will please to pardon my Frailties to accept of my faithful Endeavours and always to look favourably on the Work of Your own hands And now Sir my first Entrance upon this Service obliges me to make a few necessary but humble Petitions on the behalf of Your most Loyal and Dutiful House of Commons 1. That for our better Attendance on the Publick Service we and our Servants may be free in our Persons and Estates from Arrests and other Disturbances 2. That in our Debates Liberty and Freedom of Speech be allowed us 3. That as occasions shall require Your Majesty upon our humble Suit and at such times as Your Majesty shall judge seasonable will vouchsafe us access to Your Royal Person 4. That all our Proceedings may receive a favourable Construction That God who hath brought You back to the Throne of Your Fathers and with You all our Comforts grant You a long and a prosperous Reign and send you Victory over all Your Enemies and every good mans heart will say Amen To which the Lord Chancellour reply'd Mr. Speaker THe Kings Majesty hath heard and well weighed your short and Eloquent Oration And in the first place much approves that you have with so much advantage introduced a shorter way of speaking upon this occasion His Majesty doth well accept of all those dutiful and affectionate Expressions in which you have delivered your Submission to his Royal Pleasure And looks upon it as a good Omen to his Affairs and as an Evidence that the House of Commons have still the same Heart that have chosen such a Mouth The conjuncture of time and the King and Kingdoms Affairs require such a House of Commons such a Speaker for with Reverence to the holy Scripture upon this occasion the King may say He that is not with me is against me for he that doth not now put his Hand and Heart to support the King in the common cause of this Kingdom can hardly ever hope for such another opportunity or find a time to make satisfaction for the Omission of this Next I am commanded by his Majesty to answer your four Petitions whereof the first being The freedom of you and your Servants in your Persons and Estates without Arrest or other disturbance the King is graciously pleased to grant it as full as to any of your Predecessors The Second for Liberty and Freedom of Speech the Third for Access to his Royal Person And the Fourth That your proceedings may receive a Favourable construction are all freely and fully granted by his Majesty During the time of his Chancellourship he lived at Exeter-House in the Strand and managed and maintained all things with a Port and Bravery suitable to the Greatness and Dignity of his place exceeding therein all who have enjoyed that Honour in his Majesties Raign as will appear by the manner of his proceeding from his House to Westminster-hall the first day of Hilary Term January 23. being the first Term after his receiving the Seal In the Morning the Twelve Judges and the several Officers of the High Court of Chancery together with the whole Body of the Law repaired to Exeter-house where they were entertain'd at a splendid and magnificent Treat by his Lordship which being ended he proceeded according to the ancient and laudable Custom to Westminster in the following Order First went The Beadles The Constables The High Constable The Tipstaffes The Cryer of the Court The Gentlemen Clerks The Sixty Clerks of the Chancery The Master of the Subpoena Office The Master of the Affidavit The Students of the Inns of Court The Cursitors The Clerk of the Patents The Registers The Barristers at Law The Clerks of the Hanaper The Prothonotary The Clerk of the Crown The Examiners The Clerks of the Petty Bag. The Six Clerks Then proceeded the following Officers being all of them bare The Sealer to the Great Seal The Chafe Wax to the Great Seal The Usher of the Court The Master of the Rolls's Gentlemen The Lord Chancellors Gentlemen The Secretaries The Steward of the House and Warden of the Fleet The Gentleman Usher The Seal-bearer carrying the Purse wherein was the Great Seal The Serjeant at Arms attending the Great Seal carrying the Mace After whom came the Lord High Chancellor himself on Horse-back being richly Array'd The Gentleman of his Horse attended by a Page a Groom and Six Footmen walking along by his Stirrup Next to the Lord High Chancellor followed The Lord Chief Justice The Master of the Rolls The Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer and the rest of the Judges according to their Seigniority And last of all came The Kings Serjeant at Law The Kings Attorny-General The Kings Solicitor-General The Kings Council The Duke of Yorks Attorny and his Solicitor together with the several Masters of Chancery In which Order they passed all along the Strand by White-hall through Kings-street and so to Westminster-hall the Streets being Lined with abundance of crouding Spectators who were exceedingly pleased with the Decency and Gallantry thereof All the time he enjoyed the Chancellorship he managed it with as much Honour and Advantage to his Majesty as any that ever did or will enjoy it And that not only upon the Bench but in the Senate too wherein he endeavoured to the uttermost of his Power to vindicate his Majesties Actions and by his admirable Eloquence labour'd to prevent or remove any Misunderstandings and Jealousies between the King and his Parliament as appears by the many excellent Speeches he made to the Two Houses when he was the mouth of the King to his People and had the Honour to be more successful therein then any who have succeeded him in that Honourable Station His sentiments of and veneration for his Soveraign and the smooth and charming Eloquence wherewith he fluently expressed himself upon all occasions sufficiently appear in that Speech which he made to the Lord Treasurer December the 5th 1672. upon his taking his Oath before him in the Exchequer My Lord Treasurer THe Kings most Excellent Majesty knowing your Integrity Abilities and Experience in his Affairs and particularly those of his Treasury hath thought fit to make choice of you to be his Lord High Treasurer of England and what necessarily accompanies that place hath by his Letters Patents under the Great Seal made you Treasurer of his Exchequer The Lord High Treasurer of Englands Office is held by the Kings delivery of the White-Staff The Treasurers of the Exchequer hath ever been held by Letters Patents And is that by which your Lordship is more immediately intituled to be a Chief Judge of this Court It were too nice and tedious and peradventure too formal to give an account of the several distinct Powers of these two Offices Reason and the length of time hath now so woven them together But as they are both in your Lordship I may justly say you are in a place of the first Rank as to Dignity Power Trust and Influence of Affairs
thrown down or some such like ominous accident had happened and with abundance of earnestness renewed the motion for calling the Duke to the Bar but there were too many Lords between for that motion to succeed and advice was brought every moment from the House of Commons that the things was yet in agitation among them which gave his Lordship an opportunity to appear with extraordinary vigour in defence of the Duke's Person and his Proposal so that the Earl seem'd more properly another Principle than the Duke's Second Whereupon the Lord Chancellor therefore undertook on the contrary to make the Prorogation look very formidable laying the best colour upon it and the worst upon his Opponants Thus for five or six hours it grew to be a fixed Debate many arguing it on both sides in a regular method until they received the welcome News that the Commons were risen without doing any thing whereupon the greater number called for the Question and had it in the affirmative that the Debate should be laid aside And thus being flasht but not satisfied with their Victory they fell desperately upon them who had affirmed the dissolution the same night and the next day voted his Lordship with the Duke of Buckingham the Earl of Salisbury and the Lord Wharton to be commited to the Tower under the Notion of Contempt during his Majesties and the Houses pleasures The Contempt for which they were committed was their refusing to recant their Opinions and ask pardon of the King and the House of Lords notwithstanding the liberty and freedom of Speech which His Majesty verbally and of course allows them at the opening of every Parliament The Warrant for the committing his Lordship together with the Earl of Salisbury and the Lord Wharton ran Thus ORdered by the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in Parliament Assembled That the Constable of his Majesties Tower of London his Deputies shall reserve the Bodies of James Earl of Salisbury Anthony Earl of Shaftsbury and Philip Lord Wharton Members of this House and keep them in safe Custody within the said Tower during his Majesties Pleasure and the Pleasure of this House for their high Contempts committed against this House And this shall be your sufficient Warrant on that behalf J. Brown Cler. Par. To the Constable of the Tower THE four Lords continued in the Tower so long that the Parliament was several times Adjourned during their Confinement which his Lordship bore with abundance of patience and incredible chearfulness considering the many weaknesses and infirmities of Body he then laboured under They expected to have been Released at least of course by Prorogation but Adjournments was so much in use at that time that it made them despair of being releived that way wherefore finding no end of their Captivity they looked upon the procuring their Liberty to deserve as much care as others took to retain them in durance to which end they each of them chose the method he judged most proper The Duke of Buckingham the Earl of Salisbury and the Lord Wharton upon their application to His Majesty by a Petition were enlarged But Shaftsbury could not come off so for having made his Addresses to His Majesty in an humble Petition to be restored to his Liberty and the Favour of his Majesty he found the Royal Earl deaf to his Sute and no relief to be obtained that way Whereupon his Lordship applied himself to the Court of Kings-Bench the constant Residence of His Majesties Justice whether he was brought Wednesday Jan. 27. 1677. upon the Return of an Alias Habeas Corpus directed to the Constable of the Tower and there being some dispute about the sufficiency of the Return his Council prays to have the Return filled and Friday appointed to debate the sufficiency of it which being granted the Earl was re-manded back again unto the Tower On Friday morning his Lordship was brought up again and then the Case was strongly and learnedly argued on both sides and after the discussing the Point about the sufficiency of the Return then Mr. Williams Mr. Wallop and Mr. Smith who were Council for his Lordship gave divers weighty Reasons in the Earls behalf that the Court might and ought to relieve him The Attorney and Solicitor Generals argued the contrary shewing divers Causes why that Court could not relieve a person committed by Parliament So soon as they had done the Earl stood up and in an Elegant Speech spake for himself and directing him self to the Court delivered himself to this Effect MY LORDS I Did not intend to have spoken one word in this business but something hath been objected and laid to my charge by the Kings Council Mr. Attorney and Mr. Solicitor that inforces me to say something for your better satisfaction They have told you that my Council in their Arguments said That this Court was greater than the House of Peers which I dare to appeal to your Lordships and the whole Court that it was never spoken by them I am sure it was not spoken by any direction of mine What is done by my Council and by me is That this Court is the most proper place to resort unto in those Cases where the Liberty of the Subject is concerned The Lords House is the Supream Court of Judicature in the Kingdom but yet there is a Jurisdiction which the Lords House do not meddle with The Kings Council mentioned as a wonder that a Member of the Lords House should come hither and thereby diminish the Jurisdiction of that Court I acknowledg them to be superiour to this or any Court in England To whom all Appeals and Writs of Error are brought and yet there is a Jurisdiction that they do not challenge and which is not natural to them or proper for them They claim not to meddle in Original Cases and so I might mention in other things And I do not think it a kindness to any Power or Body of Men to give them a Power or Jurisdiction which is not natural or proper to their Constitutions I do not think it would be any kindness to the Lords to make them absolute and above the Law for so I humbly conceive this must do if it be adjudged that they by a general Warrant or without any particular Cause assigned do commit me or any man to a perpetual and indefinite Imprisonment And my Lords I am not so inconsiderable a person but what you do in my Case must be Law for every man in England Mr. Attorney is pleased to say I am a Member of the Lords House and to lay wait on the word Member It 's true I am one of them and no man hath a greater reverence and esteem for the Lords than my self But I hope my being a Peer or a Member of either House shall not lose my priviledg of being an English-man or make me to have the less Title to Magna Charta or the other Laws of English Liberty My Opinion is not with one of my
And that for the second time he had received His Majesties Gracious Pardon wherefore he hoped those Matters would not be remembred against him now to the prejudice of his Evidence The Earl of Essex demanded of him who had sollicited His Majesty for his Pardon he answered Captain Richardson then his Boy Witnessed that he had Lodged at Powis's House and had been several times at the Lord Powis's Lodgings at the Tower That he had several times sent him with Letters and other Papers to the Lord Powis and that he had brought him back Answers That the Lady Powis had been several times at Mrs. Celliers during the time that Dangerfield Lodged there and particularly on the Saturday was seven night before when she was alone with him in a Room in private discourse about half an hour Then the Lord Chancellor asked him whether he had ever been with the Earl of Shaftsbury to which he replyed He had been several times with his Lordship and had discoursed with him repeating some of those things which had passed between them You are in the mean time saies the Chancellor a fine Fellow to come first to the King then to the Lord Powis and from thence to the Earl of Shaftsburys and discover to one what discourse you had with the other and go with one Story to the Earl of Shaftsbury and bring another to the Council And indeed the business appeared so plain to the Board that they committed him to Newgate by the following Warrant THese are in His Majesties Name to require you to 〈◊〉 into your Custody the person of Thomas Willoughby which was the Name he then went by herewith sent you for forgng Letters importing High Treason and fixing the same privately at Mr. Mansel's Chamber to render him Guilty thereof without cause And you are to keep him safe till he shall be delivered by due course of Law for which this shall be your Warrant Council-Chamber Whitehall October 27th 1679. To the Keeper of Newgate or his Deputy ANd now the wickedness which had hitherto hovered in the Dark Cavernes began to be more and more exposed for Mrs. Celliers House being searched the whole Scheam of their Villanies was found hid in a Tub of Meal they having assured themselves that none would be so scrutinous as to to search there whereupon she was apprehended and being examined concerning Mr. Dangerfield she said she had entertained him upon no other account than to get in desperate Debts However being sent to the Gate-House she presently dispatcht away a Paper to him telling him That now her Life lay in his hands and therefore directed him to confirm what she had said That he was taken into her House only to get in bad Debts c. sending him withal Twenty Shillings in Silver and a Guinney and two Books of Account that so he might Conover and be perfect in his Lesson But taking Caution by the unfortunate Mr. Coleman he resolved not to throw away his Life as he had done nor patiently consent to be Hanged to please the Conspirators Wherefore he made a full discovery of the whole Matter upon Oath before Sir Robert Clayton then Lord Mayor of London whereupon Sir Robert repaired to Whitehall and gave an account thereof to His Majesty who presently sent it to the Council and Dangerfield was thereupon by order of Council brought before them and was further examined by their Lordships who thereupon committed the Earl of Castlemain to the Tower Mr. Gadbury to the Gate-house Mrs. Cellier and Mr. Regaut to Newgate and the Countess and others into the Custody of His Majesties Messengers and the whole Design was at several times undeniably proved before them by innumerably concurring Circumstances and substantial Evidences and the Conspirators themselves confest the greatest part of it to be true But yet hoping to make the best of it and turn it off to the Lord Shaftsbury and the rest of the Protestants whose ruin they thirsted for their Oracle Gadbury pretended to make some great discovery in case His Majesty would grant him his Pardon which he Graciously promised to do But his Lordship hearing thereof and suspecting that those who had endeavoured to ruin him by a Plot to charge him with Treason and had failed of accomplishing it that way would not scruple at attempting to attain their end by false and feigned discoveries thereof desired that no Pardon might pass the Seal for Gadbury until he had first been heard in Council whereby he wisely prevented that mischief which was supposed to be designed against his Lordship by that Jesuited Star-gazing Caballistical Whiffler That which confirmed most men in their Opinion that he had some design against the Earl was this That although he did shortly after receive the King 's Gracious Pardon yet no discovery made by him was ever heard of to this day But these things were scarce over when another design to murther him is discovered by Francisco de Feria who deposed at the Bar of the House of Commons that being prefered to be Interpreter and Secretary of Languages to the Lord Gasper Abrew de Freitas Ambassador in Ordinary from the Prince of Portugal to the King of England The Ambassador perswaded him to kill the Earl of Shaftsbury by throwing a hand-Granado into his Coach which he said was easie to be done when his Lordship was travelling upon the Road into the Country which he did often What an heroick and magnanimous Soul must he then be master of that could so bravely bare up against all those boisterous Storms and continual Tempests which were perpetually raised against him by the art and malice of the Popish Crew And that notwithstanding those innumerable difficulties and dangers wherewith he was always surrounded and which still threatned his ruine the simple consideration of his own Innocence and Loyalty was able to maintain an undisturbed quiet and a perpetual Serenity within him But however these frequent disappointments inraged yet it did not discourage them from further Attempts against his Life and Honour but rather added to their fury and encreased their desire of revenge The next endeavour therefore to prove that he the Earl of Essex and the Lord Wharton had assisted Oates Tongue and Bedloe in contriving the Popish Plot. To which purpose they corrupted Mr. Blood and prevailed with him to write a treasonable Letter to Oates and then cause the Doctor 's Papers to be searched and rummaged in hope to find it there and so to prove him to be a Confederate with his Lordship and other Protestant Nobles But the Doctor sent the Letter to Sir Joseph Williamson then Secretary of State and thereby spoiled that Design whereupon they sent one Lewis to his Lordship to desire he would send by him the said Lewis some Directions to Dr. Oates under his Lordship 's own hand-writing how he should manage himself in reference to the Plot but the Earl absolutely denied to have any thing to do therewith And having failed in
Patience under the Calumnies wherewith he was unjustly loaded His Charity Affability c. when it shall be conveyed by History to the knowledge of the following Ages it will procure him such a just and deserved Esteem that they will be ready to Adore him and wonder at our stupidity and make them with a disdaining abhorrence reflect upon our Folly in slighting such an inestimable Treasure This Great and Illustrious Peer was Nobly descended from the two Ancient Families of the Coopers and Ashleys being Son and Heir to Sir John Cooper of Rockburn in the County of Wilts by Ann his Wife Daughter and sole Heir to Sir Anthony Ashley of Wimborn St. Giles in the County of Dorset Knight and Baronet For which reason he was call'd Anthony Ashley Cooper thereby to bear up the name of his Mothers Family as well as his Fathers which would otherwise have been extinct He was Born in the Month of July Anno Dom. 1621. being the 19th year of the Raign of King James At his Baptism his Mother desir'd Sir Anthony Ashly to stand for Godfather which he willingly consented to and having no more Children but that Daughter named him Anthony Ashley for the aforesaid reason Great care was taken in the Education of this young branch of Honour who was to enjoy the Fountains and maintain the Honour and Name of two such Rich and Illustrious Families his Father being worth about Eight Thousand Pounds per Annum So that he was not raised from a mean Fortune as some of his Adversaries would maliciously perswade the World but born to a large one In his very Childhood his Activity quick Apprehension and ready Wit made an early discovery even at that tender Age of those extraordinary parts wherewith God and Nature had so liberally enriched his capacious Soul He had a natural inclination to Learning wherein he made such a surprising Progress that it was the wonder and amazement of all that knew him and his Father to encourage and improve those pregnant Parts wherewith this happy Youth was blest sent him to the University of Oxford and placed him in Trinity-Colledge under the eare of an Ingenious and Learned Tutor where neglecting all things that served only for idle and vain speculatitions and denying himself that Liberty which other Youths allowed themselves for Recreation he fell to those Studies that were more useful and necessary and tended to fit and prepare him for the serving his King and Country in any imployment or capacity whatsoever which he followed so hard and made such an unusual progress therein that it is almost incredible so that every one admired him and he was by all Men accounted the most prodigious Youth in the whole University And those who knew him began to believe that what had been predicted of him by a German Gentleman might in time prove true This Gentleman being a Protestant and Persecuted upon that account left Germany and fled to England for succour and falling by accident into the company of Sir John Cooper Sir John being an Hospitable Gentleman especially to those that were sufferers upon the account of the True Religion gave him an Invitation to his House which the Gentleman accepting went accordingly and was entertain'd by Sir John with abundance of Respect and Generosity for a considerable time The Gentleman was extreamly pleased with his Entertainment in general but was more especially delighted with that pleasant and 〈◊〉 Diversion which the extraordinary Parts of his young Son afforded him And would frequently after having entertained him with various difficult and intricate Discourses which required the most mature and profoundest Judgment to determine wherein he always found him so ready and expert that it exceeds all belief say to Sir John I can do no less than contemplate your Felicity in this Son and almost envy you the happiness He is certainly the Phoenix of his Age. I find him endow'd with such a deep Judgment and capacious Understanding that I am confident if he live to years of Maturity he will be the profoundest Politician and the most prodigious States-man that ever this Nation did produce But more especially once directing himself to the young Gentleman he spake to the effect following as if guided thereto by some strange and unaccountable impulse and if we compare it with the circumstances of this Lords Life it will appear to be prophetick Child said he as it was his custom to call him if thou wilt be Religious and keep close to God and take care to avoid the vain and distractive allurements of Prophaneness and Debauchery and entertain a fixed resolution to improve all thy Parts and Abilities for the advancing the Protestant and the prejudice of the Romish Religion you shall be a Man of the largest Parts in Christendom and shall be an instrument of doing an extraordinary piece of Service to your Prince which shall be very acceptable to him whereupon you shall stand high in his Favour and be promoted to very great Honour yet should afterwards lose the Princes Favour and be as much dis-respected as before Honoured and Admired yet at the same time you shall be one of the most Popular Men under Heaven c. And that you may know that this will fall out according to my Prediction pray remember this that I am now going to tell you and Write it down in your Pocket-book that you may not forget it Not long after your coming from the University you shall be in extream danger of Drowning telling him the very day when it should happen Whereupon although he gave no extraordinary credit to these Predictions yet having a great Love and Veneration for the Gentleman upon the account of his Piety and Wisdom he endeavoured to the uttermost of his power as much as possible to avoid the Watery Eliment When he had spent some years at the University he was removed from Trinity Colledge to Grays-Inn where with the like pains and industry he applyed himself to the Study of the Law in the knowledge whereof he arrived at such Perfection that several Judicious Men and great Lawyers did affirm That he understood the nature of our Britanick Laws and ancient Customs and Constitutions of the Kingdom as well if not better than any Man living and could express himself with so much Eloquence and deliver his Sentiments of things with so much clearness and smoothness interwoven with such convincing Arguments deduced from Philosophy and Reason that there was a perfect harmohy in his words Whilst he was at Grays-Inn he appointed to go with several young Gentleman of his Acquaintance to Greenwich by Water but when he was upon the Stairs going to take Boat some of his company being already in the Boat it came suddenly into his Mind that that was the day whereof the Gentleman had foretold him and pausing a little he remembred several circumstances that confirm'd him therein the Gentlemen who were in the Boat seeing him to stand in a study
delightful view of the languishing Spectators wherein they plainly law the happy Issue of those Policies and Councils that were before Riddles too mysterious for vulgar understandings to unfold or once imagine whither they tended or where they would terminate by the following Resolves of both Houses Resolved by the House of Peers That they do own and declare That according to the Ancient and Fundamental Laws of this Kingdom the Government is and ought to be by King Lords and Commons Resolved That a Committee of Eight Lords do joyn with a Committee of the House of Commons to consider of an Answer to His Majesties gracious Letter and Declaration Resolved by the House of Commons That a Committee be appointed to prepare an Answer to His Majesties Letter expressing the Great and Joyfid sense of this House for his Gracious Offers and their humble and hearty Thanks to His Majesty for the same and with professions of their Loyalty and Duty to His Majesty And that this House will give a speedy Answer to His Majesties Gracious Proposals Resolved That the sum of 50000 1. be Presented His Majesty from this House The receiving those Letters and the Parliaments compliance therewith was no sooner reported to the City but the Citizens were almost overwhelmed with Joy the harmony of the Bells and the flaming Piles which inlightened every Street surrounded with incredible Shouts and Acclamations of Joy were sufficient demonstrations of the infinite pleasure and satisfaction they took in this no less wonderful then happy Revolution and the several Counties taking the Alarm from London contended which should out-vie each other in expressions of Loyalty and Joy Then the Parliament proceeded to draw up a Letter in Answer to His Majesties subscribing it to the Kings most Excellent Majesty desiring him speedily to return to the Exercises of his Kingly Office appointing Commissioners to go over to Holland and attend His Majesty during the remainder of his stay there and in his return to England Of these Commissioners there were six for the House of Lords for the House of Commons Twelve whereof our great Patriot was one and Twenty for the City of London Instructions being delivered to the Commissioners they set Sail for Holland in several Frigats appointed by the Parliament to attend them and after some danger by bad Weather they Landed at the Hague whither His Majesty was then removed from Breda where he had resided some time before as being a place nearer and more convenient for his Shipping the disposal whereof and of the whole Fleet was remitted to His Majesties pleasure General Montague having received Orders from the Parliament to Obey His Majesties Orders and Directions therein The Commissioners were no sooner arrived but they went and waited on His Majesty and with all imaginable Respect and Veneration delivered their respective Messages and behaved themselves according to the Instructions they received from their Principals beseeching His Majesty in the name of his Parliament and People to return and re-assume the Scepter assuring him That he should be infinitely welcome without any terms They were received by his Majesty with a Port and Grace like himself and entertain'd with extraordinary Favour and Magnificence In the mean time the Parliament Proclaim'd the King which was perform'd with all the Joy Splendour and Magnificence that Love or Loyalty could inspire The chief Lords of the House of Peers and the most eminent of the House of Commons the Lord General together with the Lord Mayor and Aldermen all in their Coaches attended by the whole Militia of the City waited upon and assisted in the Ceremony and the Shouts and Acclamations of the crouding Multitudes was so extraordinary that although all the Bells throughout the City and Suburbs were at that time Ringing yet their noise was not to be heard The King preparing for his Return was magnisicently Treated by the Dutch and highly Complimented by all the Forraign Ambassadours And the Dutch knowing that they should thereby very much please the King enlarg'd their Civilities to our great Patriot and the rest of the Commissioners from the Parliament and City treating them by their Deputies to their great content and satisfaction Whilst this great Adventurer for the Royal Cause continued in Holland one day as he was doing his Duty in waiting on his Soveraign had the unhappiness to be overthrown in a Carravan whereby he received an unfortunate Wound in his side between the Ribs which in time came to an Exulceration and was in the year 1672. when he was Lord Chancellour forc'd to be opened The Operation was performed by Mr. Knolls the Chyrurgeon by the Advice and Direction of the famous Doctor Willis and supposed to be the greatest Cure that ever was done upon the Body of Man From whence we may learn the hard Fate which sometimes attend the most commendable Actions since this which was the greatest mark and ensign of Loyalty should be made the matter of the greatest Obloquy and Reproach most of those malicious Pamphlets that have been written against him being filled with Invectives grounded upon the Story of the Tap. Oh monstrous Ingratitude His Majesty having prepared all things in readiness Embarqued for England the Royal Charles being appointed for that purpose And was attended by the Commissioners and a numerous Company of English Gentry and waited on by General Mountague with the whole Fleet and having a fair and gentle Gale Landed at Dover May 25. where he was met by the General and chief Nobility and so conducted to Canterbury Rochester and Darkford and from thence to London where His Majesty found the Lord Mayor and Aldermen ready in a Tent which was pitcht in St. Georges Fields to receive him the several Regiments being there placed in Order made a Lane for his Majesty to pass through the Sword being delivered him according to Custom he re-delivered it and after a splendid Treat proceeded into London by Southwark from the Bridge to Temple-Bar the Streets were Railed on one side with Standings for the Liveries and on the other with the Train'd Bands and sevefal Companies of Gentlemen Volunteers in White Doublets under the Command of Sir John Staywell through which His Majesty passed in a Splendid and Triumphant manner being bravely attended by Sir Anthony and the rest of the Commissioners of the Parliament and City together with all the principal Nobility and Gentry of England with innumerable others and so he passed to White-hall where both Houses of Parliament waited his Arrival whose Speakers in elegant Speeches acquainted him with the Felicity and Happiness they conceiv'd in this happy Revolution The Friday following His Majesty went the private way to the House of Lords and after having made a short Speech signed those Acts which were ready for the Royal Assent And not long after proceeded to the choice of his Privy-Council and in consideration of the great Esteem he had for Sir Anthony Ashly Cooper nominated him for one of them Wisely considering
French hands for Caution The next day news came that France and Holland were agreed Then the obloquy was turned from treachery to folly The Ministers were now Fools that some days before were Villains And indeed the Coffee-houses were not to be blamed for their last apprehensions since if that Conjunction had taken effect then England had been in a far worse case then now it is and the War had been turned upon us But both Kings knowing their Interests resolved to Joyn against them who were the Common Enemies to all Monarchies and I may say especially to ours their only Competitor for Trade and Power at Sea and who only stand in their way to an universal Empire as great as Rome This the States understood so well and had swallowed so deep that under all their present distress and danger they are so intoxicated with that vast ambition that they slight a Treaty and refuse a Cessation All this you and the whole Nation saw before the last War but it could not then be so well timed or our Alliances so well made But you judged aright that at any rate Delenda est Carthago That Government was to be brought down And therefore the King may well say to you 'T is your War He took his measures from you and they were just and right ones and He expects a suitable assistance to so necessary and expensive an Action which He has hitherto maintained at His own charge and was unwilling either to trouble you or burden the Country until it came to an inevitable necessity And His Majesty commands me to tell you that unless it be a certain Sum and speedily raised it can never answer the Occasion My Lords and Gentlemen Reputation is the great support of War or Peace This War had never begun nor had the States ever slighted the King or ever refused Him Satisfaction neither had this War continued to this day or subsisted now but that the States were deceived in their measures and apprehended His Majesty in that great want of money that He must sit down under any Affronts and was not able to begin or carry on a War Nay at this day the States support themselves amongst their People by this only falshood that they are assured of the temper of England and of the parliament and that you will not supply the King in this War And that if they can hold out till your meeting they will have new life and may take new measures There are lately taken two of their principal Agents with their Credentials and Instructions to this purpose who are now in the Tower and shall be proceeded against according to the Law of Nations But the King is sufficiently assured of His people Knows you better and can never doubt His Parliament This had not been mentioned but to shew you of what importance the frankness and seasonableness of this Supply is as well as the fulness of it Let me say the King has brought the States to that condition that your hearty conjunction at this time in supplying His Majesty will make them never more formidable to Kings or dangerous to England And if after this you suffer them to get up let this be remembred The States of Holland are Englands eternal Enemy both by Interest and Inclination In the next place to the supply for the carrying on of the War His Majesty recommends to you the taking care of His Debts What you gave the last Session did not near answer your own expectation Besides another confiderable Aid you designed His Majesty was unfortunately lost in the birth so that the King was forced for the carrying on of His affairs much against His will to put a stop to the payments out of the Exchequer He saw the pressures upon himself and growing inconveniencies to His People by great Interest and the difference through all His Business between Ready money and Orders This gave the King the necessity of that proceeding to make use of His own Revenue which hath been of so great effect in this War But though he hath put a stop to the trade and gain of the Bankers yet he would be unwilling to ruine them and oppress so many Families as are concerned in those Debts Besides it were too disprortionable a burden upon many of His good Subjects But neither the Bankers nor they have reason to complain if you now take them into your care and they have paid them what was due to them when the Stop was made with Six per Cent. Interest from that time The King is very much concern'd both in Honour and Interest to see this done And yet he desires you not to mis-time it but that it may have only the second place and that you will first settle what you intend about the Supply His Majesty has so fully vindicated His Declaration from that Calumny concerning the Papists that no reasonable scruple can be made by any good man He has sufficiently justified it by the time it was published in and the effects He hath had from it and might have done it more from the agreeableness of it to His own natural disposition which no good English man can wish other then it is He loves not bloud or rigorous severities but where mild or gentle ways may be used by a wise Prince He is certain to choose them The Church of England and all good Protestants have reason to rejoyce in such a Head and such a Defender His Majesty doth declare His care and Concerns for the Church and will maintain them in all their Rights and Priviledges equal if not beyond any of His Predecessors He was born and bred up in it It was that his Father died for We all know how great temptations and offers He resisted abroad when He was in His lowest condition And He thinks it the Honour of His Reign that He hath been the Restorer of the Church 'T is that He will ever maintain and hopes to leave to posterity in greater lustre and upon surer grounds then our Ancestors ever saw it But His Majesty is not convinc'd that violent ways are the Interest of Religion or the Church There is one thing more which I am commanded to speak to you of Which is the jealousie that hath been foolishly spread abroad of the Forces the King hath raised in this War Wherein the King hath opened himself freely to you and confessed the fault on the other hand For if this last Summer had not proved a miracle of Storms and Tempests such as secured their East-India Fleet and protected their Sea-coast from a discent nothing but the true reason want of Money could have justified the defect in the number of our Forces 'T is that His Majesty is providing for against the next Spring having given out Orders for the raising of seven or eight Regiments more of Foot under the Command of Persons of the greatest Fortunes and Quality And I am earnestly to recommend to you that in your Supplies
you will take into your consideration this necessary addition of charge And after His Majesties conclusion of His Speech let me conclude nay let us all conclude with blessing God and the King Let us bless God that he hath given us such a King to be the Repairer of our Breaches both in Church and State and the restorer of our paths to dwell in That in the midst of War and Misery which rages in our Neighbour Countries our Garners are full and there is no complaining in our Streets And a Man can hardly know that there is a War Let us bless God that hath given this King signally the hearts of His People and most particularly of this Parliament who in their Affection and Loyalty to their Prince have exceeded all their Predecessors A Parliament with whom the King hath many years lived with all the Caresses of a happy Marriage Has the King had a concern You have wedded it Has His Majesty wanted Supplies You have readily chearfully and fully provided for them You have relied upon the Wisdom and Conduct of His Majesty in all His affairs so that you have never attempted to exceed your bounds or to impose upon Him whilest the King on the other hand hath made your Counsels the foundations of all His proceedings and hath been so tender of you that he hath upon His own Revenue and Credit endeavoured to support even Foreign Wars that he might be least uneasie to you or burdensom to His People And let me say that tho' this Marriage be according to Moses's Law where the Husband can give a Bill of Divorce put her away and take another Yet I can assure you it is as impossible for the King to part with this Parliament as it is for you to depart from that Loyalty Affection and Dutiful Beha viour you have hitherto shewed towards Him Let us bless the King for taking away all our Fears and leaving no room for Jealousies For those Assurances and Promises He hath made us Let us bless God and the King that our Religion is safe That the Church of England is the care of our Prince That Parliaments are safe That our Properties and Liberties are safe What more hath a good English man to ask but that this King may long Reign and that this Triple-Alliance of King Parliament and People may never be dissolved The King having about that time made Si Edward Turner Speaker of the House of Commons Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer the Lord Chancellor acquainted them therewith and recommended to them His Majesties Pleasure for their Electing a new Speaker in the following Speech My Lords and you the Knights Citizens and Burgesses of the House of Commons HIs Majesty hath commanded me to tell you That he hath many things to say to you but he thinks not this a proper time but will defer it till the House of Commons be compleated with a new Speaker For His Majesty hath since the last Session as a mark of His Favour to His House of Commons and that he might reward so good a Servant taken their late Speaker Sir Edward Turner to be Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer and called him by Writ to be an Assistant to this House I am therefore commanded to acquaint you Gentlemen of the House of Commons That it is the Kings Pleasure you repair to your House and Elect a Discreet Wise and Learned man who after he hath been by you Presented and that Presentation by His Majesty admitted shall then possess the Office of your common Mouth and Speaker And the King is pleased to be here to Morrow in the Afternoon to receive the Presentment of him accordingly The Commons having Elected Sir Job Charlton to be their Speaker who being by them Presented to the King Addressed himself to His Majesty in the following words Most Gracious Sovereign THe Knights Citizens and Burgesses of the House of Commons in Obedience to your Royal Command have proceeded to the Choice of a Speaker They have among them many worthy Persons eminently qualified for so great a Trust yet with too favourable an Eye have cast it upon me who am really conscious to my self of so many infirmities rendring me much unsit for so great an Imployment And although my endeavours of excusing my self before them have not been successful yet they have been so Indulgent as to permit me to continue my endeavours therein before Your Majesties most piercing and discerning Judgment The Veneration due to Majesty which lodgeth in every Loyal Breast makes it not an easie matter to speak before Your Majesty at any time or in any capacity But to speak before Your Majesty in Your Exaltation thus gloriously supported and attended and that as Speaker of Your House of Commons requires greater Abilities then I can pretend to own I am not also without fear That the Publick Affairs wherein Your Majesty and Your Kingdom in this Juncture of time are so highly concern'd may receive detriment through my weakness I therefore with a plain humble heart prostrate at Your Royal feet beseech That You will Command them to review what they have done and to proceed to another Election To which the Lord Chancellour made the following Answer Mr. Serjeant Charlton THe King hath very attentively heard your discreet and handsome Discourse whereby you endeavour to excuse and disable your self for the place of Speaker In answer whereof His Majesty hath commanded me to say to you That he doth in no sort admit of the same For his Majesty hath had long experience of your Abilities good Affection Integrity and Resolution in several employments of great Trust and Weight He knows you have been long a Parliament-man and therefore every way fitted and qualified for the Employment Besides he cannot disapprove the Election of this House of Commons especially where they have expressed so much Duty in choosing one Worthy and Acceptable to him And therefore the King doth allow of the Election and admits you for Speaker Sir Job Charlton seeing his excuse could not be admitted but that notwithstanding his Majesty had confirmed the Commons Choice by his Royal Approbation spake as follows Great SIR SInce it is Your Gracious Pleasure not to accept of my humble Excuse but by Your Royal Approbation to six me under this Great though Honourable Weight and to think me sit to be invested with a Trust of so high a nature as this is I take it in the first place to be incumbent upon me that I render Your Majesty all possible thanks which I now humbly do with a heart full of all Duty and affected with a deeper sense of Gratitude then I can find words to express Next from Your Royal Determination in this Affair whereby you have imprinted a new Character upon me I take courage against my own diffidence and chearfully bend my self with such strength and abilities as God shall give to the Service so graciously designed me no way doubting that Your Majesty
A place that requires such a Man as our great Masters Wisdom hath found for it from whose Natural temper we may expect Courage Quickness and Resolution from whose Education Wisdom and Experience and from whose Extraction that Noble and Illustrious House of the Cliffords an Heroick Mind a large Soul and an unshaken Fidelity to the Crown My Lord it 's a great Honour much beyond even the place it self that you are chosen to it by this King who without Flattery I may say is as great a Master in the knowledge of Men and Things as this or any other Age hath produced And let me say farther It is not only your Honour that you are chosen by Him but it is your Safety too that you have him to serve with whom no subtile Insinuations of any near him nor the aspiring Interest of a Favourite shall ever prevail against those that serve him well Nor can his Servants fear to be sacrificed to the Malice Fury or Mistake of a more swelling Popular greatness a Prince under whom the unfortunate fall gently a Prince in a word that best of all Mankind deserves that Title Deliciae humani generis My Lord I will not hold you long for you have a Journey to go after you have taken your Oath and your place in this Court you are according to ancient Custom to visit all the Offices in the upper and lower Exchequer and therefore let me end with this Wish or rather Prophesie That you may exceed all your Predecessors the Abilities and Fidelity of the Renowned Lord Burleigh the Sagacity Quickness and great dispatch of his Son the Lord Salisbury and the Uprightness Integrity and Wisdom of that great Man that went last before you the Earl of Southampton And as the E. endeavors were incessant to serve his Soveraign so he was no less solicituos to serve the Publick good endeavoring to make the Courts of Judicature as much as possible answer the Ends for which they were designed viz. The ease of the Subject labouring to have the Kings Prerogative and the Subjects Property so interwoven that they might always be inseparable as appears by that excellent Speech made by him in the Exchequer January 24. 1673. at Serjeant Thurlands taking the Oath in order to be made a Baron as followeth Mr. Serjeant Thurland THe King of his Grace and Favour hath made choice of you to be one of the Barons of the Exchequer he designed to place you in a Court of more profit though not of more Dignity but your own modesty hath chosen this Court where you thought you could serve the King best and I could not choose but mention it here to your Honour it being the greatest Instance of a good Man That he had rather be found serviceable than rich His Majesty hath had large proof of your former Service besides he takes you upon the Credit of that Recommendation that hath justly the best place with him I mean his Royal Brothers Some few things it is fit I should here mention to you and leave with you as Admonitions or rather Remembrances In the first place you are to maintain the Kings Prerogative and let not the Kings Prerogative and the Law be two things with you for the Kings Prerogative is Law and the principal of it Therefore in maintaining that you maintain the Law The Government of England is so excellently interwoven that every part of the Prerogative hath a broad mixture of the Interest of the Subject the ease and safety of the People being inseparable from the greatness and security of the Crown In the next place let me advise you that you acquaint your self with the Revenue as also the ancient Records Precedents and Practices of this Court for want of which knowledge I have seen this Court a most excellent Common Pleas when at the same time I could not say so much for it as an Exchequer In the Third place Let me recommend to you so to manage the Kings Justice and the Revenue as the King may have most profit and the Subjects least Vexation Raking for old Debts the number of Informations Projects upon Concealments I could not find in the Eleven years Exprerience I have had in this Court ever to advantage the Crown but such proceedings have for the most part delivered up the Kings good Subjects into the hands of the worst of Men. There is another thing I have observed in this Court which I shall mind you of which is when the Court hearkens too much to the Clerks and Officers of it and are too apt to send out Process when the Money may be raised by other ways more easie to the People I do not say that the Kings Duty should be lost or that the strictest course should not be taken rather then that be for when you consider how much the Officers of this Court and the Under-sheriffs get by Process upon small Sums more then the Kings Duty comes to and upon what sort of People this falls viz. The Farmer Husbandman and Clothier in the Country that is generally the Collector Constable and Tyshingman and so disturbs the Industrious part of the Nation you will think it fit to make that the last way when no other will serve Give me leave also to mind you of one thing more it is in your Oath That the Kings Needs ye shill speed before all others that is the business of the Revenue of the Crown you are to dispatch before all other and not turn your Court into a Court of Common-Pleas and let that justle out what you were constituted for In the last place Let me conclude with what concerns all my Lords the Judges as well as you let me recommend to you the Port and Way of Living suitable to the Dignity of your Place and what the King allows you There is not any thing that gains more Reputation and Respect to the Government then that doth and let me tell you Magistrates as well as Merchants are supported by their Reputation To his successful Counsel do both King and Kingdom owe the happy Conduct of Affairs for many years together the events of his Advices always agreeing with and answering the Ends for which they were at first proposed so that the King seldom fail'd of any thing that was carried on by his direction for which reason his wise Administration and management of Things had as it were incorporated him into the very Heart of his Prince So that all Men began now to conclude That this great Man whose constant Loyalty had render'd him so dear to His Majesty was too firmly fix'd and rooted in the Royal Favour than ever to be removed or alienated therefrom since he did as most Men imagin'd sit so high and withal so safely that he was above the reach of Envy or the possibility of being undermined by any subtle and false Insinuations or sacrific'd to the malice of any aspiring Favourite Yet Fortune who is always fickle and constant in
nothing but inconstancy never proved more false to any then she did to him And his unshaken faithfulness to His Majesty from whose Interest no Temptation could ever allure him together with the Figure he made and the High Station wherein he deservedly stood was so far from defending him against that it subjected him to the Euvy and exposed him to the spleenful hate and insatiable Revenge of those who became his inveterate and implacable Enemies for no other reason then his extraordinary Zeal to have His Majesty safe in his Person by being Great in the Hearts of his Subjects and Raign without a Competitor and thereby become Formidable to his Enemies and be able like his Predecessors to give Laws to the Neighbouring Princes The only way to promote the publick Good maintain the Security of Religion the Safety of the Government and advance the Honour of the English Nation Wherefore they having resolved upon his ruine and knowing that the higher he mounted the more likely he would be to fall and if he did fall it would be with the greater precipitancy and danger They rack'd all their Inventions and improved all their Interest at Court to have him advanc'd to higher Honour although he was already exalted even above his own Ambition and thereby involved into so much danger that he was forced every Night to keep a constant Guard about his House thereby to secure his Person from the bloody Attempts of Popish Raviliacks or Roman Godfredizers So that this hopeful project not succeeding according to expectation may he rend by the future Ages in the British Chronicles to his immortal Glory and the shame and infamy of his Enemies But although they were not able with all their combinated strengths to trample him into an Ignominious Grave yet they quickly after found an occasion of Triumph upon the taking from him his Honourable Employment to which he ascended upon abundance of Merit used with abundance of Impartiality and resigned with as much Innocency and Honour in the following manner About November 1673. The King was pleased to send for his Lordship to Whitehall where upon His Majesties Command he resigned the Great Seal of England to be disposed of as His Majesty should think fit And thus this mighty Minister of State who had to the satisfaction and admiration of all good Men and to the hurt and prejudice and therefore to the hate and envy of none but the Papists improved that Power whereunto the Grace and Favour of his Soveraign had raised him did without any kind of murmuring or repining lay it down again at the Feet of him from whom he at first derived it Never abating of his usual Briskness nor altering the natural chearfulness of his Temper upon the loss of his Honorary Places but on the contrary when he had delivered the Seal he put on his Sword accounting it as much Honour and Happiness to walk with that by his side unenvied as to have the Mace and Purse carried before him with abundance of Emulation and Grudge besides danger In the Afternoon he was visited at his Mansion-house by his Highness Prince Rupert and divers other Peers and Gentlemen of Quality who gratefully acknowledged themselves to be extreamly oblig'd by his just and honest discharge of that Trust which had been reposed in him for which they returned him thanks And many whose tedious or difficult Suits were discharged by his dexterity and wisdom will ever remember him with Honour and Veneration For by his admirable Prudence deep Judgment and quick Apprehension he used presently and that with abundance of Facility and Ease to penetrate into the most intricate and difficult Causes and disperse those Cloudy Mists wherewith the subtile Lawyer had darkened and perplexed the Just and Honest Title as the Author of the Character of a Loyal States-man ingeniously expresses it His choice sagacity Strait salv'd the knot that subtle Lawyers ty'd And through all Foggs discern'd the oppressed side Banish'd delays and so this Noble Peer Became a Star of Honour in our Sphere A needful Atlas of our State c. And indeed he manag'd the Court of Chancery with such an unbyass'd Judgment and Uprightness that forced even those who lost the Cause to admire his sagacity and confess the equality of his Justice THE SECOND PART OF RALEGH Redevivus THE discarding the great SHAFTSBVRY was some abatement to the excessive sorrow of his Papist Enemies and proved a seasonable allay to that tormenting Grief which peradventure might otherwise Vulter-like have prey'd upon and fretted and consumed their Vitals and thereby have saved the World from that trouble it hath already felt and may expect from them But not containing themselves with his being discarded resolved still to prosecute his ruin and thereby render their revenge the more full and compleat And in order thereunto they first vainly attempted to Murder his unblemished Reputation and bring his Loyalty into Suspicion and then with an insernal Impudence accused him of High-Treason the same Project whereby they have since so often unsuccessfully attempted his ruin obligeing Collonel to pursue and prosecute the Accuation and to make him the more capable of performing it they did with all the Art and Industry wherewith Hell and Rome could furnish them make a narrow search and exact scrutiny into the several Offices he had passed through hoping there to find some casual accident or other which might by their Hellish Pollicy have been improved to High-Treason well knowing that suddain surprize the want of a true information or the falling short of a full and clear underderstanding of some material Circumstances might expose the most profound and exactest Judge in the World to a mistake in Judgment Yet to their amazement and anguish and the glory and of that Divine Providence whereby the Almighty who fore-sees the issue and events of all sublunary Actions wisely orders and disposes all things to the advantage of the favourites of Heaven they found no such casual flips or oversights in his management that could any way answer the pains they had taken in searching the Records of his Actions or favour the Designs they were carrying on against him For having with a complicated malice and impatiency of destroying him who of all others stood most in the way of their other Designs amaz'd together and mustered up all the worst things which those Infallible Vipers by the force of their Roman Venom were able to draw and attract out of the Court Rolls so disgested and phrased as might best serve the purpose to which they were designed and presented them to the King 's Learned Council in the Law for their judgment whether there were any thing contained therein upon which they might find matter whereon to ground an accusation of Treason They did after a serious perusal of the several particulars and pretended Crimes affirm to their everlasting Honour that there was nothing which amounted to Treason contained therein So that all their pains and
proceedings thereon by ordering the Commitment and all things that concerned that Affair to be expung'd and raz'd out of their Jornal Books that so if possible the very memory of them might be extinguished And thus this illusterous Peer did at length regain his Liberty although somewhat sooner perhaps than his Popish Enemies desired or expected he should but not without being severaly burlesqued by a second Advice to the Men of Shaftsbury Written by the Author of the former hoping by a frequent and unwearied charging him with many fictitious Crimes slyly insinuated and audatiously affirmed with all the confidence and formality imaginable they should at length get them believed to be real ones The whole Composition both of this and the former Advice was made up of nothing in the World but malice and revenge carefully infused into the mercinary wretch by the same aspring Favourite who had improved the Earls Application to the Court of Kings-Bench into a Crime and were inbibed by him with all imaginable greediness hoping thereby to relieve his wants and supply his necessity and as liberally cast out in those two scurilous Libels to poyson and infect the froth of the Town and the scum of the Universities and that they might be the more successful the Name of the Author is carefully conceal'd not from any sparks of modesty but that he might thereby with the more advantage and security exercise his Impudence in defaming the Earl wisely considering That if his Name which justly deserves to be Intom'd and Rot in his own infamy should have been perfixed to them it would certainly have spoiled the Design by making it appear too bare-fac'd And indeed it redounds very much to the Earls Honour and Renown that his Enemies could procure no other to Write against him than one whose Pen had been so long implyed against his Soveraign But notwithstanding all those devices the Earls Honour and Reputation was above the reach of their malice as well as his Loyalty had been above the reach of their poyson and infection Nor was he thereby discouraged from opposing the Designs of the Papishes as vigorously as ever but endeavoured notwithstanding in the several Sessions of Parliament to procure the passing such wholsome Laws as might restrain Debauchery and secure us against the growing Designs of Rome and France which tended to undermine the Protestant Religion the interest of the English Nation and prejudice and endanger His Majesties Person and Government But more especially those two admirable Bills The first whereof provided That no Papish should hold any Offices or enjoy any places of profit or trust either Civil or Military upon which His Royal Highness laid down several great Offices and Places which were held and enjoyed by him And the second for the disabling any Papish from siting as a Member in either House of Parliament although this latter could not pass without a Proviso that it should not extend to the Duke of YORK However these Acts of Parliament did not prevent there proceeding in those monstrous Designs which they had so long been forming in their secret Cabals To Murther the King subvert the Government Massacre the Protestant Nobility and Gentry extirpate the Protestant Religion and introduce Popery into this Kingdom Having for that purpose maintained Correspondence with a Neighbouring Prince procured indulgences from Rome to dispence with their taking the Oaths of Supremacy and Allegiance together with all other Tests when it should be necessary for the management of their Affairs collected Mony appointed Officers delivered out Commissions procur'd a Bull from the Pope for the Excommunicating of His most Sacred Majesty held divers Consults at Wild-House the White Horse Tavern and several other places to consider of the methods which they were to take in this Conspiracy and appoint every one the part which he was to act in the Plot. Wherein those vile 〈◊〉 and Traytors with an Hellish Impudence adventur'd to Declare the best of Kings to be Excommunicated and Condemned as an Heretick by the pretended power of the Pope to lose both his Crown and Life together with all the Protestant Nobility Gentry and Commonalty of England who had rendered themselves any way obnoxious by their endeavours to suppress Popery especially His Grace the Duke of Monmouth and the Earl of Shaftsbury Nor were their Designs discovered till they were just ready to be put in Execution all things being in as much readiness as they were in the Gunpowder Treason against King James But yet the watchful Providence of the Almighty by whom and not by that Grand Impostâ—â— at Rome Kings Reign and Princes Decree Justice it was seasonably discovered to their amazement and confusion whereby they were driven to the very depths of despair fearing that their Villany being so plainly discovered and their Cruelty and Treason exposed and undeniably proved by Coleman's Letters Godfrey's Murther Arnald's Assassination c. they should never be able to clear themselves and retrieve their Plot. However they Resolved to attempt both the one and the other by charging his Lordship and others who had been the most Zealous Prosecuters of the Plot not only of having invented this Plot which they affirmed was altogether a fiction but also with carrying on a Treasonable Design against the King's Majesty under colour thereof The Plot being thus discovered his Lordship being moved by a Principal of Loyalty to His Majesties Love to his Country and Zeal to the Protestant Religion endeavoured to the utmost of his power to have it narrowly enquired into and searched to the bottom that so the mischevious Consequences of it might be the better provided against and the King's Person and Government the Protestant Religion and the English Nation might by an early Provision be secured against the like attempts for the future as well as the present frustrated which so much enraged them that it added fuel to their malice and sharpened their desire of accomplishing his ruine Assuring themselves as the Lords in the Tower told Mr. Dangerfield That if they were as well rid of him as they were of Sir Edmondbury Godfrey they should then be able to conquer all difficulties stifle the Popish Plot and bear down all before them Wherefore finding him the greatest hinderance to their Designs and the most active Man in prosecuting their Plot they entered into a Resolution to dispatch him into another World as was affirmed by Messenger Gentleman of the Horse to the Lord Arundel of Warder about three Weeks or a Month before Mr. William Stayley was apprehended even so early did they begin their Designs of Murthering him for endeavouring to expose their Plot. And not long after Stayley and Mattisson being together at the Cross-Keys Tavern in Covent Garden Declared That to prevent the severities which might be the event of this discovery they must take a speedy course to destroy some particular persons who were the most active Men at that juncture of time and that it was resolved on
a company of Obscure Varlets Irish Bogtrotters Skip-kennels and Indigent Extravagants who having profusely wasted their own Fortunes would gladly imbrace any opportunity to repair them by the ruine of others and treated each other with no less than the assurances of vast and mighty Fortunes and being advanced to places of Profit and Honour And some of them in a bravary and to excite others to an imitation of them in their wicked Practices chinks their Guinneys and exposes their Golden Rewards affirming that so should be done to the Man who was beloved with other encouragements and invitations to perswade and allure them to come over and labour at the work of Transubstantiating the Plot. And indeed to such a heigth of Ambition and vain Glory they arrived over that they commonly discoursed of being advanced to Captains and Ensigns Places Deanries and Prebendaries and putting a mighty value upon themselves scorned to think of less than great Preferments and as much Mony as they would demand Not long after the Dissolution of the Oxford Parliament one Brian Hans came to his Lordships pretending to be some Gentleman of Quality and that he could make very considerable discoveries of the Popish Plot and the Murther of Sir Edmond bury Godfrey and desired his Lordship in order thereunto to procure him a blank Pardon being very unwilling as he pretended to have his Name known until he had his Pardon procured for him The Earl who was alwaies ready to serve His Majesty and the Protestant Interest and supposing that this could be no inconsiderable Peach of Service to discover the Murther of the aforesaid Knight more fully than had been hitherto done which must necessarily give a greater light into the Plot he endeavoured to get him one but it could not be obtained And not long after this pretended Gentleman of Quality dwindled into a mean and obscure Wretch and of a pretended Evidence of the real Popish Plot degenerated into a blustering Witness of a fictious Protestant one For being apprehended and carried before the Council instead of discovering any thing about the Death of Sir Edmondbury Godfrey he accused his Lordship and others of having endeavoured to suborn him to do it Whereupon Mr. Rouse a Gentleman who had been some time employed by Sir Thomas Player in paying off the Army which had been Disbanded not long before and Mr. College who had attended some of the Parliament Men to Oxford And Saturday July the 2d 1681. in the Morning his Lordship was apprehended by a Messenger by Vertue of a Warrant from the Council and his Papers all seized and carried to Whitehall where the King likewise arrived from Windsor about Ten of the Clock and then he was examined before His Majesty and the Council some of the Judges likewise were present His Lordship knowing himself clear of what was laid to his charge boldly affirmed and solemnly protested his Innocency adding as it was reported That were he Guilty of those Crimes whereof he was accused he was certainly a mad-Man and had thereby rendered himself more fit for Bedlam than the Tower whither upon the Sequel he was committed close Prisoner for High Treason and conveyed thither by Water in a Barge and the King returned the same day to Windsor And now the better to prepare peoples minds to believe what he was to be charged withal the Jesuites and Condemned Priests in Newgate and some other of the Popish Crew privately dispersed divers Hellish and Lying Pamphlets wherein they maliciously aspersed him with Conspiring Treason against His Majesty one whereof which was somewhat more impudent and mischievous than the rest and was called Articles against the Earl of Shaftsbury was dispensed with some privacy and caution The Articles were as follows I. That he had imagined to compass and procure the Death of the King the Subvertion of the Government and the known Laws of the Land by reducing this Antient Monarchy into a Republick II. That he used great endeavours to possess the People that His Majesty was a Papist and design'd to introduce Popery and Arbitrary Power and to that end had promoted several Seditious and Treasonable Libels against His Majesties Person and Government purposely to bring His Majesty into an odium and Contempt with His loving Subjects III. That He endeavoured to Levy War against the King both in England and Ireland and bring Blod-shed and Confuston upon His Majesties good People under pretence of prosecuting the Popish Blot and preserving the Protestant Religion the Liberty and Property of the Subject as He and His Confederates have done in the late Rebellion IV. That he endeavoured to render the Church of England as Rediculous as Popery and Defam'd all His Majesties Officers both by Land and Sea and all others who out of a due senfe of Loyalty adhere to the Crown stiling them Tories Tantivies Masqueraders c. purposely to frighten them from their Duty and wean them from their Soveraign to adhere to Him and His Faction V. That He countenanc'd harbour'd and hired persons to Swear against the Queen and His Royal Highness VI. That He procured several Sums of Mony to be Raised ond Collected to carry on these most abominable Designs And to represent him as monstrously unnatural and bloody as themselves and render him hateful and detestable to all Men who would be so Brainless as to believe the silly and rediculous Shams the Articler adds in the close of his Libel this strange and improbable Rodemantado that when the Sergeant at Arms apprehended him he desired him to eat something before he appeared before the King and Council whereupon saies the Libeller his Lordship answered I have no Stomach to eat unless I could get a Roasted Irish-Man The Sessions of the Peace for London and Middlesex beginning on the Wednesday following he presented a Petition to the Court desiring to be brought to a speedy Tryal or else admitted to Bail Upon the 8th Stephen Colledge had an Indictment presented against him to the Grand Jury who were all of them substantial Men And after having heard all that could be said on both sides they returned an Ignoramus upon the Bill but being removed to Oxford and tryed there was found Guilty and was accordingly Condemned and Executed and a forged Paper presented and published by one Thompson a Printer and supposed to be Writ by some Jesuite who are alwaies so good at inventing of Shams called His last Speech wherein he was made to confess all that he was charged with although it afterwards appeared that he absolutely denied he was any way Guilty affirming his Innocency to the last Breath August 31st his Lordship presented another Petition to the Judges at the Sessions at the Old-Bayly desiring that he might be either Tried or Bailed pursuant to the Act of Habeas Corpus to which the Court returned answer That being charged with no Crime in that Court and being Prisoners in the Tower they could take no Cognizance of them but they