being Eleven of them in the Tower Wisheech Newgate and no more This Favour had many Reasons to speak for it First To let all those who were inquisitive about the Event of his Highness Journey take notice that there was yet life in the Treaty by the motion of this Pulse Secondly To gratifie the most obnoxious of that Religion for requital of the Entertainment his Highness had among them Thirdly In Retaliation for the Prisoners that were set at Liberty in Spain to Congratulate the Princes welcom Fourthly That his Highness might keep his Word with those of that way who had done him good Offices abroad to whom he had said Cab. p. 251. That though the Marriage were broken his Catholick Subjects should not fare the worse for it Therefore hear what Mr. Secretary Conway Writes to the Lord Keeper October 7. Right Honorable HIs Majesty calling to Mind His promise to the Spanish Ambassadors for giving Liberty to the Priests requires your Lordship to prepare the Ordinance for their Liberty and to put it in Execution the rest of the Pardons being suspended till the Solemnizing the Marriage And His Majesty would that you should signifie so much to the Ambassadors in your own Person to acquaint them with His Mindfulness And then that your Lordship will be pleased to move the Ambassadors as giving them a good opportunity to do an acceptable Work that they would move for the Releasement of Dr. Whiting from Imprisonment who for his Sermon Preach'd at Hampton-Court stands committed but His Majesty will have him remain suspended from Preaching untill His further Pleasure be known Now for the Letters which his Majesty was made to believe were dispersed to the Magistrates Spiritual and Temporal about the Suspension of the Laws because his Majesty was disobeyed in it the Lord Keeper after he had seen the Inclination of the Court in three or four days wrote to the Secretary who knew all the Passages to put the Duke upon it to acquaint the King with the Naked Truth and fore-speak Displeasure Upon which Mr. Secretary Conway returns this Octob. 11. from Royston Right Honorable SO soon as I received your Letter with the like Observation that I will use in all your Command I took the Duke of Buckingham just as he was going to the King and had no more time with him but to tell him that Point touching your Wise and Moderate Retention of the Letters to the Bishops and Justices The Duke prepared the King so well as His Majesty gave me order to signifie to you that those Letters should still be retained unless some Complaints should make change of Counsels or the Accomplishment on the other side equal that of ours and occasion another step forward That Wise and Moderate way of your Lordships will ever get you Estimation and Ease I am glad to see how brave a Friend you have of the Duke And I know your Lordship will give me leave to make you as glad as my self that absence hath made no change towards my Lord Duke in the Kings Favour but his return if it be possible hath multiplied it And the Prince and He are for Communications of Counsels Deliberations and Resolutions as if they were but One. The King requir'd but one Thing more of the Lord Keeper that as he had addulced all Things very well to his Mind so the Ministers of the King of Spain might not Grudge that their Teeth were set on Edge with sower Grapes which he did effect most Artificially albeit the Ambassadors by his means had lost many Suits and more Labour as the Secretary was willed to acknowledge from Hinchingbrooke Octob. 25. Right Honorable I Delivered to his Majesty the good Temper you left the Embassadors in which gave his Majesty Contentment and moved his Thanks to you Your Humane and Noble Usage you may be sure will best beseem your Lordship and please others And when there is any Cause for you to take another Form on you be confident you shall have seasonable Knowledge For my Lord Duke hath as well a Noble Care of you as Confidence in you and Affection to you of which I am assured though a mean Witness So much was contrived and a great deal more to keep the Treaty from an utter dissociation till the next Parliament sate For the Coppy of the Memorials given January 19 by Sir Wal. Aston to the King of Spain professeth That because the Faculty for the Use of the Procuration expired at Christmas the King my Master that you may know the sound Intentions of his Proceedings with the good End to which it aims hath renewed the Powers and deferred the delivery of them only to give time for the Accomplishment and setling that which hath been promised for the satisfying his Expectations Cab. P. 39. Neither did the Spaniards return the Jewels which the Prince had presented at the Shrine of Love till the end of February at which Surrendry and not before the golden Cord was broken Nothing is more sure than that the Prince's Heart was removed from the Desire of that Marriage after the Duke had brought him away from the Object of that Delightful and Ravishing Beauty But all the while the King had his Head full of Thoughts brooding upon two things like the Twins that struggled in the Womb of Rebeckah the Consummation of the Marriage and the Patrimony of his Son-in-Law to be regained with the Dignity Electoral His Wisdom hovered between them both like the Sun at his Noonday Height Metâ distans aequalis utraque He knew he should be disvalued to the wounding of all Good Opinion if he did not engrast that Alliance into his Stem which he had sought with so much Expence of Time and Cost to strengthen and aggrandize his Posterity And he knew he should loose Honour with all the Potentates of Europe beside other Mischiefs if nothing were done for re-possessing the Palatinate Yet in sine he sate down and it cleast his Heart that he affected neither As a Canker eats quickly into soft and sappy Wood so an Error was gotten into his gentle Nature the same that Spartianus says had crept into Didius Julianus Reprehensus in eo praecipue quos regere authoritate sud debuit regendae reipub praesules sibi ipse fecit He submitted himself to be ruled by some whom he should have awed with Authority but he wanted Courage to bow them to his own Bent. A Prince that preserves not the Rights of his Dignity and the Majesty of his Throne is a Servant to some but therein a Friend to none least of all to himself 174. But he did so little bear up with an Imperatorian Resolution against the Method of their Ways who thrust his Counsels out of Doors that the Flies suck'd him where he was gall'd and he never rub'd them off He continued at Newmarket as in an Infirmary for he forgot his Recreations of Hunting and Hawking yet could not be drawn to keep the Feasts of
Choler in his Complexion Yet that it could not appear but that the Marriage on King Philip's part was very sincerely meant in all the Treaty most clearly when his Highness took his Farewell most openly since his Departure Wherein the Earl of Bristol had much wronged that great Monarch giving him a Bastle insupportable For when the Power of Revocation or rather Repression of the Proxy was peremptorily in his Lordship's hand he did not acquaint the King of Spain to stop him from erecting a Gallery turned by the Earl's Negligence into a Gullery in the open Streets covered with the richest Tapestry and set forth with all other Circumstances of Wealth and State to conduct the Infanta in open View and with most magnificent Solemnity to the Deposorios when by the Instruments and Commissions the Earl had lately received he knew these augustious Preparations would be ridiculously disappointed which was a Despight that a Gentleman not to say an Embassador should have prevented For the Disgrace was so far blown abroad with Derision that it was the News of Gazette's over all Europe The Intention of that Nation to give the Infanta in Marriage to the Prince being not controverted Yet his Highness protesting on his part that he was free unless the Palatinate were surrendred they were all satisfy'd with it his Word was Justice to them and that which was in his own Breast must alone direct him how to use his Freedom This Question dispatched was upon a blown Rose the next was upon a Bramble The Lord Duke was so zealous say it was for the Palsgrave's Sake that he voted the King of Spain to be desied with open War till amends were made to the illustrious Prince Elector for the Wrongs he sustained The Lords appointed for the Conference that apprehended it otherwise were the Keeper Treasurer Duke of Richmond Marquess Hamilton Earl of Arundâ—l Lord Carow Lord Belfast who could not say that the King of Spain had done the part of a Friend for the Recovery of the Palatinate as he had profess'd nor yet could they find that he had acted the Part of an Enemy declaredly as was objected Their Judgment was the Girts of Peace were slack but not broken This is couched in the Admonitions of an Ignote unto King James Cab. p. 278. The Conference or Treaty about the Palatinate was taken from the Council of State a Society of most prudent Men only for this Cause that almost every one of them had with one Consent approved the Propositions of the most Catholick King and did not find in it any Cause of dissolving the Treaty And a little beneath The Duke fled from the Council of State and disclaimed it for a Parliament by way of an Appeal Most true that scarce any in all the Consulto did vote to my Lord Duke's Satissaction which made him rise up and chase against them from Room to Room as a Hen that hath lost her Brood and clucks up and down when she hath none to follow her The next time he saw the Lord Belfast he asked him with Disdain Are you turned too and so flung from him Cab. p. 243. To which the Lord Belfast answered honestly in a short Letter That he would conform himself in all things to the Will and good Pleasure of the King his Master The greatest Grudge was against the Lord Keeper who seldom spake but all Opinions ran into his one as they did at this time and the Duke presumed that his Sentence should never vary from his own Mind An hard Injunction and all the Favour on Earth is too dear to be bought at such a Price But he declared that he saw no Expediency for War upon the Grounds communicated For upon whom should we fall says he either upon the Emperor or the King of Spain The Emperor had in a fort offered our King his Son-in-Law's Country again for a great Sum in Recompence of Disbursments but where was the Money to be had Yet it might be cheaper bought than conquered before a War were ended For the King of Spain he saw no Cause to assault him with Arms He had held us indeed in a long Treaty to our Loss but he held nothing from us and was more likely to continue the State of things in a possibility of Accommodation because he disliked the Duke of Bavaria's Ambition and had rather stop the Enlargement of his Territories The King was glad that some maintained his Judgment and would not consent wantonly to raise him from the Down Bed of his long admired Peace Neither did he refrain to speak very hardly of that Servant whom he loved best that agitated to compel him to draw the Sword one of the great Plagues of God His Censure upon him was bitter Cab. P. 92. but fit to be cast over-board in silence 176. A King of Peace is not only sittest to build Temples but is the Temple of God Such a one doth foresee how long how far how dangerously the Fire of War will burn before he put a Torch to kindle it And as every Bishop ought to have a care of the Universal Church so every King ought to have a care of all Humane Society It is not such a thing to raise War in these Days as it was in Abraham's Muster his Servants in one Day and rescue Lot from his Enemies the next Nor such as it was with the old Romans make a Summers Laâ—rt in Vit. before he laid down his Office The Charge in our Age which usually for many Years doth oppress the People will hardly countervail if GOD should send it the Gladness of a Victory Nor is all fear over when a War is ended But as Solon says Lacrt. in Vit. Great Commanders when they have done their Work abroad and are return'd with Honour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 do more Mischief by their Factions to their Country than they did against their Enemies And whosever scape well the poor Church is like to suffer two ways First as Camden says Eliz. Ann. 1583. Schismatica pravitas semper bello ardente maxime luxuriat Schismatical Pravity will grow up under the Licentiousness of War Some profane Buff-Coats will Authorize such Incendiaries Secondly For some Hundreds of Years by-past in Christendom I cannot find but where Wars have been protracted the Churchman's Revenue hath been in danger to pay the Soldiers If this affect not those that will not think that there is such a Sin as Sacrilege yet all acknowledge that there is such a Virtue as Humane Compassion Then they that would awake drouzy Peace as they call it with the Noise of the Drum and the prancing of Horses in the Street let them before they design their War describe before their Consciences the heaps of slaughter'd Carkasses which will come after That the Land which is before tâ—en shaâ—I look like the Garden of the Lord and that which is behind them like Burning and Brimstone For all this will they tempt God and be the Foes of
Employment by and from your excellent Majesty First your Majesty knoweth I was threatned before your Majesty to be complained of in Parliament on the third Day of your Reign And though your Majesty most graciously promis'd to do me Justice therein Yet was I left under that Minacy and the Minacer for ought I know left to his course against me 2. My Lord-Duke confest he knew the Complaints and Complainants and gave me leave to suspect his Grace which indeed I had cause to do if within three days and three days he should not acquaint me with the Names of the Parties Which I desir'd to know not to expostulate but to watch and provide to defend my innocency His Grace failed me in his promise herein I employed Sir Charles Glemham and Mr. Sackvile Crowe to press him for an Answer which was such as they durst not in modesty return unto me 3. Sir Francis Seymore a Knight whom I know not by sight told many of that House who imparted it unto me that upon his first coming to Oxford he was dealt with by a Creature of my Lord-Dukes whom I can name to set upon the Lord-Keeper and they should be backed by the greatest Men in the Kingdom Who gave this Answer That he found nothing against the Lord-Keeper but the Malice of those great Men. 4. Sir John Eliot the only Member that began to thrust in a Complaint against me the Lord-Viscount Saye who took upon him to name Sir Thomas Crew to succeed in my Place Sir William Stroud and Sir Nathanael Rich whom my Friends most noted to malice me were never out of my Lord-Duke's Chamber and Bosom 5. Noble-men of good Place and near your Majesty gave me often intelligence that his Grace's Agents stirred all their Powers to set the Commons upon me 6. I told the lord-Lord-Duke in my Garden that having been much reprehended by your Majesty and his Grace in the Earl of Middlesex's Tryal for thanking the last King at Greenwich for promising to protect his Servants and great Officers against the People and Parliament I durst not be so active and stirring by my Friends in that House as otherwise I should be unless your Majesty by his Grace's means would be pleas'd to encourage me with your Royal Promise to defend and protect me in your Service If I might hear your Majesty say so much I would venture then my Credit and my Life to manage what should be entrusted to me to the uttermost After which he never brought me to your Majesty nor any Message from you Standing therefore upon these doubtful terms unemploy'd in the Duties of my Place which were now assign'd over to my Lord Conway and Sir J. Cooke and left out of all Committees among the Lords of the Council which I know was never done by the direction of your Majesty who ever conceiv'd of me far above my Merit and consequently fallen much in the Power and Reputation due to my place I durst not at this time with any Safety busie my self in the House of Commons with any other than that measure of Zeal which was exprest by the rest of the Lords of the Privy-Council Gracious and dread Sovereign if this be not enough to clear me let me perish 19. The King was a Judge of Reason and of Righteousness and found so much in that Paper that he dismist him that presented it graciously for that time his Destiny being removed two Months further off though it was strongly urg'd not to delay it for a day But in St. Cyprian's words Nemo diu tutus est periculo proximus About a Fortnight after at Holdbery in New-forrest the Duke unfast'ned him utterly from the good Opinion of his Majesty and at Plimouth in the midst of September obtain'd an irrevocable Sentence to deprive him of his Office If the Queen could have stopt this Anger he had not been remov'd with whom he had no little Favour by the Credit he had got with the chief Servants of her Nation and by a Speech which took her Majesty very much which he made unto her in May upon her coming to White-hall and in such French as he had studied when he presented his Brethren the Bishops and their Homage to her Majesty His Friends of that Nation shew'd themselves so far that Pere Berule the Queen's Confessor and not long after a Cardinal was the first that advertis'd him how my Lord-Duke had lifted him out of his Seat 'T is custom to Toll a little before a Passing-bell ring out and that shall be done in a Moral strode as Chaucer calls it Such as would know the true Impulsion unto this Change shall err if they draw it from any thing but the Spanish Negotiation Not as if the Lord-Keeper had done any one much less many ill Services to the Duke as one mistakes For I take the Observator to be so just that he would have done as much himself if he had been in place King James was sick'till that Marriage was consummated and died because he committed it to the Skill of an Emperick The Keeper serv'd the King's directions rather than the cross ways of the Duke which was never forgiven Though the late Parliament had wrought wonders to the King 's Content as it gave him none this innocent Person had receiv'd the Blow which was aimed at him before the Parliament sat He bestirr'd him in the former King's Reign to check the encroaching of the Commons about impeaching the great Peers and Officers of the Realm which the Duke fomented in the Earl of Middlesex's Case Since that House began to be filled with some that were like the turbulent Athenians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Meursius Ath. Attic. p. 79. It grieved him at the Heart that more time was spent by far to pluck up an honest Magistrate than to plant good Laws There was no Sin I think that he hated more than that Epidemick violence which he saw was come about that the People extoll'd them most as it was once in the Days of Marius that endeavour'd to thrust down the most noble Patricians This is the right Abstract what was and what was not the Cause of this Mutation 20. There were yet other things that did concur to precipitate his Downfall First My Lord of Buckingham's honest Servants would say that he gave their Master constantly the best Counsel but that he was too robustious in pressing it Vim temperatam Dii quoque provehunt in majus Horat. lib. 3. Od. Well I do not deny it But the more stout in that Point the more true and cordial He that loses such a one that comes to prop him up who had rather offend him than not save him Navem perforat in quâ ipse navigat Cicer. pro Milone he sinks the Bark wherein himself fails The Scythians were esteemed barbarous but this is wise and civil in them as Lucian reports in his Toxaris They have no wealth but he is counted the richest Man that hath
was on this side of despicable Baseness But because being sent to for his Opinion both by his Grace's Mother and his mostsollicitous Friends he had faithfully express That he did not like the ways wherein he magnified himself to serve the King Who did not foresee the Envy that his Magniloquence bred ranting it sometimes That he would make His Majesty the greatest Monarch in Europe I doubt not but his Head did work about it and was so noble that he would have died to effect it And some that fawned upon him with all obsequiousness did seem to admire him in it as the Earl of Holland among others such are the Contents of his Letters Cab. p. 297. I hope nothing shall light upon your Lordship but what you deserve the which to my knowledge is of more Value and Esteem than any man in the World could or ever can merit from this Kingdom The Bishop that would not concur to destroy him by misguidance of Flattery who had been Copartner with King James in his Preferments sung quite to another Tune He liked not his Preparations against Cales but presaged a dishonourable Return and prest that Maxim home to divert him from it That a King must make himself sure in the Love of his own People at home before he bid War abroad to such a rich and mighty Nation Next the second Parliament being summoned and this Bishop demanded what was best for the Duke's abearing in it he resolv'd it to those Friends that ask'd it His best way will be not to come near it for it will be impossible for him to close with this Parliament who contrary to my Advice offended the former and broke it up Let him remove himself by some great Embassage till the first Session be ended into Germany if he will as far as Vienna if he dare trust the King of Spain's greatest Friend and nearest Ally This was disrelish'd for they of E. Buck. Counsel rather than send him so far from the King would hazard him in the Parliament in which they thought they were strong enough by the Party they had made to keep him from all Offence as well in his Honour as in his Person The Bishop persisted to remove them from their Confidence for nothing is more fallacious than such Expectation Many that are bespoken and promise fair are quite alter'd when they are mingled with their fellow-Judges in the House As Matchiavel says it was a Florentine Proverb Populus alurm animum in foro alium in Senatu habet De Rep. lib. 1. c. 47. All that he said followed as right as ever Lucas Guaricus drew up a Scheme of Predictions for that Parliament discharged such a Volley of Complaints against his Lordship that the Votes of the Declinators could not be heard for the noise And his Grace pluck'd hard for Peace and Popularity with the Commons but could not encounter them But what a struggling he kept with his hard Destiny to be enflamed the more against the much abused Bishop because his Predictions were so prophetical A good Chaplain would have told him that God's Wisdom is seen by his Fore-warnings and his Goodness in giving them Nor was it Justice to account him a Foe because he was wiser than an ordinary Friend But who had the worst of it in the end Or rather who had the worst of it from the very beginning Miserior est qui suscipit in se scelus quà m qui alterius facinus subire cogitur Tul. Phil. II. He is more miserable that doth a Wrong than he that suffers it Yet by the Mediation of wise men the Duke continued not full two years more in this Uncharitableness for he promised at a secret Meeting two months before he died to repossess the Bishop in Favour and design'd a time for the open profession of it so that the Sun of his Life did not go down in Wrath And God did appear in it who will not always chide neither will he keep his anger for ever Psal 103. v 9. 66. Of all men Bishop Laud was the Party whose Enmity was most tedious and most spightful against his great Benefactor Lincoln He batter'd him with old and new Contrivances fifteen years His very Dreams were not without them as they are enrolled in his Memorials drawn out with his own Hand I will touch that Fault that great Fault with a gentle Hand because of that Good which was in him because in other things I believe for my part he was better than he was commonly thought because his Death did extinguish a great deal of Envy I meet with him in his worst Action that ever he did and cannot shun it If I should draw him in purposely to defame him now he is at rest I were more sacrilegious than if I rob'd his Tomb. Qui cineres atque ossa perempti insequitur Virg. Let it be the Character of a Miscreant But his Part is in every Act and Scene of a Tragical Persecution of 15 years Hoc etiam ipsi culpabunt mali Plautus in Bacchid Perhaps it began from an Emulation to keep him back who was only like to be Bishop Laud's Competitor for the greatest Place of our Church Had it gone no further it might be cenfur'd moderately for a common Temptation No wonder if the Seal and the Sword-fish never swim quietly in the same Channel But to discontinue Brotherly Love upon that score to throw it aside to further all pernicious means tending to the Infamy and Ruin of his imagin'd Rival it is past Excuse and can bear no Apology O how many are in Safety of Conscience that should not be so For he that loveth not his Brother much more he that hateth him abideth in death 1 Joh. 3.14 That opinion which my self and many have of his Sincerity appearing not in a little and the Proofs of his Bitterness being so evident in this Cause it deserves a little Direction to take away suspense of Judgment Experience one of the plainest Teachers doth demonstrate that some Drift or Delight may creep so far into the Heart of him that fears God that he will not look upon the Deformity of it as he should to think it a Sin Which I take to be the reason of Polygamy in the Patriarchs and the best Kings of Juda. Most of all an evil thing may soon be attempted when we think we may do it without hazarding our Salvation and we dare yet do more when we have no Fear to be answerable to the Justice of Men. Spalat says lib. 4. Ecc. Reip c. 7. par 13. That John Bishop of Constantinople that assumed to himself the Title of Universal Bishop or Patriarch was a good man given greatly to Alms and Fasting but too much addicted to advance the Title of his See which made a plausible Prelate seem to be Antichrist to Gregory the Great Pick out of this to the present Subject what a Provocation it was to the ambitious Spirit of Bishop Laud a man of many
Infanta what you have merited and to accommodate all other Mistakes here concerning that Proceeding If your Grace would reconcile your Heart I would not doubt but with the Conclusion of the Match to compose all things to your good Satisfaction and to bring them to a true Understanding of you and of their Obligation unto you But his Lordship knew what he had deserved and that it was not possible to look for good Quarter from them So he cut off the Thread of the Match with these Scissors The Love of the English must not be lost the Love of the Spaniard could not be gain'd But it was passing ill done of him to deal so with his dear Master to whom he owed more than ever he could pay for whom he should not have been nice to hazard his Preservation He knew the bottom of the King's Bosom that his Majesty accounted this great Alliance to be the Pillar of his present Honour and the Hope of his future Prosperity That all his Counsels with foreign States turned upon that Hinge That he looked for golden Days with it which would fill our People with rich Traffick and spread Peace over all the Borders of Europe He knew his Lord the King desired to live but to see it finished and car'd not to live after he saw it vanished Crediderim tunc ipsam fidem humanam negotia speculantem maestum vultum gessisse Valer. lib. 6. Let the Duke have his deserved Praises in other things great and many but let Fidelity Loyalty and Thankfulness hide their Face and not look upon this Action Let his Friends that did drive him to it and wrought upon his flexible Disposition bear much of the Obloquy For it is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not Man but God that made the Law He that kindled the Fire let him make Restitution Ex. 22.6 148. He that hateth the Light loves not to come to the Light lest his Deeds should be reproved Joh. 3.20 The Politici that carried the Duke athwart with their excentrick Motion were very impatient to be discovered They thought they had beat their Plot upon a quilted Anvil and that their Hammer could not be heard But time is a Blab which will tell all Secrets and spared not this The Lord Keeper was much maligned as the Author of the Detection Yet he deserved not the Glory for it was the King himself by this Occasion The Embassadors of the Catholick King pressed that the Articles assented to by the Prince and those about him should be ratified And Preparation was made to give them Satisfaction So the Lord Keeper assures the Duke Cab. P. 78. The King is resolved to take certain Oaths you have sent hither and I pray God afterwards no further Difficulty be objected These Oaths being brought to discussion at the Council-Table there were among the Lords that supprest their Consent till better knowledge did warrant them and some Aspect of Necessity did make them resolute to Agreement While these few of the Lords were suspensive in their Judgment it was brought to the King that some profest Servants and Creatures of the Duke's cavilled at certain Articles in the matter of the Oath and were very busie to puzzle those who had not yet compleatly deliberated upon them The King laid this to other things he had heard and he was able to put much together in a Glance of Imagination and called one of them that was employed in this unacceptable Office to a private Conference whom his Majesty handled with such searching Questions conjured with such Wisdom wound into him with that Sweetness that he fetcht out the Mystery yet giving him his Royal Word to conceal his Person Sic suo indicio periit sorex So the Rat was catcht by his own Squeaking This his Majesty imparted to the Lord Keeper and Marquiss Hamilton and was not a little discomforted upon it for here was a Danger found out but not a Remedy Yet he went on chearfully to all seeming to that which was come to a ripe Head and gave Command to the Lord Keeper to prepare all things for the solemn Confirmation of the Covenants that were brought from Spain He went went about it and had about him those three Qualities which run together in St. Paul Rom. 12.11 Not slothful in Business fervent in Spirit serving the Lord That is Diligence Courage Conscience Zealots who are favourable to themselves that they think they have among them the Monopoly of Conscience had been able to discourage another who in common Discourse laid no less Crime than Atheism no Religion upon him that should give Furtherance to a Popish Marriage much more if for Reasons of State-Compliance he should refresh the Party adherent to Rome with any Mercy or Favour But this man regarded not Rumors before Reason God had given him a Spirit above Fear which he would often say had the greatest Influence in the Corruption of two brave things Justice and good Counsel So he was resolved as Illustrius says of Theod 〈◊〉 the Philosopher 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to spend or cast away some Wisdom not only for the Intelligent but for their Sakes that were ignorant and knew not how to use it The Precedent for this Work he conceived would be to turn over the Paper Stories of Queen Elizabeth's Reign when the first and second Dukes of Anjou were propounded for Husbands to that glorious Lady of whom the latter came so near to speed that wise Burleigh with others that had gray Hairs and grave Heads drew up a Book for the Consummation of the Marriage Lay that Treaty with the French Monsieur and this of Spain together and there needs no striving to bring them to great Resemblance in the Comparison There was as much Disparity in Religion between the one Pair as the other The Duke of Anjou came as unexpectedly to the Queen at Greenwich as the Prince came unlooked for to Madrid The Duke brought but two or three in Train Camb. Eliz. Fol. P. Ann. 1579. no more did the Prince The French Treaties continued eight years to obtain the Queen the same Term of time had been spent in the Prince's Behalf to enjoy the Infanta Eight years past and nothing past beside for both the Lovers were non-suited in the end The Duke of Anjou courted the Queen when her People regretted that he besieged the Protestants in Rochel at the same time Gladio ejus eorum cruore intincto qui eandem quam Angli profitentur Religionem Camb. An. 1573. Our Prince solicited for his Mistress in Spain when the Palatinate was wasted with Fire and Sword by Spinola which was dearer to us by far than Rochel Finally Take three things more in a Twist together Did some of our good People fear a Prejudice to Religion by the Prince's intended Match even so Religionis mutationem ab Andino Angli nonnulli timuerunt Did a Bride from Spain go against the vulgar Content So did a
infinitely desire that he did much Esteem the good Offices his Lordship bad done therein but that he conceived that any motion he had made in that kind had been despis'd rather then received with Thankfulness 156. He might have said more then despised for they were received with that sad Interpretation that upon it the Duke removed his Affections from the Lord Keeper for ever quite contrary to Solon's Rule neither to choose a Friend suddenly nor to loose him suddenly But after all the Lord Keepers Faithfulness and that he watch'd the good of the Dukes Affairs in his absence with as much tenderness as a Nurse doth a sucking Child at her Breast his Grace resolv'd to pluck down the highest Roof of his Dignity as soon as he could Nor was he the surer to escape that Anger for fair Words Tacitae magis occultae inimicitiae timendae sunt quà m indictae apertae Cic. 7. Verrin Yet the threatning broke out by one man who was glad to cherish it For Sir John Michel did not hide it that my Lord Mandevile Lord President of the Councel shew'd him a Letter from Spain assuring that the first Action the Duke would Embark himself in when he came home should be to remove him out of his Place Cab. p. 89. With which the threatned party was not much daunted knowing what a Master he served that King whose Speech utter'd at Sterling at fourteen years of Age hath Wisdom becoming one of fourty Spotwoods p. 288. I will study to be indifferent and to bestow my Favours impartially and never repose my self upon any one so much as to deny others the regard that is due unto them The Duke was a generous and incorrupt Patron an exactor of great Duty from those he prefer'd or a great Enemy Let him allow himself what he could ask for all his Favours this Man was ready to pay him If he would be deceiv'd by crafty Underminers into the distrust of his truest Friend when he could not serve him in unfit ways the fault is in the want of his Grace's insight or inconstancy But as I find it in the Posthumous Meditation of the most Noble Lord Capel p. 21. Favour is a fine Thred which will scarce hold one tug of a crafty Tale-bearer The Observator on H. L. lights upon this Quarrel I do not pursue the Lord Keepers Enemies But if I meet them I will not shun them Thus He being Drunk with Wormwood Lam. 3.15 That he had done many ill Offices to the Duke when he was in Spain p. 36. Many and yet Name none If he will pick his Ears clean from the filth of Hatred I will tell him what my Lord Duke took to be ill Offices The First Displeasure and never laid down was That the knowledge came to the King by his means who those Gentlemen were that importun'd his Grace by their Expresses sent into Spain to rend the Treaty of the Match in sunder or to Act against it with all Wit and Power The accused Lord protested upon his Salvation he was not the Discoverer The acclearment is fair and the Proof nothing who is able to make Answer to Jealousie that grows out of the Mud of a man's Brain like a Bull-rush I will Relate what the Earl of Rutland the Duke's Father-in-Law return'd again when he had gone between them often to dismount this Objection that the Duke said Whensoever I Disagree with him he will prove himself to be in the Right and though I could never detect him hitherto to be Dishonest I am afraid of his Wit The Second Offence taken was That he would have perswaded the Duke into a good Opinion of the Earl of Bristol and Reason for it because he would have kept his Lordship in a good Opinion with the King To which all his Allies all that Studied him all that Honour'd him did not contribute so much nor had the King's Ear so much as he had to effect it To sit Heraclides his Adagy to him Nemo benè merito bovem immolavit praeter Phariam He was another Pharias that offered the best Sacrifice to that Lord that had deserved the best of him When I find the King had his part in that which was so ill taken anent the Earl of Bristol I can find no blame in it But if it had been an Error it was a sanctified one to labour to convert Enmities unto Love unfeigned And should a Talent of Anger be weighed against a Grain of Offence There was no Error there was no Offence but that Infelicity which the Wise Man Bias observ'd to be in such Cases That it is better to be Judg in a Cause between two Enemies then two Friends for of two Friends I shall make one mine Enemy but of two Enemies it is likely I shall make one my Friend Laert in vità The Third Scandal was That he set forward the Treaty of the Marriage with Oars and Sails of Ingeny and Industry A new Crime Caius Caesar and never heard before He was a Servant in it He was Conjur'd unto the Care of it by the King and he was as Trusty to it as the Soul of his Majesty could wish The best Head-piece of our Councel in Spain look'd upon him as the chief Adjutant Cab. p. 23. Thus the Earl of Bristol If there should be any doubt I am sure that your Lordship would put to a helping hand to keep the business from being overthrown since you have done so much for the overcoming of former difficulties and the bringing it to the pass it is now in The Duke was fallen by the wyliness of others and by his own wilfulness into a contrary Motion when the Lord Keeper saw the Councils of his greatest Friend esloigned from those of his dread Sovereign he had been a Beast if he had not given the Right Hand to Loyalty Patrem primum postea Patronum proximum nomen habere says Cato in A. Gel. lib. 5. A King is a common Father Observance is due to thy Father first and afterward to thy Patron 157. Yet why should things subordinate be at odds as if they were contraries The lesser Circle is not opposite but within the greater Moses and his Minister Josuah the King and his Choicest Servants are not Represented as two but as one person to Allegiance The Lord Keeper held fast to them both that both might hold fast to themselves nor would he leave the Duke to his own â—â—king as far as the King dislik'd him but persisted to displease him into the good Opinion of his Majesty Vera amicitia est idem velle idem nolle says â—â—elius If this young unforeseeing Lord should persist to hate that which the King lov'd his vigilant Counsellor knew that the King would use him no longer a Friend but would remove him from that privacy wherein he had bred him This and much more was prosecuted in August Sancta Patres Augusta vocant Ovid. Fast lib. 1. In the Language of
Old Latium August and Sacred signified the same 'T were good if it would prove so now But it began with discontent on every side and never mended Our Wise King no longer smother'd his Passion but confess'd at sundry times a great fault in himself that he had been so improvident to send the Duke on this Errand with the Prince whose bearing in Spain was ill Reported by all that were not partial He put the bafful so affectedly upon the Earl of Bristol at every turn that those Propositions which his Majesty had long before approved with deep Wisdom and setled with the Word of Honour were struck out by my Lord of Buckingham only because Bristol had presented them Nay if the Prince began to qualifie the unreasonableness he would take the Tale out of his Highness's Mouth and over-rule it and with such youthful and capricious Gestures as became not the lowly Subjection due to so great a Person but least of all before Strangers It was an Eye-sore to the Spaniards above any people who speak not to their King and the Royal Stems of the Crown without the Complement of Reverence nor approach unto them without a kind of Adoration The more the Prince endur'd it the more was their judgment against it For every Mouth was fill'd with his Highness's Praise and nothing thought wanting in him to be absolutely good and Noble but to know his own Birth and Majesty better and to keep more distance from a Subject So the Earl of Bristol Writes Cab. p. 20. I protest as a Christian I never heard in all the time of his being here nor since any one Exception against him unless it were for being supposed to be too much guided by my Lord of Buckingham which was no Venial Sin in their censure For how much their gall Super-abounded against that Lord the same Earl could not hold to write it to the Lord Keeper bearing Date August 20. I know not how things may be Reconciled here before my Lord Duke's departure but at present they are in all Extremity ill betwixt this King his Ministers and the Duke And they stick not to profess that they will rather put the Infanta head-long into a Well then into his Hands One thing that fill'd up the Character of my Lord Duke before in this Work was that he had much of the brave Alcibiades in him In this they differ that Plutarch's Alcibiades suited himself so well to the Manners and Customs of all Courts where he came that he gave satisfaction to all Princes and they were best pleased with him that most enjoy'd him The great Lord Villiers was not so Fortunate for he thrived not in the Air of Madrid and he brook'd the Air of Paris as ill about two years after upon the like Occasion And no marvel For as Catulus said of Pompey in Paterculus Praeclarus vir Cn. Pompeius sed reipub liberae nimius So this Lord was a worthy Gentleman but too big to be one in a Free Treaty with other Ministers The Lord Keeper who was the Socrates to this Alcibiades had Noted his Lordships Errors and unbeseeming Pranks before For which he look'd for no better then he that rubs a Horse that is gaul'd Yet he resolv'd to shoot another Arrow the same way that the former went though the Duke had threatned to break his Bow as soon as he came Home But he was too prudent to be scared from doing Duty to so great a Friend 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says Aristotle He is neither Wise nor Faithful but a Flatterer that denies his Spirit ingenious Freedom And it is a Speech worthy of Sir Ph. Sidney which the Lord Brooke ascribes to him Pag. 42. of his Life That he never found Wisdom where he found not Courage Therefore the Lord Keeper writes to the Duke Aug. 3. of which this is the Moral to him that reads it intelligently That no Man living can keep Favour who keeps not Conditions that merit to perpetuate Favour May it please your Grace I Have no more to trouble your Grace at this time withal than the Expression of that Service and those Prayers which as I do truly owe so shall I ever as faithfully perform to your Grace New Comers may make more large and ample Promises but will in the end be found to fall short of your old Servants in Reality and Performances If your Grace hath by this time thought that I have been too bold and too near your Secrets in those Counsels I presumed upon in my last Letters I beseech you to remember how easie it was for me to have held my Peace how little Thanks I am like to receive from any other beside your Grace for the same how far I am in these Courses from any end of mine own beside your Prosperity and Security If your Grace would give me leave to deliver my Opinion upon the main though no Hunter after Court-News it is this Your Grace stands this Day in as great Favour with his Majesty as your Heart can desire And if I have any Judgment in far more Security of Continuance than ever you did if you remain as for ought I can perceive you do in the same State with the Prince in the same Terms as your Pains have deserved with the Princess and out of Quarrels and Recriminations which will but weaken both Parties and make way for a third with the rest of his Majesties Agents in this Negotiation I cannot but presume once more to put your Grace in mind that the nearer you are drawn to his Highness in Title the more you are with all Care and Observance to humble your self unto him in Speech Gesture Behaviour and all other Circumstances yea although his Highness should seem to require the Contrary This cannot be any way offensive to your own and is expected to the utmost Punto by that other Nation I do presume of Pardon for all my Follies in this kind and that whatsoever is wanting in my Discretion your Grace will be pleased to make up out of my Sincerity and Affection However your Grace and the Earl of Bristol shall conclude I hope your Grace will pardon my Zeal though peradventure not according to Knowledge aiming only at your Grace's Service the Amplitude and Continuance of your Greatness For whatsoever your Grace shall determine and conclude I do and shall implicitly yield unto the same Yet am still of Opinion the way of Peace to be the broad way to enlarge and perpetuate your Grace's Greatness and Favour with his Majesty c. This was bold but faithful and ingenious Dealing The Duke's last Messenger whom he sent into England before he arrived Sir J. Hipsley gave him a touch of the same Cab. P. 316. For God's-sake carry the Business with Patience betwixt my Lord of Bristol and you And again in the same For God's-sake make what hast you may Home for fear of the worst For the King's Face began to gather Clouds upon the
his Majesty Not take off his Hand id est He will employ without intermission his best Offices to procure Satisfaction to his Majesty And concerning Offices and Treatises we have had too many of them already Non tali auxilio c. But together with this written Letter I must acquaint your Lordships with an unwritten Tradition Which was delivered to the Earl of Bristol together with the Project of the Letter by Secretary Cirica but ill conceal'd by his Lordship in that Dispatch and sent afterward probably by Mr. Clâ—rke to my Lord Duke's Grace That whereas the King of Spain did find his Errour in going on with the Treaty of the Marriage before he had cleared the Treaty of the Palatinate he is now resolv'd to change his Method and to perfect this Treaty of the Restitution of the Palatinate before he will proceed any further in the accomplishing of the Marriage So that these Treatises as they are carried in Spain shall be quit one with another As formerly the Treaty of the Marriage did justle out the Treaty of the Palatinate so now the Treaty of the Palatinate hath quite excluded the Treaty of the Marriage And indeed in stead of Wedding Garments that King as you heard hath made a hasty Winter Journey to Andaluzia to provide his Navy But how they are to be employ'd we shall hear shortly if we will still be credulous by Padre Maestro who is on his way for this Kingdom My Lords to conclude As the Heathen say that the Golden Chain of Laws is tyed to the Chair of Jupiter so the future Proceedings upon all this long Narration is tyed to your Consultation Things past are exactly made known to you that things to come may be more wisely considered An Historian says Curtius Male humanis ingeniis Natura consuluit quod plaerumquè non futura sed transacta perpendimus Nature hath not well provided for Humane Wisdom that commonly we discuss upon things already done rather than what may be done for the future But my Lords you are not put to that streit But your Lordships speedy Advice is requir'd for that which is to follow specially concerning this last Dispatch that implieth the Education of the Prince Palatine's Son in the Emperor's Court and that the King of Spain will promise no Assistance to draw off the Emperor's Army from his Country much less Assistance by Arms to recover it This is it which his Majesty expects from your Lordships mature Advice Whether this being the Product of all the Trouble which I have opened to your Lordships it be sufficient for his Majesty to rest upon both for the Marriage of his only Son and the relieving of his only Daughter This Report it was so grateful for the Theme so gracefully handled for the manner so Clear so Elaborate so Judiciously manag'd that the Author had never more Praise in his Life for one days Work of that kind So acceptable it was even to the Duke though turn'd a Cold Friend That he said He knew not how to Thank him enough for it Yet this was but as the White of an Egg which gets some Tast with a little Salt of Eloquence but nothing in Comparison of the Yolk of his Worth But as Nazianzen said of St. Basil Quae ab illo velm obiter siâ—bant praestantiora crant quà m ea in quibus alii Elaborant Such an Orator was sure to have the Custom of the Parliament upon all the like Occasions Therefore when he had scarce taken Breath after the former Service he was Commanded to add the Supplement as it follows in another Conference Gentlemen THat are the Knights Citizens and Burgesses of the House of Commons I am directed by my Lords to open this Conference with acquainting the House of Commons with whom their Lordships desire to hold all fair and sincere Correspondence with a double Preface First with a Supplement to that Narration made by his Highness and my Lord the Duke of Buckingham his Grace to both the Houses and then with an Opinion of their Lordships super totam Materiam upon the whole Proceed of the great business Now because in this Consultation the Supplement did co-operate with the Narration for the producing of their Lordships Opinion I hold it the best Method to begin with that The Supplement is of a Threefold Nature The First Concerns the Treaty of the Marriage The Second the Restitution of the Palatinate The Third a most Heroical Act and Resolution of the Princes Highness which their Lordships held necessary to be imparted first to you the Universality and Body Representative and then by you to all the Kingdom That Supplement which concerns the Treaty of the Marriage is no more but this That by a Letter of the Earl of Bristols writen Nine Years ago 3 Novem. 1614. it appeared plainly unto their Lordships that this Treaty of the Marriage had the first beginning by a Motion from Spain and not from England even from the Duke of Lerma who promised all sincerity in the Match and as little pressing as might be in matters of Religion Yet though the Proposal began so soon and was follow'd so earnestly it is now like an untimely Birth for which the Mother endureth a painful Travail and it enjoyeth not the Fruit of Life That Supplement which Concerns the Restitution of the Palatinate is this That whereas in that Treaty a demand is pressed by his Majesty upon the King of Spain to promise us assistance by Arms in case Mediation should not prevail it hath appeared to their Lordships by the Papers of the Earl of Bristol preserved in the Councel-Chamber that the King of Spain hath formerly promised Assistance by Arms upon such a supposition which notwithstanding he now utterly refuseth and offers but bare Mediation But as Symmachus says in an Ep. to Ausonius Pa. vis nutriment is quanquam à morte defendimur nihil tamen ad Robustam valetudinem promovemur We may keep Life and scarce that with a poor Diet but we shall never grow strong with such a pittance If the Knights Citizens and Burgesses of that Honourable House desire a Sight of these Dispatches they shall be Read unto them Thirdly That Supplement which tends so much to the Honour of his Highness is this Sometime in July last when his Highness was in Spain a Rumor was scatter'd that his Highness had provided to steal away secretly insomuch that some of the King of Spain's Ministers were appointed as a Watch to detein him openly and avowedly as a Prisoner Hereupon my Lord's Grace was sent to the whole Committee with this Heroical Remonstrance that though he stole thither out of Love he scorn'd to steal away out of Fear neither was his Heart guilty of taking so poor and unworthy a Course A brave and magnanimous Resolution yet short of that which followeth For the Prince made a dispatch to his Father at that instant and sent this Message unto him by Mr. Grimes
Commanders Or if he came to be tried in the Furnace of the next Session of Parliament he had need to make the Refiners to be his Friends 210. Here steps in Dr. Preston a good Crow to smell Carion and brought Conditions with him to make his Grace malleable upon the great Anvil and never break This Politick Man that he might feel the Pulse of the Court had preferr'd himself to be Chaplain to the Prince and wanted not the Intelligence of all dark Mysteries through the Scotch especially of his Highness's Bedchamber These gave him countenance more than others because he prosecuted the Endeavours of their Countrymen Knox. To the Duke he repairs And be assured he had more Skill than boisterously to propound to him the Extirpation of the Bishops remembring what King James had said in the Conference at Hampton-Court Anno 1. No Bishop No King Therefore he began to dig further off and to heave at the Dissolution of Cathedral Churches with their Deans and Chapters the Seminary from whence the ablest Scholars were removed to Bishopricks At his Audience with the Duke he told him He was sorry his Grace's Actions were not so well interpreted abroad as Godly Men thought they deserved That such Murmurings as were but Vapours in common Talk might prove to be Tempests when a Parliament met That his safest way was to Anchor himself upon the Love of the People And let him perswade himself he should not sail to be Master of that Atchievement if he would profess himself not among those that are Protestants at large and never look inward to the Center of Religion but become a warm and zealous Christian that would employ his best help strenuously to lop off from this half-reformed Church the superfluous Branches of Romish Superstition that much disfigured it Then he named the Quire-Service of Cathedral and Collegiate Churches with the Appennages which were maintained with vast Wealth and Lands of excessive Commodity to feed fat lazy and unprofitable Drones And yet all that Chanting and Pomp hindred the Heavenly Power and Simplicity of Prayer And furthered not the Preaching of the Gospel And now says he let your Grace observe all the ensuing Emoluments if you will lean to this Counsel God's Glory shall be better set forth that 's ever the Quail-Pipe to bring Worldings into the Snares of Sacrilege The Lands of those Chapters escheating to the Crown by the Dissolution of their Foundations will pay the King's Debts Your Grace hath many Alliances of Kindred all sucking from you and the Milk of those Breasts will serve them all and nourish them up to great Growth with the best Seats in the Nation Lastly Your Grace shall not only surmount Envy but turn the Darling of the Commonwealth and be reverenced by the best Operators in Parliament as a Father of a Family And if a Crum stick in the Throat of any considerable Man that attempts to make a contrary part it will be easie to wash it down with Mannors Woods Royalties Tythes c. the large Provent of those Superstitious Plantations Thus far the Doctor and to these Heads as the Duke in a good Mind reveal'd it The most crafty and clawing Piece of all was That the Destruction of these Sacred Foundations would make a Booty for a Number of Gentlemen And as the Greeks say proverbially 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 When a great Oak falls every Neighbour may scuffle for a Faggot You may be sure the Duke sent this Doctor away with great Thanks and bad him watch the best times of leisure and come to him often who did not lose the Privilege of that Liberty but thrust into his Bedchamber at least thrice a Week with a sly Audacity The Lord Keeper heard of it and wondred what occasion'd their private and frequent Meetings Nor could he knock off the Bar of the Secret with his Golden Hammer till it was revealed to him by some of the nearest about his Majesty For the Duke had cast forth the Project in a dark imperfect Form before the King and the King muffling his true Face that it could not be seen heard him with a dissembled Patience because he was pleas'd to have him nibble upon this Bait that he might divert the Yonker as long as he could from forcing him to undertake a War which was a violent Caustick that seared up the Comfort of his Majesties Heart All this was conveyed to the Lord Keeper and being feeble and scarce upon his Legs again it wrought upon his sick Spirits with great Anxiety He was sure his Majesty had no Stomach to devour such an unsanctified Morsel Yet against that assurance he objected to himself That the Duke was wont to overturn all Obstacles that stood in his way And that the Imperial Eagle of Necessity would stoop to any Prey Then he took Chear again that he had never Noted in the Lord Duke a Displicency against the Prosperity of the Church Again his Comfort was rebated that Self-Preservation will make a Saint a Libertine and that Nice Points of Religion are not usually admitted to give Law against it Howsoever he resolv'd to hazard all to crush this Cockatrice in the Egg. Causa jubet superes mâ—lior sperare secundos He that stickles for Gods Cause sails by the Cape of Good Hope 211. At the first Onset he had small Encouragement For he came to Wallingford-House to break with the Duke upon this matter who was then shut up with Dr. Preston in close Consultation where the Great Seal and the Keeper of it waited two Hours in the Anti-Camera and was sent Home without the Civility of Admission Next Day he got Speech with Dr. Preston by Friends employ'd to bring him to Westminster And after much Pro and Con in their Discourse supposing the want of Preserment had disgusted the Doctor he offer'd to him if he would busie himself no more in contriving the Ruine of the Church that he would the next Day resign the Deanery of Westminster to him But the wily Doctor did not believe him For he came to cheat and not to be cheated So they parted unkindly The Lord Keeper saw now that this Nail was driven in far Yet he did not despair to pluck it out with his Wit And thus he went into the Adventure He obtain'd an Opportune Conference with the Duke and in the Defence of the Church he could never be taken unprovided He pray'd his Grace to believe That no Man wish'd his Safety more cordially than himself by whose Hand he was lifted up to that Place of Pre-eminence wherein he sate Therefore it was his Duty to admonish him timely that he was building that Safety upon hollow Ground He had spoken with Preston who had offer'd his Grace flitten Milk out of which he should churn nothing There were other ways to level Envy than by offending God And if he meant to gather Moneys for War let him Wage it with the Prayers of the Clergy and not with their
long time never enjoy'd a calm Sea He was made for such a Tryal which was sanctified by Gospel-Promises giving unto just Men assurance of vigour to endure them Every one pittieth himself everyone covets Ease and Prosperity which is more Childish than Manly And a Design that is commonly mistaken Adversity out of doubt is best for us all because we would not carve it out to our selves but God chooseth it for us and he chooseth better for us than we can for ourselves By his Providence some Mens Sorrows are greater than others and few had a deeper Cup to drink than this Prelate But every Man's Calamity is fittest for himself trust the Divine appointment for that And if all Adversities of several Men were laid in several heaps a wise Man would take up his own and carry them home upon his Shoulders Hâ—rmolaus Barbarus in an Epistle to Maximilian King of the Romans Polit. Epis p. 447. distinguisheth between Happiness and Greatness Secundae res felicem Magnum faciunt adversae But if he that is beset round with distresses bear them to the Estimation of good Men to appear great in them then is he happy as well as great Which is to be demonstrated in the Subject that I write of as followeth 2. King Charles began his Reign Mart. 27. 1625. The next day he sent for the Lord-Keeper to his Court at St. James's who found his Majesty and the Lord-Duke busied in many Cares The King spake first of setling his Houshold among whom the Keeper commended two out of his own Family to be preserr'd but it was past over without an Answer only his Domestick Chaplain was taken into ordinary Service for whom he had made no suit But to begin the well-ordering of the new Court he was appointed to give the Oath to the Lords of the Privy-Council Sir Humphrey May taken into the Number a very wise States man and no more of a new Call Then likewise order was given for the Funerals of the deceased King and the Keeper chosen to Preach on the occasion of which enough is said already by a convenient Anticipation The Coronation was spoken of though the time was not determin'd Yet the King told the Keeper he must provide a Sermon for that likewise but he that bespoke him was of another mind before the Day of the Solemnization was ripe That which was much insisted upon at this Consult was a Parliament His Majesty being so forward to have it sit that he did both propound and dispute it to have no Writs go forth to call a new one but to continue the same which had met in one Session in his blessed Father's days and prorogued to another against that Spring The Lord-Keeper shewed That the old Parliament determined with his death that call'd it in his own Name and gave it Authority to meet Since necessity requir'd a new Choice the King's Will was That Writs should be dispatcht from the Chancery forthwith and not a day to be lost The Keeper craved to be heard and said it was usual in times before that the King's Servants and trustiest Friends did deal with the Countries Cities and Boroughs where they were known to procure a Promise for their Elections before the precise time of an insequent Parliament was publisht and that the same Forecast would be good at that time which would not speed if the Summons were divulged before they lookt about them The King answer'd It was high time to have Subsidies granted for the maintaining of a War with the King of Spain and the Fleet must go forth for that purpose in the Summer The Keeper said little again lest Fidelity should endanger a Suspicion of Malice and he little dreamt that the Almanack of the new Year or new Reign was so soon calculated for the Longitude of a War and the Latitude of vast Sums of Money to pay the Service Yet he replied in a few words but with so cold a consent that the King turned away and gave him leave to be gone He that was not chearful to say good Luck have you with that Expedition was not thought worthy to have an Oar in the great Barque which was launching out and making ready for the King's Marriage with the sweet Lady of France Yet who but he to treat with Embassadors of that Nation and on that Score in his old Master's time Among all the Cares that came into Consideration that day in the sulness of business this had the start and was hastned the same Morning with Posts and Pacquets Cupid's Wings could not possibly fly faster Yet his Majesty spake nothing of it to this able Counsellor although the Rumor of it in a Week was heard from Thames to Twede And the Duke began to hold no Conference with him neither from that day did he call for this Abiathar and say Bring hither the Ephod to ask Counsel of the Lord. Evident Tokens to make any Man see what would come after that was far less than a Prophet Which this wife Man past over and seem'd to observe nothing that was ominous or unfriendly But as Lord Mornay says in his Answer about the Conference at Fountain-bleau when Henry of France the 4th forbad him coming to the Louver Specto eclipsin expecto intrepidus securus quid illa secum vehat So the Lord-Keeper was better acquainted with Heaven than to be troubled at an Eclipse which is an accident prodigious to none but to a Fool but familiar to a Philosopher And he had learnt in the Morals by heart that the way to lose Honour is to be too careful to keep it 3. While the great Assairs did run thus the Keeper went close to his Book as much as publick business would allow to frame a Sermon against the Obsequies of blessed James He did not conceive that the Counsels which he gave to the King on the second day of his Reign were so ill taken as he heard not long after He that speaks with the trust of a Counsellor and which is more with the Tongue of a Bishop should be priviledged to be plain and faithful without offence As St. Ambrose mindeth Theodosius Ep. 29. Non est imperiale libertatem dicendi negare neque sacerdotale quid sentias non dicere But News knockt at his Study-door two days after that my Lord-Duke threatned before many that attended to turn him out of his Office And the French Ambassadors were not the last that gave him warning of it These Rumors he lookt upon with his Eyes open and saw the approaching of a Downfal and so little dissembled it that he warn'd some of his Followers secretly who were in best account with him to procure dependance upon some other Master for his Service e're long would not be worthy of them It were to small purpose to enquire why the Duke's Grace did so hastily press the Ruine of one that had been his old Friend and Creature It was his game and he lov'd it I
most Friends And that 's a Friend that will incur Anger rather than leave his Friend to sooth himself in a Mischief It had been well for the Duke if his bold Friend had perswaded him to take that Counsel which Christopher Thuanus gave to the Cardinal of Lorain being in great Favour with Henry the 2d of France Si potentiam suam diuturnam cuperet moderatè eâ uteretur in politicá administratione leges regni conservaret alioqui fore ut publicae invidiae impar Procerum regni Nobilitatis contra se concitato odio aliquando succumberet Aug. Thua An. 1568. Secondly Some of the Lords of the Council were willing to spare the Keeper for that having a mighty standing Wardrobe of Reason likely he bore down that side which he oppos'd Why would not Plato endure Homer in his Utopia because he was too great a Citizen for his City And Aristotle lib. 3. Polit. c. 4. Says the Argonautes were weary of Hercules and dismist him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his main strength at the Oar was above his Fellows his parts were unequal in supere minence Nor did his Majesty like it well that he would never give over till he was Conqueror in the Argument that he held and he ever held him to be too nimble and versatile in his Discourses For the Taste of that good King's Mind was much like to his Palate he never loved Sauce with his Meat nor Sharpness in his Counsels He desired to see all his way before him and not to be led through Windings and Allies Another King was of that Conceit says Thua lib. 11. Franciscus magna ingenia suspect a habere coepit Thirdly The blaff that help'd to blow down this Cedar was the Breath of Obtreclators and Tale bearers Who are too much about great Men as it may be said by Allusion from the 66 Psal v. 3. After the vulgar Latin For the Greatness of thy Power shall the People be found Lyars unto thee These were too thick about the Duke and cherish'd with his Countenance and Liberality For Reward not Minstrils and you shall be sure to be rid of them If any are loth to put Bishop Laud in this Number I must either reform their Knowledge or write against mine own They are yet living that have heard it confest by the Lord Buckingham's Mother And these words are in the Manuscript remembred before Penn'd by Arch-Bishop Abbot That the Countess of Buckingham told the Bishop of Lincoln that St. Davids was the Man that did undermine him with her Son and would underwork any Man in the World that himself might rise St. Davids saw no Man in the prospect of likelihood but this one to carry the highest Miter from him Interna crevit Roma Albae ruinis as Livy says Fourthly my Lord-Duke was soon satiated with their Greatness whom he had advanc'd It was the inglorious Mark of those Thirteen Years of his Power to remove Officers Which was like a sweeping Floud that at every Spring-tide takes from one Land and casts it upon another In two Years of King Charles's Reign Williams Lee Conway Suckling Crow Walter had their Top-sails pull'd down by him and if Sir Henry Yelverton had liv'd not only Sir A. Welden writes it but common Rumour nois'd it that he had been promoted to the Place of the Lord Coventry Which was very prejudicious to the true Discharge of those Dignities As Theophrastus complains in Tully Men were so short liv'd that by the time they began to know the World Death snatch'd them out of it So a Magistrate can yield no great Fruit that 's pluck'd up before he be well rooted Antonnius call'd the Philosopher provided better for that as Capitolinus hath it as he was wise in all his Government 21. Still the Plot was busie against the Lord-Keeper to displace him with some colour of Charge And the King being come to Salisbury in September with a full Court it came to a Catastrophe He that was hunted after was at harbour at a House of the Lord Sand's in Barkshire five Miles from Windsor call'd Foxly Where he was surely inform'd that after much sifting spent after all that ever he did since his high Promotion the old Matter was renewed how he stirred up those that lifted at the Duke at Oxford which was urg'd with strange and punctual Confidence and was the weakest and least grounded Surmise that ever was hammer'd Therefore it was supplied with another Objection That at the same time and place he had abus'd the King with ill Counsel advising him to vail his absolute Sovereignty too much to a social Communication with his Subjects Which being divulg'd got him that was accus'd a strong Gale of popular Favour did his Majesty no right and cast the Duke upon such a Shelf as no High-tide could bring him off while he liv'd The Keeper hearing every day what Cavillations were fomented and heard to put him to blame and shame found it in vain to coast the Season any longer to have the Great-Seal tarry with him Only resolv'd on the 21st of September to prepare his way by his Pen before he went to Salisbury to salute the King's Ear with softness and to shew that he did not despond but that he was ready for a Justification if he were call'd to answer Which for all his Labour would hardly be believ'd For all Treasure hid in the Ground is the Kings But how will he find it So all truth that concerns his Justice and Prosperity is his But how will he know it This Man is not the first that made it true which Sidon Apoll. observes Lib. 3. Ep. 3. That it is dangerous serving of Kings in a near place who are compar'd by him to fire Qui sicut paululum à se remota illuminat ita satis sibi admota comburit It is a good Element or light and warmth to those that stand aloof but singeth that which comes too near it Yet nothing venture nothing have One Arrow must be shot after another though both be grast and never found again In aequo est amissio rei timor amittendi says Seneca Nay he loseth more quiet of Mind that looks every day to lose that which he loves than in the Minute when he is deprived of it One says When the Brunt is over the Heart will recover Time and long day will mitigate sad Accidents 't is a slow Medicine but a sure one 22. Now let the Letter to his Majesty be observ'd which was his Harbinger Most gracious Sovereign and my dear Master WHile I spare my self at home for a few days to be quite rid of an Ague which I brought from Southampton I do humbly crave your Majesty's Pardon to make my Address in these Lines which I will contract to so narrow a room as the Matter will possibly give me leave First as touching the Information of the Access I should give at Oxford to those dangerous Persons of the House of
Philip the Son of Demetrius very much and anon dispraises him but reconciles it thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is necessary for a true Reporter one while to extol in another case to discommend the same person Take one Advice beside No man that hath read God's own Judgment upon the Trial of Job will censure him for the greatest Sinner that hath been the greatest Sufferer To take up the Cross had not been an inseparable Accident with receiving the Faith of the Gospel unless it were rather a Badge of Favour than of Punishment He is happy if he knows it whose Faults enter their Action against him in this Life he is a Prisoner of Hope Zech. 9.11 and his Heart is blind if he do not seek Mercy and sind it Afflictions are Fetters for a Fool and Bracelets for them that know how to wear them And it is finely said in the Essay That the good things belonging to Prosperity are to be wish'd but the good things belonging to Adversity are to be admired This being a true and a divine Sentence That Sin and nothing else makes the Stock of every man's Comfort to dye in the Ground as Job loves to speak it hangs well together that God knows best in what manner to punish every man's Sin who gave this Prelate great Favour with King James but took King Charles's Affection from him The Lord H. Howard in his Book against Judicious Astrology turns these Turnings into this use Change of Princes breeds change of Favourites but they that are once dear to God are ever dear to him I protest to the Reader that Bishop Williams could not be brought to believe that the King bad any Willingness in his own Heart to afflict and bruise him but that such things came from the Infusion of those that had too much of His Majesty's Ear and by Importunity transported him from the lenity of his own Judgment And when the greatest Sorrows compass'd him about he desired only to be brought to the King with the advantage of half an hour to declare his Injuries and Innocency so much he perswaded himself that he was right in his gracious Opinion He knew him to be a Prince Pious and Just He presum'd his Noble Soul would never forget with what Success his Counsel and Contrivance removed all Obstructions to bring him as safe out of Spain as he desir'd He had received a Promise of everlasting Love and Kindness for tracing the Jugglings of Inoihosa and bringing them to light whereby the dangerous Jealousies of the old King were removed and His Highness received sweetly into his Father's Bosom An honest man could not be suspicious that the memory of such faithful Service was lost But standers-by thought they saw more than the Bishop did who might soonest be mistaken in the Crisis of his own Disease because flattering Hope is but a waking Dream If the King had not been pleased in his Sufferings why did he let them swell so far As his Royal Name was used in all so his Good liking went to all or after so many Bruisings Gentleness had not been forgotten The Instruments next to be nam'd were most guilty of the Violence yet the highest Power did more than permit and look on As it is the Sun that scorcheth in July and not the Dog-Star it is a popular Error which conceives as if that Star when it rose did cause the heat of the Weather Yet still the Bishop would not think his Case was in that extremity that the King's Anger was in it For as it is spoken of Padre-Paulo in his Life That he was less sensible of Fear than ordinarily men use to be so this man would affright himself with nothing least of all with that which was close and uncertain and would often say in a Frolick That Miseries are like the Plague if you fear them you draw them to you But which will give great light to the Subject now handled once he was startled at a word which fell suddenly from the King in a few weeks after the death of his Father one told him that came from the French Court as it is in the Cabal p. 203. That the Spanish Ambassador spake openly there when the Marriage with the Princess Mary was to be finish'd That he could not have two Wives for their Infanta was surely his To which the King replied There are some English as well as Spaniards that are of that Opinion Which being carried from the King's Mouth to this Bishop he said with a low Voice I know no such but if he mean me it will be the worse for me while I live From which let a wise man find out what he can so he find no more than he should Either this or some such hard Conceit lay hid in the King's Stomach against a most deserving Church-man And every Age had some such Example at which it was astonish'd No History speaks any ill of the Empress Eudoxia but that she could not agree with Chrysostom Harry the Seventh one of our best Kings was very iniquous to Lord Stanly one of his best Subjects Not a better Lady than Q. Elizabeth nor a better Peer than the Duke of Norfolk yet Statesmen thought that neither were safe while the other lived The Hand of the Just may be heavy against the Just by woful Experience The greatest Claw-backs of the Pope confess Though he cannot err say they in an Opinion of Faith he may err in the mistake of a Person as to canonize a wrong Saint and excommunicate a right one Which shews that my Conscience is in no such streight to derogate from the Glory of a most blessed King because his Displeasure darken'd by human Error lighted upon a Mephibosheth a faultless person 65. The Duke of Buck. Who knows it not was the Bishop's strong and protested Enemy who vowed that of all he had given him but with as much good liking of K. James as of his Lordship he would leave him nothing who when he threatned an ill turn had Power to do it and did not often forget it Which made the Bishop shelter himself under the King's Grace and Benevolence of which he did never cease to have a strong Perswasion begging as it is Cabal p. 109 for God's sake and for his blessed Father's sake that His Majesty would allay the Duke's causeless Displeasure who was so little satisfied with any thing that he could do or suffer that he had no means left to appease his Anger but Prayers to God and his Sacred Majesty In the mean time that one Foe made the distressed Party get many Friends like Rabirius's Fortune in Tully Nihil aeque ac judicis accrbitas profurt who had nothing to help him so much as that Caesar did hunt after his Ruin with so much violence Now that which made the Duke's Defiances grow fiercer day by day was not the Bishop's stoutness to which he was sufficiently prone for he had sought him with all Submission which
Francorum ac Saliorum quamplurimae pro cujusque statu ac conditione poenae infliguntur Quin barbarissimi Indi qui ad occasum positi sunt cum de sceleribus conviclum nobilem ac plebeium tenerent nobili capillos aut brachialia truncabant plebeio nares auriculas praecidebant But I said that after the Censure of the forenamed Causes and that of this Bishop all much against the popular Judgment many great men did presage and the Commonalty did wish the extinction of that noble Court and it was overthrown by Vote in the first five months of the Long Parliament before the King had carried away his most considerable Friends to York This is the condition of mortal things says Pliny Ut à necessariis primùm cuncta venerint ad nimium Nat. Hist l. 26. Many Tribunals were of necessary institution at first and of necessary destruction when they run into Excess Indeed it is not the primitive Court that is pulled down but another when it waxeth quite unlike it self Non est eadem harmonia ubi è Phrygio in Doricum transit says Aristotle 5 Pol. The Musick is not the same which is altered from a shrill to a grave Note Yet better terms I hope may set it up in a better Constitution A Pot that boils over may be taken from the Fire and set on again Howsoever I am not so bold with holy Providences to determine why God caused or permitted this great Court to be shut up like an unclean place or why Divine Judgment was so severe against their persons especially that inflamed the Censure against our Bishop But I will cover his Case with St. Austin's Eloquence touching the Doom pass'd upon St. Cyprian Alia est Sella terrena aut Stella terrena aliud tribunal coelorum ab inferiore accepit sententiam à superiore coronam Ps 36. Conc. 3. And certainly Christ doth feel the Injuries done to an Innocent who was sentenc'd by unrighteous Judgment 121. My Pen must not now go with the Bishop my good Master to his Lodgings in the Tower whither in my Person I resorted to him weekly and if I said daily a lesser Figure than an Hyperbole would salve it excepting when he was confined to close Imprisonment which was not wont but upon the Discoveries or Jealousies of dangerous Treasons The Christians that were committed by idolatrous Emperors were in liberâ custodiâ their Deacons and Relievers of their Wants might resort unto them I have the Authority of Photius for it Ep. 97. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They that put the Martyrs to death hindered not their Friends to come and administer unto them But Christian Magistrates should be more observant of that Clemency else the Praise which our Saviour gives to the Charitable would be prevented I was in prison and ye came unto me Mat. 25.36 He that hath no more than the freedom of a Prison much more he that hath not so much is in a strait Captivity The Rabbins have a Saying That if Sea were Ink and the World Parchment it would never serve enough to contain the praises of Liberty But so good a Disciple as I write of did not believe the Jews that there was so much sweetness as they dreamt of in any temporal Prosperity And finding that the People on this side Tweed and beyond were provoked to Discontents and more discontented than they were provoked and hearing Presages of ill to come both from the Judicious and from every Mechanick's Mouth things were so bad without-doors that he saw no reason but to think that Malice had withered him away into no unhappy Retirement Upon which subject he made some Latin Poems especially when he took no good Rest I am of opinion it was so with Job c 35.10 God my maker giveth Songs in the night and after the vulgar Latin Qui dedit carmina in nocte To which Moral Gregory says Carmen in nocte est felicitas in tribulatione With such Diversions our Job compounded with his Sorrows to pay them not the half he owed them And whatsoever Face thy Fate puts on shrink not nor start not but be always one as Laureat Johnson sings it in his Underwoods Briefly Imprisonment to him was no worse than it is to a Flower put into an Earthen Pot streightned for spreading but every whit as sweet as in the open Beds of the Garden Yet he wanted not Tentatious to break his Heart if God had not kept it He lookt for Mercy from His Majesty now he had pluckt him down after a long chase with a Censure Neque Caesari quicquam ex victoriis ejus laetius fuit quà m servasse Corvinum as Vellicus hath immortalized the memory of Caesar Whereas three new Bills were allowed to be entred against this Bishop as I shall relate when I come again into that rugged way which was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Photius calls Basilius's Usage an unspeakable pickling a man in the Brine of Misery He lookt for some of the Nobles to mediate for his Enlargement as there were not a few that did lend him help before while there was Hope that he might recover but Kings like not that any should pity them whom they have undone So there was not one Ebedmelech in the Court that would tye a few Rags together to draw Jeremiah out of Prison How few there be that will co-part with any in their ruin'd Fortunes Miserorum non secus ac desunctorum obliviscuntur Plin. Ep. lib. 9. which we may translate into English out of the Psalm 31.12 I am a fear to mine acquaintance I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind The same measure that David found in Jury Thuanus confesseth was to be seen in France Hist lib. 23. That among all that Diana Valentina had preferred when she was their King's Mistress Nemo unus repertus qui fortunam jacentis à suis relictae sublevaret With the same Neglect Velleius chargeth the Aegyptians when Pompey their great Benefactor fled unto them and was deserted Quis in adversis beneficiorum servat memoriam Aut quis ullam calamitosis deberi putat gratiam Even they whose Spiritual Father Paul was whom he had begotten at Rome in Christ's Gospel they all forsook him and none stood to him when he was convented 2 Tim. 4.16 Some few also of this bountiful Lord's Servants stood afar off now and came not near him They were so well provided under him that they did not need him and they were so heartless and timorous that he did not need them Hirundines Thebas quod i. lius moenia saepiùs capta sint negantur subire Plin. N. H. lib. 10. c. 24. Thebes was so often sackt and taken that no Swallows would nest within it a Summer-bird and a subtle that will endure Winter and hard Seasons with no body Yet to give his honest Followers their due the greatest part of them shrunk not but did their best Service that they could afford to their forlorn
â—â—â—dem sed quascunque reip status inclinatio temporum ratio concordiae postulant esse deferendas And it is noted in as great a Christian as he was a Heathen That exactness of Honour Justice and Decorum cannot be kept even at all times 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Synes ep 67. So that the Counsels of the great Athanasius did give place to the variation of Times The Leaders of both sides have spoken but the negative did carry it Perhaps I may say with the old Proverb Chorus ejus major est meus meliùs eccinit yet I would rebuke him that should think the worse of those heroically resolved men from the fatal Accidents of succeeding Times Doubtless we had compounded for less blood less loss of Honour less confusion with the Presbyters then than with the Independent or Congregational Tyranny after The first pinnion'd our Arms the latter cut them off The first were like the Philistines which made the Children of Israel their Slaves the other were the Chaldaeans that murder'd our King pulled down every great Man's House and the House of the Lord. The one gave us Vinegar to drink and the other Gall. The one made us a miserable nation the other have made us execrable Parricides to God and Man 202. All being run over and disputed in this Argument the Archbishop controuled not the greater number and therein the better because the King was better satisfied to try his right by his Sword It is fit to serve Kings in things lawful with undiscoursed Obedience which Climachus calls Sepulchrum voluntatis For we deny When Kings do ask if we ask why says our Master Poet Johnson So the Archbishop took the Ball fairly not at the â—â—oly but at the first rebound It is a Motto of great sense and use which Mr. Gataker cites Lib. â— Anton. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a good man is either right or rectified as some Plants grow straight some are help't by adminiculation to be straight and some are wise at the first sight some not until the second inspection into a Cause Now our Prelate leaves Oxford at the opening of the Spring with a Charge from his Majesty to look to North-Wales chiefly Conway-Castle with easie Journeys and the safe-guard of some Forces that march't the most of the way that he road he came to Conway and that was his last Journey in this World where some few years after like old Jacob Gen. 49.33 He gathered up his feet into his bed where he first set his feet upon the Ground Felix qui prepriis aevum transegit in arvis Ipsa domus pucrum quem videt ipsa senem Claudias One year and a tedious one run out in listning to things abroad how the King's Forces and his Garrisons did speed The bold Britains would believe them that reported the best and the best was that they were Cadmaean Wars Et semper praelia clade pari Propert. It molested them not alittle that they were jealous among themselves how to keep their own For we that live in the South slander them if their common men be not Filchers and Thieves And though it were piped by a Mouse It must needs come to Fame's House says noble Chaucer As many in those Counties as had Plate Coin Jewels Moveables that were precious besides their Writings and Evidences got favour of the Archbishop to slow them up in the Castle each Person having an Inventory of his own share And some suspected to be corrupt-hearted to the Royal Cause obtained that favour the ground of much ensuing mischief But it was the forecast of the wise Prelate to take Hostages as it were from such and to be secured against their Revolt being in possession of the best of their Substance A Twelve-month after Sir Jo. Owen a Colonel for the King that had gone out with a Regiment of Foot and returned after a year with a few of the shatter'd Remnant though he had been unfortunate against his Enemies would try his Valour upon his Friends and contrived how to recover his Debts and Damages with the Spoil of Conway-Castle slighting with the clack of his singers all sober Counsel That all North-Wales was concern'd to have their Wealth in the custody of so trusty a person as his Grace of York that their hearts were with their bag and baggage if he made a prey of it their whole Body would turn against him that nothing would prosper after it in the King's behalf that their Atlas in those parts the Archbishop had the custody under the Signet to remain quiet in it till his cost bestowed on it should be refunded to him which was not hitherto treated upon or offer'd that the Prince the General had corroborated his Majesty's pleasure therein and had commanded all Officers by Sea and Land to assist him in it What Conditions could be assured to any man by Royal Faith if these were broken A violent Man and a Furioso was deaf to all this and purchast the favour of Prince Rupert to be made under his Hand not equal to the King's Signet to be Commander of the Castle and by force he surprized it and entred it which in somewhat more than one year was taken from him by Colonel Milton who relieved the Archbishop and such as had Interest in it to carry away their Goods which remained All this fell into a hard Construction derogating much to the Archbishops credit and the infamy was not only hot when it was fresh but it cools not much to this time Though Love hath a soft hand to touch where it loves I will not so far defend the whole Process but I confess he was more earnest than advised in this unlucky action Camerarius penning the Life of Melanchthon casts in a few sweet words thus Out of my great opinion of him Quaedam fortè cariùs existimem quà m mereantur But I disdain to call bad good and darkness light Yet in justice I must patronize the noble Williams against Mr. Sanders Hist p. 889. in these Lines That he fortified his Garrison against the King and dissuaded the Country from contribution to the King Those were Times when he wrote to outface Truth and willing to listen to Slanders no wonder if many took the liberty and had the confidence to broach Fictions And it is a great advantage against the Truth when Lies and false Rumours have got the start to speak first chiefly when they have spread long Mensuraque ficti Crescit auditis semper novus addidit autor Ovid. Thus much I will undertake to inform all Readers with truth in the matter and satisfie the greatest part of many men with a clear Apology 203. He builds ill that lays not a sure Foundation therefore my Entrance shall be from the very words not a syllable varied wherein the Archbishop laid forth to his Majesty how he had suffered from Sir Jo. Owen which he sent to Oxford by Captain James Martin a faithful and undaunted Soldier and by his