those how few went God's way So that he concluded the Devil to be a great Monarch having so many Kingdoms under his command and no doubt he had his Vice Roys Council of State Treasurers Secretaries and many other Officers to manage and order his affairs for there was order in hell it self which after he had mustered together he gives a character of every particular Officer who were fit to be the Devil's servants running through the body of the Court discovering the correspondencies with Iesuits secret Pensions from Foreign Princes betraying their Masters Counsels to deserve their Rewards working and combining to the prejudice of God's people And when he came to describe the Devil's Treasurers exactions and gripings to get mony he fixt his eye upon Cranfield then Lord Treasurer whose marriage into the house of Fortune and Title of Earl could not keep him from being odious to the people and pointing at him with his hand said with an Emphasis That man reiterating it That man that makes himself rich and his Master poor he is a fit Treasurer for the Devil This the Author heard and saw whilst Cranfield sat with his hat pulled down over his eyes ashamed to look up lest he should find all mens eyes fixt upon him the King who sat just over him smiling at the quaint Satyr so handsomly coloured over It seems Neile the Bishop of Lincoln was not by him then for when any man preached that had the Renown of Piety unwilling the King should hear him he would in the Sermon time entertain the King with a merry Tale that I may give it no worse title which the King would after laugh at and tell those near him he could not hear the Preacher for the old B. Bishop We must confess this Relation smells too rank but it was too true and hope the modest Reader will excuse it We having had divers hammerings and conflicts within us to leave it out seeing it proceeds not from any rancour of spirit against the Prelacy but to vindicate God's Iustice to Posterity who never punishes without a Cause and such like practices as these were doubtless put upon the score which after gave a period to that Hierarchy This man's hand helped to close up the Countess of Essex's Virginity when he was Coventry and Litchfield his heart had this kind of vanity when he was Lincoln and when he was Arch-bishop of York his head was so filled with Arminian impiety that in the next King's Reign he was looked upon by the Parliament to be one of the great Grievances of the Kingdom as will follow in the Tract of this Story Lionell Craufield Earle of Middlesex Baron Cranfield of Cranfield The King that either thought these instruments were not so active or that they would not be discovered was resolved upon a Parliament for the former Reasons which began the twentieth of Ianuary this year yet not being ignorant of some miscarriages that passed by his allowance he strives to palliate them and gives the Parliament some little touches of them by the way that when they should find them they might by his Anticipation appear the less And being loth to have the breach between him and his people made wider he thus strives to stop the gap MY Lords Spiritual and Temporal and you the Commons cui multiloquio non deest peccatum In the last Parliament â— made long Discourses especially to them of the Lower House I did open the true thought of my heart But I may say with our Saviour I have piped to you and you have not danced I have mourned and you have not lamented Yet as no man's Actions can be free so in me God found some spices of Vanity and so all my sayings turned to me again without any success And now to tell the Reasons of your Calling and this Meeting apply it to your selves and spend not the time in long Speeches Consider That the Parliament is a thing composed of a Head and a Body the Monarch and the two Estates It was first a Monarchy then after a Parliament there are no Parliaments but in Monarchical Governments for in Venice the Netherlands and other Free-Governments there are none The Head is to call the Body together and for the Clergy the Bishops are chief for Shires their Knights and for Towns and Cities their Burgesses and Citizens These are to treat of difficult matters and to counsel their King with their best advice to make Laws for the Commonweal and the Lower-House is also to petition the King and acquaint him with their grievances and not to meddle with their King's Prerogative They are to offer supply for his necessity and he to distribute in recompence thereof Iustice and Mercy As in all Parliaments it is the King's office to make good Laws whose Fundamental Cause is the peoples ill manners so at this time That we may meet with the new Abuses and the incroaching craft of the times particulars shall be read hereafter As touching Religion Laws enough are made already it stands in two points Persuasion and Compulsion Men may persuade but God must give the blessing Iesuits Priests Puritans and Sectaries erring both on the right-hand and left-hand are forward to persuade unto their own ends and so ought you the Bishops in your example and preaching but compulsion to obey is to bind the Conscience There is talk of the Match with Spain But if it shall not prove a furtherance to Religion I am not worthy to be your King I will never proceed but to the Glory of God and content of my Subjects For a supply to my necessities I have reigned eighteen years in which time you have had Peace and I have received far less supply than hath been given to any King since the Conquest The last Queen of famous memory had one year with another above a hundred thousand pounds per annum in Subsidies And in all my time I had but four Subsidies and six Fifteens It is ten years since I had a Subsidy in all which time I have been sparing to trouble you I have turned my self as nearly to save expence as I may I have abated much in my Houshold-expences in my Navies in the charge of my Munition I made not choice of an old beaten Soldier for my Admiral but rather chose a young man whose honesty and integrity I knew whose care hath been to appoint under him sufficient men to lessen my charges which he hath done Touching the miserable dissentions in Christendom I was not the cause thereof for the appeasing whereof I sent my Lord of Doncaster whose journey cost me three thousand five hundred pounds My Son-in-law sent to me for advice but within three days after accepted of the Crown which I did never approve of for three Reasons First for Religion sake as not holding with the Iesuits disposing of Kingdoms rather learning of our Saviour to uphold not to overthrow them Secondly I was no Judg between them
Title of Roaring Boys Bravadoes Roysters c. commit many insolencies the Streets swarm night and day with bloody quarrels private Duels fomented especially betwixt the English and Scots many Discontents nourished in the Countries betwixt the Gentry and Commonalty about Inclosure the meanest gaping after new hopes growing in some places to a petty Rebellion Daily discords incident to peace and plenty betwixt private Families Papist against Protestant one Friend against another the Papists being a strong and dangerous Faction missing their hopes strove to make the Scots more odious than they could make themselves though some of them went so high as to counterfeit the Kings Privy-Seal and make Addresses thereby to Foreign Princes for which one Thomas Dowglas taken in the fact was executed in Smithfield Others were so insolent as to quip and jear the English Nobility and other misdemeanours which caused secret heart-burnings and jealousies betwixt the Nations But then comes a Proclamation like a strong Pill and carries away the grossest of these humours Something yet stuck especially in the Consciences of the Popish Party that could not be purged away without a Toleration which they Petition for but not being granted they contrived one of the most Horrid and Stupendious Mischiefs that ever entred into the Hearts of Men For their heat of malice would not be quenched with the Blood Royal but the Nobility and Gentry the Representative Body of the whole Kingdom United at Westminster must be shattered in pieces and dis-membred by the blast of six and thirty Barrels of Gun-powder which those dark Contrivers had hid in a Cellar under the Parliament House being discovered by a light from Heaven and a Letter from one of the Conspirators when the fire was already in their hands as well as rage in their hearts to put to the Train The principal of these Contrivers was Robert Catesbie a Gentleman of a good plentiful Estate who first hatched and brooded the Plot and promised to himself the glory of an Eternal Name by the Propagation of it making choyce of Thomas GUY FAWKES Executed in the Year 1606. for the GUNPOWDER PLOT Percy Robert Winter Thomas Winter Iohn Grant Ambrose Rookwood Iohn Wright Francis Tresham Sir Everard Digby and others Gentlemen of good Estates for the most part and spirits as implacable and furious as his own who like combustible matter took fire at the first motion their zeal to the Roman cause burning within them which nothing but the blood of Innocents can quench The design thus set afoot they bind themselves to secresie by those Sacraments which are the greatest ties upon the Soul and Saint Garnet the Iesuit was their Confessor The foundation being laid every man betakes himself to his work some to provide money some materials Percy was to hire the Cellars under the Parliament House to lay Wood and Coal in for his Winter-provision Guido Faux a desperate Ruffian who was to give fire to the Train was appointed to be his man to bring in the Wood and Coal The Gunpowder provided in Flanders is brought from Lambeth in the night and covertly laid under the Wood. Thus they prepare all things ready for a Burnt-offering against the day the Parliament should meet which was to be upon the seventh of February But the King for some Reasons of State which at that time the dictates of Providence did much approve of prorogued the Parliament of the fifth of November following which scattered the Contrivers at present and they were at their wits end and some of them went beyond Seas because they would not beat too much about the Covert their materials being fitted others that staid here persisted with Patience made a Vice by them and met often to consult how they should manage their great business if it took effect They looked upon the King and Prince as already sacrificed to their Cruelty And Percy undertook to dispatch the Duke of York But because they must have one of the Blood Royal that must serve as a center to adhere to to keep all from Confusion they meant to preserve the Lady Elizabeth and make her Queen that under her minority and innocency they might the better establish their bloody Principles of Piety and Policy They had designed the fatal day to be upon the fifth of November when the King and both Houses were to meet and that day they appointed a great Hunting-match at Dunsmore-beach in Warwick-shire to be nearer the Lord Harington's House where the Lady Elizabeth was And they had by their horrid Art and Experience so fitted their Matches that were to convey the fire to the Powder that they could know a hundred Miles off to a minute when that Monstrous Fiery Exhalation would break out Solacing themselves in this bloody expectation and thinking their Conveyances under ground were not seen above by the Divine Discoverer they stood like Vultures gaping for their Prey when behold one tender-hearted Murderer among the Pack willing to save the Lord Monteagle writ this Letter to him MY Lord out of the love I bear to some of your friends I have a care of your Preservation therefore I would wish you as you tender your Life to forbear your attendance at this Parliament for God and Man have concurred to punish the wickedness of this Time And think not sleightly of this advertisement for though there be no appearance of any stir yet I say they shall receive a terrible blow this Parliament and yet they shall not see who hurt them This Counsel is not to be contemned because it may do you Good and can do you no Harm for the danger is past as soon as you have burnt this Letter I hope God will give you grace to make use of it to whose Holy Protection I commend you THOMAS PERSI NOBILIS ANGLVS MAGNIBRITANNIAE REGIS STIPENDIARIVS ANNO 1605 Haec est vera prima originalis editio ThoÌ„ae Perci Os vultumq vides Thomae cognomine Percy Inter Britannos nobileis noâ—…ssimi Queis rebus 〈◊〉 ambitione superstitioso Animo nefandam machinatur dum necem Regi Regina Ordinibus diprenditur ipsum Deo volente seclus in auctorem 〈◊〉 A Thomas Ichryâ— Capâ—â—â—runt B Tho IehrusÌ„ Regi adduxerit C Tho Persi in Arce fugit D Thomas Persi sagittatus mortuus Execution of the Conspirators In the Gunpowder Plot in the Year 1606. This Prodigious Contrivance did not only stupifie the whole Kingdom with amazement but Foreign Princes made their Wonderment also And though for the Propagation of the Catholick Cause they might have Conscience enough to with it had taken Effect yet they had Policy enough to Congratulate the Discovery and some of them to take off the asperity of the Suspect sweetned their Expressions with many rich Gifts and Presents to the King and Queen But this bloody Design found in the hand of the Malefactors grasping the Mischief and confirmed by their own Confessions being such Spirits as were fit
that came out of Germany with the prince Elector that must see the Glory of the English Court which was presented with so much eminency in gorgeous Apparel that the precedent mourning was but as a sable foyl the better to illustrute it The Prince Elector Palatine and Maurice Prince of Orange were made Knights of the Garter Lodowick Count of Orange being Maurice's Deputy and Prince Maurice took it as a great honour to be admitted into the fraternity of that Order and wore it constantly Till afterwards some Villains at the Hague that met the Reward of their Demerit one of them a French man being Groom of the Princes Chamber robbed a Ieweller of Amsterdam that brought Iewels to the Prince this Groom tempting him into his Chamber to see some Iewelr and there with his Confederates they strangled the man with one of the Princes blew Ribonds which being after discovered the Prince would never suffer so fatal an Instrument to come about his Neck In February following the Prince Palatine and that lovely Princess the Lady Elizabeth were married on Bishop Valentines Day in all the Pomp and Glory that so much Grandure could express Her Vestments were white the Emblem of Innocency her hair dishevil'd hanging down her back at length an Ornament of Virginity a Crown of pure Gold upon her head the Cognizance of Majesty being all over beset with pretious gems shining like a Constellation her Train supported by twelve young Ladies in white Garments so adorned with Iewels that her Passage looked like a milky way She was led to Church by her Brother Prince Charles and the Earl of Northampton the Young Batchelor on the right hand and the Old on the left And while the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury was solemnizing the Marriage some eruscations and lightnings of joy appeared in her Countenance that expressed more than an ordinary smile being almost elated to a laughter which could not clear the Air of her Fate but was rather a fore-runner of more sad and dire Events Which shews how slippery Nature is to tole us along to those things that bring danger yea sometimes destruction with them She returned from the Chappel between the Duke of Lenox and the Earl of Notingham Lord High Admiral two married Men. The Feastings Maskings and other Royal Formalities were as troublesome 't is presum'd to the Lovers as the Relation of them here may be to the Readers For such splendor and gayety are fitter to appear in Princes Courts than in Histories GUILIELMUS LUDOVIC COMES A NASSAU CATZENELNB VIANDEN ET DIE But tired with Feasting and Jollity about the middle of April when the beauties of the Spring were enticing enough to beguile the tediousness of the way the Prince Elector willing to review and the Princess to see what she was to injoy After all the caresses and sweet embraces that could be between the King Queen and Princes that were to be separated so long and at such a distance And after all the Shews Pastimes Fire-works and other Artifices that could be devised and manifested they parted at Rochester The Lord Admiral being ready with a Royal Navy in the Downs for their passage and conduct The season smiled on them and they arrived the nine and twentieth of the Moneth in Flushing The Duke of Lenox the Earl of Arundel the Viscount Lisle and the Lord Harington with divers Ladies and persons of Quality attended them to Heydelburgh Their entertainment was great and magnificent in the Low-Countries not only suitable to the Persons but the place from whence they came The English having been ever a Bulwark to the Netherlands and now they were in full peace with Spain which gave the better rellish to their Banquetings And in every eminent Town in Germany as they passed they found that welcom which prolonged their time but made their travel the less so that with much ado they reached Heydelburgh And after some time spent there to see the beauties and delights of that Court and Country which were extended and put forth to the uttermost the Nobility and Ladies of England returned home only they left the Lord Harington behind them who dyed by the way A Gentleman much lamented in his own person but much more in his Sons who not long after survived him with whom were buried not only those excellent indowments that make Noble-men great indeed but the memory of a noble Posterity which makes them little or indeed nothing at all HENRY HOWARD End of Northampton From an Original Picture in the Collection of Mr. Harding The liuely Portraiture of the worthy Knight Sir William Wadd late Lieutenant of the Tower c. About the same time the King thinking fit to send an Ambassador into Flanders to the Arch-Duke some say into France the Viscount recommended Sir Thomas Overbury to the King for that Service extolling his abilities and fitness for the same publickly that more notice might be taken of the affront and the King made choice of him for that Imployment Which done the Viscount under the shadow of friendship imparts to Overbury what intentions the King had towards him but he thought it would not be so convenient for him to accept of it because he should not only lose his converse and company by such an alienation which he highly valued but many a fair opportunity of improving his respects to him in some better way of advancement Overbury had not been so little a Courtier or a man of so mean Reason but that he was sensible what displeasure he should pull upon himself by refusing the Kings Commands And therefore he told the Viscount that betwixt the Kings favours and his friendship he had a great conflict in his spirit being willing to retain both but how he should refuse the Kings commands with safety he knew not But the Viscount with fair promises prevailed with him to set up his rest at home upon higher expectations such a sweet bait is Ambition protesting to take off the asperity of the Kings anger from him and smooth his way so as should be for his better advantage When he had wrought Overbury in this forge he goes to the King and blows the fire incensing him with all the aggravations he could so that the poor Gentleman for his contempt was forthwith committed to the Tower And to prepare all things for his reception there Sir William Wade the late Lieutenant was removed and Sir Iervis Ellowis a Person more ambitious than indigent having made his way by money the common merit was admitted to the place Now the Countess like another Alecto drove furiously her Chariot having two wheels which ran over all impediments One was to sue a Divorce betwixt her and her Husband that she might marry the Viscount The other was to take away Overbury the blemish in her Eye and that laid such a stain upon her that nothing but his blood could expiate For these she hath several Engins the one must be