given one Subsidie confirmed by Parliament and finding that they had not done sufficiently for the Queens occasions did after adde a Benevolence or Aide of two shillings in the pound to be levied upon all the Clergie and to be levied by such Synodicall Acts and Constitutions as they digested for that purpose without having any recourse to the Parliament for it which Synodical Acts and Constitutions the Clergie of this present Convocation followed word for word not doubting but they had as good authority to doe it now as the Convocation in Q. Elizabeths time hâ—…d to doe it then and so undoubtedly they had whatsoever either our Author here or any other Enemy of the Churches power can alledge against it Our Author hath now done with the Convocation and leads us on uâ—…to the Warre levied by the Scots who had no sooner made an entrance but the King was first assaulted by a Petition from some Lords of England bearing this inscription To the Kings most excellent Majestie The humble Petition of your Majesties most loyall and most obedient Subjects whose names are under-written in behalf of themselfs divers others Concerning this we are to know that a little before the Scots fell into England they published a Pamphlet called the Intentions of the Army in which it was declared That they resolved not to lay down Armes till the Reformed Religion were setled in both Kingdomes upon surer grounds the Causers and Abettors of their present Troubles brought to publick Justice and that Justice to be done in Parliament and for the Causers of their Troubles they reckoned them in generall to be the Papists Prelates and their Adherents but more particularly the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Lieutenant of Ireland In Correspondence hereunto comes this Petition subscribed by six Earles one Viscount and four Barons being no other than a superstructure upon that foundation a Descant only on that Plain Song And presently on the back of that another is posted to the same effect from the City of London So that the clouds which gathered behinde Him in the South were more amazement to the King than this Northern Tempest The Petition of the Londoners that we may see how well the businesse was contrived was this that followeth To the Kings most excellent Majestie The humble Petition of your Majesties loyall Subjects the Citizens of London Most gracious Soveraign BEing moved by the duty and obedience which by Religion and Lawes your Petitioners owe unto your sacred Majestie they humbly present unto your Princely and pious consideration the severall and pressing grievances following viz I. The great and unusuall impositions upon Merchandize imported and exported II. The urging and levying of Ship-money notwithstanding which both Merchants their goods and ships have been taken and destroyed by Turks and Pyrates III. The multitude of Monopolies Patents and Warrants whereby trade in the City and other parts of this Kingdome is much decayed IV. The sundry Innovations in matters of Religion the Oath and Canons newly imposed by the late Convocation whereby your Petitioners are in danger to be deprived of their Ministerie V. The concourse of Papists and their habitation in London and the Suburbs whereby they have more means and opportunities of plotting and executing their designes against the Religion established VI. The sudden calling and sudden dissolution of Parliaments without addressing of your Subjects grievances VII The imprisonment of divers Citizens for not payment of Ship-money and other impositions and the prosecution of others in the Starre Chamber for non conformity to commands in Patents and Monopolies whereby trade is restrained VIII The great danger your sacred Person is exposed unto in the present Warre and the various fears that have seized upon your Petitioners and their Families by reason thereof Which grievances and feares have occasioned so great a stop and destruction in trade that your Petitioners can neither sell receive nor pay as formerly and tends unto the utter ruine of the Inhabitants of this City the decay of Navigation and Cloathing and other Manufactures of this Kingdome Your Petitioners humbly conceiving the said grievances to be contrary to the Laws of this Kingdome and finding by experience that they are not redressed by the ordinary Courts of Justice doe therefore most humbly beseech your Royall Majestie to cause a Parliament to be summoned with all convenient speed whereby they may be relieved in the Premisses And your Majesties c. The like Petitions there came also from other parts according as the people could be wrought upon to promote the business which makes it the lesse maâ—…vell that Petitions shouâ—…d come thronging in from all parts of the Kingdome as soon as the Parliament was begun craving redresse of the late generall exorbitancies both in Church and State as Fol. 129. we are told by our Author And to deny the Scoâ—…s any thing considering their armed posture was interprered the way to give them all In the Intentions of the Army before mentioned the Scots declared that they would take up nothing of the Countrey people without ready money and when that fâ—…iled they would give Bills of Debt for the pâ—…yment of it But finding such good correspondence and such weak resistance after their enâ—…ry into England they did not onely spoil and plunder wheresoever they came but would not hearken to a Cessation of Armes during the time of the Treaty then in agitation unlesse their Army were maintained at the charge of the English And this was readily yeilded to for fear it seems lâ—…t by denying the Scots any thing we should give them all I know indâ—…ed that it is neither safe nor prudent to deny any reasonable request to an armed power arma tâ—…nti omnia dat qui justa negat as the Poet hath it and thus the story of David and Nabal will inform us truly But then it must be such a power which is able to extort by force thaâ—… those which they cannot otherwise procure by favour which whether the Scots were Masters of I do more thâ—…n question Exceedingly cryed up they were both in Court and City as men of most unmatchable valour and so undoubtedly they were till they found resistance their Officers and Commanders magnified both for wiâ—… and courage the Common Soldiers looked on as the Sons of Enoch â—…he English being thought as Grasse-hoppers in comparison of them which notwithstanding the Earl of Strafford then General of the English Army would have given them battaile if the King had been willing to engage and signified by Letters to the Archbishop of Canterbâ—…y that he durst undertake upon the pâ—…rill of his head to send them back faster thâ—…n they came but that he did not hold it concellable as the case then stood It is an old saying a true that the Lion is not so fierce as he is painted nor were the Scots such terrible fellowes as they were reported For when they met with any who knew how to 〈◊〉 with
should having got more by the bargaine then their charges came to Mary of Scotland then married to Frances the second of France had taken on her at that time the stile and title of Queen of England and the better to pursue that Title had put some companies of the French into the Castle of Edenborough the town of Lieth and other places of that Kingdome The Scots being then busied in the Reformation of the Kirk looked on these French as purposely sent thither by the King and Queen to crosse their actions and hold them under the Dominion of the Popes of Rome and thereupon made suit unto Queen Elizabeth to supply them with Men Money and Ammunition for driving the Frenchmen out of their Countrey And hereunto the Queen most readily assented knowing full well how much it did import the safety of her Person and the preservation of her Title Estate that the French should not be setled in the Forts and Castles which lay neer the borders of this Kingdome So that by succouring the Scots in such proportion as they had desired she played her owne game as well as theirs For by dislodging the French and quitting the whole Countrey of them she kept that back-door shut against all pretenders and by feeding the most Popular of the Scotish Nobility â—…ith gifts and pensions she got her selfe so strong a party in that Kingdome that she became more absolute there than ever any King of Scotland had been before her The Bishops were excluded by antient Canon Lawes of the Councell of Toledo to be assistant in cause of Blood or Death as disagreeable to their Function That the Bishops were disabled by some antiâ—…nt Canons from sentencing any man to death and it may be from being present when any such sentence was pronounced I shall easily grant but that they were disabled from being assistants in such cases from taking the Examinations or hearing the Depositions of witnesses or giving councell in such mâ—…ters as they saw occasion I believe our Author cannot proveâ—…â—…ertaine I am that it is and hath been otherwise in point of practice And that the Bishops sitting as Peers in an English Parliament were never excluded before this time from any such assistances as by their Gravity and Learning and other abilities they were enabled to give in any darke and difficult businesse though of Blood and Death which were brought before him And I remember I saw about that time a little Mâ—…nuscript Tract entituled De jure Paritatis Episcoporum that is to say of the right of the Peerage of the Bishops in which their priviledges were asserted â—…s to that particular But they not willing to contend in a business which seemed so little to concerne them or else not able to strive against the present stream which seemed to carry all before it suffered themselves to be excluded at that time without protesting to the contrary or interposing in defence of their antient rights And this I look on as the first degree of their Humiliation For when it was perceived that a businesse of so great consequence might be done in Pâ—…rliament without their councell and consent it opened a wide gap unto their adversaries first to deprive them of their Votes and after to destroy even the Calling it selfe But this was not the main point which the Commons aimed at they were resolved to have a close Committes to take examinations in the business of the Earl of Strafford and were not willing that any Bâ—…shops should be of it for feare leâ—…t favouring the Earles Cause or Person they might discover any part of those secret practices which were had against him and thereby fortifie and prepare him for his just defence when the Cause should come unto a tryall And now it is coming on apace for our Author telleth us that Munday the 22. of March was the day prefixed of the Earles compearing That is to â—…ay of his appearing aâ—… Westminster-Hall where the Lords were to sit as Judges and the Commons as Prosecutors and Solicitors onely If it be asked how it came to passe that the day was prefixed no sooner considering that he was accused and committed on the 11. day of November which was above four months before I answer first that the Examination of so many Witnesses as were used against him many of which were sent for out of Ireland by especiall warrant took up no small time I answer secondly that in this intervall of time there had been some endeavour used by the Royall party to mitigate the displeasures and take off the edge of his greatest Adversaries and it came so farre towards an agreement that there was a designation of some Offices of the greatest both Trust and Power to be given amongst them it being condescended too if my intelligence or memory faile not that the Earl of Bedford should be made Lord Treasurer and Master Pym Chancellor of the Exchequer the Earl of Essex Governour of the Prince and that Master Hambden should be his Tutor the Lord Say Master of the Wards and Master Hollice principall Secretary in the place of Windebanke the Deputiship of Ireland was disposed of also and some Command appointed to the Earl of Warwick in the Royal Navie And in relation to this purpose the Bishop of London delivered to the King the Treasurers Staffe the Earle of Newcastle relinquished the Governance of the Prince and the Lord Cottington resigned his Offices both in the Exchequer and Court of Wards there being no doubt but that Bishop Duppa would relinquish the Tutourship of the Prince when it should be required of him but before all things were fully setled and agreed on the Kings minde was altered which so exasperated them who were concerned in this desâ—…gnation that they pursued the Earle of Strafford with the greater eagernesse And somewhat to this purpose was hinted in the Kings Declaration of the 12 of August in which he signified what overtures had been made by them and with what importunity for Offices and preferments what great sâ—…rvices should have been done for him and what other undertakings even to have saved the life of the Earle of Strafford By which discovery as he blemished the repute of some principall Members in the eyes of many of the people so he exposed himself to some disadvantages in the eyes of others by giving them to understand at how cheap a rate a rate which would have cost him nothing he might have saved the life of such an able and deserving Minister Secretary Vane upon some occasion delivered to his son Sir Henry Vane the key of a Cabinet to fetch some papers layed therein c. What this occasion was is easie to be seen by the sequell of it especially if compared with those Animosities and displeasures which the Secretary had harboured against the Earl Sir Henry Vane had obtained of the King not long before the Manour of Rabie in the Bishoprick of Durham not without hope of being
did most depend for this businesse was the Bishop of Lincolne of worse affections than the other in regard that when the Bishop was under the Star-chamber suit the Lieutenant then Lord Deputie of Ireland put off his going thither for a Term or two of purpose as it was conceived to have a fling at him before he went This struck so deep in the Bishops stomack that he would not think â—…imself in safety where the Earle had any thing to doe and so was like to help him forwards to the other world Nor speak I this but on some good ground For when the Bishop being then Prisoner in the Tower had made means by the Queen to be admitted to a reconciliation with His Majesty offering both his Bishoprick and Deanery of Westminster in confidence that the King would so provide for him that he should not go much lesse than he was the King upou the Queens desire sent the Earle of Dorsâ—…t from whose mouth I have it to accept the Bâ—…shops offer on the one side and on the other side to promise him in his Majesties name the next good Bishoprick that should fall in Ireland which Proposition being made the Bishop absolutely refused to hearken to it telling the E. of Dorset that he had made a shift by the power and mediation of his friends to hold out against his enemies here for 7 yeares together but if they should send him into Ireland he should there fall into the hands of a man who once in seven months would finde out some old Statute or other to cut off his head Think you the King was not likely to be well informed in His conscience when men so interessed were designed unto the managing and preparing of it and so it proved in the event For our Author telleth us that on the morrow after being Munday May the 10th in the morning His Majesty signed a Commission to the Earle of Arundel c. for the passing of the two Bills one for Continuation of the Parliament during the pleasure of the two Houses the other for the Attainder against the Earle of Strafford And these two Bills he signed as I have been told with one pen full of Inke by one of which he waâ—… sufficiently punished for his consenting to the other By his consenting to the Bill of Attainder he did not onely cut off his right hand with his left as was affiâ—…med of Valentinian the Emperour when he caused Aetius to be slain but found such a remorse of conscience still attending on him that it never left him till his death Aâ—…d by consenting to the other He put such an irrevocable power into the hands of his enemies as was mâ—…de use of afterwards not onely to His own destruction but to the disherison of His Children and the undoing of all those who adhered unto Him who drew Him to the first we are told by our Author and who perswaded Him to the last may be now enquâ—…red Some charge it on the Queen who being terrified with the Tumults perswade the King to yield unto it as the onely expedient for appeasing the people some attribute it to the Lord Say then Master of the Wards and one of His Majesties privie Councell who as it is reported when the King asked him if a Continuance for seven years might not serve the turn made answer That he hoped they should dispatch all businesses in so many moneths and that if His Majestie passed the Bill it should be so farre from making the Parliament perpetuall that he was canfident they would desire to be dissolved before three years end Most lay the blame of it as of all things else on the Marquesse of Hamilton who by cutting out so much work for the King in England was sure to carry on his designes in Scotland without interruption and I have heard from credible persons that he did bragge much of this service when he was in that Kingdome 〈◊〉 frequently that he had got a perpetuall Parliament for the English and would procure the like for the Scots too before he had done so hard a thing it is to say by what private perswasions and secret practises He was drawn to that which proved so prejudiciall to Him that it made Hâ—…m presently grow lesse in the eyes of His people insomuch that a Night before the passing of this Act a Paper was set up near the Gates of Whitehall importing that on the Morrow next there was to be Acted in the House of Peers a famous Tragie-Comedie called A King and no King But as for the publick outward motives which were used to induce Him to and of the great power He had parted with by this Condescension you may hear Himself thus speaking in His Declaration of the 12th of August Upon information saith He that credit could not be obtained for so much money as was requifite for the relief of our Army and people in the Northern parts for preventing the eminent danger the Kingdome was in and for supply of Our present and urgent occasions for fear the Parliament might be dissolved before justice should be done upon Delinquents publick grievances be redressed a firm peace between the two Nations of England and Scotland concluded and before provision should be made for the repayment of such moneys as should be so raised though We know what power We parted from and trusted Our Houses with by so doing and what might be the consequence of such a trust if unfaithfully managed We neglected all such suspitions which all men now see deserved not to be slighted and We willingly and immediately passed that Act for the Continuance of this Parliament being resolved it should not be Our fault if all those particulars were not speedily provided for which seemed then to be the grounds of their desire May the 11. he wrote to the Lords this Letter the bearer whereof was no meaner person then the Prince of Wales In tâ—…Letter which our Author passeth â—…o sleightly over there are many things which gave great occasion of discourse to discerning men 1. That the King having sped so ill by his last addresse unto the Parliament on the first of May should put himselfe upon the hazard of another repulse 2. That he should send this Letter of which he could not rationally expect a contenting answer by the hands of the Prince as if he would accustome him from his very childhood to the Refusalls of his Subjects 3. That he should descend so much beneath himselfe as to be a Supplicant to his People and yet be in such a diffiâ—…ence with them as not to move his owne desires but by the mediation of his Peers 4. That he should put himselfe to such a hopelesse trouble as to write to them for the altering or anulling of a sentence passed but the day before which they had gained with so much danger and so many artifices or to desire the Respit of two or three dayes for the condemned Gentleman
but all disguised like the Soldiers of the Duke of Britain in an English habit his book contained so vast a medly as if it had been framed at Babell before the scattered company were united into Tongues and Languages The History of a King of England intended for the use and b◅nefit of the English Nation ought to be given us in such words as either are originally of an English stock or by continuall usage and long tract of time are become naturall and familiar to an English ◅are and not in such new minted termes and those too of a forreign and outlandish Race as are not to be understood without help of Dictionaries It is true indeed that when there is necessity of using either termes of Law or Logicall notions or any other words of Art whatsoever they be an Author is to keep himselfe to such termes and words as are transmitted to us by the Learned in their severall Faculties But to affect new Notions and indeed new Nothings when there is no necessity to incite us to it hath something in it which deserveth ◅ more strict enquirie It is observed of th◅ Romanists by Docter Fulke and other◅ of our Divines that when they could n◅ longer keep their followers from having the Scriptures laid before them in the English tongue they so indeavoured to dim the light thereof by a dark Translation that seeing they might see but not understand and to that end did thrust into it many obscure words both Greek and Latin which neither by long use were known nor by continuall custome made familiar to an English Reader Of which sort you may take these few as a taste of th◅ rest That is to say Acquisi◅ion Advent Adulterate Agnition Archisynagogue A◅imos Comm◅ssations Condign Contristate Depositum Didrachme Dominicall day Donaries Evacnated from Christ Euro Aquilo Epinanited Holocaust Hosts Neophite Paraclete Parasceve Pasch Praefinition Presence Prevaricator Proposition Loaves Repropitiate Resuscitate Sabbatis◅ Super-edified Sancta-Sanctorū Victims words utterly unknown to any English Reader unlesse well grounded and instructed in the Learned Languages and consequently their whole Translation uselesse to most sorts of men I cannot say that the Author of the History which we have in hand was under any such neces◅ity of writing as the R◅mists were or that it did affect obscurity on any such design as the Rhemists did but I may very warrantably and justly say that in the Coining of new words not to be understood by a common Reader he hath not onely out-vied the Rhemists but infi◅tely exceeded all that have gone before him A vein of writing which two the great Masters of the Greek and Roman Eloquence had no knowledge of who used such words in their addresses to the people as were illius temporis auribus accommodata as it is in Tacitus accommodate and fitted to the times they lived in and easily intelligible unto all that heard them Loquendum est cum vulgo was the antient rule And certainly to speak so as to be understood by the meanest hearer to write so as to be comprehended by the vulgar Reader is such a principle of Prudence as well becometh the practice of the greatest Clerks But it is with this our Author as with many others who think they can never speak elegantly nor write significantly except they do◅ it in a language of their owne devising as if they were ashamed o◅ their Mother-tongue or thought it no◅ sufficiently curious to expresse their fancies By meanes whereof more Frenc◅ and Latin words have gained ground up on us since the middle of the Reign o◅ Queen Elizabeth then were admitted by our Ancestors whether we look upon them as the British or Saxon race not onely since the Norman but the Roman Conquest a folly handsomely derided in an old blunt Epigram where the spruce Gallant thus bespeakes his Page or Laquay Diminutive and my defective slave Reach my Corps coverture immediatly 'T is my complacency that rest to have 'T insconse my person from Frigiditie The boy beliv'd all Welch his Master speke Till railed English Rogue go fetch my Cloak I had not given my selfe the trouble of this Observation but to meet the humour of some men who if pretenders to French or Latin tongues pretend to an authority also of creating words and giving us new formes of speaking which neither King nor Keiser hath the power to doe Moneyes and Coines are forthwith currant and universally admitted as soon as they receive the stamp of Supream Authority But it is not in the power of Kings or Parliaments to ordaine new words without the liking and consent of the common people Forrein Commodities not Customed are not safely sold and Forreine words till licensed and approved by custome are not fitly used And therefore it was well said by an able Grammarian to a great Emperor of Rome Homines donare civitate potes verba item non potes that is to say that he might naturalize whole Nations by giving them the priviledges of a Roman Citizen but that it was not in his power to doe so with words and make them Free as one might say of the Latin tongue In this case Custome and Consent and the generall usage are the greatest Princes and he that doth proceed without their authority hath no authority at all to proceed upon It being no othsrwise with new Words then with new Fashions in Apparell which are at first ridiculous or at least unsightly till by continuall wearing they become more ordinary And so it is resolved by Horace in his Book De Arte Poetica Multa renascenter quae nnnc cecidere cadentque Quae nunc sunt in honore vocabula si volet usus Quem penes arbitrium est vis norma loquendi In English thus Many old words shall be resum'd and some Now in great honour shall as vile become If use so please to which alone belongs The power to regulat◅ and di◅ect our tongues But lest our Author should affirm with Cremulius Cordus in the story Adeo factorum innocens sum ut verba m◅a arguantur that we are faine to cav◅l with him for his words for want of greater matter to except against I shall forbear the prosecution of this Argument till the close of all and passe to such materiall points as shall come before me To whom the Prince returned answer that he would impower the Earl of Bristol to give his Master all satisfaction in that particular that is to say for so you must be understood in the words foregoing that he would make a Pr◅xie to the Earl of Bristol to celebrate in his name the Marriage with the Lady Infanta But there was no such Proxie made to the Earle of Bristol that being a power and trust thought worthy of the Catholick King and Don Charles his Brother as appeareth plainly by the publick Instrument made to that effect bearing date August the 8 Anno 1623. which being sealed by the Prince in due
publick Treaties and Negotiations and many private Conferences and debates of Councell he was out-witted and made use of unto other mens ends by almost all that undertook him And onâ—… might say I fearâ—… too truly that by putting off the Majesty belonging to a King of England that so he might more liberally enjoy himselfe neglecting the affaires of State and cares of Government to hunt after pleasures deserting the imperiall City to sport himselfe at Roiston Newmarket and such obscure places which were to him as the Isle of Capre was to Tiberius Caesar and finally by letting loose the Golden reines of Discipline held by his Predecessors with so strict a hand he opened the first gap unto those confusions of which we have since found the miserable and wofull consequences But I know not what temptation hath drawn this note from me I goe on againe A stout adversary he was to the Arminians and Semi-Pelagians whom he called as Prosper before him did the Enemies of Gods grace In this short sentence there are many things to be considered 1. What these Arminians were which our Author speakes of 2. Whether they were the Enemies of Gods grace or not and 3. what the reason was why King James shewed himselfe so great an adversary to them as you say he did And first for the Arminians as you call them they were a branch of the Sect of Calvin to whose Discipline in all particulars they conformed themselves and to his Doctrines in the most differing only in the matter of Predestination the points subordinate but managing thoâ—… differences with a better temper then their Opposites did Nor were these differences onely controverted in the School of Calvin but had been many times disputed with great heat and passion betwixt the Franciscans and Dominicans in the Church of Rome The rigid and moderate Lutherans in the Churches Protestant The rigid Lutherans who looke on Flacius Illyricus a man of a turbulent and fiery nature as their Head and Captaine and with them the Dominieans or black Friers goe the same way as Calvin and his followers doâ—… and these proceed upon the authority of Saint Augustine whose zeale against the Pâ—…lagian Heresies transported him into such inconvenient expressions as the wisâ—…st men may fall into on the like occasions The moderate Lutherans of which Melancthon a sober and right learned man and therefore not unfitly called the Phoenix of Germany was the principal leader and with them the Franciscan Friers and of late the Jesuits goe the same way which the Arminians since have followed grounding themselves upon the constant current of the antient Fathers who lived and flourished ante mala certamina Pelagiana before the authority of Saint Augustine in canvassing and confuting the Pelagian Heresies carried all before it For Doctor James Hermin the University Reader in the University of Leidon preferring the Doctrine of Melancthon in these points before that of Calvin not onely maintained it in the Schooles but preached it also in the Pâ—…lpit as occasion was not that he was the first of the School of Calvin that professed this way but that he was of better parts and of greater Learning then any who before had undertook it And being he was a man of such parts and Learning and that his doctrine was conceived to be more Rationall in it selfe farre more agreeable unto the Justice and Mercy of Almighty God and more conducing unto Piety then that of the Rigid Calvinist was esteemed to be it quickly found great multitudes of followers in the Bâ—…lgique Churches and these not onely of the Vuâ—…gar but the Learned sort of which last ranke I may reckon Episcopius Corvinus Bertius Tilenus John Gâ—…rard Vossius for his abilities in Learning made a Prebend of Canterbury and that great magazine both of Divine and Humane literature Hugo Grotius These are the men who commonly are nick-named Arminians and these the rigid Calvinists have indeavoured to oppose to the publick hatred by fastning on them many horrid Blasphemies and grosse absurdities which cannot properly and of right be charged upon them For in the continuation of the History of the Netherlands writ by one â—…rosse as I remember a fellow of no Parts or Judgment and so more apt to be abused with a false report It is affirmed that there was a Synod called at Dâ—…rt to suppresse the Arminians and that the said Arminians held amongst other Heresies first that God was the Author of Sinne and secondly that he Created the far greatest part of mankinde onely of purpose for to damn them with severall others of that kinde which every man of Reading knowes not onely to be the Consequence and Results of Calvin's Doctrine but to be positively mainteined and taught by some of his followers By these and such like subâ—…ill and malitious practises they indeavoured to expose their adversaries to the publick hatred and make them odious with the people till at the last those poore men might have said most justly as once the Primitive Christians did under the burden of the like Calumnies and Imputations Condemnati sumus quia nominamur non quia convincimur as Tertullian hath it the name of an Arminian carried a Condemnation in it selfe without any conviction 2. But if they were the Enemies of the Grace of God and that King James so conceived of them they did undoubtedly deserve all this and more but certainly whatsoever King James might please to call them I am sure he had little reason for it those whom you call Arminians speaking as Honourably and Religiously of the grace of God as the most Orthodox writers in the Primitive times It is true indâ—…d that the Pelagians did ascribe so much to the powers of Nature in the Conversion of a Sinner and the whole worke of Regeneration ut gratiam Dei necessariam non putarent that they thought the Grace of God 〈◊〉 be together unnecessary as Lyrinensis tells us of them If the Arminians as you call them were of this opinion they were the Enemies of Gods Grace there is no doubt of that But looke into the five Articles which they exhibited in their Remonstrance to the States of Holland and after to the Assembly at Dort and you will finde the contrary it being there affirmed expresly in these following words Gratiam Dei Staiuimus esse principium progressum complementum omnis boni â—…deo ut ne ipse quidem regenitus absque praecedente sive praeveniente ista excitante prosequente cooperante gratiâ bonum cogitare velle aut peragere possit uâ—…isve ad malum tentationibus resistere It a ut bona opera actionesque quas quis cogitando potest adsequi gratiae Dei in Christo adscribenda sint We teach say they that the Grace of God is the beginning and promotion and accomplishment of every thing that is good in us insomuch that the Regenerate man can neither thinke will nor doe any thing that is good without this grace
there inhumed c. Our Author tells us in the end of his Preface what an espâ—…ciall care he hath of his Temporalities as his owne word is in assigning unto every action it s own proper time and yet he fails us here in the first beginning For neither was the body of that King interr'd on the 4th of May nor the Letters of procuration kept undelivered till the 8th as he after teâ—…ls us nor the Marriage celebrated after the Funerall of the King as is there declared though possibly in the intention of King Charles for the reasons there delivered it had been so resolved on at the first designation of those Royall pomps For upon Sunday May the 1st the Marriage was celebrated at the Church Nastre Dame in Paris on Tuesday May the 3d the news thereof came unto the Court and was welcomed the same night with Bells and Bone-fires in all parts of London on Saturday May the 7th was King James interred and on Sunday morning May the 8th there came an Order from the Lords of the Council to the Preachers appointed for St. Pauls Crosse as I have heard him say more than once or twice requiring him that in his Prayer before the Sermon he should not pray for the Queen by the name of Henrietta Maria but by the name of Queen Mary ouely And yet it is true too which he after telleth us that is to say That the Marriage was celebrated in Paris on the 11th of May. But then he is to understand that this was on the 11th of May in the French Accompt which following the Gregorian Calender anticipates ten daies in every Month that being the 11th day of the Moneth to them in the new Style or stylo novo as they phrase it which is the first day of the Moneth in the old Style and Accompt of England He sent Letters of Prolucution to the Duke of Chevereux If it be asked why the King when he was onely Prince of Wales should look no lower for a Proxy than the King of Spaine and being now the mighty Monarch of Great Britaine should pitch upon so mean a Prince as the Duke of Chevereux it may be answered that the Duke of Chevereux was a Prince of the house of Guise from which his Majesty was extracted Mary of Loraine Daughter to Claud of Loraine the first Duke of Guise being Wife to James the fift of Scotland Grandmother unto James the sixt and consequently great Grandmother to King Charles himself From Canterbury his Majesty took Coach for Whitehall where the third after his arrivall c. If our Author meaneth by this that his Majesty went in Coach but some part of the way onely he should then have said so but if he mean that he went so all the way to Whitehall he is very much out their Majesties passing in Coach no further than Gravesend and from thence in theâ—…r Royall Barge by water unto his Palace at Whitehall accompanied or met by all the Barges Boats and Wherries which could be found upon the Thames the Author of these Observations beholding from Tower-wharfe that magnificent passage For as man is without a female Consort so is a King without his supreme Councell a halfe formed sterill thing Our Author in these words and the rest that follow maintains a Paradox most dangerous to supreme Authority in making Parliaments so necessary to all Acts of State as if that Kings or they that have the Supreme power could doe nothing lawfully but what they doe with their assistance and by their consent which were it so a Parliament must be Co-ordinate to Kings or such as have the power of Kings not subordinate to them Nor need the Members write themselves by the name of His Majesties most loyall and most humble Subjâ—…cts but by the name of Partners and Associates in the Royall power which doctrine of what ill consequence it may be in Monarchical Government I leave Counsellors of State to consider of His speech being ended the King vailed his Crown a thing rare in any of his Predecessouâ—…s Our Chroniclers tell us of King James that at his first coming to the Crown of England he used to go often to the Tower to see the Lyon the reputed King of Beasts baited sometimes by Dogs and sometimes by Horses which I could never reade without some râ—…gret the baiting of the King of Beasts seeming to me an ill presage of those many baitings which he a King of Men sound afterwards at the haâ—…s of his Subjects And Mr. Prin tells us of K. Charles that on the day of his Coronation he was cloathed in white contrary to the custome of his Predecessours who were on that day clad in purple White is we know the colour of the saints who are represented to us in White robes by S. John in the Revelation And Purple is we know the Imperiall and Regall colour so proper hereto sore unto Kings and Emperours that many of the Constantinoplitan Emperours were called Porphirogeniti because at their first comming into the world they were wrapt in purple And this I look upon as an ill presage that the King laying aside his Purple the Robe of Majesty should cloathe himselfe in White the Robe of Innocence as if thereby it were fore-signified that he should devest himselfe of that Regall Majesty which might and would have kept him safe from affront and scorn to relie wholly on the innocence of a vertuous life which did expose him finally to calamitous ruine But as all ill presages none like that which our Authour speaks of I mean the veiling of his Crown to this his first Parliament which I consider of the Introduction to those many veilings of the Crown in all the Parliaments that followed For first he vailed his Crown to this in leaving Mountague in their hands and his Bond uncancelled as you tell us after Fol. 12. notwithstanding that he was his sworn Chaplain and domestick Servant and that too in a businesse of such a nature as former Parliaments used not to take cognizince of he vailed his Crown unto the next when he permitted them as you tell us Fol. 25. to search his Signet Office and to examine the Letters of his Secretaries of State leaving him nothing free from their discovery a thing not formerly practised he vailed his Crown unto the third first in the way of preparation to it releasing all the Gentlemen whom he had imprisoned for their refusall of the Loane many of which being elected Members of the following Parliament brought with them both a power and will to avenge themselves by the restraint of His Prerogative within narrower bounds next in the prosecution of it when hearing that the Parliament had granted him some Subsidies not a man dissenting he could not restraine himselfe from weeping which tendernesse of his was made good use of to his no small dammage adding withall and bidding his Secretarie tell them as our Authour tells us Fol.
ejus nemo sensit nisi aut levatione periculi aut accessione dignitatis that no body ever found her power but either in lessening his deserved punishments or adding some respects to him for his well-deservings Nor seemed the question in the sense of many which was the Traytour but which was the most That is to say whether the Duke of Buckingham or the Earle of Bristol were the greater Traytour though it appeareth not for any thing which our Authour tells us that any treason was proved against either of them For had the Duke proved his Charge of Treason against the Earle he had both power and opportunity enough to have wrought his ruine or had the Earle proved the like Charge against the Duke the Commons needed not have troubled themselves with a new Impeachment containing nothing but Encroachments on the Royall favour and some miscarriages which at another time and in another man would have been connived at Our Author gives us a sull Copie of the Earles Charge against the Duke but of the Dukes Charge against the Earle whether out of Partiality or want of Information he affords us nothing I shall therefore adde so much in the way of supplement as to subjoyn three or four of the principall Articles of the Charge against him leaving them here as they were left in the House of Peers without any further prosecution than the Narrative onely It was then charged upon the Earle 1. That having certified King James by several Letters out of Spain that the Treaty of the Match was in a very good forwardnesse the Prince at his arrivall there found it nothing so there being little done in relation to it 2. That in the time of his negotiation by Letters unto his late Majesty and otherwise he counselled and perswaded the said Kings Majesty to set at liberty the Jesuits and Priests of the Romish Religion and to grant and allow unto the Papists and Professours of the same a free toleration and silencing the Laws made and studing in force against them 3. That at the Princes coming into Spain the said Earle of Bristol cunningly falsly and traiterously moved and perswaded the Prince being then in the power of a forreign King of the Romish Religion to change his Religion and used many dangerous and subtile insinuations to that effect 4. That in pursuance of the said trayterous designe he used these words unto the Prince That the State of England did never any great thing but when they were under the obedience of the Pope of Rome and that it was impossible they should doe anything of note otherwise 5. That a Proposition being made by the King of Spaine touching the Palatinate which was That the eldest Son of the Prince Palatine should marry with the Emperours Daughter but must be bred up in the Emperours Court the said Earle delivered his opinion That he thought it unreasonable And when the danger was presented in regard of the alteration of the young Princes Religion which must needs follow thereupon the said Earle answered That without some great action the peace of Christendome would never be had Comparing these with those that were charged upon the Duke it will appeare that they both concurred in one designe which was to â—…ender each oâ—…her suspected in matter of Loyalty Religion though by so doing they made good sport to all their Enemies and the world to boot Many good men as our Authour calls them being passing jocund at the contest But it was resolved by the Judges that by their Restraint i. e. the Restraint of Sir Dudley Diggs and Sir John Eliot no reason being given to the House for it the whole House was Arrested The Judges were wise men and would not strive against the stream as the saying is for otherwise I can see no reason of their resolute precedents to the contrary there are many in the times foregoing of which I shall instance in two onely and those two in a Parliament held in the 35 year of the so much celebrated Reigne of Queen Elizabeth The first is this Mr. Peter Wentworth and Sir Henry Bromely delivered a Petition to the Lord Keeper desiring the Lords of the Upper House to be Suppliants with them of the Lower House unto Her Majesty for entailing of the succession of the Crown whereof a Bill was ready drawn by them Her Majesty was highly displeased herewith as contrary to Her former strait command and charged the Councell to call the parties before them Sir Thomas Henage being then Vice-Chamberlaine and one of the Lords of the Privie Councell sent for them and after speech with them commanded them to foâ—…ar the Parliament and not to go out of their severall lodgings After they were called before the Lord Treasurer the Lord Buckhurst and Sir Thomas Henage Mr. Wentworth was committed by them to the Tower Sir Henry Bromely with Master Richard Stevens to whom Sir Henry Bromely had imparted the matter were sent to the Fleet as also Mr. Welch the other Knight for Worcestershire In the same Parliament one Mr. Morrice Attorney of the Dutchy of Lancaster who is to be my second instance moved against the hard courses of the Bâ—…shops Ordinaries and other Ecclesiâ—…sticall Judges in their Courts used towards sundry learned and godly Ministers and Preachers and spake against subseription and oathes and offered a Bill to be read against Imprisonment for refusall of such Oathes which comming to the Queens knowledge and Mr. Coke afterwards Sir Edward Coke then Speaker of the House of Commons being sent for and admonished not to admit of that or any such Bills if they should be offered the said Mr. Morrice as I have been credibly informed was taken out of the House by Sergeant at the Armes but howsoever sure I am that he was committed unto Prison for the said Attempt And when it was moved in the House by one Mr. Wroth that they might be humble Suitors to Her Majesty that she would be pleased to set at liberty those Members of the House that were restrained To this it was answered by all the Privy Counsellours which were then Members of the House that Her Majesty had committed them for causes best known to Her selfe and to presse Her Highnesse with this suit would but hinder them whose good is sought That the House must not call the Queen to accompt for what shâ—… doth of her Royall Authority That the causes for which they were restrained may be high and dangerous That Her Majesty lâ—…h no such questions neither doth it become the House to search into such mattâ—…rs Whereupon the House desisted from interposing any further in their behaâ—…f And thus we see that no fewer than five Members that is to say Wentworth Welch Bromely Stevens and Mâ—…rrice â—…ut off at one time from the House of Commons without any remedy or any Declâ—…ration of the Judges that any such Arrest as is here pretended was layd upon the House by their Imprisonment So
negligence or long stay of the Earle of Holland who being sent out with a new Fleet for carrying Ammunition Armes and Victuals towards the continuance of the Siege and guarding the passages into the Island trifled out so much time at Court and made so many Halts betwixt that and Plymouth that he had not found his way out of that Haven when the Duke came back It s true the issue of this Action was not answerable to the Expectation and yet I cannot be of our Authours minde who telleth us Fol 71. That the Isle of Rhe was so inconsiderable as had we lost there neither blood nor honour and gained it into the bargain it would have ill rewarded our preparation and charge of the Expedition For had the English gained the Island they had not onely preserved the Town of Rochel but by the advantage of that Town and the Isle together might easily have taken in the Isle of Oleran and made themselves Masters of the greatest part of the losse of Aquitaine if the ambition of the King had carried Him unto Fâ—…rraign Conquests And a Commission granted by the King to five Bishops Bishop Laud being of the Quorum to execute Episcopall Jurisdiction within his Province The cause impulsive to it was a supposed irregularity c. In this and the rest which follows and touching the sequestration of the Archbishop of Canterbury our Authour runs himself into many errours For first Bishop Laud was not of the Quorum no more than any of the other the Commission being granted to the Bishops of London Durham Rochester Oxford and Bathe and Wells or to any four three or two of them and no more than so Secondly the irregularity or supposed irregularity of the said Archbishop was not touched upon in this Commission as the impulsive cause unto it the Commission saying onely in the Generall That the said Archbishop could not at that present in his own person attend those services which were otherwise proper for his Cognizance and Jurisdiction and which as Archbishop of Canterbury he might and ought in his own person to have performed and executed c. Thirdly this supposed irregularity was not incurred upon the casuall killing of the Keeper of his the Archbishops game as our Authour telleth us but for the casuall killing of the Lord Zouches Keeper in Bramhill Parke where the Archbishop had no game nor no Keeper neither Fourthly it was conceived by many pious and Learned men that there was something more incurred by that misadventnre than a supposed irregularity onely insomuch that neither Dr. Williams Elect Bishop of Lincolne nor Dr. Carew Elect Bishop of Exeter nor Dr. Laud Elect Bishop of St. Davids besides some others would receive Consâ—…cration from him though it be true that the Learned Bishop Andrews as our Authour tells us did doe the Archbishop very great service in this businesse yet was it not so much for his own sake or an opinion which he had that no irregularity was incurred by that misadventure but to prevent a greater mischief For well he saw that if the Archbishop at that time had been made Irregular Dr. Williams then Bâ—…shop of Lincolne and Lord Keeper of the Great Seale a man in great favour with King James but in more with the Duke would presently have stept into that See and he knew too much of the man to venture that great charge and trust of the Church of England to his carâ—… and government the dangerous consequerces whereof he was able to foretell without the spirit of prophesie The King of Denmarke being reduced almost to a despondence and quitting of his Kingdome Which as it was an occasion of great grief unto his Confederates so â—…o the Emperour himself it grew no matâ—…er of rejoycing For I have heard from â—… person of great Nobility that when the â—…ewes came first unto him he was so farre from shewing any signes of joy that he rather seemed much troubled at it of which being asked the reason by some of the principall men about him He returned this Answer As long said he as this Drowzy Dane was in the Head of the Protestants Army we shâ—…uld have wormed them out of their Estates one after another but he being made unusefull to them by this defeat we shall have them bring the Swedes upon us and there said he is a gallant young Fellow who will put us to the last card we have to play And so it proved in the event for thâ—… next year the King of Great Britain and his Brother of France negotiated with Gustavus Adolphus King of Sweden then being in warre against the Pole to carry his Army into Germany which was done accordingly what his successes were our Authour telleth us hereafter in the course of this story They who lately were confined as Prisoners are now not onely free but petty Lords and Masters yea and petty Kings I cannot chuse but marvell what induced our Authour unto this Expression of making the Gentlemen assembled in the House of Commons not only petty Lords but even petty Kings I have heard that K. James once said in a time of Parliament but whether in the way of jeare or otherwise I am not able to say That there were now five hundred Kings besides himselfe And I know well what great advantage hath been made of those words of His whereof to any man that rightly understands the Constitution of an English Parliament the Commons are so farre from being either Lords or Kings that they are not so much as a part of the Supreme Councell it being easie to be evidenced out of the Writ which commands their attendance that they are called onely to consent and submit to such resolutions and conclusions ad faciendum consentiendum his quae tum ibidem de communi Consilio dicti regni nostri faciente Deo contigerit ordinari So the Writs instruct us as should be then and there agreed on by the Kings great Councell or the great Councell of the Kingdome Think you that men no otherwise impowred than so could take upon them in themselves or be reputed by our Authour as Lords and Kings And yet it may be I may wrong them for our Authour telleth us that Their Estates modestly estimated were able to buy the House of Peers the King excepted though an hundred and eighteen thrice over In this there is one thing that I doubt and two things which I shall take leave to consider of The thing I doubt of is that the Estates of the Gentlemen assembled in the House of Commons howsoever estimated should be able to buy the House of Peers though it had contained thrice as many as it did that is to say three hundred fifty four of the Lay-Nobility Assuredly the Bâ—…ronage of England must needs be brought exceeding low when the Gentlemen by chance assembled in the Lower House and not called out of purpose for such an experiment could buy the House of
Authour may declare them for the Doctrine of the Church of England and traduce all men for Arminians which subscribe not to them Thirdly in the last place we are to see what moved King James to recommend these Articles to the Church of Ireland and afterwards to the Assembly at Dort And herein we must understand that Dr. James Montague at that Kings first entrance on this Crown was made Dean of the Chappell which place he held not onely when he was Bishop of Wells but of Winchester also who being a great stickler in the quarrels at Cambridge and a great master in the art of Insinuation had cunningly fashioned King James unto these opinions to which the Kings education in the Kirk of Scotland had before inclined him So that it was no very hard matter for him having an Archbishop also of his own perswasions to make use of the Kings authority for recommending those nine Articles to the Church of Ireland which he found would not be admitted in the Church of England Besides the Irish Nation at that time were most tenâ—…ciously addicted to the Eâ—…rours and corâ—…uptions of the Church of Rome and therefore must be bended to the other extreme before they could be strait and Orthoâ—…ox in these points of Doctrine which reason might work much upon the spirit of that King who used in all his Government as a piece of King-crafâ—… to ballance one extreme by the other countenancing the Papist against the Puritanâ—… and the Puritane sometimes against the Papist that betwixt both the true Religion and the Professours of it might be kâ—…pt in saâ—…ety On what accompt these nine Articles were commended to the Assembly at Dort we have shewed before and upon what accompt they were abolished in the Church of Ireland we shalâ—… see hereafter In the mean time our Author telleth us that By the prevalency of the Bishops of London and Westminster the Orthodox party were depressed the truth they served was scarce able to protect them to impunity A man would think our Author were Chairman at the least in a Committee for Religion for he not onely takes upon him to declare who are Orthodox in point of Faith and what is truth and not truth in matter of controversie but censureth two great Bishops both of them Counsellors of State for depressing both This savoureth more of the party than of the Historian whom it might better have become to have told us onely that a Controversie being raised in matters of a Scholasticall nature those Bishops favoured the one party more than they did the other and not have layd it down so majesterially that they disfavoured the Orthodox party and deprest the truth or that the truth they served was scarce able to protect them to impunity A very heavy Charge which hath no truth in it For I am very confident that neither of these Bishops did ever draw any man within the danger of punishment in relation only to their Tenets in the present Controversies if they managed them with that prudence and moderation which became men studiously affected to the Gospel of Peace or were not otherwise guilty of creating disturbances in the Church or ruptures in the body of the Common-wealth On which occasions if they came within the danger of 〈◊〉 censures or fell into the power of the High Commission it was no reason that their Tenets in the other points were they as true as truth it selfe should give them any impunity or free them from the punishment which they had deserved But it hath been the constant artifice of the Churches Enemies not to ascribâ—… the punishment of Factions and scismaticall persons to the proper cause but to their orthodoxie in Religion and zeal against Popish superstitions that so they might increase the number of Saints and Confessours against the next coming out of the Book of Martyrs But Arminianisme being as some say but a bridge to Popery we will pâ—…sse with our Authour over that Bridge to the hazard which was feared from Rome and that he telleth us came two waies First By the uncontrouled preaching of severall points tending and warping that way by Montague Goodman Cozens and others And here againe I thinke out Authour is mistaken For neither Montague nor Cozens were questioned for preaching any thing which warped toward Popery but the one of them for writing the Book called Appello Caesarem the other for publishing a Body of Devotions according to the Hours of Prayer in neither of which an equall and judicious Reader will finde any Popery unlesse it be such part-boyled Popery as our Authour speaks of whereof more anon And as for Goodman our Authour might have called him Bishop Goodman though now he be but Goodman Bishop as he calls himselfe though he preached something once which might warp toward Popery yet he did not preach it uncontrouled being not onely questioned for it but sentenced to a Recantation before the King He telleth us of some others but he names them not and till he names them he saies nothing which requires an Answer So that the first fear which flowed from Rome being ebbed again we next proceed unto the second which came saith he from The audacious obtruding of divers superstitious ceremonies by the Prelates as erecting of fixed Altars the dapping and cringing towards them and the standing up at Gloria Patri Our Authour is more out in this than in that before for I am confident that no Bishop in the times he speaks of did either command the erecting of fixed Altars or the bowing or cringing towards them nor have I heard by any credible report that any such fixed Altars were erected as he chargeth on them So that I might here end this observation without farther trouble But because the placing of the Communion Table Altar-wise did carry some resemblance to the Altars used in the Church of Rome and that some such thing was done in some Churches much about this time I shall here shew upon what reasons it was done and how farre they that did it might be justified in it The Reader therefore is to know that by the late neglect of decency and good order in most Parish Churches of this Land the Communion Table had been very much profaned by sitting on it scribling and casting hats upon it in Sermon-time at other times by passing the Parish accompts and disputing businesses of like nature to the great scandall and dishonour of our Religion For remedy and redresse whereof it seemed good unto some Bishops and other Ordinaries out of a pious zeal to the Churches honour and for the more reverent administration of the holy Sacrament to gâ—…ve way that the Commun on Table might be removed from the body of the Chancel where of late it stood and placed at the East end thereof all along the wall in the same place and posture as the Altars had been scituated in the former times For which permission I doubt not but
mâ—…st needs paâ—…se for currant I cannot see by the best light of my poor understanding but that Brabournes Book may be embraced with our best affections and that obscure and ignorant School-Master as our Author calls him must be cryed up for the most Orthodox Divine which this Age hath bred And was after styled Duke of Yorke Our Author here accommodates his style to the present times when the Weekly Pamphlets give that Prince no other Title than the Titulary Duke of Yorke the pretended Duke of Yorke the Duke of Yorke so styled as our Author here It is true indeed the second Son of England is not born to the Dukedome of Yorkâ—… as the first is unto the Titles and Revenues of the Dukedome of Cornewall but receives that Title by Creation and though the King did cause this second Son to be styled onely Duke of Yorke when he was in his cradle yet afterwards He created and made him such by Letters Patents under the Great Seal of England in due form of Lâ—… The four Innes of Court presenting both their Majesties at Whitehall with a gallant Masque as a symbole of their joynt affections The Innes of Court used formerly to divide themselves in the like solemnities Lincolns Inne joyning with one of the Temples and Graies Inne with the other bâ—…t now they all united upon this occasion One William Prynne an Utter Barrester of Lincolns Inne had writ a Book somewhat above a year before called Histrio Mastix intended purposely against Stage Playes but intermixed with many bâ—…tter and sharp Invectives against the solemn Musick used in the Cathedrals and Royal Chappels against the magnificence of the Court in Masques and Dancings against the Hospitality of the English Gâ—…ntry in the Weeks of Christmas and indeed what not In which were also many passages scandalous and dishonourable to the King and Queen and such as seemed dangerous also to their sacred Persons For which an Information being brought against him in the Starre-Chamber by Master Noye then Atturney-Generall and the Cause ready to be sentenced it seemed good unto the Gentlemen of the four Innes of Court to present their Majesties with a Masque thereby to let their 〈◊〉 and the People see how little Prynne his infection had took hold upon them A pompous and magnificent shew it seemed as it passed the Streets but made more glorious by a long traine of Christian Captives who having been many yeares inslâ—…ved in the chains of bondage were sent for a present to the King by the Hâ—…riffe or Emperour of Morocko in testimony of the assistance received from him in the taking of Salla and destroying that known nest of Pyrates effected specially by the benefit and advantage of his Majesties Ships An action of so great honour to the English Nation of such security to trade and of such consequence for setlâ—…ng of a free commerce in those parts of Christendom that I wonder why our Author takes no notice of it The Kings Dominion in the Narrow Seas was actually usurped by the Holland Fishers and the right it selfe in good earnest disputed by a late tract of Learned Grotius called Mare Liberum Our Author might have added here that this discourse of Grotius was encountred not long after by a learned Tract of Mr. Seldens which hâ—… entituled Mare Clausum In which he did not onely assert the Soveraignty or Dominion of the British Seas to the Crown of England but cleerly proved by constant and continuall practise that the Kings of England used to levie money from the Subjects without help of Parliament for the providing of ships and other necessaries to maintain that Soveraignty which did of right belong unto them This he brings down unto the time of K. Hen. 2d and might have brought it neerer to his own times had he been so pleased and thereby paved a plain way to the payment of Ship-money but then he must have thwarted the proceedings of the House of Commons in the last Parliament wherein he was so great a stickler voting down under a kinde of Anathema the Kings pretensions of right to all help from the subject either in Tonage or Poundage or any other wayes whatsoever the Parliament not co-operating and contributing toward it For that he might have done thus we shall easily see by that which followeth in our Author viz. Away goes the subtile Engineer and at length frem old Records progs and bolts out an antient Precedent of raising a Tax upon the whole Kingdom for setting forth a Navy in case of danger Our Author speaks this of Mr. Noye the Atturney Generall whom he calls aftâ—…rwards a most indefatigable Plodder and Searcher of old Records and therefore was not now to be put to progging a very poor expression for so brave a man to finde out any thing which mâ—…ght serve to advance this businesse For the truth is that a year or more before the coming out of the Writs for ship-money he shewed the Author of these Observations at his house neer Brentford a great wooden Box wherein were nothing else but Prâ—…ts out of all Records for levying a Navall aide upon the Subjects by the sole authority of the Kiâ—…g whensoever the preservation and safety of the Kingdome did require it of them And I remember well that he shewed me in many of those Papers that in the same years in which the Kings had received subsidies in the way of Parliament they levyed this Naval aide by their own sole power and he gave me this Reason for them both For saith he when the King wanted any money either to support his own expences or for the enlarging of his Dominions in Forreign Conquests or otherwise to advance his honour in the eye of the world good reason he should be beholding for it to the love of his people but when the Kingdome was in danger and that the safety of the Subject was concerned in the businesse he might and then did raise such summes of Money as he thought expedient for the preventing of the danger and providing for the publick safety of himselfe and his And I remember too that â—…se Precedents were written in little bits â—…nd shreads of paper few of them bigger then ones hand many not so big which when he had transcribed in the course of his studies he put into the coffin of a Pye as he pleased to tell me which had been sent him from his Mother and kept them there untill the mouldinesse and corruptiblenesse of that wheaten Coffer had perished many of his papers No need of progging or bolting to a man so furnished But more of this Attorney we shall heare anon In the meane time our Author telleth us that The King presently issued out Writs to all the Counties within the Realm c. enjoyning every County for defence of the Kingdome to provide Ships of so many Tunne c. Our Author is deceived in this as in many things else For in the
according to the Lawes of that Kingdome assoon as justice could have layed hold on them He had undoubtedly prevented all further dangers The drawing of some blood in the Body politick by the punishment of Mâ—…lefactors being like letting blood in the Body-naturall which in some strong distempers doth preserve the whole Oâ—… finally if the Tumult had been grown so high and so strongly backed that justice could not safely be done upon them had the King then but sent a Squadron of the Royall Navy which He had at Sea to block up their Haven He had soon brought the Edinbourghers unto His Devotion and consequently kept all the rest of that Kingdome in a safe obedience But the Edinbourghers knew well enough whom they had to deal with what friends they had about the King and what a party they had got in the Lords of His Councell which governed the affairs of that Kingdome and they knew very well none better by the unpunishing of the Londoners for the Tumult in the death of Lamb that the King had rather patience enough to bear such indignities than resolution to revenge them So that the King at last was come to that misery which a good Author speaks of Cum vel excidenda sit natura vel minuenda dignitas That he must either outgoe His nature or forgoe His authority The King nothing pleased with these affronts yet studious to compose these surges of discontent sent the Marquesse of Hamilton down in the quality of an high Commissioner c. We are now come to the rest of the oversights committed in the conduct of this weighty businesse whereof the first was that having neglected to suppresse the Sedition at the very first appearance of it to strangle that monster in the cradle he had let a whole year passâ—… without doing any thing but sending one Proclamation after another which being publickly encountred with contrary Protestations did but increase their insolencies his own disgraces the party in the mean time being so well formed that Poâ—…-guns and such Paper-pellets were able to doe no good upon them The second was that when it had been fitter for the preservation of his authority to send a Lord Generall in the head of an Army for the reducing of that Kingdome by force of Armes He rather chose to send an high Commissioner to them to sweeten the distempers and compose the differences which could not be but by yeilding more on his side then he was like by any faire imparlance to obtain from that Thirdly that when he was resoâ—…ved on an high Commâ—…ssioner he must pitch on Hamilton for the man whom he had such reason to distrust as before was hinted but that the old Maxime of the Lenoxian Family of being deceived rather than distrustfull was so prevalent with him And this he did against the opinion and advice of many of the Lords of that Kingdome that is to say the Earle of Sterling principall Secretary of State the Bishops of Rosse and Breken privie Counsellors both Sir Robert Spoteswood Lord President of the Colledge of Justice and Sir John Hay Clerke-Register or Master of the Rolls as we call him here These having secret intimation that Hamilton was designed for this great Employment came in Post to London indeavouring to perswade the King to change his purpose and commending Huntley for that service who being a man of greatest power in the North of Scotland and utterly averse from the Covenanters and the rest of that Faction was thought by them the fittest man for that undertaking But the King fatally carried on to his own destruction would not hearken to it and hereunto the Duke of Lenox did contribute some weak assistance who being wrought on by the Scots of Hamiltons Faction chose rather that the old Enemy of his House should be trusted with the managing of that great affaire than that a Countrey Lord as the Courtiers of that Nation called him should carry the honour from them both June the sixâ—… his Commission was read and accepted him And well it might it was the fish for which he had so long been angling For having lost the Scotish Army raised for the aide of the King of Sweden without doing any thing and no occasion being offered to advance another he fell upon more secret and subtile practises to effect his ends First drawing all the Scots which were about the Court of England to be his Dependants and rest at his devotion wholly and next by getting himselfe a strong partie in that Kingdome whose affections he had means enough to restraine and alienate from the King and then to binde them to himself insomuch as it was thought by the wisest men of both Nations that the first Tumult at Edinborough was set on by some of his Instruments and that the Combustions which ensued were secretly fomented by them also And this was made the more probable by his carriage in that great trust of the high Commissioner thus procured for him drawing the King from one condescention to another in behalf of the Covenanters till he had little more to give but the Crown it self For fiâ—…st he drew him to suspend and after to suppresse the Book of Common Prayers and therewithall the Canons made not long before for the use of that Church next the five Articles of Perth procured with so much difficulty by King James and confirmed in Parliament must be also abrogated and then the Covenant it self with some little alterations in it must be authorized and generally imposed upon all that Kingdome And finally the calling of an Assembly must be yeilded to in which he was right well assured that none but Covenanters should have voices that not Lord Bishops only should be censured and excommunicated but the Episcopacie it self abolished and all the Regular and Loyall Clergie brought to utter ruine By all which Acts I cannot say of grace but of condescension the Marquesse got as much in grosse as His Majesty lost in the retaile making himself so strong a partie in that Kingdome that the King stood but for a Cipher in the calculation All being done from that time forwards especially when the first shewes of a Warre were over as Hamilton either did contrive or direct the businesse For the Covenanters having got all this thought not this enough unlesse they put themselves in Armes to make good their purchases and having therein got the first start of the King the King could doe no lesse than provide for himself and to Arm Accordingly In order whereunto our Author telleth us that Because it was the Bishops warre he thought it requisite they should contribute largely toward the preservation of their own Hierarchy I am sorry to see this passage have our Authors penne whom I should willingly have accompted for a true Son of the Church of England were it not for this some other passages of this nature which savour more of the Covenanter then the English
Protestant It is true the Covenanters called it the Bishops warre and gave it out that it was raised onely to maintaine the Hirarchy but there was little or no truth in their mouthes the while for the truth is that though Liturgy and Episcopacy were made the occasions yet they were noâ—… the causes of this Warre Religion being but the vizard to disguise that businesse which Covetousnesse Sacriledge and Rapine had the greatest hand in The Reader therefore is to know that the King being engaged in a Warre with Spaine and yet deserted by those men who engaged him in it was faine to have recourse to such other waies of assistance as were offâ—… to him And amongst others he was minded of a purpose which his Father had of revoking all such grants of Abbey-Lands the Lands of Bâ—…shopricks and Chapters and other Religious Corporations which having been vested in the Crown by Act of Parl. were by that Kings Protectors in the time of his minority conferred on many of the Nobility and Gentry to make them sure unto the side or else by a strong hand of power â—…xtorted from him Being resolved upon this course he intends a Parliament in that Kiâ—…gdome appoints the Eâ—…rl of Niddisdâ—…ale to preside therein and arms hâ—…m with Instructions for 〈◊〉 of an Act of Revocation accordâ—…gly who bâ—…ing on hâ—…s way as farre as Barwick was there informed that all was in a Tumult at Edenbobrough that a rich Coach which he had sent before to Dalkeith was cut in pieces the poor Horses killed the people seeming onely sorry that they could not doâ—… the like to the Earle himselfe Things being brought unto this stand and the Parlâ—…ament put off with a sine die the King was put to a necessity of some second Councels amongst which none seemed so plausible and expedient to him as that of Mr. Archibald Achison then Procuâ—…ator or sollicitor generall in that kingdome who having first told the King that such as were estated in the lands in question had served themselves so well by the bare naming of an Act of Revocation as to possesse the people whom they found apt to be inflâ—…med on such suggestions that the true intendment of that Act was to revoke all former Acts for suppressing of Popâ—…ry and setling the reformed Religion in the Kirk of Scotland and therefore that it would be very unsafe for his Majesty to proceed that way Next he advised that instead of such a general Revocation as that Act imported he should implead them one by one beginning first with those whom he thought least able to stand out or else most willing to conform to his Mâ—…jesties pleasure assuring him that having the Lawes upon his side the Courts of Justice must and would pasâ—…e judgement for him The King resolved upon this course sends home the Gentleman not onely with thâ—…nkes and Knighthood which he had most worthily deserved but with instructions and power to proceed therein and he proceeded in it so effectually to the Kings advantage that some of the impleaded parties being lost in the suite and the rest seeing that though they could raise the people against the King they could not â—…aise them against the Lawes it was thought the best and safest way to compound the businesse Hereupon in the yeare 1631. Commissioners are sent to the Court of England and amongst others the Learned and right Noble Lord of Marcheston from whose mouth I had this whole relation who after a long treaty with the King did agree at last that all such as held hereditary Sheriffdomes or had the power of life and death over such as lived within their jurisdiction should quit those royalties to the King that they should make unto their Tenants in their severall Lands some permanent Estates either for three lives or one and twenty yeares or somâ—… such like Terme that so the Tenants might be incouraged to build and plant and improve the Patrimony of that Kingdome that they should double the yearly rents which were reserved unto the Crown by their former grants and finally that these conditions being performed on their parts the King should settle their Estates by Act of Parliament Home went the Commissioners with joy for their good successe expecting to be entertained with Bells and Bonefires but they found the contrary the proud Scots being resolved rather to put all to hazard than quit that power and Tyranny which they had over their poor vassalls by which name after the manner of the French they called their Tenants And hereunto they were encouâ—…aged under-hand by a party in England who feared that by this agreement the King would be so absolute in those Northern Regions that no aide could be hoped from thence when the necessity of their designes might most require it Just as the Castilions were displeased with the conquest of Portugall by King Philip the second because thereby they had no place left to retire unto when either the Kings displeasure or their disobedience should make their owne Countrey too hot for them From hence proceeded that ill bloud which the King found amongst them when he went for that unlucky Crowne from hence proceeded the seditious Libell of the Lord Ballmerino which our Author speakes of the greatest part of whose Estate was in Abby-Lands From hence proceeded all the practises of the great ones on that busie Faction principled onely for the â—…uine and destruction of Monarchies and finally from hence proceeded the designe of making use of discontented and seditioâ—…s spirits under colour of the Canons and Common-Prayer Book to embroyle that Kingdome that so they might both keep their Lands and not lose their Power the Kings Ministers all this while looking mildely on or acting onely by such influences as they had from Hamilton without either care or course taken to prevent those mischiefes which afterwards ensued upon it But from the Ground proceed we to the Prosecution of the Warre intended concerning which our Author telleth us that The King had amast together considederable power whereof the Earle of Arundel had the chiâ—…fe conduct And so he had as to the command of all the Forces which went by Land the Earl of Essex being Lieutenant Generall of the Foot the E. of Holland of the Horse But then there were some other forces embarqued in a considerable part of the Royall Navy with plenty of Coine and Ammunition which were put under the command of Hamilton the King still going on in his fatall over sights who anchoring with his Fleet in the Frith of Edenborough and laâ—…ding some of his spent men in a little Ifland to give them breath and some refreshments received a visit from his Mother a most rigid Covenanter The Scots upon the shore saying with no small laughter that they knew the Son of so good a Mother could not doe them hurt And so it proved for having loytered thereabouts to no purpose till he heard that the Treaty for the Pacification was begun
neer Barwick he left those shores and came in great Post-haste as it was pretended to disturb that businesse which was to be concluded before he came thither But this vile dealing makes me Sea-sick I returne to Land where I finde that All the preparation both of one side and the other proved onely an interview of two Armies nothing being acted considerable in way of Engagement That so it was is a truth undoubted but how it came to passe that it should be so would be worth a knowing For never did so many of the Lords and Gentry attend a King of England in an expedition against that people nor never did they carry with them a greater stock of Animosities and indignation then they did at this present But first I have been told by some wise and understanding men about the King that he never did intend to fight as they afterwards found but onely by the terrour of so great on Army to draw the Scots to doe him reason And this the Covenanters knew as well as he there being nothing which he said did or thought so farre as thoughts might be discovered by signes and gestures but what was forthwith posted to them by the Scots about him And this I am the more apt to credit because when a notable and well experienced Commander offered the King then in Camp neer Barwick that with two thousand Horse which the King mighâ—… very well have spared he would so waste and destroy the Countrey that the Scots should come upon their knees to implore his mercy He would by no meanes hearken to the Pâ—…oposition Nor were the Lords and pâ—…rsons of most note about him more forward at the last then he For having given way that the Eâ—…rles of Roxborough and Traquair and other Nobâ—…e mâ—…n of that Nation might repair to Yorke for mediating some atonement between the King and his people they plyed their busineâ—…s so well that by representing to the Lords of the English Nation the dangers they would bring themselves into if the Scots were totally subdued they mitigated the displeasures of some and so took off the edge of others that they did not go from Yorke the same men they came thither on the discovery of which practice and some intelligence which they had with the Covenanters the Earls of Traquair and Roxborough were confined to their Chambers the first at Yorke and the second at New Castle but presently dismissed againe and sent back to Scotland But they had first done the worke they came for for never were men so sodainly cooled as the Lords of England never did men make clearer shewes of an alteration by their words and 〈◊〉 in so much that the Scottish Army beginning to advance and the Earl of Holland being sent with a great body of Horse to attend upon them he presently sent word unto the King in what danger he was and how he stood in feare of being under-ridden as I take it by the Galloway Naggs and thereupon received order to retire Againâ—… No marvell if things standing in this condition the King did cheerfully embrace any overture which rended to a Pacification or did make choice of such persons to negotiate in it who were more like to take such termes as they could get then to fight it out Amongst which termes that which was most insisted on by the Scotch Commissioners because it was most to their advantage and the Kings disabling was That he recall all his Forces by Land or Sea Which he did accordingly and thereby lost all those notable advantâ—…ges which the gallantry of his Army the greatness of his preparations both by Sea and Land and the weaknesse of an inconsiderable Enemy might assure him of But he had done thus once before that is to say at the returning of his Forces and Fleet from Rochel Anno 1628. at what time He was in no good termes with His Subjects and in worse with His Neighbours having provoked the Spaniard by the invading of the Isle of Gadas and the French by invading the Isle of Rhe which might have given Him ground enough to have kept his Army and His authority withall and when an Army once is up it will keep it self necessity of State ruling and over-ruling those Concessions and Acts of Grace to which the Subjects may pretend in more setled times But His errour at this time was worse than that the Combustions of Scotland being raised so high that the oyle of Graces rather tended to increase than to quench their flâ—…me Had He recalled his Forces onely from the Shores and Borders of that Kingdome which is the most that He was bound to by the Pacification till He had seen the Scots disbanded their Officers cashiered their Forts and Castles garrisoned with English Souldiers and some good issue of the Assembly and Parliament to be held at Edinborough He had preserved His honour among Forreigne Princes and crushed those practices at home which afterwards undermined His peace and destroyed His glories But doing it in this form and manner without effecting any thing which He seemed to Arme for He animated the Scots to commit new insolencies the Dutch to affront Him on Hiâ—… own shoares and which was worst of all gave no small discontentment to thâ—… English Gentry who having with great charge engaged themselves in this expedition oâ—… of hope of getting Honour to the King their Countrey and themselves by their faithfull service were suddenly dismissed not onely without that honour which they aimed at but without any acknowledgment of their love and loyalty A matter so unpleasing to them that few of them appeared in the next years Army many of them turned against Him in the following troubles the greatest part looking on His successes with a carelesse eye as unconcerned in His affaires whether good or evil But from miscarriages in this Warre I might passe next to a mistake which I finde in our Author concerning the antient way of constituting the Scotish Parliaments of which he telleth us that The King first named eight Bishops then those Bishops chose eight Noble men those Noble men chose so many Barons and those the like number of Burgesses c. Not altogether so as our Author hath it for the King having first named 8. Bishops and the Bishops named 8. Noble men the Bishops and Noble men together chose 8. Commissioners for the Sheriffdomes and as many for the Boroughs or Corporations which two and thirty had the Names of the Lords of the Arricles and had the canvassing and correcting of all the Bills which were offered to the Parliament before they were put to the Vote And perswaded His Majesty that the Cardinall of Richelieu would be glad to serve His Majesty or his Nephew c. That the French Ambassadour did indeavour to perswade the King to that belief I shall easily grant but am not willing to believe that the King should be so easily perswaded to it it being the
opinion of most knowing men that this Cardinal had a very great hand in animating the Scots to such a height of disobedience as we finde them in And this may evidently appeare first by a passage in our Author Fol. 176. in which we finde from the intelligence of Andreas ab Habernefield that the Cardinall sent his Chaplaine and Almoner Mâ—… Thomas Chamberlain a Scot by Nation to assist the confederates in advancing the businesse and to attempt all waies for exasperating the first heat with order not to depart from them till things succeeding as he wished he might returne with good newes Secondly from the Letter writ by the Lord Loudon and the rest of the â—…ovenanters to the French King first published in his Majesties lesser Declaration against the Scots and since exemplified in our Author Fol. 168. of which Letter they could hope for no good effect but as the Cardinall should make way and provide meanes for it Thirdly by the report of a Gentleman from whose mouth I have it who being took Prisoner and brought unto the Scotish Camp immediatly after the fight neer Nuborne found there the Cardinalls Sâ—…cretary in close consultation with the heads of the Covenanters which after his restoring to liberty by the Treaty at Rippon he declared to the King and offered to make it good upon his Oath Fourthly by the impossibility which the Cardinall found in his designes of driving the Spaniard out of Flanders and the rest of the Netherlands unlesse the King was so disturbed and embroyled at home that he could not help them it being heretofore the great master-piece of the Kings of England to keep the Scale even between France and Spaine that neither of them being too strong for the other the affaires of Christendome might be poized in the evener ballance Fiftly by the free accesse and secret conferences which Hamiltons Chaplain had with Con the Popes agent here during such time as Chamberlain the Cardinalls Chaplain laboured to promote the businessâ—… Sixthly Adde hereunto the great displeasure which the Cardinall had conceived against the King for invading the Isle of Rhe and attempting the relief of Rochell and we shall finde what little reason the King had to be perswaded to any beliefe in Cardinall Richelieu though the Embassador might use all his eloquence to perswade him to it And had this presumptuous attempt of the Hollanders met with a King or in times of another temper it would not it 's like have been so silently connived at Most truly spoken this action of the Hollanders being one of the greatest and unsufferablest affronts which ever was puâ—… by any Nation on a King of England I have been told that complaint being made of King James of the barbarous Butchery at Amboyna he fell into a terrible rage throwing his Hat into the fire and then stamping on it and using all the signes of outragious Passion but when Time Sleep had taken off the edge of his Fury he told the Merchants who attended his answer That it was then no time to quarrell with the Hollanders of whom he hoped to make some use for restoring the Palsgrave to his lawfull Patrimony King Charles might make the same answer on this new occasion he had his head and his hands too so full of the Scots that he had no time to quarrell with the Hollanders though certainly if he had then presently turned his Fleet upon the Hollanders wherein no question but the Spaniard would have sided with him he had not onely rectified his honour in the eye of the world but might thereby have taught the Scots a better lessen of Obedience then he had brought them to by the great preparations which he made against them But this I look on in the Hollanders as one of the Consequents or effâ—…cts of the Scottish darings for if the Scots who were his Subjects durst be so bold as to baffle with him why might not they presume a little on his patience who were his confederates and Allies in husbanding an advantage of so great a concernment and having vailed his Crown to the Scots and English why might he not vaile it to them his good friends and neighbours At this close and secret Councell December 5. it was agreed that his Majesty should call a Parliament to assemble April the 13th This secret Councell did consist of no more then three that is the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and who must needs be at the end of every businesse the Marquesse of Hamilton By these it was agreed that the King should be moved to call a Parliament the intimation of it to be presently made but the Parliament it selfe not to be assembled till the middle of April In giving which long intervall it was chiefly aimed at that by the reputation of a Parliament so neer approaching the King might be in credit to take up Money wherewith to put himselfe into a posture of Warre in case the Parliament should faile him but then the inconvenience was as great on the other side that intervall of four Moneths time giving the discontented party opportunity to unite themselves to practice on the Shires and Burroughs to elect such members as they should recommend unto them and finally not onely to consult but to conclude on such particulars which they intended to insist on when they were assembled And though it be extreame ridiculous for me to shoot my Fooles-bable in so great a businesse in which such wise men did concurre yet give me leave to speak those thoughts which I had of that advice from the first beginning reckoning it alwaies both unsafe and unseasonable as the times then were I looked upon it as unsafe in regard that the last Parliament being dissolved in so strange a rupture the Closets of some Members searched many of them Imprisoned and some Fâ—…ned it was not to be hoped but that they would come thither with revengefull thoughts and should a breach happen between them and the King and the Parliament be dissolved upon it as it after was the breach would be irreparable as indeed it proved I looked upon it as unseasonable also in regard that Parliaments had been so long discontinued and the people lived so happily without them that very few took thought who should see the next and 〈◊〉 that the neighbouring Kings and States beheld the King with greater veneration then they had done â—…ormerly as one that could stand on his own leggs and had scrued up himselfe to so great power both by Sea and Land without such discontents and brabbles as his Parliaments gave him But whatsoever it was in it selfe either safe or seasonable I am sure it proved neither to the men who advâ—…sed the calling of it unlesse it were to Hamilton onely of which more hereafter Yet the King was willing to allow them all the faire dealing he in honour could hoping to gaine upon them by the sweetnesse of his carriage but