to Practice and Use in our own Country Why it was in use in this Island before the Romans entred the same when the Druids gave all the Sentences in Causes of Blood Si coedes facâ—e pâ—as constituunt Caesar Bel. Gai. li. 6. And see Mr. Selden's Epinomis c. 2. Nor is it like that the Romans when they were our Masters should forbid it in Priests whose Pontifical College after they had entertain'd the twelve Tables meddled in all matters of this kind Strabo Geogr. lib. 4. And it is as unlike that the Christian Religion excluded Bishops in this Island from Secular Judicatures since King Lucius is directed to take out his Laws for the regulating of his Kingdom by the Advice of his Council ex utráque pagina the Old and New Testament which could not be done in that Age without the help of his Bishops See Sir H. Spelman's Councils p. 34. Ann. Dom. 185. And how the great Prelates among the ancient Britains were wholly employ'd in these kind of secular agitations you may see in the Ecclesiastical Laws of Howel Dha set forth by Sir H. Spelman pag. 408. anno 940. And a little before this Howel Dha lived K. Aetheljtan in the second Chapter of whose Ecclesiastical Laws we have it peremptorily set down Hinc debent Episcopi cum Saeculi Judicibus interesse judiciis and particularly in all Judgments of the Ordeals which no man that understands the word can make any doubt to have been extended to Mutilation and Death Sir H. S. Counc p. 405. ann 928. And that the Bishops joyned alwaies with the secular Lords in all Judicatory Laws and Acts under the whole reign of the Saxons and Danes in this Island we may see by those Saxon-Danish Laws or rather Capitularies which among the French and Germans do signifie a mixture of Laws made by the Prince the Bishops and the Barons to rule both Church and Common-wealth set forth by Mr. Lambert anno 1568. See particularly the ninth Chapter of St. Edward's Laws De his qui ad judicium sorri vel aquae judicati sunt fol. 128. And thus it continued in this Kingdom long after the Conquest to wit in Henry Beu-clerk's time after whose Reign it began to be a little limited and restrained for at Clarendon anno 1164 8 Calend. Febr. 11 Henr. 21 a general Record is agreed upon by that King 's Special Command of all the Customs and Liberties of this Kingdom ever since Hen. the First the King's Grandfather as you may see in Matth. Paris p. 96 of the first Edition where among other Customs agreed upon this is one Archbishops and Bishops and all other persons of this Kingdom which hold of the King in capite are to enjoy their Possessions of the King as a Barony and by reason thereof are to answer before the Judges and Officers of the King and to observe and perform all the King's Customs And just as the rest of the Barons ought for it was a Duty required of them as the King now by his Summons doth from us to be present in the Judgments of the King's Courts together with the rest of the Barons until such time as they shall there proceed to the mangling of Members or Sentence of Death 147. Observe that there is a diversity of reading in the last words for Matth. Paris a young Monk that lived long after reads this Custom thus Quousque perveniatur ad diminutionem membrorum vel ad mortem Which may be wrested to the first agitation of any Charge tending that way but Quadrilogus a Book written in that very Age and the original Copy of the Articles of Clarendon which Becket sent to Rome extant at this day in the Vatican Library and out of which Baronius in his Annals anno 1164 transcribes it reads the Custom thus Usque perveniatur in judicio ad diminutionem membrorum c. which leaves the Bishops to sit there until the Judgment come to be pronounced amounting to Death or Mutilation of Members And as this was agreed to be the Custom so was it the Practice also after that 11th year to wit in the 15th year of Henry the Second at what time the Lay-Peers are so far from requiring the Bishops to withdraw that they endeavour to force them alone to hear and determine a matter of Treason in the person of Becket Stephanides is my Author for this who was a Chaplain and Follower of that Archbishop The Barons say saith that Author You Bishops ought to pronounce Sentence upon your selves we are Laicks you are Church-men as Becket is you are his fellow-Priests and fellow-Bishops To whom some one of the Bishops replied This belongs to you my Lords rather than to us for this is no ecclesiastical but a secular Judicature We sit not here as Bishops but as Barons Nos Barones vos Barones hic Pares sumus And in vain it is that you should labour to find any difference at all in our Order or Calling See this Manuscript cited by Mr. Selden Titles of Honour 2 Edit p. 705. And thus the Custom continued till the 21st year of the same King Henry II. at what time that Provincial Synod was kept at Westminster by the Archbishop of Canterbury and some few of his Suffragans which Roger Hoveden mentions in his History p. 543. And it seems Gervasius Dorobernensis which is a Manuscript I have not seen The quoting of this Monk in the Margin of that Collection of Privileges which Mr. Selden by command had made for the Upper House of Parliament is the only ground of stirring up this Question against the Bishops at this present intended by Mr. Selden for a Privilege to the Bishops not for a Privilege to the Lay Peers to be pressed against the Bishops The Canon runs thus It is not lawful for such as are constituted in Holy Orders Judicium sanguinis agitare to put in execution Judgment of Blood and therefore we forbid that they shall either in their own persons execute any such mutilation of Members or sentence them to be so acted by others And if any such person shall do any such thing he shall be deprived of the Office and Place of his Order and Function We do likewise sorbid under the peril of Excommunication that no Priest be a secular Sheriff or Provost Now this is no Canon made in England much less confirmed by Common Law or assented to by all the Bishops of the Province of Canterbury or by any one of the Province of York but transcribed as appears by Hovenden's Margin out of a Council of Toledo which in the time that Council is supposed to be held was the least Kingdom in Spain and not so big as York-shire and consequently improper to regulate all the World and especially this remote Kingdom of England Beside as this poor Monk sets it down it doth inhibit Church-men from being Hang-men rather than from being Judges to condemn men to be thus mutilated and mangled in their
SCRINIA RESERATA A MEMORIAL Offer'd to the Great Deservings OF John Williams D.D. Who some time held the Places of L d Keeper of the Great Seal of England L d Bishop of Lincoln and L d Archbishop of York CONTAINING A SERIES OF THE Most Remarkable Occurrences and Transactions of his LIFE in Relation both to CHURCH and STATE Written by JOHN HACKET Late Lord Bishop of LITCHFIELD and COVENTRY 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nazianz. de laudibus Athanasii Vita mortuorum in memoriâ vivorum est posita Cicero Philip. nonâ IMPRIMATUR Nov. 27. 1692. JO. Cant. In the SAVOY Printed by Edw. Jones for Samuel Lowndes over against Exeter-Exchange in the Strand M. DC XC III. THE PROEM READER Paragr 1. BOOKS are sown so thick in all Countries of Europe that a new one which one adds more to the former Gross had need of an Apology The easie Dispatch of so many Sheets in a day by the readiness of Printing hath found the World a great deal more Work then needs Many that love Knowledge both Industrious and of sound Judgment are not nice to say that Repletion of Authors hath begat Loathing Which is a Reason likewise or a Pretence that divers who are Learned and full Men contain their Liquor in their Vessels and never broach it in the Press to make it Publick because they think it is Folly to contribute to Waste and Excess I am one of those I confess that wish it were possible that a Moses could be raised up to restrain us from bringing more either of our Pamphlets or Volumes to the Work of the Tabernacle For the Stuff already is sufficient for all the Work to make it and too much Exod. 36.7 2. How shall I answer it therefore Or how shall I defend that I am constant to mine own Judgment in this Design that I thrust my Labours into the World What Warrant can I plead that I build a new Cottage upon the Waste I conceive that it will stand for satisfaction that I set forth an History of Things not travers'd before but of memorable Passages running through the Channel of one Man's Life in our present Age. It is a Debt owed to Posterity to furnish them with the true Knowledge of sore-gone Occurrences worthy to be Registred as I believe these ensuing are A Tradition must be kept of famous Exploits especially moving upon the Stage of turbulent Times For when it is skilfully drawn through the Acts of famous Men it will rouze up our Children by Emulation as much as by Precept and give them double advantage to seek Virtue and Glory But better it will be to have it coarse spun then quite omitted For such will serve for Cork to keep a Net from sinking 3. This Century of our Account from Christ's Birth wherein we live now wasting beyond the middle hath been happy in this That it hath brought forth in our Kingdom of England many of great Renown Wise and Eloquent deep in Learning and sage in Counsels in a word to be praised as much as the best of their Forefathers yet granting to all both former and latter an Allowance for some Grains of Frailties It were pity their Memorial should perish with them Caesar was a large seeker of Glory yet grudge no Man a share in Glory as testifies that little which remains of his Oration for the Bithynians saying It is a Duty required from the surviving Generation to keep them alive in their good Name who deserv'd it and can endure the Censure of the World for ever I listen to his Encouragement yet measuring my Strength by mine own Meet-wand I task my self to set up a Pillar but for one Man's Memory The Event will clear me that I stint not my self to this one Theme to do but little But First Because there is so much Kernel in one Shell I must set forth a great Bishop a great Judge a great Counsellor in all these Capacities most active in most active Times Such a Mill will not go with a little Water Beside the Turnings and Returnings of his Fortune multiformous Changeableness rather Prodigious then Strange by Honour and Dishonour by Evil Report and good Report 2 Cor. 6.8 Which will draw considerate Thoughts for no little time to this one Center As Pliny writes of the Emperor Augustus his Life interwoven with much Glory Lib. 7. Nat. Hist c. 45. and much Misfortune Si diligenter aestimentur sancta magna sortis humanae reperiantur volumina So it is highly remarkable that in this one Piece a diligent Eye may discern all the Colours of human Inconstancy and Instability 4. Secondly I spend all my little Skill upon this Subject for I can draw no Picture so like because I knew none so well I noted his Ways and Worth in the University when I was but young I observ'd him in his earliest Preferments when he came first sledge out of the Nest I was taken into his Houshold Service as soon as he ascended to his highest Office And commencing from that time till thirty Years expired with his Life I trespass not against Modesly if I say I knew his Courses as much and saw them at as near a distance as any Man beside I have as much Intelligence from an Eye-witness Information and from his familiar Conference with me as can be expected from any Writer of the Memorials of a great Statist Qui audiunt audita dicunt qui vident planè sciunt says Plautusvery well He that reports but what he hears must confess he is at uncertainty he that sees a Thing done can relate it perfectly Pliny hath cast down a great deal of that which he built up in the seventh Book of his Natural History with this Passage in his Proem Nec in plerÃsque corum obstringam sidem meam potiúsque ad autores relegabo He would make Faith for little of that which he wrote but turns his Reader over to such Authors as himself did not trust in I am far from such Prevarication I drew the knowledge of those things of most moment which I shall deliver from the Spring-Head And I trust in God that I have incorporated them into this Frame with Integrity This then is my confidence to make this Compilement that my Tools were whetted at home I need not repair to the Allophyli or Philistins to sharpen my Axe at their Grind-stone 5. Thirdly I am full of willingness to be the Father of this Child And nothing is apter for a Man to undergo then that which is agreeable to his Delight I profess it is not the least of my drifts to sweeten my Master's Memory with a strong composed Perfume and to carve him out in a commendable but a true Figure Suffer me to put one Day to his Life after his Decease When a worthy Man's Fame survives him through their help that light a Candle for that use that others in succession of Ages may perfectly behold him it is
much I may Excuse it Or Secondly How I may Recompence it with some other Praise A MEMORIAL Offer'd to the Great Deservings OF JOHN WILLIAMS D.D. Who sometimes Held the Places of the LORD-KEEPER of the GREAT-SEAL of England c. PART I. Paragraph 1. EDMOND WILLIAMS Esq of Aber. Conway in the County of Carnarvan was the Son of William Williams Esq of Coghwillanne near adjoyning and of Dorothy Daughter to Sir William Griffith Knight of Penrhyn This Edmond took to Wife Mary Daughter to Owen Wyn Esq and by her had five Sons and two Daughters Of the Male Children John was the youngest the Womb of his Mother ceasing to bear when it had done its best This John whose Memory deserves to be Dignified in a lasting Story was born at Aber-Conway a Sea-Town in Carnarvanshire about or upon the Feast-day of our Lady the Blessed Virgin March 25. 1582. The Shire wherein he drew his first Breath is notorious for the highest Hills of this Island Snoden Penmanmaur Creig-Eriri and others It is not unlikely that it hath much Riches under the Earth but it is Barren above Ground As Pliny speaks of the Orobii certain Mountainers in Italy Lib. 3. c. 17. Etiam nomine prodentes se al. tius quà m fortunatiùs sitos Their Situation was rather high than prosperous But what the Region wants in Fatness of Soil is requited by the Generous Spirits of the Inhabitants a far greater Honour than much Clay and Dirt. I light upon it in the Invention of a Masque Presented before King James at Whitehall An. 1619. that our Laureat-Poet Ben. Johnson hath let some weighty Words drop from him to the Honour of that Nation and I take them as a serious Passage and will own them That the Country is a Seed-Plot of honest Minds and Men. What Lights of Learning hath Wales sent forth for our Schools What Industrious Students of our Laws What Able Ministers of Justice Whence hath the Crown in all times better Servitors more Liberal of their Lives and Fortunes And I know I have their good Leave to say That the Honour of Wales shin'd forth abroad in the Lustre of such a Native as this and I add what Pliny writes to Sabinus of the Firmians among whom he was born Credibile est optimos esse inter quos tu talis extiteris Lib. 6. Epist 2. For Carnarvanshire in particular says Reverend Mr. Cambden the Ordovices lived there of old who held the Romans Play to preserve their Liberties the longest of all our Britains and forced the Roman General Suetonius Paulinus to fix his Head-Quarter there desiring to keep them his first and surest Friends who were his last subdued Enemies Afterward the Saxons had the longest and stoutest Repulses in North-Wales that they felt in all their Battels which made them bloody their Swords most barbarously in the Bodies of those resolute Defendants 3. Among the Champions of greatest Note and Valour that did the best Feats of Chivalry against the Saxons was a gallant Commander the Top of the House of Williams which is preserv'd in Memory to this day because the Family of that Name doth until this time bear in their Coat three Saxons Heads De tree pen Saix they call it in Welch I think a noble Testimony of the Valour of the Chief of that Stock that sought manfully for his Country and preserv'd it from the Invasion of the Saxons when their Armies had march'd over the Ground of England now so called with Slaughter and Conquests And since the best Men of the ancient Houses in Wales did manage War so valiantly in maintenance of Glory and Liberty it is no marvel if the Inhabitants are noted in the current Ages ever since to have almost a Religious Care in preserving the Pedigrees of their Gentry Who could excuse them from Ingratitude if they should not garnish Heraldry with the Genealogies of such Worthies 4. Among their copious Stems and far-fetch'd Descents the Pedigree of the House of Williams of Coghwillanne hath as many brave Strings in the Root and spreads as wide in the Branches as I have seen produced from the Store-house of their Cambrian Antiquities It grows up in the top Boughs to the Princes of North-Wales in King Stephen's days as it is deducted by Authentick Records which I have seen and are formalized into a comely shape by Evan Lloyd of Egloyvach in the County of Denbigh and Jacob Chaloner of London Gent. Men faithful and expert in such Monuments of elder Years The same Authors demonstrate that Williams of Coghwillanne hath continued his Coat of three Saxons Heads constantly and without any the léast alteration from Edneuet Vychan Lord-Steward of Wales an 1240. and of Hen. 3. his Reign an 25. to this day It hit right indeed for a Coat of Arms says the neat Wit of Mr. Hugh Hotland when one of that Lineage was advanced to be Lord-Keeper of the Great-Seal as he couched it in an elegant Distic engraven on his Lordship's Silver Standish as I found it there Qui sublime fori potuit consâ—â—ndere tignum Par suit hunc capitum robur habere trium Meaning it was a sign he had the Abilities and Brains of three Heads whose good Parts lifted him up to that Honour to set Chief Judge in the highest Court of the Kingdom But I need neither the light Air of Poetry much less the empty Wind of Vain-boasting to blow it about the World that he was Anciently and Nobly descended there are so many Proofs for it as there are Offsprings of Gentry in North-Wales being all of his Blood and Alliance to whom a Catalogue might be added of Great and Honourable Persons in England Which King James was aware of when he was sworn his Counsellor for He told him pleasantly that He thought not the worse of him nor suspected his Fidelity though He knew well enough that Sir William Stanley then living a great Traitor to his Prince and Country was his near Kinsman I could insist more upon this but it is the Rule of a wise Author that whosoever will search into a Man prudently and Philosophically Nunquam cunabula quaerit Et qualis non unde satus I close it up therefore that his Pedigree of Ancestors gave a good Lustre to his Birth but he gave a greater to them Howsoever I receive it for a Moral Truth as well as a Mathematical that the longest Line is the least of all quantitive Dimensions 5. Now to begin with my Subject from the first time that he was able to go without the hand His Education was like to be Prosperous for not only his Parents but his Grandmother the Lady Griffith his Grandmother Lois as well as his Mother Eunice contributed her Care to give him Godly and Learned Breeding It fell out well for their purpose that their Pious Country-man Gabriel Goodman Dean of Westminster had about that time founded a Publick School at Reuthen and had placed a good Grammarian in it under whom
he desired Leave from his Father that he might assay to depart from Madrid as secretly as he came thither Quando optima Dido Nesciat tantos rumpi non speret amores Aeneid 4. The Lord Keeper indeed had emboldned the Prince in February before to that Course but the King thought the Motion was not so seasonable at that time For his Highness was attended in Spain with a great Houshold of Followers and God knows whither the Sheep would be scattered or into what Pin-sold they should be thrust if the shepherd were gone And his Majesty still dreamt of of winning the Game and profest he saw no such Difficulties but that Patience after a while would overcome Perversness Howsoever it would be inglorious for the Prince of Wales to run away from the Frown of the Spaniards But least the Safety of so dear a Person should seem to be slighted or his Welcome Home retarded the Lord Keeper besought the King upon his Knees that his Majesty would write his Fatherly and Affectionate Letters to require his Son's Return giving them no Date but leaving that to be inserted when Business was crown'd with Opportunity This Counsel hit the Pin right and was followed and by God's Will who hath the Hearts of Kings and Princes in his Hand it pleased on this side and beyound the Seas 147. Great was the Expectation what the Month of July would bring forth as well in England as in Spain My Lord Duke had thrust himself into the greatest Employment that was in Europe when at first he had no Ground now no Mind to accomplish it A sorry Apprehension taken from Mr. Endi Porter carried him forth in all hast to make up the Match but there were others who desired his Grace to gratifie them with Concealment for their Good-will that sent Instructions into Spain to adjure him to do his utmost to prevent the Espousals Their Reasons were the two principal Places of Divine and Humane Wisdom God's Glory and his own Safety For God's Sake to keep our Orthodox Religion from the Admixture of that Superstition which threatned against the Soundness of it And no Corrosive so good to eat out the Corruption of Romish Rottenness creeping on as to give the Spaniard the Dodg and to leave the Daughter of Spain behind To his own Safety this Counsel was contributed These who made it their Study and were appointed to it to maintain the Grandeur of his Lordship met frequently at Wallingford-house to promote the Work Who had observed that some Impressions were gotten into the King's Mind and they knew by whom that his Majesty was resolved to be a Lover of Parliaments that he would close very graciously with the next that was called nor was there Likelihood that any private Man's Incolumity though it were his Grace himself should cause an unkind Breach between him and his People Therefore the Cabinet-men at Wallingford-House set upon it to consider what Exploit this Lord should commence to be the Darling of the Commons and as it were to re-publicate his Lordship and to be precious to those who had the Vogue to be the chief Lovers of their Country Between the Flint and the Steel this Spark was struck out that all other Attempts would be in vain unless the Treaty for the great Marriage were quasht and that the Breach of it should fall notoriously upon the Lord Buckingham's Industry For it was not to the Tast of the English if you will number them and not weigh them fearing some Incommodation to the Protestant Religion These Jonadabs 2 Sam. 13.3 the Subtle Friends of beauteous Absalom drew the Duke out of the King's High-way into the By-path of Popularity The Spaniards also stir'd up his Fire to struggle and appear against them For as the Earl of Bristol writes Cab. P. 20. He was very little beholding to them for their good Opinion Withal he was so head-strong that all the Ministers of our King that were joyned with him could not hold him in He had too much Superiority to think them his Fellow Servants that were so indeed And having nothing in his Tast but the Pickle of those new Counsels which his Governing Friends in England insus'd into him he pluckt down in a few Weeks which the other Part had been raising up in eight Years Centum doctúm hominum concilia sola devincit Dea Fortuna Plaut Pseud Act. 2. This unfortunate Accident did both contravene and over-match the Counsels of a hundred wise Men. A fatal thing it hath been always to Monarchs to be most deceived where they have trusted most Nay If they had all the Eyes of Argos their chiefest Confidents are able to abuse them on the blind Side Therefore the Observator is most injurious that puts a low Esteem upon King James's Wisdom P. 14. That he was over-witted and made use of to other Mens ends by almost all that undertook him So he may put the Fool upon Solomon who was cousen'd in Jeroboam whom he made Ruler over all the Charge of the House of Joseph 1 King 11.28 A Solomon may be mistaken in a Jeroboam and like his seeming Faithfulness and Sufficiency to the Undoing of his Posterity Little did the old King expect that the Man of his Right-hand whom he had made so strong for his own Service upon all Occasions would forget the Trust of his Gracious Master and listen to the Voice of Hirelings Which of the Members of my Partition will make the Duke excusable in point of Honour and Conscience Did he do it for the best to the King Did he think the Spanish Alliance would be fruitful in nothing but Miseries and that it would be a thankful Office to lurch the King in his Expectation of it Evil befall such double Diligence Perhaps it may be shifted off with the Name of a good Intent when it tampers with a Branch or Circumstance of an Injoyment but when it raiseth up the very Body of Instructions 't is no more competent with Obedience than Light with Darkness The Heathen would not brook it that had a grain of Philosophy in their Disposition that a Minister should alter the Mandates of his Superior upon Supposes to the better Ne benè consulta Religione mandati soluta corrumperentur Gell. lib. 1. c. 13. They thought that those Services which wanted the Religion of Obedience let their Aim be never so honest would prove improsperous Or did this great Lord do it for the best to himself I believe it If the Hope of the Match died away he lookt to get the Love of the most in England but if it were made up he lookt for many Enemies for he had lost the Love of the best in Spain Sir Wal. Aston foresaw wisely that there was no fear but that the Princely Lovers might joyn Hands in Sacred Wedlock if that Fear of the Duke could be removed So he writes Cab. P. 32. Would your Grace would commit it to my Charge to inform the
Quarrel between his Ministers in Spain which did so much disturb the Match Sir John Hipsley and such as he the Duke could pass them over for rash Writers but he would never forgive it to the Lord Keeper who invited him to see his Errors But like old Galesus in Virgil Aen. 7. who was knocked down while he went betwen the Latins and Trojans to reconcile them Dum paci medium se offert justissimus unus Qui fuit So it hapned to him that pleaded in this Mediation to be offered upon the Sacrifice and Service of making Love 159. Nevertheless to draw out the Thread of Favour to more length which the Duke had with the King and that the Destinies might not cut it off the Lord Keeper wrote to his Majesty upon Sir John Hipsley's Arrival in the midst of August That he had heard more of the Duke's most laudable Diligence in Spain from Sir John than ever he could learn before that Malice it self could not but commend his Zeal and that Humanity could not but pity the Toil he had to reduce that intricate and untoward Business of the Palatinate to some good Success He might well call them intricate and untoward for the Spanish Motions were circular Nothings much about and nothing to the Point Most true it is that the Articles anent the Marriage were drawn up and restricted to some Heads and Numbers though not perfected three years before the Emperor had entred into the Palz with any Hostility Therefore the Spaniards disputed thus Bring not the motion of it into this Treaty as a thing born out of due time What were it else but as the Proverb says Extra chorum saltare to Dance well but quite out of the measure of the Mascarata We answered if things had been as they are now at the beginning this had then been a principal Capitulation Nor had we honerated the Articles with a new Proposition unless themselves that is the House of Austria had cast us into the Gulph of a new Extremity Reduce the King and his Posterity to the same Peace they were in when we began to treat and we ask no more But as Seneca says Lib. 4. de ben c. 35. Omnia esse debent eadem quae fuerant cum promitterem ut promittentis fidem teneas But upon so great a Change there is neither Inconstancy nor Encroachment to fall into new Consultations For all this though nothing but Pertinacy durst stand the Breath of so much Truth the others came no nearer to us but kept further off affirming as it is in the Report made at St. James's that they conceived our King expected no Restitution at all for his Son and Daughter and that they supposed his Majesty had already digested that bitter Potion We told them they must not dissemble before us as if they knew not the Contrary For his Majesty never intermitted to rouse up their Embassadors to give him a fair Answer about it and had stopt the Treaty of the Match if they had not opened the Way by Protestation made in the Faith of their King that the Palatinate should be rendred up with Peaceable Possession What Shape could Olivarez put on now none but his own a stately Impudency For he told us in the broad Day-light that all former Promises spoken before the Prince's Coming whether by Embassadors to our King or by Count Gondamar to my Lord of Bristol and others were but Palabras de cumplimiento Gratifications of fine Words but no more to be taken hold of than the Fables and Fictions of Greece before the Wars of Theseus The Prince came over him at this with a blunt Anger that if there were no more Assurance in their Word it was past the Wit of Man to know what they meant but he would tell them really his Father's and his own Meaning That without his Sister 's and her Husband's Inheritance restored they neither intended Marriage nor Friendship When King Philip had heard with what Courage and Determination his Highness had spoken like Caesar in Velleius Se virtute suâ non magnitudine hostium metiens it put that King and his Counsel to a middle-way as they called it To treat upon the old Articles and no other as falling perpendicularly on the Marriage but to take into a concurrent Deliberation the Restitution of the Prince Elector's Country Let Metaphysical States-men scratch their Heads and find a real Distinction if they can between these Formalities Yet Sir Walter Aston followed them in that Way and paid them in the same Coin with this Distinction Cab. P. 38. That the King his Master prest for the Restitution of the Palatinate and Electoral Dignity to the Prince his Son-in-Law not as a Condition of the Marriage but to be setled together with the Marriage And again Not as a Condition but as a Fruit and Blessing of the Alliance And to make the Coming of the Excellent Princess the Infanta of more Esteem to his Subjects bringing with her beside the Glory of her own Virtue and Worth the Security of a perpetual Peace and Amity These were Punctilio's in Honour but just Nothings in Wisdom the Cause of the Palatinate must not be tempered at the same Forge but apart not a Rush was gotten by it and time wasted for our Ministers were resolved to conclude neither unless they perfected both 160. The Sennor Duca Olivarez made such Work upon this Theme and turn'd it into so many Forms that it makes him ridiculous in the History Vertumnis quotquot sunt natus iniquis Horat. And so disastrous a Counsellor through his Variableness that it was his Fault that caused a Distrust in the main as wise Spotswood says Pag. 544. The Prince conceived there was nothing really intended on the King of Spain's Part but that the Treaty was entertained only till he and the House of Austria had reduced Germany into their Power which might be suspected without Injury by looking upon this Vertumnus in all his Changings Seven Months before the Prince took his Journey and came to cast the Die upon the whole Stake to win or loose all Mr. End Porter was sent to Spain and spake with the great Conde who snapt him up and gave him this unkind Welcome in a Chase That they neither meant the Match nor the Restitution of the Palatinate Presently the Earl of Bristol gave him a Visit and a Discourse about it In a trice he winds himself out of his former Fury and vows he would do his best to further both The next Discovery breaks out by Mr. Sanderson's Diligence Pag. 540. in a Letter of the Conde's to King Philip Novemb. 8. 1622. That the King of Great Brittain affected the Marriage of his Son with the Infanta and was more engaged for the Palatinate And as a Maxim I hold these two Engagements in him to be inseparable For us though we make the Marriage we must fail in the other Then you will be forced to a War with England with
the most Guilty of their own Ruine that ever was heard of in any History And now let a Man of more Authority Judgment and Experience than the Observator speak upon the Wisdom of my Lord the King It is the most Reverend Spotswood in his last Page He was the Solomon of his Age admired for his wise Government and for his Knowledge of all manner of Learning for his Wisdom Moderation Love of Justice for his Patience and Piety which shined above all his other Vertues and is witnessed in his Learned Works he left to Posterity his Name shall never be forgotten but remain in Honour so long as the World indureth We that have had the Honour and Happiness many times to hear him discourse of the most weighty Matters as well of Policy as of Divinity now that he is gone must comfort our selves with the Remembrance of those Excellencies and reckon it not the least Part of our Happiness to have lived in his Days It is well that King James passeth for a Solomon with that Holy Bishop and wise Counsellor Now that I may decline an over-weening Opinion of any mortal Man Nazianzen minds me very well Orat. in laud. Athenas that among God's Worthies he commends 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Solomon in some things not in all No Man ruled the least Principality so well much less three Kingdoms with Isles adjacent and remote but the Modest and Impartial might have required somewhat to be amended in the Administration for it is true what Pliny says in his Paneg. Nemo extitit cujus virtutes nullo vitiorum confinio laederâ—mur If small Motes be discerned by piercing Eyes yet such Minutes are easily covered over with egregious and heroical Vertues And the hard Heart of Sir An. W. softned into this Confession at last Take him all together and not in pieces such a King I wish this Kingdom have never any worse on the Condition not any better 234. I have borrowed thus much Room to set up a little Obelisk for King James out of that which is only intended to the Memorials of his Lord Keeper which Servant of that King's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if he had any Sense of it would be willing to lend that and more to his good Master With whose Death the Day of the Servant's Prosperity shut up and a Night of long and troublesome Adversity followed Which if I can compass in my Old Age and decay'd Health to bring into a Frame for the Reader to behold he may say as Socrates did of Antisthenes in Laertius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that two Athenians would not make up one so Noble as Antisthenes And two Men would never have discharged those two Parts so well as this one Man performed them Which Representation may meet with some perchance that will not be favourable to it whom I wish to take heed of the Character which Theophrastus gives of an impure Man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I will lengthen it thus he acts his own Part ill that Hisseth at him that deserves to be applauded FINIS A MEMORIAL Offer'd to the Great Deservings OF JOHN WILLIAMS D.D. Who sometimes Held the PLACES of LORD-KEEPER of the GREAT-SEAL OF ENGLAND Lord Bishop of LINCOLN AND Lord Arch Bishop of YORK Written by JOHN HACKETT Late Lord Bishop of Coventry and Litchfield PART II. Isocrates ad Evagoram pag. 80. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Salust de Caio Caesari In te praeter caeteras artem unam egregiè mirabilem comperi semper tibi majorem in adversis quà m in secundis rebus auimum esse pag. 171. LONDON Printed for Samuel Lowndes over-against the Exchange in the Strand MDCXCIII A MEMORIAL Offer'd to the Great Deservings OF JOHN WILLIAMS D.D. Who sometimes Held the Places of the LORD-KEEPER of the GREAT-SEAL of England c. PART II. CAmerarius Writing the Life of Melanchthon Paragraph 1. the Darling of the Champions of the Reformed Religion divided his Work into two Parts and gave no reason for it but because he would make his Web of a new piece after the Death of Luther It is the Pattern which I set before me to make a new Exordium as he did upon the Subject which I handle after the Death of King James Especially since I must take his Shadow whom my Pens draws forth no more by a Noon-tide Light but by an Evening declension Manilias His Prosperity or shall I say his Honours and Court-Favours were now in their Tropick Cum lucem vincere noctes incipiunt But Vertue is not Fortune's Servant He rose with great Light and he set with as great Brightness as he rose And as Paterculus writes of Mithridates I may refer it to him Aliâ—uando fortunâ semper animo maximus He was once high in Fortune but always strong in Courage and great in Worth 'T is common to see a Stock ingrafted with two forts of Fruits The Almighty Planter shews greater differences when he pleaseth in Moral than in Natural Plantations As he ordain'd the Noble Williams to become two contrary Parts as well as any Man had perform'd them in five Ages before him keeping the golden Mean in the Tryals of the Right-hand and of the Lest being neither corrupted with the Advancements nor the Persecutions of the Times As Paul and Barnabas were neither transported with the Honours which the Lycaonians did intend nor deterr'd with the Stones which they cast at them Acts 14. But the latter is most to be remarked For if this Lord-keeper had not drest himself with Vertue when he was clad in Honour nor rendred a sweet Air in every Close when the Diapason of Peace Wealth and the King's Love were all in tune he had abus'd Fortune which had given him his pay in hand Nec tam meruit gloriam quà m effugit flagitium as Pliny hath it But to stand upright when he was dismounted to cross his Crosses with Generosity and Patience to pass through a hot Furnace of Afflictions which was heated with all kind of Malice and no smell of Fire to remain upon him Dan. 3. v. 27. this deserves to be Canonized and will keep green in the Memory of more Ages than one From the Forty third Year of his Life to the full term of his Sixty eighth Year trouble upon trouble mischief after mischief had him in chase and yet the Huntsmen those Salvaggi could never blow the Death of this well-breath'd Hart. Fifteen Years the pursuit came from them that made use of the Frown of the King When they were a fault But when were they otherwise One Woe was past but there came two Woes or rather a thousand after it Apoc. 9.12 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Parliament of Destruction or of absolute Reprobation Sine praeviso peccato which spared none supprest him opprest him and he was under that Sufferance ten Years Was not the Ship well built Were not the Ribs of it heart of Oak which endured a Storm of twenty five Years and in that
be opened to such persons as might make use of it in their Notice He could not say less than he did to express the King's sence nor at a better time for advantage It can be called by no ill Name but if you will call it Rashness weigh it how light the matter was and I will not refer it to Honour and Mercy but to Justice to pass it by Quae minora vulgaria sunt delicta oportet dissimulari non vindicari Which is Grotius Maxim de Ju. B. P. p. 311. Petty Faults should be overseen with Magnanimity and not revenged 109. And that prevailed to the expiration of about three years as in the next place will be cleared when a few lines are first spent what the Censure of understanding men was upon this Treachery of the two Delators Lamb was the most hated of all that trod on the Earth in the County of Northampton where he dwelt yet as Tally said of Asinius Pollio lib. 3. ep 31. Quem nequaquam perinde ut dignus est oderunt homines He was branded with the charge of many Crimes under the Hands of all the Justices and Gentry in a manner in the Shire and in two several Bills to be presented to the Parliaments anno 1621. anno 1624. This Person whose Throat he went about to cut brought him off from his Troubles dubb'd him a Doctor and a Knight settled him in his former Offices and got him more for which I confess he got no good name to himself Lamb mark'd the Revolution of the Times saw the Bishop discarded and observ'd that he might pluck himself into a better Fortune sooner by being his Enemy than his Friend Then what ensues but as a shifter says in Plautus Ut sursum in alto ventus est exin velum vortitur Veer the Sail as the Wind blows So he watcheth a day to cast off his Patron and to make it more meritorious to cast him down Cum secum servilis animus praemia perfidiae reputaret cessit fas salus patroni As if we had found this Wretch foretold by Tacitus lib. 15. Annal. An ungrateful Creature in the old times was held a Monster now adays none shall be sooner taken into play to be a State-Minister Like Tobacco every man stopt his Nose at it when Sir W. Raleigh brought it first into England now the Pipe is in every man's Mouth But how easie was it for the Bishop to trust this fellow with as much as he durst utter to any man He had redeem'd him he had bought him for his own and every false Knave doth not smell like a Pole-Cat They are subtler in their Generation than the Children of Light The best skill'd in the Greek Tongue say that the Devout in the New Testament are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quia facilè possunt capi because they are charitable and less suspicious of others so they are easily taken Aditum nocendi perfido praest at fides Sen. Oed. The Credit that is given to a perfidious man furnisheth him with advantage to do a Mischief He can hurt none but such as he is beholden to for their good Opinion Et perditissimi est hominis fallere eum qui non laesus esset nisi credidisset Cic. lib. 2. off And of all Hypocrites take heed of him that gropes into a man's Heart to pluck out his Secrets Which is well set forth in a Proverbial Similitude Venti sunt molestissimi qui abstrahunt nobis pallia 'T is ill travelling when the Wind blows a mans Cloak abroad and will not let him keep it close about him Meaning that it is ill conversing with an Ensnarer delving into the bottom of your Mind to know what is hid in it I would ask a Casuist if it were not lawful for me not only to hide my Mind but to cast somewhat which is not true before such a Pocher I mean it tentativè not with intention to deceive him but to try if he would deceive me and I mean it of no other but of such a one as Ben Syrach sets out and this Bishop found to his cost Ecclus. 13. v. 11 12. With much communication will he tempt thee and smiling upon thee will he get out thy secrets but cruelly he will lay up thy words and will not spare to do thee hurt and to put thee in prison Ingratitude is Sir J. Lamb's Badge Perfidiousness both his and Sibthorp's And that 's not all Quisquam hominum est quem tu contentum videris uno Flagitio Juven These were such as durst do more than one Unseemliness and deserv'd to be baffl'd for breaking the Laws of Hospitality They did eat at the Bishop's Board gathered that Discourse which they carried away to kindle Coals of Fire to consume him and deposed what they heard and more than they heard Unde illud apud Graecos da mihi testimonium Cicero pro Flacco Fair Conversation should keep up Table-talk As Plutarch says of the Spartans in his Licurgus That being frollick at Meat they were wont to say Not a word goes out of doors They that brake that Order should dine alone like the Hangmen of Germany But seriously the ancient Tragedy-Writers in their Buskin Scenes exclaim mightily against those who betray'd them that had feasted them as Hecuba inveighs against Polymestor that murther'd her Son Polydor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What a Fiend was Polymestor to do such an Act that had been her Guest so often The very Emblem of the Wolf that had eaten the Sheep and would eat the Shepherd if he could get him Thus far of the Crime and the Criminators or rather the Tale and the Tale-bearers that so little they so bad Qui ad notitiam posterorum per odia virtutum decurrerunt Sidon lib. 8. c. 1. 110. I have dealt with the Pick-thanks as they deserv'd who travelling from Bugden to Higham-Ferrers conferr'd their Notes as they depos'd and lost not a day but sent Burden and Allen to the Court as soon as they could be found with an Accusation against the Bishop As Fr. Junius gives his reason in cap. 3. Gen. why he thought the Devil tempted Eve not long after she was made Maleficus non potest feriari ex quo est maleficus So in this Instance we see that Malice is Lead in weight and Fire in swiftness The King is moved to acquaint the Lords of the Council with it where it gasp'd in the first Hearing and dyed Allen the Proctor Petitions for it again for B. L. upheld his Spirit in his Wickedness The examining is referred to the L. Treasurer Weston the Earl of Penbrock the Earl of Montgomery the Earl of Holland who with one consent cast it away as not worthy a Debate that no Blame could stick upon Lincoln that Allen was as good as frentick for he had drawn up one Petition in Rhime This the Bishop alledgeth in his Address prepared for the Parliament while the third and fourth of the Lords-Referrees
Title and could prove it Let another take the Archbishop's room and discharge it better That which was lost the Castle could not be kept that which was saved helpt the King's Friends to subsist which his gracious goodness would allow Yes but Milton was a Rebel And may not a Rebel be used to do acts of Justice or Charity Licet uti alieno peccato is often allowed in most conscionable Divinity Make the case that one of the King's Ships at Sea piratically board a London Merchant and spoil him shall the Merchant be debarred from imploring an Algiers Captain to get him his own again if he could find that favour Here 's the case and all the case upon whose mis-report the Archbishop's good Name did suffer deeply For whose justification more may be said than they that love detraction are willing to hear Says Sanderson He fortified his Garrison against the King No such matter Mliton took the Garrison and kept it but his Grace retired to his dear Kinswoman's House the Lady Mostyn Yet says another He was forward in the action in his own person which was to fall away from the King It is replyed He was ever slow to revenge an unjust wrong but earnest to recover a just right which Salust commends in Jugurtha's Wars Non minus est turpe sua relinquere quà m aliena invadere injustum This made him thrust himself in among the Assailants which in my censure of his Carriage did not become him Else what harm was it to save his own stake and his Friends without prejudice to the King's interest whose Part could no longer hold any Garrison in England Non vires alias conversaque numinasentis Cede Deo Aen. 11. From his Fidelity to his Majesty he never went back an inch He suffered in the imputation to the contrary as innocently as the Prophet Jeremy did c. 37.13 who when he had separated himself from the People Irijah laid hold of him and said Thou fallest away to the Chaldaeans So Athanasius was banisht by the good Emperour Constantine being impeacht that he hindered the victualling of Alexandria which might have endanger'd the ruin of the City What did our Archbishop in this otherwise than his Excellency the noble Marquess of Ormond whom Sanderson justly praiseth That he thought it more honourable to surrender to the Parliament Forces what the King held in Ireland than to suffer the interest of the English Protestants to fall under the power of the Irish Papists Actions are not rigidly to be perpended into which one is thrust by necessity A mild man Nazianzen pleaded pardon for them who being shew'd the wrack set their hands to Athanasius's banishment 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Orat. de laud. Athanasii Their Mind was true their Pen was forced Integrity must be more precious to a Man than his Life but in some things to be reduced to obey Rebels is no departure from Integrity He was a Lord Chancellour of France whose Decipher agrees exactly with this great Prelate sometimes Lord Keeper of the Great Seal Guido Rupifalcaudius citra ignaviam circumspectus generosè cautus tempori ita cedens ut consertis manibus integritatem fervaret Budaeus de As fol. 36. 205. The Historian Sanderson's Ink drops another Blot upon the Archbishop's Honour That he dissuaded the Country from Contribution to the King I must exclaim as Demosthenes did when Aeschines run into a great Absurdity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 why do you not take Hellebore or Bears-foot as we call it in English to purge Melancholy So quite is every thing mistaken For the Welch in those Parts had now laid down their Arms the Enemy being six to one that was broke in upon them Omnes quorum in alterius manu vita posita est saepiùs cogitant quid potest is cujus in ditione potestate sunt quà m quid ipsi debent facere Cic. pro Quinctio It was no time for the Subdued to shew their Teeth when they could not bite Besides they paid no Contribution before but for their own defence neither carried Moneys out of their own Country The scarcity of Coin is well known in that remote corner of the Kingdom they have Meat and Drink good store for their Bellies and home-spun Frieze for their backs as the Modern Greeks have a Proverb in barbarous words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God provides thick Mantles for clothing where there are hard Frosts But the Silver of the Welch which they talk of is in the Mines of the Mountains not in their Purses or you may say their Sacks are full of Corn but they are not so lucky as Joseph's Brethren were to have money likewise in their Sacks mouths Gen. 42.27 Yet suppose they had been able now to make a bountiful Levy would Milton have suffered them to send it to the King Or might it be they could have done it by stealth their Friends at Oxford were block't up and could not come by it Collect then what unlikelyhood nay what impossibility there was to dissuade those Counties from Contribution to the King 'T is far better yet on the Archbishops side he might go bare-faced through the World and not be asham'd but rather admired for the good Service he did to his depressed Country-men in their greatest necessity Livy says of the Corinthians when they look't for hard bondage from the Romans and quite above their expectation a Praeco standing by the Commander of the Legions proclaimed Liberty to them and to all the vanquish't Graecians Mirabundi velut somni speciem arbitrabantur So after the Archbishop had turn'd Milton up and down with fine Discourses and wrought him like Wax the People thought they were in a Dream when their League was made upon these Conditions That none of those Counties should compound for Delinquency nor be burthen'd with Free-quarter nor have the Covenant offer'd to them nor be charged with Taxes but only in Victual for Men and Horse in the Garrisons As Valerius says Lib. 7. of Anaximenes saving Lampsacum by turning Alexander's vow to destroy it to be the obligation to save it Salus urbis vasramenti beneficio constitit So these Cambro-Britains were conserved by the cunning and dexterity of a Master-wit and let Col. Milton come in for his share of easiness and lenity Oxford had tolerable Articles of Immunity upon the Surrender Exeter had better than it but North-Wales had the best of all and was never much opprest after but by Vavasor Powel he and his fellow Praedicants ransack't all that the poor Church had 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Soph. Antig. Those New-light-men that thought they were near to be Prophets were very rapacious and covetous Let the Archbishop's carriage super totam materiam now be brought to the Touch-stone except some unadvisedness to venture personally upon the Castle and it was no worse had been I see nothing could make any noise which made the entrance to a wrong but a great suspicion Dr. Harmer hath flourish't it