acquainted the Conspirators with what he had done who ordered him to go again to the King and desire a Warrant to search Accordingly he went to Mr. Cheffinch and was by him brought to His Majesty whom he earnestly sollicited for a Warrant but His Majesty according to His accustomed wisdom sent him again to Secretary Coventry who being no less suspicious of him now than he was before no Warrant was to be obtained from him wherefore the Conspirators being informed they resolved That having proceeded so far they would not be baffled by one difficulty wherefore they commanded him to repair to some of the Custom-House Officers and pretending to inform them where a considerable quantity of prohibited goods that had been Imported were concealed to procure a Warrant to search which was easily granted and two Officers sent to search the House he first carryed them to his own Room for the better colouring the business and having searched there and found nothing he conducted them into the Colonel's Chamber who was at that time abroad where they did upon his assurance that the goods were in that Room make a thorough search breaking open his Trunks and Boxes and with the exactest scrutiny imaginable examined the very Bed-Clothes but no prohibited goods being to be found they were about to depart when Dangerfield intimating that probably they might be hid behind the Bed they presently removed it about three foot from the Wall but could find nothing whereupon Dangerfield stepping forward looked in and seeing the bundle of Papers lying where he had placed them presently cryed What 's that lies there whereupon one of the Officers taking it down and opening it he presently snatched one of the Papers which was the List of Names some Written at length and others only the two first Letters and cryed Here 's Treason The Searcher opening another and beginning to read therein Dangerfield cryed out again There 's Treason likewise in that Paper against His Majesty wherefore the Papers ought to be all seized and the person who owns them if he were present to be secured perswading them to carry the Papers to some Secretary of State However they knowing better what belonged to their own Office than that of a Justice of the Peace refused so to do but carryed them to their own Masters at the Custom-House whereof he informed the Conspirators who fearing least by that means their Design might be spoiled and their hopes frustrated ordered him to go forthwith and tell the King the manner how he had caused the Papers to be seized which he did and His Majesty sent him to call Mr. Secretary Coventry to give some order about it which done he returned and acquainted Mrs. Cellier and the Countess what he had done and that he had the Honour to be in a Room alone with His Majesty Oh! what an opportunity have you lost saies one and how bravely might he have killed the King saies the other if he had been provided And yet these vile Miscreants who could lament Dangerfields not perpetrating so horrid a Crime have the impudence to call themselves Loyalists and are notwithstanding their disloyal Principles and Practices believed to be so by some persons in the World whose pretences to Loyalty and the Protestant Religion made people except other things from them Mrs. Harris being surprised at the finding Treasonable Papers in her House presently went in search of the Colonel and having found him acquainted him with what had happened perswading him to take Lodgings in the City and promised to send his things to him if he would do so but he rejected her advice as pernicious and proceeding only from a Feminine simplicity and timerousness since his so doing would have been censured as a slight and that would have argued Guilt and his personal Guilt would have involved hundreds of other innocent persons in the same Condemnation Wherefore being assured of his own Loyalty and Innocence he went to the Custom-House to know by what Authority his Box was seized and what was become of those Papers which were pertended to be found in his Chamber and was answered That they were all returned to his Lodging again whereupon getting together the Officers of the Custom-House the Master and Mistriss of the House and what other persons were present at the seizure Justice Warcup took their Depositions and found upon the whole matter that it was a malicious Design to involve a great number of Innocent persons in the Guilt of Treason and Rebellion against His Majesty whereupon he made out a Warrant for apprehending him which being delivered to a Constable they went along with him to Mrs. Celliers where he then and the St. Omers Novices formerly had Lodged there the Constable and Warrant found him When he understood their business he exclaimed against Mansel crying out It was his doing thinking thereby to shuffle off his own Guilt but it should not do for he had been that day with the King himself and with Mr. Secretary Coventry and had acquainted them with the business And before he gets home saies he there will be inquiry made for him at his Lodging Well saies the Justice your Hectoring will not serve your turn if you will give security to appear at the Council-Board by Nine of the Clock to Morrow Morning we will give you no more trouble at this time but if not you must go to Prison Whereupon Cellier and her Son-in-Law entered into Recognizance for his appearance at the Council the next day which he did accordingly but as ill luck would have it he unfortunately met with a most unhappy and mischevious accident for as he was going down the Council Stairs he met with Mr. Do'iley an Officer belonging to the Mint who knew him and had formerly prosecuted him for uttering false Guinneys whereupon being conscious of his Guilt and fearing that the Gentleman would undoubtedly have discovered it to the King and Council and thereby have ruined his Credit and spoil the hopeful Design he was carrying on He began without any kind of provocation to Curse and Damn him demanding what he had to say to him and swearing That if he had him out of the Court he would cut his Crown and threatned that when he met him in a convenient place he would revenge the injury Whereat Do'iley being very much surprized and seeing Sir Francis North Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas just going to the Council he being one of the Members thereof and as providence ordered came so opportunely as to hear the words that passed between them he steps to him and acquaints him with Dangerfield's Character and complained of the abuse he had then received from him as soon as his Lordship came into the Council Chamber he acquainted His Majesty and the Council therewith who thereupon sent Justice Walcup and ordered him to take Do'ley's depositions concerning Dangerfield ordering moreover a Messenger to take him into Custody which was presently done and he was carryed
will please to pardon my Frailties to accept of my faithful Endeavours and always to look favourably on the Work of Your own hands And now Sir my first Entrance upon this Service obliges me to make a few necessary but humble Petitions on the behalf of Your most Loyal and Dutiful House of Commons 1. That for our better Attendance on the Publick Service we and our Servants may be free in our Persons and Estates from Arrests and other Disturbances 2. That in our Debates Liberty and Freedom of Speech be allowed us 3. That as occasions shall require Your Majesty upon our humble Suit and at such times as Your Majesty shall judge seasonable will vouchsafe us access to Your Royal Person 4. That all our Proceedings may receive a favourable Construction That God who hath brought You back to the Throne of Your Fathers and with You all our Comforts grant You a long and a prosperous Reign and send you Victory over all Your Enemies and every good mans heart will say Amen To which the Lord Chancellour reply'd Mr. Speaker THe Kings Majesty hath heard and well weighed your short and Eloquent Oration And in the first place much approves that you have with so much advantage introduced a shorter way of speaking upon this occasion His Majesty doth well accept of all those dutiful and affectionate Expressions in which you have delivered your Submission to his Royal Pleasure And looks upon it as a good Omen to his Affairs and as an Evidence that the House of Commons have still the same Heart that have chosen such a Mouth The conjuncture of time and the King and Kingdoms Affairs require such a House of Commons such a Speaker for with Reverence to the holy Scripture upon this occasion the King may say He that is not with me is against me for he that doth not now put his Hand and Heart to support the King in the common cause of this Kingdom can hardly ever hope for such another opportunity or find a time to make satisfaction for the Omission of this Next I am commanded by his Majesty to answer your four Petitions whereof the first being The freedom of you and your Servants in your Persons and Estates without Arrest or other disturbance the King is graciously pleased to grant it as full as to any of your Predecessors The Second for Liberty and Freedom of Speech the Third for Access to his Royal Person And the Fourth That your proceedings may receive a Favourable construction are all freely and fully granted by his Majesty During the time of his Chancellourship he lived at Exeter-House in the Strand and managed and maintained all things with a Port and Bravery suitable to the Greatness and Dignity of his place exceeding therein all who have enjoyed that Honour in his Majesties Raign as will appear by the manner of his proceeding from his House to Westminster-hall the first day of Hilary Term January 23. being the first Term after his receiving the Seal In the Morning the Twelve Judges and the several Officers of the High Court of Chancery together with the whole Body of the Law repaired to Exeter-house where they were entertain'd at a splendid and magnificent Treat by his Lordship which being ended he proceeded according to the ancient and laudable Custom to Westminster in the following Order First went The Beadles The Constables The High Constable The Tipstaffes The Cryer of the Court The Gentlemen Clerks The Sixty Clerks of the Chancery The Master of the Subpoena Office The Master of the Affidavit The Students of the Inns of Court The Cursitors The Clerk of the Patents The Registers The Barristers at Law The Clerks of the Hanaper The Prothonotary The Clerk of the Crown The Examiners The Clerks of the Petty Bag. The Six Clerks Then proceeded the following Officers being all of them bare The Sealer to the Great Seal The Chafe Wax to the Great Seal The Usher of the Court The Master of the Rolls's Gentlemen The Lord Chancellors Gentlemen The Secretaries The Steward of the House and Warden of the Fleet The Gentleman Usher The Seal-bearer carrying the Purse wherein was the Great Seal The Serjeant at Arms attending the Great Seal carrying the Mace After whom came the Lord High Chancellor himself on Horse-back being richly Array'd The Gentleman of his Horse attended by a Page a Groom and Six Footmen walking along by his Stirrup Next to the Lord High Chancellor followed The Lord Chief Justice The Master of the Rolls The Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer and the rest of the Judges according to their Seigniority And last of all came The Kings Serjeant at Law The Kings Attorny-General The Kings Solicitor-General The Kings Council The Duke of Yorks Attorny and his Solicitor together with the several Masters of Chancery In which Order they passed all along the Strand by White-hall through Kings-street and so to Westminster-hall the Streets being Lined with abundance of crouding Spectators who were exceedingly pleased with the Decency and Gallantry thereof All the time he enjoyed the Chancellorship he managed it with as much Honour and Advantage to his Majesty as any that ever did or will enjoy it And that not only upon the Bench but in the Senate too wherein he endeavoured to the uttermost of his Power to vindicate his Majesties Actions and by his admirable Eloquence labour'd to prevent or remove any Misunderstandings and Jealousies between the King and his Parliament as appears by the many excellent Speeches he made to the Two Houses when he was the mouth of the King to his People and had the Honour to be more successful therein then any who have succeeded him in that Honourable Station His sentiments of and veneration for his Soveraign and the smooth and charming Eloquence wherewith he fluently expressed himself upon all occasions sufficiently appear in that Speech which he made to the Lord Treasurer December the 5th 1672. upon his taking his Oath before him in the Exchequer My Lord Treasurer THe Kings most Excellent Majesty knowing your Integrity Abilities and Experience in his Affairs and particularly those of his Treasury hath thought fit to make choice of you to be his Lord High Treasurer of England and what necessarily accompanies that place hath by his Letters Patents under the Great Seal made you Treasurer of his Exchequer The Lord High Treasurer of Englands Office is held by the Kings delivery of the White-Staff The Treasurers of the Exchequer hath ever been held by Letters Patents And is that by which your Lordship is more immediately intituled to be a Chief Judge of this Court It were too nice and tedious and peradventure too formal to give an account of the several distinct Powers of these two Offices Reason and the length of time hath now so woven them together But as they are both in your Lordship I may justly say you are in a place of the first Rank as to Dignity Power Trust and Influence of Affairs
being Landed at Pool in Dorsetshire the Gentlemen of the County to shew the extraordinary respect they had to his Lordship and although they were not invited yet they got together and went in a body to meet the Corps and accompany'd it to his ancient Seat at Wimbourn St. Giles's where he was decently and honourably Interred and will have a stately Monument erected over him He made his Countess Sir William Cooper c. Executors of his Will wherein he gave very liberally to his Grand-Son the Lord Ashley and Intailed the whole Estate upon him after the death of his Son the present Earl of Shaftsbury And as he had formerly been the making of several of his Servants and others by his Liberality so he was no less bountiful at his Death having left very considerable Legacies to his Servants especially those who were with him in Holland besides several Gifts to pious and charitable uses And having thus traced this Nobleman from the Cradle through all the Labyrinths and Vicissitudes of his Life to the Hour of his Death and from thence to his Envied Grave I shall conclude this Tract with his Character a Character so extraordinary and rare that it will certainly deserve and therefore justly command the Admiration of all men But I will fist incert the Elegy and Character of Sir Walter Rawleigh wherewith the Author of his Life concludes his History thereof GReat Heart who taught thee so to die Death yielding thee the Victory Where took'st thou leave of life If here How could'st thou be so far from fear But sure thou diest and quit'st the state of Flesh and Blood before that fate Else what a Miracle was wrought To triumph both in flesh and thought I saw in every stander by Pale Death Life only in thine Eye The Legacy thou gav'st us then We 'll sue for when thou diest agen Farwel Truth shall this Story say We died Thou only livest that day Thus died that Knight who was Spain's Scourge and Terrour and Gondamor's Triumph whom the whole Nation pitied and several Princes interceded for Queen Elizabeths Favourite and her Successors Sacrifice a Person of so much Worth and so great Interest that King James would not execute him without an Apology One of such incomparable Policy that he was too hard for Essex was the Envy of Leicester and Cicill's Rival who grew jealous of his excellent Parts and was afraid of being supplanted by him His Head was wished on the Secretarie's Shoulders and his Life valued by some at an higher Rate than the Infanta of Spain though a Lady incomparably excelling in both the Gifts of Mind and Body Authors are perplex'd under what Tophick to place him whether of Statesman Sea-man Souldier Chymist or Chronologer for in all these he did excell he could make every thing he read or heard his own and his own he could easily improve to the greatest Advantage He seemed to be Born to that onely which he went about so dexterous was he in all his Undertakings in Court Camp by Sea by Land with Sword and with Pen. The Earls person was somewhat small but very comely God and Nature having distributed in the framing thereof an exact agreeableness and an equal proportion to every Part and Member But as the smallest Cabinets usually inclose the Richest Jewels so his little Body inclosed a great and vastly Capatious Soul the Virtues and Perfections whereof as far transcended the generallity of the offspring of Adam as Gold exceeds Silver or Diamonds transcends Pebles in value He had a couragious and undaunted Mind a deep Judgment and a quick and ready Apprehension he was Religious towards God Loyal to his Prince True to his Country Faithful to his Friends Charitable to his Enemies Liberal to the Poor Chaste in his Affections and made the keeping of his Solemn Contracts in Marriage Sacred and Inviolable and the preserving his Chaste Soul free from Polution a considerable part of his Religion He was Courteous and Affable in his Carriage towards all Men Sociable and Free in his Converse yet so wonderfully reserved as to any of his great Designs and Projects that he never revealed his Intentitions to the nearest Relations or the most intimate Friends which made him so extraordinary usefull to His Majesty in the late Times and rendered him capable of ordering and disposing all publick Actions and Councils so that they naturally tended towards his Restoration 'T was his close and reserv'd temper that rendered the penetrating into his Sentiments and Intentions a work so intricate and perplexing that the greatest diligence of the many Spies who had their Eyes constantly fix'd upon and perpetually watched and pried into his Actions were not able to effect it and made it a Task too hard and difficult even for Cromwel himself to perform It was that which rendered those who undertook it unable to prove him Guilty of a Plot wherein he was really engaged and was a principal promoter and contriver thereof Viz. The rising of Sir George Booth And this close and reserved temper strongly argues his Innocency in the late charge of Treason for can any Man in his right Senses imagine that the Earl who had till now been so reserved and private in all his Designs even to near Relations noble Personages and familiar Friends should all on a suddain relinquish his constant and avowed Practice and transform himself into a perfect Changeling by freely discovering that he designed no less than Rebelling against his Soveraign The levying Men the forming of an Army and deposing the King and thereby put himself into the Power and expose his Life and Honour to the mercy of Six or Eight needy and mercinary Fellows That he should do so will appear very improbable if we reflect upon the temper of the Earl and the condition of the Men who pretended to such a familiarity with him and insight into his Designs unless we can suppose that the longer he lived the more foolish he grew or that the more experience he had of the endeavours of the Papists to effect his Ruine by fixing the Guilt of Treason upon him the more careful he would be to furnish them with Witnesses to prove and make good their Charge He was such a Proficient in Wisdom and Policy that he seem'd like a Second Solomon and so clear an understanding of the Mysteries both of Law and Divinity that he could easily and with great readiness resolve the most difficulty Queries and discuss the greatest Mysteries and Critical Nicities thereof Which made Dr. Ward Bishop of Sailsbury who held an intimate Correspondence with him delight in his Converse and value his acquaintance at a high rate And so did Sir Matthew Hailes Lord Chief Justice of the Kings-Bench and many more both Lawyers and Divines who had the happiness to be acquainted with him And occasioned His Majesty as it is said upon the being informed of his desiding a very difficult Case when he was Chancellor to affirm as