pay him with his Spanish Sarcasms and Scoffs saying My Lord I wish you a good Easter And you my Lord replied the Chancellor a good Passover For he could neither close with his English Buffoonry nor his Spanish Treaty which Gondemar knew though he was so wise as publickly to oppose neither In fine he was a fit Iewel to have beautified and adorned a flourishing Kingdom if his flaws had not disgraced the lustre that should have set him off William Viscount Sayand Sealem of the Court of Wardes etc Are to be sould by Iohn Hinde In this very time of Parliament when the King carried all things with a full sail the Pilots of the Commonwealth had an eye to the dangers that lay in the way for in both Houses the King had a strong Party especially in the House of Lords All the Courtiers and most of the Bishops steer'd by his Compass and the Princes presence who was a constant Member did cast an awe among many of them yet there were some gallant Spirits that aimed at the publick Liberty more then their own interest If any thing were spoken in the House that did in the least reflect upon the Government or touch as the Courtiers thought that Noli me tangere the Prerogative those that moved in it were snapt up by them though many times they met with stout encounters at their own Weapon among which the Principal were Henry Earl of Oxford Henry Earl of Southampton Robert Earl of Essex Robert Earl of Warwick the Lord Say the Lord Spencer and divers others that supported the Old English Honour and would not let it fall to the ground Oxford was of no reputation in his youth being very debauched and riotous and having no means maintained it by fordid and unworthy ways for his Father hopeless of Heirs in discontent with his Wife squandred away a Princely Estate but when she and his great Fortune were both gone he married a young Lady of the ancient family of the Trenthams by whom he had this young Lord and two Daughters she having a fortune of her own and industry with it after her Husband's death married her Daughters into two noble Families the Earl of Mountgomery married the one and the Lord Norris after Earl of Berk-shire married the other And finding her Son hopeless let him run his swing till he grew weary of it and thinking he could not be worse in other Countries than he had been in his own she sent him to travel to try if change of Air would change his Humour He was not abroad in France and Italy above three years and the freedoms and extravagancies there that are able to betray and insnare the greatest modesties put such a Bridle upon his inordinateness that look how much before he was decried for a mean and poor spirit so much had his noble and gallant comportment there gained that he came over refined in every esteem and such a Valuation was set upon his parts and merit that he married the Lady Diana Cecil Daughter to the Earl of Exeter one of the most eminent Beauties and Fortunes of the time Southampton though he were one of the King 's Privy Councel yet was he no great Courtier Salisbury kept him at a bay pinched him so by reason of his relation to old Essex that he never flourished much in his time nor was his spirit after him so smooth shod as to go always the Court pace but that now and then he would make a Carrier that was not very acceptable to them for he carried his business closely and slily and was rather an Adviser than an Actor Essex had ever an honest Heart and though Nature had not given him Eloquence he had a strong reason that did express him better his Countenance to those that knew him not appeared somewhat stern and solemn to intimates affable and gentle to the Females obligingly courteous and though unfortunate in some yet highly respected of most happily to vindicate the Vertue of the Sex The King never affected him whether from the bent of his Natural inclination to effeminate faces or whether from that instinct or secret Prediction that Divine fate often imprints in the apprehension whereby he did fore-see in him as it were a hand raised up against his Posterity may be a Notation not a determination But the King never liked him nor could he close with the Court. Warwick though he had all those excellent indowments of Body and fortune that gives splendor to a glorious Court yet he used it but as his Recreation for his Spirit aimed at more publick adventures planting Colonies in the Western World rather than himself in the King's favour his Brother Sir Henry Rich about this time made Baâ—on of Kensington and he had been in their youths two emulous Corrivals in the publick affections the one's browness being accounted a lovely sweetness transcending most men the other 's features and pleasant aspect equalled the most beautiful Women the younger having all the Dimensions of a Courtier laid all the Stock of his Fortune upon that Soil which after some years Patience came up with increase but the Elder could not so stoop to observances and thereby became his own Supporter Saye and Seale was a seriously subtil Peece and always averse to the Court ways something out of pertinaciousness his Temper and Constitution ballancing him altogether on that Side which was contrary to the Wind so that he seldom tackt about or went upright though he kept his Course steady in his own way a long time yet it appeared afterwards when the harshness of the humour was a little allayed by the sweet Refreshments of Court favours that those stern Comportments supposed natural might be mitigated and that indomitable Spirits by gentle usage may be tamed and brought to obedience Robert Earle of Warwicke and Lord Rich of Leeze etc. Henry Earle of Holland Baron of Kensington etc. â—â—ulâ— by Ruâ—â—â—â— Pâ—ake There were many other noble Patriots concentrique with these which like Jewels should be preserved and kept in the Cabinet of every man's memory being Ornaments for Posterity to put on but their Characters would make the line too long and the Bracelet too big to adorn this Story About this time Spencer was speaking something in the House that their great Ancestors did which displeased Arundel and he cuts him off short saying My Lord when these things you speak of were doing your Ancestors were keeping sheep twitting him with his Flocks which he took delight in Spencer instantly replied When my Ancestors as you say were keeping sheep your Ancestors were plotting Treason This hit Arundel home and it grew to some heat in the House whereupon they were separated and commanded both out of the House and the Lords began to consider of the offence There was much bandying by the Court Party to excuse the Earl of Arundel but the heat and rash part of it beginning with him laying such a brand upon a
perfection in his excellent and incomparable History but when Liberty turned it to Action it taught him to roam so as the event proved fatal to him This Conspiracy put on such a face that few or none could discover or know what to make of it That the muddy waters were stirr'd was apparent but it was with such a mixture that little could be visible in it The Lord Grey Cobham and Sir Walter Rawleigh were Protestants why should they strive to alter Religion though the Priests Markham Bainham and others might But it seems they joyned together in a Politick way every one intending his own ends Discontent being the Ground-work upon which they built this slight Superstructure A great mischiefe intended to the Kings Majestie at his first entrance into the Kingdome of England before his Coronation Watson Clark Priests administring Oaths of secresie and applanding the project It came to nothing by Gods mercy The Kings Majesties clemency towards the Conspiratours after judgment past upon them No treason in England attempted but had a Romish Priest in the practise Watson Seducing Noblemen that being hudled together could not stand long Rawleigh's greatest Accuser was a Letter of Cobhams which some say after he denyed to be his hand Some of the Conspirators it may be desired to seem formidable venting their Anger so for being slighted others strove to make themselves so that they might have the glory of enlarging the Roman Power and they joyned together thinking their single strength would not prevail In this Cloud looking for Iuno they begot a Monster which having neither head nor foot some part lived the other dyed While these were provoked with Neglects others were incouraged with Favours Many of the Gentry that came out of Scotland with the King were advanced to Honours as well as those he found here to shew the Northern soyl as fruitful that way as the Southern But Knights swarmed in every corner the Sword ranged about and men bowed in obedience to it more in Peace than in War this Airy Title blew up many a fair Estate The Scots naturally by long converse affecting the French Vanity drew on a Garb of Gallantry meeting with a plentiful soyl and an open-handed Prince The English excellent for imitation loth to be exceeded in their own Country maintained their follies at their own charge All this came accompanied with a great Plague which hapned this year in London whereof above thirty thousand dyed Yet who will not venture for a Crown For in the heat of it on the five and twentieth of Iuly being the day dedicated to Saint Iames the King with his Wife Queen Anne were both crowned at Westminster fulfilling that old Prophecy or rather Fancy current among the Scots as they report before Edward the first brought the Royal Chair out of Scotland with the Stone in it and placed it at Westminster to Crown our Kings in Which Stone some old Saws deliver to be the same that Iacob rested his head on Ni fallat Fatum Scoti hunc quocunque locatum Inveniunt lapidem Regnare tenentur ibidem Englished Fate hath design'd That wheresoe'r this Stone The Scots shall find There they shall hold the Throne But how the Stream of Time runs through the Chanel of these Prophetical Fancies experience shews For 't is true if the Scots came so near the Throne as to enjoy the Stone or Chair where the English Kings are Inaugurated they may hold the Crown But being only grounded upon Conjecture these Conceits are commonly made up before they are half moulded or like Abortives are shaped after they are born When these Ceremonies were past the King retired from this croud of Infection gave some admission to Ambassadors that from all the neighbouring Princes and States came to congratulate his happy Inauguration For besides the ordinary Ceremony among Princes their Reason might tell them that if his Predecessors were able to graple with the growing Monarchy of him that coveted to be Vniversal and to assist and relieve her Neighbours and Confederates from his oppression He would be much more formidable bringing with him if nothing else Bodies of men Warlike and industrious hardned with cold and labour and active in the difficultest attempts however of late by what Divine Judgment I know not utterly disheartned to be Helpers who were formerly Hinderers to all the English Expeditions so that in him they courted their own Conveniences For certainly if ever the English Monarchy were in its true Glory and Greatness it was by this Union But there is a Period set to all Empires The Prince a little before this was installed Knight of the Garter the Earl of Southampton and the young Earl of Essex were restored to the right of Blood and Inheritance and Honours were conferred so thick as if the King intended a new kind of Conquest by a proceeding that tended to their and his own Ruin For to subdue the greatness of the Nobility who formerly could sweep such a Party of People to them with their long trains and dependencies that they were able to graple with Kings He by a multiplicity of them made them cheap and invalid in the Vulgar opinion For nothing is more destructive to Monarchy than lessening the Nobility upon their decline the Commons rise and Anarchy increases HONORAT Do CAROL BLVNT CO DEVON BA R MOVNTIOY The RIght honourable CHARLES BLVNT Earle of Deuon Baron Mountioy and Knight of the Garter As the Papist was different from the Protestant Religion on one side so was the Puritan as they then called pious and good men on the other both which were active to attain their own ends and the King had the command of himself not bitterly to oppose but gently to sweeten their hopes for His thinking himself unsecure betwixt them The latter were now solicitous for a more clear Reformation This the Bishops opposed as trenching too much upon them and the King listen'd to having experience of it in Scotland how much it had incroached upon Him For He thought their dissenting from the established Government of the Church was but to get that Power into a great many mens hands which was now but in one and that one had dependance upon him with whom He might better grapple The Prelates distilling this Maxim into the King No Bishop no Monarch so strengthning the Miter by the same Power that upholds the Crown Yet to satisfie the importunity a Conference is appointed at Hampton-Court where the Bishops Opponents Doctor Reynolds Doctor Sparks Mr. Knewstubs and Mr. Chadderton men eminent in Learning and Piety in themselves as well as in the opinion of the people did desire in the name of the rest of their party That the Doctrine of the Church might be preserved in Purity That good and faithful Pastors might be planted in all Churches That Church-Government might be sincerely administred That the Book of Common-Prayer might be fitted to more increase of Godliness Out
acted Overtly the other Covertly in dark Corners and she and her Agents find fit Ministers for both The Earl of Northampton resenting his Nieces grievances makes the King acquainted with her Maiden bashfulness how loth she is to divulge her Husbands infirmities and how long it is since her Marriage and yet she hath not enjoyed the happiness of a Wife that her Husbands inability must needs be an unnatural conjunction such as neither Law nor Reason can admit of and that there was a great affection betwixt the Viscount and her so as there seemed to be a more excellent sympathy and sweet composition of Soul in them more suitable Reason and Nature than in the state she was in Which was seconded by the Viscounts humble submissions to the Kings great wisdom who he acknowledged had not only raised him to what he is but may yet make him more happy by uniting him to a Lady of so much honour and vertue The King that took delight to compleat the happiness of them he loved commanded the Bishops to sue out a Divorce between the Earl of Essex and his Lady that the Viscount might marry her For he had been practised formerly in Scotland in his minority with the like experiment Elizabeth Daughter to the Earl of Athol being married to the Earl of March under pretence of impotency but meerly for lust as the Author reports was Divorsed from her Husband and married to the Earl of Arran the Kings Favourite who had been before a Partner in her Adulterous Sheets so current is the Parallel and so equally are lust and ambition yoked together that they both with full violence draw one and the same way The Bishops and others having a Commission under the great Seal of England to convent the Earl of Essex and his Countess before them sent out their Summons and they made their appearance accordingly But before they proceeded they caused a Iury of twelve discreet Matrons to be impannelled to search the Countess whether she were as she pretended to be and was reputed a Maid still for if she were a Maid they could fasten upon a Nullity and so separate them for the more honour of her Virginity The Countess being ashamed and bashful to come to such a Tryal would not expose her face to the light but being to appear before the Matrons under a Veil another young Gentlewoman that had less offended was fobbed into the place and she passed in the opinion both of Iury and Iudges to be a Virgin Then the Articles were drawn up where she accused her Husband of impotency and that he was hindred with a perpetual and incurable impediment whereby he is unable to have carnal copulation with her with frigiditas quoad hâ—nc often reiterated c. The good Earl willing to be rid of so horrid a mischief did acknowledge he had attempted to enjoy her many times but he never did nor could carnally know her and believed he never should Upon these Grounds the Iudges proceed to a Divorce Declaring That Robert Earl of Essex and the Lady Frances Howard contracted by shew of Marriage did cohabit in one House and lie together in one Bed Nudum cum Nuda Solus cum Sola and that the said Lady Frances did shew her self prompt and ready to be known of him and that the said Earl neither did nor could have knowledg of her although he did think himself able to have knowledg of other Women And that the said Lady Frances by inspection of her Body by Midwives expert in matter of Marriage was proved to be apt for carnal copulation with Man and yet a Virgin Therefore we the said Iudges deputed in the Cause first invocating the Name of Christ and setting God before our eye do pronounce decree and declare That the Earl of Essex for some secret incurable binding impediment did never carnally know or was or is able carnally to know the Lady Frances Howard And therefore we do pronounce have decreed and do declare the pretended Marriage so contracted and solemnized de facto between them to have been and to be utterly void and to no effect and that they did want and ought to want the strength of the Law And that the Lady Frances was and is and so ought to be free and at liberty from any Bond of such pretended Marriage de facto contracted and solemnized And we do pronounce that she ought to be Divorsed and so we do free and Divorce her leaving them as touching other Marriages to their Conscience in the Lord. Which our Definitive Sentence and Decree we ratifie and publish Thomas Wint. Lancel Elie. Rich. Coven Lichfield Iohn Roffe Bishops Iulius Caesar Thomas Parry Daniel Dun Knights These Bishops and the rest of the Judges could not be ignorant what scandalous reports of this Ladies actions flew up and down from lip to lip which however sweetned by the Partakers carried an ill savour with them in every honest understanding who were not blinded with wilfulness or deafned with prejudice which made the Bishops of Canterbury and London decline the business though nominated in the Patent But Kings will never want fit Ministers in corrupted Times both in Church and Common-wealth as long as there are Degrees and Places of Ascent to clime to And though these things floated awhile upon the Stream of Greatness yet there is One above that moves the Waters who did not only see what passed in the Bishops Palace but in the closest Prison which he discovered to the shame and ruin of the Actors For while this Wheel was turning at Lambeth the other Wheel had its motion in the Tower Mrs. Turner the Mistriss of the Work had lost both her supporters Forman her first prop dropt away suddenly by death and Gresham another rotten Engin that succeeded him did not hold long She must now bear up all her self But she wrought in a Mine of inexhaustible Treasure therefore she may buy instruments at any rate One Weston is thought on for this Vnder-work who was sometime Doctor Turners her Husbands man and hath a little experience in the nature of poysonous Drugs This venomous Plant is sent for out of the Country to be transplanted here and two hundred pounds promised to disperse his Venom so as it may be killing Sir Thomas Monson is made by the Countess to recommend him to Sir Iervis Ellowis and he to Sir Thomas Overbury to wait on him where he goes under the character of a right honest man making it good with a sober and fair outside the true vizard of Hypocrisie a fit Pipe for such corrupted Waters to run through which must be provided by one Franklin a swarthy sallow crooked-backt fellow who was to be the Fountain whence these bitter waters came THE Portracture of Sir THOMAS OVERBURY Knight AETAT 32 But these lingring operations do not suit with the Countesses implacable humor Weston is chid by Mrs. Turner for being so
into a Coffin and bury him privately on Tower-Hill Concluding That God is gracious in cutting off evil Instruments before their time Which Sentence while he was writing it reflected the judgment on himself For Northampton having a great influence in the Kingdom being a prime Counsellor to the King and intimate with Somerset they two grasping all Power and Northampton having the better head to manage it the miscarriages were not without cause imputed to him For being a Papist he did not only work upon Somerset to pervert him by letting him see there was a greater latitude for the Conscience in that Religion but got him to procure many immunities for the Papists as the Kings best affected Subjects And being Lord Warden of the Cinque-Ports he gave free access to Priests and Iesuits that abundantly flockt again into the Kingdom the operation of the last Proclamation having now lost the vertue And a Letter being discovered which he had written to Cardinal Bellarmine wherein he expresses the condition of the Times and the Kings importunity compelled him to be a Protestant in shew yet nevertheless his heart stood firm with the Papists and if there were cause he would express it with much more to this purpose These things first muttered then urged against him touched him to the heart so that he retired disposed of his Estate and dyed He had a great mind tending towards eminent things which he was the better able to effect by living a Batchelor to an old Age being always attended and he loved it with Gentlemen of Quality to whom he was very bountiful His affections were also much raised to Charity as by the Almshouse he erected appears and his Works shew him to be a great getter But leaving no Issue to propagate his name he built a fair House by Charing-cross to continue it which it lost soon after his death being called Suffolk-house for a time and now is Northumberland-house Such changes there are in the Worlds measures His Body was carried to be buried at Dover because he was Warden of the Cinque-Ports as was reported by some of his Followers but it was vulgarly rumored to be transported to Rome But these actions of his about Overbury lying dormant made no great noise at this time against him but when they broke out they laid upon his name as great a stench as Infamy or Oaium could produce SUFFOLK HOUSE CHARING CROSS The Spaniards the first discoverers being more covetous to grasp than well able to plant took possession of the most precious places so that the English French and Dutch caught but what they left Sir Walter Rawleigh and others after Sir Francis Drake found out that Country now called Virginia which was long since planted with a Colony And in that tract of Land more Northerly within the degrees of 40 and 48 of latitude lies New-England a Climate temperate and healthful but not so much as the Old It is rather a low than a high Land full of Rocky-Capes or Promontories The Inmost parts of the Country are Mountainous intermixt with fruitful Vallies and large Lakes which want not store of good Fish The Hills are no where Barren though in some places Stony but fruitful in Trees and Grass There are many Rivers fresh Brooks and Springs that run into the Sea The Rivers are good Harbors and abound with plenty of excellent Fish yet are they full of Falls which makes them not Navigable far into the Land The Seas bordering the Shores are studded with Islands about which great Shoals of Fishes Cod Haddock and such like do wantonly sport themselves The main Land doth nourish abundance of Deers Bears Wolves and a beast called Moose peculiar to those Regions and the Rivers and Ponds are stored with some Beavers Otters and Musquashes There are also divers kinds of small Beasts but the most offensive are Foxes Fowls there are store in their several seasons as Turkies Geese and Ducks and the soyl naturally produces wild Vines with very large Bunches of Grapes but the extremity of heat and cold hinder their just temper There are many other Fruits which are very good with Plants whose Rinds or Barks transcends our Hemp or Flax both Air and Earth concurring to bring forth most things that Industry and Art can provide for the use of man The first that sent a Colony into this Country was the Lord Chief Justice Popham in the year 1606. A man highly renowned in his time for persecuting such as transgressed the Laws among Christians living like Beasts of prey to the prejudice of Travellers And in this he had a special aim and hope also to establish Christian Laws among Infidels and by domestical to chace away those ferous and indomitable Creatures that infested the Land Brave and gallant spirits having ever such publick ends But Planters are like Alchymists they have something in projection that many times fails in production It is conceived the Romans were not well advised to settle one of their first Colonies at Maldon in Essex whose soyl about is neither yet sound nor Air salubrious And the first opening of ground in a Climate not Natural hath an extraordinary operation upon the Bodies of Men whose Senses must comply to give entertainment to a Stranger that often spoils the place where it finds Hospitality For the first Planters of New-England having seated themselves low few of them were left to direct those that succeeded in a better way Yet People by dear experience overcame it by degrees being yearly supplied by men whose industry and affections taught them there was more hope to find safety in New-England than in the Old Though these found some stop yet our great Favourite the Earl of Somerset and his business runs smoothly without rub since Overburies death But he must alter his Bias and go less or find some new ways to bring in Monies the Revenues of the Crown are not competent to maintain such vast Expences accumulated by his Riot though he had all the Earl of Westmorelands Lands at his Marriage and Creation added to his Earldom There must be therefore a new Order of Baronets made in number two hundred that must be next Degree to Barons and these must pay a thousand pound a piece for their Honour having it by Patent under the great Seal and continued to Posterity with the Title of Knights Some of these new Honourable men whose Wives pride and their own Prodigalities had pumpt up to it were so drained that they had not moisture to maintain the radical humour but wither'd no nothing This money thus raised is pretended for planting the North of Ireland but it found many other Chanels before it came to that Sea And though at our Kings first access to the Crown there was a glut of Knights made yet after some time he held his hand left the Kingdom should be cloyed with them And the World thriv'd so well with some that the price was afterwards brought
design Weston being a kind of Papist and Conwey a Protestant the better to close up the breach between the Emperor and the King of Bohemia But Ferdinand being startled with the flaring Glory of this new King to cast a damp upon it and to terrifie him and his Adherents he caused this Proscription to be published against them WE Ferdinand c. To all Electors Princes c. but especially to the Subjects of Frederick Count Palatine of the Rhine Elector c. send greeting Because it is not known unto you how that Frederick Count Palatine of the Rhine c. hath made himself head of that persidious and rebellious crew of our Kingdom of Bohemia Wherefore we proclaim the said Frederick Count Palatine c. Guilty of High Treason and iterate Proscription and of all the Penalties which by Law and Custom are depending thereon We conclude him out of Our and the Imperial Peace and are firmly resolved solved to execute the said Penalties against the said Frederick which calleth himself Count Palatine of the Rhine as against one publickly proscribed an Enemy and Adversary to us and to the Empire and as one which hath suffered himself to be made a Head of our disobedient and perfidious Rebels who is a Contemner and Oppugner of our Imperial Authority and Majesty who is an Infringer of Publick Peace and Tranquillity and of other Ordinances and Laws of the Empire Commanding you under pain of Life that in no way you give any aid succour assistance neither in Money Provision Munition nor any way else neither openly nor covertly under what colour or pretext soever to the said Frederick who calleth himself Count Palatine of the Rhine And if one or more of you should serve or be in pay of the said Frederick his Complices or Helpers We command him or them to forsake the Service of the said proscribed Frederick and of his Helpers And we command you the Estates Dependents Alliances Subjects and Vassals of the said proscribed Frederick that henceforth you yield unto him no obedience help nor aid in assisting him any further nor partake of his Rebellion Disobedience and Crime but utterly to forsake him in it and to assist us with true and faithful aid and succour to reduce the disobedient disloyal rebellious proscribed Frederick and his Helpers to due Obedience any Treaty Confederacy Amity and Alliance notwithstanding And we absolve you that are Vassals of the said proscribed Frederick or which are in his Protection or which are his Natural Subjects or Strangers from all your Oaths and Duties promising to all those which shall be obedient unto this our Mandate all Imperial favour grace and security We will likewise that none shall protect defend or secure the said banished Frederick and his Helpers and Assistants in nothing that may be profitable to them For we exclude the said banished Frederick together with his Adherents from all favour liberties promises security publick peace confederacies alliances laws privileges immunities and customs heretofore given unto him and them by our Ancestors the Roman Emperors But he that shall be disobedient unto this our Will and Command and shall assist take part or aid in any sort either privately or publickly under what colour soever the said Frederick who calleth himself Count Palatine of the Rhine and Duke of Bavaria We declare by these Presents guilty of high Troason and iterate Proscription no less than himself And this let every one take notice of to keep themselves from danger Given in our City of Vienna c. CHRISTIANVS II. DVX SAXONIAE ETC. SEPTEMVIRATVS CAES. CREAN HAERES ANNO MDCIX VIRTVTE CHRISTI ANA While they were thus grappling in Bohemia the Marquess Spinola was forming an Army in Flanders and the Protestant Princes of Germany Consederates to the Palatine calling themselves the Princes of the Union raised Forces for the defence of the Palatinate and their own Interest under the Command of the Marquess of Ansbach But our King made no Preparations yet he sent to his Ambassador at Bruxels commanding him to enquire for what purpose Spinola's Army was called together the Truce continuing betwixt Spain and the Low-Countries but the Ambassador could receive little satisfaction the Spanish subtilty having sealed up Spinola's Commission which he was not to open till the Army were ready to march But men of ordinary understanding might apprehend that an Army of six and twenty thousand Foot and four thousand Horse with all Military Provisions were not to lye still and though our King had divers Arguments presented to him that did assure him that Army was intended for the Palatinate yet would not his Spirit be set on work to preserve his Childrens Patrimony So odious was the name of War to him But at length with much ado one Regiment of Foot to joyn with the Princes of the Union and make a little noise and bustle was extorted from him by importunities This Regiment was the gallantest for the Persons and outward presence of men that in many Ages I think hath appeared either at home or abroad It consisted of two and twenty hundred compleat the chief Commander Sir Horatio Vere who was after Baron of Tilbery a Person bred up in the School of War and a known Master in the Art of Victory He was accompanied with the Earls of Oxford and Essex young and daring Spirits whose honour not only descended from a long Series of Noble Progenitors but they made it their own And out of respect to them as well as love to the Service this Regiment was almost furnished with Gentlemen who went to make themselves capable of better imployment the English for many years having been truants in that Art The two Earls had two hundred and fifty men apiece piece in each Company and so many flocked to Essex out of love and he loth to put them off that he carried 300 men into the Palatinate paying fifty of them with his own Money The King being drawn to consent that two Regiments more should follow for these two Noblemen which gave the more encouragement to this petty Enterprize The English followed Spinola but at a distance for he being nearer to the Palatinate got much the start of them though they went out of England before he presented the Arch-Dukes with the civilities of his Departure which was upon the eighth of August And upon the last of the same month by the Assistance of Maurice Prince of Orange and the benefit of a Bridge of boats a little below Weasel they past the Rhine under the Conduct of Prince Henry of Nassau who with two thousand Horse and four hundred Musqueteers taken out of Gulick and the adjacent Garrisons cleared the Countrey before them marching through Gulickland and the barren Mountains of Collenland till they came near to Coblentz which Town stands upon the Center of two Rivers the Rhine and Mosell Giving out in the march as if the Army intended to pass
their houses and where company meet the discourse is commonly of the times for every man will vent his passion these Ladies he sweetned with Presents that they might allay such as were two sower in their expression to stop them in the course if they ran on too fast and bring them to a gentler pace He lived at Ely-House in Holborn his passage to the Court was ordinarily through Drury-lane the Covent-Garden being then an inclosed field and that Lane and the Strand were the places where most of the Gentry lived and the Ladies as he went knowing his times would not be wanting to appear in their Balconies or Windows to present him their Civilities and he would watch for it and as he was carried in his Litter or bottomless Chair the easiest seat for his Fistula he would strain himself as much as an old man could to the humblest posture of Respect One day passing by the Lady Iacob's house in Drury-lane she exposing her self for a Salutation he was not wanting to her but she moved nothing but her mouth gaping wide open upon him He wondred at the Ladie 's incivility but thought that it might be happily a yawning fit took her at that time for trial whereof the next day he finds her in the same place and his Courtesies were again accosted with no better expressions than an extended mouth Whereupon he sent a Gentleman to her to let her know that the Ladies of England were more gracious to him than to incounter his Respects with such Affronts She answered it was true that he had purchased some of their favours at a dear rate And she had a mouth to be stopt as well as others Gondemar finding the cause of the emotion of her mouth sent her a Present as an Antidote which cured her of that distemper ELY HOUSE Engrav'd from an original Drawing The Earl of Buckingham as great in Title as in Favour was now grown a Marquess and lying all this while in the King's bosom every man paid tribute to his smiles As the King bought off Worcester to make him Master of the Horse so he bought off Nottingham to make him Admiral What may not he have that is not only Master of his Horse and Ships but his Heart also His Mother is created a Countess by Patent and her second Husband Sir Thomas Compton had no other Title but an unworthy one which the People either out of their anger or her misdemeanour imposed upon him Her eldest Son first made Sir Iohn Villiers after Viscount Purbeck married to the Daughter and Heir of the Lady Elizabeth Hatton by Sir Edward Cook a Lady of transcending beauty but accused for wantonness Purbeck not well able to look down from these great heights got a giddiness in his head which confined him to a dark room Her other Son first made Sir Christopher Villiers was after created Earl of Anglesey whose honour mixt with a weak brain could not buoy him up from sinking into that distemper that drowns the best Wits Her Daughter presently after also shined in the same Sphere with her her Husband being from a private Gentleman made Earl of Denbigh Happy is he can get a Kinswoman it is the next way to a thriving Office or some new swelling Title The King that never much cared for Women had his Court swarming with the Marquesses kindred so that little ones would dance up and down the privy Lodgings like Pharies and it was no small sap would maintain all those suckers And now we have named Sir Thomas Compton there will follow a Story of his youthful Actions which though done long since will not be uncomly to croud in here He had the remark of a slow-spirited man when he was young and truly his Wife made him retain it to the last But such as found him so in those vigorous days of Duelling would trample on his easiness and there could not a worse Character be imprinted on any man than to be termed a Coward Among the rest one Bird a roaring Captain was the more bold and inâ—olent against him because he found him slow and backward which is a baseness of an over-daring nature and his provocations were so great that some of Compton's Friends taking notice of it told him It were better to die nobly â—nce than to live infamously ever and wrought so upon his cold temper that the next alfront that this bold Bird put upon him he was heartned into the Courage to send him a Challenge Bird a massy great Fellow confident of his own strength disdaining Compton being leâ—s both in Stature and Courage told the Second that brought the Challenge in a vapouring manner That he would not stir a foot to incounter Compton unless he would meet him in a Saw-pit where he might be sure Compton could not run away from him The Second that looked upon this as a Rodomontado fancy told him That if he would appoint the Place Compton should not fail to meet him Bird making choice bâ—th of the Place and Weapon which in the vain formality of Fighters was in the election of the Challenged he chose a Saw-pit and a single Sword where according to the time appointed they met Being both together in the Pit with swords drawn and stript ready for the encounter Now Compton said Bird thou shalt not escape from me aand hovering his sword over his head in a disdainful manner said Come Compton let 's see what you can do now Compton attending his business with a watchful eye seeing Bird's Sword hovering over him ran under it in upon him and in a moment run him through the body so that his pride fell to the ground and there did spraul out its last vanity Which should teach us that strong presumption is the greatest weakness and it is far from wisdom in the most arrogant Strength to slight and disdain the meanest Adversary There is yet in bleeding memory even in these Times of just severity against this impious Duelling one of the same Family of the Compton's in some part guilty of Bird's Crime for the Provoker to such horrid Encounters seldom escapes the Divine Iustice permitting such violent madness to tend to its own destruction But to return to our Story Prenobilis Henrici Comi Manchester DnuÌ„ Custodio Privati Sigil Anâ—â—ete But though the Marquess of Buckingham in appearance acted all these Removes and Advancements yet his Mother the Countess wrought them in effect for her hand was in all Transactions both in Church and State and she must needs know the disposition of all things when she had a feeling of every man's pulse for most Addresses were made to her first and by her conveyed to her Son for he looked after his pleasure more than his profit which made Gondemar who was well skilled in Court Holy-Water among other his witty pranks write merrily in his Dispatches into Spain That there was never more hope of England's Conversion to Rome than now for there are
more prayers and oblations offered here to the Mother than to the Son For the Marquess himself as he was a man of excellent symmetry and proportion of parts so he affected beauty where he found it but yet he looks upon the whole race of Women as inferior things and uses them as if the Sex were one best pleased with all And if his eye cull'd out a wanton beauty he had his Setters that could spread his Nets and point a meeting at some Ladies House where he should come as by accident and find Accesses while all his Train attended at the dore as if it were an honourable visit The Earl of Rutland of a Noble Family had but one Daughter to be the Mistris of his great Fortune and he tempts her carries her to his Lodgings in Whitehall keeps her there for some time and then returns her back again to her Father The stout old Earl sent him this threatning Message That he had too much of a Gentleman to suffer such an indignity and if he did not marry his Daughter to repair her honour no greatness should protect him from his justice Buckingham that perhaps made it his design to get the Father's good will this way being the greatest match in the Kingdom had no reason to mislike the Union therefore he quickly salved up the wound before it grew to a quarrel And if this Marriage stopt the Current of his sins he had the less to answer for This young Lady was bred a Papist by her Mother but after her Marriage to the Marquess she was converted by Doctor White as was pretended and grew a zealous Protestant but like a morning dew it quickly vanished For the old Countess of Buckingham never left working by her sweet Instruments the Iesuits till she had placed her on the first foundation So that the Marquess betwixt a Mother and a Wife began to be indifferent no Papist yet no Protestant but the Arminian Tenets taking root were nourished up by him and those that did not hold the same opinions were counted Puritans These new indifferences now grew so hot in England that the Protestant Cause grew very cold in Germany Which made the spirits of most men rise against the Spanish Faction at home and Spain's incroaching Monarchy abroad And though the King sped ill the last Parliament of Somerset's undertaking and thought to lay them by for ever as he often expressed looking upon them as incroachers into his Prerogative and diminishers of his Majesty and Glory making Kings less and Subjects more than they are Yet now finding the peoples desires high-mounted for regaining the Palatinate he thought they would look only up towards that and liberally open their Purses which he might make use of and this Unanimity and good agreement betwixt him and his people would induce his Brother of Spain to be more active in the Treaty in hand and so he should have supply from the one and dispatch from the other But Parliaments that are like Physicians to the bodies of Common-wealths when the humors are once stirred they find cause enough many times to administer sharp Medicines where there was little appearance of Diseases For in this Recess and Ease Time-servers and Flatterers had cried up the Prerogative And the King wanting Money for his vast expenses had furnished himself by unusual courses For Kings excessive in gifts will find followers excessive in demands and they that weaken themselves in giving lose more in gathering than they gain in the gift For Prodigality in a Soveraign ends in the Rapine and Spoil of the Subject To help himself therefore and those that drained from him he had granted several Patents to undertakers and Monopolizers whereby they preyed upon the people by suits and exactions milkt the Kingdom and kept it poor the King taking his ease and giving way to Informers the Gentry grown debauched and Fashion-mongers and the Commons sopt and besotted with quiet and restiness drunk in so much disability that it might well be said by Gondemar England had a great many people but few men And he would smile at their Musters for through disuse they were grown careless of Military Discipline ill provided of Arms effeminate Officers neglecting their charges and duties conniving for gain at their Neighbours miscarriages Some of the Officers in the Militia and Iustices of the Peace not a few being Church-Papists floating upon the smooth stream of the times overwhelming all others that opposed them stigmatizing them with the name of Puritans and that was mark enough to hinder the current of any proceeding or preferment aimed at or hoped for either in Church or State And the Iesuits ranging up and down like spirits let loose did not now as formerly creep into corners using close and cunning Artifices but practised them openly having admission to our Counsellors of State for when Secretaries and such as manage the intimate Counsels of Kings are Iesuitical and Clients to the Pope there can be no tendency of Affection to a contrary Religion or Policy Those were only most active in the Court of England that courted the King of Spain most and could carry the face of a Protestant and the heart of a Papist the rest were contented to go along with the cry For they hunted but a cold scent and could pick out and make nothing of it that drew off or crost or hunted counter Which raised the spirits of the people so high against them that were the chief Hunters in these times that they brought the King himself within the compass of their Libels and Pasquils charging him to love his hounds better than his people And if this bad blood had been heated to an itch of Innovation it would have broke out to a very fore and incurable Malady every man seeing the danger few men daring to prevent it The Pulpits were the most bold Opposers but if they toucht any thing upon the Spanish policy or the intended Treaties for the Restitution of the Palatinate was included in the Marriage before it was the Spaniards to give their mouths must be stopt by Gondemar without the Lady Iacob's Receipt and it may be confined or imprisoned for it So that there were noplain downright blows to be given but if they cunningly and subtily could glance at the misdemeanors of the Times and smooth it over metaphorically it would pass current though before the King himself For about this time one of his own Chaplains preaching before him at Greenwich took this Text 4 Mat. 8. And the Devil took Iesus to the top of a Mountain and shewed him all the Kingdoms of the World saying All these will I give c. He shewed what power the Devil had in the World at that time when he spake these words and from thence he came down to the power of the Devil now And dividing the World into four parts he could not make the least of the four to be Christian and of