ill Intention and this unlimited Confidence confirm'd the Opinion of it both betray'd what he design'd both shou'd conceal and by the Extreams taught the fatal Lesson of Jealousie and those perhaps that advis'd the ill Designs wanting power to bring them forth from their own Fears gave Councils contrary to their former Advices in a better Condition For men without Principles are guided by those Opinions that unequal Fears or unsteddy Ambition gives them and receive no Council from even Principles or unshaken Vertue These Mistakes provok'd the Banishment of Gaveston and the King became liable to Perjury whenever they pleased But after he had committed this Error he pursues it with a greater and though he banish'd Gaveston to keep his Oath he violates again by re-calling him and gives him his Neece in Marriage and so much Rules that it justly merited the Censure of wasting the publicâ— Treasure The Barrons enrag'd at this Breach of Faith in the King and to see the Fortune of the Nation thrown into a Stranger 's Hands threaten Force against their Perjur'd Prince and by this means obtain again the Banishment of Gaveston with a Clause of Death if ever he returned Gaveston having not been long in Banishment and finding or at least believing he was not safe abroad thought it less hazardous to trust to the former extravagant Affection of the King than Enemies and Strangers in another Countrey and upon this consideration comes back into England and immediately repairs to him The King according to his expectation receiv'd him with such an Excess of inconsiderate Joy and Kindness that it seem'd as if Gaveston brought always Charms more powerful than any Divine or Hamane Obligation Upon this the Lords again took Arms and petition in the Name of the whole Commonalty That Gaveston may be banish'd The King more fond of Gaveston than sensible of what he had done or of their Force or Petition takes as it were a Flight with him and puts him with Forces into Scarborough-Castle and as Gaveston seem'd to aim at security by weaving the King's Fortunes with his so the King seem'd to make his Fortunes as desperate as Gaveston's by sharing his Condition The Lords eagerly pursu'd him to Scarborough which they besieg'd and took together with Gaveston whom they immediately beheaded Thus this unhappy Prince neglecting his own Faith gave others the Opinion that theirs was discharg'd and the fondness of a Favourite above the People lessen'd their Duty as he lessen'd his Consideration of them and 't is too visible a truth that a Prince who so much resigns himself to Favourites must also resign his Fortune to theirs The Lords swell'd with this Success the usual Effects of Ravish't Power march with an Army towards London where the King then was where Necessity and not Choice seem'd to be the means that a Parliament was call'd where the King complain'd of the Barons who justified their unlawful Actions by the Errors of their Prince and plead Merit for having purchas'd the Banishment of Strangers to quiet the People Thus unsteddy Actions beget wild Arguments and false Pretensions are too much supported by Power However a Composure for the present was made by the Queen the Bishops and the Earl of Glocester who calm'd the Barons into a Temper of asking the King's Pardon and several Articles were agreed on for present satisfaction which seem'd as if the Lords had more Inclinations to Obedience than Rebellion and wanted but the prudent Justice of a Prince to be applied to cure these Wounds that Jealous Discontents had made But the Mischief of former ill Humours and Councils remain'd and began to shew themselves by the dealy of performing what was agreed on which was the Cause that the Earls of Arundel Warwick and Warren refus'd to go with the King against the Scots It seems strange that Vnsteddiness and Injustice Two of the weakest Errors of Mankind shou'd become Rules for Princes to act by which could hardly be possible were they not resign'd to the Councils of others and consequently to their Interests such who cannot by National Methods pursue their Ambitious Designs and protect what they obtain the pursuit of Honour and Riches are seldom limited and putting a Distance between King and People is the only means to keep them remote from Examination and Justice and at least involve their Interest so with his that to question them is to attack his Dignity To foment Differences between the King and others was now acted by little Artifices one Instance of which was the taking away the Earl of Lancaster's Wife by one Richard St. Martin claiming her as his and that he had formerly lain with her and claim'd by her the Two Earldoms of Lincoln and Salisbury This was an Action that seem'd to shew the Encouragement and Assistance of great Power nor did they that contriv'd it omit their chief aim of having the King thought a Party at once to engage him in their Designs and Animosities and to revenge himself and them by particular Injuries For 't is not to be presum'd that such a man as the Duke of Lancaster could have such a violence committed in his House by an inconsiderable Fellow without great assistance of Force and Power and the Two Earldoms that seems rested in her were Arguments that the Design was to affront the Duke of Lancaster in the Diminution of his Honour and to make an irreconcilable Difference between the King and him who being related to the King and a man of great Quality and Interest might perhaps be an Obstacle to those Designs which were contriving by the new Favourites and it was an improper consideration for such to consider whether the King's Interest and Honour were best served by this but only whether their own Designs were not best pursu'd And now the same Fatal Humour began to shew it self and Hugh Spencer the Younger who Mezeray says had been bred up with him in an unbecoming Familiarity and had absolute Empire over him succeeded Caveston in an almost unlimited Favour and Power The first Difference that this caused appeared at the Siege of Berwick which being near taken by the Scots the King declared to make his Design to make the Younger Spencer Governour of it upon which the Earl of Lancaster withdrew his Forces with whom the Lords presently took Arms and declared the Cause to be for the removing the Spencers the Father being now got into joynt Commission of Favour with his Son who govern'd with as much Insolence and Absoluteness as ever Gaveston had done With these Forces they advance towards the King and boldly demand the Banishment of the Spencers The King not being strong enough at present to oppose them gives a Temperate Answer only seeming averse to punish any but by Form of Law and therefore wou'd not banish them unheard but promises them they shou'd answer to any Charge and swore he wou'd never pardon Offences prov'd This Answer did not yet satisfie the Lords who
be suitable to his Nature and their Ambitious Designs The three chief Favourites and Ministers were Robert Vere Earl of Oxford afterwards Marquiss of Dublin and Duke of Ireland Michael Delapool Earl of Suffolk and Robert Tresilian Lord Chief Justice The Duke of Ireland seem'd the best as hardly he cou'd do otherwise being set with two such Foils but he wanted Vertue and Courage without the excess of Vices of the other two Michael Delapoole was a model of complicated Vices in Peace the most odiously Insolent in War the most dejectedly Contemptible He despised all methods of Quietness and yet was frighted with the least Disturbance Tresilian the Chief Justice was one that never shew'd his Place or Title by any practice but ready to prostrate all Law to Occasion and Justice to Designs His Knowledg was Lewdness and his Vertue Violence what others design'd he was ready to execute and being kept up in this Darkness he grew fierce on all things that were cast to him This King was called Richard of Burdeaux because born there the only Son of the Black Prince By his Grandfather Edward the Third he was in his Life time declared his Successor And after his Death was Crowned at Westminster in the year 1377 by Simon Sudbury Archbishop of Canterbury with great Solemnity The King being then eleven years old The Duke of Lancaster and Edmund Earl of Cambridge the King's Uncles with other Lords and Bishops were joyned in Commission to manage the State. The Minority of the King gave foreign Princes an Opinion that it was a proper time to attempt upon England the French first laid hold on the Occasion and landed Forces and did some mischief and burnt some places near the Sea As about Rye Portsmouth Dartmouth and Plimouth as also Hastings and Winchelsea The Scots also assaulted the Castle of Berwick and won it but it was taken again by the Earls of Northumberland and Nottingham and all put to the Sword but Ramsey who took it by a bold and desperate attempt with a few Men. These troubles occasion'd a Parliament to be called at Westminster where Alice Pearce the Concubine to the late King Edward the Third was banish'd and all her Goods confiscated A Tax was then given of two Tenths of the Clergy and two Fifteenths of the Temporalty Others write the Tax was a Poll of four Pence upon every Head but which way soever it was either the Levying it or the Tax it self caused a sudden and strange Insurrection begun by the infusion of one Wiat a Factious Priest using these Common Notions against great Men who had power to oppress others and ruine the meaner sort to support their Greatness and Luxuries This spread to the City who gave intelligence that they were ready to join with the Rabble that appeared gather'd from many adjacent Countries This confused Body chose one Wat Tyler for their Captain whose Assistants or Privy-Councellers were John Ball Jack Straw and Jack Shepherd Blackheath as they marched to London was their Rendezvous where they appeared to be above Threescore Thousand From thence they marched to London declaring themselves for the King and People When they came to London they were received either for Fear or Love with all freedom and treated as if they strove who shou'd express themselves best to the flatter'd Rebels who like such a Mass of Giddiness got together committed nothing but Murther and Violence They burnt the Savoy the Duke of Lancaster's House they rifled the Temple and destroyed the Law-Books expressing a Spleen against any thing of that Nature Nor were Churches or Religious Houses spared the good they punished the ill they cherished setting all Prisoners at Liberty their Chief Leader Tyler remembring some Punishment that his old Master Richard Lyon had inflicted on him for some Crime he had committed without any more Tryal or Judgment than what his Revenge allowed caused his Head to be stricken off and carried before him on a Spear Their Numbers were now so great that the King durst not resist their Entrance into the Tower where they abused his Mother and took the Archbishop of Canterbury the Chancellor and Lord Treasurer and dragging them to Tower-Hill there beheaded them In the midst of all these Outrages the King proclaim'd a Pardon to all that wouâ—d go quietly home which the Essex men and some others accepted but the Kentish and others stayed with their Captain Tyler So that it seem'd as if part of this Rabble were not in the secret intention to subvert the Government and throw down all above themselves from Oppression About 20000. continued with their Captain The King looking upon this as a good beginning presented himself in Person before the Rebels and spoke to them with all sweetness promising them Pardon and Favour but had so rude a return from Tyler that instead of Submission he demanded the King's Sword at which the Mayor of London drew his and struck him to the ground where he was presently killed The Rabble seem'd to threaten Revenge But the City hearing this and thinking it high time to free their King and themselves from Ruine and Destruction came to his Relief with a body of men at which sight the affrighted Rebels yielded and some fled and deliver'd up their Ringleader a Sacrifice that seldom fails to be made by such Tumults Jack Straw at his Execution confessed their Design of destroying all that were above them in Name or Fortune The King 's chief Favourites now appeared to be Michael Delapoole made Chancellor of England and after Earl and Duke of Suffolk Robert de Vere Marquess of Dublin and after Earl of Ireland Alexander Archbishop of York and Tresilian the Chief Justice The first Testimony that these shewed of their Animosities against the Methods of a just Minister was the displacing Sir Richard Scroope Lord Chancellor who in all things used an impartial uprightness which was an Offence to their loose and partial Designs But they did not only sharpen the King's Nature against men in point of Offices and Employments but against their Lives The first appearance of this was by the Duke of Lancaster whose Offences were likewise from his Vertues and his Ruine therefore contrived by them and resolv'd by Tresilian to be done by Form of Law the worst sort of destroying when violated but when truly observ'd the best defence against destruction There are seldom any extream Proceedings in a Government but there are depraved persons enough in all Conditions ready to swim with the stream and take the benefit of any Tide of Fortune For when Mischief is to be practised Corruption is the Consequence and there are always those ready whom no Consideration ballances in their Natures with Honour and Benefit Tresilian was one of those thus prepared and cou'd hardly want as well-condition'd Informers and Juries Occasions preserved from men is the surest Cause of their Vertue but offered from those that should depress it is the Cause and Temptation of Villany
equal Credit and Principles with the Earl of Suffolk to whom also joined the Archbishop of York to strengthen their Power and weaken their King's for they who had influence enough to make a Prince believe their Cause to be his might easily carry him on to revenge these Affronts he now assumed to be his own To this belongs the same Fate that attends indirect unsteddy Counsels they must be maintained by the Ruine or Oppression of those that suffer'd by them and no method taken for the Preservation of any but they that merited the Punishment The Argument that was and must be used to deceive Princes was then enforced by these Favourite-Ministers That the Arrows shot at them were intended against the Prince and 't was but a method of Rebellion to confine a King on whom to confer his Favour and therefore to avoid the Dishonour of a Limited Monarchy he must now use Power and declare his Trust in that only With this flattery they raise their King to a fatal Confidence in that which must in time deceive misguided Princes For perhaps for some time Apprehension and Conscience may preserve a shew of Peace yet at last Errour and Oppression will disturb such a weak-setled Calm The King thus rais'd by Flattery above his Power and sharpned by false Arguments beyond his Nature they proceed seemingly to act his Cause but really to revenge themselves and like the other Favourites in King Edward's Time wrap their Prince's Fall and Hazard and their own together while they are only the King 's Loyal Subjects and the Kingdom his and their own guilty Enemies The Memory of Suffolk's Tryal and Condemnation was the first Cause that incited them against those that were his Judges the Duke of Glocester and others on whose Destruction they first resolved as being the most considerable nor feared his near Relation to the King for they knew their Power was gotten above his Nature or Consideration The first Design was to invite Glocester and others to a Supper in London and there murther them which some write was discover'd by the Duke to Exton the then Mayor of London and so the Mischief was prevented for that time About this time the Earls of Arundel and Nottingham who were engaged with the Duke of Glocester in the Tryal and Censure of the Chancellour Suffolk Commanded the Navy and did so many brave Actions that all mouths were fill'd with just Praises the King 's only excepted to whom Satisfaction did most belong For at their Return they found such a cold Reception from the King that it seem'd they were rather forgiven for Misdemeanours than receiv'd for Merits The strangeness of his Words told too plainly That publick Merit lost its Nature when the Desert was in the Enemies of his Favourites How much more limited is a King by such as inflame him against the Dishonour of it He must neither reward Vertue nor punish Vice his best and bravest Subjects must not be esteem'd nor his worst question'd nor punish'd The Duke of Ireland with as much Arbitrary Power as he perswaded the King to assume put away his Wife the Duke of Glocester's Daughter and marryed a Vintners some say a Joyners Daughter The injur'd Lady often petition'd the King but without success her Injury was done by a Favourite where his Nature was more tyed than to his own Blood Upon no less nourishment can growing Favourites prosper than by their Princes loss of Interest and Honour The Duke of Glocester bore it not so calmy but told the Duke of Ireland plainly he wou'd revenge it who from that time grew more assiduous to contrive the Destruction of the Duke of Glcester but at the present his pretended Journey to Ireland kept all silent which after many delays he seemingly began and was accompanied in great State by the King himself the Earl of Suffolk and the ready Chief Justice Tresilian But this proved only a Journey through Wales and so about to Nottingham where they enter'd in private and black Consultations The first was to destroy the Lords and for that end summon'd the Sheriffs of every County and plainly asked them what they cou'd promise against the Lords if the King should require it Their Answers were for the most part That the People were very much satisfied in their Opinions That the Lords were lovers of their King and Country and therefore durst promise nothing in that matter The Tryal was then made to pack a Parliament by contriving Elections as the King should appoint But this received as cold a return To what a lose Hazard they had now reduced their King to attempt unsuccessfully to break by force or in a Legal way to make the Nation destroy it self The last was without question the most dangerous design force may enslave for little time but slavery by Law is like to endure longer but the People were not then couzen'd enough and indeed it must be the Concurrence of strange Accidents the fairness of an undiscover'd Dissimulation and the Opportunity embraced in the same Moment that must so infatuate the People as to make their Ruin their Choice The last attempt was design'd by surer means the Judges who kept and seem'd to deserve their Places for the Compliance of these were summoned the two Chief Justices Tresilian and Belknap with others and to them were put Queries which might comprehend the safety of the Ministers and the danger of all they pleased beside The Questions were to comprehend so large a Treason that it could not miss to find Traitors for by them resolved the very Constitution of the Nation was Treason The first four Queries concern'd the Duke of Suffolk most particularly and with him all Favourites For the Case was put Whether the Law it self and the Commission for his Tryal did not derogate from the Kings Authority and then how they were to be proceeded with that procured such a Law and how they were to be dealt with that provoked the King to assent to it The Fifth Question What they merited that oppos'd the Kings remitting or releasing Penalties or Debts due to him The sixth seventh eighth and ninth consisted of Questions Whether Parliaments could proceed upon any business but such as the King should propose and limit by Articles And whether the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament might accuse any of the King's Officers without his Leave The Tenth was singly for the Duke of Suffolk Whether the Judgment given in the last Parliament against him were Erroneous and Revocable 'T is improbable that such questions as these shou'd be propos'd to any Persons that had the Names of Justices unless there had been before a received assurance of the Answers they wou'd give Accordingly it appear'd for they returned not any answer doubtingly or modestly but determined all to be Treason and the Offenders worthy the death of Traytors The last Article they resolved with as much clearness viz. That the Proceedings and Judgment against the Duke of Suffolk
were Erroneous and Revocable and accordingly deliver'd these bald Opinions under their Hands and Seals It seem'd as if they durst judge no Crime less than Treason that offended the Ministers though by their bold Opinions the Parliament it self became the Traytors and a Statute Law the Treason This I suppose was highly applauded by the Ministers and the King flatter'd to believe what excellent Servants he had of such Judges by whose briskness not only the Law but the troublesome Constitution it self of the Nation might be rendred as useless as Arbitrary Power cou'd desire For if such Laws that seem'd to limit a King shou'd in themselves become void for that very Cause there could no Law be valid but such as pleas'd the Soveraign who was the Judge of his own Infringment and then all past Laws and Laws to be made would become but prostituted Writings to the Will of Princes Perhaps at that time these Judges had the Character of being the most Loyal for appearing most desperate giving that great Testimony of their Devotion that their Zeal for the Favourites was far warmer than for their Countrey and involved themselves in their Fortunes by Principles as leud as their Designs The King looked upon the Opinion of these Judges as Authentick and of validity enough to throw legally into his power the Estates and Fortunes of those Lords that appeared most Eminent against his Ministers and accordingly he began to dispose of their Estates among those that he favoured presuming them without farther Tryal Convicted Persons and to maintain this absurdity by a worse rais'd Soldiers privately and sent to surprize the Earl of Arundel The Duke of Glocester having Intelligence of all these proceedings got the Bishop of London to perswade the King from such Violences and to assure him that he had never had an undutiful thought against him and intimated how much more safe and Honourable it wou'd be for the King not to be led by false suggestions to such a fatal difference and severity with his best and greatest Subjects The Bishop performed this with his best Skill and Zeal and wrought so upon the King that he seem'd inclin'd to a more happy Temper but the Duke of Suffolk that had all Peace and Justice by which he knew he was to have little Benfit nor cou'd be probably safe longer than while he kept his King in danger quickly nipt the King's budding Gentleness and like an untimely Frost blasted the springing Hopes of Peace falling upon the Bishop with harsh and insolent Reproofs But the Bishop not daunted with his Power and Greatness boldly told him That it was not the Service of his Prince that guided him but his own violent Ambition and that rather than the Lords shou'd not be destroy'd he would involve the Nations in Ruine Adding That it was easie for such abject Spirits as his to raise Tumults which must be ended by the Ruine of the Bravest nor was he fit to give Advice that was the chief Incendiary and made a Party by his Condemnation The King was so angry to see his Favourite so roughly and boldly attacked that he commanded the Bishop out of his sight In this particular as in most of the King 's unhappy Actions he appeared against Himself and his own Reason being guided by the Duke of Suffolk who was of a contrary Interest turn'd from his own Nature and Reason by one that wanted Sense and Bowels and by this Unsteddiness kindled new Mistrusts the fruitful Nourishers of Civil Mischiefs At this the Duke of Glocester the Earls of Arundel Warwick and Derby take Arms the Arch-bishop of Canterbury and Bishop of Ely then Lord Chancellour were sent to the Lords who composed Matters so well that the Lords agreed to appear before the King at Westminster under the Promise of Protection But retaining their usual Jealousies they receiv'd the Bishop of Ely's Assurance That if there were any Danger design'd them he would give them notice Accordingly he kept his Word and a little before the Lords were to come he gave them Intelligence of an Ambush laid for them at the Mews to seize them as they came in Upon this the Lords fail'd of their coming which the King wondring at ask'd the Bishop of Ely What might be the Reason who boldly told him That the Lords durst not trust him and had discover'd the Trap laid for them Of which the King seem'd to be wholly ignorant and commanded the Sheriffs to search the Mews and to kill and carry to Prison all they found conceal'd But the Thing was true though the Place mistaken for the armed Men were secretly assembled at Westminster by Sir Richard Bramber and Sir Thomas Trivett who perceiving or being inform'd of the Discovery secretly convey'd away their Men. It seem'd as if the King were really ignorant of this that was acted by the desperate Ministers who shew'd a full Confidence in the Power they had with the King And tho' perhaps they apprehended the Action too vile to trust the King with it yet they did not doubt to bring him to approve it tho' never so base if successful enough Nor hath this been an unusual Method of Powerful Ministers and Favourites to contrive Mischiefs for their Prince to approve knowing that it is easier from the necessity of a Thing done to gain an Approbation than a Consent to the Attempt of it For a Prince that is wholly led by them and wrapt up in their desperate Counsels and Interests may scruple at a thing to be done that he cannot when 't is effected One is but a difference in Opinion the other is a deserâ—ion of his Party he may be free in the first but too much involved to be at liberty in the latter A Prince in this Condition has not only his own Errours but the weight of theirs to struggle under and 't is impossible he shou'd make any Calculation of his own Fortune unless he were free to examine the mischievous Effects of those ill Planets that he Himself had rais'd to such powerful Influences At last upon new Faith and Security the Lords came to the King at Westminster but so strongly guarded that they did not appear like Men that came to Submit or Petition Accordingly they challenged for Traytors the Duke of Ireland the Duke of Suffolk the Archbishop of York the Chief Justice Tresilian and others The King at that time when Favourites could not speak spoke like himself a King and with equal Temper and Reason shew'd the Lords That if all were true they alledged they had not taken the proper way too seek for Justice by a shew of Rebellion and give that opportunity to the licentious Multitude which perhaps might be difficult to take again from them And after having gently laid before them the more proper way for what they desired he raised them from their knees and retired with them All this while the adverse Party kept out of the way apprehending as justly they might the
danger of such powerful and enraged Enemies This Action of the King is question'd by some Historians whether done out of Apprehension or a better Temper But yet all this while that things bore this calm face the Duke of Ireland gathered Forces and was met and overthrown by the Earl of Derby near Burford But he that was so bold in Counsel shew'd little of Courage when 't was needful in Action and fled himself before the Fight scarce began Among many things that were taken of the Duke's in one of his Trunks were found Letters from the King to hasten his coming to London with what Power he could make where the King wou'd be ready to share Fortunes with him Upon the news of the Duke of Ireland's Defeat the Duke of Suffolk fled in a Disguise to Calice and never more returned It is a wonder that ever such a Man shou'd get the ascendant over a Prince a Man that was profuse of what he cou'd get and got it as willingly by the Spoils of others as by justifiable Ways He was unfit for Peace by his turbulent Nature and wanted Courage to be troublesome in War. In Peace he was furious in War calm never quiet but when afraid at all other times intemperate When he was not designing Mischief his Courage or Occasion fail'd him He never seem'd good but when necessity hindred him from appearing bad He had no Fits of a Disease but liv'd in a continual Leprosie But we have read of other Presidents how worthless Men have fcru'd themselves into Princes Favours by such Flatteries that generous Tempers cou'd not creep to For ill Men study the Nature of Princes good Men their Interest and that which is most pleasant sooner prevails than that which is most useful The Chief Justice Tresilian with others of that Faction fled from this Storm and the King retir'd to the Tower while the Lords with a great Army march'd towards London and shew'd themselves in a form of Battel to the King who lay with his Forces in the Suburbs The King at first seem'd to slight them but at last yielded a Treaty The Tower was the place appointed but the Lords first made what search they pleas'd and came with such Guards as they thought fit at once shewing the severe effects of Mistrust and Power the first seldom to be cured the last as seldom us'd with Modesty For when they came to the King they plainly charg'd him by way of Accusation of the Contrivances at Nottingham against them his Letters to the Duke of Ireland contrary to his Word to raise Forces the Agreement with the French to deliver up Calice and other Grievances which the ill Conduct of the King's Ministers had plentifully furnish'd them with At these Truths told by those that had Power enough to Revenge the King instead of a Defence sunk into a Confession of his Errours which seem'd at that time to make a great Impression on the Lords and produced the Agreement of a meeting at Westminster the next day But they were no sooner gone but the King's Mind was turn'd by Arguments of the common frame That by the Meeting he wou'd expose his Person to danger and his Authority to diminution Which presently chang'd the King and shew'd as if a fatal Mutability was to pursue him to his end To such dangerous Methods he must probably be led by the Counsels of those whose desperate Ambitions cou'd permit no directness to be us'd towards their Enemies the Publick Such Ministers are the Consulters of Moments shifting only for a present Preservation and dare not look towards the future but refer Things to come to the same Chance that rais'd them They live to no Rules but with an unlimited readiness wait upon Occasion This Alteration in the King rais'd the Lords to such a rage that they sent him word That if he us'd such Indirectness they wou'd choose a New King. At this being again shaken he not only went but submitted to those he had so enrag'd before and delivers up that Power which he was before counsell'd not to diminish So that his ill-tim'd Counsels made that Misfortune sure which they seem'd careful to prevent A Parliament was presently called where Tresilian the famous Chief Justice was condemn'd and presently executed as also the other Chief Justice Belknap and other Judges and some banish'd The Lords grew now so high by their Success that they exacted an Oath from their King to become a Subject to them and submit to their Government Thus when Errours provoke Force 't is hard for those Jealousies that urg'd the Attempt of Power to suffer it to be us'd modestly much less to be laid down when obtain'd And when once a State begins to be tost by such Commotions Parties in that Tempest like Waves in Storms pursue and dash out one another Within little more than a Year after this the King grew to be One and Twenty and upon that took an Occasion when all things seem'd a little compos'd to assume full Power I cannot but here remember the Character the Impartial and Judicious Mezeray gives Lewis the Eleventh upon his Entrance upon the Throne That he was the greatest Enemy to his own and his Kingdoms Quiet one that lov'd his own Irregular Fancies more than the wise Laws and thought the greatest Grandeur consisted in the greatest Oppression pulling down great ones to raise up the meanest from nothing This he says another calls putting their Kings Hors de Paye that is out of their Minority he should have said putting them out of their Sense and Reason No question the Ministers were ready to welcome him to that which they call'd the Exercise of his Power when it was rather to the Execution of theirs The first practice of it was taking the Great Seal from the Bishop of Ely as if remembring his former Carriages and gave it to Wickham Bishop of Winchester and displac'd many others as if by that he seem'd to take Seizin of his new Power suspending also Glocester and Warwick from the Privy-Council The Tide now turn'd to the King who began to return to follow those Advices that had brought him to so much hazard before And that Interest and Opinion which the French had work'd themselves into appear'd in all things to increase The Duke of Glocester and the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury had formerly temper'd the King with their calm and sure Reasons when being enrag'd against the Lords he swore he wou'd more willingly submit and rely on the Protection of France than thus to be made servile to those he ought to command 'T is not unworthy of an Observation how frequently the French have been prevalent in England and always in such Princes Times as have given so much Power to Ministers and Favourites as made them considerable enough to be corrupted Philip de Comines says That in his Time all the Kings of England's Ministers and great Persons had Pensions from France and gave their Acquittances upon every
assisted in the Alteration looks upon himself as a particular Object of Reward never considering that new-gotten Power needs more to secure it than the Ease of People will allow and when deceiv'd in that they begin to stagger and at last grow to repent the Blood and Money the expenceful Change had cost and ready upon any occasion to revenge their mistaken Errours And perhaps King Richard might have hop'd as much in some time as the Duke of Lancaster then found But there were some who probably had before appear'd most violently Loyal who now advis'd their still-abused King to the last and worst way and sacrific'd Him for their own Peace telling perhaps That unfortunate Princes seldom found Protection abroad but were kept only as a Composition with their successful Enemies And tho he had so near Relation to the King of France yet Ties by Marriage were no Obstacle to their Vse of Interest but rather a Shelter for the more unsuspected Designs And he would accordingly find that he would be the Sacrifice of new Alliances and then 't would be too late to expect such Conditions from the Duke of Lancaster which probably he might not hope for These false Reasons were perhaps used to him by such as could not at a less rate reconcile themselves to the Duke of Lancaster than by betraying their Master into his hands for nothing could be more improbable than that he who had the Power should by Conditions preserve him who had a Right to it while neither was capable to trust the others Mercy Yet this vain Counsel was followed and as if to improve it by Intelligence with the Duke of Lancaster the Duke of Northumberland was sent to the King to assure him that the Duke would pay him all humble Obedience and only desir'd a Parliament should be called at Westminster to settle the shaken Affairs of the Nation The King must then perceive how he was forsaken by those who before had so much flatter'd him with their excessive Love and Loyalty and it seem'd a just instruction to suspect the violent Professions of any that have no restraint by Principles in a fortunate Condition They that want Virtue and profess Love should rather cause suspicion than belief especially when 't is addressed where Power and Interest may invite it But the Love of absolute Greatness in Opinion more than real and true Greatness in it self has hindred Princes from seeing the Defects and Designs of mean and interrupted Flatterers such as believe their Prince has never Power enough unless it appears by the Oppression of others and like these in this unhappy King's time fall from their Professions as he declined in Power But I have read of some tho but a few who governed themselves by Principles in their Prince's Prosperity and guided by the same Virtue have not forsaken him in Adversity The King in some measure yet made a right Reflection on his Condition for he thought 't was in vain to hope that the Conqueror would restore him the Power he had gotten and therefore only to the Duke of Northumberland proposed for himself a retir'd and quiet Condition But he was as much mistaken to hope that as he guessed right to expect the other But when the Duke met the King at Flint-Castle he seem'd to pay him all Reverence due to a King and told him He only acted what he had done for the recovery of his Estate and Possessions But this was only that false Formality that ill men use in obtaining and seldom perform when they have obtained for such Modesty is laid aside by Success and Justice grown useless when Power is fully possessed for presently after the King was secured and in the condition of a Prisoner carried to London yet in His Name a Parliament was presently called The King now found the unhappy Truth That usually mens Professions are but the product of their present Conditions not of their Intentions and perhaps in a low estate they may wish and desire within modest limits but the violence of overwhelming Power breaking over the former bounds overthrow all mean and level thoughts Perhaps the King might now make such severe Reflections on his past Actions seldom regarding his Professions when he had Power or Opportunity to violate them he could not but be prest with the memory of his unhospitable Treachery to the Duke of Glocester and the Earl of Warwick and must with detestation remember those Counsellors of Falseness and Indirectness which once destroy'd his Happiness and now aggravated his Misery He now saw their violent and loyal flatteries were meant for their own Interest not for His and that such mean things like other Insects live with a little Warmth but shrink at any Change of Weather The Duke of York that was entrusted with the Government during King Richard's absence in Ireland was become the Duke of Lancaster's chief Adviser of the Methods he was now to take which was as violent as his fogotten Duty requir'd to make his new Loyalty acceptable In the first place he advis'd That King Richard should be pressed to a voluntary Resignation and also to be solemnly Depos'd This Advice was pursued and the King seem'd as ready to yield to it as the Duke ambitiously desired it The form of the Resignation was then contriv'd to be performed the day before the Parliament was to meet and yet that Parliament was to sit tho the King was to be no longer a King in whose name it was called and certainly if there could be no Virtue in the Resignation the Dissolution of the Parliament must have been the Consequence for that which was call'd by a Power could not continue when there was a Demise of that Power but no Plot was to be seen or hit The hasty and flattering Zeal that was to be shown to the Duke of Lancaster pursued it 's violent Course through all the Obstacles of Law and Justice Among those that were Commission'd to receive his Resignation there were Lords Clergy-men and Lawyers the two Chief Justices Thormins and Markham were in the number And in the Reigns of these two unfortunate Princes there wanted not Temporal and Spiritual Gown-men that contributed to all their Errors in their unfortunate Conditions and on their Adversities transplanted their Zeals into Sunshine These Commissioners being formerly Assembled in the Tower King Richard was brought out in all the Kingly Ornaments that he might have some Ensigns of Glory to resign formally in this Condition he was placed in a Chair of State and in this moment of his Royalty appear'd a King all that was now done was certainly from himself and shew'd in this Extremity virtue enough to make it evident He might have been an excellent Prince had his Ministers not Reigned more than he for he shew'd no Disorder to this great and unpresidented Action of his Life he neither seem'd to force a Resolution to endure nor affect a Temper to submit But as both had naturally sprung