the just Rewards of Rebellion Only give me leave after I have reduc'd this Countrey to your Majesty's Obedience and conquer'd from Dan to Beersheba to say to your Majesty then as David's General did to his Master Come thou thy self lest this Countrey be callâ—d by my Name For in all my Actions I aim only at your Majesty's Honour and Interest as becomes one that is to his last Breath May it please your Sacred Majesty Innerlochy in Lochaber Feb. 3. 1645. Your Majesty's most Humble most Faithful and most Obedient Subject and Servant MONTROSS NUMB. XI The Address of General Monk and his Officers from Scotland to the Parliament of England against Monarchy upon Richard Cromwell's Abdication Right Honourable THAT a Nation may be born in a day Whitlock's Memoirs p. 679 680. is a truth which this days experience witnesseth unto us against all the dictates of humane Reason and that a glorious Cause whose Interest was laid low even in the dust should be in one day restored to its life and lustre when almost all the Asserters of it had so manifestly declined it by a defection of many years cannot be imputed to less than the greatest and most powerful manifestation of the Arm of God that ever this or former Generations saw or heard of In the sense of this the greatest of our Temporal Mercies we now come to address to your Honours as those whose presence we have so long wanted that had you staid but a little longer it might have been left to be enquired what England was we mean what was become of that People by whom God for so many years filled the World with so much admiration and terror But though this great Work be as most justly it ought to be wonderful in our eyes yet when we consider its Author who calls things that are not as if they were bringeth down to the Pit and raiseth up again we see that nothing is difficult to Faith and the Promises of God are sure and stable even then when in the eye of man no less than impossible We cannot but acknowledge to our exceeding great sorrow and shame that our selves though we hope most of us through weakness and frailty not out of design have very much contributed to those Provocations which have caused God to depart from our Israel and we could heartily wish that even amongst those that help to make up your own number there had not been an helping hand to this sad and deplorable work But we see when God's hour is come and the time of his people's deliverance even the set time is at hand he cometh skipping over all the Mountains of Sin and Unworthiness that we daily cast in the way We are not willing to detain your Honours too long upon this Subject and therefore beseeching the God of all our Mercies to heal the backslidings of his people and not to charge unto their account in this his day of their deliverance their miscarriages whilst they were wandering in dark and slippery places after the imaginations of their own hearts we with all humility and affection in the first place congratulate you in this your happy Restoration to the Government of these Nations which God was pleased once so to own in your hands as to make you both the praise and wonder of the Earth the glory and rejoicing of his People and the terror of your Adversaries and we acknowledge it a singular condescension in you in this day of so great difficulties to take upon you so heavy a burthen And seeing his late Highness hath been pleased to manifest so much self-denial and love to his Country Richard Cromwell in appearing for the Interest thereof against his own we humbly intreat that some speedy care may be taken for him and his family together with her Highness Dowager that there may be such an honourable Provision settled upon them and such other Dignities as are suitable to the former great Services of that Family to these Nations And in the next place we cannot but humbly beseech you now you have an opportunity than which a fitter your hearts did never pray for to finish the work of Reformation that hath been so long upon the wheel and met with so great Obstructions that you would not heal the wound of the daughter of God's people slightly but make so sure and lasting provision for both their Christian and Civil Rights as that both this and future Generations may have cause to rise up and call you Blessed and the blackest of Designs may never be able to cast dirt in your faces any more And as helpful to these two great Concernments Religion and Liberty we humbly propose unto your mature consideration these two Desires First that you would be pleased to countenance Godliness and all the sincere professors thereof encourage an able and laborious Ministry and suffer no other Yoak to be imposed upon the Consciences of God's people than what may be agreeable to the Word of God and that you would be a terror to all impious prophane and licentious People whatsoever Secondly that you would so vindicate and assert the Native Rights and Liberties of these Nations in and by the Government of a Free-State that there may not be the voice of an oppressed one in our Land but that all may enjoy the blessed fruits of your righteous and peaceable Government And for the prevention of all possibility for ambitious Spirits ever to work their ends against you we humbly desire you to be very careful as well what persons you entrust with the management of the Armies and Navies of this Commonwealth as of the measure of that Power and Authority you depart with to them or substitute in them Touching the qualifications of the Persons we desire they may be truly godly and conscientious Touching the measure of their Authority that it may be adequate to the nature and being of a Commonwealth And whilst you are thus pleading and asserting the Interest of God and his People you may rest assured with greatest confidence that we shall appear in your defence and the vindication of your Authority against the opposition of all Arbitrary Powers whatsoever And to that blessed and All-powerful God who is able to spirit you for this great work you are and shall daily be recommended in the prayers of Your most loyal and most Obedient Servants George Monk Thomas Read Ralph Cobbet Tim. Wilks Robert Read Iohn Cloberry Abra. Holmes Henr. Dorney Dan. Davison Rich. Heath Mi. Richardson I. Hubbelthorn Tho. Iohnson P. Crisp. He. Brightman Phil. Watson Tho. Dean Ierem. Smith Will. Davis Iames Wright Ios. Wallinton Will. Helling Ethelb Morgan Rob. Winter Iohn Paddon Anthony Nowers The Form of the Declaration and Engagement taken by General Monk and his Officers against Monarchy and the Family of the Stuarts at his coming up from Scotland I A. B. Whitlock's Memoirs p. 684. do hereby declare That I do renounce the pretended Title of
MEMOIRS Of the Most Material Transactions IN ENGLAND FOR The Last Hundred YEARS Preceding the Revolution in 1688. By JAMES WELWOOD M. D. Physician in Ordinary to His Majesty and Fellow of the College of Physicians London LONDON Printed for Tim. Goodwin at the Queen's-Head against St. Dunstan's-Church in Fleetstreet 1700. TO THE KING SIR THE Great Patrons of Liberty have not thought it below them to become the Patrons of History And any thing of that kind which concerns England does naturally claim the Protection of a Prince who by his Valour and Conduct has not only Restor'd to the English Nation that Figure they had lost in the World for near an Hundred Years past but has rais'd them to a Greater than ever they had before A Prince who in all He has done for the Common Safety of Europe could have no Brighter Examples to follow than those of his own Family For when Others have fought for Dominion and Power vain empty Notions and destructive to Mankind It has ever been a Glory peculiar to the House of Nassau to have fought for LIBERTY the Noblest Cause and the Greatest Stake that Mortals can contend for Let some Princes pretend to Fading Lawrels by depopulating Countries oppressing their Neighbours and enslaving Free People The surest and best way to transmit a Glorious Name to Posterity is to relieve the Oppress'd break off their Fetters and set the World free These require no varnish to set off their true Lustre whilst those are oblig'd to make use of false Colours to palliate the highest Injustice Let them value themselves upon a Greatness that 's borrow'd from Schemes that could hardly fail as being transmitted to them from the long Experience of the Ablest Ministers and most Refin'd Statesmen of the Age That Prince who without these Helps at his first Appearance on the Stage has by the mere Strength of his own Genius surmounted Difficulties that would have pall'd any Courage but his own and at length has broke all those Measures that had of a long time been concerting towards the enslaving of Christendom cannot fail to make one of the Noblest and Brightest Figures in History If it be the Prerogative of an Almighty Power and Goodness to set Bounds to the Raging Sea it must be the highest and most justifiable Imitation of It to put a Stop to the Ambition of Men and to shelter Nations from their Fury It is in this sense chiefly that Kings may be called Gods And it were a pity that the Lives of such were not as Immortal as their Deeds The Memory of that Prince must be lasting who in all the Wars he has been engag'd in and in all the Treaties that have been made to restore Peace to his Countrey has never made any Terms for Himself except once when the Interest of Three Kingdoms and his Own were become one and the same When succeeding Ages shall see scarce any other Coin in England but of one Stamp they must look back with Amazement upon the Reign of a Prince whose Image it bears and wonder how it was possible That during the Heat of the most Expensive War that ever was so vast a Treasure could be new minted and at so prodigious a Loss While at the same time they will commend and bless a People that with so much Cheerfulness assisted Him with Supplies suitable to such Mighty Undertakings They will be no less surpriz'd to find That amidst a great many Hardships and Disappointments which could not be avoided his Armies follow'd Him with an Inviolable Fidelity and Inimitable Courage And will hardly believe That it was within the Compass of Human Prudence to Cement so many Jarring Interests and unite so many Princes of different Religions into one Alliance and to influence their firm Adherence to that Alliance till the Glorious Conclusion of a General Peace SIR All these Great Things were reserv'd for Your MAJESTY which will be Admir'd and Extoll'd by Posterity no less than they are by the present Age And it 's but reasonable that the Memory of such Actions should live for ever The following Sheets containing a Short View of the various Disposition of Affairs in England for a whole Century before Your MAJESTY's Happy Accession to the Crown I humbly beg Leave to Lay them at Your MAJESTY's Feet with the most profound Submission and Duty that becomes May it please Your Majesty Your Majesty's most Humble most Faithful and most Obedient Subject and Servant James Welwood To the Reader THESE Sheets were writ some Years ago by the Encouragement of One whose Memory will be ever Sacred to Posterity It 's needless to mention the Occasion And they had not been publish'd now if a Surreptitious Copy of a Part of the Manuscript had not crept abroad I can hardly expect they should please in an Age like this that is fond only of what is writ for or against a Party For I have trac'd Truth as near as I could without espousing any one Interest or Faction I hope I may venture to say That I have tread as softly as was possible over the Graves of the Dead and have not aggravated the Errors of the Living As to the latter it 's enough that we are deliver'd from their Power without insulting over their Misfortunes and it is unworthy of a Generous Mind to trample upon those that are already down Most of the Accounts I have seen of the Transactions of those Times are partial to some one Side which being one of the greatest Blemishes of History I have endeavour'd to avoid But whether I have fallen into the same Error my self it is the Reader must be now Iudge I leave Satyr and Panegyrick to others I envy no man the Art of making Court to the Great by Flattery and have not Ill Nature enough for Detraction The Design of these Memoirs being only to give a Short Idea of the Thread of Affairs in England for the Space of a Hundred Years it is not to be expected that I should have observ'd the Rules of a Regular History much less any Niceness of Method or Exactness in the Narration As to the Stile I have taken very little pains about it and all I have aim'd at is to be understood In the Account I have given of the Last Reign I would not be thought to Reflect upon the Roman-Catholicks in general for what a Party among them is chargeable They were chiefly the Bigots of some Religious Orders and the New Converts that advis'd and carried on those Violences that in the end overturn'd their Master's Throne And it is hop'd the Roman-Catholicks have reason to be satisfied with their Condition under the present Reign since they enjoy an unenvied Liberty of their Religion without incurring the Hatred of their Fellow-Subjects for being in a Design to overturn the Establish'd Church which was their Case under the late King James And as I am far from wishing them less Liberty than they have yet cannot but
he frequently ask'd it and particularly in a Printed Letter of his to Cecil The Honour of Knighthood though often prostituted since was in so great Esteem in her Reign that a Gentleman of Lincolnshire having rais'd Three hundred men for her Service at Tilbury Camp upon his own Interest told his Wife at parting That he hop'd thereby to deserve the Queen's Favour so far as that she should be a Lady at his Return She had a particular Friendship for Henry the Fourth of France and to her in a great measure he ow'd his Crown She never laid any thing more to heart than his changing his Religion And it was a long time before she could be brought to believe it But when she receiv'd the Account of it from himself all her Constancy fail'd her and in the Agony of her Grief snatching a Pen she writ him a short Expostulatory Letter worthy of her self Appendix Numb 4. and of that melancholy occasion which is related in the Appendix This her Grief says her Historian she sought to allay by reading the Sacred Scriptures and the Writings of the Fathers and even the Books of Philosophers translating about that time for an Amusement Boethius de Consolatione Philosophiae into Elegant English The only Action that seems to reflect upon her Memory was the Death of Mary Queen of Scots The Affair of Mary Stuart Q. of Scots There had been an Emulation betwixt them of a long standing occasioned at first by the latter's assuming the Arms and Title of Queen of England which it 's no wonder Queen Elizabeth highly resented A great many other Accidents did contribute to alienate their Affections But when it fell out that every day produc'd some new Conspiracy against the Life of Queen Elizabeth and that in most of them the Queen of Scots was concern'd either as a Party or the Occasion Queen Elizabeth was put upon a fatal Necessity of either taking off the Queen of Scots or exposing her own Person to the frequent Attempts of her Enemies With what Reluctancy Queen Elizabeth was brought to consent to her Death and how she was deceiv'd at last in Signing the Warrant for her Execution by the over diligence of her Secretary and Privy-Council Cambden her Celebrated Historian has given us a very full and impartial Account Yet Queen Elizabeth is not altogether excusable in this matter for Queen Mary came into England upon a Promise made her long before Queen Elizabeth sent her once a Ring and at the same time a Message That if at any time she wanted her Protection she might be assured of it and the Token betwixt them was Queen Mary's sending her back the same Ring That Unfortunate Princess seeing her Affairs desperate in Scotland dispatch'd a Letter to Queen Elizabeth with the Ring to put her in mind of her Promise but without waiting for an Answer she came into England the very next day They were both to be pitied the one for her Sufferings and the other for being the Cause of them And I have seen several Letters in the Cotton-Library of Queen Mary's Hand to Queen Elizabeth writ in the most moving Strain that could be most of them in French being the Language she did generally write in There was one particularly wherein she tells her That her long Imprisonment had brought her to a Dropsical Swelling in her Legs and other Diseases that for the Honour of her Sex she â—orbears to commit to Paper And concludes thus Your most Affectionate Sister and Cousin and the most miserable Princess that ever wore a Crown When such Letters as these had no influence upon Queen Elizabeth it may reasonably be concluded That nothing but Self-Preservation could oblige her to carry her Resentments so far as she did To sum up the Character of this Renowned Queen in a few words She found the Kingdom at her coming to the Throne in a most afflicted condition embroil'd on the one side with a Scotch and on the other with a French War the Crown overcharg'd with her Father's and Brother's Debts its Treasure exhausted the People distracted with different Opinions in Religion her self without Friends with a controverted Title and strengthen'd with no Alliance abroad After one of the longest Reigns that ever was she died in Peace leaving her Countrey Potent at Sea and Rich in People and Trade her Father's and her Brother's Debts paid the Crown without any Incumbrance a great Treasure in the Exchequer the Coin brought to a true Standard Religion settled upon a regular and lasting Basis her self having been admir'd and fear'd by all her Neighbouring Princes and her Friendship courted by Monarchs that had scarce ever before any further knowledge of England but the Name So that her Successor had good reason to say of her That she was one who in Wisdom and Felicity of Government surpass'd all Princes since the days of Augustus After all To the Reproach of those she had made great and happy she was but ill attended in her last Sickness and near her Death forsaken by all but three or four Persons every body making haste to adore the Rising Sun With Queen Elizabeth dy'd in a great part the Glory and Fortune of the English Nation and the succeeding Reigns serv'd only to render hers the more Ilustrious As she was far from invading the Liberties of her Subjects so she was careful to maintain and preserve her own just Prerogative nor did ever any Prince that sat upon the English Throne carry the true and essential parts of Royalty further But at the same time the whole Conduct of her Life plac'd her beyond the Suspicion of ever having sought Greatness for any other end than to make her People share with her in it It was not so with the Prince that succeeded her The Reign of K. Iames. He was the more fond of Prerogative because he had been kept short of it in his Native Country He grasp'd at an Immoderate Power but with an ill Grace and if we believe the Historians of that time with a design to make his People little If so he had his Wish for from his first Accession to the Crown the Reputation of England began sensibly to sink and Two Kingdoms which disunited had made each of them apart a considerable Figure in the World now when united under one King fell short of the Reputation which the least of them had in former Ages The latter Years of King Iames fill'd our Annals with little else but Misfortunes at home and abroad The Loss of the Palatinate and the Ruin of the Protestants in Bohemia through his Negligence the Trick that was put upon him by the House of Austria in the business of the Spanish Match and the continued Struggle betwixt him and his Parliament about Redress of Grievances were things that help'd on to lessen his Credit abroad and imbitter the Minds of his Subjects at home Repenting of these unlucky Measures too late King Iames went off
the State not much lamented and left in Legacy to his Son a discontented People an unnecessary expensive War an incumbred Revenue and an exhausted Treasury together with the Charge of his Grand-children by the Queen of Bohemia that were now divested of a large Patrimony deriv'd to them by a long Series of Illustrious Ancestors In fine he entail'd upon his Son all the Miseries that befel him and left in the minds of his Subjects those Sparks of Discontent that broke out some Years after into a Flame of Civil War which ended in the Ruin of King Charles and of the Monarchy with him This Prince His Character though his Father and Mother were esteemed the Handsomest Couple of the Age they liv'd in was himself but a Homely Person nor in any of his Features was to be found the least Resemblance of the Beautiful Mary Stuart or Lord Darnly No Prince had a more Liberal Education And it could not well be otherwise having the Celebrated Buchanan for his Tutor He was acquainted with most parts of Learning but valued himself upon his Knowledge in Divinity above the rest in which he writ some things that were much esteem'd at that time He writ and spoke well but in a Stile that border'd too much upon Pedantry which was indeed the common Fault of that Age. As to his Religion notwithstanding all his Advances to the Pope and Papists upon the account first of the Spanish and afterwards the French Match he was really Calvinist in most Points but that of Church-Government witness some of his Books and his Zeal for the Synod of Dort But as to Episcopacy he shew'd so much Learning and Reading in his Arguments for it at the Conference of Hampton-Court that Archbishop Whitgift said He was verily persuaded the King spake by the Spirit of God Notwithstanding his Mother was dethron'd to make room for him and consequently he could have no Right but the Consent of the People while she liv'd yet upon all occasions he was fond of being thought to have a Divine Right to the Crown His Courage was much suspected and some would ascribe his want of it to the Fright his Mother was in upon the Death of David Rizio The Troubles of his Youth were various occasion'd chiefly by Factions of Great Men that strove who should have the Management of him But when he came of Age he sought all occasions to be reveng'd upon such of them as were living and the Posterity of those that were dead Goury's Conspiracy being in it self so improbable a thing and attended with so many inconsistent Circumstances was disbeliev'd at the time it was said to have been attempted And Posterity has swallow'd down for a Truth what their Ancestors took for a mere Fiction He came to the Crown of England by Lineal Descent and the Verbal Designation of Queen Elizabeth upon her Death-bed And the Conspiracy wherewith Cobham and Sir Walter Raleigh were charged to set him by the English Throne was no less Mystery than that of Goury's had been before The only uncontroverted Treason that happen'd in his Reign was the Gunpowder Plot The Gunpowder Plot. and yet the Letter to the Lord Mounteagle that pretended to discover it was but a Contrivance of his own the thing being discover'd to him before by Henry the Fourth of France through the means of Monsieur de Rhony after Duke of Sully King Henry paid dear for his Friendship to King Iames and there is reason to believe that it was upon this account among others that a Party of the Church of Rome employ'd Ravillac to murther that Great Man King Iames was equally happy and unhappy in every one of his Children The Character of Pr. Henry Prince Henry was the Darling of Mankind and a Youth of vast Hopes and wonderful Virtues but was too soon Man to be long-liv'd The Duke of Sully being in England to congratulate King Iames upon his Accession to the Crown laid the Foundation of a strict Friendship betwixt his Master and Prince Henry which was afterwards carried on by Letters and Messages till the Death of that King Though it 's a Secret to this day what was the real Design of all those vast Preparations that were made by Henry the Fourth for some time before his Death yet certain it is those Preparations were such as kept all Europe in suspense And I have seen some Papers that make it more than probable that Prince Henry was not only acquainted with the Secret but was engag'd in the Design But whatever it was it prov'd abortive by the Murther of that Excellent King just at the time when it was to have been declar'd his Army being ready to march Prince Henry surviv'd him but two years and dy'd universally lamented The World is very often willing to attribute the Untimely Death of Princes to unfair Practices and it was the general Rumour at that time that this Prince was poison'd Whatever was in it there is yet in Print a Sermon preach'd at St. Iames's upon the Dissolution of his Family that boldly insinuated some such thing And also Sir Francis Bacon Lord Chancellor of England in his Speech at the Trial of the Earl of Somerset had some Reflections upon the Intimacy of that Lord with Sir Thomas Overbury which seem to point that way insomuch that there were several Expressions left out of the printed Copy that were in the Speech But after all there is an Account in Print of what was observable upon the Opening of Prince Henry's Body under the Hand of Sir Theodore Mayerne and Five other Physicians Appendix Numb 5. from which there can be no Inference drawn that he was poyson'd The Second of King Iames's Children was the Princess Elizabeth Of Queen of Bohemia married to the Elector Palatine who was afterwards to his Ruin elected King of Bohemia It is hard to say whether the Virtues of this Lady or her Misfortunes were greater for as she was one of the best of Women she may be likewise reckon'd in the number of the most unfortunate King Iames thought to retrieve his Son-in-law's lost Fortune by the way of Treaty but in that and in every thing else the House of Austria outwitted him so that the poor Prince Palatine gain'd nothing by his Alliance with England but the hard Fate to be abandon'd by those whose Honour and Interest it was to support him Nor had the Crown of England any share in the Honour of re-establishing the Palatine Family which happen'd Thirty Years after for at the time of the Treaty of Munster when that matter was setled King Charles the First was so far from being in a condition to mediate for his Friends that he was himself a Prisoner to those very Enemies that in a few Months after the signing of that Treaty took his Life Of whom being the Youngest of King Iames's Children and of his Misfortunes there will be too much occasion to speak in the following
Sheets But to return to King Iames as he was equally happy and unhappy in his Children he was for the most part unhappy in his Favourites being oblig'd to abandon one upon the account of Overbury's Murther and coming to hate another the latter part of his Life as much as he had ever lov'd him before In order to obtain of the Emperor the Restoration of his Son-in-Law The Spanish Match he was wheedled into that Inglorious Counsel of sending the Prince into Spain for a Match that was either never design'd him or too late And it was more owing to Philip the Third's Generosity than to King Iames's Politicks that he ever saw England again To this Friendship with Spain he sacrific'd his own Honour with the Life of that Excellent Person Sir Walter Releigh This Gentleman after Fourteen Years Imprisonment in the Tower upon the account of a Mysterious Treason during which time he did oblige the World with one of the best Histories that ever was writ came to be set at liberty and was sent with an ample Commission which was judg'd by Lawyers equivalent to a Pardon to discover and take possession of new Countries and Mines in America He gave King Iames the Plan of his Design and of the Place he was to land at which prov'd the Ruin of that Enterprize for before he could get ready to sail from England the Court of Spain had a Copy of it which Sir Walter Raleigh found to his sad Experience was got to America before him and had thereby enabled the Spaniards to baffle the Attempt At his return to please the Spanish Ambassador who had got a mighty Ascendent over King Iames this last of Queen Elizabeth's Favourites lost his Head upon the former Sentence of Treason there being no other way to reach it All our Histories have mention'd at large the business of the Spanish Match K. Iames's Conduct in the business of the Palatinate but few or none King Iames's Conduct in that of the Palatinate which can hardly be express'd under a softer name than one continued Infatuation on his part The Account of this Matter is writ with the greatest Exactness though as favourably for King Iames as was possible by the Learned Spanhemius in his History of Lowyse Iuliane Electrice Palatine Daughter of William Prince of Orange and Mother to the King of Bohemia who out-liv'd her Son and was one of the greatest Paterns of Virtue that any Age has produc'd Referring the Reader to the Book it self I shall only mention a few things out of it To make this Book and the matter of the Palatinate better understood it 's to be remembred That the Elector after his Marriage with King Iames's Daughter was elected King of Bohemia as the most powerful Prince at that time of the Empire to oppose the House of Austria and protect the Liberty of that Kingdom He was scarce Crown'd but he lost both his New Kingdom and his Ancient Inheritance of the Palatinate by the Battel of Prague where his Army was entirely defeated and he himself forc'd to fly leaving Bohemia and the Palatinate both a Prey to the Emperor Though the Parliament of England was zealous to restore the Palatine Family by Force of Arms as the most effectual means to do it and had offer'd great Supplies to that purpose yet King Iames was so lull'd asleep with the Insinuations of Gundamor the Spanish Ambassador that he could be brought to no other Methods but those of Treaty While he was sending one Embassy after another to Vienna and Brussels the poor King of Bohemia seeing how little was to be expected from them ventur'd to try his Fortune once more in the Palatinate and with the Assistance of Count Mansfield and the Duke of Brunswick beat the Imperialists in several Rencounters and repossess'd himself of several Towns But when he was in a fair way to be Master of the Whole he was obliged to retire and disband his Army merely to please King Iames who was possess'd of this wild Notion That to lay down his Arms was the only way to get good Terms from the Emperor Upon which a Treaty was set a foot at Brussels where King Iames consented by way of Preliminary That his Son-in-Law should not only wave the Title of the King of Bohemia but that of Elector Palatine which had not hitherto been question'd and which the poor Prince was forc'd to comply with This Treaty after a great many other Mortifications put upon the Palatine Family and upon K. Iames himself was by a Contrivance of the Emperor transferr'd to Ratisbon and came to nothing at last as all the other Treaties had done But while the Imperialists were thus amusing King Iames with Terms of Accommodation and that the King of Bohemia had disarm'd himself to please his Father-in-Law Heidleburgh and all the other places he had recover'd before together with the rest of the Palatinate were all seiz'd by the Emperor except only Frankendale which continued to make a vigorous Resistance It would look like a Dream to imagine that King Iames should oblige his Son-in-Law to quit this place also the only one left him of his whole Countrey and that as the only effectual way to get back all the rest Yet it 's true he did so and that at the very time that the Emperor had actually transferr'd the Electoral Dignity from the Palatine Family to the House of Bavaria For Frankendale being a Town then of great Strength The business of Frankendale and the Spaniards lying expos'd to the daily Excursions of its Garison they found a way to trick King Iames out of it in this manner Gundomar represents to him That it being the only place left in the Palatinate it could not hold out much longer and that there was but one way to save it for his Son-in-Law which was To put it into the hands of the Governor of Flanders for some time till things might be brought to an Accommodation by the Treaty then on foot and if there should happen any Interruption in it then the Town should be render'd back to King Iames for the use of his Son-in-Law in the same Condition together with a free Passage for Fifteen hundred Foot and Two hundred Horse to take possession of it and Six Months Provisions King Iames being willing to do any thing rather than break with Spain agreed to this strange Proposition and Frankendale was deliver'd up to the Governor of Flanders for Fifteen Months under these Conditions But the Treaty being once more broke off and the time elaps'd when King Iames demanded that Frankendale should be restor'd it was told him That he might have the Town but by the Terms of the Agreement he was to have a Passage for his Troops through the Spanish Low-Countries but that there was no Article That he should have a Passage through any other Places that were in their possession in Germany And thus King Iames was once more
to Confusion was nothing strange Nor was Serjeant Wild's Introduction at the opening of his Charge any thing but what might have been expected at such a time when he told the Lorâ—s That it might be said of the Great Cause of the Archbishop of Canterbury as it was in a like Case Repertum est hodierno die facinus quod nec Poeta fingere nec Histrio sonare nec Mimus imitari potuer it But it was indeed strange and none of the least of this Great Man's Misfortunes That Three Years before he should be declar'd by the House of Commons a Traytor Nemine contradicente at a time when there was not the least Misunderstanding betwixt the King and Parliament being within the first Month after they sat down And which was yet stranger That no body was more severe upon him than some of those that afterwards took the King's Part against the Parliament and were at last the chief Instruments of his Son's Restoration Whoever reads Sir Harbottle Grimstone's Speech upon voting his Impeachment or Pym's upon carrying it up to the Lords will be apt to think That scarce any Age has produc'd a Man whose Actions and Conduct have been more obnoxious to Obloquy or given greater occasion for it There was one Thread that run through his whole Accusation and upon which most of the Articles of his Impeachment turn'd and that was his Inclination to Popery and his design to introduce the Romish Religion Of which his Immortal Book against Fisher and his Declaration at his Death do sufficiently acquit him And yet not Protestants only but even Roman-Catholicks themselves were led into this Mistake otherwise they would not have dar'd to offer one in his Post a Cardinal's Cap as he confesses in his Diary they did twice The Introduction of a great many Pompous Ceremonies into the Church the Licensing some Books that spoke favourably of the Church of Rome and the refusing to License others that were writ against it were the principal Causes of his being thus misrepresented And indeed his Behaviour in some of these matters as likewise in the Star-Chamber and High-Commission-Court can hardly be accounted for and particularly his Theatrical manner of Consecrating a New Church in London Appendix Numb 7. related at length in the Appendix He was certainly in spite of Malice a Man of an elevated Capacity and vast Designs a great Encourager of Learning and Learned Men and spar'd no Pains nor Cost to enrich England with such a Noble Collection of Books and Manuscripts in most Languages as look'd rather like the Bounty of a King than of a Subject As he left behind him many lasting Monuments of his Beneficence to the Learned World so was he in a way to have carry'd it much further if his Misfortunes had not interven'd and depriv'd Learning of so powerful a Benefactor But after all as there is seldom found a Mind so Great but has some Allay so it seems Archbishop Laud notwithstanding his excellent Endowments was not Proof against either the Impression of Dreams or Revenge of Personal Affronts though never so trivial in themselves nor the Person never so mean Of the one witness his taking so particular notice in his Diary of several of his Dreams and of the other his carrying his Resentments so far against Archie the King's Fool for a mere Iest that he had him turn'd out of Court by an Order of Council Which being so unaccountable a piece of Weakness in so great a Man and done at a full Board the King and the Archbishop present the Order is plac'd in the Appendix Appendix Numb 8. for a remarkable Instance how far the Greatest of Men may at some times be left without a Guard against Passion To return to King Charles he did every thing that was possible to give satisfaction to the Parliament or could be reasonably expected from a Gracious and Beneficent Prince He pass'd the Bill for Attainting the Earl of Strafford though with reluctancy as believing he deserv'd not such hard measure He took away Monopolies that had been a great Discouragement to Trade He express'd himself to their Contentment in the matters of Loan Ship-money Tunnage and Poundage and other unwarrantable Methods that had been us'd in raising Money and show'd a settled Resolution to comply with them in every thing that might tend to the Ease and Security of the Subject As in the preceding Parliament he had past the Petition of Right so in the beginning of this he had agreed to the Acts for Triennial Parliaments and for abolishing the Star-Chamber and High Commission Courts which had been great Grievances and with Chearfulness pass'd that Act which seem'd inconsistent with his own just Prerogative That that Parliament should not be dissolv'd but by Act of Parliament nor prorogu'd or adjourn'd but by their own Consent The King having upon these Concessions receiv'd the Publick Thanks of Both Houses and the loud Applauses of his People took a Journey for Scotland in August 1641. to settle matters there that requir'd his Presence leaving the Parliament sitting which they continued to do for some time and then adjournâ—d themselves to October following At the King 's going away Affairs had been already settled betwixt the two Kingdoms by an Act of Pacification and both Armies order'd to be disbanded the Scots returning home for that purpose While the King was in Scotland The Irish Rebellion the Irish Rebellion broke out which became a new Bone of Contention between the King and the Parliaments of both Nations He took what Measures were possible in Scotland about suppressing that Rebellion and made what haste he could back to England to concert with the Parliament there what was further to be done towards it leaving the Scots as he said himself a contented People and every thing settled to their mind both in Church and State He return'd to London the latter end of November and was receiv'd with all demonstrations of Affection The Lord-Mayor and Aldermen the Nobility Gentry and Train'd-Bands met him without the City and conducted him in great State with the Acclamations of the People the City-Companies in their Formalities lining the Streets on each side to Guildhall where he was Royally Feasted and after Dinner conducted with the same Pomp to Whitehall What man that had seen a Prince thus receiv'd into his Capital City could have imagin'd that within less than Seven Weeks he should be oblig'd to leave it upon the account of Tumults never to see it again but as a Prisoner brought thither to dye upon a Scaffold Yet this was King Charles's hard Fortune And it 's here I would willingly draw a Veil over the remaining part of his Reign that ended in one of the most dismal Tragedies that ever was acted upon the English Stage His Virtues and Morals deserv'd a better Fate and he suffer'd for the Faults of others rather than Errors of his own The House of Commons had begun some
for levying that part of the Customs that had been granted to his Brother only for Life an◠was expir'd at his Death This was not only an open Violation of his Promise in his foremention'd Speech but of our Fundamental Constitution by which no Money can be levied on the Subject but by their Consent in Parliament As it was contrary to Law so it was altogether needless at that time since a Parliament was to meet within a few days which no body doubted would in a Parliamentary way continue the same Customs for his Life as they had been for his Brother's He was not the first Prince that did illegally seize what he had no right to But few Instances can be given of a King that did openly violate the Constitution of his Countrey to obtain that which he was certain would be granted him in a Legal Manner and with the Good-will of his People Notwithstanding this unusual Stretch of Power upon his entring into the Administration yet the Parliament he had call'd sat down in a good Humour and with a hearty Inclination to do every thing in compliance with him that might tend to his Honour or Safety His Speech to both Houses was much of the same Strain with his former to the Council upon his Brother's death but more full He demanded the setling of his Revenue during Life as it was in his Brother's time and acquainted them with the Earl of Argyle ' s Landing in Scotland and threaten'd to reward his Treason as it deserv'd This Speech buoy'd up the Minds of the People that had been sufficiently stunn'd before with the Unpresidented Proclamation for levying the Customs And so earnest was the Parliament to give the King no just occasion of Displeasure and so great a Confidence did they place in a Royal Promise from the Throne that they immediately complied with him in the matter of the Revenue thank'd him for his Speech and resolv'd by an Unanimous Vote To assist him with their Lives and Fortunes against the Earl of Argyle and all other his Enemies whatsoever Some few days after the Bill for setling his Revenue was presented to him for his Assent upon which Occasion he made them another Memorable Speech He thank'd them for the Bill told them of want of Stores in the Navy and Ordnance of the Anticipations that were upon several Branches of the Revenue of the Debts due to his Brother's Servants and Family which he said were such as deserv'd Compassion and of the extraordinary Charges he must be at in suppressing the Rebellion in Scotland Upon all which accounts he demanded an Extraordinary Supply and summ'd up all with recommending to them the Care of the Navy which he was pleas'd to call the Strength and Glory of the Nation And in the end told them He could not express his Concern upon that occasion more suitable to his own thoughts of it than by assuring them He had a true English Heart as jealous of the Honour of the Nation as Theirs could be And that he pleas'd himself with the Hopes Appendix Numb 12. His 〈◊〉 Speech to the Parliament That by God's Blessing and the Parliament's Assistance he might carry the Reputation of it higher in the World than ever it had been in the time of any of his Ancestors It was no wonder that a Speech of this Strain so becoming an English Monarch did meet with a kind Reception from an English Parliament and be answer'd as it was with a large Supply since a Neighbouring Court was thereupon at a stand what to think of a Prince they had reckon'd upon as their own and of whose real Friendship this unexpected Speech gave them ground to doubt They well knew that a true English Heart was diametrically opposite to their Designs and that a King jealous of the Honour of the English Nation must needs be an Enemy to all Encroachments of any Neighbouring State To plunge that Court yet the more into a Maze of Thoughts about King Iames upon this Occasion the carrying the Reputation of England yet higher in the World than ever it had been in the time of any of his Ancestors were Words that seem'd to promise no less than the imitating or rather out-doing of an Edward III. or a Henry V. that had rais'd to themselves immortal Trophies at the Expence of their Neighbours and wrote their own Panegyricks with their Enemies Blood How this Speech was relish'd abroad cannot be better express'd than in Two Letters writ at that time by a certain Great Minister to an Ambassador here which being communicated to me by a Noble Person into whose hands many of that Ambassador's Papers happen'd to fall upon the late Revolution they are plac'd at length in the Appendix Appendix Numb 13. in English In the first of these Letters That Minister discovers a sort of diffidence in King Iames as if he were not the Man they had taken him for Expresses his Fears that a Cordial Agreement between him and the Parliament might unhindge all the Measures had been so long a concerting betwixt him and his Master when King James was but Duke of York He recommends to the Ambassador to enquire narrowly into the Motives and the Advisers of this Speech to the Parliament as the most considerable Service that could be done in that Juncture The other Letter chides the Ambassador for not being yet able to sound King James's Intentions and tells him They had receiv'd from a sure hand better News than what it appears the Ambassador had writ And which is most remarkable in the whole Letter there is in it a plain Insinuation That there was in that Court some great matter under consideration concerning the Edict of Nants which was not to be declar'd until King James's Intentions were fully known And concludes with a Command to the Ambassador to sift out how King James stood affected to the Prince of Orange What discoveries were made in obedience to these Letters can be no otherwise guess'd at but by the Event for at this very time the Unfortunate Duke of Monmouth by a desperate ill-tim'd Attempt to overturn King Iames's Throne did all that in him lay to fix it the faster King Charles as I have said lov'd Monmouth tenderly and all the Disgraces and Hardships that had of late Years been put upon him were rather the effects of Fear and Policy than Inclination or Choice He was fond of him to that degree that though he was the greatest Master in the Art of Dissimulation yet he could not refrain sometimes in Company where he might be free from regretting his own hard Fortune which necessitated him to frown upon a Son whose greatest Crime was to have incurr'd his Brother's Displeasure His Fondness was yet more express'd in his Behaviour to the Duke of Monmouth upon the Discovery of that which was call'd the Protestant Plot and in the manner he brought him back to Court after the Ferment was a little abated All the
me and having formerly serv'd me on several Occasions and always approv'd the Loyalty of their Principles by their Practices I think them now fit to be Employ'd under me and will deal plainly with you That after having had the benefit of their Services in such time of need and danger I will neither expose them to Disgrace nor my self to the Want of them if there should be another Rebellion to make them necessary to me And at last he tells them That he was afraid some may hope that a difference might happen betwixt Him and his Parliament on that occasion which he cannot apprehend can befal him or that any thing can shake them in their Loyalty to him who will ever make all returns of kindness and protection and venture his Life in the Defence of the true Interest of the Nation It was no wonder That this Speech surpriz'd a people who valu'd themselves so much upon their Liberties and thought themselves secure of them both from the Constitution of their Government and the solemn repeated promises of their Prince They found too late that their fears in the former Reign of a Popish Successor were too well grounded and how inconsistent a Roman Catholick King is with a Protestant Kingdom The Parliament did in humble manner represent the inconvenience that might attend such Measures The Parliaments Address to K. Iames upon that Speech at least to render him inexcusable for what might Ensue And that they might not be wanting to themselves and their Posterity they Voted an Address wherein they told him That they had with all duty and readiness taken into Consideration His Majesty's Gracious Speech And as to that part of it relating to the Officers of the Army not qualified for their Employment according to the Act of Parliament they did out of their bounden duty humbly Represent to His Majesty That these Officers could not by Law be capable of their Employments and that the Incapacities they bring upon themselves that way could no ways be taken off but by an Act of Parliament Therefore out of that great Reverence and Duty they ow'd to His Majesty they were preparing a Bill to indemnify them from the inconveniences they had now incurr'd And because the continuing them in their Employments may be taken to be a dispensing with Law without an Act of Parliament the consequence of which was of the greatest concern to the Rights of all his Subjects and to all the Laws made for the security of their Religion Therefore they most humbly beseech His Majesty That he would be graciously pleas'd to give such Directions therein that no Apprehensions or Iealousies might remain in the hearts of his Subjects Over and above what was contain'd in this Address the House of Commons were willing to capacitate by an Act of Parliament such a Number of the Roman Catholick Officers as King Iames should give a List of But both this Offer and the Address was highly resented and notwithstanding that they were preparing a Bill for a considerable Supply to Answer his extraordinary Occasions and had sent to the Tower one of their Members for speaking indecently of his Speech King Iames was influenc'd to part with this his first and only Parliament in displeasure upon the Fourth day after they presented the Address As his former Speeches to his Council and Parliament had put a Foreign Court to a Stand what to think of him so this last put them out of pain and convinc'd them he was intirely Theirs Their sense of it can hardly be better express'd than in a Letter from Abroad contain'd in the Appendix Appendix Numb 17. which by its Stile though in another Hand seems to be from the same Minister that writ the two former In which he tells the Ambassador here That he needed not a surer Character of King James and his Intentions than this last Speech to the Parliament by which they were convinc'd of his former Resolution to throw off the Fetters which Hereticks would impose upon him and to act for the time to come En Maistre as Master A word till then altogether Foreign to the English Constitution What other Effects this Speech had upon the Minds of People at Home and Abroad may be easily guess'd from the different Interests they had in it Nor is it to be pass'd over without some Remark That the Revocation of the Edict of Nants which probably had been some time under Consideration before was now put in Execution to the Astonishment of all Europe The Parliament being dissolv'd and no visible means left to retrieve the Liberties of England King Iames made haste to accomplish the Grand Design which a head strong Party about him push'd on as the certain way in their opinion to Eternize his Name in this World and to merit an Eternal Crown in the other They foresaw that this was the Critical Iuncture and the only one that happen'd since the days of Queen Mary to Restore their Religion in England And if they were wanting to themselves in making use of it the prospect of a Protestant Successor would infallibly prevent their having any such opportunity for the future King Iames was pretty far advanc'd in years and what was to be done requir'd Expedition for all their labour would be lost if he should die before the accomplishment If he had been Younger or the next presumptive Heir had not been a Protestant there had been no such absolute necessity for Dispatch But the Uncertainty of the King's Life call'd for more than ordinary diligence in a Design that depended meerly upon it The Party being resolv'd for these Reasons to bring about in the Compass of one Single Life and that already far spent what seem'd to be the Work of a whole Age they made large steps towards it Roman-Catholicks were not only Employ'd in the Army but brought into Places of greatest Trust in the State The Earl of Clarendon was forthwith remov'd from the Office of Privy-Seal and the Government of Ireland to make room for the Earl of Tyrconel in the one and the Lord Arundel in the other Father Peters a Iesuit was sworn of the Privy Council And though by the Laws it was High-Treason for any to assume the Character of the Pope's Nuncio A Pope's Nuncio in England yet these were become too slender Cobwebs to hinder a Roman Prelate to appear publickly at London in that Quality Duke of Somerset and one of the greatest Peers of England was disgrac'd for not paying him that Respect which the Laws of the Land made Criminal To bear the Publick Character of Ambassador to the Pope An Ambâ—ssador sent to Rome was likewise an open Violation of the Laws But so fond was the governing Party about King Iames to show their new-acquir'd Trophies at Rome that the Earl of Castlemain was dispatch'd thither Extraordinary Ambassador with a Magnificent Train and a most Sumptuous Equipage What his Secret Instructions were may be
partly guess'd by his Publick ones which were To Reconcile the Kingdoms of England Scotland and Ireland to the Holy See from which they had for more than an Age fallen off by Heresy Innocent XI And slighted by the Pope receiv'd this Embassy as one that saw further than those who sent it The Ambassador had but a cold Reception of the Holy Father and none of the Cardinals but those of a particular Faction and the good-natur'd Cardinal of Norfolk took any further notice of it than Good Manners oblig'd them The Court of Rome were too refin'd Politicians to be impos'd upon with Show and Noise and knew the World too well to expect great Matters from such hasty ill-tim'd Advances as were made to them Not only so but Innocent having an Aversion in his Nature to a Faction he knew King Iames was embark'd in which he never took pains to dissemble was not over-fond of an Embassy from a Prince who was in an Interest he had long wish'd to see humbled King Iames met with nothing but Mortifications at Rome in the Person of his Ambassador which occasion'd his making as short a Stay as was possible In which may be seen the vast difference there was at that time betwixt the Politicks of Italy and those of a head-strong Party in England And however the World has been impos'd upon to believe that the Pope's Nuncio at the English Court who is since made a Cardinal was an Instrument to push on things to extremities yet certain it is he had too much good sense to approve of all the Measures that were taken and therefore desir'd often to be recall'd lest he should be thought to have a hand in them Although the Earl of Castlemain was pleas'd upon his Examination before the Parliament to say that his Embassy to Rome was only such as is between Two Temporal Princes about Compliment and Commerce yet Father Warner in his Manuscript History quoted by a Learned Author * Dr. Gee's Animadversions on the Iesuits Memorial for the Intended Reformation of England under the first Popish Prince London 1690. gives us another account of it in these words Things being thus setled says he within the Realm the next care his Majesty had was to unite his Countries to the Obedience of the Bishop of Rome and the Apostolick See which had been cut off by Heresy about an Age and a half before To try the Pope's Inclination In the Year 1685. he sent Mr. Carryl thither who succeeding according to his Wishes and being recall'd the Earl of Castlemain was sent the next Year as Extraordinary Ambassador to the Pope in the Name of the King and the Catholicks of England to make their Submission to the Holy See Castlemain had several Audiences of the Pope but to little purpose for whenever he began to talk of Business the Pope was seasonably attack'd with a Fit of Coughing which broke off the Ambassador's Discourse for that time and oblig'd him to retire These Audiences and Fits of Coughing continued from time to time while Castlemain continued at Rome and were the subject of diversion to all but a particular Faction at that Court. At length he was advis'd to come to Threats and to give out that he would be gone since he could not have an opportunity to treat with the Pope about the Business he came for Innocent was so little concern'd for the Ambassador's Resentment that when they told him of it he answer'd with his ordinary Coldness E bene se vuol andarsene ditegli adonque che si levi di buon matino al fresco e che a mezzo giorno si reposi per che in questi paesi non bisogna viaggiare al caldo del giorno Well! let him go and tell him It were fit he rise early in the Morning that he may rest himself at Noon for in this Countrey it 's dangerous to travel in the Heat of the Day In the end he was recall'd being able to obtain of the Pope two trifling Requests only that could hardly be denied to an ordinary Courier The one was a License for the Mareschal d' Humiers's Daughter to marry her Vncle Mercure Historick pour Iune 1687. And the other a Dispensation of the Statutes of the Iesuits Order to Father Peters to enjoy a Bishoprick The want of which says my Author was the reason that the Archbishoprick of York was kept so long vacant Though the Pope carried himself in this manner towards the English Ambassador The Jesuits Noble Entertainment of the English Ambassador at Rome yet the Iesuits paid him the highest Respect imaginable which did him no service with the Old Man for He and That Order were never hearty Friends They entertain'd him in their Seminary with the greatest Magnificence and nothing was wanting in Nature or Art to grace his Reception All their Stores of Sculpture Painting Poetry and Rhetorick seem to have been exhausted upon this Entertainment And though all the Inscriptions and Emblems did center upon the Triumph of the Romish Religion and the Ruin of Heresy in England yet Care was taken not to omit such particular Trophies and Devices as were adapted to their new-acquir'd Liberty of setting up their Publick Schools at London Among a great many other Panegyricks upon King Iames the following Distich was plac'd below an Emblem of England Restituit Veterem tibi Religionis honorem Anglia Magnanimi Regis aperta sides The open Zeal of this Magnanimous King has restor'd to England its Ancient Religion There was also this Inscription put round King Iames's Picture Potentissimo Religiosissimo Magnae Britanniae REGI JACOBO II. Generosâ Catholicae Fidei Confessione Regnum Auspicanti ET INNOCENTIO XI P. M. Per Legatum Nobilissimum Sapientissimum D. Rogerium Palmerium Comitem de Castelmain Obsequium deferenti Collegium Romanum Regia Virtutâ—m Insignia dedicat To the most Potent and most Religious JAMES the Second King of Great Britain beginning his Reign with the Generous Confession of the Catholick Faith AND Paying his Obedience to Pope INNOCENT XI By the most Noble and most Wise D. Roger Palmer Earl of Castlemain The Roman College Dedicates These Royal Emblems of his Virtues In the Great Hall the Ambassador was Harangued by the Rector of the College in a Latin Speech which to show the vain Hopes they had of King Iames and their own Fortune at that time is plac'd in the Appendix Appendix Numb 18. Nouveau Voyage d' Italie Edit 3. Tom. 2. Par Monsicur Misson with a Translation of it into English Referring the Reader for the rest of that Solemnity to an Ingenious Gentleman that was then upon the Place and has given a particular Account of it But yet it may not be amiss to mention what the same Gentleman tells us of a Device that related to King Iames's having a Son which was A Lilly from whose Leaves there distill'd some Drops of Water which as the Naturalists say
Inclinations of the Prince and Princess of Orange in that matter The Prince and Princess had look'd on with a silent Regret upon all the unlucky Steps that were making in England and were unwilling to publish their Opinion of them since they knew it could not but be displeasing to King Iames. To know their Highnesses mind in the business of the Penal Laws and Test was a thing the most desir'd by the Protestants but there was no possible way to come to this knowledge if King Iames himself had not help'd them to it Mr. Stuart The Prince and Princess of Orange's Opinion about the Penal Laws and Test declar'd in Pensionary Fagell's Letter since Sir Iames Stuart had been pardon'd by King Iames and receiv'd into Favour after a long Banishment He had been acquainted in Holland with the late Pensionary Fagel and persuaded himself of a more than ordinary Friendship with that Wise Minister The King foresaw it was his Interest to find out some one way or other the Prince and Princess's Thoughts of these matters which if they agreed with his own were to be made publick if otherwise were to be conceal'd And Mr. Stuart took that Task upon himself Pensionary Fagel was in a great Post in Holland and in a near Intimacy with the Prince one that was entirely trusted by him and ever firm to his Interest To know the Pensionary's Opinion was thought to be the same with knowing the Prince's since it was to be suppos'd that he would not venture to write of any thing that concern'd England especially such a nice Point as was then in question without the Prince's Approbation at least if not his positive Direction Upon these Considerations and upon a Mistake that Mr. Stuart was in about the Constitution of Holland as if the Roman-Catholicks were not there excluded from Employments and Places of Trust he writ a Letter to Pensionary Fagel It 's needless to give any account of the Letter it self since Fagel's Answer together with what has been already said do give a sufficient Hint of the Design and Scope of it So averse were the Prince and Princess of Orange to meddle and so unwilling to allow Pensionary Fagel to return to this Letter an Answer which they knew would not be pleasing that Mr. Stuart writ by the King's direction five or six more before it was thought fit to answer them But at length their Highnesseâ— were in a manner forc'd to it by the Reports that were industriously spread abroad in England by the Emissaries of the Court as if the Pensionary in an Answer to Mr. Stuart had acquainted him That the Prince and Princess agreed with the King in the Design of taking off the Penal Laws and Test. This was not all for the Marquess de Albeville the English Envoy at the Hague was put upon writing over to several persons That the Prince of Orange had told him the very same thing which Letter of Albeville's was likewise made publick Such Reports were enough to shake the Constancy of all those that design'd to stand firm to the Interest of the Establish'd Church in the ensuing Parliament and to make them give all up for lost To do themselves Justice and to disabuse a Nation they had so near an Interest in Pensionary Fagel was directed by the Prince and Princess to write one Answer to all Mr. Stuart ' s Letters to this purpose That being desir'd by Mr. Stuart to let him know the Prince and Princess of Orange's Thoughts concerning the Repeal of the Penal Laws and more particularly concerning the Test he told him That he would write without Reserve since Mr. Stuart had said in his Letters that they were writ by the King's Knowledge and Allowance That it was the Prince and Princess's Opinion That no Christian ought to be persecuted for his Conscience or be ill us'd because he differs from the Publick and Establish'd Religion And therefore that they can consent That the Papists in England Scotland and Ireland be suffer'd to continue in their Religion with as much Liberty as is allow'd them by the States of Holland in which it cannot be denied but they enjoy a full Liberty of Conscience And as to the Dissenters their Highnesses did not only consent but did heartily approve of their having an entire Liberty for the full Exercise of their Religion And that their Highnesses were ready to concur to the setling and confirming this Liberty and protect and defend it and likewise confirm it with their Guarantee which Mr. Stuart had mention'd And if his Majesty continues the Pensionary desires their Concurrence in Repealing the Penal Laws their Highnesses were ready to give it provided these Laws remain still in their full force by which the Roman-Catholicks are shut out of both Houses of Parliament and out of all Publick Employments Ecclesiastical Civil and Military as likewise those other Laws which confirm the Protestant Religion and which secure it against all the Attempts of the Roman-Catholicks But their Highnesses cannot agree to the Repeal of the Test and those other Penal Laws last mention'd that tend to the Security of the Protestant Religion since the Roman-Catholicks receive no other Prejudices from these than the being excluded from Parliament and Publick Employments More than this adds Pensionary Fagel their Highnesses do think ought not be ask'd or expected and they wondred how any that profess'd themselves Christians and that may enjoy their Religion freely and without disturbance can judge it lawful for them to disturb the Quiet of any Kingdom or State or overturn Constitutions that so they themselves may be admitted to Employments and that these Laws in which the Security and Quiet of the Establish'd Religion consists should be shaken And as to what Mr. Stuart had writ That the Roman-Catholicks in Holland were not shut out from Employments and Places of Trust he tells him He was grosly mistaken The Pensionary concludes That their Highnesses could not concur with his Majesty in these matters for they believ'd they should have much to answer to God for if the consideration of any present Advantage should carry them to consent to things which they believe would not only be dangerous but mischievous to the Protestant Religion Thus far Pensionary Fagel And I would not have dwelt so long upon this Letter of his if it were not for the Noble Scheme of a just Liberty in matters of Conscience that 's therein contain'd Notwithstanding it was still given out at Court and that even after it came to Mr. Stuart's hands That he had writ the quite contrary though it 's but Charity to suppose that Mr. Stuart was a Man of more Honour than to contribute to the Report At last there was a necessity of making publick the Pensionary's Letter in several Languages which had wonderful Influence upon the Minds of the Protestants of England and was highly resented by King Iames. However King Iames had more than one Method in his View how
eaque quibus nunc frueris bona et si post ingens à Te pretiumâ— persolutum Tibi reddita fuerint non à Te coempta arbitrabitur sed quadam Superum prodigentiâ dona data Tibi demum gratulor praestantissime Orator quod tam faustum diem videris in Anglia detuleris in Vrbem Nam de Sapientia Tuâ quâ per eruditissimos libros Haeresim profligasti nihil attinet dicere nihil de Fortitudine quâ Carceres ipsos pro Catholica Religione tuenda non tam pertulisti quà m decorasti nil de Prudentia Nobilitate caeterisque dotibus Tuis Hoc unum universa Tua decora comprehendit quod ad maximum totius Regni negotium hoc est ut splendidissimâ— fungereris apud Innocentium P. M. legatione Iacobus II. Magnae Britanniae Rex maximus Te unum elegit quia unus dignus erat eligi alter eligere The Speech of the Rector of the College of Iesuits to his Excellency Roger Earl of Castlemain SIR YOU must not think this College alone can be mute and if they could their Silence must be a Crime at a Time when this City is filled with Vniversal Ioy upon the News of your Excellency's Arrival and all Places resound the Praises of James the Second and the Obligations the Catholick Church has to that Illustrious Prince I in the Name of this Learned Body do in the first place congratulate thee Innocent in whose Reign this flourishing Imperial Crown is added to the Papal Diadem It is now your Holiness can properly use that Apostolick Expression My Joy and my Crown Heaven has deferr'd this happy Day thus long That so great a Blessing might not be obtained without long and unwearied Prayers and at last effected when Two such Princes as James and Innocent should concur to reign the one in England and the other in Rome What a Support have all Catholick Kings gained by this Accession What an Honour has the Orthodox Faith receiv'd and what a Defence against the Enemies of the Name of Christ The Thunder of his Invincible Fleet will strike greater Terror into the Pyrates of Barbary and the Levant than Storms and Waves can do How highly blest art Thou O Britain Empress of the Ocean once secluded from the Earth now Mistress of the Commerce of the Eastern and Western World What Prosperity may'st thou not hope for under the Reign of so Excellent a Prince Raise thy Hopes Raise thy Courage and banish all unjust and unseasonable Fears I have no Inclination at this time to recount those Disasters and Calamities which England has been the Theatre for above an Age past to the Grief and Astonishment of the rest of the World But if Providence has made these the Steps for James the Second to mount the Throne I can hardly refrain declaring how cheaply thou hast purchased so great a Blessing It is certain their present Happiness will create Envy in succeeding Times and however dear it has cost them Posterity will esteem it more the Bounty and Profusion of Heaven than a Recompence of their Sufferings In the last place I must congratulate your Excellency who has first seen this happy Day at home and has next been the Messenger to bring it hither I shall not here presume to praise your Great Wisdom your Learned Writings against Heresy that steady Courage you have shewn in those many Prisons you have honour'd for your Zeal to the True Religion your prudent Conduct or your other extraordinary Qualities All these are summ'd up in one and your Character is in fine compleated by the Choice your Great Master has made of you to sustain the most considerable Affair of his Kingdom The present Glorious Embassy In which all the World must own Him to be the most competent Iudge and You the fittest Person NUMB. XIX The Answer of the Vice President and Fellows of Magdalen-College Oxon before the Ecclesiastical Commissioners Why they could not in Conscience comply with the King's Mandate THE said Vice-President and other deputed Fellows answered and said That the said Colledge of St. Mary Magdalen in Oxon is a Body Corporate governed by Local Statutes granted and confirmed to them by His Majesty's Royal Predecessor King Henry the 6th for Him and His Heirs and Successors under the Great Seal of England which are also since confirmed by several other Letters Patents of others of his Majesty's Royal Predecessors under the Great Seal of England That by the said Statutes of the College to the observation of which each Fellow is sworn it is ordered That the Person elected President thereof shall be a Man of good Life and Reputation approved Understanding and good Temper Discreet Provident and Circumspect both in Spiritual and Temporal Affairs And at the time of Election of a President the said Fellows are bound by the said Statutes to take an Oath that they shall nominate none to that office but such as are or have been Fellows of the said Colledge or of New-Colledge in Oxon or if they are not actually Fellows at that time of Election that they be such as have left their Fellowships in their respective Colledges upon credible accounts And when two qualified persons shall be nominated at the time of Election by the greater number of all the Fellows to the said Office of President the thirteen Seniors also swear that they will Elect one of them whom in their Consciences they think most proper and sufficient most discreet most useful and best qualified for the Place without any regard to love hatred favour or fear And every Fellow when he is first admitted into his Fellowship in the said Colledge swears that he will inviolably keep and observe all the Statutes and Ordinances of the Colledge and every thing therein contained so far as does or may concern him according to the plain literal and grammatical sense and meaning thereof and as much as in him lies will cause the same to be kept and observed by others and that he will not procure any Dispensation contrary to his aforesaid Oath or any part thereof nor contrary to the Statutes and Ordinances to which it relates or any of them nor will he endeavour that such Dispensations shall be procured by any other or others publickly or privately directly or indirectly And if it shall happen that any Dispensation of this sort of whatsoever Authority it shall be whether in general or particular or under what form of Words soever it be granted that he will neither make use of it nor in any sort consent thereunto That upon Notice of the Death of Dr. Clark Late President of the said Colledge the Vice-President called a Meeting of the said Fellows in order to the appointing a day for the Election of a new President and the 13th of April was the time prefix'd with power to proâ—ogue the same as they should see cause till the 15th beyond which time they could not statutably defer their Election and in