by his very first Treaty which was not to have been hop'd for by any long hostility which success though the execution seem'd not considerable amounted to a kind of Victory So that 't was no wonder he rested not contented with such a Proportion as he was before asham'd to wish for Ambition respecting not so much whence it comes as whither it is addressed pressing still forwards without any consideration but that of the felicity it aims at on which it fixes with so intense a look that it regards no dangers much less any faith being deny'd the Government of the Isle of Thanet he insisted upon that of the whole Province of Kent meeting with opposition there he supply'd force with fraud and both with Fortune and by the possession of that one only got the command of three Provinces more all lying so convenient for landing Supplies that this seem'd to be but an Earnest for an entire Conquest Neither thought he it sufficient to have the Power without he had the Title of a King Hitherto he had only studied his Security that being obtain'd he begins to affect Glory and in respect Kent was his Principal Seat he gives that the preheminence of giving the Name to his Kingdom being the first not to say the last too of the whole Heptarchy continuing near four hundred years supported by its own proper Forces before it fell under the common Fate of being incorporated into the Universal Monarchy of the English And as it was the first Kingdom so was it the first Christian Kingdom of the Seven from whom the East-Saxons borrow'd their light and from them the rest till an universal brightness oversp ead the whole Hemisphere which however it seems to have been a work of time as appears by that oâ—d Adage yet in use amongst us In Kent and Christendom was an occasion of so high regard to the People of that Province that all the Counties of England have ever since consented to allow them the honour of precedency in the Field by giving them the right of leading the Van as often as the Nation appears to give any Batgel Royal which Priviledge hath been by special Charter confirm'd to them from the time of King Knute the Zealous The long Reign of Engist not less as some say then fifty years contributed much to the Corroboration of his Conquest which being the Gift of Fortune rather then Nature he bestow'd it on his youngest Son Oeske from whom as I said before 't was call'd the Kingdom of Eskins which beginning at the time of Ambrosius the British King continued Three hundred seventy two years an intire Kingdom and after the West-Saxons reduc'd it under their Obedience had yet the repute of being a distinct Principality and by that Title was bestow'd upon the younger Sons of those Kings who defended it against the Danes till Ethelbert the second Son of Athelstan second Son of Egbert after the death of his Elder Brother Ethelwald entring upon the whole Monarchy of England Anno 860. united it inseparably to his Empire THE ORDER OF THE KINGS OF SOUTH-SEXE II. I. date of accession 488 ELLA was the first King of this and second absolute Monarch of the whole Kingdom for which Honour he was more indebted to the length of his Reign then the greatness of his Dominions being indeed the very least of the Seven II. date of accession 514 CISSA his youngest Son the two elder being slain succeeded his Father he reigned peaceably seventy six years founded Chichester and Chisbury the one for the resort of his People t'other for the repose of himself where dying he left his Son III. EDELWOLPH to succeed the first Christian of this House who refusing to contribute to the War against the Britains in respect the West-Saxon lay betwixt him and danger Ceadwald the Tenth of those Kings sell upon him and slew him upon whose death IV. BERTHUN and AUTHUN Two Dukes collaterally sprung out of the Royal Stock of this Kingdome interpos'd themselves with equal merit in the common Calamity and Defence of their Country and forcing Ceadwald to retire rul'd jointly for six years till the same King returning upon them took from the one his Life from the other his Liberty whereby this became a Province to the West-Sexe BY the setting up of this Kingdom conteining no more but two Counties Sussex and Surrey and those none of the greatest we may take some measure of the Ambition of our Ancestors who had as great respect to their Glory as their Security being not content to have the Power without they had the Title of Kings This Ella was in the first place but a Colonel under Engist who made him Governour of Sussex to which having added Surrey with the loss of the lives of his two eldest Sons Kymen and Plenchin after the death of his General he set up for himself and being resolv'd to shew the greatness of his mind by the narrowness of his Dominions not onely declar'd himself the first King of the South-Sexe but made himself so considerable in the esteem of all his Country-men that they submitted to him as the second Monarch of the English which Glory he held up to the height near thirty years But that Sun which began in Kent the East part of the Isle and came towards him who was planted in the South hasted to set amongst the West-Sexe to whom his Successors were forc'd to become Tributary or if it may lessen the dishonour for these were all of them most deserving Princes we may say Contributioners towards the War against the Britains The West-Saxon Kingdom lying betwixt them and danger the non-payment of this Tax whether it were that the Kings hereof refus'd it as being too heavy a Burthen upon them or disdain'd the manner of Exaction or thought themselves not oblig'd to be longer charg'd having clear'd their own Territories is not certain was the first and only occasion of the downfall of this Kingdom being thereby ingag'd in a War with too potent a Neighbour against whom though they had no hopes to prevail yet they scorn'd to yield till their tottering State fell down about their Ears and buried them in the common Ruins of their Country which was so far wasted before it submitted to become a Province that when it was added to th' other it became rather a Burthen then a Strengthning for a great while so far had Famine and Plague the Peace-makers in all Civil Wars disabled them to all intents and purposes before this Curse fell upon them to be devour'd by their Friends which was so much more dishonourable then to be conquer'd by their Enemies by how much it was the first unhappiness of this kind THE ORDER OF THE KINGS OF WEST-SEXE III. I. date of accession 522 CERDIC having conquer'd Natan-leod the Dragon of the Western Britains set up the third Kingdom which reaching from Hampshire to Cornwal was call'd the Kingdome of West-Sexe and gave him the repute of being the
was it long that the Protector bore up after his Brothers Fall the great care he took to build his * From his Tittle call'd Somerset-house House being no less fatal to him then the little care he had to support his Family whiles the Stones of those Churches Chappels and other Religious Houses that he demolish'd for it made the cry out of the Walls so loud that himself was not able to indure the noise the People ecchoing to the defamation and charging him with the guilt of Sacriledge so furiously that he was forced to quit the place and retire with the King to Windsor leaving his Enemies in possession of the strength of the City as well as the affections of the Citizens who by the reputation of their power rather then the power of their repute prevail'd with the King as easily to give him up to publick Justice as he was before prevail'd with to give up his Brother it being no small temptation to the young King to forsake him when he forsook himself so far as to submit to the acknowledgement of that Guilt he was not conscious of The Lawyers charged him with removing Westminster-hall to Somerset-house The Souldiers with detaining their Pay and betraying their Garrisons The States-men with ingrossing all Power and indeavouring to alter the Fundamental Laws and the ancient Religion But he himself charg'd himself with all these Crimes when he humbled himself so far as to ask the Kings pardon publickly which his Adversaries were content he should have having first strip'd him of his Protectorship Treasurership Marshalship and Two thousand pound a year Land of Inheritance But that which made his Fate yet harder was that after having acquitted himself from all Treason against his Prince he should come at last to be condemn'd as a Traytor against his Fellow-Subject whilst the Innocent King labouring to preserve him became the principal Instrument of his Destruction who by reconciling him to his great Adversaries made the Enmity so much the more incompatible who at the same time he gave the Duke his Liberty gave the Earl of Warwick and his Friends the Complement of some new Titles which adding to their Greatness he reasonably judg'd might take from their Envy The Earl himself he created Duke of Northumberland and Lord High Admiral of England and to oblige him yet more married up his eldest Son the Lord Dudley to his own Cosin the second Daughter of the Duke of Somerset whom he gave to him for the more honour with his own hand and made Sir Robert Dudley his fourth and his beloved Son the same that was after made by Queen Elizabeth Earl of Leicester one of the Gentlemen of his Bedchamber And to gratifie the whole Faction he made the Marquiss of Dorset Duke of Suffolk the Lord St. John Earl of Wilts and afterwards Marquiss of Winchester Sir John Russel who was Northamberland's Confident he created Earl of Bedford Sir William Paget another of his Tools he made Lord Paget This the good natur'd King did out of sincere Affection to his Uncle in hopes to reconcile him so thoroughly to Northumberland so that there might be no more room left for Envy or Suspect betwixt them But as there is an invisible Erinnis that attends all Great men to do the drudgery of their Ambition in serving their Revenge and observing the Dictates of their power and pride so it was demonstrable by the most unfortunate issue of this so well intended purpose that by the same way the King hoped to please both he pleas'd neither Somerset thinking he had done too much Northumberland thinking that he had done too little who having drunk so deep a Draught of Honour grew hot and dry and like one fall'n into a State-Dropsie swell'd so fast that Somerset perceiving the Feaver that was upon him resolv'd to let him blood with his own hand And coming one day to his Chamber under the colour of a Visit privately arm'd and well attended with Seconds that waited him in an outward Chamber found him naked in his Bed and supposing he had him wholly in his power began to expostulate his wrongs with him before he would give him the fatal stroke whereby t'other perceiving his intent and being arm'd with a Weapon that Somerset had not a ready fence for an Eloquent Tongue he acquitted himself so well and string'd upon him with so many indearing protestations as kept the point of his Revenge down till it was too late to make any Thrust at him Whereby Northumberland got an advantage he never hop'd for to frame a second Accusation against him so much more effectual then the former by how much he brought him under the forfeiture of Felony as being guilty of imagining to kill a Privy Counsellor for which he was the more worthily condemn'd to lose his Head in that he so unworthily lost his Resolution at the very instant of time when he was to vindicate his too much abus'd Patience thereby betraying those of his Friends that came to second him into the scandal of a Crime which had it succeeded would have pass'd for a magnanimous piece of Justice in cutting off one whom however he was content to spare Providence it seems was not reserving him to die a more ignoble death and by a worse hand The sorrow for his ignominious fall as it much affected the Consumptive King his Nephew who was now left as a Lamb in the keeping of the Wolf the Duke of Northumberland having got as high in Power as Title by ruining the Family of the Seymours so his end which was not long after put an end to the Reformation and made way for the Dudley's to aspire with incredible Ambition and not without hope of setling the Succession of the Crown in themselves For the Duke finding that the King languish'd under a Hectical Distemper and having better assurance then perhaps any one else could from his Son that alwayes attended in his Bedchamber that it was impossible for him to hold out long for Reasons best known to him he cast about how to introduce the far fetch'd Title of his other Son who had married the Lady Jane Gray eldest Daughter to the Duke of Suffolk by the Lady Frances one of the Daughters and Heirs of Charles Brandon by his Wife Mary Queen of France the second Daughter of Henry the Seventh And however this seem'd to be a very remote pretention yet making way to other great Families to come in by the same Line in case her Issue fail'd as to the Earl of Cumberland who had married the other Daughter of Charles Brandon and to the Earl of Darby that had married a Daughter of that Daughter and to the Earl of Pembroke that had married the Lady Jane's second Sister it was back'd with so many well-wishers that it was become not only terrible to the Kingdom but to the King himself However there were two Objections lay in the way the one the preference that ought to be
Superstructure upon his Foundation Domitian had the good hap I cannot say (c) Being more beholden to the Virtue of his Lieutenants then his own honour to perfect the Work The death of the last King as it was no small discouragement to the Britains the brave Caractacus being at the same time taken Prisoner so it render'd the Romans so insolent that all the Time of (d) Who succeeded Claudius Nero's Government the Story is fill'd with nothing but Relations of Murthers Rapes and Rapines wherein the Virtue of his Lieutenant Suetonius seems to have contested with his Masters Vices for the Soveraignty in suppressing by his Wisdom or qualifying by his Courage their Outrage whom he had commission'd to perpretate all manner of Villanies being a Person of that excellent temper in War and Peace that it could not have been expected the (e) Having lost in one single Battel with him 80000 men by common compute Britains could long have resisted had not the flattery of his Country-men prevail'd as much over him at home as he did over those here Representing the state of things to that effeminate Tyrant not according to the Truth but as they thought most agreeable to his humour Whereupon he and the Consul Petronius Turpilianus that succeeded him being both remov'd that base Fellow Tribellius Maximus took place whose unworthiness was such that it provok'd his own Country-men to rebel as well as the Britains but his Reign ending with his Masters during all the time of Otho Galba and Vitellius his Government whereof he that held longest continu'd not above Eighth Months the Roman State was as busily imploy'd in conquering it self as before in conquering others so that they wholly pretermitted the thoughts of all Foreign Attempts till the entrance of Vespatian who having laid the Foundation of his Greatness here resolv'd to give the Britains the first taste of his Power by sending over those three excellent Generals Petilius Cerealis Julius Frontinus and Julius Agricola against whom there appear'd for the Britains mov'd by the Example of their Neighbours no less then by their own desire of Liberty three men of as great repute that is to say Arviragus whom the Natives after the manner of the Romans had saluted Imperator Britannorum the only Son of Cunobelin left alive Venutius Prince of the Brigantes and Galgacus Prince of the Caledonii These three divided the Forces of the whole Isle betwixt them thinking to have singled out the Roman Generals but they uniting whilst the other fought by Parties I cannot call them Armies routed them as fast as they met with them upon which Arviragus after the end of that sharp War strangely begun and maintain'd by his Sister Voadicia which cost near 100000 Roman lives retir'd into the North where some say he dyed others that he submitted to a Tribute perswaded by his Wife Genissa a Roman Lady and near Kinswoman to Claudius MERIOBELIN date of accession 98 AGRICOLA having by the death or recess rather of the last King as appears by that piece of Flattery of the (f) Juvenal Regem aliquem Capies aut I le Temone Britannorum excidet Arviragus Poet to Domitian his Master clear'd his way over the body of the Isle as far as Sterling in Scotland the non ultra of those days and planted Garrisons in the most convenient places betwixt Glota and Bodotria i. e. the two Arms of the two contrary Seas that run up into the Land there now call'd the Frith of Dunbritton and the Frith of Edenburgh the utmost Limits then design'd having neither desire nor provocation to pursue the Britains any further he resolv'd to crown his Victory with subduing the perversness of those that were already in his power whereby whiles he aspir'd to no less advantage over his Predecessors in point of Glory then he had over his Enemies in point of Power he shew'd the World that they only knew how to Conquer but he how to make good a Conquest The way he took to do this was by permitting the People their own Laws and their own Princes allowing their Kings the Stile State and Complements of Majesty after the rude manner their Ancestors had been serv'd in himself in the mean time using the Roman fashions so as he seem'd rather to tempt them by his Example then compel them by any Law to do the like The King that then rul'd was this Meriadoc whom the Romans call'd Marius suppos'd to be the Son of the last King whom to caress they call'd Muegan as much as to say the Freeman which Complement so irritated those under his Fathers Colleague Galgacus who were driven into the inaccessable parts of Scotland and forc'd to endure all the miseries incident to a barren Soyl and unwholsome Air whilst t'other enjoy'd all blessings but that of Liberty that their Envy turn'd to as great an Animosity against him and his people as against the Romans themselves and from that very time they wasted one another with alternate Incursions till an Enemy that neither of them dream'd of broke in upon them and did them more mischief then the Romans The only Action we find this Marius ingag'd in was that Expedition against the Picts for by that Name continued the custom of going naked and painting their body like their Ancestors the Romans distinguish'd them from the civiliz'd i. e. the subjugated Britains wherein he prov'd so successful in several Battles that the Romans to incourage him and all his Successors whom they design'd as Tacitus tells us to be Servitutis Instrumenta erected a Stone as a Trophy of his victorious memory by the Inscription of Marti Victoria that hath lasted till of late years the Glory whereof is deny'd him by some of our Modern Antiquaries who with more Envy perhaps then Ignorance ascribe it to Marius the Roman Consul with as much reason as Lloyd the British Historian would have him to be that Murigus on whom he fastens so many wonders both he and they being confident that in Relations at this distance no man is of sufficient Authority to suppress any mans fancy much less condemn it COELIBELIN date of accession 129 THE good Fortune of Agricola in reducing the Britains prov'd most unfortunate to himself while the jealous Tyrant his Master thinking the mock Triumph he had made but a little before in Germany was upbraided by the Fame of his real conquest here recall'd him out of ours to send him of an Errand into another World whereby the Britains being left to themselves to contest with the Picts who had chang'd their Natures from the time they chang'd their Names and become of Friends the most mortal Enemies knew not how to resist the approaching storm but were forc'd to give place whiles they made themselves Masters of all the Country about Edenburgh the news whereof being afterward brought to Adrian when he was Emperour he sent over Julius Severus and purpos'd to follow himself in Person to chastize the
little disordered by it but those since who have found the benefit of having the Laws mysterious and less intelligible have little cause to decry him for it unless for this cause that they are never pleas'd with any fighting King In fine he strain'd not the Prerogative so high but his Son Henry the First let it down again as low when he restored to the People their ancient freedom of General Assemblies or rather permitted them a kind of share with himself in the Government by instituting a form of Convention so much nobler then any thing they had been acquainted with in elder timety in that the Peerage sate as so many Kings parting stakes with Soveraigns if what * Who was Lord Chief Justice to his Grandson Hen. 3. Bracton tells us be true who saith there were many things which by law the King could not do without them and some things which legally they might do without him which those that have read upon the Statute of Magna Charta can best explain This was not therefore improperly call'd the Parliament in respect of the Freedom of parlying after another fashion then had been permitted to their Ancestors in former Meetings which being Ex more or as they were wont to phrase it of Custome Grace during all the time of the Saxon Kings we cannot imagine their Debates to be much less restrained then themselves who attending in the Kings Palace like the Lords of the Councel at this day having had the honour to give their Opinions in any point of State submitted the final Judgment and determination to the Kings will and pleasure And whereas then the Commoners were wholly left out of all Consultations unless with the Learned Lambert we may think them included in the word Barones which seems to have been as equivocal a term heretofore in England as that of Laird yet in Scotland they now were made partakers of the like priviledge of voting as the Lords so that in Henry the Third his time to look no further backward we find them call'd by the yet continued stile of Knights Citizens and Burgesses to consult together with the Lords pro Pace asseverandâ firmandâ c. as the †lib. St. Alban f. 207. 4 H. 3. Record expresses it neither sate they when they met as Cyphers to those great Figures For when Pope Alexander the Fourth would have revoked the Sentence of Banishment past upon his proud Legate Adomare Bishop of Winchester for that he was not as he alledged subject to lay Censure they took upon them to give their Answer by themselves and it was a bold one That though the King and Lords should be willing to revoke it ‖ Vt pat Chart. orâ—g sub sigil de Mountford Vic. tot Communitat Rot. Parl. 42 Hen. 3. Communitas tamen ipsius ingressum in Angliam nullatenus sustineret How far their Priviledges were afterward confirmed and enlarged by several Kings successively but more particularly by that most excellent Prince Henry the Fifth who first allowed * 2 Hen. 5. The Petition of Right and permitted it to be entred in their Journals as the Great Standard of Liberty is not unknown from which time it hath been esteemed the second Great Charter of England whereby we were manumitted into that degree of Freedom as no Subjects in the world enjoy the like with like security from the fear of future bondage For as no man can be made lyable to the payment of any more or other Taxes then what himself layes upon himself by his representatives in that great Pan-Anglio call'd the Parliament so all the Kings of England since that time have been pleas'd to accept the Aids given by them even for the necessary support of the Government as so many Freewill-Offerings And well it is that they esteem them free since they are not obtained without a kind of Composition I might say obligation to give good Laws for good mony wherein the performance on the Princes part alwaies precedes that on the Peoples But there is yet something further then all this that renders the Norman Conquest so much more considerable then either that of the Romans Saxons or Danes by how much it spread its wings over the Seas into those goodly Provinces of the South never known to the English before thereby not only giving them Title to keep their Swords from rusting as long as they had any Arms to draw them forth but the Advantage therewithal of a mutual Conversation with a civiliz'd People who introduced so happy a Change in Laws and Language in Habits and Humours in Manners and Temperature that not only their rough I might say rude Natures no way inclin'd before to any kind of Gaiety admitted of smoother Fashions and quicker Motions but their dull Phlegmatick Complexions pale and wan by the continued use of dozing dreggy Liquor Ale became as ruddy as the Wine they drank which having more of Spirit and Fire then that other heavy composition sublimated their Courage and Wit and render'd them more lofty and eloquent both in Action and Language the last being before so asperous harsh and gutteral that an hours discourse together would have indanger'd the skin of their throats but being softned by the French and Latine Accents it became so gentle and smooth that as a Modern Master of Elocution hath observ'd 't is now so soft and pleasing that Lord Faulkland Prefat to Sands his Translation of the Psalms those From whom the unknown Tongue conceals the Sence Ev'n in the sound must find an Eloquence From the Normans likewise we had that honourable distinction of Sirnames which however they borrowed in the first place from the French who as Du Tillet tells us were about the year 1000 much delighted with the humour of Soubriquets * Vid Buck. Vit. Rich. 3. or giving one another Nic-names as we commonly call them insomuch that two of the very chiefest Houses amongst them the Capets and the Plantaginets had no other rise for their Names were continued no where with that certainty and order as amongst us here to the great renown and honour of our Families whose Nobility if it exceed not the date of the Norman Conquest may yet without any disparagement compare with any of those who call themselves the unconquer'd Nations of the World It being space long enough considering the vicissitude of time and power of Chance to antiquate the glory of great States much more of private Families and few there are that have attain'd to that Age. For however Honour like old Age magnifies its reverence by multiplying its years yet it is to be considered that there are visible decayes attend Veneration and it may so fall out that Names as well as Men may out-live themselves while the glory of a Family by over-length of time being less known may be the more suspected to have been but imaginary as some who exceeding the common bounds of certainty do pretend to justifie
as it serv'd the King of France his turn to serve him he entertain'd him in that Court adversity knows no other Friends nor upon other Terms But King Henry by his mony quickly took him off and Heaven to requite the good turn not long after took off him for whom all this was done punishing his unjust detaining the livelihood of his innocent Nephew William with taking away the life of his own innocent Son William the only hope of his Family who being shipwrackt in his return out of Normandy with a hundred and fifty Passengers more amongst whom was his beloved Sister the Countess of Perch indeavouring to save her lost himself This Clap of Judgment coming in a Calm of glory when all the busling of his Ambition seem'd to be pass'd over so overwhelm'd the Joys of his past successes that as if his Conscience had shrunk at the horror of seeing his oppression and supplantation so repaid with the extinction of that for which he drew all this guilt upon himself 't is said that from that time he never was seen to laugh more and however he strugled with Destiny for more Issue Male marrying not long after a most vertuous and beautiful young Lady yet all was in vain The invenom'd Arrow stuck still in his Liver and for want of other Heirs he was forced to fasten the succession on his Daughter Maud who being intangled in his fate and as apparently Planet-struck as himself could never attain to be a Queen however a Dutchess and an Empress being disappointed by one that had less right and not so good pretence as her own Father And as the main Line of Normandy fail'd in him that was but the third Inheritor so the succession ever since proved so brittle that it never held to the third Heir in a right descent without being put by or receiving some alteration by usurpation or extinction of the Male blood which saith mine Author may teach Princes to let men alone with their Rights and God with his Providence But such is the unhappiness of Kings that they either understand not Destiny so well as private Men or cannot so readily submit to it and as Ambition is a restless passion which however it may be sometimes weary never tires so it urges them to be still pressing upon Fortune with hopes to compel or corrupt her hoping that if she will not be serviceable to them she may at least not oppose them He found that this rent at home had crack'd all the chain of his courses in France whose King took part with his Nephew William whilst his two great Friends Foulk Earl of Anjou and Robert Earl of Mellent declared against him Yet urg'd by his natural diligence or desire of Rule he could not but still push on till by the death of that unfortunate youth before mention'd all the hopes of his Brother Robert perished and came to be entirely his yet neither then could he take any Rest though he had no body to give him any disquiet his Conscience keeping him waking with continual Alarums without any kind of sleep but what was so disturbed and disorderly as declar'd to the whole World all was not well within Often did he rise out of his Bed in the Night and catching up his Sword put himself into a Posture of Defence as against some Personal assault and sometimes in company he would catch hold of his Servants hands as apprehending they were about to draw upon him Thus was he dog'd with continued fears and those such as perhaps were Prophetical of what follow'd that some body should start up as immediately after there did who taking Example from himself should Spurn his ashes and usurp as much upon his Innocent Daughter and her Son as he himself had done upon his innocent Brother and his Son The Breach at which she first entred was made by King Stephen himself who foreseeing the approaching mischief drew on the evil he would avoid by the same way he thought to prevent it for suspecting the Castles he had permitted to be new built with purpose to have broken the force of any over-running Invasion might now as well become receptacles to the adverse Party he commanded them to be deliver'd up into his hands for securing the publick Peace This begat a general murmure that a dispute among the proprietors whereof those of most note being Clergy-men and Lords of great power and stomach presuming upon the Obligation he had to the Church which as they said advanced him to the Crown without any military help refus'd so give up their Keys into the hands of Laymen upon whom as they thought he had not the like tie of honour nor honesty as upon themselves Hereupon the Legate interpos'd who holding himself nearer allied to his Brother Prelates than to his Brother King urg'd the question of priviledg so far that 't was thought there wanted nothing but an opportunity to shew they could more willingly quit their Allegiance as they had done their Liberty than their possessions for King Stephen upon their refusal to obey his Order clapt up several of them in prison This opportunity Maud by her arrival rather gave than took when she made up the Crie and joyn'd her claim with theirs and thereby made the War to be felt before it was perceiv'd which spread it self like a burning Feaver through all the veins of the body politick but raged by Fits only it so happening that they were not seldom parted by the said new built Castles they contested for many of which standing neuter give stops to their Fury as if intended by Providence to allay their heat till it were temperate enough to admit of some Parley but that proving ineffectual like Game-cocks aftertaking breath they fell to it afresh with equal force and equal confidence the whole Nation being divided betwixt them according to their several interest for affections some taking part with her others with him these to discharge their Consciences those their honour some to advance their fortunes others to secure their advancements King Stephen gave every where proof of his courage she of her wisdom both of their diligence either perhaps worthy a greater Empire than they contended for but whilst the Body politick thus miserably tormented with the convulsions of Might and Right languish'd under the growing distemper behold a sudden change which seem'd the more mortal for that the grief seiz'd upon the head The King is taken prisoner with whose liberty one would have thought all the hopes of that side had been lost but it so hapned that the Feminine Victor found herself ingag'd in a more equal Contest with one of her own Sex and as of the same spirit so of the same name King Stephen's Wife takes up the Sword whilst her husband continues a prisoner who not looking that Fortune should fall into her lap was so industrious to catch it and heading her husbands Forces she brought the Title to a second trial with so
much better success than he that the victorious Empress was forc'd to give place to the more victorious Queen and so hardly escaped that to save her life she was content to be reckon'd amongst the dead being carried off in a Coffin as if she had been kill'd and so forc'd to leave him a prisoner behind that was indeed the life of her Cause the Earl of Gloucester her Brother and her General whose liberty being set against that of the Kings both sides became even again in the list of their fatal Contention And now the Kings Party labours to recover what they had lost those of the Empress her Faction strove only to keep what they had gain'd till both having tired out and almost baffled the Courage of their partakers at home sought for recruits abroad Maud sends into Normandy the King into Flanders each side seems to fright from this time forward not so much for Victory as Revenge But whilst they fright the people with a noise of their great preparations the bubble of expectation swollen to its full height broak and the hopes of either side sunk so low by the death of Prince Eustace Son and Heir to the King and that of the Earl of Gloucester the only pillar which supported the Empress this the party by whom that the party for whom the War was first begun not to say miantain'd that they concluded a Peace for want of strength rather than of stomach all things ending as they began by determination of the free vote of the people who in an open Parliament at Winchester parted the Stakes as evenly as they could giving to King Stephen the Crown during life to Henry Son of Maud and as some think by him the reversion expectant after his death who if he were not his Natural was thereupon made his adopted Son and so ended the troubles of this King which seem to have been so agreeable to his nature that as soon as they ceased he ceased to live surviving the War no longer than just to take leave of his Friends being evicted by an Ejectione firmâ brought against him by Fate to let in the Son of his Enemy after he had held the possession notwitstanding the continual Interruption given him nineteen years with great prosperity though little or no peace witness those many works of Piety done by himsel or others in his time there being more Instances of that Nature during his short Raign than had been in many years before He was the first King of the Plantaginets and began his Raign as the Great Solomon who was near about his Age did his with the choice of wise Councellors to take off all objections against his youth with the expulsion of all Strangers to take off all objections against his being a forrainer with the resumption of all aliened Crown Lands to take of the fear as well as the necessity of Taxes which as it increas'd his reputation no less than his revenue so he pleas'd many with disgusting but a few After this he pluck'd down all those Castles which being erected by King Stephen's permission had proved the nurseries of the late rebellion and he did it with the less clamour in respect the people thought it contributed as much to their quiet as to his own Lastly by expelling those false Lords that contrary to their oath given to his Mother took part with the Usurper Stephen he at once satisfi'd his Revenge and confirm'd the opinion conceiv'd of his Justice and Piety Thus having got the start in point of honour as well as of Riches of all the neighbour Princes his Contemporaries one would have thought so prosperous a beginning must have concluded with as prosperous an ending but it sell out quite otherwise for to the rest of his Greatness was added that of having great troubles and troubles of that durance as ended not but with his life Nor could it well be otherwise for he was of a restless spirit seldome without an Army seldomer without an Enemy but never without an Occasion to provoke one for he was a great ingrosser of glory whereby being necessitated to set himself against every one every one set themselves against him and the confederations against him were so well timed that in one day they invaded him in England Normandy Acquitain and Britain but that which made his unhappiness seem singular was that the greatest part of his Enemies were those of his greatest Friends I mean not such as were of remoter relations as subjects servants confederates or allies c. but those of nearest propinquity his brother his wife his own children such as were flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone so that he could not possibly sight for himself without fighting against himself like those who to preserve life are constrain'd to dismember themselves wherein the malice of his Fate seem'd to exceed that of his Foes whiles it drew more cross lines over his Actions than Nature had drawn over his Face rendring all his undertakings so disasterous that even when he had the best on 't he seem'd yet to have the worst on it and lost his honour though he got his enterprize Thus when he recover'd the Earldome of Northumberland from David King of Scots and the Dukedom of Anjou from his brother Geoffry the first by the power of his Wisdom the last by the wise management of his power both which contests ended not without giving to each of them full satisfaction for their pretentions yet one brought upon him the clamor of injustice t'other the scandal of Avarice two vices ill beseeming any man worse a King So in the dispute he had with the Earl of St. Giles about the County of Tholosse which was his Right though t'others Possession he was fain to ask peace of one that he knew was unable to carry on the War and after he brought him to his own terms was himself so hamper'd with the same Fetters he put upon him that in conclusion he suffer'd no less in the opinion of his wisdom than he had before in that of his power So when he married his Son Henry to the daughter of his great Enemy the King of France with a prudent design of being reconcil'd to him in a nearer combination he found that instead of keeping him out of his Territories which was all he had to care for before the Match he had now let him into his House to do him more mischief with less difficulty there being more danger by his undermining than battering whiles himself permitted the pit to be made in which the foundation of his Sons greatness was to be laid to whom having given too early an expectation of his Kingdom by allowing him the title of King without being able to give him the Grace to tarry for his death he found when 't was too late that a Crown was no estate to be made over in Trust yet this he did not by chance neither as one transported by any Fatherly
Ingraven on it which denoted that wherever that Stone shou d be placed there should the Scotch Dominion take place a Prediction verisied in our days in the Person of King James the Sixth the first of their Kings ever crowned here With this he took away likewise all their Books and Bookmen as if resolved to rob them of all sense of Liberty as well as of Liberty it self only the brave Wallis continued yet Lord of himself and being free kept up their Spirits by the Elixir of his Personal Courage mixt with an Invincible Constancy and Patience till being betray'd by one of his Companions a Villain sit to be canoniz'd in Hell he was forc'd to yield though he would never submit first to the King after to the Laws of England which judging him to dye as a Traytor eterniz'd the Memory of his Fidelity and Fortitude and made him what he could never have made himself the most glorious Martyr that Country ever had No sooner was he dead but Robert Bruce Son to that Robert Earl of Carric who was Competitor with Baliol appeared as a new Vindictor who escaping out of the English Court where he had long liv'd unsuspected headed the confused Body which wanted only a King to unite them in Counsel Power and Affection but unfortunately laying the Foundation of his Security in Blood murthering his Cosin Cumin who had been one of the Competitors upon pretence he held correspondence with King Edward the horror of which fact was aggravated by the manner and place for he took him whilst he was at his Prayers in the Church it cost him no less blood to wipe off that single stain then to defend his Title the Partakers with the Family of Cumin who were many mighty and eager of Revenge joyning thereupon with the English against him This drew King Edward the fourth time personally into Scotland who had he suffered his Revenge to have given place so far to his Justice as to have pursued Bruce as an Offender rather then as an Enemy he might possibly have done more in doing less then he did but he not only sacrific'd the two innocent Brothers of Bruce making them after they became his Prisoners answer with their lives the penalty of their Brother's Guilt but declar'd he would give no Quarter to any of his Party whereby he not only drove them closer together but arm'd them with Desperation which as it hath a keeper edge then hope so it wounded so deep and inraged them to that degree of Courage as not only to give the greatest Overthrow to the greatest Army that ever the English brought thither but to repay the measure of Blood in as full manner as it was given or intended and in the end broke the great Chain of his well laid Design which was to have inâ—arged his Power by reducing the whole Isle Wales being taken in a little before under one Scepter with no less respect to the quiet then the greatness of England but maugre all his Power or Policy they let in a Race of Kings there that found a way to conquer his Successors here without a stroke of which he seems to have had some Prophetick knowledge upon his Death-bed when he took so much care to make his Revenge out-live himself by commanding his Son Edward to carry his Bones round about that Country having just begun his fifth Expedition as he ended his life and not suffer them to be buried till he had vanquish'd it wholly Thus this great King who spent most of his time in shedding others Blood was taken off by the excessive shedding of his own for he dyed of a Dissentery and like Caesar who terrified his Enemies with his Ghost seem'd not willing to make an end with the World afâ—er he had done with it but which never came into any Kings thoughts before or since resolv'd to Reign after his Dominion was determined being confident that his very Name like a Loadstone which attracts Iron to it would draw all the English Swords to follow its fate till they had made good that Union which he with so much harshness and horror had accelerated but as Providence which more respects the unity of Affections then the Unity of Nations did by the * Burrough on the Sands in the Bishoprick of Durham Place where he dyed shew the frailty of that Foundation he laid whilst he liv'd all his Glory expiring with himself so Nature as in abhorrence to the violation of her Laws by the effusion of so much blood as he had shed the most that any Christian King of this Isle ever did turn'd the Blessing she gave him into a Curse whilst she took from him before his Eyes three of his four Sons and the only worthy to have surviv'd him and left him only to survive who only was worthy never to have been born And now whether it was his Fault or his Fate to dote thus upon Gaveston who being only a Minister to his Wantonness could not have gain'd that Power he had over him to make himself so great by lessening him without something like an Infatuation the matter of Fact must declare For before his Coronation he made him Earl of Cornwal and Lord of Man both Honours belonging to the Crown at his Coronation notwithstanding the Exceptions taken against him by all the Nobility he gave him the honour to carry King Edward's Crown before him which of right belonged to a Prince of the Blood to have done and after the Coronation he married him up to his own Niece the Daughter of his second Sister Jone de Acres by Gilbert Clare Earl of Gloucester having indeed rais'd him to this pitch of Greatness as tempted him to raise himself higher being not content with the Power without he might aâ—so share in the Glory of Soveraignty most vainly affecting the Title of KING and if he were not King of Man as he desired he was at least King in Man ruling both there and in Ireland like an absolute Prince not without hopes of a fair possibility of being if the Kings Issue had fail'd King of England after him which Hope made him Insolent and that Insolence Insupportable so that the Lords finding it bootless to expect Justice from the King against him resolv'd to do themselves right and without more ado let fly a whole volley of Accusations at him This first forced him to part from the King and being separated they found it easie to make him part from himself for it was not long before he fell into their hands being taken Prisoner by the Earl of Pembroke who chopt of his Head a deaâ—h however esteem'd to be the most honourable of any other was to him questionless the most grievous in that it made him stoop who never could endure to submit This violent proceeding of the Lords as it shew'd a roughness of the Times suitable to that of their own Natures so it was the first occasion of the second Civil War of England
being to advise at the price of his own Head the Arch bishop of York like a man of great Faith was of Opinion to sight them with such present Strength as the King had trusting to the Justice of the Cause the Dukes of Ireland and Suffolk men of Action but wanting the means were for delivering up Calais to the French King to purchase his Assistance But the Majority of Voices coming from such men whose Fears made them rather wise then honest were for appeasing the Enemy with fair promises till there were a fit opportunity to suppress them the first Proposal was thought very hazardous the second much more besides there was such a bitterness in the Pill that no preparation could make the King to swallow it who not knowing what effect it might have when it was done utterly rejected it upon which they secretly withdrew that gave the Counsel and left him to himself Whereupon the Lords Regent found an opportunity to be admitted to a Parley with him who producing to him Letters from the King of France which they had intercepted pursuant to the Design of bringing in a Forreign Enemy they mov'd him no less by shame then dread of the Consequence to consent to the calling another Parliament Upon the day of the Convention the King came not to the House being infinitely troubled in his mind at News he had just then received of the Earl of Derby's Intercepting the Duke of Ireland who being gone as far as Chester in order to his passing into that Kingdom was set upon by the said Earl and totally defeated who hardly escaping fled into the Low-countries where not long after he dyed The Lords heightened with this Success sent a very harsh Message to him letting him know that they attended him there and if he would not come to the House according to promise they would chuse another King that should hearken to their faithful advice This though it were in effect no other but to tell him they would depose him without his consent if he would not come and consent to be depos'd yet having no Retreat from it but down a steep Precipice he chose rather to compâ—y and put himself under the mercy of Providence then under the uncertainty of their Mercy Upon his first appearance they presented him with a black Roll of those whom he call'd his Friends they his Enemies some to be prescrib'd some to be imprison'd and others banish'd and in this last List there were not only Lords but Ladies found Delinquents Some were accus'd of imbeziling his Treasure others of purloyning his Affection all for robbing him of his Honour whereupon some were to be try'd for their Lives others for their Fortunes and all for their Liberties but in respect of their other great Affairs which were in order to what followed they referred it to the succeeding Parliament not unfitly call'd the Parliament that wrought wonders which contrary to all other Parliaments that used to swear Obedience to the King requir'd an Oath of him himself to observe such Rules and Orders as they should prescribe to him Here now we have this unfortunate Prince brought to the last year of his Rule though not of his Reign beginning then to enter into his Wardship as he call'd it when he thought he was just got out of it All power was put into the hands of the Dukes of Lancaster and Gloucester who managed all Treaties abroad concluded War and Peace as they thought fit and were indeed absolute in every point but the Command of their own Passions and uncontroulable by any but themselves The Duke of Lancaster having now digested the Kingdom in his thoughts procures the Dutchy of Acquitaine to be setled on him as an earnest of what was to follow being the Inheritance of the Crown and descended on the King from Prince Edward his Father and having married up the King to a Child of eight years old by whom 't was impossible he could have Issue with a Portion that scarce defraid the Charge of the Solemnity he secur'd his own Pretensions by Legitimating three of his Bastard Sons in case his lawful Issue should fail The Duke of Gloucester had the same Ambition in his heart as well as the same Blood in his Veins but Nature having put a disadvantage upon him by placing him so far behind being the sixth Son of King Edward the Third he was forc'd to gratifie his Envy instead of his Ambition and rest content with the hopes of doing his Brother a Mischief when time serv'd without any great probability of doing himself good Accordingly he made a Faction who conspir'd with him to seize the King his two Brothers Lancaster and York and to put them all up in Prison and after to execute divers Lords whom he thought to be more his Enemies then their Friends but the end of his Treason being to be himself betray'd by those he made use of Lancaster came thereby to stand single like a great Tree which being at its full height spread his Limbs the wider and grew to be so conspicuous that the succeeding Parliament desired to shelter themselves under the shadow of his power hereupon he reduced the number of the thirteen Regents to seven only which being all his Confidents he with them concluded aforehand all Affairs of moment and directed how they should pass in Parliament An Example not less mischievous to the Kingdom then the King so that now there wanted no more to make him the Soveraign but the putting on the Crown But see the uncertainty of humane Glory Having just finished the great work of his Usurpation an unexpected blow from that invisible hand that turns about the great Wheel of Causes broke the frame of his projection in pieces His Son Henry Duke of Hereford accused by the Duke of Norfolk of Treason was forc'd to purge himself by the Tryal of Combat a Law that might condemn but never acquit him since it was only possible to discharge himself of the danger but never of the suspition of the Crime This being urg'd so far that they were both brought into the List there was no way left to avoid the uncertainty of the Fight but banishment of both wherein though the Duke of Lancaster got the favour to make the Exile of his Son but temporary when the others was perpetual yet the affront that Fortune seem'd to give him by this accidental Disgrace came so near his heart that his Son had no sooner taken leave of his Country but he bid adieu to the World and so left the King once more Hors de page Thus Time and Fortune seem to have conspir'd in vindicating the wrongs of this abused Prince ridding him at once of those two great Corrivals in Power whose Authority had so far outweighed his that they kept him in the condition of a Minor till they had made the People believe him insufficient for Government the one being remov'd beyond all possibility the other beyond all
consequences of which being justly to be suspected he made use of their present apprehensions to renew the Treaty and by his contrivance there came a Letter to the King from Melancthon to whom the King seem'd alwayes to have great regard exhorting him to perfect the Reformation begun as well in the Doctrinal as the Ceremonial part of Worship To which the King by advice of Gardiner gave this Answer That he would make a League with them in honest Causes as he had done with the Duke of Juliers and after that he would treat of an Accord in Religion This being no way satisfactory to them much less to Cromwell who had slatter'd them with hopes of a better Accommodation he cast about another way to compass his end and knowing very well that the King did alwayes prefer his Pleasure before his Revenge as those that mean to take great Fishes bait their Hooks with flesh so he held up the Treaty with the Proposal of a new Match that he believ'd could not but be very acceptable not only in respect of the Kings having been near three Years a Widower but for that it was such as he said would at once anger and curb the Emperor the Popes only Executioner to make good his late Fulmination This was a Daughter to the Duke of Cleve who being a Protestant and Father in Law to the Duke of Saxony and next Neighbour to the Emperors Dominions in the Low Countries there seem'd to be in the Proposal great considerations of State besides that of Riches and Beauty the last being the first thing in the Kings Thoughts wherein Hans Holbin the famous Painter contributed much to the deceiving him which whether it prov'd more unfortunate to her or Cromwell I cannot say but it so fell out that the King disgusting her after he saw her was easily prevail'd with to repudiate her and consequently to reject the Match-maker who having it in his Fate to be undone as he was at first set up by the Smock was sacrificed to the Envy of the People rather then his Masters Displeasure who let them lay the load of his Faults upon him and being a Prince that drew upon all his great Ministers more blame then either they could bear or durst answer he left him to perish under the weight of it And which made his Case more deplorable perhaps then that of most others that felt the weight of his Iron Rod and therefore look'd more like a Judgment from Heaven then Earth was First that he suffer'd him to be condemn'd at the same time all other men by a general and free pardon were indempnified from the same Crimes of which he stood accus'd Secondly in that he died like Phalaris by an Instrument as some say of his own inventing Thirdly and lastly that after having been Vicegerent to the Defender of the Faith he should dye as an Heretick for opposing the Faith after having had the repute of a faithful Servant indeed so faithful that as Cranmer's Letter to the King yet to be seen testifies he cared not whom he displeas'd to serve his Majesty he should dye like one that had merited no favour from him That he who was so vigilant to detect all Treasons in their Embrio should dye like a Traytor himself That he that had no bounds set to his Authority should dye for exceeding his Commission Lastly That he who was the only Master of Requests and gave an answer to all men that made any Addresses to the King should himself dye unheard as well as unpitied But when we consider all this we must conclude the end of some mens Rise is to keep others from Falling Providence oftentimes upholding Justice even by Injustice that so by correcting some men causlesly she may certainly teach all men Caution The King having thus rid himself of his new Wife and his old Servant both submitting to his Will the first with the loss of her Estate and Dignity for instead of being his Queen she was adopted his Sister the last with the loss of both his Estate and Life he found the means to repair the want of the one though he could not of the other by taking to his Bed perhaps with no disparity to his Greatness if there had been none betwixt her own Vertue and Beauty the fair Lady Katherine Howard Neece to the Duke of Norfolk who seems to be born to be a Scourge of the Injustice shew'd to his former Wives whilst her Incontinence under the veil of a clear and most modest behaviour appear'd so notorious that being confessed by her self he himself was forc'd to suffer in the shame with her which he was so sensible of that we find by a Law ex post facto he labour'd to prevent the like for the future And now being as it were weary of Pleasures of that kind this being his fifth Wife that was executed or suffer'd worse his Love gave place once more to his Ambition which he gratified with a new Title or rather the Superfoetation of an old one causing himself to be stiled King of Ireland whereas none of his Predecessors were otherwise stiled then Lords thereof which as it was in the first place intended by him as an additional honour to that Nation rather then to himself so in the last place he did it to prevent James the Fifth of Scotland who had an Invitation from some of the discontented Nobility there to have taken it on him having before affronted him by assuming the Title of Defender of the Faith with the addition only of the word Christian as if there were any other Faith but what was in truth so and because he was resolv'd to quarrel him upon it he sent to require Homage to be paid him for that Kingdom urging that the Kings of that Nation had for many Ages submitted themselves in a qualified Condition of Vassalage under the Kings his Ancestors both before and since the Conquest This begat a War which ended not with the Life of that King being struck to the heart with the melancholy apprehensions of being over-match'd who dying left a young Daughter to succeed whom King Henry thought a fitting Wife for his Son Prince Edward and accordingly afterward in despight of all the tricks of the French Party that then rul'd there he brought it to such a Treaty as amounted to a Contract being under Hands and Seals of both sides But the Scots shewing themselves by their wonted breach of Faith to be true Scots all ended in War wherein though he were victorious yet the main business was nothing advanc'd by the Success there being more done then became a Suiter for Alliance and too little for one pretending to Conquest Hereupon he was forc'd to try the Fortune of another Treaty with the discontented Earl of Lenox who having formerly been set up by the French to be Governour of the young Queen and the Kingdom but deserted by them when he had most need of their aid he was
derive themselves from a Monster by the Fathers side and from a Gipsy on the Mothers side But the name of Scot bearing the same signification with Gayothel we may more reasonably conclude it was first given them by the Saxons either for the reason aforesaid as the word (m) Scot illud dictum quod ex diversis rebus in unum Acervum aggregatum est Camb. ex M. Westm Scot like the word Alman with them signifi'd a Body aggregated out of many Particulars into one or else by contraction of the word Attacot for the High landers making their way into the Borders of the Low-lands inhabited by the Picts who were the ancient Britains beat out by the Romans the Picts thereupon remov'd into the West and left the East part of the Country intire to them who sithence which was near about Aurelian's time or a little after made themselves known to the Romans by the Name before mentioned of Attacots The Picts and they made War upon each other for a long time mov'd by want as other Nations by wantonness for the great Commodity they fought for was Bread the want whereof brought them to accord a Cessation of Arms every Season during Seed-time but the Corn being in ground they fought on till Harvest following after which every Victor was known by his Garland of several sorts of Grain as the Roman Conquerors by theirs of several sorts of Boughs But when the Roman Empire began to decline both of them united in one hope of recovering that part of the Isle which is since call'd England And after the Romans totally quit it they press'd so hard upon Vortigern the then Titular King that he was forc'd the Romans having deny'd him further assistance to call in the Saxons to his aid who finding them then call'd by the Name of Attacots after their usual manner of abbreviation they term'd them Scots The first of all their Kings at least the first worthy that Title that broke over the great Clausura or Mound then call'd the * By the Romans nam'd the Picts-Wall Wiath was one Fergus Sirnam'd the Fierce a Prince descended from the ancient Kings of Ireland for I take the first Fergus and his One hundred thirty seven Successors to be at too great a distance to have their height truly taken who not induring that his Territories should be bounded when his Ambition could not that broke in like a Land-flood and over-run all the adjacent Countries making his Name so terrible that the Romans themselves imputing that to his Fortune which any other Nation would have ascrib'd to his Fortitude made an honourable retreat and left the poor Britains to defend themselves who doubtless had been over-run by him had not the Picts emulous of his Glory interrupted his Successes by whose vicinity both he and his Successors were so much streightned that they could not much inlarge their Territories till the Reign of Keneth the First a wise Prince who reducing that Kingdom under him not so much by Puissance as Policy made that the middle which was before but the bounds of his Dominions deserving therefore to be esteem'd tanquam alter Conditor About Sixty years after him another of the same Name tenth in descent from him rais'd the Throne a step higher having got as great a Conquest over the People as the other did over the Picts by turning the Optimacy into a direct Monarchy for he made the Succession Hereditary that till then was but Elective The fittest and ablest saith Buchanan being till that time prefer'd before the nearest or noblest since which time the eldest Son of the King of Scots hath been alwayes stil'd the Prince of Scots This King however gain'd not so much upon the Nobility in point of Majesty but that they gain'd much more upon his Successors in point of Power so that their Superiority was scarce so distinguishable for a long time from a bare Precedency but that they might rather be call'd Regnantes than Reges so long as the Thanage lasted who being a kind of Palatines exercis'd an absolute Power over their particuâ—ar Tenants and Vassals cum Jure Furci Thus they continued as it were under their good behaviour absolute Princes but bounded with many Restrictions till the time of James the Fourth whose Predecessors having clear'd their Title from all Incumbrances by Competitors leaving him sole Heir of the Peoples Affections as well as of his Predecessors Glory he married the Lady Margaret eldest Daughter and at length Heir to our Henry the Seventh by which Match their Thistle being ingrafted into our Rose mended both its colour and smell And their Kings that had been a kind of Homagers to ours from the beginning almost of their Monarchy became as it were manumitted by the expectation of their Title Paramount and by the possibility of being Lords of the Imperial Crown of this Realm The primier Seizen of which happiness after the death of Queen Elizabeth without Issue was in James the Sixth who Sirnam'd himself the Peaceable to let the World know he came not in by Conquest but Consent having this honour above all that were before him and probably beyond what any shall have that come after him his way was made before him not by any humane power but by Divine Providence long since reveal'd by a written Prophesie ingraved though not understood in that fatal Stone which is plac'd within the Regal Chair where the Kings of Scots anciently and ours since have been crown'd brought by them out of Ireland in the first place and by our King Edward the First translated hither afterwards whose words now they are fulfill'd seem plain enough Ni fallat fatum Scoti quocunque locatum Invenient Lapidem regnare tenentur ibidem This by the Ancients was call'd Saxum Jacobi as for that as Tradition had deliver'd it they believ'd this to be the Stone on which the Patriarch Jacob rested his Head But we of later times have found it to be Saxum Jacobi with relation to him who was to take up his rest here who being by a Decree from Heaven declared Head of this Nation may not improperly be call'd our Patriarch Jacob the first King of that People that ever was crown'd in this Kingdom by whom the Scots may be said to Reign here according to another Prophesie as ancient as the former recorded by Higden in his Polichronicon and evidently fulfilled at his coming in when he transplanted so many of his Country-men into our fat Soil that they grew up like Weeds to that degree of rankness as in the Age folâ—owing to choke the best Flowers in our Garden and taking advantage of us when we were drunk with Prosperity brought us like drunken men to quarrel one with another for what since we came to our selves we cannot find or are at least asham'd to tell having by the corrupted Principles we first received from them ingaged our selves in so groundless a War that after Ages will not believe