in forbidding his Subjects by Proclamation to go out of the Land without License if it had been grounded on a good Design but being introduced only first to make his Subjects uneasy at Home and after to get Money out of them for a License to go Abroad the Occasion disgraceth the Thing which otherwise had been justifiable on a true foundation viz. To require the Service of the Subject at Home for the Command of the Aid of the Persons of his People is as much an inherent Right in the Crown as any can be in his own Dominions though not so to Command them out of them on his Service Abroad He also kept his Money from going to Rome and I suppose we ought not to be Angry with any King for keeping his Men and his Money at Home HENRY I. THEY who Write this King's Life do so vary in his Character that it is somewhat difficult to Adjust it But we always ought to speak the best of Kings if the matter will any ways bear it Whether he came to the Crown with a just Title or not he came with a just degree of Understanding and Inclinations to do Justice He was Born of a King in England and Queen of Royal English Blood as Sir John Hayward says though I know not how he makes it out well and is said therefore to have raised the Depressed English Nation again unto Honour and Credit and took off their Badges of Slavery and seems truly Endowed with Kingly Principles though Cambden will have it That he was Just even to a Fault Pray God That were the only Fault of Kings Whatever hath been said to his Disadvantage he appears for the most part to have Governed by the Laws of the Land And as he gave a Measure to
others he himself made the Laws a Measure of his Prerogative It will not be worth Enquiry Whether he first Instituted a Parliament in the Form it now stands He raised Money in a Parliamentary way we find in his First Parliament at Salisbury he obtained Three Shillings upon every Hide of Land towards the Marriage of his Daughter with the Emperor although 't is said there these Aids were due by Common Law from the King's Tenants by Knight's Service viz. Aid to Ransom the King's Person Aid to make the King 's Eldest Son a Knight and Aid to Marry the King 's Eldest Daughter once And although this matter was ascertain'd afterwards by King John's Charter at Running-Mead yet following Kings have not been so tender and reserv'd in this Point If he may be said to be Cruel to his Brother Robert I 'm sure he was very Honourable towards Lewis of France when in England whither he came on his own Head notwithstanding he was Solicited and Tempted to make him away As to his Personal Virtues or Vices they were to himself If he fail'd in the Oeconomicks he had Troubles in his own House and whether his Misfortunes of this kind were occasioned by Judgments or the Follies of himself or Wife it is certain he had his share of them but he took so much care that the Nation knew but very few troubles during his Reign And as he obtained a Kingdom by a sort of Artifice so he used his Prerogative with Discretion STEPHEN THIS King's Reign was almost one entire Scene of Military Actions without any mixture of Civil Policy he did not live a Year to Enjoy or Manage Peace after his Agreement with Henry II. the Son of Maud And there was never any formal Meeting of the Body of the Estates in his time The Expences of his War were occasioned by a troubled Title and he maintained them by Confiscations and although he had continued Charges that way yet he required few or no Tributes from the People 'T is said he had another way of getting Money viz by causing Men to be Impleaded and Fined for Hunting in his Forests after he had given them Liberty to Hunt there For thus far at least the Kings Exercised an Absolute Prerogative only over the Beasts of the Forest Which is a Prerogative I confess they ought to Enjoy Indisputably HENRY II. THOUGH this King came to the Crown by the most Absolute Title and Clearest Right yet in Four and thirty Years time we do not find that he pretended to impose upon his People any Arbitrary Power but by Success and Policy he added to the Crown of England Scotland Ireland the Isles of Orcades Britain Poytiers Guyen and other Provinces of France And for all this he had only one Tax of Escuage towards his War with France His causing the Castles to be Demolished was a justifiable piece of Policy for the reason given as being Nurseries of Rebellion In the beginning of his Reign he refined and reformed the Laws and 't is said made them more Tolerable and Profitable to his People than they were before and what is better Governed himself by them We do not find the Punishments of Capital Offences or others were certain but variable and distinguished in the same Crime according to the degrees of Aggravation The Church-Chroniclers bestow a Judgment upon him for refusing to take the Protection of the Distressed Christians in Jerusalem offered to him by Heraclius the Patriarch and assign his Troubles at Home to that Cause but they might be mistaken and he might as he apprehended have had greater from his own Sons if he had gone Abroad upon that Errand And if the Church will forgive him the Story of Thomas Becket for he was otherwise very Civil to it the State had no reason to complain of him for he suffered neither his Wars nor his Pleasures to be Chargeable to the Nation nor his Concubines to be Spungers on the People RICHARD I. THERE is but little Observable in the Reign of this King with relation to the Subject at Home he being the greater part of it out of the Land If his Artifices of Raising Money were not Justifiable the occasion may at least Excuse him He obtained a Subsidy towards his necessary Charges of War what was properly called Taxation was by Parliament or by the Subjects own Contribution and Method of Charging themselves with as the Money raised for his Ransom If he may be charged with some slips in Justice he made it up in Courtesy which by the by goes a great way with Englishmen for 't is observed they may be Led tho' they will not well Drive And upon his return Home from the Holy Land we find the first thing he did was to give his Lords and People Thanks for their Faithfulness to him in his Absence and for their readiness to Supply him for his Ransom JOHN MOntaigne says in one of his Essays and he speaks it upon Observation of History That Women Children and Mad-men have had the Fortune to govern Great Kingdoms equally well with the Wifest Princes And Thucydides That the Stupid more frequently do it than those of better Understanding Whether this be an Argument of a Providential Disposing and Governing of Kingdoms I leave to those that are conversant that way Some Men perhaps may be apt to think it reflects Disgrace on Dignities if this be true Some Kings are involv'd in such a Cloud of Circumstances of Difficulty and Intrigues that there is no looking into them nor making any Judgment of their Actions Speed guesses of King John That if his Reign had not fallen out in the time of so Turbulent a Pope such Ambitious Neighbour Princes and such Disloyal Subjects nor his Story into the Hands of Exasperated Writers he had appear'd a King of as great Renown as Misfortunes This is civilly and gently said This is certain This King as all others when once they have broke through their Coronation-Oath presently became as it were infatuated and deaf to all good Counsel stoop't to every thing that was mean and base and having once laid aside his Native Honour run into all Dishonourable Sordid Actions The History represents him pursuing his Profit and even his Pleasures by all manner of Injustice He prosecuted his Brother Geoffry Archbishop of York and took from him all he had only for doing the Duty of a Wise and Faithful Councellor Hence his Lords grew Resty and refused to follow him into France unless he would restore to them their Rights and Liberties which he had invaded And when he shuffled with them in the Grant of their Demands What Wars what Miseries did not follow Wars at Home Foreiners call'd in the Nation plunder'd and spoil'd Money procured by Base poor-spirited Tricks He on one Side forc'd to truckle to the Pope and as is said to submit to somebody worse his Subjects on the other hand calling in to their Relief as they thought a Foreiner fetch
't in Lewis the Son of Philip the French King the People in general not living like Men nor dying like Christians nor having Chrstian Burial the whole Nation one dismal Scene of Horrid Misfortunes Behold the Effect of Violated Faith and Arbitrary Oppression But it is no great Credit to Prerogative That this King who had no very good Title unless it were Election was the first Vindicator of it in a violent manner And asserted the Right to Absolute Power with the same Justice as he did That to the Crown in the time of Arthur his Nephew who was the Undoubted Heir By these means he brought himself and People into Troubles which never ended but with his Life HENRY III. HERE we may perceive as also in another Reign or two hereafter how the Irregularities of a Father or Predecessor involve the Son and Successor in a Remainder of Troubles and the Nation also in their intail'd Misfortunes For although those Lords as Sir Richard Baker tells us who had been constant to the Father notwithstanding his Faults were also more tender of the Son who was Innocent and so stuck to him That by the Interest chiefly of William Marshal Earl of Pembroke who married his Aunt they prevail'd so that Young Henry was Crown'd King yet he could not come to the Crown upon the square but was forc'd to do Homage to Pope Innocent for his Kingdom of England and Ireland when he took his Coronation-Oath and to take an Oath to pay the Church of Rome the Thousand Marks which his Father had granted And though after his Coronation most of the Lords maintain'd him in his Throne preferring their Natural Allegiance to Henry before their Artificial Obligations to Lewis and Beat or Compounded the latter out of the Kingdom yet this King Henry so soon as he was got out of Protection and came to Administer the Government himself immediately in gratitude Cancels and Annuls the Charters which he had granted on pretence forsooth of Minority altho' he had taken an Oath as well as the Legate Guallo and the Protector to restore unto the Barons of the Realm and other his Subjects All their Rights and Privileges for which the Discord began between the Late King and his People These Rights and Privileges were several times enquired into and ascertain'd by the Returns of the Knights who were charged to examine them were what were enjoy'd in the time of the Saxon Kings and especially under Edward the Confessor and what the Charters of King John and his own express'd For 't is ridiculous to imagine That William II. Henry I. Stephen and King John should pretend to an Arbitrary Power virtually who all came in by the Consent if not Election of the People We may see how a Favourite can Absolve a King in Law and Conscience too And what a pretty Creature a King is when Prerogative and Humour are Synonimous and he Acts by Advice of a single Person or Party counter to that of his Parliament Hence as the Historians say grew Storms and Tumults no quietness to the Subject or to himself nothing but Grievances all the long time of his Reign He displaceth his English Officers to make room for Foreiners and all the Chief Councellors Bishops Earls and Barons of the Kingdom are removed as distrusted that is for giving him Good Counsel and only Strangers preferred to their Places and Honors and Castles the King's House and Treasury committed to their Care and Government These Indignities put upon the Lords put them also upon Confederating to reduce the King to the sense of his former Obligations but to their Petitions he returns Dilatory and Frivolous Answers and to requite their Favours sends for whole Legions of Poictavins to Enslave the Nation and to crown the matter marries himself without Advice to a Daughter of the Earl of Provence by which he brought nothing but Poverty into this Kingdom Afterwards in the Long Story of this King we hear of nothing but Grievance upon Grievance Confederacy upon Confederacy Parliament upon Parliament and Christmas upon Christmas were kept here now there in as many Places as he call'd his Parliaments and to as much purpose Bickerings upon Bickerings and Battle upon Battle till it grew to that height That the Lords threaten'd to Expel him and his New Councels out of the Land and to create a New King and the Bishops threaten'd him with Excommunication whilst through a various Scene of Confusion and Hurly-Burly sometimes one Party being too peremptory sometimes t'other with an Interchangeable undecent Shuffling on the King's Side and a Rude Jealousy on the Lords and various Turns of Arbitrary Fraud and Obstinate Disputes for above Forty Years wherein Prerogative and Liberty grew Extravagant and Mad by turns till the Nation was brought to the last Gasp at length the King in the Fifty second Year of his Reign in most solemn manner confirms the Charters That Magna Charta which was granted in the Ninth Year and pretended to be avoided by reason of Infancy and the Statute of Marlebridge which he had granted upon his Second Coronation in the Twentieth Year Wherein Magna Charta and Charta de Foresta were confirm'd with this Clause Quod contravenientes graviter puniantur Upon which as is said Peace and Tranquillity ensued And these Charters have never since been Impugn'd or Question'd but Confirm'd Establish'd and commanded to be put in Execution by Thirty two several Acts of Parliament And from the Authority whereof no Man ought to be permitted to recede even in his Writing to flatter any King whatever and Sir Robert Filmer Dr. Brady and Mr. Bohun c. perhaps deserv'd as severe a Correction as Collonel Sidney for writing Books and Papers only for I do not think he deserv'd Hanging if not greater for their's were dispers'd by an ill-tim'd-publication whereas t'others lay still only in his Study We date our Non Obstantes from this King which Matthew Paris calls an Odious and Detestable Clause and Roger de Thursby with a sigh said it was a Stream deriv'd from the Sulphurious Fountain of the Clergy EDWARD I. I Know not whether this King may come up to the Character which some of our Historians give of him in all Respects yet without doubt he stands an Instance and Example of Princely Qualities and Virtues fit to be imitated and at least as he is stiled the Second Ornament of Great Britain And as a Wise Just and Fortunate because Wise and Just Prince who in regard of his Noble Accomplishments and Heroical and Generous Mind deserves to be ranged amongst the Principal and Best Kings that ever were as Walsingham and Cambden Polyd. Virgil and Others relate Baker divides his Acts into five Parts 1. His Acts with his Temporal Lords 2. His Acts with his Clergy 3. With Wales 4. With Scotland And lastly With France And First He gave his Lords good Contentment in the beginning of his Reign by granting them Easier Laws and particularly in the
Government before he obtained it And Ethelwolf a Monk a Deacon and a Bishop yet Elected King because they could not find a fitter Person for the Crown Edwin by his Miscarriage turn'd his Subjects Hearts and the Mercians and Northumbrians revolted and swore Fealty to his Younger Brother Edgar The Danish Kings were approved by the Lords during their short time of Reign here Edward the Confessor by general Consent was admitted King Harold chose himself and ravish'd a Crown and he fared accordingly for his Intrusion without the Consent of the People All that is intended by this short Account is only to shew That Succession was not always esteemed so Sacred and that Non-Resistance hath not been so stanch'd a Doctrine always as some now would pretend To come nearer to our present Case Let 's see the Opinion of Councels and Divines and perhaps we shall not need to be much out of Countenance for assisting the Prince of Orange in the Vindication of our Civil Rights and Religion and I believe the Church of England will stand by Us And Divines of great Reputation gave their Judgment for Subjects defending themselves against their Princes in Cases not near so strong as Ours Queen Elizabeth gave Countenance and Aid to the Revolt of the Low-Countries or Rebellion as it is call'd against the King of Spain and did it by Advice of Learned and Religious Divines as Dr. Bancroft c. And 't was for the sake of Religion Queen Elizabeth also assisted the Protestants in Scotland against the French Faction Cambden says she had a Consultation about that Matter and although it was urged That it was of Ill Example to patronise another Prince's Subjects in Commotion yet it seem'd to be an Impious thing to be wanting to them of the same Religion Bishop Bilson justifies the Defence which the French and Dutch made on supposition that it was for the Maintenance of the Laws If we look into the Affair of the King of Bohemia or Prince Palatine we find tho King James was backward i. e. fearful and had not Courage when the War broke out in Germany the Sense of the Archbishop in his Letter to Sir Robert Naunton Secretary of State when he advised the King to send Aid against the Emperor's Attempts of introducing Popery and Arbitrary Power he encourages the Prince Palatine as King of Bohemia by Election in the matter for propagation of the Gospel and to protect the Oppress'd and declares for his own part He did not dare but give Advice to follow where God leads apprehending the Work of God in This and That of Hungary and that he was satisfied in Conscience that the Bohemians had a Just Cause c. King Charles the First who appeared to be of as Scrupulous a Judgment in the Point as any By the Advice of Archbishop Laud not only assisted the King of Denmark who assisted others against the House of Austria to keep the King of Spain from overrunning the Western part of Christendom and sent Forces and Supplies for the Cause of Religion as his Reasons are emphatically express'd in the Declaration But also some time after published a Declaration of War against France chiefly on Account of that King's Protestant Subjects for Violation of Edicts and Breach of Articles and Contracts with them Whereas Contracts and Articles at other times with Us have by some been pronounced Prophane Absurdities c. The Revolt of Catalonia hath had its due Representation here as well as elsewhere The only Reason for their taking up Arms was in plain Terms to rid themselves of their Oppressors which the Nobility said was their Duty and to preserve their Ancient Form of Government from the Encroachments of the King of Spain who Oppress'd Rich and Poor by Arbitrary Taxations Religion was no Ingredient in their Rebellion Their Acclamations were Long live the new King D'Juan de Braganza and let them dye that govern ill His Accession to the Crown of Portugal was Congratulated and Countenanced by all the Kingdoms and States in Europe upon the Return of his Manifesto's only the Emperor whose Interest it was condemn'd it the Pope himself did not Resent it And they congratulated him upon the Merits as well as Success of the Attempt Where then is this Ambitious Prince Where is that Wicked and Ungodly People as they call Us We have done no more than what hath been done upon a Godly Consideration in like Cases nay not so much and our Case goes farther for these had only Edicts and Acts of Grace to maintain We defend our Religion Establish'd by the Laws of the Land This Family of the Nassaus have the hardest Measure under the Sun To be stiled Daring and Ambitious Spirits and to have Damnation thus Entailed upon them only for undertaking the Cause of the Oppress'd and Rescuing Abus'd Innocence from the Tyranny of Arbitrary and Barbarous Power Why then are the Gentlemen of the Church of England so resty upon this Revolution There is scarce any Reason to be imagined unless it be for those which they bring themselves such as the Convocation-Settlement Conquest c. If we should enquire into their Opinions and variety of Principles I doubt we shall find them so Un-uniform that we shall never ground any fixt Authority upon them in this Point or any other Tho it seems but an Ungrateful Task to expose their Contradictions and Contrarieties in all Ages But if they have differ'd amongst themselves in their Doctrines and Notions of Obedience or Resistance and the Settlement of Crowns I hope they will give Us leave in Equal Authorities to chuse which we will follow In truth he who will be at the pains to examine their Writings i. e. their General Councels themselves even from the first Four to the Last I 'm sorry to say it will I believe find but a Sandy Foundation to fix his Conscience or Judgment in Articles of Faith What have they been doing with the Trinity of late What have they not been doing to get the Government into the Church-Conusance by way of Success and Providence Tho I would have this Government setled to satisfy and please every one in their own way if it were possible for Men have different Ideas of things Yet I'am unwilling the Government should be trick'd and impos'd upon And that Men should advance their own Stations and Interest by publishing and mis-applying Notions which expose the Church and King both I must confess I think Dr. S Reasons for the Government have been the greatest against it with all Men of Reason and Honour and have hindred many from coming into it What stuff have we produced in a Convocation-Book the greatest Affront to a King and People that was ever offer'd with a salvo to the Church It is said Providence may actually and God will when he sees fit and can serve the Ends of his Providence set up Kings without any Regard to Legal Right or Human Laws and when they are thus set
Temper by a gentle Remove without any Blood without Imprisoning any Person and without inflicting almost any Suffering or Penalty till the Seditious Practices of the Popish Party had provoked the Arm of Justice till the Pope had given away her Kingdom of Ireland as a Heretick and Parsons and Campian Two of his Emissaries had Deposed her at Home in their Doctrines And after all Campian Sherwin and Briant did not suffer as Popish Priests but were Prosecuted on the 25th of Edward the III d for Plotting Destruction of the Queen and Ruin of the Kingdom for Adhering to the Pope the Queen's Enemy and coming into England to Raise Forces against the State And 't was only for these Exorbitances of the Papists that new and strict Laws were Enacted against them in the following Parliaments in the 23d 27 29 35th Years of her Reign Before that there was only the Penalty of Twelvepence a Sunday for Absence from Church and some other necessary provisions concerning the Supremacy Administration of the Sacrament and Form of Common-Prayer which also were very tenderly put in Execution and for above Twenty Years no Body suffered Death for Religion nor till long after the Pope and King of Spain had conspired her Ruin and Gregory the XIIIth held secret Consultations to Invade at once both England and Ireland and longer after that Bloody Massacre of Paris which was a design to Cut off the Protestants as it was Termed or at least to give them a deep Wound and the terrible Slaughters of Protestants through all the Cities of France and the War afterwards declared against the Protestants in the time of Charles the IXth not to reflect on the Chambres Ardentes before against Protestants in Henry the IId's time and after the Attempt which the Duke of Alva on the behalf of the Queen of Scots and the just suspicious she might entertain on her account who was then accounted the great Patroness and only hopes of the Papists and all the other Stratagems and visible Designs of that Party And the second Execution of any Person was in her Twenty fifth Year and upon a just necessity of Self-preservation upon the rash and extravagant Proceedings of Somervill and Others Besides when the Queen was informed even of these Severities as they are call'd tender ones in comparison she grew offended with the Commissioners for Popish Causes Reproved them for their Severity although they declared and protested they Questioned no Man for his Religion but only for dangerous Attempts against her Majesty and the State and the Queen forbad them afterwards to use Tortures as she did the Judges other Punishments And not long after that when Seventy Priests were taken and some of them Condemned and the rest in danger of the Law she only shipp'd them away out of England A Merciful piece of Justice So Merciful she was that it gave her Enemies such Encouragement as her Life was never safe as may appear by the Case of Dr Parry till there was a necessity for an Association to provide for the Queen's safety which was first Voluntary by a Number of her Subjects the Earl of Leicester being foremost thence after of all Ranks and Conditions bound mutually thereunto to each other by their Oaths and Subscriptions to Prosecute all those to the very Death that should Attempt any thing against the Queen which the Year following was in a Parliamentary manner Enacted into a formal Law Notwithstanding which another dangerous Conspiracy of one Savage set on foot by Babington and Others to take away her Life as being Excommunicated was discovered and about Fourteen were justly Executed for Treason Upon which last Treason hung the Fate of the Queen of Scots the Justice whereof has been so much Controverted and Debated Rules of Policy and Self-preservation must cashier all Principles of good Nature or Honour Yet however Execution was not done upon her till the French Ambassador and others were again discovered to take off the Queen by way of prevention And the Circumstances suggested to the Queen at least of the Spanish Navy being come to Milford Haven the Scots into England and that the Duke of Guise was Landed at Sussex c. may extenuate if not excuse the Severity of her Execution with any but Papists and the manner of doing it at last shews it was Extorted from her upon inevitable Considerations and Symptoms of a relucting necessity Her often Countermanding it demonstrates it was not an Act of her Inclination and at last perhaps as far as it appears it was obtained of her by Surprise and without her Authorising Hand to the finishing Stroke If there were any thing in it of Barbarity 't was the denying her a Catholick Priest or Confessor and the Manner of her Execution Which yet is no more than Papists deny Protestants on all occasions and I know not why we should not vouch the dying Honour of our Religion as they do of theirs But enough has been said of this Tragedy on all Hands only it may be fit to Remark That even the French Historians give a more favourable Account of it than our own and particularly Mezeray is softer in his Expressions than Baker The first says The Indiscretion of her Friends was no less the Cause of her Misfortune than the Wickedness of her Enemies as the First sought with violent passion after some plausible pretence to Ruin her the Other furnished them with divers by contriving every Hour some odd Design and even Conspiracies against Queen Elizabeth so that they made her Perish by their over-much Care and Endeavours to Save her The Later gives a slim trimming Account which was worse Although 't is true the taking off the Queen of Scots did not break the Neck of the Popish Designs for who can restrain the Malice of Jesuits for Men must have some ingredient of Modesty to be convinc'd and silenc'd and kept within the bounds of natural Virtue yet it stopp'd their Hands for some time And when afterwards they began again upon the Example and Encouragement of the Holy League in France of which the Duke of Guise was Head and in virtue of which they had taken off their own King Henry the III d by the Hands of James Clement a Monk though Guise himself was first Assassinated and they had taken new heart upon the King of Spain's Founding a Seminary of English at Validolid and new Plots were contrived against the Queen It put them somewhat out of the way and they were at a loss where to find a Successor to the Crown for their purpose when Lopez and Patrick Cullen c. were to have Killed the Queen And they were forc'd to hunt after far-fetch'd Titles in the Infanta of Spain and farther for the Earl of Essex at Home the Son of the Queen of Scots being a Protestant and even at last they made but little of it The Queen remained in Peace and Safety and their Pretender Essex was himself Executed for Treason The
Rawleigh and others Protestants and Papists amongst whom were two Priests and for which there was no other apparent Occasion only that he provok'd all Parties whilst he sought to win One by Fawning to shew something like good Inclinations to the See of Rome as the Pope expected though they well knew he did not mean that neither whilst he received others coldly for Reasons neither he nor they knew So that they agreed only in this to lay him aside who as they concluded by his Behaviour would answer the Expectations of neither There was no necessity of adding Papists as Spies upon his Councels he might in prudence been contented to have taken it at present as left him with the Addition only of his Scotchmen to the Number And 't is plain it gave no satisfaction to the Papists by the Powder-Plot which followed His Next Step of Unaccountable Wisdom was dissolving the Parliament for Reasons known to no body besides himself 't is said because they did not comply with his Designs but what those Designs were do not appear Above-board The Third Action of Moment out of common Forms was the sacrificing Sir Walter Rawleigh to the Importunities of Gondomar for neither his Justice nor Mercy was to be relied on that is giving up the Interest of England to the Spanish Satisfaction And his Conduct with relation to Spain is admirable throughout Queen Elizabeth had pretty well humbled that Potent Monarch and as Sir Robert Cotton observes forced him in his after-Reign that is after his Unsuccessful Tricks with her to that Extremity that he was driven to break all Faith with those Princes that trusted him and paid for One Year's Interest above Twenty five thousand Millions of Crowns Hear Sir Robert Cotton who speaks to the Person of King James and therefore we may assure our selves modestly and gently So low and desperate in Fortunes your Highness found him when you took this Crown Thus from the abundant Goodness of your Peaceable Nature this is the way of Banter if Kings would see it you were pleas'd to begin your Happy Reign with General Quiet and with Spain first which should have wrought in Noble Natures a more Grateful Recompence than after followed For long it was not before Tyrone was hearten'd to Rebel against your Highness and flying had a Pension at Rome paid him from the Spanish Agent His Son Odonel Tyrconnel and others your Chiefest Rebels retain'd ever since in Grace and Pay with the Arch-Duchess at Spain's Devotion So soon as your Eldest Son of holy Memory now with God was fit for Mariage they began these Old Designs by which before they had thriven so well c. Thus Sir R. C. in that Stile And thus they led him on their Dance whilst he Deserted or what was worse so meanly Vindicated the Interest of his Son-in-Law the Prince Palatine He must take his Measures from Gondomar and instead of assisting him with a Powerful Army he is treating with this Spanish Agent and must take his Advice and Matters are to be made up with him by a Match for his Son the Prince of Wales with the Infanta of Spain and then suffers himself to be imposed upon by Idle Representations which this Ambassador carried on only in Disguise to serve his Master's Ends whilst in the mean time the Poor Palatine is swallowed up by a Confederacy between the Emperor and King of Spain and all this without calling a Parliament that being forsooth an Affront to his Wisdom then sends his Son to Spain when he was told by Sir John Digby c. who advised him not to suffer his Resolutions to be interrupted by that Overture of the False Appearances and Insincerities of the Spaniards which the Letters from the King of Spain to Olivares and his Answer would have convinced any one of besides himself and after that his making so many and ample Concessions in favour of Popery during the Treaty And in truth Treating of any Popish Match are no great Arguments of Wisdom Fatherly Care or indeed of Religion The English Navy must be neglected on pretence intimated by Gondomar that the furnishing of it would breed suspicion in the King his Master and the Cautionary Towns must be rendred up being the Keys of the Low-Countries to oblige his Friend Gondomar too His People of England must be Check'd Disgrac'd and Silenced for opposing this Popish Match with their Speeches Counsels Wishes and even Prayers 't is said Gondomar could Dissolve Parliaments also The Protestant Interest on his Son's Account in Bohemia slighted though Archbishop Abbot represented the Circumstances and Call of Religion to Engage him besides Honour Though his Ambassador Cottington inform'd how Matters went and though every body besides himself saw through the Designs of Spain as well in the Complimenting him in the Match as Mediatorship to keep him Neuter and hold him in Suspence And though he himself saw it turn to a War of Religion and would be the Overthrow of the Protestants or Evangelicks and though the Emperor had proscribed the Prince Palatine yet King James's Eyes would not be open'd nor would be persuaded to take the Alarm These are no great Master-strokes of Policy no more than of Conscience or Honour And to War at last when all was lost against his own avow'd Principles was an Incomprehensible Mystery of Judgment and Wisdom Besides these of which he discharged himself thus learnedly there was no Matter of Moment did or could Occur during his Reign to exercise any Extraordinary Talent As for the Governing his People 't is plain he had King-Craft as his Friend Sir Richard Baker calls it as is pretty Evident by his Parliamentary Speeches and his Ways of getting Money He could also Dissemble and sometimes Huff but 't was only his own Subjects and that with no good Grace neither He had Priest-Craft too as Heylin observes who tells us 'T was his usual Practice in the whole Course of his Government to Balance one extreme by the other Countenancing the Papists against the Puritans and the Puritans sometimes against the Papists Thus he was Devout for the Church of England at Home and for Popery Abroad making Canons for their Conformity here and submitting our Orders to Truckle to the Popish Match against all the Remonstrances of Parliament Church and People What could he expect from this Popish Match from any Popish Match but the Consequences all the World expected That it would let in Popery once more into Hopes of Success at least to gain Breath by a suspension of the Laws against them What could be expected but that this must create Jealousies and Misunderstandings between him and his Subjects And 't was not sending a Synod of Divines to Dort or having a Convocation at Home of which Dr. Overal his Dean of Paul's has given a special Account for the Edification of his Successor the present Dean could likely settle the Affairs of the Church in Europe when he at the same time was