there was such an attempt of Nature that not only England but the World has reason to lament his being so early snatched away How truly was it said of such extraordinary Persons That their Lives are short and seldom do they come to be old He gave us an Essay of Vertue though he did not live to give a Pattern of it When the gravity of a King was needful he carried himself like an Old Man and yet he was always affable and gentle as became his Age. He played on the Lute he medled in Affairs of State and for Bounty he did in that emulate his Father though he even when he endeavoured to be too good might appear to have been bad but there was no ground of suspecting any such thing in the Son whose mind was cultivated by the study of Philosophy It has been said in the end of his Fathers Life A desiâ—n to create him Prince of Wales that he then designed to create him Prince of Wales For though he was called so as the Heirs of this Crown are yet he was not by a formal Creation invested with that dignity This pretence was made use of to hasten forward the Attainder of the Duke of Norfolk since he had many Offices for life which the King intended to dispose of and desired to have them speedily filled in order to the creating of his Son Prince of Wales King Henry dies In the mean time his Father died and the Earl of Hartford and Sir Anthony Brown were sent by the Council to give him notice of it being then at Hartford and to bring him to the Tower of London and having brought him to Enfield with his Sister the Lady Elizabeth they let him know of his Fathers death and that he was now their King On the 31st of January Jan. 31. the Kings Death was published in London and he Proclaimed King At the Tower his Fathers Executors King Edward came to the Tower with the rest of the Privy-Council received him with the respects due to their King So tempering their sorrow for the death of their late Master with their joy for his Sons happy succeeding him that by an excess of joy they might not seem to have forgot the one so soon nor to bode ill to the other by an extreme grief The first thing they did was the opening King Henry's Will King Henry's Will opened by which they found he had nominated sixteen Persons to be his Executors and Governours to his Son and to the Kingdom till his Son was eighteen years of age These were the Arch-bishop of Canterbury the Lord Wriothesley Lord Chancellor the Lord St. John Great Master the Lord Russel Lord Privy-Seal the Earl of Hartford Lord Great Chamberlain the Viscount Lisle Lord Admiral Tonstall Bishop of Duresme Sir Anthony Brown Master of the Horse Sir William Paget Secretary of State Sir Edward North Chancellor of the Court of Augmentations Sir Edward Montague Lord Chief-Justice of the Common-Pleas Judge Bromley Sir Anthony Denny and Sir William Herbert Chief Gentlemen of the Privy-Chamber Sir Edward Wotton Treasurer of Callice and Dr. Wotton Dean of Canterbury and York These or the major part of them were to execute his Will and to administer the Affairs of the Kingdom By their consent were the King and his Sisters to be disposed of in Marriage But with this difference that it was only ordered That the King should marry by their Advice but the two Sisters were so limited in their Marriage that they were to forfeit their Right of Succession if they married without their consent it being of far greater importance to the Peace and Interest of the Nation who should be their Husbands if the Crown did devolve on them than who should be the Kings Wife And by the Act passed in the 35th Year of King Henry he was empowered to leave the Crown to them with what limitations he should think fit To the Executors the King added by his Will a Privy-Council who should be assisting to them These were the Earls of Arundel and Essex Sir Thom. Cheyney Treasurer of the Houshold Sir John Gage Comptroller Sir Anthony Wingfield Vice-Chamberlain Sir William Petre Secretary of State Sir Richard Rich Sir John Baker Sir Ralph Sadler Sir Thom. Seimour Sir Richard Sowthwell and Sir Edmund Peckham The King also ordered That if any of the Executors should die the Survivors without giving them a Power of substituting others should continue to administer Affairs He also charged them to pay all his Debts and the Legacies he left and to perfect any Grants he had begun and to make good every thing that he had promised The Will being opened and read all the Executors Judge Bromley and the two Wottons only excepted were present and did resolve to execute the Will in all points and to take an Oath for their faithful discharge of that Trust Debate about choosing a Protector But it was also proposed That for the speedier dispatch of things and for a more certain order and direction of all Affairs there should be one chosen to be Head of the rest to whom Ambassadors and others might address themselves It was added to caution this That the Person to be raised to that Dignity should do nothing of any sort without the Advice and Consent of the greater part of the rest But this was opposed by the Lord Chancellour who thought that the Dignity of his Office setting him next the Arch-bishop of Canterbury who did not much follow Secular Affairs he should have the chief stroke in the Government therefore he pressed That they might not depart from the Kings Will in any particular neither by adding to it nor taking from it It was plain the late King intended they should be all alike in the Administration and the raising one to a Title or Degree above the rest was a great change from what he had ordered And whereas it was now said that the Person to be thus nominated was to have no manner of Power over the rest that was only to exalt him into an high Dignity with the less envy or apprehension of danger for it was certain great Titles always make way for high Power But the Earl of Hartford had so great a Party among them that it was agreed to the Lord Chancellor himself consenting when he saw his opposition was without effect The Earl of Hartford chosen that one should be raised over the rest in Title to be called the Protector of the Kings Realms and the Governour of his Person The next Point held no long debate who should be nominated to this high Trust for they unanimously agreed That the Earl of Hartford by reason of his nearness of Blood to the King and the great experience he had in Affairs was the fittest Person So he was declared Protector of the Realm and Governour to the Kings Person but with that special and express Condition that he should not do any Act
The Second Part OF THE HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION By the Lords Die Lunae 3. Januarij 1680. ORdered by the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in Parliament Assembled That the Thanks of this House be given to Dr. Burnet for the great Service done by him to this Kingdom and the Protestant Religion in writing the History of the Reformation of the Church of England so truly and exactly And that he be desired to proceed in the perfecting what he further intends therein with all convenient speed Jo. Browne Cleric Parliamentorum By the Commons Jovis 23. Die Decemb. 1680. ORdered That the Thanks of This House be given to Dr. Burnet for his Book Intituled The History of the Reformation of the Châ—rch of England Will. Goldesbrough Cleric Dom. Com. Mercurij 5. Die Januarij 1680. ORdered That Dr. Burnet be desired to proceed with and compleat that Good Work by him begun in Writing and Publishing The History of the Reformation of the Church of England Will. Goldesbrough Cler. Dom. Com. THE HISTORY of the REFORMATION of the Church of England The Second Part Printed for Rich Chiswell at the Rose and Crowne in St. Pauls Church yard The Holy Bible THE HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION OF THE Church of England The Second Part. OF THE Progress made in it till the Settlement of it in the beginning OF Q. Elizabeth's Reign By GILBERT BVRNET D. D. LONDON Printed by T. H. for Richard Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-yard MDCLXXXI THE PREFACE THE favourable reception which the former Part of this Work had together with the new Materials that were sent me from Noble and Worthy Hands have encouraged me to prosecute it and to carry down the History of the Reformation of this Church till it was brought to a compleat settlement in the beginning of Queen Elizabeths Reign which I now offer to the World The great zeal of this Age for what was done in that about Religion has made the History of it to be received and read with more than ordinary attention and care and many have expressed their satisfaction in what was formerly published by contributing several Papers of great consequence to what remained and since I found no Part of the first Volume was more universally acceptable than that wherein I was only a Transcriber I mean the Collection of Records and Authentick Papers which I had set down in confirmation of the more remarkable and doubtful parts of the History I continue the same method now I shall repeat nothing here that was in my former Preface But refer the Reader to such things as concern this History in general and my encouragement in the undertaking and prosecution of it to what is there premised to the whole Work and therefore I shall now enlarge on such things as do more particularly relate to this Volume The Papers that were conveyed to me from several Hands are referred to as the occasion to mention them occurs in the History with such acknowledgements as I thought best became this way of writing though far short of the merits of those who furnished me with them But the Store-house from whence I drew the greatest part both of the History and Collection is the often-celebrated Cotton Library out of which by the noble favour of its truly learned Owner Sir John Cotton I gathered all that was necessary for composing this Part together with some few things which had escaped me in my former Search and belong to the First Part and those I have mixed in the Collection added to this Volume upon such occasions as I thought most pertinent But among all the Remains of the last Age that are with great industry and order laid up in that Treasury none pleased me better nor were of more use to me than the Journal of King Edwards Reign written all with his own Hand with some other Papers of his which I have put by themselves in the beginning of the Collection Of these I shall say nothing here having given a full account of them in the History of his Reign to which I refer the Reader I find most of our Writers have taken Parcels out of them and Sir John Heyward has transcribed from them the greatest part of his Book therefore I thought this a thing of such consequence that upon good advice I have published them all faithfully copied from the Originals But as others assisted me towards the perfecting this Part so that learned Divine and most exact Enquirer into Historical Learning Mr. Fulman Rector of Hamton-Meysey in Glocester-shire did most signally oblige me by a Collection of some mistakes I had made in the former Work He had for many years applied his thoughts with a very searching care to the same Subject and so was able to judge more critically of it than other Readers Some of those had escaped me others had not come within my view in some particulars my Vouchers were not good and in others I had mistaken my Authors These I publish at the end of this Volume being neither ashamed to confess my faults nor unwilling to acknowledge from what Hand I received better information My design in writing is to discover Truth and to deliver it down impartially to the next Age so I should think it both a mean and criminal piece of vanity to suppress this discovery of my Errors And though the number and consequence of them had been greater than it is I should rather have submitted to a much severer Penance than have left the World in the mistakes I had led them into yet I was not a little pleased to find that they were neither many nor of importance to the main Parts of the History and were chiefly about Dates or small variations in the order of Time I hope this Part has fewer faults since that worthy Person did pursue his former kindness so far as to review it before-hand and with great judgment to correct such errors as he found in it Those I had formerly fallen into made me more careful in examining even the smallest matters Yet if after all my care and the kind Censures of those who have revised this Work there is any thing left that may require a further Retractation I shall not decline to make it so soon as I see there is need of it being I hope raised above the poor vanity of seeking my own reputation by sacrificing Truth to it Those to whose censure I submitted this whole History in both its Parts were chiefly three great Divines whose Lives are such Examples their Sermons such Instructions their Writings such unanswerable Vindications of our Church and their whole deportment so sutable to their profession that as I reckon my being admitted into some measure of friendship with them among the chief Blessings of my Life so I know nothing can more effectually recommend this Work than to say that it passed with their hearty approbation after they had examined it with that care which their great zeal
for the Cause concerned in it and their goodness to the Author and freedom with him obliged them to use They are so well known that without naming them those of this Age will easily guess who they are and they will be so well known to Posterity by their excellent Writings that the naming them is so high an advantage to my Book that I much doubt whether it is decent for me to do it One of them Dr. Lloyd is now while I am writing by His Majesties favour promoted to the Bishoprick of St. Asaph a Dignity to which how deservedly soever his great Learning Piety and Merit has advanced him yet I particularly know how far he was from any aspirings to it It was he I described in my former Preface that engaged me first to this design and for that reason he has been more than ordinary careful to examine it with that exactness that is peculiar to him The other two are the Reverend Learned and Judicious Deans of Canterbury and St. Pauls Dr. Tillotson and Dr. Stillingfleet too well known to receive any addition from the Characters I can give of them Others gave me Supplies of another sort to enable me to go through with an undertaking that put me to no small expence I am not ashamed to acknowledge that the straitness of my condition made this uneasie to me being destitute of all publick provision but I should be much ashamed of my ingratitude if I did not celebrate their bounty who have taken such care of me as not to leave this addition of charge on one who lives not without difficulties I must again repeat my Thanks for the generous kindness protection and liberal Supplies of Sir Harbotle Grimstone Master of the Rolls this being the sixth year of my subsistance under him to whom I must ever acknowledge that I am more beholding than to all Men living The noble Mr. Boyle as he employs both his Time and Wealth for the good of Mankind for which he considers himself as chiefly born and which he has promoted not only in his own excellent Writings that have made him so famous over all the World but in many other designs that have been chiefly carried on at his cost so hath he renewed his kindness to me in largesses sutable to so great a Mind Others were also pleased to joyn their help The Right Honourable the Lord Finch now Lord High Chancellor of England whose great Parts and greater Vertues are so conspicuous that it were a high Presumption in me to say any thing in his commendation being in nothing more eminent than in his zeal for and care of this Church thought it might be of some importance to have its History well digested and therefore as he bore a large share of my expence so he took it more particularly under his care and under all the Burdens of that high Employment which he now bears yet found time for reading it in Manuscript of which he must have robbed himself since he never denies it to those who have a Right to it on any publick account and hath added such Remarks and Corrections as are no small part of any finishing it may be judged to have The Lord Russel the Inheritor of that Zeal for true Religion and the other Vertues that have from the first beginnings of the Reformation in a continued Entail adorned that Noble Family of Bedford beyond most others of the Kingdom did espouse the Interests of the Protestant Religion in this particular as he has done on all other more publick occasions and by a most liberal Supply encouraged me to prosecute this Vndertaking That Worthy Counsellor whose celebrated Integrity and clear Judgment have raised him so high in his Profession Anthony Keck Esquire did also concur in easing me of the charge that Searching Copying and gathering Materials put me to And having received as much from these my Noble Benefactors as did enable me to carry on my Design I did excuse my self at other Persons Hands who very generously offered to supply me in the expence which this Work brought with it That was done in a most extraordinary manner by the Right Honourable the Earl of Halifax whom if I reckon among the greatest Persons this Age has produced I am sure all that know him will allow that I speak modestly of him He indeed offered me the yearly continuance of a Bounty that would not only have defrayed all this expence but have been an entire and honourable subsistance to me and though my necessities were not so pressing as to perswade me to accept it yet so unusual a generosity doth certainly merit the highest acknowledgements I can make for it But I now turn to that which ought to be the chief Subject of this Preface to remove the prejudices by which weak and unwary Persons have been prepossessed in their Judgments concerning the Reformation during that Period of it that falls within this Volume I know the Duty of an Historian leads him to write as one that is of neither Party and I have endeavoured to follow it as carefully as I could neither concealing the faults of the one Party nor denying the just Praises that were due to any of the other side and have delivered things as I found them making them neither better nor worse than indeed they were But now that I am not yet entred into that Province and am here writing my own Thoughts and not relating the Actions of other Men I hope it will be judged no indecent thing to clear the Readers mind of those Impressions which may either have already biassed him too much or may upon a slight reading of what follows arise in his thoughts unless he were prepared and armed with some necessary Reflections which every one that may possibly read this History has not had the leisure or other opportunities to make to such a degree as were needful It is certainly an unjust way of proceeding in any that is to be a Judge to let himself be secretly possessed with such Impressions of Persons and Things as may biass his thoughts for where the Scales are not well adjusted the Weight cannot be truly reckoned So that it is an indirect Method to load Mens Minds with Prejudices and not to let them in to the trial of Truth till their Inclinations are first swayed such a way I deny not but in matters of Religion most commonly Men receive such Notions before they can well examine them as do much determine them in the Enquiries they make afterwards when their understandings grow up to a fuller ripeness but those Pre-occupations if rightly infused are rather such as give them general Notions of what is good and honest in the abstracted Idea's than concerning matters of Fact for every wise and pious Man must avoid all such Methods of Instruction as are founded on Falshood and Craft and he that will breed a Man to love Truth must form in him such a liking of it that he
the Earl of Lennox had the chief command but he only came with the Earl of Shrewsbury as knowing the Country and People best and so being the fitter both to get intelligence and to negotiate if there was room for it The Scots were by this time gone home for the most part and the Nobility with Dessie agreed that it was not fit to put all to hazard and therefore raised the Siege of Hadingtoun and marched back to Edenburgh The Lord Gray with a great part of the English Army followed him in the Rear Aug. 20. The Siege of Hadingtoun rais'd but did not engage him into any great Action by which a good opportunity was lost for the French were in great disorder The English Army came into Hadingtoun They consisted of about 17000 Men of which Number 7000 were Horse and 3000 of the Foot were German Landsknights whom the Protector had entertained in his Service These Germans were some of the broken Troops of the Protestant Army who seeing the state of their own Country desperate offered their Service to the Protector He too easily entertained them reckoning that being Protestants they would be sure to him and would depend wholly on himself But this proved a fatal Counsel to him the English having been always jealous of a standing but much more of a Forreign Force about their Prince so there was great occasion given by this to those who traded in sowing Jealousies among the People The English having victualled Hadingtoun and repaired the Fortifications returned back into their own Country But had they gone on to Edenburgh they had found things there in great confusion For Dessie when he got thither having lost 500 of his Men in the Retreat went to quarter his Soldiers in the Town but the Provost so is the chief Magistrate there called opposed it The French broke in with force and killed him and his Son with all they found in the Streets Men Women and Children and as a Spie whom the English had in Edenburgh gave them notice the Scots were now more alienated from the French than from the English The French had carried it very gently till the Queen was sent away but reckoned Scotland now a Conquered Country and a Province to France So the Scots began though too late to repent the sending away of the Queen But it seems the English had orders not to venture too far for the hopes of the Marriage were now gone and the Protector had no mind to engage in a War with France These things happened in the beginning of October Dessie apprehending that at Hadingtoun they were now secure the Siege being so lately raised resolved to try if he could carry the Place by surpâ—â—ze The English from thence had made Excursions as far as Edenburgh in one of which the French fell on them pursued them and killed about 200 and took sixscore Prisoners almost within their Works Soon after Dessie marched in the night and surprized one of their Out-works and was come to the Gates where the Place had been certainly lost if it had not been for a French Deserter who knew if he were taken what he was to expect He therefore fired one of the great Canon which being discharged amongst the thickest of the French killed so many and put the rest in such disorder that Dessie was forced to quit the Attempt From thence he went and fortified Lieth which was then but a mean Village but the situation of the Place being recommended by the security it now had it soon came to be one of the best Peopled Towns in Scotland From thence he intended to have gone on to take Broughty Castle and to recover Dundee which were then in the Hands of the English But he was ordered by the Queen Regent to make an Inroad into England There after some slight Engagements in which the English had the worst the Scotch and French came in as far as New-castle and returned loaded with Spoil which the French divided among themselves allowing the Scots no share of it An English Priest was taken who bore that disgrace of his Country so heavily that he threw himself on the ground and would not eat nor so much as open his Eyes but lay thus prostrate till he died This the French who seldom let their misfortunes afflict them look'd on with much astonishment But at that time the English had fortified Inch-keith an Island in the Frith and put 800 Men in it Seventeen days after that Dessie brought his Forces from Lieth and recovered it having killed 400 English and forced the rest to surrender Thus ended this Year and with it Dessie's Power in Scotland Discontents in Scotland For the Queen Mother and the Governour had made great complaints of him at the Court of France that he put the Nation to vast charge to little purpose so that he was more uneasie to his Friends than his Enemies and his last disorder at Edenburgh had on the one hand so raised the insolence of the French Soldiers and on the other hand so alienated and inflamed the People that unless another were sent to command who should govern more mildly there might be great danger of a defection of a whole Kingdom For now the Seeds of their distast of the French Government were so sown that Men came generally to condemn their sending the Queen away and to hate the Governour for consenting to it but chiefly to abhor the Clergy who had wrought it for their own ends Monsieur de Thormes was sent over to command Monluc sent thither to bâ— Lord Chancellor and Monluc Bishop of Valence came with him to govern the Councils and be Chancellor of the Kingdom He had lately returned from his Ambassy at Constantinople He was one of the wisest Men of that time and was always for moderate Councils in Matters of Religion which made him be sometime suspected of heresie And indeed the whole sequel of his life declared him to be one of the greatest Men of that Age only his being so long and so firmly united to Queen Katharine Medici's Interest takes off a great deal of the high Character which the rest of his Life has given of him But he was at this time unknown and ill represented in Scotland where they that looked for advantages from their alliance with France took it ill to see a French Man sent over to enjoy the best Office in the Kingdom The Queen Mother her self was afraid of him So to avoid new grounds of discontent he left the Kingdom But was not well received and returned into France Thus ended the War between Scotland and England this Year in almost an equal mixture of good and bad success The English had preserved Hadingtoun which was the chief matter of this Years Action But they had been at great charge in the War in which they were only on the defensive they had lost other Places and been unsuccessful at Sea and which was worst of all
Heath of Worcester and Day Bishop of Chichester Heath and Day turned out of their Bishopricks were put out of their Bishopricks For Heath it has been already said that he was put in prison for refusing to consent to the Book of Ordinations But for Day whether he refused to submit to the new Book or fell into other transgressions I do not know Both these were afterwards deprived not by any Court consisting of Church-men but by Secular Delegates of whom three were Civilians and three Common Lawyers as King Edwards Journal informs us Dayes Sentence is something ambiguously expressed in the Patent that Scory Bishop of Rochester had to succeed him which bears date the 24th of May and mentions his being put there in the room of George late Bishop of that See who had been deprived or removed from it In June following upon Hollbeach Bishop of Lincoln's death Taylour that had been Dean of Lincoln was made Bishop This Year the Bishoprick of Glocester was quite suppressed and converted into an exempted Arch-deaconry and Hooper was made Bishop of Worcester In the December before Worcester and Glocester had been united by reason of their Voicinage and their great poverty and that they were not very populous so they were to be for ever after one Bishoprick with two Titles as Coventry and Litchfield and Bath and Wells were and Hooper was made Bishop of Worcester and Glocester But now they were put into another method and the Bishop was to be called only Bishop of Worcester In all the vacancies of Sees there were a great many of their best Lands taken from them and the Sees that before had been profusely enriched were now brought to so low a condition that it was scarce possible for the Bishops to subsist and yet if what was so taken from them had been converted to good uses to the bettering the condition of the poor Clergy over England it had been some mitigation of so hainous a Robbery but these Lands were snatched up by every hungry Courtier who found this to be the easiest way to be satisfied in their pretensions and the World had been so possessed with the opinion of their excessive Wealth that it was thought they never could be made poor enough This Year a Passage fell out relating to Ireland The Affairs of Ireland which will give me occasion to look over to the Affairs of that Kingdom The Kings of England had formerly contented themselves with the Title of Lords of Ireland which King Henry the 8th in the 33d Year of his Reign had in a Parliament there changed into the Title of a Kingdom But no special Crown or Coronation was appointed since it was to follow the Crown of England The Popes and the Emperors have pretended that the conferring Titles of Sovereign Dignity belonged to them The Pope derived his claim from what our Saviour said That all Power in Heaven and in Earth was given to him and by consequence to his Vicar The Emperors as being a dead shadow of the Roman Empire which Title with the designation of Caesar they still continued to use and pretended that as the Roman Emperors did anciently make Kings so they had still the same right though because those Emperors made Kings in the Countreys which were theirs by Conquest it was an odd stretch to infer that those who retained nothing of their Empire but the Name should therefore make Kings in Countries that belonged not to them and it is certain that every entire or independent Crown or State may make for or within it self what Titles they please But the Authority the Crown of England had in Ireland was not then so entire as by the many Rebellions that have fallen out since it is now become The Heads of the Clans and Names had the Conduct of all their several Tribes who were led on by them to what designs they pleased And though within the English Pale the King was obeyed and his Laws executed almost as in England yet the native Irish were an uncivilized and barbarous Nation and not yet brought under the Yoke and for the greatest part of Vlster they were united to the Scots and followed their Interests There had been a Rebellion in the second Year of this Reign But Sir Anthony St. Leiger then Deputy being recalled and Sir Edw. Bellinghame sent in his room he subdued O-Canor and O-More that were the chief Authors of it and not being willing to put things to extremities when England was otherwise distracted with Wars he perswaded them to accept of Pensions of 100 l. a-piece and so they came in and lived in the English Pale But the Winter after there was another Rebellion designed in Vlster by O-Neal O-Donnel O-Docart and the Heads of some other Tribes who sent to the Queen Dowager of Scotland to procure them assistance from France and they would keep up the disorders in Ireland The Bishop of Valence being then in Scotland was sent by her to observe their strength that he might accordingly perswade the King of France to assist them He cross'd the Seas and met with them and with Wauchop a Scotch-man who was the Bishop of Armagh of the Popes making and who though he was blind was yet esteemed one of the best at Riding Post in the World They set out all their greatness to the French Bishop to engage him to be their friend at the Court of France but he seemed not so well satisfied of their ability to do any great matter and so nothing followed on this One passage fell out here which will a little discover the temper of that Bishop When he was in O-Docarts House he saw a fair Daughter of his whom he endeavoured to have corrupted but she avoided him carefully Two English Gray-Friars that had fled out of England for their Religion and were there at that time observing the Bishops inclinations brought him an English Whore whom he kept for some time She one night looking among his things found a Glass full of somewhat that was very odoriferous and poured it all down her Throat which the Bishop perceiving too late fell into a most violent passion for it had been presented to him by Soliman the Magnificent at his leaving that Court as the richest Balm in Egypt and was valued at 2000 Crowns The Bishop was in such a rage that all the House was disturbed with it whereby he discovered both his lewdness and passion at once This is related by one that was then with him and was carried over by him to be a Page to the Scotch Queen Sir James Melvil who lived long in that Court under the Constable of France and was afterwards much employed by the Prince Elector Palatine in many Negotiations and coming home to his own Country was sent on many occasions to the Court of England where he lived in great Esteem He in his old Age writ a Narrative of all the Affairs that himself had been concerned in which is one of
that would be too little if the Danes and Swedes which they were afraid of should joyn against them There was also great want of Ammunition and Ordnance of which they had lost vast quantities in Calais and Guisnes All this would rise to above 520000 l. and they doubted much whether the People would endure such Impositions who were now grown stubborn and talked very loosely So they did not see how they could possibly enter into any Action this Year One Reason among the rest was suggested by the Bishops they saw a War would oblige them to a greater moderation in their Proceedings at home they had not done their Work which they hoped a little more time would perfect whereas a slack'ning in that would raise the drooping Spirits of those whom they were now pursuing So they desired another Year to prosecute them in which time they hoped so to clear the Kingdom of them that with less danger they might engage in a War the Year after Nor did they think it would be easie to bring new raised Men to the hardships of so early a Campagne and they thought the French would certainly work so hard in repairing the breaches that they would be in a good condition to endure a strait and long Siege All this they wrote over to the King on the first of February as appears from their Letter which will be found in the Collection Collection Number 37. A Parliament is called The Parliament was opened on the 20th of January where the Convocation to be a good Example to the two Houses granted a Subsidy of eight Shillings in the Pound to be paid in four Years In the House of Peers the Abbot of Westminster and the Prior of St. John of Jerusalem took their Places according to their Writs Tresham that had given great assistance to the Queen upon her first coming to the Crown was now made Prior. But how much was done towards the endowing of that House which had been formerly among the richest of England I do not know On the 24th of January the Lords sent a Message to the Commons desiring that the Speaker with ten or twelve of that House should meet with a Committeâ— of the Lords which being granted the Lords proposed that the Commons would consider of the defence of the Kingdom What was at first demanded does not appear but after several days arguing about it they agreed to give one Subsidy a Fifteenth and a Tenth and ordered the Speaker to let the Queen know what they had concluded who sent them her hearty Thanks for it Then Complaints being made of some French-men that were not Denizens it was carried that they should go out of the Kingdom and not return during the War The Abbot of Westminster finding the Revenues of his House were much impaired thought that if the old Priviledges of the Sanctuary were confirmed it would bring him in a good Revenue from those that fled to it so he pressed for an Act to confirm it He brought a great many ancient Grants of the Kings of England which the Queen had confirmed by her Letters Patents but they did not prevail with the House who proceeded no further in it In this Parliament the Procurers of wilful Murder were denied the Benefit of Clergy which was carried in the House of Lords by the greater number as it is in their Journals The Bishops did certainly oppose it though none of them entred their dissent Sir Ambrose and Sir Robert Dudley two Sons of the late Duke of Northumberland were restored in Blood The Countess of Sussex's Joynture was taken from her for her living in Adultery so publickly as was formerly mentioned In the end of the Session a Bill was put in for the confirming of the Queens Letters Patents It was designed chiefly for confirming the Religious Foundations she had made As this went through the House of Commons one Coxley said He did not approve such a general Confirmation of those she had given or might give lest this might be a colour for her to dispose of the Crown from the right Inheritors The House was much offended at this and expressed such dislike at the imagination that the Queen would alienate the Crown that they both shewed their esteem for the Queen and their resolution to have the Crown descend after her death to her Sister Coxley was made to withdraw and voted guilty of great irreverence to the Queen He asked pardon and desired it might be imputed to his youth yet he was kept in the Serjeants Hands till they had sent to the Queen to desire her to forgive his offence She sent them word that at their sute she forgave it but wished them to examine him from whence that motion sprung There is no more entred about it in the Journal so that it seems to have been let fall The Parliament was on the seventh of March prorogued to the seventh of November Soon after this the King of Sweden sent a Message secretly to the Lady Elizabeth The King of Sweden treats a Marriage with the Lady Elizabeth who was then at Hatfield to propose Marriage to her King Philip had once designed to marry her to the Duke of Savoy when he was in hope of Children by the Queen but that hope vanishing he broke it off and intended to reserve her for himself How far she entertained that motion I do not know but for this from Sweden she rejected it since it came not to her by the Queens direction But to that it was answered the King of Sweden would have them begin with her self judging that fit for him as he was a Gentleman and her good liking being obtained he would next as a King address himself to the Queen But she said as she was to entertain no such Propositions unless the Queen sent them to her so if she were left to her self she assured them she would not change her state of Life Upon this the Queen sent Sir Tho. Pope to her in April to let her know how well she approved of the Answer she had made to them but they had now delivered their Letters and made the Proposition to her in which she desired to know her mind She thanked the Queen for her favour to her but bade Pope tell her that there had been one or two noble Propositions made for her in her Brother King Edwards time and she had then desired to continue in the state she was in which of all others pleased her best and she thought there was no state of Life comparable to it She had never before heard of that King and she desired never to hear of that Motion more She would see his Messenger no more since he had presumed to come to her without the Queens leave Then Pope said he did believe if the Queen offered her some Honourable Marriage she would not be averse to it She answered What she might do afterwards she did not know but protested solemnly that as
their disorders was the Queen's breaking her Word to them in the matters of Religion He carried Melvil to the King and in his presence gave him Instructions to go to Scotland and see what was the true cause of all these disorders and particularly how farre the Prior of St. Andrews afterwards the Earl of Murray was engaged in them and if he by secret Ways could certainly find there was nothing in it but Religion that then he should give them Assurances of the free Exercise of it and press them not to engage any further till he was returned to the French Court where he was promised to find a great Reward for so important a Service but he was not to let the Queen Regent understand his business He found upon his going into Scotland that it was even as he had formerly heard that the Queen Regent was now much hated and distasted by them but that upon an Oblivion of what was passed and the free Exercise of their Religion for the future all might be brought to peace and quiet But before he came back the King of France was dead the Constable in disgrace and the Cardinal of Lorrain governed all But is killed So he lost his Labour and Reward which he valued much less being a generous and vertuous Man than the Ruine that he saw coming on his Country The Lords that were now united against the Queen Mother came and took St. Johnstoun From thence they went to Stirling and Edinburgh and every where they pulled down Monasteries all the Country declared on their side so that the Queen Regent was forced to fly to Dumbar-Castle The Lords sent to England for Assistance which the Queen readily granted them They gave out that they desired nothing but to have the French driven out and Religion settled by a Parliament The Queen Regent seeing all the Country against her and apprehending that the Q. of England would take advantage from these Stirrs to drive her out of Scotland was content to agree to a Truce A Truce agreed to in Scâ—â—lâ—â—d to summon a Parliament to meet on the 10th of January But the new King of France sent over Mr. de Croque with a high threatning Message that he would spend the whole Revenue of France rather then not be revenged on them that raised these Tumults in Scotland The Lords answered that they desired nothing but the Liberty of their Religion and that being obtained they should be in all other things his most obedient Subjects The Queen Regent having gotten about 2000 Men from France fortified Leith and in many other things broke the Truce There came over also some Doctors of the Sorbonne to dispute with the Ministers because they heard the Scotish Clergy were scarce able to defend their own Cause The Lords gathered again and seeing the Queen Regent had so often broke her Word to them they entred into Consultation to deprive her of her Regency Their Queen was not yet of Age and in her Minority they pretended that the Government of the Kingdom belonged to the States and therefore they gathered together many of her Maleadministrations for which they might the more colorably put her out of the Government The Queen Regent is deposed The things they charged on her were chiefly these That she had without Law begun a War in the Kingdom and brought in Strangers to subdue it had governed without the consent of the Nobility embased the Coin to maintain her Souldiers had put Garrisons in five Towns and had broke all Promises and Terms with them Thereupon they declared her to have fallen from her Regency and did suspend her Power till the next Parliament So now it was an irreconciliable Breach The Lords lay first at Edinburgh and from thence retired afterwards to Sterling Upon which the French came and possessed themselves of the Town and set up the Mass again in the Churches Greater Supplies came over from France under the Command of the Marquess of Elbeuf one of the Queen Regent's Brothers who though most of his Fleet were dispersed yet brought to Leith 1000 Foot so that there were now above 4000 French Souldiers in that Town But what Accession of strength soever the Queen Regent received from these she lost as much in Scotland for now almost the whole Country was united against her and the French were equally heavie to their Friends and Enemies They marched about by Sterling to waste Fife where there were some small Engagements between them and the Lords of the Congregation But the Scots The Scots implore the Q. of Englands Aid seeing they could not stand before that force that was expected from France the next Spring sent to Queen Elizabeth to desire her Aid openly for the secret Supplies of Mony and Ammunition with which she hitherto furnished them would not now serve the Turn The Counsel of England apprehended that it would draw on a War with France yet they did not fear that much for that Kingdom was falling into such Factions that they did not apprehend any great Danger from thence till their King was of Age. So the Duke of Norfolk was sent to Berwick to treat with the Lords of the Congregation who were now headed by the Duke of Chattelherhault On the 27th of February they agreed on these Conditions They were to be sure Allies to the Queen of England and to assist her both in England and Ireland as she should need their help She was now on the other hand to assist them to drive the French out of Scotland after which they were still to continue in their obedience to their Natural Queen This League was to last during their Queen's Marriage to the French King and for a Year after and they were to give the Queen of England Hostages who were to be changed every six Months This being concluded and the Hostages given the Lord Gray marched into Scotland with 2000 Horse and 6000 Foot Upon that the Lords sent and offered to the Queen Regent that if she would send away the French Forces the English should likewise be sent back and they would return to their Obedience This not being accepted they drew about Leith Leith is besieged by the English to besiege it In one Sally which the French made they were beaten back with the loss of 300 Men. This made the English more secure thinking the French would no more come out but they understanding the ill order that was kept sallied out again and killed near 500 of the English This made them more watchful for the future So the Seige being formed a Fire broke out in Leith which burnt down the greatest part of the Town the English playing all the while on them distracted them so that the Souldiers being obliged to be on the Walls the Fire was not easily quenched Hereupon the English gave the Assault and were beaten off with some loss but the Duke of Norfolk sent a supply of 2000 Men more with the