Vows on them and their Posterity These were the Deans Instructions which the Lord Marquess received with as much Thankfulness as he could express and requited his Adviser with this Complement that he would use no other Counsellor hereafter to pluck him out of his plunges for he had delivered him from Fear and Folly and had Restor'd him both to a light Heart and a safe Conscience To the King they go together forthwith with these Notes of honest Settlement whom they found accompanied in his Chamber with the Prince and in serious Discourse together upon the same perplexities Buckingham craves leave That the Dean might be heard upon those particulars which he had brought in Writing which the King Mark'd with Patience and Pleasure And whatsoever seem'd contentious or doubtful to the King 's piercing Wit the Dean improved it to the greater liking by the Solidity of his Answers Whereupon the King resolv'd to keep close to every Syllable of those Directions Sir Edward Villiars was sent abroad and return'd not till September following Michel and Mompesson received their censure with a Salvo that Mompesson's Lady not guilty of his Crimes should be preserv'd in her Honour And before the Month of March expir'd Thirty seven Monopolies with other sharking Prouleries were decry'd in one Proclamation which return'd a Thousand praises and Ten Thousand good prayers upon the Sovereign Out of this Bud the Deans Advancement very shortly spread out into a blown Flower For the King upon this Tryal of his Wisdom either call'd him to him or call'd for his Judgment in Writing in all that he deliberated to Act or permit in this Session of Parliament in his most private and closest consultations The more he founded his Judgment the deeper it appear'd so that his Worth was Valued at no less than to be taken nearer to be a Counsellor upon all Occasions The Parliament wearied with long sittings and great pains was content against the Feast of Easter to take Relaxation and was Prorogued from the 27 of March to the 18 of April The Marquess had an Eye in it upon the Lord Chancellor to try if time would mitigate the displeasure which in both Houses was strong against him But the leisure of three Weeks multiplied a pile of New Suggestions against him and nothing was presaged more certain than his downfal which came to Ripeness on the third of May. On that day the Patent of his Office with the Great Seal was taken from him which Seal was deliver'd to Four Commissioners the Lord Treasurer Mountagu Duke of Lenox Lord Steward of the King's Houshold William Earl of Pembroke Lord Chamberlain to the King and Thomas Earl of Arundel and Surry with whom it rested till the 10th of July following In the mean time Sir James Leigh Lord Chief Justice of the King's-Bench was Commissioned to be Speaker in the Upper House and Sir Julius Caesar Master of the Rolls was Authorized with certain Judges in equal power with him to hear dispatch and decree all Causes in the Court of Chancery 62 The Competitors for the Office of the Great Seal were many Sir James Leigh before mention'd a Widower and upon Marriage with a Lady of the Buckingham Family Sir Henry Hobart Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas Chancellor to the Prince a Step to the Higher Chancellorship and as fit as any man for his Learning and Integrity which of these it was uncertain but one of these was expected And verily a fitter Choice could not be made than out of the pre-eminent Professors of the Common Laws but that all Kings affect to do somewhat which is extraordinary to shew the liberty of their power The Earl of Arundel was thought upon a Master of Reason and of a great Fortune For it was remembred upon the Death of Lord Chancellor Bromly anno 1587 That Queen Elizabeth designed a Peer of the Realm for his Successor Edward Earl of Rutland whose Merit for such a place is favour'd by Mr. Cambden because he was Juris scientiâ omni politiori literaturâ ornatissimus and if his Death much bewailed had not prevented the Great Seal had been born before him But the likeliest to get up and I may say he had his Foot in the Stirrup was Sir Lionel Cranfield Married in the kindred that brought Dignity to their Husbands a man of no vulgar head-piece yet scarce sprinkled with the Latin Tongue He was then Master of the Court of Wards and did speak to the Causes that were brought before him quaintly and evenly There seemed to be no Let to put him in Possession of the great vacant Office but that the Lord Marquess set on by the King was upon enquiry how profitable in a just way it might be to the Dignitary and whether certain Branches of Emolument were natural to it which by the endeavour of no small ones were near to Lopping Sir Lionel besought the Marquess to be sudden and to Advise upon those things with the Dean of Westminster a found man and a ready who did not wont to clap the Shackles of delay upon a business He being spoken to to draw up in Writing what he thought of those Cases return'd an Answer speedily on the Tenth of May with the best advantage he could foresee to the promotion of the Master of the Wards Yet it fell out cross unto him that the Dean woing for another utterly beyond expectation sped for himself The Paper which he sent to the Marquess hath his own Words as they follow My most Noble Lord ALthó the more I Examine my self the more unable I am made to my own Judgment to wade through any part of that great Employment which your Honour vouchsafed to confer with me about yet because I was bred under the place and that I am credibly inform'd my True and Noble Friend the Master of the Wards is willing to accept it and if it be so I hope your Lordship will incline that way I do crave leave to acquaint your Honour by way of prevention with secret underminings which will utterly overthrow all that Office and make it beggerly and contemptible The lawful Revenue of that Office stands thus or not much above at any time In Fines certain 1300 l. per annum or thereabout In Fines Casual 1250 l. or thereabout In greater Writs 140 l. for impost of Wine 100 l. in all 2790. and these are all the true means of that great Office Now I am credibly inform'd that the Lord Treasurer begins to Entitle the King to to the casual Fines and the greater Writs which is a full Moiety of the profits of the place not so much to Enrich the King as to draw Grist to his own Mill and to wind from the Chancellor the donation of the Cursitors places The preventing the Lord Treasurers in these Cases made Queen Elizabeth ever Resolve suddenly upon the disposing of the Great Seal Likewise they are very busie in the House of Commons and I saw a Bill which
on whose silent consent the Bishop had not to awaken the King that he would look upon these Courses that cried abroad to the amazement of his Subjects All wish it done and the Bishop did not fear to do it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is Theodorets stout Divinity Ep. 21. Under the hand of God there is no remedy but patience suffering under the hand of Man the best Remedy is Courage So he stept forward to his Majesty with the confidence of this Petition To the King 's most Excellent Majesty c. THat if your Majesty be not pleased to accept as yet of his humble Submission for his Peace your Majesty would graciously vouchsafe not to interrupt but to permit the Petitioner to proceed according to the ordinary Rules and Course of the Court of Star-Chamber against Kilvert the Sollicitor for his manifold Falshoods and Injuries in the Prosecution of this Cause particularly first for menacing and frighting your Petitioners Witnesses 2. For publickly defaming this Petitioner to be your Enemy averring that neither he nor any of his did know what the name of a King meant 3. For offering to sell the Prosecution of your Majesties Cause against this Petitioner for Money and because this Petitioner refused to tamper with him in that kind for procuring base People to make false and aspersing Affidavits to incense your Majesty and that Court against your Petitioner 4. For menacing the Judges that should report and certifie any thing for your Petitioner 5. For not sparing to tax most falsly your most Sacred Majesty with pressing upon the Lords the Sentencing of your Petitioner All which the Petitioner will clearly prove and pray to God c. So strong an Accusation upon such foul Heads was fit to be sifted especially upon the last Branch For grant it was a lye here 's a false Report raised against the King's Honour If it were true what more criminal than to impart such Secrets of his Majesty 's to his Gossips at a Tavern where they flew abroad But some may more safely steal a Horse than others look over the Hedge The Bishop could get no leave to call this shameless Mate to an answer From that day Kilvert was free from Righteousness and might do any thing Ipse sibi Lex est quà fert cunque voluntas Praecipitat vires Manil. lib. 5. He that hath no Conscience and need to fear nothing will turn a Monster So true is that of Livy Dec. 1. lib. 4. Hominem improbum non accusari tutius est quà m absolvi 'T is safer to have a nocent Person never accus'd than to have him discharg'd for an Innocent 113. For all this the Defendant thought he had said so much against the Prosecutor that he should never appear in Court again But as Calvin said of Bucer Ep. 30. Qui sibi est optimè conscius securior est quam utile sit Yet he proved against him as foul a prank as ever was committed That he got Warren the Examiner to the Fountain Tavern near to Shoe-Lane Kilvert's daily Rendezvouz from whence the Bishop got continual and sure intelligence and fetch 't out of him contrary to his express Oath the Depositions which the Defendants Witnesses had made an heinous wrong to be done before Publication which coming to light Warren fled away from his Office and never appeared more But whether could he run from God's Vengeance Omnia quidem Deo plena sunt nec ullus perfidis tutus est locus Sym. p. 54. Kilvert stood to it as if the sin were not his that drew the Examiner to Perjury and no notice was taken of that constant Rule which the Casuists took from Tertullian de Bapt. c. 11. Semper is dicitur facere cui praemmistratur The Sin was Ahab's that purchast a Field of Blood by the Oath of the Sons of Belial Let Religion look to this for that Court would not nothing would lace it in it was so wide in the waste From this exorbitancy from this and nothing else sprung the Iliad of wrongs which the Bishop endured for Kilvert finding by Warren's disclosures that the Depositions for the Defendant were material and some of the Witnesses to be Learned men that had deposed upon Notes and Remembrances he turned himself into all shapes to crack their Credit At first he made an Affidavit of slight pretended Abuses which were over-ruled against him Whereupon he vapour'd in the hearing of the Register and divers others That he cared not what Orders the Lords made in Court for he would go to Greenwich and cause them all to be changed It was the most scornful Defiance that ever was given to the Honour and Justice of the Star-Chamber as the Bishop's Counsel prest it home Every one expected the Ruin of the Prosecutor yet the Lords perceiving up-upon the Archbishop's Motion that it was not safe to punish him it past over with a slight Submission One presaged the Ruin of the Athenian State because Rats had eaten up the Books of Plato's Commonwealth And might not a man that had no more Prophecy than Prudence foresee the Ruin of this Court when such a Rat-catcher did despise their Authority telling them he could fetch Orders to sweep away theirs from such Powers Quae nec tutò narrantur nec tutò audiuntur Seneca de Tranquil Sir Robert Heath Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas was but one of the Lords Assessors yet as just and sufficient as any of his order and the Indignity done to him was as if done to all Who made his own Complaint That Kilvert threatned to procure him to be turn'd out of his place for his forwardness Yet this also was slubber'd over with a little acknowledgment of Rashness So much were those honourable Persons now no longer themselves fearing that Severity which they perceived impending upon them As Pliny bewails the Roman Senate in his Panegyrick Vidimus curiam sed curiam trepidam elinguem cum dicere quid velles periculosum quod nolles miserum esset It was become like Ezekiel's Vine-tree c. 15. v. 3. you could not make a Pin out of it to hang a good Order upon it that was equal and generous Beshrew the Varlet that kept his word which he was not wont to do for Sir Robert Heath was displaced and for no Misdemeanour proved But it was to bring in a Successor who was more forward to undo Lincoln than ever the Lord Heath was to preserve him A man of choice parts which yet he shewed not in this Cause which cannot be smother'd without defacing the truth which Posterity must not want Desipiunt qui faeces ob vâ—ni nobilitatem absorbent The Dregs of the best Wine are but Dregs and must be spit out as distastful his Lordship's part cannot be spared in this Tragedy yet it shall be short because I will leave him to those Figures that live in the House of Memory 114. The main Bill against the Defendant being not like to
Cook in his Jurisdiction of Courts looks no higher than 28. of Edw. 3. This Lord Keeper cites a Precedent out of his own Search of Records of a Baron Fin'd and Imprison'd by it in the 16th of Edw. 2. as it is quoted Cabal P. 58. Of what standing it was before for the Evidence doth not run as if then it were newly born to me is uncertain For the Dignity that famous Judge I mentioned lifts up his Style that it is the most honourable Court our Parliament excepted that is in the Christian World Jurisdic P. 65. The Citations of it are to cause to appear Coram Rege Concilio for the King in Judgment of Law is always in the Court when it fits and King James did twice in Person give Sentence in it The Lords and others of the Privy Council with the two Chief Justices or two other Justices or Barons of the Exchequer in their Absence are standing Judges of that Court. For in Matters of Right and Law some of the Judges are always presum'd to be of the King's Counsel The other Lords of Parliament who are properly De magno Concilio Regis are only in Proximâ poteentiâ of this Council and are actually Assessors when they are specially called These Grandees of the Realm who cannot fit to hear a Cause under the Number of Eight at the least ennoble this Court with their Presence and Wisdom to the Admiration of Foreign Nations and to the great Satisfaction of our selves for none can think himself too great to be Try'd for his Misdemeanors before a Convention of such Illustrious Senators And as Livy says Nihil tam aequandae libertati prodest quà m potentissimum quemque posse causam dicere As touching the Benefit that the Star-Chamber did bring thus that Atlas of the Law the Lord Cook Et cujus pars magna fuit says in the same Place That the right Institution and ancient Orders thereof being observed it keepeth all England in Quiet Which he maintains by two Reasons First Seeing the Proceeding according to the Laws and Customs of this Realm cannot by one Rule of Law suffice to punish in every Case the Enormity of some great and horrible Crimes this Court dealeth with them to the end the Medicine may be according to the Disease and the Punishment according to the Offence Secondly To curb Oppression and Exorbitancies of great Men whom inferior Judges and Jurors though they should not would in respect of their Greatness be afraid to offend Indeed in every Society of Men there will be some Bashawes who presume that there are many Rules of Law from which they should be exempted Aristotle writes it as it were by Feeling not by Guess Polit. 4. c. 11. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They that were at the Top among the Greeks nor would be rul'd nor would be taught to be rul'd Therefore this Court profest the right Art of Justice to teach the Greatest as well as the Meanest the due Construction of Good Behaviour I may justly say that it was a Sea most proper for Whale-Fishing little Busses might cast out Nets for Smelts and Herring So says the great Lawyer Ordinary Offences which may sufficiently be punished by the Proceeding of the Common Laws this Court leaveth to the ordinary Courts of Justice Ne dignitas hujus Curiae vilesceret 96. Accordingly the Lord Keeper Williams having Ascended by his Office to be the first Star in the Constellation to illuminate that Court he was very Nice I might say prudent to measure the Size of Complaints that were preferred to it whether they were knots fit for such Axes A number of contentious Squabbles he made the Attorney's Pocket up again which might better be compounded at home by Country Justices It was not meet that the Flower of the Nobility should be call'd together to determine upon Trifles Such long Wing'd Hawks were not to be cast off to fly after Field-Fares The Causes which he designed to hear were Grave and Weighty wherein it concern'd some to be made Examples for Grievous Defamations Perjuries Riots Extortions and the like Upon which Occasions his Speeches were much heeded and taken by divers in Ciphers which are extent to this day in their Paper Cabinets To which I Appeal that they were neither long nor Virulent For though he had Scope on those Ocasions to give his Auditors more then a Tast of his Eloquence which was clear sententious fraught with Sacred and Moral Allusions yet he detested nothing more then to insult upon the Offendor with girds of Wit He foresaw that Insolencies and Oppressions are publick provocations to bury a Court in it's own Shame And what could exasperate more then when an unfortunate man hath run into a Fault to shew him no humane Respect Nay to make him pass through the two malignant Signs of the Zodiaque Sagitary and Scorpio That is to wound him first with Arrows of sharp-pointed Words and then to Sting him with a Scorpiack censure Indeed if there be an extreme in shewing too much mercy I cannot Absolve the Lord Keeper For many I confess censur'd him for want of deeper censures said he was a Friend to Publicans and Sinners to all delinquents and rather their Patron then their Judge 〈◊〉 was so oftentimes when he scented Malice in the Prosecution It was so sometimes when he laid his Finger upon the Pulse of humane Frailty Brethren if a Man be overtaken in a Fault we which are Spiritual Restore such a one in the Spirit of meekness considering thy self least thou also be Tempted Galat. 6.1 Pliny the younger had been faulted that he had excus'd some more then they deserv'd Whereupon he Writes to Septitius lib. 7. Ep. Quid mihi invident felicissimum Errorem Ut enim non sint tales quales à me praedicantur ego tamen Beatus quod mihi videntur Which is to this meaning Why do you grudg me this Error they are not so good as I accounted them but I am happy in my Candor that I account them better then they are But first he never condemn'd an Offender to be Branded to be Scourg'd to have his Ears cut Though that Court hath proceeded to such censure in time old enough to make Prescription yet my Lörd Cook adviseth it should be done sparingly upon this Reason Quod Arbitrio judicis relinquitur non facile trahit ad effusionem Sanguinis They that judge by the light of Arbitrary Wisdom should seldom give their sentence to spill Blood He would never do it and declin'd it with this plausible avoidance as the Arch-Bishop Whitgift and Bancroft and the Bishop of Winton the Learned Andrews had done before him that the Canons of Councils had forbidden Bishops to Act any thing to the drawing of blood in a judicial Form Once I call to mind he dispens'd with himself and the manner was pretty One Floud a Railing Libelling Varlet bred in the Seminaries beyond Seas had vented Contumelies bitterer then Gall against many
dare Swear it was he that bolted the Flower and made it up into this Paist Sir says the Prince I was precluded by my Promise not to Reveal him but I never promis'd to tell a Lye for him Your Majesty hath hit the Man And God do him good for it says the King I need not tell you both what you owe him for this Service and he hath done himself this Right with me that I discern his sufficiency more and more All this the Prince Related at his next Meeting to the Lord Keeper This passage so memorable hath pluck'd on a Prolix Narration for divers Reasons It was a secret manag'd between few persons though the greatest and likely to be buried for ever unless it rise from the Dust where it was smother'd upon this occasion It will expound to inquisitive Men why after this time the old King never retrieved the Spanish Match as if suddenly it were sunk and set beneath the Horizon of his Thoughts it demonstrates why in a year after being the First of King Charles there was such Willingness in the young King and such Readiness in the Duke to Rigg a great Navy and to send it with Defiance of Hostility to Cales for though the Grandee Inoiosa received a sharp Rebuke here to vex his Gorge and suddenly pack'd up his portable Gods and went to his own Country in a Fume yet he received no Disfavour or Frown upon it from the Court of Spain Nihil nefas est malitiae It tells you what a Stone of Offence was laid before the King able to make him to Dissolve the Parliament just upon the Expectation of a happy Winding up if the Lord Keeper had not removed the Jealousie away which is one of the best Offices of a Christian for it is God's own Attribute in the Prophets to be a Repairer of Breaches Lastly His Wit was in Conjunction with the Safety of his great Friend the Duke Et vincente Odenato triumphavit Gallienus says Pollio The Keeper had Content enough that the Duke triumphed over those Foes whom he had vanquished for him 206. Soon as those Hobgoblins which haunted the King to fright him were frighted away themselves and the Magicians which conjured them up were rendered odious his Majesty was never in a better Mood to please his Subjects and the Subjects in Parliament never from that day to this in so dutiful a Frame to please their Soveraign Fatebimur regem talibus ministris illos tanto rege fuisse dignissimos Curt. l. 4. As Alexander deserved such brave Commanders under him so they deserved to be commanded by so brave a Prince as Alexander Their long Counsels which had been weather bound came to a quiet Road and their Vessel was lighted of those Statutes which are of immortal Memory The wise Men of those times ask'd for good Laws with Moderation for Moderation had not yet out-liv'd the Peoples Palate and they were brought forth with Joy and Gladness And that which was gotten with Peace and Joy will out-last that were it ten times more which is extorted in a Hurly-burly There were no Rents no Divisions among the Members much less did the Stronger Part spurn out the Weaker The Voices went all one way as a Field of Wheat is bended that 's blown with a gentle Gale One and all And God did not let a general Concurrence pass without a general Blessing Sic viritim laboraverunt quasi summa res singulorum manibus teneretur Nazar Paneg. The Laws devised were confirmed in Clusters by the Royal Authority And though one of them about the strict Keeping of the Sabbath was then stop'd the Name of Sabbath being unsatisfactory to the King's Mind yet Amends were made that the Kingdom had a Sabbath granted it from many Suits and Unquietnesses That which Crowned all was the Pardon the most general that ever was granted which was the sooner got because the Pillars of the Common-wealth had discharged their publick Trust without Offence The next Session of this Parliament was appointed in April following and this Session shut up with the End of June The Lord Keeper was not a little joy'd with the sweet Close of it for which he had gained a noble Report Praeter laudem nullius avarus Horat. Ar. Poet. And after three years Experience having now spent so much time in the High Court of Chancery his Sufficiency was not only competent but as great as might be required in a compleat Judge He was one of them in whom Knowledge grew faster upon him than his Years As Tully praised Octavius Cesar Ex quo judicari potest virtutis esse quà m aetatis cursum celeriorem Philip 8. In eminent Persons Virtue runs on swifter than Age. And it is a Slander whereof late Writers are very rank in all Kinds which one hath publish'd that this Man's Successor the Lord Coventry reversed many of his Decrees and corrected his Errors I do not blame Lawyers if they would have us believe that none is fit for the Office of Chancellor but one of their own Profession But let them plead their own Learning and able Parts without traducing the Gifts of them that are excellently seen in Theological Cases of Conscience and singularly rare in natural Solertiousness Lord Coventry was a renowned Magistrate and his Honour was the Honour of the Times wherein he liv'd the vast Compass of that Knowledge wherein he was always bred and his strong Judgment in searching into those Causes did transcend his Predecessor yet not to obscure him as if he were wanting in that which was required to his Place A good Carpenter knows how to frame a House as well as the Geometer that surveyed the Escurial Let me quote a couple of Witnesses what they asserted herein and they are rightly produced as God the great Witness of all things knows The Duke of Buckingham in the beginning of the next Term at Michaelmas perswaded the Lord Chief Justice Hobart either to deliver it to the King with his own Mouth or to set it under his Hand that Lord Williams was not sit for the Keeper's Place because of his Inabilities and Ignorance and that he would undertake thereupon to cast the Complained out and himself should succeed him My Lord says Reverend Hobart somewhat might have been said at the first but he should do the Lord Keeper great Wrong that said so now After this Grave and Learned Lord I bring forth Mr. G Evelin one of the Six Clerks and in his time the best Head-piece of the Office who delighted to divulge it as many yet living know that Lord Keeper Williams had the most towring sublime Wit that he ever heard speak magnified his Decrees as hitting the White in all Causes and never missing That Lord Coventry did seldom after any thing he had setled before him but upon new Presumptions and spake of him always in Court with due Praise and Justification of his Transactions He that hath insinuated the contrary aiming to
hold the quarrel broke out into a collateral Point the weighing of the Credit of Jo. Pregion a man that had enjoyed two Oâ—lices of great account for divers years and was never questioned before this time in his Reputation So the Siege of Troy was forgot and the Battel was drawn out on both sides to get or to recover the Body of Patroclus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Il. Ï. The Bishop could not defend his first Cause without the Testimony of Pregion which made him diligent to keep his good Name from being stained and the Adversaries were as resolute to Impeach him looking to spring up a new Information from the Defence of the old Matter This tugg held eighteen Months to the Bishop's Vexation and Cost having spent as much upon it as would have founded an Hospital to keep twenty poor People The Archbishop took occasion upon the spinning out of so much time to blame the Defendant for Traverses and Delays a Course which the wisdom of Treasurer Weston had put into him and if it were bad to fly with his Grace's leave was it not worse to Persecute Baronius justifies the Christians that made escape from Heathen Tyrants with a good reason An. 205. p. 12. Qui non fugit cum potest adjuvat ejus iniquitatem qui persequitur The Exceptions against Pregion were referred to the Lord Chief Justice Richardson and Lord Chief Baron Damport which charged Pregion that he endeavour'd to lay a Bastard-Child of his own begetting upon another The two Judge having heard all that could be alledged pro and con disallowed the Exception and an order being drawn up for it when the Lord Richardson was about to sign it Kilvert most imperiously charg'd him not to do it till he had heard from the King The Judge whose Coat had been sing'd at the Court before stopt his Hand but delivered a Copy of the Certificate to the Bishop's Sollicitor and avowing he would maintain it that is to say if he durst but fear shook his Conscience out of him The Lord Damport would not vary from himself and charg'd his Brother Richardson freely with Inconstancy Of which Disagreement the Star-Chamber having notice added to these three more the Lord Chief Justice of the Common-Pleas Judge Jones and Judge Vernon These sitting together in the Lord Richardson's Lodgings Kilvert brought in Secretary Windebank among them though neither Referree nor Witness nor Party in the Cause who argued the Business an hour and half against the Bishop's Witness and perform'd it weakly for all men are not call'd to knowledge with their places as Isâ—crates would have us believe in his Areopag Oration that the Office of an Areopagite transform'd a man Ut tanquam loci genio afflatus ex ingenio suo migraret Budaeus in 1. lib. Pand. p. 283. The Secretary having done his part and shewn what was expected from White-hall departed The five Judges drew up a Certificate signed it and assured the Bishop all in general and one by one it should not be changed So said the L. F. among the rest but he sup't a Promise into his mouth and spit it out again This predominant Judge like a Falcon upon her stretches took home the Certificate with him and the Bishop with him who staid at his House till almost midnight because the Lord F. would not give him the Order till Kilvert had carried it to the Court to shew it to some body This was not fair for to be just and honest is so forcible that it should be done extempore not an hour should be borrowed to advise upon it Yet the Judge solemnly protested That he would dye rather than recede from it it being the sense and under the Hand of all his Brethren The Bishop being in a withdrawing Chamber read over the Order so often that by the benefit of a good memory he got it by heart verbatim and so departed to Bugden against Christmas-day About the midst of the Holy-days he heard by a good Hand that the Certificate was alter'd and all that Matter inserted which had been rejected by the Judges He came up in all haste to London and finding Judge Jones ask't him if these things were so Yes says he 't is true all is chang'd from white to black and your Friend the L. F. hath done all this A Friend he might call him if merit might have purchast him for whom the Bishop had done more than for any pleader in England when he was in great place Quae potest esse jucunditas sublatis amicitiis quae porrò amicitia potest esse inter ingratos The Bishop charging this Alteration upon the Judge to his Face he replyed Quod scripsi scripsi and would not hear Mr. Herbert the Defendant's Counsel who told the Judge with some passion That there was more matter for Examination of Witnesses couched in the new Certificate than was in all the Cause But the Bishop demanded calmly of that Lord that had alter'd all What he meant to use an old Acquaintance in that unheard of manner He answer'd and said the same to others He had been soundly chidden by his Majesty and would not destroy himself for any man's sake This Judge was worthy of greater Honours and did affect them Haud sanè aequo animo in secundo se sustinens gradu Curt. lib. 4. and not long after he got the Garland by being the most active of all his Rank to bring about the King's Undertakings chiefly against this forlorn Defendant but held not the place one full year From whence a Scholar may Contemplate upon those two Verses of Homer Il. Ï. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Whom God doth honour if with him you war The quarrel 's Gods your ruin is not far 115. By this time Kilvert put in Courage with these Stratagems is ready to proceed to examination of Witnesses Let me shew how he is armed like Pliny's Ichneumon lib. 8. Nat. Hist Mergit se limo saepiùs siccatque sole mox ubi plurimis eodem modo se coriis loricavit in dimicationem pergit He dips himself often in Mudd and every time crusts it hard in the Sun and being covered with this dirty Harnass he falls to fight with his Enemy All will run even in the application The Bishop is forced at an intolerable expence to tumble in person with his Lawyers and Sollicitors from place to place over six or seven Counties of the Kingdom The first Abuse done unto him in this course was to deny him several Commissions to dispatch his Troubles about the Witnesses which was never denied to any Subject before and to force him to take an Examiner of the Court whether he would or no. 2ly Every Defendant being allow'd to chuse which Examiner he likes best by the practice of that Court the Bishop pitch'd upon an ancient and experienc'd Clerk yet could not enjoy him for in conference with Kilvert he had said That in this Service he must be an indifferent
a Justice of Peace and say he takes the Arch-bishop to be meant by Vermin Urchin Hocas Pocas since the Writer did swear the contrary he had evidently made himself the Author of a libellous Exposition But the Bishop pleads he never received such Letters to his remembrance and to make it likely Osbolston swears he never had an Answer of them Powel will not swear but says he found them in a Band-box in the Bishop's Chamber They were like the Cup in Benjamin's Sack no body but Joseph and the Steward that plotted it could tell how it came there Dr. Walker believes but dares not swear that his Lordship receiv'd them yet adds he could not be assured that he understood them for upon his knowledge the Bishop was often to seek to understand Mr. Osbalston 's gibrish and was fain to send to him for his Cypher which in this matter he did not That which the King's Counsel urged was from the Papers that Dr. Walker brought in under his Lords hand which tuned somewhat like to a Replication to the two Letters The Secretary was pelted with many hard words that day from divers Lords for doing that ill Oâ—lice to his Master I have heard Dr. Walker protest deeply so have many besides That he would not have done it for all the world but that he knew it was a main witness of his Lord's Innocency and enough to clear him howsoever the Court did strangely misunderstand it I am bountiful to him if I think he did it for that good end and I will think so because I never saw any immorality or vice in the course of his life And he was right that the Paper is very candid and did deserve from the Archbishop that he should have cast away at least some unprofitable courtesies upon the Bishop for it And the proof was clear even ex parte Reg is in the Court that he refused to consent or agree to make one in a quarrel against the Archbishop but he holds close to his main Plea That the Letters excepted at did never come to his hands If the matter of them be worthy of a censure let it light upon his Steward and his Secretary who confess to have seen those Papers some years before and to know the ironical meaning and did conceal them He appeals also to the Laws of the Land that if such Letters had come to him like Merlin's Rhimes and Rosicrusian bumbast that no Law or Practice directs the Subject to bring such Gryphes and Oracles but plain litteral grammatical Notions of Libels to a Justice of Peace against a known and clearly decipher'd Magistrate That nothing were more ridiculous than to prefer a Complaint for canting and unintelligible Expressions It cannot be but so many wise Lords as sat in Judgment understood this Well might the Bishop say that all flesh had corrupted their way The Court in those days was rolled about with fear and were steered by imperious directions As Syncsius said of Athens in his days Ep. 235. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There was nothing but the Hide left to shew what a fair Creature it was in times of Yore Let it not be thought rash to write thus of so noble a Senate How did a Commission of Lords use Queen Ann of Bullen and a greater Commission than that use Mary Queen of Scotland But Mr. Osbalston is sentenc'd out of all his Freehold was doom'd to an opprobrious branding who escap't it by concealing himself from the cruelty of the Tyger only the Earl of Holland voted that he saw no proof to bear a Sentence but cleared both Osbolston and the Bishop so did not the Lord Finch and Sir Fr. Windebank who listed up the Bishop's Fine to Ten thousand pounds Such as these made that Honourable Court insupportable to the Subject odious to the Parliament For whose sake I will change a word in a passage of Tullies Philip. 13. I st is locus si in hâc Curiâ fuerit ipsi Curiae non erit locus Sir J. Brampston Lord Chief Justice led the most Voices for 8000 l. Fine and Damages for receiving Libellous Letters Yet was so judicious not to call the Script sent privately to Dr. Walker a divulging of them as some others did nor did he tax him for not blaming the Indiscretions of Osbolston yet those were the Heads to which the most did refer the Contents of their dislike For all this the Bishop rested in peace of mind and piously wish't his Judges Mercy from God which Prayer I hope was heard for their persons but God was offended at the Court which over-drip't so many with its too far spreading Branches of Arbitrary and Irregular Power If the Excrescencies had been pruned away the rest might have serv'd for wholsome use When the Romans found the Carriage of their Censors to be insolent Mucronem sensorium mustis remediis retuderant Alexâ—ab Alex. lib. 3. c. 23. They blunted the Edge but still kept the Sword in the Magistrates hand But God spared not to dig up this burdensome Tree by the root as Auson in Paneg. Quae mala adimis prospicis ne esse possint rediviva yet it may be the Stump is in the Earth though fetter'd to be kept under with a band of Iron and Brass Dan. 4.15 and may spring again in due season But this guilt among a hundred more upon it is that this Bishop being mulcted in eight thousand pounds for a pretence thinner than a Vapour a Trespass to mean for one Christian to ask forgiveness of it from another and never clap't upon him by the Evidence of any Proof yet not a doit was remitted of that vast Sum. And yet I look upon our Bishop as one that had a better hold in present comfort hope hereafter and glory for ever For it is better by far to suffer than to do an Injury Miserior est qui suscepit in se scelus quà m qui alterius facinus subire cogitur Cic. Philip. 11. 126. Lucilius a Centurion in Tacitus Annal. lib. 1. had a scornful name given him by the Military Dicacity of his own Company Cedo alteram Quta fractâ vite in terga militis alteram rursus alteram poscebat when he had broken a Bastonada of a tough Vine upon a Souldiers shouldiers he call'd for another and another after that Such an indeâ—inent Cruelty was exercised upon the person of this suffering Bishop when one Bill was heard and censur'd Cedo alteram rursus alteram was all the pity that he sound 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hesiod lib. 5. Fortune is not content with some mens miseries unless they be all over miserable A new Information is brought on with as much fury as if Jehu had march't with it and that the Desendant might be utterly ignorant of a Conspiracy that was hatching abroad he was shut up close upon colour that he was obstinate and had not answer'd to some Interrogatories as was expected They were Eighty in all To which
Bishops Dispensations only but Mandates also And those Bishops have been fined at the Kings Bench and elsewhere that absented themselves from Councils in Parliament without the King 's special leave and licence first obtained Thirdly When they are forbidden interesse to be present the meaning is not in the very Canons themselves that they should go out of the room but only that they should not be present to add Authority Help and Advice to any Sentence pronounced against a particular or individual Person in cause of Blood or mutilation If he be present auctorizando consilium opem vel operam dando then he contracts an irregularity and no otherwise saith our Linwood out of Innocentius And the Canon reacheth no further than to him that shall pronounce Sentence of Death or Mutilation upon a particular Person For Prelates that are of Counsel with the King in Parliament or otherwise being demanded the Law in such and such a Case without naming any individuum may answer generaliter loquendo That Treason is to be punisht with Death and a Counterseiter of the King's Coin Hostien lib. 2. eap de fals monet allowed by John Montague de Collatione Parliamentorum In Tracta Doctor Vol. 10. p. 121. Fourthly These Canons are not in force in England to bind the King's Subjects for several Reasons First Because they are against his Majesty's Prerogative as you may see it clearly in the Articles of Clarendon and the Writ of Summons and therefore abolished 25 H. 8. c. 8. It is his Majesty's Prerogative declar'd at Clarendon that all such Ecclesiastical Peers as hold of him by Barony should assist in the King's Judicatures until the very actual pronouncing of a Sentence of Blood And this holds from Henry the First down to the latter end of Queen Elizabeth who imployed Archbishop Whitgist as a Commissioner upon the Life of the Earl of Essex to keep him in Custody and to examine him after that Commotion in London And to say that this Canon is confirm'd by Common Law is a merry Tale there being nothing in the Common Law that tends that way Secondly It hath been voted in the House of Commons in this very Session of Parliament That no Canons since the Conquest either introduced from Rome by Legatine Power or made in our Synods had in any Age nor yet have at this present any power to bind the Subjects of this Realm unless they be confirmed by Act of Parliament Now these Canons which inhibit the Presence of Church-men in Cause that concerns Life and Member were never confirm'd by any but seem to be impeach't by divers and sundry Acts of Parliament Thirdly The whole House of Peers have this very Session despised and set aside this Canon Law which some of the young Lords cry up again in the same Session and in the very same Cause to take away the Votes of the Bishops in the Case of the Earl of Strafford For by the same Canon Law that forbids Clergy-men to Sentence they of that Coat are more strictly inhibited to give no Testimony in Causes of Blood Nee ettam potest esse test is vel tabellio in causâ Sanguinis Linw. part 2. sol 146. For no Man co-operates more in a Sentence of Death than the Witnesses upon whose Attestation the Sentence is chiefly past Lopez pract crim c. 98. distl 21. and yet have the Lords admitted as Witnesses produced by the House of Commons against the Earl of Strafford the Archbishops of Canterbury and Armagh with the Bishop of London which Lords command now all Bishops to withdraw in the agitation of the self same Case Bishops it seems may be Witnesses to kill ont-right but may not sit in the Discussion of the Cause to help in case of Innocency a distressed Nobleman Whereas the very Gothish Bishops who first invented this Exclusion of Prelates from such Judicatures allow them to Vote as long as there is any hope left of clearing the Party or gaining of Pardon 4. Conc. Tol. Can. 31. And by the beginning of that Canon observe the use in Spain in that Age Anno 633. as touching this Doctrine Saepe principes contra quoslibet majestatis obnoxios Sacerdotibus negotia sua committunt Binnius 4. Tom. Can. Edit ult p. 592. Lastly In the Case of Archbishop Abbot all the great Civilians and Judges of the Land as Dr. Steward Sir H. Martin the Lord Chief Justice Hobart and Judge Doderidge which two last were very well versed in the Canon Law delivered positively when my self at first opposed them That all Irregularities introduced by Canons upon Ecclesiastical Persons concerning matters of Blood were taken away by the Reformation of the Church of England and were repugnant to the Statute 25 II. 8. as restraining the King 's most just Prerogative to imploy his own Subjects in such Functions and Offices as his Predecessors had done and to allow them those Priviledges and Recreations as by the Laws and Customs of this Realm they had formerly enjoy'd notwithstanding the Decree de Clerico venatore or the Constitution nae Clerici Saeculare c. or any other in that kind 150. The only Objection which appears upon any Learning or Record against the Clergies Voting in this Kingdom in Causes of Blood are two or three Protestations entred by the Bishops among the Records of the upper House of Parliament and some few Passages in the Law-Books relating thereunto The Protestation the Lords now principally stand upon is that of William Courtney Archbishop of Canterbury 11 Rich. 2. inserted in the Book of Priviledges which Mr. Selden collected for the Lords of the upper House In the Margin whereof that passage out of R. Hovenden about which we spake before about Clergy-mens agitation of Judgments of Blood is unluckily inserted and for want of due consideration and some suspicion of partial carriage in the Bishops in the case of the Earl of Strafford hath been eagerly pressed upon the Bishops by some of the Lords in such an unusual and unaccustomed manner that if I my self offering to speak to this Objection had not voluntarily withdrawn the rest of the Bishops and I had been without hearing voted out of the House in the agitation of a Splinter of that Cause of the Earl of Strafford's which came not near any matter of Blood An act never done before in that honourable House and ready to be executed suddenly without the least consideration of the merit of the Cause The only words insisted upon in the Protestation of Courtney's are these Because in this present Parliament certain matters are agitated whereat it is not lawsul for us according to the Prescript of holy Canons to be present And by and by after they say These matters are such in the which Nec possumus nec debemus interesse This is the Protestation most stood upon That of Archbishop Arundel 21 Rich. 2. is not so full and ample as this of Courtney's For the Bishops going forth left their Proxies with the
or improper to him and his Calling he is to be Acquitted by a formal Pardan as an Innocent but if he were acting in Indebitâ materia when he did it then it is to be gathered that God did give him up to that mischance that he might be disciplined for his Extravagancy by the Censure of the Church Now take the Illation That the Arch-Bishop fell into this Misfortune being unduly employed many Synods having prohobited Hunting to all Species of the Ministry Maldonatus lib. 2. de Sacr. p. 254. Quod nonnulli dicum irregularom esse Saccrdotom qui dâ—ns operam â—nationi juod illi non licebat homimm intersecit putans se feram intersicere falsum esi Sir H. Martin answered That Employment in undue matter is to be understood of Evil simply in it self Non de malo quia prohibitum not in a thing clearly lawful if it were not prohibited Are Clerks restrained from Hunting No wonder So they are by some Synodical Rules from playing at Tennis What mean such austere Coercions Nothing but to keep them from excess of Pleasure and Idieness which turn to be Avocations of their Studies and Attendance on the Church of Christ That in particular Hunting is no Unpriestly Sport by the Laws of England may thus be proved For every Peer in the higher House of Parliament as well Lords Spiritual as Temporal hath Permission by the Charta de Forcstà when after Sunmons he is in his Journey to the Parliament and not else to cause an Horn to be sounded when he travels through any of the King's Forests and to kill a brace of Bucks signification being given of his Intent to the Verdurers 78. The King had persect knowledge how these Things were discuss'd He saw that whether the Person of the Arch-Bishop were tainted by this Fact or not yet his Metropolitical Function was unsettled in many men's Opinions he heard that the Acts of Spiritual Courts were unsped and came to no end till Sentence were pronounced one way or other by the Supreme Authority Therefore a Commission was directed from His Majesty to ten Persons to meet together for this purpose about the beginning of October These were the Lord-Keeper the Bishops of London Winton and Rochester the Elects of Exeter and St. Davids Sir Harry Hâ—bart lord-chief-Lord-Chief-Justice of the common-Common-Pleas Sir John Dodderidge one of the Justices of the Kings-Bench Sir H. Martin Dean of the Arches and Dr. Steward esteemed the Papinian of Doctors-Commons These began to lay their Heads together upon the Third of October and then Conser'd upon the manner of their Proceeding The Lord Hobart and Sir H. Martin affecting that his Grace should send Counsel to Plead before them from which the rest dissented First Because no such Privilege was allowed him in the King's Letters directed to the Commissioners Secondly Because the Honour of the King and the Seandal of the Church which as yet made the adverse Party have no Counsel on their side Thirdly Because His Majesty required Information from those ten upon the nature of this Fact relying upon their Knowledge Learning and Judgments but not referring the Matter to their final Decision and Determination Indeed their Work to prevent Excursions was laid out in three Questions which they were commanded to Resolve and to Act no further And those were Debated till the 27th of that Month and in the end Decided with great Disagreement of Opinions The first Question Whether the Arch-Bishop were Irregular by the Fact of Involuntary Homicide The two Judges and the two Civilians did agree That he was not Irregular and the Bishop of Winton who was a strong Upholder of Incontaminate Antiquity coming to the same sense said He could not conclude him so The other five held He was Irregular The second Question Whether that Act might tend to a Scandal in a Church-man The Bishop of Winton the Lord Hobart and Dr. Steward doubted All the rest Subscribed That there might arise from such an Accident Scandalum acceptum non datum a Scandal taken but not given The third Question How my Lord's Grace should be restored in case the King should follow the Decision of those Commissioners who had found him Irregular All agreed it could no otherwise be done then by a Restitution from the King In the manner they varied The Bishop of Wiâ—châ—sâ—er Lord Hobart Dr. Steward were of one mind to have it done immediately from the King and from him alone in the same Patent with the Pardon The Lord-Keeper Bishops of London Rochester Exon and St. Davids to be directed to some Bishops by a Commission from the King to be transacted in a foâ—mal Absolution Church-wise Manu Clericali Judge Dodderidge and Sir Harry Maâ—â—in were willing to have it done both ways for abundant Caution The whole Business was submitted to His Majesty to determine it who took the shortest course to shew Mercy Sprevit caelestis animus humana consilia as Velleius said of C. Caeâ—ar So by his Broad-Seal He assoiled the Arch-Bishop from all Irregularity Scandal or Infamation pronouncing him to be capable to use all Metropolitical Authority as if that sinistrous Contigency in spilling Blood had never been done A Princely Clemency and the more to be Extoll'd because that Arch-Bishop was wont to dissent from the King as often as any man at the Council-Board It seems he loved him the better for his Courage and Sincerity For it was he that said to Jo. Spotswood Arch-Bishop of St. Andrews telling His Majesty That if he wrote an History of the Church of Scotland to which Labour he was appointed he could not approve of his Mother in all things that she did Well says the King speak the Truth and spare not Words after Salomon's Praise which are Apples of Gold in Pictures of Silver 79. But because when our Arch-Bishop's Unfortunateness was recent it appeared far worse to some scrupulous Ecclesiastics then it did in process of time therefore the Lord-Keeper with the two other Elects cast themselves at His Majesties Feet and besought Him That since they had declared before God and the World what they thought in that dubious Case they might not be compel'd by wounding their Consciences to be Consecrated by him but be permitted to receive that Solemnity from some other Bishops which was warrantable by His Majesties Laws This was easily granted and the Lord-Keeper was Consecrated in the Chappel of King Henry the Seventh at Westminster on the 11th day of November following by the Bishops of London Worcester Ely Oxford Landaff And the Elects of Sarum Exeter St. Davids in the Chappel of the Bishop of London's Palace Nov. 18. by the same Reverend Fathers From hencesorth the suspicion of the Irregularity was brought asleep and never waken'd more Mr. H. L. is quite mistaken pag. 71. of his History ' It is true the Arch-Bishop an 1627. was Commanded from his Palaces of Lambeth and Croydon and sent to a Moorish House in Kent called Foord but not as he conceives
to decline that Extremity the most of the Lords who endeavour'd to do all the Favour that they durst shew concluded upon a Fine of 10000 l. Imprisonment in the Tower during Pleasure which had been but short as they were assured before if the King had been but left to his own gracious Gentleness and to be suspended during Pleasure in the High-Commission-Court from all his Jurisdiction Which Suspension pass'd in that Commission July 23. And it would not be pass'd over that Sir Ed. Littleton then L. chief-Chief-Justice of the common-Common-Pleas Anno 1640. in the Month of July brought Lincoln to Lambeth face to face with the L. of Canterbury when Lincoln told his Grace That the Commission under the Great Seal had not a word in it to enable him to suspend either Bishop or Priest by direction from a Sentence of Star-chamber but only for Offences specified in the Commission and that the Fact which His Grace had done had brought him and the Commissioners into a Praemunire To which the Archbishop answered That he had never read the Commission A learned Satisfaction Was it not when he had censur'd so many by the Power of that Commission which he confest he had never read But consider now as Isocrates pleaded it well ad Plat. p. 456. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Whether it be right to inflict such unjust and grievous Penalties upon such petty pretended Misdemeanors Or did not the Latin Orator provide better against it Cic. 1. de Off. Cavendum ne major poena quà m culpa sit ne iisdem de causis alii plectantur alii ne appellentur quidem And let those who meet with this Narration be acquainted that albeit the Compact was in the Inner Chamber that the Lords should speak all the same in their Judgment yet a little Vanity slipt from some few to ease their Stomach The L. Finch said That if it had liked others he would have laid some Ignominy on the Bishop's person Promptum ad asperura ingenium Tac. An. lib. 1. So this Lord look'd on the Bishop's Cause not only with a blear'd but with a blood-shotten Eye for it was conceived he meant the cutting off his Ears who had never sate a Judge in all likelihood if this Bishop being then L. Keeper had not prevented him from leaving his Calling and travelling beyond Seas from which courses he kept him by fair Promises to provide for him and he made them good I will name the time and place Aug. 1621 and the Earl of Exeter's House in St. John's Close Mr. Secretary Winnebanke said It was his desire if it might have seemed good to others to have the Bishop degraded Hold Sir Francis and learn the Canons of the Church it is not in the Power of Laymen to degrade Bishops at their discretion and as little can a Knight depose a Peer of the upper House of Parliament for he that can thrust a Bishop out of that House why not as well an Earl or a Duke But Sir Francis shewed his Good will as the Athenians did to Philip the Son of Demetrius in Livy Additum est decreto ut si quid postea quod ad noxam ignominiamque Philippi pertineret adderetur id omne populum Atheniensium jussurum Dec. 4. lib. 1. Then comes in the Archbishop with a Trick to hoise up the Bishop with some Praise that it might push him in pieces with a greater Censure That when he thought upon this Delinquent's Learning Wisdom Agility in Dispatch Memory and Experience that accompanied him with all these Endowments he wondred at his Follies and Sins in this Cause O Sins by all means for by dioptrical Glasses some find Blemishes in the Sun Telescopia fabri facimus ut in sole maculas quaeramus says Alex. More in his Preface to Strangius's learned Book So upon this matter his Grace took up no less than a full Hour to declaim against the horrid Sin of Perjury and in this Cause he might as well have spoken against the horrid Sin of Piracy So he lays all his Censure upon that Charge Spirat inexhaustum flagranti pectore sulphur as Claudian of Enceladus The Auditors thought he would never have made an end till at last he pleaded for more Right to be done Sir J. Mounson The Lords let me say it freely and truly had overshot themselves to fine the Bishop to pay Sir John a Thousand Marks for saying that his Charge against Pregion was a Pocket-Order It is confess'd the Bishop said so and said the Truth But beside the Bishop pleaded that he heard it of T. Lund Lund stands to it that he told it the Bishop yet the Bishop is censur'd and Lund that took it upon himself is not question'd But the L. of Canterbury who did ever mount highest in all Censures said He was sorry the Fine was not a Thousand pounds 120. This is the shutting up of the Censure grievous to the Bishop's Purse and Liberty but not a whit to his Honour and Good Name which was so esteem'd by almost all that heard the actings of that day and shook their Heads at them As Cicero says in pro Plancio Opimii calamitas turpitudo Po. Ro. non judicium putandum est I that write this was chosen to bring the relation of this Censure to the Bishop then hard at his Study which he received with no change at all of his Countenance or Voice but only said Now the Work is over my Heart is at rest so is not many of theirs that have censured me And here began the way to Episcopal Disgrace and Declension It was his turn now it was Canterbury's not long after Howl Fir-tree for the Cedar is fallen Zech. 11.3 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Salmasius of the Elephant and Dragon in Solinum p. 307. The Vanquish'd was cast down and the Conqueror fell likewise When such a Pillar of the Church was demolish'd with Prosecutions so uncover'd to every Eye so transparent that you might see the Blush of Injustice quite through them how ominous was it to the higher and lower Dignities of the Clergy As Mr. Morice says in his Coena 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 354. Perhaps it may be with them as with Staddels in a Wood which scarce ever prosper when their fellows are cut down and themselves left naked And what became in three years or little more of that Honourable Court of Star-chamber of which the L. Coke says That in the right institution and the ancient Orders of it being observ'd it keeps all England in quiet But in some late Causes it grew distasteful even to wonder as in that of the Soap-boilers and that of London Derry that of Mr. Osbolston nay in that of Prynn Bastwick and Burton men not to be favour'd in the matter of their seditious Writings but for their Qualities and Places sake to be pitied for the Indignity done to their Persons which I receive from a wise Hand Bodin de Rep. l. 6. c. 6. Legibus