all had not faith â—â—ough to trust too much in it when fear and thick â—â—rkness had seized on them though 't was the comâ—on voice in those days that a few Masses could 〈◊〉 mens Souls out of Purgatory But you may be 〈◊〉 they were well to be paid for first Noted in 〈◊〉 14th was the Ordinance made by the Mayor 〈◊〉 Duke and the Rulers of London that no Sheriff â—ould continue in Office longer than one year the â—use related was the opportunity some of them â—ade use of to take extortions and bribes with oâ—â—er defaults by reason of the continuance of their Office The 17th is not lightly to be pass'd over that the K. therein kept his Christmas at Worcest according to Stow where he removed all his Officeâ— and Councillors Bishops Earls and Barons and 〈◊〉 for strangers viz. Pictavians retain'd them in 〈◊〉 Service and committed to them the keeping of 〈◊〉 Castles and Treasures What could hence be expectâ— but murmurings and repinings amongst the Nativeâ— Accordingly we hear some time after of Messengeâ— sent by the Barons to the King requesting the diâ—placing of those strangers and also threatning thâ— otherwise they would depose him and create a 〈◊〉 King A bold message from as bold Subjects For 〈◊〉 may read of the King's Lands being invaded the 〈◊〉 year and destroy'd by fire and sword by the Earl 〈◊〉 Pembroke and the Prince of north-North-Wales Whereupâ—â— we find in a little time the Pictavians expell'd 〈◊〉 made with these two great discontented men 〈◊〉 the King 's natural Subjects recalld and their Coâ—â—sel yielded to by the King The 19th is remarkable for the King's Marriage with the Royal Solemnity Justs and Tourneamenâ— kept 8 days near Westminster at the Queen's Coroâ—â—tion Yet Stow places the time a year after as 〈◊〉 doth also many other particular occurrences happeing in this King's Reign From the same Author 〈◊〉 are given to understand that to this Coronation â—â—sorted so great a number of all Estates that the Ciâ—â— of London was scarce able to receive them Great 〈◊〉 the splendour wherein the City appeared on this oâ—casion it being adorn'd with Silks and in the nigâ—â— with Lamps Cressets and other lights without nuâ—ber besides many Pageants strange devices whiâ—â— were then snewn The Citizens rode to meet 〈◊〉 King and Queen being clothed in long garments 〈◊〉 broidered with Gold and Silk of divers colours theâ—â— horses finely trapped in array to the number of 360. Every man bearing Gold or Silver Cups in their hands the King's Trumpeters before them sounding The 21th was ominous to the University of Oxford for the Scholars abusing Octoâ—oon the Pope's Legate who afterwards accursed the misdoers and so punished them that the Regents Masters were at last compelled to go barefoot through Cheapside to Pauls in London there to ask forgiveness of him which was granted it seems with difficulty enough His Master the Pope when cross'd and incens'd is wont to be sufficiently stately and backward in pardoning such as displease him not without much â—ntercession sometimes why then should not the Servant Ape it after so great an Example In the 23d year for that the Mayor and Heads of the City refus'd to obey the King's Commandment â—n Chusing Simon Fitz Marre Sheriff as the King had order'd them which they lookt upon as a derogation to their Liberties The King sent for them and after words of displeasure discharg'd the old Mayor Will. Ioynour newly Elected for the following year and charg'd the Citizens to proceed to a new Election which to content the King they did and Chusing Gerard Bat by his means and policy obtained the King's favour and frustrated the other purpose who had procur'd the aforesaid Commandment and complain'd to the King of the Citizens for their disobeying it In the 25th the Citizens having Chosen Gerard Bat anew for the year following presented him to the King according to Custom He who the â—ast year had so gain'd the King's favour in behalf of the City was now so far out of it by means of some mens Informations that he with his company was first dismist and put off till another time and at last for some offences alledged and displeasure conceived against him clearly put by the King swearing a greâ—â— Oath that he should not that year be Mayor nor 〈◊〉 any time hereafter Whereupon the Commons ceâ—tified of the King's pleasure Chose Remond Bengley 〈◊〉 his stead The Citizens having the year before 〈◊〉 prevail'd upon to alter their Election that was Prâ—sident enough it seems to occasion the like again The City having obtain'd great Priviledges of thiâ— King in his younger days we find already some eâ—deavouring to frustrate and disappoint the effect 〈◊〉 benefit of them The City had appear'd with a greâ—â— deal of success in opposition to the last King's prâ—ceedings and therefore it 's likely such as intendeâ— to attempt again for Arbitrary Power thought thâ— City too headstrong easily to permit them to suâ—ceed in their desires unless they could first bring thâ— Citizens a little under by cunningly under miniâ—â— their Liberties Whereupon we find this year a spâ—cious pretence taken to oblige the Commonalty bâ— offering to free and keep them from being oppresseâ— by the Heads and Rulers of the City How well 〈◊〉 plausible Plea took for a while will be manifested 〈◊〉 the sequel of the Story That there were great heaâ—â— and animosities in those times between the City 〈◊〉 the Court may easily be observ'd out of Stow whâ— tells us in the 25th years Annals how the Citizeâ— were threatned that the Walls and Bulwarks of thâ— Tower were builded in despight of them to the 〈◊〉 that if any of them would presume to contend 〈◊〉 the Liberties of the City they might there be imprison'd And to the intent that many might be laâ—â— in divers Prisons many Lodgings were there madâ— that no one should speak with another An occasiâ—â— was also taken sometime after to Fine the Ciâ—â— 1500 Marks for the receiving into the City a peâ—son banish'd from thence 20 years Notwithstandiâ—â— the Citizens had prov'd that before that time the said â—erson had been reconcil'd and restor'd to the King's â—avour Another device to exact Money from the Londoners was the proclaiming a Mart at Westminâ—â—er to last 15 days with a Command that all Trades â—hould cease in the City for that space of time which the Citizens were fain to redeem with 2000l â—et they still increast in Riches while the King was â—ompell'd for want to sell his Plate and Jewels much â—o his loss which being sold and boughâ— aâ— London 〈◊〉 the 33d year of his Reign occasioned this his exâ—ression upon knowledge thereof as my Author reâ—ates it I know that if Octavian 's Treasure were to be â—â—ld the City of London would sup it up and by it â—hose rustical Londoners quoth the King abound in â—ealth and call themselves Barons Noted is the 25th â—ear likewise for the first
into his own Country there were hopes doubtless 〈◊〉 a happy peace to ensue and long to continue But seems those hopes were soon blasted For the 〈◊〉 next year viz. the 15 we read of the late agrâ—â— peace's being violated and broken by the King 〈◊〉 according to my Author persevering in his wroâ—â— would in no wise be induc'd to hold his own graâ—â— but to execute all things after pleasure nothing â—â—ter Law and Justice These violations produc'd new War between King John and his Nobles 〈◊〉 ended not till after the Kings Death So troublesâ—â— was it to the Nation so dangerous to the King 〈◊〉 he should have such ill Ministers about him 〈◊〉 were either authors or followers of no better adviâ—â— then what could not consist with the Kings keepiâ—â— his Royal Word That the Sheep were made 〈◊〉 for the Shepheard to clip shear pill and slay at own will and pleasure is a Doctrine that the 〈◊〉 quiet innocent harmless Sheep would no longer â—â—â—lingly assent to than while the Knife is held at 〈◊〉 throat how acceptable soever it may be to the 〈◊〉 Wolves and the degenerate Dogs of the 〈◊〉 When King John found himself too weak to â—â—tend with his Barons and yet it seems by the 〈◊〉 not willing enough to keep to his former 〈◊〉 he sent beyond Sea and call'd in strangers his Assistance We read that Northfolk and 〈◊〉 were the Lands promised to those strangers 〈◊〉 would come over to aid the King who had a little â—efore got the Pope to disannul the aforesaid Charter â—nd liberties granted ere while by him and excommuâ—icate the Barons We have mention made in Stow 〈◊〉 or 3 times of strangers coming over So many of â—hem were cast away at one time by Tempest who â—ere coming over Men Women and Children that â—â—'s said of 4000 not one escap'd alive So that we â—ay observe 't is an old trick to call in Foreigners â—pon the Natives when Arbitrary designs are on 〈◊〉 When the King was found to have invited â—trangers to his aid the Lords also sent into France â—or help and succour When two Women fall a scolâ—ing and pulling one anothers head-cloths whoever â—â—rst began the fray it is much but both will be in â—â—ult before it end London was the place where the â—ords kept themselves together till the expected aid â—nd succour from beyond Sea was brought to them â—nder Lewis the French Kings Son who landing 〈◊〉 England with a strong Army came afterwards to London and was there received Hence he with the Lords departing won many Castles in the Land and 〈◊〉 their return had the Tower of London given up to â—hem by appointment Tho the Tower held long for â—he King yet 't was the City it seems that bare the â—way and adhered to the Lords What a strength â—â—ey were of we may observe out of Stow where â—ing John is said to have made hast to besiege Lonâ—on but the Londoners were hereby so little daunted â—hat they set open their Gates and were ready to meet â—im ten miles off the City whereupon the King withâ—rew understanding their boldness and multitude â—hen the Major Roger Fitz. Alwyn was accused to be â—â—vourable to the Kings Party we find him quickly â—ischarg'd of his Office and one Serle Mercer chosen 〈◊〉 his place so great was the favour of the Citizens to the Barons and their Cause that they spar'd not their own head Officer and Ruler when he lay under thâ— suspicion of favouring Arbitrary designs so contrary to the mind of the Citizens The War still continuing and King John being not able to prevail tho thâ— Pope interceded by his Legaâ—e he had at last â—â— some writes all his Arbitrary designs quench'd with a Cup of Poyson at Swinstead Abby about Lincoln Tho another Author is said to affirm that he died â—â— the flux at another place Soon after this unhappy unfortunate King John death we meet with an eminent instance of Englisâ— mens Loyalty as well as of their love of liberty anâ— freedom for though the King and his Lords were 〈◊〉 so great a difference most of the latter part of hiâ— Reign and he left the Throne and his life at such 〈◊〉 time when his Barons were likely in outward appearance to be much too strong for him his his survâ—ving Heir being but then a Child of about 9 years 〈◊〉 age Yet as if all rancour and animosity against thâ— King and his Party was dead and buried with him 〈◊〉 his Grave the wheel of affairs was so turn'd as 〈◊〉 were in an instant that Lewis and his strangers weâ—â— disgusted and the young Fatherless Prince was proclaim'd and Crown'd King of the Land at an agâ— wherein he was not fit to be left to his own guidanâ—â— without a Tutor It 's plain enough by this instancâ— that English hearts were more loyal than naturallâ— to desire the ruine of their Prince and his Family 〈◊〉 at any time they appear'd in Arms against him in defence of their Lives Liberties and Freedoms hoâ— ready have they shewed themselves to accord anâ— submit as soon as those men of ill Principles and Aâ—bitrary practices were remov'd from their Princâ— who had rais'd those clouds of discontent betweeâ— him and his People The chief of those that so soon returned to their Allegiance were the powerful Earls of Pembroke and Chester who drew with them a very considerable reâ—inue They may be probably thought to hope to â—â—nfuse better Principles into their young Prince in his Nonage than appeared by former Arbitrary actions â—o have been in his Father and so model the Goâ—ernment into a better frame in the time of that powâ—r they were as the chief Nobles most likely to â—ave under the King in his younger days Neither â—o I know but somwhat might proceed from reâ—orse of Conscience The Earl of Chester in the 2d â—ear of the Kings Reign taking his journey into the holy-Holy-Land the Religion of those times having made â—hat the usual way of Expiation Some such intent of â—he Earl stands likewise upon record in one of the Chronicles saith my Author Another very probaâ—le occasion of this sudden change of Affairs in the Kingdom may be supposed to have risen from the Death-bed confession of a French Nobleman who 〈◊〉 reported to have discovered Lewis's intent to 〈◊〉 destroy and quite root out those English Lords â—hat adhered to him as if in detestation of their disâ—oyalty to their own natural English Soveraign When â—he Barons came once to find that he whom they â—ad called in to defend them against their Kings Arâ—itrariness intended to violate and break their Coâ—enants established at first between them when he â—ould come to have opportunity and so turn their â—â—plored aid into their certain destruction they â—ight well think they had reason enough to disclaim 〈◊〉 Alliance and endeavour to frustrate his privy inâ—â—ntions by returning to their former Allegiance as 〈◊〉 as a fit season presented it self Conditional
London there passed an Inquest of Twelve Knights of Middlesex sworn upon a Jury between the Abbot of Westminster and the City for certain Priviledges the Citizens of London claimed within Westminster where by the said Jury it was found before the Chief Baron of the Kings Exchequer that the Sheriffs of London at those days might lawfully enter into the Town of Westminster and all other Tenements that the Abbot had within Middlesex and unto the Gate of the said Abby and there to make Summons and distrain for lack of Appearance all and every Tenant of the said Abbot 'T is not now adays only that the Londone's stand so strong for their Priviledges whatsoever some may think of it as if out of stubbornness and opposition Their Fore-Fathers were like-minded and stood up couragiously in defence of their just Rights and Liberties against Arbitrary Encroachers above Four Hundred years ago Anno 1262. After this the former Complaint of the Aliens and others was declared before the King and his Lords in the Parliament at Westminster This is the Term Fabian gives it but whether on the same account as he did before when he expounded a Parliament by a Council of Lords in the 43d Year pag. I am not so certain as positively to determine Here the Chronicle tell us it was at last sentenced but by what means and Inducements is not there set down that the Barons should restore all such Goods as they and their Company had taken from all Persons before that day as well to Aliens as other men both Spiritual and Temporal and also that such Menial Servants as should be daily in the Kings House and about his Person should be such as the King would choose and admit himself But the dissenting Barons utterly rejected these Articles whereupon the Fire of Dissention was again kindled between the King and those his Lords In the 47th Year by procurement of the Barons we are told that the Commons of London chose unto their Mayor for that Year Thomas Fiz Thomas Robert Moumphere and Robert de Suffolk were Sheriffs and without Counsel of the Aldermen swore him at Guild-Hall upon Simon and Jude's day and made no presentment of him the morrow following to the King nor to the Barons of the Exchequer as had been the custom For which we may easily suppose the King was much discontented with the City Whereupon the King perceiving the City would take the Barons part having caused his Son to seise Windsor Castle by a Train early in a Morning a little before Christmas he rode thither from Westminster whither shortly after came also many of the Lords that were upon the King's party As fast likewise the Lords and Knights on the Earl of Leicester's side drew towards London so that on either part was much People assembled In the mean time some well disposed Mediators endeavouring a Concord between the King and his Lords it was finally agreed by both parties that all matters concerning the foresaid Articles of the Statutes and Ordinances made at Oxford and afterwards by the 12 Peers should be referred to the French King to judge which should be held and which not Upon this Agreement were Copies made of the said Statutes with Letters shewing the â—ffect of the former Agreement and sent unto Lewis the French King Over sails the King with his Sâ—n Edward and others of his Council on one side On the other were sent Sir Peter de Mountford and others as so many Sollicitors for their mutual Parties So that the Statutes were strongly argued before the French King by both sides In the end the French King Lewis calling before him both Parties on January the 24th and sitting in Judgment gave express Sentence that all and every of the said Statutes and Ordinances should be from that day forward utterly void and set at nought and all such Bonds and Promises that the King or any other had made for the maintenance of the same should be annulled and cancelled and the King and all others for any matter concerning those Statutes set at Liberty After this Sentence thus given the King returned into England and so to London February the 15th This King Lewis is named a Saint for that he was not I suppose so bad as other Princes too too commonly are or more probably for some deeds of his pleasing to the Popish Clergy as his sending to destroy the then accounted Heretical Albigenses his taking a Voyage once into the Holy Land and undertaking a second towards the same place at the Popes request For at that time the Holy War as 't is generally called was cried up in these Western parts of the World as a high piece of Devotion But whatever esteem Lewis had got in the World the Barons it seems continued not to have the same Veneration for him but were contrary wise much moved with his Sentence noting great Partiality in him thus to disannul all the foresaid Acts which were at first made in Parliament the King agreeing to them and had been variously confirmed by the Kings Grant his Oath and manifold Promises together with a solemn Curse denounced against such as would attempt in word and deed to break them It may be 't was the Fame of this King Lewis's Goodness that made the Barons consent to have him the Umpire as one concerned on neither party But what could be expected in the Case Could it be supposed that he a King would not favour his Brother King what he might rather than by confirming these Acts pretended so prejudicial to all Royal Prerogative give Example to his own Subjects to require the like at his hands or attempt to compel him thereto by force Had the Lords gotten an Umpire from among some disinterested Subjects of some other Land he perhaps would have adjusted the business wholly in their favour So hard had it been to have met with a just Arbitrator in the case who would not have declined to one or the other Party for fear nor favour King Henry having thus got a Verdict on his side and the Barons noting Partiality and therefore refusing to stand to the Judgment though the Chronicle intimates to us that they had promised assuredly to abide the French Kings Arbitration For King Lewis expresly excepting King John's Charter before granted the Barons persisted in defence of the Oxford Statutes as founded on that Charter What then remains but to commit all to the last Decision of the Sword and so the whole Arbitrement shall be cast more immediately into the hands of Providence Away from London go the Lords Westward into the Marches of Wales where drawing to them great Power they war upon the Lands and Castles of Sir Roger Mortimer to whose aid Edward the King's Son coming his People were distressed and he himself almost taken To redress these grievances a new Parliament was appointed at Oxford which Fabian says never came to effect Yet he mentions another Chronicle which affirms this Parliament
Thomas Weyland Adam Stretton and others who being by the Kings order Examined and found guilty of the Trespasses laid to their Charge were â—ither out-law'd and lost their goods or else long â—mprisoned and deeply Fin'd A large Catalogue â—f them and their Fines are to be seen in Stows 〈◊〉 whence 't is observable how suddainly vengeâ—nce over-takes Oppressors let them be never so Rich High and Mighty in Office Power or Authority as soon as ever the Kings mind is inspir'd from above to inspect their actions and punish their crimes Remarkable is the 19th Year for the Jews Banishment which we find bought of thâ— King by the Commons at the price of a Fifteen In the 21st year we hear of a Parliament held at London and of the King of Scot's coming thither with divers of his Lords The punishment inflicted on three men for rescuing a Prisoner from an Officer belonging to the Sheriffs of London by striking off their right hands at the wrist in Cheapside is noted for one of this years actions Hence let us leap to the 24th year and there among thaâ— years deeds we find mention made of a new subsidy levied by the King upon Wool going out oâ— England Fels and Hides for his War with thâ— French King of his Commanding the Mony before granted by the Clergy towards the defence oâ— the Holy Land to be brought into his Treasury upon the Report he had from Rome of Pope Boniface the 8ths manners of the grant he got of thâ— Clergy of half their Spiritual and Temporal Lands from a Benefice of 20 Marks and upwards to bâ— paid in three years And of the Tax he had also granted him by the Lay-fee viz. the Tenth penny of their movables to be paid in two years time If any one be desirous to certifie himself whaâ— Relation Scotland stood in towards England foâ— many ages before let him read through the Relation of this years actions in Fabian's Chronicle and there he may be satisfied if it will conduce to his satisfaction to find that Scotland even in Elder times in a sort depended on England and waâ— so far from giving Laws or an Example and Patern thereto that it's Nobles were fain to submit themselves to the King of England's Judgmenâ— and decree and do him Homage and Fealty in effecâ— by the submission of their King whom King Edward had appointed and set over them Memoâ—able is the six and twentieth year for that thereâ—n the Londoners obtain'd of King Edward newâ—y come from beyond Sea into England and so to Winchester a grant of their Liberties and Franchises which had in some part been kept from them by â—he term of twelve years and more so that they â—gain chose a Major of themselves whereas in â—he aforesaid time their Custos or Guardian was appointed by the King or by such as the King would assign But we are to understand by the Chronicle that this was not redeem'd without a great Sum of money Some Writers it seems fixing it at three thousand marks As this King had many Wars especially with Scotland which put him to great charges and had much money granted him by his Subjects so he ceased not to devise other ways to raise more and get what was denied him For as much as divers men â—ichly benefic'd in the Land refus'd to aid him with their Goods as others had and for that end had purchased from the Pope an Inhibition that they and their goods should be free from the King's Taxes he put them this year out of his protection a strain of State policy beyond some other Kings and seis'd their Temporalties permitting them to enjoy their Spiritualties till they agreed with him Though this was a warlike Prince and oft successful in his undertakings yet the Clergy's power so over-top't the Laity's that he chose rather to make use of his Wits than his Arms in dealing with them So have I read in William the Second's days how when his Unkle being both a Bishop and an Earl grew troublesome to him he seis'd upon the Earl and clapt him in hold whereby he caught and revenged himself on the Bishop too without openly pretending to meddle with a Clergy Man An offence esteem'd piacular in those days to such an height of Pride were the Popish Clergy grown An other practice of King Edward was his suddain Condemning certain Coines of Mony call'd Pollards Crocardes and Rosaries in his twenty seventh year and causing them to be brought to a new Coynage to his great advantage as testifies the Historian Among others may be also numbred that Inquisition he caus'd to be made throughout the Land in the twenty eighth year which was after nam'd Trailbaston This we find made upon Officers as Majors Sheriffs Bayliffs Escheators and many others who had misborn themselves in their Offices and had us'd Extortion or treated the people otherwise than was according to the order of their Offices So vigilant appeared this Prince and careful of his people that they might not be abused nor oppressed by their fellow Subjects when got into power under pretence of being his Majesties Officers a thing we know common enough in the world In the twenty eighth year we have mention made of the City of London's Splendor and Magnificence upon the account of their receiving the new Queen Margaret Sister to the French King Thus runs my Authors short Relation hereof The Citizens to the number of six hundred Rode in one Livery of Red and White with the Cognizance of divers Misteries broidered upon their sleeves and received her four Miles without the City and so conveyed her through the City which then was garnished and hanged with Tapestry and Arras and other Cloths of Silk and Riches in most goodly wise unto Westminster This is the year wherein Fabian makes the first mention of Pierce of Gaviston in his Chronicle upon Occasion of the Bishop of Chesters complaining to the King of him his Eldest Son Edward and others for breaking the Bishops Park and riotously destroying the Game therein For this was the aforesaid Edward and his Accomplices Imprisoned So that under this famous King the very next Heir apparent scap'd not the Lash of the Law when he had offended even to an actual Imprisonment so far were men in those days from asserting him to be above the Law and not Lyable to condign punishment because the next Heir Afterwards the King Banished the aforesaid Gaviston out of England for fear lest he should debauch his Son But this Banishment was after his death annulled by his Son Edward when King to the great trouble and vexation of the Land afterwards The twenty ninth may be esteemed not unworthy of remark for the Kings giving to Edward his Son the Principality of Wales whereunto he likewis'd joyn'd the Earldom of Cornwal newly Vacant and return'd to the Crown In the 33d year we read of the taking arraigning drawing hanging and quartering of William Waleys who of an unknown
Stones So great a value did this high-flown Duke set upon his grace and favour till the Citizens of this honourable City by their power and prudence had brought down his haughty spirit a Peg or two lower and that visibly too For we don't find him as ambitious as he still continued so openly aspiring to Englands Crown for the future how successfully soever his Son made a Rape thereon at the end of this Princes Reign under the pretence of I know not what hidden right accruing to him from his Mother We read indeed I confess in Cotton's Abridgment of the Records that in the seventeenth of this King the Earl of Arundel laid several things to the Dukes charge as not honourable for the King to suffer in him nor fit for him to do being a Subject as that he went Arm in Arm with the King and his Men wear the same Livery the Kings did which seems to shew much of Arrogancy and Ambition to say no more besides some other Objections but herein he was so far justified by the King himself that the Earl was ordered to crave the Dukes Pardon in full Parliament in a certain form of words appointed him In Stows Annals also we meet with an Accusation brought against him in the seventh of this Kings Reign tending to prove his intent and design suddainly to oppress the King and take upon himself the Kingdom but it seems little notice was taken of it by the King himself who was to have lost most had it been attempted Successfully and doubtless as little believ'd otherwise surely the Schedule containing the time place and other Circumstances had not been presently delivered into the Dukes hands nor the accuser committed at his request to the charge of his near Kinsman nor the occasion of his violent Death so little inquired into afterwards The Duke was not so powerful nor so great a Terror but the City was as well able still to deal with him and his whole party and make as vigorous opposition as ever in defence of their Soveraign Lord the King if occasion should have offered it self This we have reason to believe was known in those days to all the Nation much more to the Duke himself from former experience who therefore may be suppos'd not any more to have aspir'd openly whatever secret fires of Ambition lay hidden within his breast whether or no he design'd and attempted ought by unseen Plots and Conspiracies I leave to the Judicious Reader to believe or not as he pleases without speaking to or for in the case Besides the decree of an over-ruling Providence Common equity in siding with what was reputed the juster title natural humanity in defending the young and weak and a well grounded affection to the Prince for his Father and Grand-Fathers sake one the famous Black Prince the other the Glorious Edward the third their King and Sovereign we may conclude the generality of the Citizens had the greater aversion to the Duke and his faction because he was a known favourer of Wickliff and his Doctrines whether on a good account or only out of any Ambitious Design I shall not determine in this place and so look't upon perhaps as little better than another Juliâ—n the Apostate For we are to know that Londons Religion and consequently the Nations was at that time Popish and the generality of the People in Town and Country Romes Votaries who had Wickliffs Doctrine in as great detestation then under the Notion of Heresy as we Protestants have it now in esteem under the Seal and assurance of Truth As indeed for many of the ages past from our ever-blessed Saviours Birth through which I have drawn the thread of this discourse and under the succeeding Kings for above an hundred years Popery continued the National Religion under the power and prevalency of which perswasion was the body of the Citizens bred up who prov'd so famous in their Generations for their powerful influence on the grand concerns of the Nation in every considerable turn and change of the times before the Reformation And when England was made happy with this blessed alteration the Cities Power Strength and Esteem remain'd the same in effect as ever the change of her Religion introducing no change therein unless for the better she encreasing proportionably in every age in Wealth Riches and Honour as the Nation grew stronger and stronger And still continues as visibly conspicuous under Protestantism as before under the Romish Faith a thing easy to be demonstrated in due time and place How influential the Cities actions were upon the Nations affairs and her Love advantagious to the Orphan Prince in securing his Claim Right and Title to the Crown in his Grand-Fathers life time and setling him quietly on the Throne at his Death in spight of all the opposition the deep designs and daring Spirit of his Aspiring Uncle John of Gaunt and his faction could make when they had got the reigns of publick Government into their own hands through the Old Kings Connivance hath been the subject of several of the aforegoing pages The next thing of course falling under present consideration is to observe how this Honourable City of London behav'd her self after she had lent her â—ssistance to raise this Young Prince from the â—eanness of a Subject to the Royal Dignity and Grandeur of a King under the Name of Richard the Second what place she held in his affections â—nd of what esteem in the eyes of all the rest of â—he people But where shall I begin and when â—hall I end Sooner may I be wearied with readâ—ng and tir'd with writing than fail of matter â—o exercise my Pen so copious is my Subject and â—o full of Variety For in my searches into the Histories of this Kings Reign I find it plain to a â—emonstration that the City carried a great sway â—mongst all Ranks and Degrees from the Prince â—o the Subject from the King the Supream to â—is subordinate Magistrates and Ministers and was highly Honour'd Rever'd and Respected â—mong the Nobility Gentry and Commonalty â—f the Land both in the calm of peace and the â—oisterous storms of civil distractions I begin first with the Honourable House of Commons the known representative of the Commons of England and concerning them obâ—erve out of Sir Robert Cotton's exact Abridgment of the Records in the Tower revis'd by William Prynne Esq that in the first Parliament of this King in his first year among other Petitions of the Commons there is to be found one particular division under the Title of Petitions for the City of London wherein the House of Commons become express Petitioners so great was the Cities influence over their Debates and so high a respect had they for her to the King for many considerable Grants in favour of the Citizens and to them very advantagious and beneficial As that all their Liberties may be confirm'd with a Non obstante That they attend upon no Commandment
Law to the Destruction of the Duke of Glâ—ucester and the Earls of Arundel and Warwick at Shrewscury For that the King against his Promise procured the Duke of Ireland sundry Rebells about Cheshire where diverse Murders by him were committed For that the King against his own Promise and Pardon at the Solemn Procession apprehended the Duke of Gloucester and sent him to Callice there to be choked and murdered beheading the Earle of Arundel and banishing the Earl of Warwick and the Lord Cobham For that the Kings Retinue and rout gathered out of Cheshire about the apprehension of those Nobles committed diverse Murders Rapes and other Fellonies besides refusing to pay for their Victuals For that the King condemned the Nobles aforesaid for divers rodes made within the Realm contrary to his open Proclamation For that the King doubly Fined Men for their Pardons For that the King to oppress his whole subjects procured in his last Parliament that the Power thereof was committed to certain Persons For that the King being sworn to Minister right did notwithstanding enact in the last Parliament that no mediation should be made for the Duke of Lancaster contrary to his said Oath For that the Crown of England being freed from the Pope and all other forraign Power the King notwithstanding procured the Popes Excommunication on such as brake the last Parliament in derogation of the Crown Statutes and Laws of the Realm For that the King banished the Duke of Lancaster for 10 years without any Cause as the same King openly affirmed For that the King unlawfully revoked the Letters Patents made to the said Duke of Lancaster in An. 21. For that the King contrary to the Laws and will of the Justices suffered Sheriffs to continue longer than one year and placed such therein as were unfit For that the King repayed not to his Subjects debts of them borrowed For that the King in the time of Truce and Peace exacted great Subsidies and wasted the same about frivilous matters For that the King refused to execute the Laws Saying that the Laws were in his Mouth and Breast For that the King by procuring by Statutes that he might be free as any of his Progenitors did under colour thereof subvert Laws according to his Will For that the King procured Knights of the Shires to be made to serve his own will For that the King enforced Sheriffs to be Sworn to execute all Commandemens under the Great Seal Privy Seal or Signet contrary to their accustomed Oaths For that the King to wrack mony from his Subjects procured 17 several Shires to submit themselves to his Grace whereby great sums of mony were Levied For that the King being Sworn to observe the Liberties of the Church notwithstanding at his Voyage into Ireland enforced diverse Religious Persons to give Horse Armour and Carts For that the Justices for their good Councel given to the King were with evil Countenance and threats rewarded For that the King of his own Will in passing into Ireland carried with him the Treasures Reliques and other Jewels of the Realm which were used safely to be kept in the Kings own Coffers from all hazard and for that the same King cancelled and razed sundry Records For that the King by writing to Forreign Princes and to his own Subjects is reputed universally a most variable and dissembling man For that the King would commonly say among the Nobles that all Subjects Lives Lands and Goods were in his hands without any forfeiture For that the King suffered his Subjects to be condemned by Marshal-Law contrary to his Oath and the Laws of the Realm For that the Subjects being only bound by their Allegiance were yet driven to take certain New Oaths for serving the folly of the King For that the King by his private Letters would charge the Ecclesiastical Ministers in any new Canonical matter to stay contrary to his Oath For that the King by force in his Parliament banished the Arch Bishop of Canterbury without any good Ground For that the King by his last Will passed under the Great Seal and Privy Signet gave unto his Successors certain Money and Treasure upon Condition to perform all the Acts and Orders in the last Parliament which being ungodly and unlawful he meant as ungodlily to dy in For that the King in the 11th of his Reign in his Chappel in the Manour of Langley in the presence of the Duke of Lancaster and Yorke and others received the Sacrament of the Lords Body that he would never impeach the Duke of Gloucester his Uncle for any thing before done and yet to the Contrary procured him to be murdered For that the King most fraudulently and untruely against his own Oath Banished the Arch Bishop of Canterbury and wasted his Goods in which Article in private Conference between the said Arch Bishop the King in a manner prophesied and doubted that the like would happen of himself and thereupon shewed a special Token to the Arch Bishop That if he sent the same at any time that the Arch Bishop should look that the King would come to him These were the Imputations laid to his charge and that they were then thought true or at least not contradicted is self-Evident all seeming highly desirous of a Change and few dispos'd to espouse the depos'd Kings Cause and Interest so furious and violent was the Current of the Times as to bear away well nigh all before it That Parliament being so full of the new Kings Favourers and so empty of the old Kings true and cordial Friends that I remember to have read of but one viz. the Loyal Bishop of Carlisle who after a little Demur of a few dayes time upon a Motion made in Parliament about the disposal of King Richard stood up boldly and undauntedly for his old Lord and Master in the midst of his professed and declared Enemies and known Deserters His Speech as a rare Example of Fidelity giving us the very Quintessence of Loyalty I shall venture to set down out of Sir Richard Bakers Chronicle with the Consequents as follows My Lords The Matter now propounded is of marvellous Weight and Consequence wherein there are two Points chiefly to be considered The First whether King Richard be sufficiently put out of his Throne The Second whether the Duke of Lancaster be lawfully taken in For the First How can that be sufficiently done when there is no Power sufficient to do it The Parliament cannot for of the Parliament the King is the Head and can the Body put down the Head You will say but the Head may bow it self down and may the King resign It is true but what force is in that which is done by force And who knows not that King Richard's Resignation was no other But suppose he be sufficiently out yet how comes the Duke of Lancaster to be lawfully in If you say by Conquest you speak Treason For what Conquest without Arms And can a Subject take Arms
slightness of their thin-spun pretences and weakness of their groundless Imputations A pretty device to make Riots and Insurrections and then accuse the contrary Party of them as if they had been so Fanatical as tumultuously to meet together vi armis without any Arms about them or Weapons in their hands to disturb the Kings Peace and with no worse design than the Warrant of annual Customs whereon some in an unheard of manner without Law or Reason and contrary to common sence intruded to deprive them of the benefit thereof Out of the forementioned Monkish Writer Stow tells us of an Army of Twenty Five Thousand that were to have met Sir John in St. Giles's Fields and yet for all this great Cry we find not One Hundred taken though he affirms Sixty Nine of them to be condemn'd of Treason upon such kind of proofs perhaps as these whereon the Composer of Sir Walter Rawleigh's Life makes him to have been found Guilty of Treason in the First of King James for which he had the honour to be Beheaded about Forty Years after upon his Return from his unsuccessful Guyana Voyage and Thirty Seven Hang'd But the Record out of the Kings-Bench the most authentick Evidence mentions only That Sir John Oldcastle and others to the number of Twenty Men call'd Lollards at St. Giles did conspire to Subvert the State of the Clergy this it seems then was the principal Offence the rest Aggravations without which the Scales could not have been well weigh'd down and to Kill the King and his Brother and other Nobles as any English Reader may see in Cottons Abridgment at the afore-cited Parliament of the Fifth of this King Where now are any good grounds for this malicious Out-cry upon the Dissenting Wicklivists for Traiterous Plotters and Conspirators And what 's become of the great Army that Fame and Report had Rais'd But perhaps the Inn-keepers in the adjacent Hamlets and neighbouring Villages were not only their familiar Friends but intimate Acquaintance as Mr. Bags ingenuity to the elevating and surprizing of our Minds hath taught us to express it how otherwise this Achilles and his dreadful Army of Mirmidons could have continued thus unseen and slipt away in Disguise seems not reconcileable to Sence and Reason And yet how such great Numbers could have lain hid within the compass of a Readmote or have been put like Homers Iliads in a Nut-shell is a thing that passeth all my understanding to conceive If ever such a thing was as doubtless it never hapned in Europe nor amongst either our antient or modern Reformers certainly then this unconceivable Wonder must have fell out in the Reign of Queen Dick King of no Lands upon the Terra incognita of some other of the Fairy Islands bordering upon Vtopia where Prince Oberon and Queen Mab liv'd in dayly dread and fear of King Arthur Sir Lancelot and Sir Tristram and the rest of the Knights of his round Table or miserably perplext themselves every hour and minute with needless Scruples Jealousies and Suspicions about the unimagin'd Designs of the Noble Duke Ogier to advance himself and his little Mervine who afterwards did such heroick Exploits upon the Souldan of Babylon and his bloody cut-throat Army of Sarazens when he turn'd to the Assistance of the famous Câ—arlemain and his Peers But laying aside these idle Stories of the Monkish Romancers I pass on from our famous win-All Henry of Monmouth to the unfortunate English lose-All Henry of Windsor a far better Man than King as being more intentive upon the Devotions of the Times than the Government of his Realm and better skill'd in his Beads than his Scepter and therefore seems rather cut out for a Priest than a Prince In this Kings Minority while such great States-men and Patriots as his most renowned Uncles Bedford and Gloucester sate at the Helm and steadily Steer'd the Ship of the Common-Wealth one by his Arms the other by his Arts Honour and Renown attended upon the English Banners in France and the Land at Home in peace and quietness Flourished under the benign Influence of their successful Councels for the most part free from civil Broils and Commotions King Henry being in actual Possession of both Crowns under the conduct of such noble and worthy Directors But when Death had snatch'd away one from his Regency in France and the other was dismist from his Protectorship in England through the course of time The King being grown in Years and come to ripeness of Age though not it seems to such a degree of understanding as might capacitate him to act the part of a King further than in Name and Shew his Affairs in forreign Parts soon went miserably to wrack and being turn'd out of almost all beyond Sea deadly Fewds and Annimosities the usual attendants of ill Success abroad encreast so fast at Home between the Nobles and great Persons of the Realm and such intestine Jars sprung up in the Nation that after many Battles fought and much Royal Blood spilt the York Party prevail'd over the Lancastrians and the poor King himself though the Miracle of Age for Devotion lost his Crown Life and All at last Whether 't was purely the ill success abroad or the ill management of the State at home the unhappy Fate attending the Kings Matching with Queen Margaret to the breach of a former Contract or the unseasonable stirring of her and her accomplices to Suppress Ruine and Root out the other Party whereby they were compell'd for their own Security to link themselves together in the strictest bonds of Confederacy and stand continually upon their own Guard Whether the weakness of the King or the restless Spirit of the Queen too Active for her Sex The much resented Death of the Duke of Glocester or the subtle Arts and Devices of the Duke of York into the particulars whereof I will not now descend as being the Subject of a distinct Treatise by it self and the Popularity of the great Earl of Warwick Whether 't was any of these single or all of them joyntly concurring or rather the over-ruling Providence of an Almighty Being that made this strange Alteration in the Face of things to the dethroning of one Prince the most devoted of his time to religious Exercises and exalting of another as much given to Women as the former to Religion whereby the White Rose overtopt the Red Certain it is the City of London had a great Influence upon these Transactions and the favour the Citizens bore to the Duke of York and his Party contributed highly to the advancing of his Interest above the King Regnants if they were not the only grand causes under Heaven that produc't such wonderful and stupendious Effects This the more clearly to demonstrate I shall not oblidge my self exactly to trace the whole Series of State affairs through the following Princes Reigns nor over-scrupulously confine my self to the Life of this or that King distinctly and apart But design to
Londinum Triumphans OR AN HISTORICAL ACCOVNT OF THE Grand Influence THE ACTIONS OF THE CITY of LONDON Have had upon the AFFAIRS of the NATION for many Ages past SHEWING The Antiquity Honour Glory and Renown of this FAMOUS CITY The Grounds of her Rights Priviledges and Franchises The Foundation of her CHARTER The Improbability of a Forfeiture and Impossibility of a Legal Seisure The Power and Strength of the Citizens and the Prevalency of the Commonalty in their Contests with the Magistracy Collected from the most Authentick Authors and illustrated with variety of REMARKS Nullum est jam dictum quod non dictum sit prius No new thing under the Sun LONDON Printed for the Author and are to be Sold by L. Curtis at the Sign of Sir Edmondbury Godfreys Head MDCLXXXII THE DEDICATION To the HONOURABLE SIr Thomas Allen Kt. Aldermen of the City of LONDON Sir John Frederick Kt. Sir John Lawrence Kt. Sir Robert Clayton Kt. Sir Patience Ward Kt. Sir Thomas Gold Kt. Sir John Shorter Kt. and Henry Cornish Esq And to the Worshipful Thomas Pilkington Esq Another of the Aldermen of the said City and Samuel Shute Esq The Worthy SHERIFFS for the year Past Sir Thomas Player Kt. Chamberlain of the same Thomas Papillion Esq John Dubois Esq And to all the rest of those Eminent Citizens who have so worthily asserted the Rights Liberties Priviledges Franchises and Immunities of this Ancient and Honourable CITY This Book is most HUMBLY DEDICATED by W. G. TO THE READER IF Antiquity and Duration wealth and riches strength and power can make a City famous If an honourable renown visible grandeur and unparallel'd priviledges may render her glorous in the eyes of the World If the Spirit of her Citizens influence of her actions and a continued train of Successes can justly give her the denomination of powerful Then may this great ancient and renowned City of London deservedly be esteem'd one of the eminentest Cities of the Vniverse unless the Lie be given to the most Authentick of all our English Historians and we must not like the Papists believe our own eyes nor give credit to our ears but bid adieu to all rational knowledge and deny the force of true Logical Illations inferences and conclusions Such being the subject of this following Treatise purposely design'd for a demonstration of Londons power and a convincing argument of the irresistible influence of her actions over all the Nation for many hundreds of years strongly founded on undeniable Truths and throughout carried on in an uninterrupted series of affairs by a train of inflances and examples and an unbroken chain of inductions And being conscious to my self of no base slurs nor abuses ingentilely impos'd upon the faith of any one by false quotations corrupting of Authors or wilful mistakes as knowing my self easily disprov'd if guilty and therefore so much the more cautious by how much the more certain that these Papers would be made to undergo the severe Ordeal of a strict and rigid examination from a critical age I am apt to flatter my self into the hopes of being accepted among the lovers and admirers of this Honourable City and of having presented the worthy Citizens with somewhat grateful pleasing and delightful to their palates because treating of their Ancestors glory and renown their own power and the necessary consequence thereof the grand influence of their publick actions and fixt resolutions upon the Councils of this Kingdom But whether my trust and confidence in my own poor abilities and my hopes are so good as my ambition is great to serve this Honourable City and I have any sound reasons to believe it within the sphear of my Capacity and the power of my pen to lay any thing looking like an obligation upon the worshipful Citizens thereof others are the most proper judges and the event will best shew If any out of prejudice to the subject and a censorious Spirit shall lay it to my charge that the whole book looks reflective in answer to the imputation I shall humbly desire this favour at his hands that he would be pleas'd to give himself the trouble of turning to the Authors to whom I so often refer and thence he may be abundantly satisfied of my honesty and sincerity if he be not over much prejudic'd already or of so narrow a Soul as to be wholly and altogether byass'd to the interest of any one particular party against the plainest evidence of sense reason and truth Besides in my further vindication I can assure him that a great part hereof was drawn up the last Autumn and undeniably prove it too by demonstrative Arguments if need were So that if it had appear'd in the world so early as was at first designed though I have been unwillingly hindered hitherto some on the other side might have been by this time ready to have term'd it predictive Though it was never intended as the off-spring of Prophecy or Astrology but only the result of an ordinary judgment and common foresight grounded on easy unforc'd deductions from plain historical truths and the apparent consequences of things acted on the English stage heretofore Therefore I shall not value the impertinence of weekly observations nor dread the doughty remarks of the whole tribe of common ordinary Scriblers as thinking my self secure within the strength of the argument and the authorities here produc'd to confirm and illustrate it whereupon I am bold to defy the art and malice of evil minded men to disprove me in any thing necessarily material as to the substantial part thereof though as to what concerns any of the lesser Errata I hope the courteous Reader will be so much a Gentleman as to look on them but as venial errors and favourably pass over those slips of my Pen if he apprehend any such as unavoidable weaknesses always incident to human frailty For I profess my self rather a Transcriber than an Author and esteem this Relation the product of my reading more than the issue of my brain Which if it may be in any wise advantagious to the publick and acceptable to the Learned and Ingenious I know not but upon good encouragement I may be ready enough to produce somewhat else more extensive than to the Rights of one particular City though it be acknowledged time out of mind to have been the Epitome and Abridgment of the Kingdom as well as the head both of King and Laws Londinum Triumphans HOW considerable a Figure the City of London makes in the present Government is conceal'd I suppose but from few in the Land But the Influence its Actions have had upon the Affairs of the Nation in past Ages is not so generally known The Glory and Splendor of this Noble City is so obvious to the Eyes of the Curious that they cannot rationally conceive it to be the Work of a Day or an Age but that like other Cities eminent in Story it hath risen up by Degrees from small Beginnings to
his Name to the Place Those Monkish Writers scarce thinking their Hero's Valour sufficiently Celebrated unless they make them meet with and encounter some such Gygantick Adventures where the little Knight shall be sure to over-come the great Gyant Brute having bestowed Cornwal upon Corineus after he had throughly searched the Land for the Pleasure he took in Thames he laid There as we are told the Foundation of a City about the Second Year after his Landing in this Isle and in remembrance of Old Troy named it Troynovant which Name it held till the Time of King Lud near upon One Thousand and Sixty Eight Years from whom 't was named Lud's Town afterwards London as shall be declared in Process of Story What Repute and Esteem this City was of in those Days as being Builded by the First Founder of the British Empire I shall leave to the Reader 's Consideration who may find it honoured with the Sepulture of many of their Kings as of Brute himself and his Eldest Son Locrine to whom in the Division made by his Father fell Middle England for his Share wherein Troynovant was situated To whom may be added Cunedagius and Gorbodug the Father of Ferrex and Porrex the Last of Brute's Line But now the Coast begins to clear up a little more after the Storms of Civil Wars by the Success of Mulmutius Dunwallo Son of Cloton Duke of Cornwal This Dunwallo having vanquished the other Competitors and settled the Land caused a Temple to be builded in Troynovant and named it the Temple of Peace the same according to some Men's Opinions that now is called Blackwell-Hall a Place well known to the Clothiers His Fame is much increas'd by the many good Ordinances he made which were called Mulmutius's Laws and used long after his Decease That this City of Troynovant was of Repute and Renown in this so Famous a Man's Days is hardly to be doubted of by him that considers so eminent a Circumstance as the Building of a Temple of Peace within the Circuit of this City as an Effect of that Peace he had so happily settled in the Land and it may be in Gratitude to the Citizens who probably favour'd his Cause and so might much influence his Actions and Enterprizes In the same Temple of Peace was he laid after his Death which he had been the Occasion of Building in his Life In the Time of Belinus and Brennus his Sons after their Reconcilement Accord we read of their going to Troynovant with their Lords and Friends where after many things ordered for the Common Benefit of the Land they joyntly agreed to lead both their Hosts over the Sea to subdue other Countrys the Smart of which Voyage the Romans felt sufficiently under Brennus and his Gauls By Belinus we sind that an Haven was built in the same Troynovant with a Gate over it call'd even at this Day Belings-gate on whose Pinnacle was set a Brazen Vessel which contain'd the Ashes of his Body burnt after his Death In this City we likewise find that Gurguintus was Buried and also Guintellius his Son from whose Wife Marcia came the Marcian-Law fam'd long after â—mong the Britains and Saxons These being of some Eminency in their 〈…〉 Buried in this City after their Deaths It 〈…〉 safely be concluded That they 〈…〉 therein as their Principal City and 〈…〉 of the Realm Yet we read of other 〈…〉 Note in those Times and after as of 〈…〉 one where Archigallo before depos'd by his Loâ—â—s for his ill Government was through the Intercession of Elidurus his Brother then Reigning at a Councel of the Britains by him call'd restor'd to his former Dignity When the same Elidurus had gain'd the Assent of his Barons and the good Will of the Commons However Troynovant seems in those Days to have been esteem'd a Place of Security and mention of a Tower therein we find on Occasion of the same foremention'd Elidurus's being sent thither by his unkind younger Brothers to be safely kept as a Prisoner therein The succeeding Times are so barbarous that but little considerable is left upon Record concerning any Actions then done untill we come to the Reign of Lud Eldest Son of Heli which began about Sixty Six Years before our Blessed Saviours Incarnatâ—on according to Stow. This Man is much prais'd by the Historian for his Worthy Actions and Honourable Deeds for his Valour Liberality and Hospitable House-keeping and his repairing Old Cities and Towns Especially in Troynovant he is Recorded to have caused many Buildings to be made encompassing it also round with a strong Wall of Lime and Stone In the West-Part whereof stands a Gate by him Builded and known even at this Day by the Name of Ludgate For his Love to this City he used most to abide therein Whereupon it was called Caer-Lud or Lud's Town Whence by Corruption and shortning of Words comes the present Name London whereby it shall be called for the future and the former Name Troynovant laid aside in this following Relation Lud dying after an Honourable Reign he was Buried in the aforementioned Gate of his named Port-Lud or Lud-gate where are yet standing the Statues of Him and his Sons as a lasting Monument of his Memory In Cassibellan's Reign the next Successour but whether Son or Brother to Lud is not agreed upon by all Authors we find considerable mention made of London in the Story through Occasion of Cassibellan's Victory over the Romans newly Landed under the Leading of Julius Caesar and twice repelled by the Britain's Valour London was the Place appointed by the King to Celebrate this Victory return Thanks to his Gods and Rewards to his Valourous Knights Here therefore we read of a great Assembly held of his Lords and Knights and of the King 's keeping a Noble and Solemn Feast for all Comers and the Exercise of all kind of Games in those Days used But Difference arising at the Wrestling between a couple of Young Noble Knights allied One of them to the King and the Other to Androgeus Earl or Duke of London as he is somewhere called and from Words these Hotspurs coming to Blows occasion'd such sideing and variance amongst the Company that many were wounded and the Kings Nephew slain to the great disturbance of the Court. For Disgust hence growing between the King and Androgeus to whom the King had given the City of London with the Dukedome or Earldome of Kent besides an Honourable Education suitable to his Birth he being Lud's Eldest Son and so Heir to the Kingdom according to some Writers the other being but his Brother and this Disgust producing War wherein the King was likely to be much the stronger Androgeus recalls Caesar with his Romans to his Aid and assists them in their Landing and joyning his whole Power soon turn'd the Scales bringing Victory to the Romans and an Overthrow and Loss of their ancient Freedome to Cassibellan and his Britains So considerable was the Assistance that Androgeus with
his Londoners and other Knights brought to the Enemy So difficult was it even to Caesar himself to Conquer Britain having been more than once foil'd by the Britains Caesar tells us of the Trynobants being the strongest of all those Cities by which understand London which submitted to him over whom he placed at their request one Mandubratius whose Father their chief Lord or Ruler Cassibellan had before Slain Be these two Histories the same or different yet either I believe will serve to make good my Assertion of Londons Power Fame and Esteem in those ancient Times Though Britain was hereby made Tributary yet I do not find that London lost it's Esteem For Tenancuis is said to be Buried here and also Cunobelinâ—s or Kymbeline his Son both King 's after Cassibellan In this Kymbeline's Days near about the Nineteenth Year of his Reign or Fourteenth according to Stow Our Blessed Saviour Christ Jesus was Born as is the Opinion of most Writers Henceforth therefore leaving off the Old way of accounting from the World's Creation I shall follow the Christian manner of Computation reckoning from the Birth of our Lord Christ which was in the Forty Second Year of Augustus's Empire as a surer and more certain way Except the Crowning of Arviragus in London I find but little mention of this Honourable City till the Reign of King Lucius who being esteemed by many the first Christian King in the World turn'd the Arch-flamins-See at London into an Arch-Bishoprick the Names of some of which Arch-Bishops we meet with â—ver and anon in Story as such who had a considerable Power in the Land About 226 London was of such Strength that Alectus with his Romans as Fabian relates being over-press'd by the Britains under the Leading of Asclepiodotus chose this City for his Refuge as being then it seems of greatest Security and he being afterwards slain Livius Gallus another Roman Leader manfully desended himself and his Romans in the same City then closely besieged by the Britains till in their entring he was slain near a River running thereby and thrown thereinto which occasioned it afterwards to be call'd Gallus or Wallus-Brook Some Memorial whereof we find remaining at this Day in the Street now standing where that River sometimes ran and known by the Name of Wall-brook After the Departure of the Romans out of this Land many Outrages being committed 〈◊〉 by the Picts and Scots in the Time of 〈…〉 Honorius we read of 〈…〉 by the Arch-Bishop 〈…〉 the Britains to consâ—lt of 〈…〉 many Miserie 's then haâ—ging â—ver 〈…〉 by reason of their Enemies Strength and 〈…〉 Inability to defend themselves as being 〈…〉 no certain Head The Result of which Meetâ—â—â— was to desire Aid of the King of Little Britain which they by Embassy obtain'd under the Conduct of his Brother Constantinus and after Victory by him gain'd over their Enemies Crown'd him King of the Land according to their Promise before made Here was a turn of Affairs effected by the Consult at London Another Change we find not long after through the Treachery of Vortiger and the Pict who slew Constantinus's Son Constantius then King and presented his Head to the aforenam'd Vortiger then at London Which City doubtless in those Days was of much Esteem and Regard and thereupon Vortiger who bare the Chief Rule in the Kingdom at that time though the other had the Name of King probably was much resident therein expecting it may be and waiting for the Performance of this Treasonable Act that he being on the Place might have the better Opportunity to caress the Chief of that Eminent City 'T is certain we find him afterwards endeavouring to cajole the People by the great Sorrow and Heaviness he made shew of for the Kings Death and by putting the accursed Traytors to Death for their Wicked Fact according to the Law of the Land Thus many Love the Treason well enough when successful who nevertheless hate the Traytors after their own Turns be serv'd This is that Vortiger so Infamous in the British Story for his own Vices as Incest with his own Daughter Adultery c. and the Vices of the Times under him For we read that Vice was then accounted of small or no Offence Leachery reigned amongst the Spiritualty and Temporalty Every one turned the Point of his Spear against the true and innocent Man and the Commons gave them all to Idleness and Drunkenness whence ensued Fighting Strife and much Envy After the King 's Exâ—mple the World runs a gadding is a Saying commonly too true As this Vortiger gain'd his Power by Treachery so he Reigned in a manner Precariously For he was so perplexed on the one side for fear of the Return of Constantinus's surviving Sons to claim the Kingdome and the Land on the other side so harrass'd by the In-rodes of the Picts and Scots that he was after a sort compell'd to send for the Heathen Saxons who came under their Leaders Hengist and Horsus to support him about Four Hundred and Fifty Years after Our Saviours Birth The coming in of these Strangers prov'd but as it were the beginning of Miseries For being once let in they soon began to Play their Reakes in the Land and never left till by introduceing more Colonies they had settled themselves and dispossessed the Britains of the best of the Country Neither was it any great wonder that the poor Commons endur'd such Miseries from these New-come Guests when as their Spiritual and Temporal Guides were so given up to all manner of Debauchery One of Hengist's Pranks we find to be his Treacherous slaying of the British Lords at Stonehenge on Salisbury Plains under pretence of a Treaty for Peace But the better to work out his own Ends he is said to have sav'd the King alive whom he knew to have become his Enemy in shew more out of Constraint for fear of his British Lords than for any Hatred towards him he having him sufficiently intangled in the Snares of his Daughter Rowens Beauty So common a thing is it for crafty subtle Men to serve their own Ends by working upon anothers Lusts through the Mediation of an handsome Face and Prostitute Body We read of the Saxon's having got London under their Rule but whether by their own Power or the King's Gift I find not clearly mention'd That he gave Kent and other Counties to Hengist is declar'd by the Historian It may be that he gave them also London to curb it for fear least the Citizens should joyn with Constantinus's Sons whose Return he much dreaded and assist them to regain their Fathers Kingdom Henceforward for some time we are not to expect to find London so Considerable in Power under the Saxon Heptarchy as it was before and after But when all the Seven were reduc'd into one Kingdome and the Affairs of the Land settled in a little more Peace and Quietness London began again more and more to Flourish and soon rose up to such an height
that it became the fixt Metropolis of the Nation Yet in the Time of the Saxon's Heptarchy we find mention made of this Noble City several times and on several Occasions As upon account of Mordred's choosing this City to be Crown'd in when he rebell'd against King Arthur The holding of it by Mordred's Son against Constantine Son of Cador till he was slain The Flying away of the Bishops of London and York and other Ministers with their Goods and Reliques for fear of the Saxon's Cruelty under Ethelfride Whereby the Commonalty were left without Spiritual Guides the City without Her chief Pastors The setting up an Arch-Bishoprick there by Austine the Monk and the making of Melitus Bishop of the same in Ethelbert's Days The Building of St. Pauls either by the same Ethelbert or else by Sigebert King of the East-Angles as some affirm In this Ethelbert's Time we read in Fabian of the Building the First Church of Westminster in Honour of St. Peter by a Citizen of London in the West-End of London in a Place called Thorny now Westminster which before was over-grown with Bushes and Briars But Stow affirms Sebert King of the East Saxons to have Built it In the Time of Ethelwolph Son of Egbert King of the West-Saxons London is said to be spoild by the Danes and so not likely then to be of any great Strength though we find the Danes drawing themselves thitherward in Alured or Alfred's Days after an Agreement concluded between them But now again begins this City to be often mentioned in Story and grows more Famous every Day after that King Alured having Victoriously repeal'd the Danes return'd thereunto repair'd those Places that before had been injur'd by the Danes and committed it to the Guiding of Ethelred Earl or Duke of Mercia who was his Son-in-Law by Marrying his Daughter Elfleda Hence may we date another Beginning as it were of it's Glory and Lustre from this new Resurrection out of the Ashes of its former Ruines Some of the next News we hear of this Honourable City is of the Londoner's beating away the Danes who Landing in Sussex and comeing to the Town of Lewes and thence towards London had Builded a Castle near the River of Lewes the more to annoy the Country but the Citizens Valour with the Countrys Help soon demolished it In the Reign of Edward the Eldest Son to the forenamed Alured we find London thought so considerable that the King took it under his own Rule not entrusting even his own Sister therewith thinking it probably too important a Charge to be committed to any Subject never so nearly related to him because of the Power that would accrue to the Possessor thereof and the Danger might thereby happen to him the King in those troublesome Times upon any the least Difference arising between them When Egelred or Etheldred Son of Edgar rul'd the Land we read of the Danes coming to London they being ready enough to haunt any Place that could afford them Spoil and Pillage but we find that then they were repel'd by the Citizens The City it seems was strong enough to defend their own But soon after that another sad Accident befell the City against which it was not so well able to defend it self viz. A great Fire whereby a large Part of it was destroyed So rare is it for any thing great in this World to arrive at it's Greatness from small Beginnings without being Subject to many Mischances and meeting with many Turns and Changes of Fortune before it can arrive at the height of its Grandeur Fabian tells us in his Chronicle that the City had then the most Building from Ludgate towards Westminster and little or none where the Chief or Heart of it now is except that in diverse Places there were Houses but they stood without Order This he professes to have known by an Old Book in the Guild-Hall named Domesday But where-ever the Building stood in those Days or how great Harm soever the Fire did it nevertheless it continued of such Strength and Riches that the Danes were willing to have got it into their own Power and in Order thereunto besieged it but that they took it at that season I read not Yet some Years after I find the Londoners sending Gifts and Pledges to the Danes to divert them then coming towards London 'T was in Egelred's Days that the Danes thus harrassed the Land and did almost whatever they pleased selling the English Men Peace for their Money and then breaking it again at their Pleasure to get a greater Sum. This gave the first Occasion to the Imposition of that Tax upon the Land called Danegelt And the Pride and Lordly Imperiousness of the insulting Danes gave Original to the opprobrious Name of Lurdane as now it is esteem'd though then it was Lord Dane a Term the English were for fear compell'd to give those proud lazy Danes that Rul'd and Domineer'd in many of their Houses at the right Owner's cost Neither is it much to be wondred at that this Land was brought into so great Misery by these Hectoring Strangers when as we fiâ—d Dissention amongst the Lords and such treacherous Dealing that whatsoever was devis'â— by Some for the Hurt of their common Enemies it was quickly by Others of the same Councel betraâ—'d and made known to them The King giving himself to a vicious and incontinent Life and to get Money any manner of way sticked not to 〈◊〉 Men of their Possessions for small or seigned Causes according to the History and after cause them to redeem their own for great Sums of Money In London 't was that I find this unfortunate Egelred more than once residing for his own Security it seems more than for any Aid he attempted to get of the Londoners to defend his Land Here he fell sick died and was also Buried and with him some of the English Men's Shame and Dishonour For Edmund Ironside his Son favoured by the Londoners and some other Lords was Crown'd in that City and thence departing with his Strength so hotly pursued Canutus the Danish King that he was several Times put to the worst and in fair likelihood to have been utterly over-thrown had not the false Edric who having got an Habit of Treachery in Egelreds Days could not so easily forâ—ake his Old base Conditions oft disappointed King Edmund by his Treacherous Dealing By â—his Edric's Treachery I have read That Edmund lost his Life afterwards for which Fact the â—alse Traytor expecting a great Reward at the â—ands of Canutus had his Head exalted according â—o the others Promise above all the Lords of Engâ—and it being stricken off pitch'd upon a Spear â—nd after set upon the highest Gate of London But about the King's Death and Edric's Authors are found much to vary Neither is it any marvel that Writers differ so often and so much in their Relations of Things done so many Ages since Whenas in things but as it were of yesterday we
declare the Oath for some few small minute petty fancied Inconveniences invalid and of no binding force But be it by the Power of the Sword or by whatsoever Claim else Canutus held the Crown we nevertheless find him to have Govern'd the Land honourably after that he came to be sole King and it may be to the Content of many of his Subjects for 't was the Memory doubtless of his Repute that set and kept the Crown upon the Heads of both his Sons otherwise of themselves of little Worth or Value if compar'd with their Father One remarkable worthy Act of Canutus's is recorded amongst others viz. That in the Nineth Year of his Reign he call'd a Parliament so my Author terms it at Oxford where amongst other things it was enacted That Englishmen and Danes should hold the Laws of Edgar lately King In the Transactions of these Times we may believe the City of London had no small Share aâ— being probably at length pretty well pleas'd with the Father's Reign whereupon the Citizem mav be supposed to conduce at least in some measure to the settling his Sons on his Throne For Harold Harefoot is said by some to have dyed at London after a Three Years Reign and the other of Canutus's Sons Hardicanute was joyfullâ— Receiv'd and Crown'd at the same City In Edward the Confessor's days the Land being not much troubled with intestine Broils there happ'ned but little Occasion for trying London's Strength And thereupon I find no great mention of that Honourable City unless in a Passage or two as about Edward the Outlaw's dying therein and of the King 's being there some time before with his Councill when Earl Goodwin was charg'd to come to Court and render into the King's Hands all his Knights-Fees-that he and Harold his Son held in England The Effect whereof was the Outlawing of the foremention'd Goodwin for his Disobedience and departure out of the Land with his Sons by Authority of a Parliament call'd alittle after In this King's Reign also we hear at both Ears of the evil Manners among the Bishops the Chief of the Clergy of their Voluptuousness Gluttony Leachery Covetuousness Wordly Pomp c. as also of their Endeavours to excuse their Manners by answering that they were suitable to the Times A generall Corruption among Men of a Religious Habit being the Common Forerunners of great Turns and Changes in a Land as it fell out here soonafter this King's Decease This is the King to whom according to the Annalist Stow we are indebted for the Common Law gather'd out of the Laws and Ordinances of the Mercian's West Saxons Danes and Northumbers What Spirit was in the Men of those Times is â—n part manifested in the Message sent to Harola by the Inhabitants of Northumberland when he was â—ent thither by the King to do Correction upon those who had risen against his Brother Tostus their Duke for a cruell Act by him committed taking away what he had and chasing him out of â—he Country Continuing together in a considerable Body they gave him to understand that they were freely born and freely nourish'd and might suffer no cruelness of Dukes That they had learned of their Elders and Sovereigns to maintain Freedom or to suffer Death and to live in quietness under an easy Duke Upon which Message their Pardon was procur'd them of the King and another Duke assign'd Within less then a year after Edward the Confâ—ssâ—r's Death we read of the landing of Duke Wâ—llâ—â—m with his Normans at Hâ—stings in Sussâ—x who came with a strong Army to demand the Crown of Harold who had no Title but what he claim'd by the Power of his Sword and the Dukes Claim also went but upon a limping Foot As great as the Duke's Host was enough it seems by the Event to help to win a Crown we find London so Strong as to hold him out when he and his Army came thereto till he had given good Assurance that he and his People would pass through the City without tarrying which was also observed accordingly When Harold was utterly over-thrown by these Normans and so room made for the Title of Edgaâ— Atheling to take place we find the Londoners among the chief of those who were upon Associating themselves each to other to defend his Right to thâ— utmost of their Powers This Agreement indeeâ— was afterwards broken but by the making of it we are well enough assured that the Câ—tys Strengtâ— was then esteem'd very considerable Another Argument let me produce out of Stow'â— Annalls where it is recorded that Edwin anâ— Marcar both then Powerfull Earles the One â—â— Mercia the other of Northumberland after Harold Death came to London and solicited the Citizen to erect one of them to the Kingdom Though this their enterprise was frustrated yet doubtless it may prove Londons Power otherwise 't is hard to believe these two potent Earls would have applied themselves to the Citizens that they would chuse one of them for King and upon the Failure of their Design would have quietly departed without shewing some resentment had not the City been too strong easily to be dealt with or slightly to be anger'd with Safety and Security The other more rightful Heir was the Person pitch'd upon But the other Nobles of the Realm not powerfully assisting and Edward Atheling not being it seems of Ability sufficient to manage his own Concerns himself and undertake so great a Charge 't is no wonder that this Renowned City suffering it self to be born down the Stream with the Times submitted it Self with the rest of the Land to Duke William who made some pretence to a Title Whereas Harold could shew nothing for his but his Sword And therefore it may be 't is that we read not in antient Histories that I remember of this Citys assisting him to defend himself against Duke William's Power Here now is a great Change indeed The Power and Strength of the Kingdom turned from both the Britains and Saxons and devolved upon the Normans by means of this King William the Date of whose Reign begins reckoning immediately after Harold's Death October the Fourteenth Anno Christi 1066 according to Chronology In this King who himself by the General consent of Writers was basely Born is founded the Succession for higher they care not much to go who keep such a stir about our Princes inheriting according to their Birth-right Though if this be made the fixt unalterable Rule of Twenty Six Kings and Queens reigning Successively upon recourse to the History of their Reigns we shall meet with a dozen at least of them who cannot be denied but to have come to their Crowns with Flaws in their Titles Nay if we reckon in the Number such as may have been controverted upon that Account we may safely add the other Half dozen That from the general Rules there are many exceptions we learnt almost as soon as we went to our Grammar-School This King William is
commonly called the Conquerour in History which acquaints us That he came in with an Army and conquered Harold who is esteemed little less than an Vsurper But that from thence we should conclude him a Conquerour of the whole Land and look on it as a Nation totally subjected by Force of Arms it seems to me to lack a little better Proof than I have yet met with That King William after he was well fixt in the Government might reckon this Conquest amongst his other Titles and Claims whether by Harold's Oath the Pope's Gift the King's Testament and a little of Kindred I shall not deny For I have read that King Henry the Seventh had a mind to put in for this Title also but 't was after he had well and surely gained the main point Possession But upon perusal of the Histories about those Times it appears a little unlikely that this Duke William should get the Land into his own Power so wholly by Conquest as some would insinuate for secret intents possibly and purposes of their own Though Harold was Conquered by that one Battail yet I do not think the Land was For besides Londons Strength where William was forced to yield Conditions before he could pass through as afore the Earls of Mercia and Northumberland then of considerable Power are said to have withdrawn themselves and their People to that City without so much as being present at the Battel How also the Kentishmen enclosed Duke William and his Victorious Army and compelled him to grant them the continuance of their Old Laws and Customs is sufficiently manifested if only by the single Evidence of their Antient Law of Gavelkind yet continued amongst them If this be Conquest to be forced to yield Conditions What is it to be Conquered Wherefore we may better I believe from these premised Considerations conclude That the Chief of the Nation knowing him to be a Man of Strength and Ability and of great Fame chose rather to submit to him upon fitting reasonable Conditions than hazard the running into the Miseries of War by committing themselves to the Guidance of so young and weak an Head as Edgar Atheling That King William made a League with such as submitted and swore Fealty to him stands recorded in Stow's Annals True indeed after he was well fixt in the Throne he might not much mind his former promises but contrary to them might do many irregular Acts to strengthen himself as he thought and settle the Crown the surer upon his own Head Whereof we find mentioned in Story his endeavour to raise his Normans by introducing them into the chief Places in Church and State and impoverish the English by setting grievous Impositions and Taxes on them One we read of very considerable in the Nineteenth Year of his Reign when he made to be gathered Six Shillings of every Hide of Land which would rise high according to my Authors reckoning who says an Hide contains Five Yards a Yard Four Acres an Acre Forty Perch in length Four in bredth Eight of these Hides make a Knights-Fee or Ploughtill Forty Eight shillings upon Eightscore Acres was a great matter in those Days though it sounds but a small Sum with Us who have lived to hear of the Wealth of a New World brought into the Old One. To this may be added his Craft in inrolling his Baroâ—s Land their Knights-Fees Towns Number of Men and Cattle within the Realm in Dooms-day Book the better doubtless to know the Strength of the Land and be the more able to raise what Tâ—xes he pleased without being very easily deceived by concealments More instances of Arbitrary Power might possibly be observed which nevertheless are not deservedly esteemed Tokens and Markes of Conquest That great Persons in the height of their Grandeur often forget former Covenants and Promises is no such wonder it is so common so usual for some Men to promise more in half an hour when they conceive it for their present Advantage than others find performed in Seven Years If Arbitrary Acts of Rule are able to prove King William a Conquerour of this whole Land I do not know but many others may also be esteemed Conquerours who passed for good Ruling Kings in the days of their Power Though King William held the Englishmen so low that in his days there was almost no Englishman that bare an Office of Honour or Rule if Fabian may be credited for some others deny it as to some particulars This being certainly the too too common Effect of letting in a Forreign Power into a Land where those that were the Introducers of the Forreigners as Friends have hardly escaped Polyphemus's Courtesy of being devoured last Witness in this Land the introducing the Saxons by the Britains and the Normans upon them Yet the same Historian intimates that he somewhat favoured the City of London and granted to the Citizens the First Charter that ever they had written in the Saxon Tongue and sealed with Green Wax being expressed in Eight or Nine Lives This may be construed to be done either in gratitude to the City for giving place so easily to his Fortune or because he found the Citizens so pliable to his Will or rather in policy to have so considerable a Place the more at his Devotion and six it the stronger to his Interest So subtle a King as he was being in no wise ignorant I presume of the great Impression the Actions of the chief City in a Conntry usually makes upon the whole Nation So that though London changed Masters it changed not Fortune but notwithstanding it received damage by Fire which burnt a great part thereof and also of St. Pauls rather gained more Honour and esteem under the Normans Rule by becoming the Metropolis of the whole Nation and the Theatre wherein hath been acted some of the most considerable Passages that have since happened in this Land whether in Peace or War Most of our Parliaments many of the Bishop's Synods and Convocations the Kings usual Residence his Court his Council and Places of Judicature having been generally kept either in the Liberties of this City or not far distant from it at Westminster which being of a much later Date as is hinted before is nevertheless known to be a distinct City of different Rites and Customs and under another Government though the Buildings joyning both Cities in a manner together may occasion Forreigners to give the Common Appellation London to the Whole and we Natives also many times use the same General Term in private Discourse In St. Pauls in London was kept that Synod of the Clergy in William the First 's days which order'd many Bishop's Sees to be translated from small Villages and such obscure petty Places to the greater Cities For by this time the Policy of the Popes of Rome in diverse parts of Europe had introduc'd a distinct Government in the Church different from that of the State And so founded as it were one Empire within another
to have the whole the better at their Devotion So that if Kings or Rulers of States were not as submissive to their Imperious Commands as they desir'd they had the Church in the Land to overaw those who bore the Temporall Sword and lest the chief Church-men being often preferr'd by the Magistrates means through the Popes great Condescention as they would have it thought should prove a little Refractory they had the Monasteries Abbies Priories Nunneries and such like in a manner under the Popes peculiar Jurisdiction to curb them by the Power they could raise out of their Tennants Friends and Kindred Romes high and lofty Prelates thus striving to have their Spoons in every Ones Dish which Desire of theirs we do not find at all diminished though now their Wings be much clipt Nay we find them the more eager now in their pursuit after their antient Greatness under the pretence of a former Right which was first obtain'd by none of the best and honestest ways And so they might regain it Experience tells us they would not stick at the perpetration of the most Execrable Villanies the Art of Man can invent or the Hand can act Whence else come all those Wars Massacres Persecutions Plots Conspiracies Designes Intreagues Frauds Deceits raising of Publick Jealousies fomenting of Private Feares exasperating of Mens minds heightning their Animosities debauching their Moralls and Corrupting Religion it self with the rest of those Cursed Arts and Seed-Plots of Sedition where with our Ears have been so long filled that the sound is not yet gone out of them nor know we when ever it will as long as they can meet with so many foolish Bigots and prophane Debauchees among the Sons of Men The One to be gull'd with the Hopes of Heaven for the Performance of such Meritorious Acts as they will put them upon the Other to be purchased with a Bag of Money or a Plump Whore to favour their Designes falicitate their Purposes carry on their Projects and protect their Crimes if detected from Publick Justice As London was favoured by the first William so I find no great reason otherwise to believe but that it continued in favour and fame under the Second William's Reign Yet I meet with but few Passages of it excepting what may seem to tend to its disadvantage as the Harm it sustained from a Violent wind that is said to have overthrown at one time above 600 houses and much injured the roof of St. Mary Bow in Cheapside as also the hurt was done another time about it by the Inundation of Thames unless we should think it received some addition of honour from the great charges William Rufus was at about the Tower which was to adorn it I suppose for that it was builded long before hath been related above that it was of good strength in the preceding Kings dayes is enough evident in that we read it was made Marcharus the Earl of Northumberland's Prison This Tower having been before times and very often in later days the place of confinement for great Men when esteemed Offendors This is the King that built Westminster-Hall and being after displeased at it for being not big enough to his mind intended as 't is said to have built one much larger and make the other to have served for a Chamber The wicked Lives of the insulting Normans the Miseries and Vices of the depressed Englishmen with the depraved Manners of the corrupted Clergy were so notorious in this Kings dayes that Writers could not well pass them over without mention In Henry the 2d's Time we read of the founding of St. Bartholomew's Church Priory and Hospital in Smithfield which was begun 't is said by Rayer one of this Kings Minstrells but ended by some good and well disposed Citizens of London This Smithfield was then a Place for the casting out of filth where also Felons and other Transgressours were executed and not put it seems to the use that now it is Length of time commonly changes the use of Places and some times for the better There are upon Record no less than Three Councills Synods or Convocations of the Clergy which were kept in this City in this Kings Reign to reform the Church and Church-men was the usuall Pretence but it was commonly done in such away that it tended mostly to the exalting of their own Power We read in Stow of a Parliament of Prelates Nobles and Commons Assembled by this King in the Sixteenth Year of his Reign Anno Christi 1116. This King was the better beloved of the Englishmen for Marrying a Wife of the Old Saxon Line Edgar Atheling's Sisters Daughter for using Edward the Confessors Laws with Amendment at his coming to the Crown and making some good ones of his own for freeing the Church Impriâ—oning Ranulph the covetous Bishop of Durham his Brother William's Procurator and Gatherer of his Taxes in the Tower of London and also releasing â—o Englishmen the Old Tax of Danegelt lately reâ—ived by his Father and Brother and restoring â—o them the Use of Lights by Night which with â—ire had been by his Father forbidden to be used â—fter the Ringing of the Cuâ—fâ—â—-Bâ—ll at Eight of â—he Clock In the time of King Stephen we meet with an eâ—inent Instance of London's Strength Mâ—ud the â—mpress the Late Kings onâ—y Sâ—rviâ—ing Heir haâ—ing upon the Fortune of a Battail took and Imâ—risoned King Stephen and being theâ— by much â—xalted in her mind deeming her self sure of the â—ossession of the whole Realm would not make â—â—y Grant to the Citizen's Requests They thereâ—pon becoming discontented designed to have â—â—ized on her Person Whereof she having â—arning fled in haste for her own Safe guard to â—xford and her People were divided and scatterâ—â— whereas not long before she was in a fair â—ossibility of enjoying all that she claimed King â—â—ephen's Queen promising upon his Delivery that 〈◊〉 should surrender the Land into her Possession 〈◊〉 become a Religious Man or a Pilgrim to his â—â—ves end Either of which at that time was a 〈◊〉 of Spiritual Death as to what concerned â—orldly Affairs But her unfortunate diâ—obâ—iging is City soon turned the Scales The Queen's â—â—rength encreases Maud's diminishes The King a little after is delivered upon Exchange and thâ— Empress at last departs with a small Company and returns into Normandy without obtaining he Desire So considerable then was the City of Loâ—don as to be able to wrest the Power out of thiâ— Conqueresses Hands and return it back at length to the same Person whom she had once overcome and held many Months Prisoner at her own 〈◊〉 and Pleasure That for which the Citizens of London made 〈◊〉 great Labour was that they might use the Law of Edward the Confessor as they were granted bâ— William commonly called the Conquerour and 〈◊〉 the Laws of her Father which were of 〈◊〉 straitness Here in my Opinion seems to be iâ—timated that this King Wâ—lliam came not into 〈◊〉 quiet Possession
of the Realm so much by Conqueâ—â— as on Conditions accordingly here 's mentiâ—â— made of one Grant The Occasion of Stephen's coming to the Crowâ— contrary to his own former Oath swore to Kiâ—â— Henry and in prejudice to Maud's Claim is Râ—corded by one Author to have been the Oath one Hugh Bâ—got sometime King Henry's Stewarâ— who swore that the Late King in his presence little before his Death chose this Stephen for 〈◊〉 Heir by reason that he had received some discoâ—tent at his Daughters hands Whereunto the 〈◊〉 giving easy Credence admitted him King 〈◊〉 Favour of the Londoners did doubtless at thâ— time conduâ—â— not a little to his advantage in pâ—â—ferring him an able Man before a weak Womaâ— For Stow's Annals inform us That he was receivâ—â— by the Londoners when he had been repulsed at â—ther Places certainly it redounded to his 〈◊〉 Benefit afterwards as hath been related before Another Addition of Strength might be his not imposing heavy Taxes upon the People which it may be increased their Love to him and made so many side with him As indeed we find upon his first Admission that he sware among other things before the Lords at Oxford to forgive his People the Tax of Danegelt Neither do I read of any Taxes that he raised upon the Commons It is affirmed positively in the Câ—llâ—ction of Wonders and Remarkable Passages that he raised none with which Stow likewise agrees So that a King 's needless laying of many heavy and grievous Taxes upon his People occasions him to lose much of their Love and his forbearing it when he hath Power in his hands unites his Subjects Hearts the faster to him But instead of Taxes we read of this Kings permission given to his Lords to build Castles or Fortresses upon their own Grounds Many whereof we find pulled down in the next King's time they having been the occasion of many Miseries in the Land and the ready means to foment Civil Wars therein which generally brings greater Damages to the Commonâ—lty than a few Impositions and Taxes can be presumed to do This King Stephen was twice Crowned but for what cause or for what intent is not so easily known whether it was that he thought his Imprisonment had diminished somewhat of his Royalty or else thinking by a second Coronation to â—lude the Force of the Oath made at the first I find not delivered Certain it is soon after my Author tells of his taking away a Castle from the Earl of Chester who before had appeared against him on Maud's side with a very considerable Strength but had been afterwards reconciled to the King But what is much more considerable we read not long after of the King 's new danger and ill Success and of his Party being weaken'd particularly by the loss of London For Duke Henry after King coming into England with a great Army after some small Success gets up to London and wins the Tower as much by Policy and fair Promiâ—es saith my Author as by Strength Then he had Opportunity enough to caress the Câ—tizens being so near them and it may be he got not the Tower without their Consert if not by their Affistance Hereby we find that he retrieved what his Mother's Haughtiness before had lost and so having got the City's Affection and Power he was in a fair way to obtain his Desires as he did not long after For we quickly read of Mediators and Treaties of Peace between these two Competitors which took Effect at last though the Interest and Policy of some hindered it for a time In Conclusion the King was fain to consent to the adopting the Duke his Heir so that he might Reign during his Life Which justly to perform the King being sworn with his Lords Spiritual and Temporal in the next place we hear of their riding up to London as if to bind the bargain it was requisite to ask the consent of that Honourable City whose Favour seems to have been of so great weight in those unsettled Times as to turn the Scales twice once in the King's behalf and erewhile on the Dukâ—'s Such was their Influence such their Power as to pull down and set up in a manner whom the Citizens pleased Happy was this Agreement to the Land by settling peace therein as beneficial likewise was it to the Duke it being a fair Step to the Throne whereon we find him mounted within a little time For not long after this Accord we hear of the King's Death Whether the Troubles of his Mind or Diseases of his Body brought him to his End vexation for the disappointment of his Designs in being after a sort compelled to adopt his Competitor his Enemy for his Son and Heir or Grief for the loss of London's Favour which helped to effect so great a Turn in his Affairs I shall not determine It might be one it might be the other or neither or all conjoyned that became the occasional Causes so to phrase it of his Death I like not to be very positive where I am not very certain Stephen's Death making thus way for Henry to ascend the English Throne he became one of the â—reatest Kings that ever ruled this Land for the Largeness and Extent of his Territories if we reckon the Inheritance he enjoyed from his Father the Land he held by the Title of his Mother the Dowry he had with his Wife and what he obâ—ained by the Success of his Arms Yet notwithâ—tanding all this he lived not free from Troubles â—nd intestine Broils which sprung much out of his â—wn Bowels So that the Glory of his Youth beâ—an somewhat to be eclipsed by the Misfortunes of â—is elder Years He Crowned his eldest Son liâ—ing King sometime before the middle of his â—eign to the end as one Author affirms that he â—ight have full Power and Authority to rule this â—and and People while his Father was busied in â—ther Countrys where some of his Lands lay This â—ight be one Reason but the King having learnt 〈◊〉 experience to his Mother's Loss and his own â—ost how easy it was for Stephen to attempt and â—ain the Crown being present on the Spot while â—â—e right Heir was far distant in the vacancy of the â—hrone may be supposed in his intent to have designed the hinderance of such an Intrusion for the future by Crowning the next Heir King while he himself lived I read that Stephen had some such design to have Crowned his Son King in his own days as he declared at a Parliament called at London An. Reg. 17 to have fixt the Crown the surer to his Posterity But the Bâ—shops refused the Deed Which I do not find they did so much out of Conscience or in Favour to Mâ—â—d's Title as by the Command forsooth of the Pope who in those days was very apt to be clapping his Fingers into almost everâ— ones Pye where he thought any good pickinâ— might be had This King Henry got but little by Crowning
hiâ— Son in his Life-time besides Troubles Crosses and Vexation of Spirit For upon one Occasion oâ— other we find his Sons oft thwarting him anâ— some times warring upon him Famous were those days for the Contest betweeâ— the King and Thomas Beckâ—â— which brought Beckâ—â— to his end and the King to a severe Penance at thâ— last though he disowned the Fact and is noâ— plainly proved to have given any other consent tâ— it unless what may be deduced from a few angâ—â— Words uttered in his Passion The ground 〈◊〉 occasion of this Dissention between the King anâ— the Arch-Bishop is declared by the Chronicle 〈◊〉 have sprung from diverse Acts and Ordinancâ—â— which the King had procured at his Parliament 〈◊〉 Northampton to pass against the Liberties of 〈◊〉 Church which thereupon this lofty Prelate witâ— stood The Popâ—sh Clergy being then grown to thâ— height that crowned Heads were in a manner coâ—peâ—led for their own Security to veil Bonnet them and scarce durst so far presume as but endeavour to cross their Ambitious Designs They could be content by their Canons and Councels to encroach upon the Laity as they termed them but they poor Men by the Clergy's good Will must not be allowed to vindicate their Own Native Liberty from the Others unjust Usurpations This King Henry is said to have been Peerless in Chivalry in War and in Leachery This last is sufficiently notorious in his Love to the Fair Rosamond and further manifested in his deflowring as we read his Son Richard's intended Wife the French King's Daughter whom we are also told he would have Married could he have obtained a Divorce from his Queen And this he intended 't is said to have the more favour of the Frenchmen by their Aid the better to disinherit his Sons who among other things done to his Displeasure had warred upon him in Vindication of their abused and slighted Mother Three several Warnings I read of that he had to amend his Life but to little or no purpose Some of his Patience or else fear of the Imperious Clergy we find in his forbearance shewed to Heraclius Patriarch of Jerusalem who upon the King's Refusal to go into the Holy Land being discontented sharply rebuked him reflecting on him for the Death or Martyrdom as those Times were pleased to term it of Thomas Becket and upon Henry's further excusing the Voyage for fear of his Son's Rebellion in his Absence departed in great ire with these words in his Mouth saying That it was no wonder for of the Devil they come and to the Devil they shall Part of his Devotion we meet with in that Shift he found out to fulfil the Condion of building three Abbies in England enjoyned him by the Pope in the Dispensation granted him for the Voyage he hâ—d before solemnly vowed to take intâ— tâ—e Hâ—ly Land in Person Such was mucâ— of the Religion tâ—en of those Times eâ—â—ner tâ— bâ—ild 〈…〉 and the like so man◠〈◊〉 Castles or Fortrâ—ssâ—s as it were ready manâ—ed and victâ—alled at the Pâ—pâ—'s Service oâ— else to take upon them the Cross and away to th◠〈…〉 to fight for Christ'◠〈◊〉 as wert the cry Angliâ—e to subduâ— more Laâ—d to the Pâ—pe's Obedience A cunning crafty trick of the Pâ—pe's to send away packing such Princes whose Power they feared would grow too greâ—t at home that they might in the meaâ— time domineer over their Subjects Purses and Consciences and the better advance their own Worldly Pomp and Grandeur in their Absence For read not of any of the Popâ—s who went themselveâ— iâ— Persons They forsooth could not be spared fâ—om their Charge alâ—as their Preferment noâ— be absent from home out of care to the Feeding of then Flâ—â—k i. e. looking to their own Gain So that the serding Mâ—n while in their Bodies to the Hâ—ly Land was almost as beneficial a Project as long as it lasted as the â—reterce of Fetching their Souls out of â—â—â—gatory after their Death for a round Sum of 〈◊〉 and a set of Massâ—s The Triâ—k King Henry almost as Cunning though not as Fâ—rtunate as these subrle Priests fouâ—d out to fulfil the Condition enjoyned and which he put in Execution was First Putting Secular Cannons out of Waltham-House and setting Cannons Regular in their stead Secondly His thâ—â—stiâ—g the Mâ—rkâ— out of Amesbury-House and placing there another sort of Religious Persons which he had brought from beyond the Sea And for the Third His coursly renewing the Charter-House of Witham beside Salisbury The King having had so large Tryall and so much Knowledge of the City of London's Power did not very much I suppose at any time disoblige the Citizens Especially having such powerfull Enemies to deal with as the King of France abroad and at home the insulting incroaching Clergy and his own unnaturall refractory Sons though one saith that he nourished Strife amongâ—t his Children with all Diligence hoping thereby to live himself in the more rest But it seems that device avail'd him but little As we have but little reason to think that the City of London lost ground in Henry's days so under his Son and Successour King Richard we find that Foundation laid where upon was after erected that Famous and Free Way of Electing it's own yearly Governours wherein she now glories Like as William the First gave the Citizens their First Charter so this Noble Richard Cuer de Lyon was the King that ordain'd London to be ruld by Two Bailiffs whose Names were Henry of Cornhil and Richard Fitz Ryver as Fabian tells us in that worthy Chronicle which he compiled of the English and French Nation This Fabian being Sheriff of this City in Henry the Seventh's Days by that advantage may be presumed to have best known the Affairs of the City and seeming to write with a great deal of Integrity in this Relation I chiefly follow him and so intend as far as he reaches especially when I shall have occasion to Name any of the Bayliffs Mayors or Sheriffs through whose yearly Government in his Second Volume he deduces the History in form of Annals down to the beginning of King Henry the Eight's Reign In the Prolâ—gue to this Second Part he tells us That the City was antiently under the Rule oâ— Portgrieves which word Portgrieve signifies in Sax on the Guardian Ruler or Keeper of a Town Thâ—â— Book called Doomsday wherein were registred iâ— Saxon the Laws and Customs then used being lost â—â— he acquaints us also that the Remembrance oâ— those Rulers before this Richard's Days was losâ— and forgotten In the same Prologue likewise he hath left us a Copy of Verses written in praise oâ— the City wherein we are told That this City was never cast down as other Famous Ones have been that herein Divine Service was always continued in Religious Houses in such an Order that when one had done another began and that it was famed also for the Mayor and Sheriffs Noble House-keeping with much more which any
one that please may peruse at his leasure in the forecited Place We likewise find there declared the severaâ— Wards of the City as they stood in Fabian's Time together with the Parish-Churches and other Religious Houses within and without summed up to the Number of One Hundred Sixty Eight This King Richard in the Beginning of whose Reign we first hear of the Name of Bailiffs giveâ— to the Rulers of London having taken a Voyagâ— into the holy-Holy-Land according to the Religion oâ— those Times and done his Devoir for the Recovery of it according to his Strength the Clergy-men had reason to esteem well of him to humour whose designs he had undertaken so chargeable 〈◊〉 Enterprize So accordingly we find that the Ecclesiastucks stuck as close to him as any of his Subjects in his Adversity For in his Return from the Holy War as 't was term'd Richard being Shipwrack't took and imprison'd by the Duke of Austria and long detain'd by the Emperour he was compell'd to redeem himself after a Year and three Month's Imprisonment at a large Ransom An hundred thousand Pounds were either presently paid or good Pledges left behind him to ascertain the full and true Payment A vast Sum in those days when Wheat was esteem'd at a high Price being sold at fifteen Shillings the Quarter as we find it in the fifth Year of King John's Reign about half a dozen Years after So that for this Ransom were sold the Ornaments of the Church Prelate's Rings and Crosses with the Vessels and Chalices of the Churches throughout the Land Wool of White Monks and Cannons and also twenty seven Shrines scrap't and spoil'd of the Gold and Silver laid on them in former Times No Priviledge of Church then regarded no Person spar'd A costly Voyage indeed it prov'd to the Land undertaken to satisfie the Clergy-men's Ambition and therefore they might well be content to bear much of the Charges and use their utmost Endeavours in the Imprison'd King's Vindication And so the Pope did as far as Curses would go to which was imputed those Mischiefs that befel the Duke of Austria and his Country a little after as the Effects of the Pope's Indignation The Power and Esteem of this City's Favour in those Times of the King's Captivity we need but remark out of Neubrigensis who acquaints us That when the Chancellour being then Bishop of Ely and Governour of the Land dreaded the Force of the opposite Lords who strove to suppress him for his Insolency and ill Government he retir'd to London and humbly intreated the Citizens not to be wanting to him in that point of time But they being not unmindful of his former Behaviour rather favour'd the other Party whereupon the proud haughty Prelate was compell'd to resign his Office which he had so ill manag'd and depart to the no small Benefit to the Land in those troublesome Times At London likewise was it that the Lords consulted together for the ordering the Land in the King's Absence which after the late ill Governour had been discarded and after an Oath of Fideliâ—y to the absent Prince was put into another's Hands When King Richard was delivered as soon as he landed at Sandwich we find him coming straightway to London as the fittest Place it seems to receive him and assist him So accordingly we read of his Reception there with all Joy and Honour in so splendid a Pomp that the German Nobles present beholding it affirm'd That if the Emperour had known of such Riches in England he would not have dimiss'd the Ransom'd King under an Intolâ—erabâ—e Price A little afteâ— we hear of his riding thence with a convenient â—â—râ—ngth to recover the Places that stood out 〈◊〉 him After this by a Councel of Lords call'd at Winchester having deprived his Brother John of his Honours and Lands for his Rebellion he took care to have himself crown'd King of England anew As if the Force of his former Coronation was impaired by his Imprisonment or else he thought by this politick Shift to take off all Obligations that might haply lie on him for any thing done before As indeed we quickly after read of a Resumption of all Patents Annuities Fees and other Grants mâ—de before his Voyage But then it 's affirmed to be done by the Authority of a Parliament call'd after his Coronation After these Passages two State-Informers are â—oted to have riâ—en up promising the King great Matters the Scenes of whose chief Acts were either laid or to have been laid at London One of them the Abbot of Cadonence warning the King of the Fraud of his Officers by vertue of a Warrant from him called divers Officers before him at London to yield to him their Accounts This Place was made choice of by him as the fittest it seems wherein to ingratiate himself with the common People by â—o plausible an Act as bringing offending Officers to conâ—igne Punishment But Death soon cut him off and so put an end to all his Designs The other Informer call'ed William with the Long Beard reported to be born in London of a sharp Wit having shew'd the King of the Outrage of the Rich who as he said in publick Payments spar'd their own and piâ—led the Poor and being upheld by him became the Patron and Defender of poor Men's Causes and stirred up the common People to a desire and love of Freedom and Liberty by blaming Rich Men's Excess and Insolence Hereupon he was followed with such numbers of People that being called before the King's Councel upon suspicion of a Conspiracy the Lords were fain with good words to dismiss him for the present for fear of the Multitude attending him and commanded certain to seize on him in the Absence of his numerous Abettors But those thus commanded mistaking the time and so failing in their intended Design he escaped and took Sanctuary in St. Mary Bow Church where his Strength quickly grew so great by the Access of the Multitude that he was not easily taken hold of nor without shedding of Blood However being at last taken after that the Heads and Rulers of the City had diminish'â— the People he with other his Adherents waâ— arraign'd before the Judges cast condemn'd anâ— hang'd very shortly after even the following daâ— saith the Chronicle so desirous were the rich anâ— great Men to have him out of the way as sooâ— as they could But as his Plea of Freedom was â—â— acceptable to the Commons in his Life-time thâ—â— he became a Terror to the Great so after 〈◊〉 Death he ceased not for a while to be a Dread 〈◊〉 many by reason of a Rumour raised and banded about among the Commons of his Innocencâ— and favourably received of the People even to 〈◊〉 approving of him as an holy Man and Martyr anâ— making Pilgrimages to the Place of his Execution to the no small trouble of those that had a hanâ— in his Death At last the Flame of this Devâ—tion was somewhat cool'd by the
Consent therâ—unto And yet it might have seemed as hard tâ— them to have remained under the Sweeds wheâ— they had but little hopes of having much Share 〈◊〉 the Government or be lookt upon and dealt with â—therwise than as a Conquer'd People The Fame 〈◊〉 may be of this succeeding Policy of the Daniâ—â— King with the Excitation of some of the Boutifeâ—â— of Europe may be supposed to have put somâ— thoughts of the like Nature into the Polish King'â— Head if all be true that hath been reported oâ— the Sloth and Negligence laid to his Charge by 〈◊〉 Senator of the Land of his Backwardness to call 〈◊〉 General Diet of the Nation and of the Purport â—â— a Speech made to him once within these few Yearâ— by an Ambassador from out of these Parts of Europâ— Hence likewise may have proceeded the Fears anâ— Jealousies of the Sweeds hinted to us in Forreign News lest their King by his Neighbours Example â—â—ould be encouraged to attempt the like Which â—â—ems since to have been very much legitimated by â—he Alteration lately made in the Senate of that â—ingdom if our Modern Intelligencers have given â—s a true Account and Relation of that Affairs After that Elective Princes have thus obtained to â—e made Hereditary Monarchs one of their next deâ—â—res is to render themselves Absolute in their Goâ—ernment Wherein they may have received no â—mall Encouragement from the Successful Attempts â—f some such Tyrannical Invader of other Mens â—ights as the present Hector of France And no litâ—le Help in the neat way of subduing and inslaâ—ing their own Country they may have learnt â—rom some such contriving Paâ—e as was one of â—he Catholick Kings of Spain who with an Army â—ut of one of his Kingdoms subverted the Liberty of â—nother So ambitious are some Men of the so much â—nvied Honour of ceasing to be Kings of Men and â—ecoming Tryants over Slaves at their Pleasure With some such kind of Disease do we find King â—ohn also to have been infected in his time But â— Chargeable Disease you may well call it which cost â—im the Loss of much of his Territories abroad the â—earts of many of his Subjects among both the Spiâ—itualty and Temporalty at home and his Peace â—nd Tranquility within together with a free Imperiâ—l Crown and all the Regalities attending it and â—et he dyed at last without obtaining his so much-â—esired Remedy as I doubt not to make sufficientâ—y Evident in the following Relation In the Second Year of this King John by Counâ—el of the Burgesses of the City of London Thirty â—ive of the most substantial and wisest Men are Recorded to have been chosen and after some caâ—led the Council of the City of which yearly weâ—â— Elected the Eayliffs as long as they lasted anâ— after them the Mayor and Sheriffs Which nameâ— we meet with in few Years after For about thâ— latter end of this King 's Nineth Year we read 〈◊〉 a Grant made to the Citizens and confirmed by thâ— King's Letters Patents whereby they had Poweâ— to chuse Yearly a Mayor and Two Sheriffs Tâ—â— First Mayor upon Record is Henry Fitz Alwiâ—â— sworn and charged upon Michaelmas-day in thâ— Tenth Year of this King Anno Christi 1210. whâ— continued several Years Mayor The Sheriffs werâ— Peter Duke and Thomas Neel sworn the same timâ— And the former Name and Rule of Baylâ—ffs clearâ—â— discharged St. Matthew's Day Nine Days befoâ—â— Mâ—chaelmas was the time the Citizens then alloted for their Sheriffs Election and on Michaelmâ—â— day was the Mayor Ordained by the like Ordeâ— to be chosen and charged then with the other though now this in part is altered This same Year is likewise noted in Fabian as fâ—â— the altering of the Rulers of the City from Bayliâ—â— to a Mayor and Sheriffs so also for the changiâ—â— of the Bridge from Timber to Stone which 〈◊〉 perfected about this time by the Aid of the Ciâ—â—zens and Passengers it having been Thirty 〈◊〉 Years in building according to Stow who plaâ—â— the Beginning hereof as high as Henry the Second days So that thence forward we may expect 〈◊〉 find the Power of the City and its Glory more anâ— more encreasing every Age. That the Government of the City should be thâ— changed at the Request of the Citizens and in favâ—â— of them fixt as they would have it argues that the Strength then was thought considerable their â—â—fluence upon the rest of the Nation esteemed not to 〈◊〉 small For at this time was K. John over-pressed by â—he Pope and his Clergy and reduced to so low an Ebb â—f Fortune that but few Years passed before he â—as fain to buy his Peace at no less a price than the â—esignation of his Crown And therefore in the â—idst of his distress by these Acts of Favour he â—ay be thought to endeavour to fix the City to his â—â—terest as hoping thereby to oblige the Citizens 〈◊〉 appear in his behalf against the Pride of these â—â—sulting Priests An Argument doubtless of their â—ower and the King's Esteem of it The Occasion of the difference between the King â—â—d the Pope which brought such Woe to the â—and and Trouble to the King was the displeaâ—â—re he took against the Monks of Canterbury for â—â—eir Electing one to the Arch-Bishoprick contrary 〈◊〉 his Mind together with his Refractoriness in â—ot hearkning to the advice of his Lords and â—â—iends who would have had him have yielded to â—â—e Pope then too potent an Adversary safely to be â—â—ntested with To which may be added his conâ—â—nued Obstinacy in not yielding to terms of Acâ—â—mmodation and Accord when as his Enemies â—â—ew more powerful and his own Strength was â—uch weakned by the loss of Normandy A sharp â—â—rrection it proved to the King to have much of 〈◊〉 Territories abroad his Normans antient Inheâ—â—tance took from him by the War which the â—â—ench King made upon him by the Pope's exciting â—ccording to some Authors to have his Land â—â—d Himself accursed at home his Lords absolved 〈◊〉 their Allegiance that they might be enabled to â—â—e against him and depose him and he himself â—t last compelled for his own security to give aâ—ay his Crown and Dignity and take it again of the Pope at a certain Rent As hard measure had the Kingdom to have the Doors of Churches and other Places of Divine Service shut up in City and Country in London and in the other Parts of the Land that no Religious Worship might be useâ— publickly but the Dead must be buried likâ— Dogs in Ditches and Corners No Sacramentâ— administred no Baptisms no Marriages or 〈◊〉 there were in any Places it must be by special Licence purchased it may be at great rates and all this for the Offence of one Man or a few 〈◊〉 which most probably did neither consent to noâ— could amend without breaking former Laws and Oaths and offending against the Principles of Honesty and the Christian Religion Suppose the Heaâ— Shepherd had offended yet what
had the Sheeâ— done to be used thus Sure the Pope shewed himself hereby a Lord of Lords though he pretends tâ— call himself a Servant of Servants From such proudâ—â— haughty Servants Liberanos His Popeship woulâ— fain be esteemed a Father of Christians but here 〈◊〉 dealt very hardly with many of the Sons of the Church A sad Case indeed were we poor Christians of the Common Herd in should our Religion allow us at every turn to be sent to the Devil because the ambitious Pretences of our Governour would not suffer them to agree well together among themselves But we know already or have heard of to much of these Priest's Pride to think them thâ— most humble the most mortisied Men in thâ— World The professed and avowed Principles oâ— some of them tell us too too plainly that wâ— are not to take all they say to be either Law oâ— Gospell Neither do every one of their Action obligâ—â—â—â— always to think that they believâ— themselves in all they affirm They may indeed sometimes tell a fair smooth Tale when they are got a little higher than their Neighbours â—nto a place where they know they must not be presently contradicted but when they be come down upon plain even Ground we find them 〈◊〉 for the most part much like other men Nay some of them it may be an Ace or two worse More Proud more Ambitious more Worldly more Covetous in a word more debauch'd in Principles and Practises I could quickly name 〈◊〉 if I list among us Protestants of the Reformed Religion of the Church of England as some delight to stile themselves the Persons the Time and the Place the Diocess the Shire the Hundred the Parish where lives a double Benefic'd-man 〈◊〉 so strong an English Church man in Word and Deed as not justly to be taxed with the imputation of a Phanatick by such as know the manner of his Converse who was not many years since depriv'd both of Office and Benefice for none of the greatest Faults that ever was Surely the Parish where the Offence was not comitted deserved not so ill at the Reverend Bishop's Hands as to be deprived of the Use and Benefit of their Pastor Neither know I wherein the harmeless Parishoners of the other Place had so highly offended as to merit the loss of their Head Shepherd's over-sight unless we must fancy them accessary to his Young Curate's indiscretion in not bowing â—ow enough at the Church door to a stately Dame of the Parish So if my Memory deceive me not have I some where read it observ'd and it seems also verified in the History that though the Name of King 's was thrown quite out of Rome yet the Power some industriously strove still to retain The Conditions where on King John was 〈◊〉 concil'd to the Pope were to this purport Thâ—â— he should admit the Arch-Bishop to his See peâ—ceably to enjoy the Pâ—ofits and Fruits thereof permit the Prior his Monks and Others beforâ— exil'd for the Arch-Bishop's Cause to re-enter thâ— Land without trouble or future Molestation together with Restitution to them to be madâ— of all Goods taken from them by his Officers 〈◊〉 the time of this variance And that he should likâ— wise yield up into the Pope's Hands all his Righâ— and Title to the Crown of England with all Râ—venues Honours and Profits belonging to the samâ— as well Temporal as Spiritual to hold it ever aâ—ter both He and his Heirs from the Pope and hâ— Successors as the Pope's Feodarics These Articles thus granted and the Lord sworn to maintain them the King upon his bended Knees taking the Crown from his Head delâ—vered it to the Pope's Legate resigning it into thâ— Pope's hands both in Word and Deed and afteâ— five days resumed it of the same Hands by Virtuâ— of a Bond or Instrument made unto the Pope whicâ— I have here transcribed out of Mathew of Paris History that such as care not what Religion geâ— uppermost in the Land may know what they are 〈◊〉 expect if Popery should once get sucâ— a head as tâ— come in again JOhannes Dei Gratia Rex Angliae c. Omnibus Christi fidelibus hanc Chartam inspecturis salutem in Domino Vniversitati Vestrae per hanc Chartam sigillo nostro Munitam Volumus esse notum quod cum Deum Matrem Nostram Sanctam Ecclesiam Offenderimus in multis proinde Divina Misericordia plurimum indigeamus nec quid digne offerre possimus pro satisfactione Deo Ecclesiae debita facienda nisi nosmet ipsos bumiliemus et regna nostra Volentes nos ipsos humiliare pro illo qui se pro nobis humiliavit usque ad Mortem Gratia Sancti Spiritus inspirante non vi interdicti â—ectimore coacti sed nostra bona spontaneaque Voluntate ac communi Conciâ—io Baronum Nostrorum Conserimus libere concedimus Deâ— Sanctiâ— Apostolis ejus Petro Paulo Sanctae Romanae Ecclesiae Matronae Nostrae ac Domino Papae Innocentio ejusque Catholicis successoribus totum Regnum Angliae totum Regnum Hiberniae cum omnâ— Jure pertinentijs suis pro Remissione Omnium Peccatorum Nostrorum totius Generis Humaki taâ— pro vivis quam pro defunctis 〈◊〉 modo illa ab eo Ecclesia Romana tanquam secundarius recipienteâ— tenentes in praesentia Prudentiâ— Viri Pandulphi Domini Papae Subdiaconi et Familiaris Exinde praedictâ— Domino Papae Innocentio ejusque Catholicis successoribus Ecclesiae Romanae secundum subscriptam formaâ— fecimus juravimus homagiâ—m ligium in praesentia Pandulphi si coram Domino Papa esse poterimus eidem faciemus Successores nostros et Haeredes de Vxore nostra in perpetuum obligantes ut simili modo summo Pontifici qui pro tempore fuerit Ecclesiae Romanae sine contradictione debeant fidelitatem praestare homagium recognoscere Ad indicium autem hujus nostrae perpetuae Obligationis concessionis Volumus et Stabilimus ut de proprijs et specialibus redditibus nostris praedictorum regnorum pro omni servitio â—t consuetudine quae pro ipsis facere debemus salvis per omnia Denarijs Beati Petri Ecclesia Romana milâ—e marcas Esterlingorum percipiat anâ—uatim in festo scilicet Sancti Michaelis quingentas Marcas et in Pascha quingentas Septingentas scilicet pro Regno Angliae et trecentas pro Regno Hiberniae Salvis nobis et Haeredibus nostris justitijs Libertatibus et Regalibus nostris Quae omnia sicut supra scripta sunt rata esse volentes atque firma obligamus nos et successores nostros contra non venire et si nos vel aliquis successorum Nostrorum contra haec attentare praesumpserit quicunque ille fuerit nisi rite commonitus resipuerit cadaâ— a jure Regni Et haec charta Obligationis et concessionis nostrae semper firma permaneat Teste meipso apud domum Militum Templi
juxta Dâ—veram coram H. Dublinensi Archiepiscopo Johanne Norwicensi Episcopo Galfrido filio Petri W. Comite Sarisberiae Willielmo Comite Pembroc R. Comite Bononiae W. Comite Warenne S. Comite Winton W. Comite Arundel W. Comite de Ferraijs W. Briwere Petro filio Hereberti Warino filio Geroldi xv die Maij An. Regni nostri decimo quarto In English thus JOHN by the Grace of God King of England c. to the Faithful in Christ that shall see this Paper greeting To you all We would it should be known by this Paper seal'd with Our Seal That since We have offended God and our Mother the Holy Church in many things and therefore stand in very great need of the Divine Mercy and are not able to offer any due satisfaction to God and the Church unless We humble Our Selves and Our Kingdoms Being willing to humble Our Selves for His sake who humbled Himself even unto Death for us through the Grace of the Holy Spirit inspiring Us not by force oâ— the Interdict nor compelled by Fear but of Our Own good and free Will and by the common Counsel of Our Lords We giveâ— and freely yield to God and to his Holy Apostles Peter and Paul and to Our Antient Mother the Holy Roman Church and to Our Lord Popâ— Innocent and to his Catholick Successors the whole Kingdom of England and the whole Kingdom oâ— Ireland with all Right and Appurtenances thereto belonging for the Remission of all Our sins and the sins of all Mankind aâ— well for the Living as for the Dead and from henceforth from him and the Roman Church as a Feodary receiving and holding them in the Presence of the Wiâ—â— Pandulphus Subdeacon and Servanâ— of our Lord the Pope From henceforth to the aforenamed Lord Pope Innocent and to his Catholick Successors and to the Church of Rome according to this Written form We have made and sworn Leidge Homage in the Presence of Pandulphus and if We could be before Our Lord the Pope We would do it to him Binding Our Successors and Heirs by our Wife for ever that in like manner to the Pope for the time being and to the Roman Church they perform Fealâ—y without contradiction and acknowledg Homage Moreover in token of this Our perpetual Obligaâ—ion and Grant We will and orâ—ain That out of Our proper and special Revenues of the aforesaid Kingdoms in lieu of all Service â—ustoms We ought to do for the â—ame always excepting Peterpence â—he Church of Rome receive Yearly a â—housand Marks sterling viz. At Michaelmas five hundred and 〈◊〉 Easter five hundred that is seveâ— hundred for the Kingdom of England and three hundred for thâ— Kingdom of Ireland saving to Uâ— and our Heirs our Justice Liberties and Royalties All which as abovâ— written willing to have ratified and confirmed We bind Vs and our Successors not to do contrary And if We or any of Our Successorâ— shall presume to attempt ought against these Presents who ever hâ— be unless being rightly admonished he repent he shall lose all Righâ— to the Kingdom And let thiâ— Charter of Our Obligation and Graâ—â— remain always firm Witness Oâ—â—Self at the House of the Knights-Templars near Dover before H. Arch-Bishop of Dublin John Bishop of Norwich Jeffery the Son of Peter W. Earl of Salisbury William Earl oâ— Pembrook R. Earl of Bononia W. Earl oâ— Warenne S. Earl of Winchester W. Earl â—â— Arundel W. Earl Ferrars W. Briwere Peteâ— the Son of Herebert Warine the Son of Gerolâ—â— on the Fifteenth Day of May in the Fourteenâ—â— Year of Our Reign And now ye Englishmen can ye be content to be 〈◊〉 Popes slaves you here see their title their claim â—hat they pretend to and if they can but once get 〈◊〉 upper hand assure your selves they will quickly 〈◊〉 their title a foot Nay may not you find this 〈◊〉 ground-work of their last grand Plot to 〈◊〉 our King and subvert the Government and â—ot out this Pestilent Heresie as they are pleas'd to 〈◊〉 the Protestant Religion out of this part of 〈◊〉 Northern world Are you willing your Native â—ountry shall once again become the Popes 〈◊〉 to bear all the Burthens these unmerciful 〈◊〉 shall think fit to lay on it If you value not 〈◊〉 Christian Religion have you so little esteem for 〈◊〉 Native Liberty your English freedom your â—â—â—thright as to sell it to Romes Chapmen for a mess of 〈◊〉 or barter it away to your fellow Citizens 〈◊〉 the husks they feed their Swine with If your 〈◊〉 be once compell'd to become Romes Tributaâ—â— and here you see their Plea you have little 〈◊〉 to expect that you shall continue any long time 〈◊〉 Look upon your French Neighbours on the other 〈◊〉 of the Sea and see how they groan under woâ—se 〈◊〉 Aegyptian Bondage enslav'd both in Bodies 〈◊〉 Souls See how lowly the poor oppressed Comâ—â—ns go in their wooden Shoes and Canvass 〈◊〉 How greedily they feed upon bare bread and 〈◊〉 and amidst your present plenty count how 〈◊〉 hungry meals they make upon that course 〈◊〉 if you have figures enough in your Arithmeâ—â—â— to number them Amidst the overflowing of 〈◊〉 Cups think how often they drink plain water the small sowre verjuice of their water'd Grapes 〈◊〉 the Kings Taxes have swept away 19 〈◊〉 of their Wine out of 20. To rise a little 〈◊〉 give me leave to tell you what I have sometime heard for here I profess to speak only 〈◊〉 hear-say having never made Tryal hereof in my 〈◊〉 particular nor so much as desiring ocular demonsâ—â—tion hoping that none shall ever live to see thâ— French Fruits growing upon English ground nor 〈◊〉 of their â—eed sown on my Native soil to prosper 〈◊〉 out of the mouth of one who liv'd amongst thâ— many years I shall take leave to acquaint you 〈◊〉 in the French Kings late Wars the Taxes roseâ— high that many would willingly have thrown their estates into the Kings Hands for the time 〈◊〉 impositions were to last but they were to be haâ—â— by the Kings Decree upon so doing So that 〈◊〉 must upon pain and perils of Death manage 〈◊〉 own Lands and what the Product of their Groâ—â—â— would not amount to must be procured some 〈◊〉 way towards their appointed Payments Whetheâ— be easy to make brick without straw judge ye 〈◊〉 you like to have a Vapouring Gentleman or a 〈◊〉 Soldier with Pistols in his Saddle bow come hâ—â—ring up to your Plow-tails and commanâ— you to leave your work and go along with to shew him on his way where you 〈◊〉 sometimes run along by his Horse side two 〈◊〉 three miles it may be without a penny for 〈◊〉 pains not so much as daring to shew any the 〈◊〉 of Regret for fear of tasting the mercy 〈◊〉 of his Pistols Will it please you do ye think to 〈◊〉 at home by turns every day one of you to giveâ— rections to every roaring swash Buckler that 〈◊〉 with Sword and
of Eâ—â—lish men Do you think they will alter their mâ—ners by shifting their Habitations That 〈◊〉 Blackamore will ever change his Skin by comâ— into a colder Climate Let us look a little upon the first Discoveries 〈◊〉 their late grand Plot so often inculcated upon 〈◊〉 Nation by His Majesties many Royal Proclamatiâ—â— and Speeches that no Loyal Spirits can any 〈◊〉 doubt of the Truth of it who give any deference deferencâ— the Word of a King and we shall find there 〈◊〉 â—ain Design after our King's Murder to have rooted â—ut the Gentry of the Nation whose Lives should it â—â—ems have been offered up as so many Sacrifices to â—ppease the injur'd Ghost of their Murder'd Prince â—ome of your Women perhaps they might have conâ—escended to have sav'd for their Lusts your little â—hildren for Slaves the Poor and bâ—ser sort for their â—ervants but the Men of Substance must in likelihood â—ave gone all to pot as Obstacles to their cruel inâ—â—nded Design And yet still 't is but a perhaps we 〈◊〉 not sure they would have spared any Nay raâ—â—er we are morally certain that all of any tolerable 〈◊〉 must have Died if the Deposition of Mr. Bedlow 〈◊〉 often credited remains yet of any value amongst 〈◊〉 from whose Attestation publickly sworn upon â—ath in Ireland's Tryal we find the extent of the â—esign besides the subversion of the Government to â—â—ve been the extirpating of the Protestant Religion 〈◊〉 that Degree which was alwaies concluded on in 〈◊〉 the Consults wherein he was that they would not â—â—ve any Member of any Heretick in England that â—ould survive to tell in the Kingdom hereafter that â—ere was ever any such Religion in England as the â—â—otestant Religion If discovered and so frustrated â—â—ntrivances may not sufficiently warn you to beâ—â—re of the Jesuits Intentions to youward Consider â—atters of Fact and see what hath already been 〈◊〉 in other places and so come from thinking what 〈◊〉 been done to what may be done and what 〈◊〉 should be done if some might have their 〈◊〉 minds and desires Cast a look or two upon â—â—â—emia that once flourishing Land under Wickliff's â—â—ctrine Famous for the Martyrdom of John Huss 〈◊〉 Jerom of Prague the Courage of blind Zisca 〈◊〉 his valiant Souldiers and noted also for their â—â—â—erty of Chusing their Princes See now how much of the Bohemians Antient Liberty or Religiâ—â— is yet remaining amongst them Enough of the pâ—â—ctices and devices the Jesuits used to new 〈◊〉 the Nation after they had once reduc'd it by 〈◊〉 of Arms you may find in the History of the 〈◊〉 Persecution London Printed by B. A. John Walker But to return to King John whence I have 〈◊〉 gressed after his Resignation and Reassumption of 〈◊〉 Crown at the yearly Rent of 900 or 1000 〈◊〉 Silver the Return of the Archbishop and the 〈◊〉 Exiles into the Land we read of the releasing 〈◊〉 annulling of the Interdiction which had lasted years odd months and days but it was not beâ— that the King according to one of the Articles made restitution to the sufferers which the 〈◊〉 saith amounted in the whole to 18000â— Marks would have thought after so much trouble the 〈◊〉 would have been weary of endeavouring after Aâ—â—â—trary Power But the Event may make us apt to 〈◊〉 that among other inducements to yield to the 〈◊〉 hard terms of Accommodation one mighâ— some hope to domineer the better over the 〈◊〉 he was reconciled to the Clergy and so take a 〈◊〉 revenge upon such as would not ere while assist against the Pope For not long after the late 〈◊〉 we find mention made of so great 〈◊〉 between the King and his Lords that much 〈◊〉 were raised on either part One occasion alledgâ—â— that the King would not hold Edward's Laws yet he had taken an Oath at the Return of Exil'd Clergy-men into England to call in all 〈◊〉 Laws and put in place of them the Law King Edward if Stow's Annals record the 〈◊〉 Another that the King would have Exil'd wiâ—â—â—aw the Earl of Chester for some Advice he given him relating to his Vices which the other did not well digest The King's Party being then the stronger the Lords took the City of London for their Refuge and remained therein Though we read of much harm done this year in London by Fire and of the burning a great part of the Burrough of Southwark yet it seems the City was strong enough to become the Barons Bulwark against the inrag'd King's Ire And siding with them so inhanced the Barons fame that as Stow tells us all except a few went to the Barons side so that King John durst not peep out of Windsor Castle At length by the Prelates Mediation a Peace was made for a while and to establish it the firmer the King and the Lords soon after met with great strength on either side on Berham Down where a Charter was devis'd made and sealed by the King to the Barons content A.C. 1214. according to Falian's account Henry Fitz. Alwyn continued then Mayor of London Ralph Egland and Constantine le Josne being Sheriffs in this 14th year of K. John's Reign Yet in Stow we read of a Meeting appointed in a Meadow between Stains c Windsor where the King granted the Liberties without any difficulty the Charter whereof is dated June 16. An. Reg. 17. As for the loud and clamorous Declamations of such who tell us that the grand Charter of our Lives Liberties and Estates our Properties and Priviledges was gain'd at first by Rebellion and would thus slily as it were insinuate that it was and is retained by like unlawful waies and means We would desire them to give us better proofs for what they say than their own bare Asseverations which will not yet go for currant Coin in all Markets That Edward the Confessor's Laws were very acceptable to the generality of the Nation we have great reason to believe from their continued desire to retain them That William the first granted the use of them to the Nation is sufficiently instanced above That Henry the first used them 〈◊〉 likewise mentioned before for so affirms the Chronicle That King John himself accorded to them at hiâ— coming to the Crown we may I doubt not reasosonably believe considering his Title and the Conteâ—â— he was like to have about it If a Negative may be admitted an Argument in the case I do not remember that I have read of any difference between hiâ— and his Lay-Barons about them till after that he was reconciled to the Pope by the resignation of hiâ— Crown and performance of the other conditions enjoyned him But after the King 's giving away hiâ— Crown and resuming it again upon a Foundatioâ— wholly and altogether new I know not but he mighâ— think all former obligations void and so would endeavour to have his Will of the Laity when he hop'd he had fixt the Clergy fast enough on his side by thâ— new condescension
he had lately made to the Pope'â— Ambitious desires and pretensions It was after this Reconciliation that we read in Stow of the Barons coming to St. Edmundsbury and producing the Charter oâ— King Henry the first which they had received oâ— the Archbishop Stephen However let the occasional Causes of making anâ— confirming this grand Charter of our English Libeâ—ties be what they will whatever were the grounds oâ— the Barons desiring or the motives of the King 's granting it Upon what Foundation soever so it be sound at the bottom stand these Pacts and Compacts between the King and his Subjects For my part I know no reason why Princes and Great men should not think it their Duty to keep their words firm and inviolable as well as persons of meaner rank and quality 'T was a Romish Cardinal an Italian a Papist living long in the French Government from whom I have heard come the Doctrine of not being a slave to ones word As the Duty so I believe it the Interest of Governours to be just and firm to their Promises otherwise it is a Question how long the people under them will continue firm to theirs when they think they have a convenient opportunity to break them Fear may do much but Conscience I fancy will do but little in this Case to keep the one Party fixt and firm to his Bargain when the other values not to perform the Conditions of their mutual Compact Such as love to talk of nothing but Conquerours and Conquests captivating and inslaving men to Arbitrary Powers as if at feud and defiance with all mankind but themselves and their own Party if my Advice may be taken they would do wisely to stifle such harsh unpleasing Doctrines in their own breasts and not openly produce them in publick view to all without distinction lest one bold confident brazen-fac'd felâ—ow or other should start up out of the Vulgar Herd and ask them why the people would not have as good a Title to their Power when they had got the upper hand as those Princes who claim only by Conquest A Question that at first view would seem very plausible to many if well stated without the previous consideration of Oaths Promises and Compacts As for the consequences that some may fancy hid in the belly of it â—ike the Armed Grecians in the Trojan Horse look they to them who find themselves concern'd on either side It 's well enough known what a large tract of ground the French King hath seis'd in the Spanish Netherlands within these few years and brought the People of those Provinces under his own Subjection by force That his title to those lands at first was none of the best is plain enough to such as know his Pretensions As for that shadow of claim which might be fancied to accrue to him by his Queen the late Spanish Kings Daughter that it is clear done 〈◊〉 as far as words and writings could go is manifeâ—â— by the Printed Articles of the Pyrenaean Treâ—â— The best Title I find he had to those Countries 〈◊〉 the Spanish Kings weakness to defend those Subjeâ—â— himself together it may be with some unwillingness let them look to the payment of as great an Army 〈◊〉 was thought needful for their defence out of thâ— own Mony by their own Officers He was made pâ—â—haps to fear lest the Soldiers should have been 〈◊〉 at the Devotion of such as paid them than at his 〈◊〉 rais'd them though he appointed such a 〈◊〉 such Officers and such Soldiers as he thought fit 〈◊〉 had had the sole ordering of them at his own 〈◊〉 and pleasure in all other things but naming the pâ—â—masâ—eâ—s Or rather was it not his prime Councellâ—â— the Spaniards loathness to lose the many pickiâ—â— they glean'd out of their Offices in those Countâ—â— by defrauding the Soldiers of their appointed 〈◊〉 and so cheating both King and Country 〈◊〉 good is much bandied up and down among 〈◊〉 words but in truth and reality private interest that which most oversways As for the rest of 〈◊〉 French Kings pretences that he makes use of thâ— for meer colours is evident by the novel inventioâ— Dependencies If need be we doubt not but 〈◊〉 Hamball passing over the rugged Alps with his 〈◊〉 my he can either find a way or make one be it 〈◊〉 such a one as his Manifestâ— at the beginning of late Wars with the Dutch tells us of viz. his 〈◊〉 Glory One of the truest pretensions I believe of Now put the Case and suppose that the Inhâ—â—â—tants of these late subdued Countries brought 〈◊〉 the French Kings Subjection by the force of Arms and all former right and title to them 〈◊〉 relinquish'd by their ancient Prince the King Spain in his late Treaties should one time or other â—y some unexpected unseen unthought of accident â—et such power into their hands as to break off these â—rench Chains of Slavery beat the French Kings Ofâ—â—cers and Soldiers out of their Country and keep 〈◊〉 at a Bay by the strength of their Arms the â—uestion would be among our Politick Casuists wheâ—â—er they would not have as good right and Title to â—â—ace the Government of their Country in what â—â—nds they pleased as the French King now hath in â—â—tual possession My meaning is of such who shall 〈◊〉 have pass'd away themselves by Oaths Coveâ—â—nts and Compacts That they sit down quietly â—â—der the French Government and do not publickly â—â—pose is but a silent argument a negative proof at 〈◊〉 They do not openly declare their dissent 〈◊〉 they assent and consent is such a conclusion that 〈◊〉 not well and cleverly follow from the premises â—hat such as are for the present French interest may â—firm let them likewise well prove but methinks 〈◊〉 English men should not be over-ready to disclaim 〈◊〉 Netherlands right when they call to mind that in â—â—een Elizabeths days our Governours thought good defend the poor distressed Provinces against the â—yrannical Arbitrary pretences of the Spanish King 〈◊〉 contrary to their ancient priviledges would have â—â—duc'd them all by force to Popery and Slavery to â—â—pose which their Neighbours especially England powerfully assisted them that the Spaniard was 〈◊〉 at last to declare he would treat with them as â—â—th free States before he could get a treaty of peace 〈◊〉 them Such as break ancient Covenants and 〈◊〉 the first stone had need stand upon safe and sure â—ound least they find too many stones flying about 〈◊〉 Ears before the end of the fray We moreoâ—â—â— have found the Spaniards within these few years coming into the assistance of these same new 〈◊〉 once his old Subjects against the French Kings Poâ—er ready in a manner to over-run them We 〈◊〉 have heard likewise of publick Addresses in behalf 〈◊〉 the same side made of late to our present King 〈◊〉 esteem'd the general Consent of the Nation After King John had granted the grand 〈◊〉 to his Lords and every one was departed peaceabâ—â—
proâ—ises not being very commonly reputed to bind the 〈◊〉 party when the conditions required are not performed by the other Whatever the true occasioâ— was London we find the place where this turn 〈◊〉 first publickly declared by proclaiming Henry Kiâ—â— throughout the City Oct. 20. so considerable was â—â—ven the reputed favour of the Citizens Lewis aboâ—â— there indeed afterwards a while and the Barous 〈◊〉 his side but his strength so diminished in a littâ—â— time that he was glad at last to take Money and 〈◊〉 away upon composition even in the 1st year of thâ— King or beginning of the 2d This K. Hen. being the Son of such a Father whoâ— practices too much betrayed his Principles and 〈◊〉 in so troublesom a time as his Fathers contest 〈◊〉 the Clergy we may be apt to believe he had a 〈◊〉 of his Fathers malady So full of troubles do we 〈◊〉 his Reign such complaints of the Government suâ—â— amendments endeavoured and reformations maâ—â— one while by the peaceable Councils of the Parâ—â—â—ment another while by the compulsive power 〈◊〉 the Barons Swords all which we may impute â—â—ther to his own natural inbred disposition or else the over-ruling advices of ill Ministers so 〈◊〉 working upon the Kings Good-nature as upon sligâ—â— pretences to make his power serve their own Interâ—â—â— to carry on their corrupt arbitrary designs So â—â—ny were the ups and downs risings and falls changâ—â— and turns of Fortune in these times such variabâ—â—ness and mutability of Councils in affairs and the 〈◊〉 of London so much concerned in most of the câ—â—siderable Actions then on foot now in the Kinâ— favour as soon again out of it one while enjoyâ—â—â— their ancient Priviledges and Customs another 〈◊〉 deprived of their Liberties and their Franchises 〈◊〉 upon slight occasions and anon again restored all with addition of new grants that I find it câ—â—venient through much of this Kings Reign to 〈◊〉 Annals after my Author In the 3d of this King is mention made of a Parâ—â—ament kept at London In the 4th were Proclamaâ—â—ons made in London and through the Land that all â—trangers should depart out of the Land except such 〈◊〉 came with Merchandize the intent hereof is said â—â— be wholly to rid the Land of such strangers as posâ—â—st Castles in it contrary to the Kings Will and Pleaâ—â—re This year also was the King Crowned the 2d â—â—me at Westminster In the 6th was detected a Conâ—â—iracy within London which the King is said to have â—â—ken so grievously that he was minded to have â—rown down the City Walls till considering that it â—as only a design of some of the Rascality and not 〈◊〉 the Rulers he assuaged his displeasure taken aâ—â—inst the City Robert Serle was then Mayor Rich. â—â—nger Ioseus 〈◊〉 Iosne Sheriffs An. Reg. 7. in a Counâ—â—â— kept at London Stow tells us the King was reâ—â—ired by the Peers Spiritual and Temporal to conâ—â—â—m the Liberties for which the War was made aâ—â—inst his Father and he had sworn to observe at the â—â—parture of Lâ—wis out of England whereupon the 〈◊〉 commanded the Sheriffs to enquire by the 〈◊〉 of Twelve lawful men what were the Liâ—â—â—ties in England in his Grand-fathers time and 〈◊〉 the Inquisition so made up to London Hence 〈◊〉 we observe that England had Liberties and â—â—ghts of their own before the Barons War in 〈◊〉 Iohn's days and therefore seem injuriousâ—â— upbraided as if they got them first by Rebelliâ—â— The good Government of England which as a â—â—dern Author words it was beâ—ore like the Law Nature only written in the hearts of men came â—pon obtaining the 2 Charters to be exprest in â—â—chment and remains a Record in writing though â—â—se Charters gave us no more than what was our 〈◊〉 before The 8th is noted for the grant made to the King by his Barony in Parliament of the Warâ— and Marriage of their Heirs A good advantage somâ—times for the King to fix Noble mens Estates in sucâ— Families as he best pleased A. R. 9. A Fifteenth was granted to the King to 〈◊〉 him in his right beyond the Seas and he by confirming the great Charter granted to the Barons anâ— People their rights The 11th year is of note foâ— many beneficial Grants made to London by the King The Sheriffwick of London and Middlesex was let 〈◊〉 farm to the Sheriffs of London for 300 l. yearly Oâ— Feb. 18. was granted that all Wears in Thames shoulâ— be pluckt up and destroyed for ever On March 1â—â— the King granted by his Charter ensealed that thâ— Citizens of London should pass Toll-free through thâ— Land and upon any Citizen's being constrained 〈◊〉 pay Toll in any place of England the Sheriffs 〈◊〉 impowered to attach any man of that place cominâ— to London with his goods and to keep and with-hoâ—â— till the Citizens were restored all such Moneys 〈◊〉 from them with costs and damages Aug. 18. 〈◊〉 granted to the Citizens Warren that is free liberâ—â— of Hunting within a certain circuit about Londâ—â— Yet notwithstanding we read in another Author this years History of the Kings compelling the Lâ—â—doners to lay him down a large sum of Money bâ—sides the 15th part of their moveables because 〈◊〉 sooth they had given Lewis who came to their aidâ— K. John's days with an Army 5000 Marks at his â—â—parture out of England It may be the King 〈◊〉 them some of these Priviledges which cost him â—â—thing to induce them to give down their Money 〈◊〉 more willingly and not too much to displease theâ— whose power was so well known in those days 〈◊〉 afterward experienced to some mens cost Roger 〈◊〉 Mayor Stephen Bockerel and Henry Cobham Sheriâ—â— this year and also the next viz. 12. when the Franâ—hises and Liberties of the City were by the King â—onfirmed and to each of the Sheriffs was granted to â—ave 2 Clerks 2 Officers to the Citizens that â—hey should have and use a common Seal This year 〈◊〉 read that the King in a Council held at Oxford â—roclaimed that being of age he would rule himself 〈◊〉 pleasure and forthwith cancelled the Charters of â—iberties as granted in his Nonage Whereupon it â—â—llowed says my Author that whoso would enjoy 〈◊〉 Liberties before granted must renew their Charâ—â—rs of the Kings new Seal at a price awarded But 〈◊〉 Barons shortly after declared to the King that â—â—cept he would restore the Charter lately cancelled â—â—ey would compel him by the Sword Such brisk â—ssertors were they it seems resolved to be of â—â—eir Liberties On the 13th while the Bishop of â—ondon was at high Mass in St. Pauls happened sudâ—enly such dark mists of Clouds and such a Tempest 〈◊〉 Thunder and Lightening that the People got out 〈◊〉 the Church and left the Bishop there in great â—ar with but a small attendance For all the many 〈◊〉 Papists make of their Mass and the wonderâ—â—l power and vertue they would fain persuade us to â—â—lieve there is in it it seems then
little or no saying in this matter and fearing their Cause they went into a Canon's house of St. Paul's where at that time John Mansell and others sent from the King tarryed the Assembling of the People and shewed them that they intended not any longer to plead with the K. but were contented to put themselves fully in the King's grace and mercy saving alwaies to themselves and all other Citizens their Liberty and Franchise of the City After which Agreement John Mansell with the others came into the Court of Folk-moot whereunto the people was rehearsed a fair and pleasant Tale promising to them that their Liberties should be wholly and inviolably preserved by the King with many other things to the great comfort of the common people And lastly it was asked of them whether the Law and Custom were such as is above rehearsed or no whereunto like undiscreet and unlearned people they answered and eryed Nay nay nay notwithstanding that the said Law and Custom had before-time been used time out of mind To this was neither Mayor nor Aldermen nor other of the great of the City that might impugn or make any reason for upholding their antient Laws or Customs And no wonder continues my Author Fabian though the King were thus heady or grievous to the City for by such evil disposed and malicious people as he had about him the Land was ill ruled and much mischief was used whereof ensued much sorrow after Then John Mansell called the Mayor and Aldermen before him and charged them to be at Westminster the morrow following to give attendance upon the King Upon the morrow the Mayor and Aldermen tarrying the King's coming in the great Hall at Westminster the King came into St. Stephen's Chappel where for a season he had a Council with his Lords after went into the Exchequer-Chamber and there sate him down and his Lords about him Anon after the Mayor and Aldermen were called into the said Chamber and soon after called by name and commanded to stand near the Bar. Then Henry Baa Justice said unto the Mayor and 7 Aldermen That for so much as by form of the King's Laws they were found culpable in certain Articles touching transgression against the King therefore the Court awarded that they should make fine and ransom after the discretion of the said Court But for that they had put themselves in the King's grace and mercy the King hath commanded the Fine to be put in respite that ye be not pained so grievously as ye have deserved After which Judgment gâ—ven they kneeled down and then the Mayor with weeping Tears thanked the King for the bounty and goodness and besought him to be a good and gracious Lord to the City and unto them as his faithful Subjects Whereunto the King made no Answer but rose straight up and so went his way leaving them there Anon as the King was departed they were all arrested and kept there till they had found Surety and every Alderman of them discharg'd of his Ward and Office that they had within the City But shortly after they put in Sureties and so returned heavily to London Shortly after was William Fitz Richard by the K. Commandment made Mayor Thomas Fitz Thomas and William Grapsysgate Sheriffs After this day by day the Chamberlain was call'd to Account before John Mansell of all such Tolls as were gathered in the time of the Mayoralty of John Tâ—leshaâ— and Ralph Richard Hardell there being present to hear the said Account divers of the Commonalty of the City but none oâ— the Heads By which Account no default might be laid to any of the forenamed persons convict before the King By reason whereof divers of them were admitted to the King's favour shortly after and restor'd to their Officâ—s again but not without paying of money whereof the certainâ—y is not known saith my Author What a broil was here What endeavours us'd to find faults to set the King at difference with his Loyal Citizens and keep them from Reconciliation A Bedroll of Crimes and Ostences devised made and formed and none to own it lâ—st they themselves should at laâ—â— be punish'd for those wrong Accusâ—tions which they had laid to other mens charges and could not weâ— prove What was this but to make divisions betweeâ— the Commons and their Head Rulers To pretend tâ— oblige the one and depress the other Divide anâ— Reign was a Maxim put in use before ever Machiavâ—â— was in being What pray now was all this for Was it not to weaken the City's Power To makâ— the Rich appear Offenders and then seem to lay oblâ—gations upon them by pardoning what they were nâ—ver realâ—y and dâ—signedly guiâ—ty of Or else to 〈◊〉 Money out of their hands and yet persuade people that they were favourably dealâ— with You may heâ—â— see their actions were in a manner wire-drawn to bâ— made offences and their Accounts sâ—â—rcht to pick 〈◊〉 somewhat to lay to their charge And yet how visiblâ— were all the tricks and devices of ill men frustrated and sappointed the very saâ—e way whereby they though to have confirm'd and made good their malicious Dâ—signs when after all their searches they were in sort compelâ—'d to approve the others faultless wholâ—â— doubtlâ—s◠〈◊〉 their minds wills purposes and inâ—â—ntions How hard a matter had it been for the aâ—cured clearly to have deseated ill mens suggestions 〈◊〉 not they themselves pav'd them the way by searching into their accounts where it seems no faults were to be found to make good their accusations Let those transactions be brought into open Court which before were wont to be done privately and then all the present Auditors are made Judges of the reasonableness of the proceedings Here were large imputations and yet the accused suffered to go at freedom and not clapt up till they were frightened into submission What! Could they get none to swear roundly against them Never an outlandish Evidence for love nor mony for fear favour nor affection then clap them up in Prison not letting them see the faces of their Accusers Why did not they search their houses seize upon their Trunks and Boxes and so rake into their private Writings to ferret out some Crimes out of them or else in defect thereof privily foist in something criminal and blameworthy and afterwards openly produce it and with full cry and â—oud exclamations impose the belief thereof on their credulous Partizans as if really found upon them We need not stay for the revolution of Plato's year expecting former Transactions to be acted over again Are any of us such strangers in Jerusalem as not to know the things which have come to pass there in the latter days As the Heads of the City in this Richard Hardâ—ll's Mayoralty had their share of troubles and afflâ—ctions as hath been related above so the Commons were not without their care likewise For Wheat is said this year â—o have been so scarce that it was sold at London
at 24 â— â— Quarter Scarcity of Corn in those days made this a considerable summ Dâ—arer we are told it would have been had not some been brought out of another Counâ—ry which made People flock to the City because 't was â—heaper there than in many Shires of England This is the year wherein the K. kept his high Court â—f Parliament at Oxford which of some Writers is named the mad Parliament because of many Acts there madâ— for Reformation of the State the prosecution of which prov'd in event the death and destruction of many Nobâ—â— Men by means of that famed strife then begun anâ— called at this day the Barons War True the accidental Consequences proved fatal to many But if unfortunate broils give to any Laws the denomination of evil I know not but in time some may grow so presumptuously bold as upon the like account prophanely to branâ— even the Christian Religion which we have been assured at first from the divine Oracles should prove thâ— occasion of much strife in the world and the Experience of these latter times confirm it plain enough to our Understandings Whether the forementioned Parliamenâ— justly and really deserves the opprobrious Title thâ—â— some have given it I shall very willingly submit to the Judgment of any experienc'd Reader who hath throughly perused weighed and considered the Equity Justice and reasonableness of the English Liberties and Priviledges contained in the grand Charter sealed and given to the Nation by K. John Father to this Hen. 3 d which was confirmed in this very same Oxford Parliament according to Matthew Paris as the chief thing then desired and insisted on by the Nobles and whereon were likewise grounded the other Acts and Ordinances then and there made by the King and his Lords For that the King his Brethren the Noblemen and Bâ—rons took their Oaths to see the same observed I appeal to Stow's Annals for proof That these Acts might be kept firm and stable we read of 12 Peers then chosen to whom Authority was given to correct all such as offended in breaking of these Ordinances and others by the said Peers to be devised and ordered touching and concerning the same matter and purpose It was not long after the end of this Parliament before strife and variance began to kindle between the King and the Earls of Leicester and Glocester by reason of such Officers as the Earls had removed and put others in their room Amongst which John Mansell of whom enough is mentioned above was discharged of his Office and Sir Hugh Bygot admitted for him Upon occasion of this difference beginning to arise between the King and his Barons we meet with an eminent Instance of the City's Power and esteem for when the Peers heard of the murmur at Court fearing that the King would be advised to alter his Promise to make their party the stronger they are said to have come about Maudlintide to the Guild-Hall at London where the Mayor Aldermen and Commonalty of the City were assembled to whom they shewed an Instrument or Writing at which hung many Labels with Seals as the King's Seal Edward his Son's Seal with many others of the Nobles of the Land wherein were contained the Articles ordained and made at Oxford willing as saith the Book the Mayor and Aldermen considering the said Acts were made to the Honour of God Fidelity to the King and profit of the Realm that they would also in upholding of the same set their common Seal of the City thereto After this Request the Mayor and Citizens at first indeed desired to be excused till they knew the Kings Pleasure but no excuse at that time being to be granted at last by the labour of the Lords and such solicitors as they had within the City the common Seal was put to the forementioned Writing and the Mayor with divers of the City sworn to maintain the same their Allegiance saved to the King with preservation of their Liberties and Franchises After this obtain'd we find the 12 Peers assembling day by day as if now they feared no colours the City being on their side and valued no ones Threats keeping their Councils and Courts for the Reformation of old grievances removing from the King divers of his Menial Servants and setting others in their places and moreover a Proclamation comes forth that none of the Kings Takers should take any thing within the City without the owners will except a small customary matter therein excepted upon which what the Kings Officers took was straight paid for within the City and Liberty of the same and so continued to be for a while Can any one then desire a better proof of the City's repute in those days Yet within few years following we shall meet with more Instances of her power in the History In the 42d year Sir Hugh Bygot with Rogâ—â— Turkelay and others kept his Court at St. Saviours and held there the Itinerary Pleas to the sore punishment â—â— many convicted offending Officers Though this Hugh Bygot was put in by the Peers to reform as may be supposed old grievances yet power seems to have made him also go astray or else corruption or to colloguâ— with another party Whereof the City in General waâ— like to have tasted deeply could he have had his Will some of the particular Citizens scaped him not for hâ— summoned the Citizens to the aforesaid Court for Toll taken on the further side of the Water And though it was answered that they were taken lawfully and they were ready to prove it in places and Court convenienâ— within the Precinct of their Liberty Yet notwithstanding he charged upon Inquest 12 Knights of Surry to enquire thereof who acquitted the Citizens and sheweâ— that the said Toll belonged to them of Right Afterwards coming to Guild-Hall he kept his Court anâ— Pleas there according to my Author without all order of Law and contrary to the Liberties of the City inflâ—cting new punishments on the Bakers and ordered many things at his Will This year the Citizens had opportunity of shewing their Respect to the Kings Brother Ricbard Earl â—â— Cornwall coming over from beyond Sea where he had been dealing in the affairs of the Empire unto London where he was joyfully received the City being richly hang'd with Silk and Arras In the 43d year John Gysours being Mayor and John Adrian and Robert Cornhill Sheriffs Fryday after Simon and Jude's day we hear of the reading in the Parliament kept at Westminster in presence of all the Lords and Commonalty at sundry times of all the Acts and Ordinances made at Oxford with other Articles added by the Peers After which reading we find all those very solemnly accursed that attempted in word or deed to break the said Acts or any of them The Form of the Curse which was most solemnly denounced against the Violaters and Infringers of Magna Charta is to be seen in Matthew of Paris and this here intimated was in probability
much like that which I find in a modern Author thus Englished BY the Authority of God Omnipotent of the Son and of the Holy Ghâ—st and of the glorious Mother of God the Virgin Mary and of the blâ—ssed Apostles Peter and Paul and of all other Apostles and of the holy Martyr and Archbishop Thomas and of all the Martyrs and of the blessed Edward King of England and of all Confessors and Virgins and of all the Saints of God We excommunicate and Anathematize and sequester from our â—oly Mother the Church all those which henceforth knowingly and maliciously shall deprive or spoil the Church of her right and all those that shall by any Art or Wit rashly violate diminish or change secretly or openly in deed word or Counsel by crossiâ—g in part or in whole those Ecclesiastical Liberties or ancient approved Customs of the Kingdom especially the Liberties and free Customs which are contained in the Charters of the Common Liberties of England and the Forrests granted by our Lord the King to the Archbishops Bishops Prelates Earls Barons Knights and Freeholders And all those who have published or being published have observed any Statutes Ordinances thing against them or any thing therein contained which have brought in any Customs to the contrary or 〈◊〉 served them being brought in and all Writers of such Oâ—dinances or Councils or Executioners and all such as shâ— presume to judge according to such Ordinances All 〈◊〉 every such Persons as are or at any time shall be knowingly guilty of any such matters shall ipso facto incur thâ— Sentence such as are ignorantly guilty shall incur the saâ—â— if being admonished they within 15 days after amend 〈◊〉 For everlasting memory whereof we hereunto put our Seaâ— Thus far the words of the Curse Nor was the maâ—ner of pronouncing less solemn in open Parliament 〈◊〉 King with all the chief Nobility of the Realm in the Robes and the Bishops in their Vestments with buâ—â—ing Tapers in their Hands standing to hear this 〈◊〉 read and immediately as soon as the Charters and 〈◊〉 were read and signed all throwing down their Tapeâ—â— extinguished and smoaking cry out So let all 〈◊〉 who incur this Sentence and go against this Curse 〈◊〉 extinct and have no better savour than these Snuffs 〈◊〉 then the King having stood all this while with 〈◊〉 hand upon his Breast said with a loud voice So 〈◊〉 me help I will observe all these things sincerely and faitâ—fully as I am a man as I am a Christian as I am Knight and as I am a King crowned and anointed But what could any one think these so solemn 〈◊〉 would avail without a suitable Power and strength Arms to make them good per force When as 〈…〉 known that there lived in those days a Clergy-man Rome who pretended to dispense even with the Almigâ—ty's Laws whose Power was at that time openly prâ—fessed to be believed sufficient by the â—â—nerality of Eâ—rope to absolve all manner of Oaths and Covenantâ— and from whom Dispensations more than a good maâ— might be had for Money The confirmation of the foâ—mentioned Acts we may believe well paid for by the Parliament For we read of a Tax called Scutage that â—s 40 s. of every Knights Fee through England then granted to the King which extended to a large summ of Money viz. Six score Thousand Pounds or more For upon occasion of this large Tax I find the number of the Knights Fees in England at those days in possesâ—ion of Spiritualty and Temporalty summ'd up by my Author to 60000 l. and above Upon supposition that â—he Clergy paid nothing it is said that the Tax would â—ot have amounted over the summ of 64000 l. whereâ—y we may guess what a deal of the Land even almost â—ne half was then belonging to the Clergy Devotion as the times went then brought forth Riches and the Daughter since devoured the Mother Nov. the 6th we are told the King came to St. Pauls and commandâ—ng a Folk-moot to be assembled according to the forâ—er Ordinances made asked license of the Commonalâ—y of the City to pass the Sea and promised there in â—resence of a great multitude of People that he would â—e a good and gracious Lord unto the City by the â—outh of Sir Hugh Bygot Chief-Justice and to mainâ—ain their Liberties unhurt whereupon the People for â—y made an exceeding shout Observe here the turn of â—hings the Courtiers seem to have sought not long time â—â—nce to oppress the Head Rulers of the City by a Folk-â—oot of the Commons Now the King to prevent the â—ffect of ill mens advice hath bound himself to ask their â—ave before he goes out of the Land for a season E're while the Folk-moot or Common-Hall was abused to â—â—rve for a property to destroy their own Cities Liberâ—â—es Now the conservation of the whole Nations welâ—â—re is put into their hands What greater Evidence can â—e demanded to prove this Honourable Cities Power â—nd Influence than to find the Citizens entrusted by â—ing Lords and Commons with so high a charge We may presume the Reason of entrusting the Commons of the City with so large a Grant as the Kinâ— could not pass the Sea without License first obtain'â— of them was to prevent the Evil and Mischief thâ—â— might happen to the Land by advice of ill Counselloâ— who might be persuading the King at every turn to gâ— out of the Realm he having also Lands beyond the 〈◊〉 that they might have the better opportunity to 〈◊〉 out their own ends though to the Peoples oppressioâ— in his absence What trouble affliction and oppressioâ— the land suffered under this Kings Uncle Richard thâ— first 's Imprisonment at the Hands of the Kings Officeâ—â— who rak'd and pill'd what they could of Clergy 〈◊〉 Laity on pretence of raising Money for the Kings Râ—demption I had rather send the Reader back to pag. to satisfie himself where I have related somwhat of thâ— charge of the Kings Ransom than stay to repeat it ovâ—â— again A fuller description the curious may meet wiâ—â— in Neubrigensis l. 4 cap. 35. treating particularly therâ—of Some I believe may have observed in these unsettlâ—â— times that they have fared much better and more eâ—sily avoided the malitious attempts of their Fellow Suâ—jects who have liv'd as it were in the Sunshine of thâ— Kings presâ—nce than such who being many scores â—â— may be Hundreds of Miles distant have liv'd so â—â— phrase it in the shadow I know not but 〈◊〉 â—resence of the head Governour 〈◊〉 as needful always 〈…〉 as is the General in 〈◊〉 Army Certâ—in enough it is by the History that 〈◊〉 this Kinâ— Henry was thus absent from his Kingdom 〈…〉 ways in France that Dissention arose'â— Englaâ—d between the Kings Son Edward and the 〈◊〉 of Gloucestâ—r which might have immediately brougâ—â— no small trouble to the Land had not there been greâ—â— endeavours used to prevent it wherein this Honourabâ—â— City shew'd much of her
nor league with them from the notorious 〈◊〉 these fraudulent Gibeonitish Ambassadours put upon theâ— by their lying words and from the murmuring of thâ— whole Congregation against them Notwithstanding all this we find they let them live lest Wrath shoulâ— have been upon them because of the Oath they 〈◊〉 sworn unto them And that they did well in keepinâ— this so solemn a league and Covenant though obtainâ—â— by Fraud and hastily made we have divine Authority to assure us from the Lord in the Three Years Famine he sent upon the Land in King David's Days foâ— Saul and his bloody House because in his Zeal to thâ— Children of Israel and Judah he sought to slay the Gibeonites and so violated the Oath made by their 〈◊〉 Fathers hundreds of years before We cannot with out the greatest breach of Charity suppose that 〈◊〉 holy a Man as David one after Gods own Heaâ— made use of this only as a pretence to ruine and exâ—â—pate Saul's Family and settle the Crown the faster 〈◊〉 his own Head and to fix it the surer to his posterity aâ—ter him If any of us were so Atheistical as from thâ—â— instance to look upon Religion as only a piece of 〈◊〉 Policy our Suspicious Thoughts and Censures woulâ— be soon answered from David's own manner of actiâ—â— in this particular who is recorded to have spared 〈◊〉 Son of Jonathan Saul's eldest Son and that too upâ—â— account of the Lord's Oath that was sworn betweeâ— them many Years before As the Scriptures plainâ—â— shew us that Joshua and the Princes of Israel did we in keeping the Oath they had sworn though draw into it by Fraud and Deceit so in them we find 〈◊〉 ill it fared with Zedekiah the last King in Jerusalâ—â— after he had broken the Oath which Nebuchadnezzâ— had made him swear by God We doubt not but the there was force enough upon him to compel him 〈◊〉 it may be the price of a Kingdom likewise induced him thereto for the benefit of his present occasions but how ill went it with Judah for his breaking that Oath by whatsoever force at first gained of him even to the destruction of the chief City solitary desolation of the Land for many Years and utter ruine of the Monarchy for ever after For afâ—er the Captivity we find it reduced back again into a kind of Common-Wealth under Rulers and but one of them of David's Line mentioned in the Scriptures that I remember Governours the high Priests the Maccabees the Sanhedrim unto the coming of Shilo So fatal to the Jewish Nation was their Princes Irreligion There is no respect of Persons with the Almighty at whose Tribunal all must once stand to be judged High and Low Rich and Poor Noble and Ignoble Kings Princes and People as sure as the Scripture which we esteem the word of the great God is infallibly true But whither has the overflowing of my thoughts carried me To go back again therefore into the way from whence I have so far deviated In this same 44th year of King Henry wherein he commanded all of Twelve Years and upwards in London to swear to be true to him and his Heirs we read of further grudge and displeasure beginning to kindle between the King and his Lords The occasion is related to be for that the Barons with consent of the Peers discharged one and admitted another for Justice unwitting the King The displeaâ—ure hence arising and encreasing more and more was â—owever a little appeased for a while by the Policy of the Kings Brother and some Prelates of the Land â—n this Year the Chronicler thought it worthy remark â—o make mention of the variance that fell out between â—he Londoners and the men of Northampton at a Fair â—here held for a man of that Town there slain which occasioned a long Suit and Plea between them to 〈◊〉 great vexation and trouble of both Parties wherein 〈◊〉 the end the City had the better That City that 〈◊〉 able to make a Contest with the King 's whole 〈◊〉 is likely enough to match a particular Town In the 45th shortly after Alhallontide the Baroâ— admitted and made Sheriffs of divers Shires namiâ—â— them Guardians and Keepers of the Counties and Shiâ—â— and discharged such as the King had before admittâ—â— Neither would they suffer the Justices but such as 〈◊〉 of their own admission to keep the Itinerary 〈◊〉 The Law allowed them power and they were 〈◊〉 it seems to use it The King as any may easily suppose was grievously discontented therewith insomucâ— as saith the Chronicle that after that Season he â—â—boured what he might to disannul the former Ordinanâ—â— and Statutes and cause them to be broken To thâ— end on the second Sunday in Lent was read by thâ— King's Command at Paul's Cross a Bull of Pope 〈◊〉 the 4th as a Confirmation of another Bull before pâ—â—chased of his Predecessor Alexander the 4th to absolâ—â— the King and all others that before had sworn 〈◊〉 maintain the Articles made at Oxford and afterwaâ—â— the said Absolution was shewed throughout Englâ—â—â— Wales and Ireland streight charge being given to 〈◊〉 that none be so hardy to withstand or disobey the 〈◊〉 said Absolution And if any were found disobediâ—â— to this Commandment that he should be put in Prisâ—â— without Ransom or Deliverance till the Kings Plâ—â—sure were further known The Pope could pretend 〈◊〉 absolve on either side if he were well paid 〈◊〉 then could any Oaths be suppos'd to avail without sâ—â—able Power to compel their Observance Yet hitheâ—â—â— the Commons of the City held their Power formeâ— granted them For we read of another License â—â—ven to the King at a Folk-Moot to sail into 〈◊〉 according whereunto he departed the morrow followâ—ng from London Anno 46. Tbomas Fiz Thomas being Mayor Phiâ—â—â— Walbrook Richard Taylor Sheriffs about Martintide â—he Jews felt the Peoples Fury to some of their costs â—o odious was that Nation grown in many parts of â—he World since our Saviour's Crucifixion which had been formerly the darling of Heaven that it must have been a very small mattâ—â— that would not easily have â—â—rred up the common People of the Land where they lived against them In this Year is unkindness â—oted to have arisen between the Londoners and the Constable of the Tower for that contrary to the Ciâ—ies Liberties he took certain Ships passing by with Wheat and other Victuals into the Tower and made â—he Price at his Pleasure Hence might great harm have ensued had not by the Policy of wise men the matter been committed to the Chief Justice and others by direction of the Kings Council to set an order and Rule between the said Parties The effect whereof was that after Evidences and Priviledges produced to â—he advantage of both it was firmly adjudged that â—f the Constable or any other Officer of the Tower would at any time take any Wheat or Victuals to the â—â—se of the King or the Tower he should come into
the City Market and have it two Pence in a Quarter within the Mayors Price and other Victuals after the â—ame rate And if he or any of his Officers would 〈◊〉 contrary to that Ordinance that then the Sheriffs â—hould make report to the Kings Council and withâ—â—and him in all that they might so that the King's â—eace were kept Here was Authority given to act â—gainst some commissionated by the King What folâ—y is it for every mean petty Officer to think to thwart â—â—is powerful City and hope to be too hard for her Citizens when their Liberties Priviledges and Franchises 〈◊〉 concerned This year silent murmurs passed up and down thâ— Land of War that was too too likely to ensue bâ—tween the King and his Lords in short process of time for the Bull of Dispensation before shewed in 〈◊〉 Realm But the mediation of good and wise men appeased and stilled those Emotions for a while that 〈◊〉 King agreed again to the maintenance of the aforesâ—â—â— Statutes and sent his Writs wherein the said Articlâ— were comprised into all the Shires of England givinâ— strict Commandment to all men to observe and keâ—â— the same and such other as were to them joined 〈◊〉 the discretion of some appointed to that end 〈◊〉 this again was shortly after revoked and denieâ— What Change in Councils what Uncertainty 〈◊〉 Fickleness of Mind was this Give and grant anâ— then recal What could be thought the end of 〈◊〉 variableness but Strife and Contention Hereupoâ— the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury a Star in that coâ—juncture of the first Magnitude in the English Firmâ—ment proves erratick For fearing what might eâ—sue like a cunning subtle worldly Politician 〈◊〉 makes an Errand to Rome and by License of boâ—â— Parties departs the Land and so keeps himself out 〈◊〉 the trouble was over He had been a main Instrument a few years ago in Cursing the Breakers of thâ— aforementioned Acts. Should he have sided with thâ— Kings Party he had openly contradicted his formeâ— Actions and in effect declared all his so solemn Cursâ—â— to signifie nought Had he sided with the Barons 〈◊〉 must have shewn himself an Assenter to their deeâ— partaken of all the Changes and Chances of War 〈◊〉 publickly slighted and contemned the Popes Dispensâ—â—tion A crime in those days of very dangerous Consequence to the offending Party Upon Midlent Sundâ—â— the Mayor and Commons being present at a Folk-Moâ—â— held at Paul's Cross before Sir Philip Basset and otheâ— of the Kings Council the Mayor was sworn to be â—rue to the King and his Heirs Kings Upon the morâ—ow at Guild-Hall every Alderman is said to have taken the same Oath in presence of the Mayor And so likewise upon the Sunday following we read that every Stripling of the Age of 12 Years and above was aâ—ew charged with the same Oath before his Alderman in his Ward Then according to my Author the Displeasure between the King and his Barons which a long while â—â—d been kept secret began to appear insomuch that diverse of them assembled in the Marches of Wales gathered unto them strong Power and sent a Letter â—nto the King under the Seal of Sir Roger Clyfford â—eseeching him to have in remembrance the Oath and manifold Promises that he had made for the observâ—ng of the Statutes made at Oxford with other Ordinances made to the Honour of God for Faith and Alâ—egiance to his Person Weal and Profit of all his Realm willing him further to withstand and defie all â—uch Persons as will be against the said Acts saving â—he Queen and her Children After this Letter thus â—ent and no Answer received we read of the said Baâ—ons going with Banners displayed against such as they â—new held against the Acts so often before mentioned The effect of their Fury at Hereford the Bishop and â—any of his Canons Aliens born soon felt to their great cost and damage Hence we hear of their going to other places where they supposed to find their Eneâ—ies keeping their course towards London this was the place it seems they desired so much to fix to â—heir Party bearing before them a Banner of the Kings Arms and encreasing with the access of much People as they held on in their Journey In this March as they found any that they knew to be against â—he Maintenance of the aforesaid Acts they imprisoned them and spoiled their Habitations were they Spiâ—â—tual or Temporal Men all the case to them at thâ— time In divers of the King's Castles they set in 〈◊〉 Persons as they pleased putting out such as were plâ—ced in by the King and gave to them an Oath thâ— they should be true and faithful to the King 〈◊〉 keep those Castles to his Use and to the Weal of 〈◊〉 Realm Here they seem to have outdid the Courtiâ—â— in their own way The Mayor Aldermen and â—thers of London were made of late to renew thâ— Oaths of Allegiance to the King and his Heirs as if 〈◊〉 weaken the Barons Party by a crafty sly insinuatiâ—â— that they went about to deprive the King and 〈◊〉 Heirs of their Right But as for those suggestions 〈◊〉 hold the Barons disappointing them by giving 〈◊〉 like Oaths to these of their own Party put into 〈◊〉 of publick Trust and thereby in effect declaring 〈◊〉 't was not against the King but against the ill Ministâ—â— of State about him whom they deemed the Authâ—â— of iil Advice that they thus took up Arms either 〈◊〉 remove them or deliver the King out of such 〈◊〉 mens hands About Midsummer when they drew near to Londâ—â— the Chronicle tells us that they sent a Letter unto 〈◊〉 Mayor and Aldermen under the Seal of Sir 〈◊〉 Mountfold willing to know of them whether thâ— would observe the Acts and Statutes made in the Pâ—â—liament called at Oxford or not or else would aid 〈◊〉 assist such persons as intended the breach of the saâ—â— and sent to them a Copy of the said Acts with a Pâ—â—viso that if any there specified were to the hurt of 〈◊〉 Realm or common-Weal of the same that they thâ— by discreet Persons of the Land should be altered 〈◊〉 amended See here the Influence the City had upâ—â— the Land the esteem the Barons had of London's 〈◊〉 and Authority and how desirous they were to 〈◊〉 it to their side and Interest The forementioned Copy was by the Mayor carried to the King then being at the Tower accompanied with his Queen his Brother Richard Edward his Son and others of his Council Then the King intending to know the Cities Mind asked the Mayor what he thought of those Acts and Ordinances who being refused time and leave to conâ—â—er with his Brethren the Aldermen and his Judgment demanded at that present season stands upon Record to have boldly answered the King that before-times he with his Brethren and the Commonalty of the City by his Commandment had been sworn to maintain all Acts made to the Honour of God to the Faith of the King
held at London within a short space though my Author writes that this never came to purpose So it seems that in those elder times a Parliament was the Subjects desire and as it were the last Refuge and means of Reconciliation to establish Peace and quietness in the Land Tuesday before Ascension-Day is the time named whereon the acceptable news of Peace were proclaimed between the King and his Barons in London and next day thither they came with the King his Brother and Son and the Two Princely Pledges were sent into safe Custody first to the Tower afterwards to Dover Castle In the time of these civil Distractions and before the Battle we find that the Wardens of the Cinqueports kept the Sea with Ships that no Stranger might enter the Land to the Kings aid against the Barons Sometime after the Battel we hear of Souldiers coming in great numbers unto Dover there to land But King Henry was induced to ride thither with a great power and force those Strangers to go back again and the Kings Brother sent Prisoner to Berkhamstead Castle till those Aliens were returned It stands upon Record in my Author that he and the Queen had sent over the Sea for them So that hence it had been manifest though the Relation of King John's Reign had not been extant that it is no late Device nor new Practice for Persons of Arbitrary Pretences to call in outlandish Souldiers when they fear they cannot raise assistance enough at home in their own Native Country to support and bring to effect their ill intended designs The Barons side stood firm for the Observation of the Parliament Acts The Kings party desired to have infringed them The Barons grew powerful and formidable the other side seem fearful that they should not be able to compass strength enough at home suitable to their Designs and desires and therefore sent abroad There being idle men enough to be had for mony in most places Soldiers were waged but there was a Sea to pass which required much time and a suitable Sail of Ships to waft them over and a considerable strength lay in the way to intercept them if they came not well provided for an attaque So that it was a day as it were after the Fair before they came and that was many hours too late whereupon they were compelled to return again without and against their first Intent This is the inconvenience some may think the great advantage others may conclude of an Island 's scituation that it cannot easily be over-run with forreign Forces as Lands upon the continent often are and with more facility If the shooing of themselves and their Horses with Cork would do the feat then they might happen more easily to pass the Sea but as things go in this Age of the World much time as well as a great Navy is requisite to transport an Army though little or no oppositioâ— be made Yet how difficult would it be to prevaâ—â— where among One Million Two Hundred Thousand One Million One Hundred and Fifty Thousand are on one side and Fifty Thousand on the other i. e. In Twenty four Twenty three parts against one part What could it avail if on some other fine neat pretence a good store of Forreigners might possibly happen to be introduced suppose Fisty Thousand Above Eleven to One would still be great odds If we should grant One Hundred Thousand could silently be let in under another Notion into how many little small Parcels must they be minutely divided at how many several Portâ— must they arrive what charge to keep and maintain them unless put upon present service And yet there 's still hazard enough in the World and to spare One Million one Hundred and Fifty Thousand against One Hundred and Fifty Thousands to every man an opposite and Ten-over Odds sufficiently at Foot-Ball if in a lesser number Were it not for the Law of the Land in how many places d'ye think the 9 Lay Sheaves would not devour the Parsons Tenth Sheaf England stands firm upon its old bottom of Freedom but France hath had Experience more than enough of the aforesaid truths 'T is well known the present French King keeps his poor enslaved Subjects under with a strong Force composed most of other Country Souldiers and by their assistance with some otherâ— connivance and the help of French Money is become the Terrour of Europe I doubt not but much of this his present greatness sprung at first from a successful attempt made in his younger days to introduce forreign forces upon his less wary Nobility and Gentry in hehalf and by the Guidance of a great Minister of State whom some of them had desired to be discarded from sitting at the Helm of Government Whereof his present Majesty I believe had no very pleasing nor desirable Experience 'T was in the time when Providence permitted our King to be injuriously kept out of his right by an Usurper that the French Nobles were urgent to have their King exile Mazarine and the better to effect it were ready to have appeared in Arms But their King in shew granting their desires and it may be through the mediation of our Gracious Prince who had too sad an Instance of his own to urge from his Fathers unfortunate Fate the Princes grew secure and laid aside their combined strength whereupon the exil'd Mazarine comes out of Germany so have I heard with a strong Army of many Thousands up to Paris and then order'd things at his own Pleasure and the Kings The deceiv'd Princes could never vindicate themselves since and our then almost friendless King shortly after thought good to leave the Country though the Place of his Mothers Original lest he should have been bid to depart and that disgusted States-man as may be suspected causes the K. to close with England's usurping Power and desert a poor distressed over-power'd Prince with no more regard to him or his till his Protestant what if I had also added Presbyterian Subjects recall'd him to possess his Fathers Throne wherein long may he live and flourish to the Nations good and his own continued Wellfare An. 48. Thomas Fiz Thomas Mayor Osbert Wynter Phil Taylor being Sheriffs The Lords of the Marches about Christmas assembled and did much harm â— the Manours of the Earls of Leicester and Glocestâ—â— the two noted Chiefs of the Barons Party thereabouts which occasioned the King to ride shortly after to Glocester where by a Council there called â—â— was enacted that such of the Lords that did not come in and yield to the King by the Octaves of Hilary should be exil'd Let the question here be whether these Lords known to have been of the K'â— Party both before and after this Transaction were guilty of Treason or Disloyalty in not coming in 〈◊〉 the King's Call yielding as the Barons party doubâ—less cordially desired with whom the K. was theâ— personally present Had they straightways obeyed and come in all
upon Summons the Barons had obtain'd their design but how would the change succeeding have been brought to pass so much to the Courts advantage and the other sides prejudice Where 's the politick Casuist that can here slit a haâ— between loyal and disloyal deeds Obedience and Disobedience the duty of subjection and open refâ—sal thereof According to an Agreement there made in the said Octaves a Parliament was held at Westminster where met as Fabian hath left upon Record the King with his Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons of the Land to begin that Parliament Here was it enacted the King being present that he nor Edward his Son nor none of them should after that day grieve nor cause to be grieved the Earls of Leicester and Glocester the Barons Banerets or Knights the Citizens of London and Barons of the Five Ports nor any other Person oâ— Persons of high or low Degree that was upon thâ— Party of the said Earls for any matter of displeasure done against the King and his Son Edward 〈◊〉 any time before that day To uphold this the King 's Sworn before his Lords After that was shew'd and Read a Charter of Pardon concerning the said Cause and a confirmation of the Statutes of the Forrest with many other Acts and Statutes before granted by the King Here was an Act of Oblivion strong enough one would have thought to have indemnified the offending Parties but before the end of the Year we find the Tide quite turn'd through variance and difference arising between the Two Thiefs of the Barons Party and then the King's side prevailing Casheers what was done before Oaths held them not and another Parliament â—â—peals and disanuls the former Pardon So that the 〈◊〉 Pardon'd Offendors soon became the reputed Guilty Prisoners upon the old Scores Cancell'd and forgiv'n as was thought a little before The longest Sword will make and mar Laws at pleasure let people say what they will This Party's Might commonly bears down what the other Party calls his Right Edward the King's Son having likewise Sworn to perform the promises which the King had before made in Parliament was deliver'd at liberty and the other Pledg his Cozen upon assurance made â—â— abide in the King's Court and not depart without licence of the King and some of the Barons What care do the Barons seem here to have taken to â—â—rengthen and confirm their Party against any future â—â—â—erclaps How sollicitous do they appear to have â—een to prevent an after-Reckoning and all Tendenâ—ies thereunto Nay how conformable to them did the King and his Son shew themselves likewise â—herein Witness the many Instruments and Bonds â—ade by them for the performance of Covenants and Pactions before agreed on And yet all was soon destroy'd and brought to none effect One of the 〈◊〉 Chiefs helping Penelope-like to unravel the Web they had been so long a Weaving The Ordering the former Statutes made at Oxford which had hitherto so fast united them was the occasion of dissention between the Two Potent Earls â—â— Leicester and Glocester to the ruin of the Baron's Party the difference arose as Stow tells us betweeâ— them for that Leicester not only kept the King anâ— others as Prisoners but also took to himself the Revenues of the Kingdom which it seems should have been equally devided amongst them So that it waâ— the Golden-Apple that seems to have occasion'd thâ—â— so fatal Discord The King indeed and his Lords labour'd for an Union but it fell out well for the King's side and ill for the others that they succeeded not This happen'd between Easter and Whitsâ—â—tide In the Wâ—â—tsun-Week we hear of Edward thâ— King's Son secretly departing from the Court at Hereford without Licence and associating himself wiâ—â— the Earl of Glocester and other Lords at Chester froâ— whence he hasts to Glocester breaking the Bridges aâ— he went that he might not be follow'd till he had Assembled his Power The Earl of Leicester was toâ— wife not to guess at his Intent and therefore in all haâ— sends to his Son to Assemble his Forces Simon his Soâ— with his Forces Assembled draws towards Winchestâ—â— and was at first kept out by the Citizens because theâ— knew not whether he came as the King's Friend anâ— for that they had also receiv'd a Letter from Edwaâ—â— to that purport But it was not long e're the Ciâ—â— was yielded and then the Castle Besieged after thâ—â— the City had been spoil'd and many of the Jeâ—â— therein Inhabiting Slain They were so odious generally to the People that they should be sure to havâ— their share to the purpose in the publick Calamity if the Commons might have their Will The Papistâ— after all their discover'd Plots known Practices anâ— destructive Principles are not in a vast degree much more hateful to the generality of the English Nation in these Days than where the griping Jews in those Elderly Times At Kenelworth the Baron's Party receiv'd the first â—â—ow under this Simon where they were shamefully defeated by Edward and his Host and many Eminent Prisoners taken without the shedding of much Blood At Eâ—yshum in Worcestershire were the Barons discâ—mfited with such a total overthrow and the destruction of so many Men of Note on that side that â—is no wonder that their Interest among the People so visibly decay'd for the future and in time was fully lost Soon after this Victory the King and his Son Edward met by whose Authority the Prisoners then in hold were released and many others accus'd and put in for them Not long after was held a Parliament at Winchester where by Authority of the same the Statutes and Ordinances before made at Oxford were Repealed and all Bonds and Writings before made by the King or any other Cancell'd and Broken and all such as had favor'd the Barons disinherited A Rout indeed A Rout first to the Men that would have had the Laws have been kept and then a Rout to the Laws themselves to Parliament Acts and Statutes So destroy first of all the Protestant Men and Women the Subjects of Religion and then the Protestant Religion falls of course What could it at that time avail the defeated Party to plead a former Obedience to the Power then Regnant since the present Powers were otherwise resolv'd If the Parliament in Being will have Obedience paid to a former Parliament esteem'd Treason who dare gainsay it Little boots it the poor weak Beast to cry the Bunch in his Forehead is no Horn when the more powerful Lion says it is After these Parliament Transactions we hear of the King 's reâ—â—ming into his hands all grants before made and giveâ— to any Person After his Sons Victory the King calls not a Parliament at Westminster least possibly it might have been over aw'd by the City of London but assembling it at a place far enough distant and things having there been carried according to the Courts intent and desire now have at London Accordingly
the Citizens the pledges in the 〈◊〉 of London and the Four last mention'd to be 〈◊〉 in the Tower of Windsor were deliver'd The 〈◊〉 renam'd Stewards were also discharged and the 〈◊〉 chose of themselves for Mayor William Fiz 〈◊〉 and for Sheriffs Thomas de la Founde and Gregoâ—â— de Rokisâ—y as Fabiâ—n acquaints us For Levying of 〈◊〉 foresaid Fine were set as well Servants and Coveâ—â—nt-men as Housholders and many refus'd the Liberties of the City to be quit of that charge 〈◊〉 which we may give some part of a guess at the 〈◊〉 of the fine what a considerable summ◠〈…〉 marks was in those days before the â—â—dies were 〈◊〉 into Europe some hundreds of years This controversy with London being thus 〈◊〉 towards an end the King had leasure to mind 〈◊〉 suppressing the remains of the Baron's Party 〈◊〉 de Mountford upon certain conditions was 〈…〉 be at large in the Kings Court and so 〈◊〉 a Season But when the King was come to London suddenly departed to Winchelsea where he accompâ—nied with the Rovers of the Sea till after some 〈◊〉 taken he departed from them into France and 〈◊〉 himself into the Service of the French King So 〈◊〉 an end of the Potent Earl of Leycester's Family in eâ—â—Eâ—â—land This Powerful Earl bid fair for the Rule of 〈◊〉 whole Kingdom but had he reviv'd the Battail◠〈◊〉 a Conqueror how much further he 〈◊〉 have gone I may think but not positively 〈◊〉 mine Another Act of the Kings this year in order to 〈◊〉 total rooting out of the Barons remains was his â—â—ing a Seige to Kenelworth-Castle with a mighty 〈◊〉 but this prov'd a task not quickly at an end Now 〈◊〉 time comes to revenge old slights and neglects 〈◊〉 sides Strangers prepar'd to come over into Englâ—â—â— the Queen had also purchas'd a curse of the 〈◊〉 a womans aid to accurse all the Barons their 〈◊〉 and helpers Commissions were directed to 〈◊〉 Bishops of England to execute but they for fear 〈◊〉 the Barons are said to have deny'd and deferred 〈◊〉 Execution and Sentence of the said curse Wherefoâ—â— she made new labour to the Pope and had it granâ—â—â— that the said Bishops should be corrected for their diâ—â—bedience Whereupon Octobon the Pope's Legate 〈◊〉 Councel by him and the Clergy held this year at Paul's â—â—ch in London suspended those Bishops and sent 〈◊〉 to Rome to be absolv'd of the Pope A pretty 〈◊〉 to go nine Miles with Waltham's calf to Suck a 〈◊〉 In the 50th year about Christmas was Kenelworth 〈◊〉 yielded after near half a years Siege upon 〈◊〉 of life Limb Horse Armes and all things 〈◊〉 in the Castle to the defendants belonging and 〈◊〉 to carry them away and not to be disinherited 〈◊〉 is it any wonder that they had such 〈◊〉 granted them if that be true which Stow relates 〈◊〉 that at the King 's coming to besiege the Castle 〈◊〉 force was so great and those in the Castle so 〈◊〉 daunted at their Enemyes presence that they 〈◊〉 â—pen their Gates and never closed them day no◠〈◊〉 and come whoso would they came to their 〈◊〉 Thus you see the King found it no easy matter 〈◊〉 to suppress the remainders though he had 〈◊〉 power'd the heads of the Baron's party About 〈◊〉 were the Wardens of the five Ports reconcil'd to 〈◊〉 King by favour of Edward the King's Son Observe 〈◊〉 by the way his policy In his Father's time he 〈◊〉 to crush that power which might have 〈◊〉 him in his own Reign and having pretty well 〈◊〉 it he after seems a pretender to Popularity 〈◊〉 mediating with his Father in behalf of many that â—ddressed themselves to him for reconciliation It much â—ails to apply our selves to a fit Intercessor So have known a Stepmother when requested prevail with 〈◊〉 Father her Husband in her Son in Law 's behalf 〈◊〉 he himself could not The Conditions of this reconciliation of the Barons â—â—que Ports are not unworthy of the remark We 〈◊〉 that in Anno. 47. these Wardens of the five Ports 〈◊〉 the Sea with Ships that no Strangers should enter the Land to the King's Aid In 48 we are told 〈◊〉 they rob'd and spoild all men that they might 〈◊〉 sparing neither English Merchants nor others 〈◊〉 which preys as the Common Fame-went the 〈◊〉 of the Land had a good part In 49. we find 〈◊〉 Londoners alledging for themselves in mitigation 〈◊〉 the great Fine required of them that they had 〈◊〉 great part of their Substance by the Rovers of 〈◊〉 Sea among whom are named the Wardens of 〈◊〉 Cinque Ports And yet notwithstanding all these 〈◊〉 Harms done they are Recorded to have had all 〈◊〉 former Priviledges confirmed to them and 〈◊〉 was Granted That if any English-man or 〈◊〉 would Sue for Restitution of Goods by them 〈◊〉 taken or for the Death of any of their Friends â—â—fore Slain that all such Complaints should 〈◊〉 Sued in their Courts there to have their 〈◊〉 determin'd and not elsewhere What greaâ— Assurance could these Barons desire for their own â—â—curity They might well promise themselves impâ—nity when they were in such fair probability to 〈◊〉 their own Judges in their own Cause unless we 〈◊〉 suppose Juries were to be chosen elsewhere 〈◊〉 we might in good reason that the King would 〈◊〉 to such Terms of Accomodation had we it not upâ—â— Record that the common Fame at that Day ran 〈◊〉 the said Wardens of the Five Ports had then the Dâ—minion of the Sea Whereupon the King was after sort compell'd to follow their Pleasures When Man is to take an unpleasant Potion after he 〈◊〉 drunk up the greatest part thereof it not rarely haâ—pens that the Remains in the bottom are harder 〈◊〉 get down than was all the rest About the Feast of Philip and Jacob we hear of 〈◊〉 King's holding a Parliament at Northampton◠〈◊〉 which were confirm'd the old Franchises and Libertâ—â—â— by the King's Progenitors before Granted in the City â—f London with a new Grant for the Shire of Midâ—lesex 'T is good to make things as sure as we 〈…〉 this Parliament were likewise disinherited many Noble-men of the Land who before-time had taken the Barons Party For which cause they accompaâ—â—ed together Robbed in divers parts of the Land â—ook Lincoln and spoil'd it and after Ransomed many of the Rich Burgesses of the Town And taking the â—sle of Ely so strengthened it that they held it long 〈◊〉 Anno 51 At the choosing of the Mayor of London â— Controversie arose between the Rulers and Comâ—ons of the City Wherefore by advice of the Lord Mayor and Aldermen Sir Roger Leyborn a Courtier plain enough by his Actions related before with others â—ame to Guild-hall being Armed under their Gowns â—nd upon Fryday following Alhallon day called the Commons to the Election of the new Mayor How â—â—ee was this Election likely to be whither men came â—ecretly Armed to assist their Party Fabian tells us â—hat the best of
the City gave the Nomination to Aleyn â—â—wch and divers of the others cryed upon Thomas 〈◊〉 Thomas at that time Prisoner in Windsor Castle â—herefore the said Sir Roger with the Assistance of â—he Mayor and others took those Persons and sent â—â—emun to divers Prisons So that what they could not â—o well get by fair means some seem resolved to obâ—ain by force And yet 't is not unlikely but they â—ould be ready enough to bear People in hand that â—uch was a free Election The Act against Disturbance 〈◊〉 Free Elections wherein the King commandeth upon Forfeiture that no man by force of Arms nor by â—alice or menacing shall disturb any to make Free â—lection was not at that time dreaded as not being 〈◊〉 yet enacted for it is plac'd in the third of Edward the First the following King wherefore the Distâ—â—bers might not then think they had such cause 〈…〉 having the Court also on their side as 〈◊〉 must have had since as soon as ever they should 〈◊〉 acted so imprudently as to bring themselves 〈◊〉 the laâ—h of that standing Law Observe we here 〈◊〉 Power and Esteem that usually accompanie◠〈◊〉 Mayoralty of this Honorable City since that 〈◊〉 Faction were for choosing one of their own 〈◊〉 Shall I further remark upon the whole of this 〈◊〉 what Party in a Nation 't is that sticks not at 〈◊〉 nor force to effect their Designs when fair 〈◊〉 is too weak to compass them But who will 〈◊〉 me that this will not be offensive Therefore to 〈◊〉 In this Year the Gentlemen who kept the 〈◊〉 Ely and liv'd there like Outlaws broke out 〈◊〉 times and did much harm in Norfolk Suffolk 〈◊〉 Cambridge Shire took Norwich and after spoiling 〈◊〉 carried away with them many of the rich men 〈◊〉 ransomed them at great sums of Mony This 〈◊〉 occasion the story says to Thieves and other 〈◊〉 dispos'd People to do many other hurts and 〈◊〉 in divers places of the Land and the blame was 〈◊〉 to those Gentlemen Then the Pope's Legate labouâ—â— with the King that those disinherited Gentlemâ—â— might purchase their Lands of him by Fine and 〈◊〉 some Whereupon it was agreed that they 〈◊〉 have their Lands again at five Years value some 〈◊〉 excepted and others of small Possessions to 〈◊〉 Fined at the discretion of the King's Councel 〈◊〉 this took no conclusion saith my Author Anno 52. Aleyn Sowch being Mayor Thomas â—â—singâ— and Robert de Cornehyll Sherists we read of anâ—ther broyl beginning which was like to have creaâ—â— no little disturbance in the Land had it not 〈◊〉 timely appeas'd and brought to an end by the inteâ—cession of wise Mediators For Gilbert de Clare Earl 〈◊〉 Glocester formerly a powerful Man among the Bâ—rons Party by reason of difference and disgust â—â—ising between him and the no less Potent Earl of 〈◊〉 of the same Party having turn'd to the King's side adding to it such considerable strength that it soon over powr'd the weakend Barons but â—â—w upon what occasion Fabian expresses not he refused the King and gathered to him a strong 〈◊〉 in the Marches of Wales To him likewise drew Sir John Eyvile and others of the disinherited 〈◊〉 So that after Christmas he comes with a â—ear Host near unto London When the Mayor and Aldermen of the City were aware of the Earls â—â—ming with so strong a Power and not knowing 〈◊〉 he were the Kings Freind they shut the 〈◊〉 against his Fore-Riders And for that neither 〈◊〉 King nor any of his Councel were then near 〈◊〉 City they went unto the Legate at that time â—â—dged in the Tower and required his Councel â—hether they should suffer the Earl to enter into the â—ay or not whereunto the Legate answered that 〈◊〉 thought not the contrary for the knew well that 〈◊〉 was the Kings true Subject and Friend Not 〈◊〉 after came a Messenger from the Earl to the â—ayor to have Licence to pass through the City 〈◊〉 Southwark where he intended to lodge with 〈◊〉 People which was granted and so the Earl â—â—ssed through the City and was lodg'd in Southâ—ark To him came shortly after by Surry-side 〈◊〉 John Eyvile with a great Company Then the â—ayor kept the Gate of the Bridge shut watchâ—â—g it dayly with armed Men and every night 〈◊〉 the Draw-Bridge to be drawn and the Waterside daily and nightly to be watched with Men in Arms. In short time after the Legate and the Earl agreed in such wise that the Earl by his advice was suffered with certain of his People to be lodged in the City By means whereof he daily drew more and more of his People into it so that finally many things were ordered by him and many of the Commons took his part against the Mayor and Aldermen The Commonalty of the City had had great Power put into their hands by the Statutes made at Oxford as appears before in the Meeting of the Folâ—moot at Pauls Cross they had been lately fin'd after the Barons overthrow for their standing in defence of those Parliament-Acts and but the last year had been disturb'd by the Mayor in their Election of a new Mayor by force of Arms and therefore now we may beleive it all remembred What shall we loose so seasonable an opportunity we may suppose they might then think if not to regain our former power yet at least to vindicate our selves against future affronts Here we may note not a little of the Earls policy After he had gathered together his People he comes away to London and getting leave to pass through it 〈◊〉 part of his Forces he settles himself as near the City as he might in Southwark and then by degrees gets himself and his Power into the City hoping doubtless to find a Party therein willing to second him which hopes we perceive by the sequel were not ill grounded Is not this a plain instance of the Cities Power Esteem and Influence in these days If any can produce plainer proof hereof let them as soon as they please I think here 〈◊〉 Mathematical Demonstration matter of Fact not of Fancy In Easter week we read that the Earl took the Keys of the Bridge and of the Gates from the officers of the City and deliver'd them to such as pleased him and received into the City many of the disinherited Perfons and gave them free liberty to pass the Bridge at all hours of the day and night Of all this the Mayor sent word to the King who then was gathering of this Power in Norfolk and made hasty speed towards London In the mean time the Earl with his Company made Bulwarks and â—â—â—bicanes between the Tower and the City casting 〈◊〉 and Trenches in some places thereof and forfâ—ited it wonderfully saith my Author Then many of the Citizens fearing a new Insurrection deparred from the City as secretly as they could whose goods the Earl seized to his own use or suffered his men to spoile them at his pleasure
the same was also Custos of the City So that according to this Account there pass'd about seven years wherein the Londoners had not the full and free use of their Priviledges and Franchises If this be allowed for a Truth we have but little Reason to marvel that we find the Commons so ready to adhere to such as they might hope would vindicate their former Liberty and the Rulers so averse from joyning with such in diminution of that Regal Power to which they seem wholly to have ow'd theirs and not to any Interest and Favour they had among the Commons of the City Who knows if those Writers words be granted but this might be some Reason of the Earl of Glocester's stirring again againâ—â— the Court designs with a little perhaps of Jealouâ—y of the Kings Son Edwards overmuch familiarity with his Wife in a Court hinted to us by Stow but plaid by him an year later In Reg. 53. when 〈◊〉 saw the City which had formerly took part with the same side he once was of deprived of their â—â—berties and Franchises with little hopes of 〈◊〉 them much through his means by his late 〈◊〉 with Edward the Kings Son to the weakning and overthrow of the Barons Party to which the City had so firmly adher'd In this year by Mediatiâ—â— and means of the fame Edward all such difinneâ—ited Persons as kept the Isle of Ely are said to be reconciled to the King and all Fortresses and Deâ—enceâ— therein by them made plucked away and destroyed In July Octobon the Pope's Legate who had interested himself so much in the late Transactions departed towards Rome but not without a great Treasure Levi'd we hear of the Church My Author intimates That he made many good Rules therein if they were not only Rules but anâ— good Rules why should he not be well paid â—or them I don't think these kind of Men did very often Ordain such extraordinary good Rules unless you will call those good which tended to the satisfying the Pope's Avaricious Mind and exalting his and the Clergies Temporal Grandeur Other might be their Pretences but Mony doubtless was 〈◊〉 of their aim when they sent their Legates 〈◊〉 this Land or into other Countries owning the Pope's Jurisdiction and the Event proves it too 〈◊〉 Without all Peradventure it was not for nothing that England was called the Pope's Pack-horse Annals Peterpence Tenths Fâ—rst-Fruits and the like were good Pickings that were drawn hence to Rome And that the Popish Clergy know full well and therefore their fingers are Itching to be Trading here again If the Pope's Mule could once more set his Foot safely on English Ground there 〈◊〉 doubt but they would make us pay for old 〈◊〉 new it should scape them hard else 'T was about Four Years before even in 49 that the Citizens of London compounded with the King 〈◊〉 a Fine of Twenty Thousand Marks and yet in this Year 53 there is another mention made of it as it were hinting to us that it was not yet all Raised or at least that all such that were Assessed towards it had not returned in their demanded Assessment but to avoid that and other Charges had rather chosen to depart from the City with their Housholds and Goods and Inhabit in divers other places of the Land Whence we may without doubt well and truly conclude the scarcity of Coin in those Days and greatness of that Imposed Tax or elfe the Paucity of the Inhabitants of London and smalness of the City in comparison with what it is at this present time If then the City was of such Power and Esteem in those Days as the former passages seem strongly to prove how great and considerable an Influence have we reason to beleive it hath at present upon the rest of the Nation now it is grown by far more Populous and 〈◊〉 more Splendid in Riches Trading and Buildingâ— Though many of the Citizens thus fled the City thinking thereby to be acquitred of the Charge of the aforementioned Imposition yet find not that this availed them ought For the others of the City remaining made we are told Instant labour to the King and had it Granted That all such as for the aforesaid cause had carriâ—d their Goods out of the City should be Distrainâ—â— by the Sheriff of the Shire where they then dwelled and forced to pay all such Sums as they â—â—fore were Assessed at Why should not Men 〈◊〉 the Bad with the Good If they desire to enjoy the City's Priviledges in the Day of her Prosperity there is but little reason why they should not likâ—wise partake with her in the common Calamity and Adversity In September The Five Citizens viz. Thomas 〈◊〉 Thomas c. spâ—ken of before in the Forty 〈◊〉 Year who had hitherto remained Prisoners in Windsor-Tower made an end with Edward the King's Son for great Sums of Mony and were delivered It would have but little availed them to haâ—â— pleaded the Kings safe Conduct before sent theâ— under his Seal T was money it seems that must bâ—y their Deliverance Mony they had doubtless and therefore 't is mony they must produce and so they were â—ain to do or at least agree to pay it before they could get quit out of Edwards Power The 54th year began according to the Chronicle with so hard a frost that the frozen Thames was passable for men and Beasts in diverse places and Merchadize was thereupon brought to London by Land This Forst was not so prejudiaial to their Trading 〈◊〉 the rising and flowing of Thames sometime after 〈◊〉 as injurious and hurtsul about London to the â—â—owning of Cellers by the waterside and spoiling 〈◊〉 much Merchandize lying in them But these are â—â—â—asters we know Commonly happening in this tranâ—â—â—ry World witness the late Inundations through â—he great Rains this Spring and the damage sustaind â—â—ereby in Fleet-ditch Hockly in the Hole and many â—â—her places In this year about the beginning of 〈◊〉 we find that the King gave the Rule of the City 〈◊〉 London to his Son Edward with all Revenues and Prâ—fits thereto belonging Whereupon he made Hugh 〈◊〉 son of Othon Constable of the Tower and Custos 〈◊〉 the City About the End of April he commanded â—he Citizens to present to him six Persons able to be â—â—â—riffs Of whom he admitted to that Office William 〈◊〉 Haddystoke and Ankeâ—yl De Alvern and sware them to be Accountants as their Predecessors were These we read presented in May following at the Gâ—ild-Hall and there charged a new At these days a new Custom or Toll us'd to be paid the King by â—he Citizens which having been let to farme to a Marâ—hant Stranger by Edward the Kings Son for 20. â—arks yearly the Citizens unwilling to be under a â—â—â—angers Rule upon great suit made to the same Edâ—ard agreed with him to buy the said Toll free for â—000 Marks In this year the King had granted towards his â—oyage into the Holy Land which
Citizens disâ—greement But if such was the effect of the Ciâ—izens contest what then may we think of those who â—urposely create those differences and stir up dangerâ—us animosities among them upon slight trivial â—orn out pretences that from the like cause or occasion the like effect may follow At Candlemas by discreet and wise peaceable means the forenamed Sir Walter Harvy was set in Authority as Major and so remained the whole year after In the third year the King confirmed the Liberties of the City and granted some new Thus you see after a storm comes fair weather In this year we meet with a Relation concerning Walter Harvy how that in the first year of this King after long controversy and strife with the Aldermen he was made Major of London at a Folkmoot or Common-Hall at Pauls-Cross and so continued that year but in this third year occasion was found to remember and as the event seems to intimate revenge it For being accused of divers perjuries and other detestable deeds contrary to his Oath for them and for making Assemblies of the Commons who favour'd him he was depriv'd of his Aldermanship and turn'd out of the City Council for ever and for keeping the Kings peace within the City for the term of his life was bound to the good behaviour upon the suretiship of twelve persons 'T is not unusual for the Commonalty and heads of the City to be at difference each with other Here 's one who seems a promoter of the Commons power over-power'd himself by his Enemies for making assemblies of the Commons and other Crimes objected to him true or feigned I know not however thence was taken a pretence to thrust him out of his former power These Folkmoots or Assemblies of the Commons seem to have been very unpleasing tâ— the chief Rulers of the City and their power disgusted as may be guess'd from the fore-pass'd transactions in King Henry's days where we may remember that the Commons were the men whâ— had power allotted them by the Parliament at their Folkmoot or Common-hal to grant the King Licence to depart out of the Land for a Season 'T were they who most firmly adher'd to the Barons standing up in defence of those Parliament Statues made at Oxford but few of the chief Rulers of the City comparatively are noted to have appear'd openly in that fam'd contest of the Barons War In the fourth year occasion was taken against Michael Tony upon some demeaours of his in the Welch War to accuse him of Treason of which he was arraign'd judg'd and condemn'd and after drawn hang'd and quartered This man doubtless had been a noted stickler in the Barons War for I find one of that Name among the five persons so long kept in Prison in Windsor Tower after the Barons overthrow till mony bought them out as is before related Princes once highly offended may openly profess to forgive the offending party but they do not however so soon forget him Tho David pardoned Shimei during his life and swore to him not to put him to death with the Sword yet as good a Man as he was he charg'd his Son Solomon to bring down his hoary head to the grave with blood and so accordingly we find an occasion was afterwards taken by Solomon to revenge his former cursing his Father David by commanding Benaiah who went out and fell upon him that he dyed This year was the famous Statute of Mortmain first enacted that no man should give Lands or Rents to the Church without the Kings Special Licence which Statute had afterwards many additions annext to it to make it the stronger For the Lay-fee was in great danger to be devour'd by the Spiritualty such Arts did the Clergy use on mens minds to augment their power and Riches Tho now our Courts of Law are fixt at Westminster yet in these Ancient times it was not so for we read that this King in his sixth year remov'd his Courts of Kings-Bench Chancery Common-Pleas and Exchequer to Shrewsbury and afterwards return'd them back again to the no small damage of the Records thus carried to and fro This King held his Parliament at London in his seventh year for Reformation of his Coyn much clip't and diminish'd This storm fell chiefly upon the Jews by reason of the Inquest charg'd in London to enquire of this matter Whereupon were cast two hundred and ninety seven persons before the Major and other Justices sitting at London and afterwards Executed at sundry times and places My Author hath left upon Record that among these there were but three Englishmen all the rest were Jews or Jews born in England Famous is the 12th year for the Conquering and subâ—â—â—â—ing of Wales to the English Scepter and divâ—sion of it bâ— King Edward into Shires whereupon were ordain'd Sheriffs and other Officers therein as were then us'd in England David Brother to Lewellyn late Prince of Wales who was condemned to be drawn hang'd and quarter'd as a chief â—â—irrer and beginner of the Welsh War in time of a Parliament held at Shrewsbury was shortly after Executed and his head sent to London to be sâ—t by his Brothers which had been order'd to be plac'd the â—ear before on London-Tower In this year was Edward of Carnarvan born the first of our English Kings since William the first that I read of publickly unking'd and depos'd by his own Subjects The great Conduit standing against Saint Thomas of Acres in Cheapside owes his foundation to this year The 13th year may be noted for the Kings seizing the Franchises and Liberties of London into his own hands on the day kept in Memory of Saint Pauls Conversion so that he discharged the Major Gregory Rokisle and admitted for Custos or Guardian of the City Stephen Sandewich who continued till the Monday following the Purification of the Virgin Mary when being discharg'd Sir John Breton sâ—ands upon Record charg'd for the residue of the year My Author writes that the cause of this displeasure the King bore to the City is not shewn of a certainty He mentions an old Pamphlet whereby it appears that the Major took bribes of the Bakers and suffer'd them to sell bread lacking six ounces in a penny Loaf for which the King was sore displeased but to him this seem'd no convenient cause that the Liberties of the City should be seiz'd for one man's offence Wherefore he rather supposeth it was for a more grievous cause However it is observable from History that it was a Common thing in Elder times to seize the Cities Charters on pretences slight enough of any sense till the Citizens grew so wise as at convenient seasons to procure new grants and graces to prevent such seizures for the future And that it is not still so feasable and practicable is the grief I believe and heart-burning of some in the world The 14th year of this King may be accounted famous for the Statutes called Additamenta Gloucestriae made at a
Parliament holden at Westminster But in these present papers I think it may be more noted for what I am going now to relate verbatim out of Fabian In this year a Citizen of London Named Thomas Pywelysdon the which in the time of the Barons War before in the story of King Henry shew'd had been a Captain and a great stirrer of the Commons of the said City for to maintain the Baron's party against the Kings was newly accused that he with others of evil disposition should make Conventicles and Assemblies to the new disturbance of the City whereof Report was made unto the King the which remitted the inquiry thereof unto Sir Ralph Sandewych then Custos or Guardian of the City Then the said Thomas with others was put in sure keeping till the matter was duly enquired of After which Inquisition made and found report was made unto the King Then the King sent down a Writ and commanded it to be proclaimed shortly after within the bounds of the City whereof the Effect was thus that the said Thomas Pywelysdon William de Heywood Richard de Coundris Richard le Cofferre Robert de Derby Albyne de Darby William Mayo Mercer and Ivo Lyng Draper with divers others to the number of fifty Persons should be banished out of the City for ever And if any of the said fifty eight Persons were at that time of the Proclamation voided the City for fear or otherwise that they should so remain and not return unto the City upon pain of Life losing These being thus discarded and exiled the City who it may be would have stood firm to the City's old Liberties and Priviledges the rest of the Chief remaining might perchance hope the eafier to keep the Commons in aw whatsoever new Customs they should introduce for their own lucre and advantage thâ— to other men's dammage Here you may perceive â—ow jealous Governours are of all Meetings and Assemblies but what are of their own constitution and ordering The Caviliers doubtless can relate many Stories of their own experience hereof in Olivers days Neither are many of our Coffee-houses and Clâ—b meetings I believe very grateful to some persons in the World though their open business there is mostly to drink smoke talk trade and the like By the aforesaid relation we may likewise observe Once counted an Offender and ever thought so Here Thomas Pyweldon or Pywelysdon for his name I find diversly Written though the same man be meant a noted man in the Barons War for which he had suffered deeply after their overthrow by long imprisonment and the charge of redeeming his Liberty for a great Sum of money of this same King Edward then only Prince was nevertheless after about sixteen years respite banished the City for ever on an accusation of attempting a new disturbance That any thing was prov'd against him I have not read besides the mention here of making Assemblies or Meetings Had there been any thing material found against him I scarce believe he should have scap't so well with his Life seeing old Crimes seem to have been remembred though new faults were pretended An Act of Oblivion is a very good Plaister in a publique Universal Offence But whatever Offender of Note thus pardoned out-lives the greatest number of those qually reputed guilty with him and times be so much turned that the ballance of the Nation leans very much on the governing side I think that man's life hangs but by a very slender thread whose safety and security depends only upon Pen Ink and Paper and not upon the Governours natural inclination to justice and honesty in the constant keeping and observing of his word and promise When in the late Wars on this side the World Messina in Sicily was reduc'd under the Spanish government by the French's forsaking it to whom the Messineses had before subjected themselves tho a general pardon was by the Spaniards publickly granted whereupon many return'd to the Cityâ— yet if my memory deceive me not there passed no long time before the publick news told us of the accusing and I think condemning of a Principal Man of that City for a new endeavour to stir up another Rebellion and Revolt therein New accusations and new offences pretended how unlikely soever may sometimes serve to blind the unthinking vulgar Herd but a man of thought doubtless will be apt to suspect that the old grudge lies at the bottom How easy and usual it is to suborn false Witnesses against a Man Jezabelâ— practice and the endeavour of the Chief Priests Elders and Council of a much later date may inform a Protestant Reader if he hath no experience in the world to instruct him The Citizens were accustom'd before this year to make good advantage to themselves by lodging Merchant strangers and selling their Merchandize for them for which they received so much in the pound But at this time by means of those Merchant strangers it was brought to pass that they hired Houses for themselves and their Wares so that no Citizen should intermeddle with them which was to the damage of many particular private men as well as to the hindrance of the Kings Custom and prejudicial as affirms the Book to the Realm in general by many deceits and frauds used by them Here was a new Custom disadvantagious to many of the Citizens introduc'd but for what reason at first permitted whether to advance Trade by drawing more Forreigners to the City or else to weaken their power and bring down lower the Citizens high stomachs by cutting off some of their gain and parting their Trade with others I pretend not to deliver until I meet with better Information my self than hitherto I have in the point Certain it is from the story that the King much advantag'd himself by searching into their fraudulent and deceitful dealings and punishing them for those offences by a considerable fine The 15th year was chargeable to the Jews who were fain to pay great sums of mony to the King which they were assessed at saith the Chronicle but out of an other Author it is recorded that the Commons of England granted to the King the fifth part of their movables to have the Jews banished out of the Land which to prevent the Jews of their own Wills gave the King great sums of mony Here then was taking mony of both sides A subtle Court way of Trading This year there was such a plenty of Wheat that according to my Authors Computation it was sold at London for Ten Groats the Quarter five pence the Bushel But the next year through distemperature of the weather we find the price raised up to 14 d. the Bushel after to 18 d. and encreasing yearly duâ—ing this Kings Reign and his Sons so that it stands upon Record to be sold at last for 40 s. the Quarâ—er and above The 18th may be remark'd by â—s for the Kings Honourable reception at London â—nd the punishment of divers offending Justices Sir
low birth became the head Leader of the Scots against the Kings Power and had Created him no little trouble in Scotland but now in revenge was his head set upon London-Bridge and his four quarters sent into Scotland to be set upon the Gates of some Towns in that Land About this time we hear likewise of several Nobles of Scotland coming to the Kings Parliament at Westminster and there voluntarily Sworn in the Presence of the King and his Lords to be true to the King of England and to keep the said Land to his use against all other Persons Among these is named Robert le Bruce who not long after sends to the Pope for a dispensation of his Oath raises more Commotions in Scotland and gets to be Crowned King thereof at Saint Johnstons Anno Thirty four But when King Edward had overthrown the Scots Army and taken many of the Nobles he sent the Bishop of Saint Andrews and Bastoon with the Abbot of Scoon to the Pope with report of their Perjury and how they were taken Armed in the field to shed the blood of Christian men And the Temporal Lords he sent into England to the Tower of London who were afterwards Arraigned at London and put to death and their Heads set upon London-Bridge The longest Sword carries away the Bell. If the Scots had prevail'd in the like sort against King Edward it 's a question whether they would not have done much after the same manner How would they have then vaunted themselves and their Cause for the most rightful whereas being Conquer'd they suffer'd as Rebels That the weakest goes to the Wall is a known saying Yet as strong powerful and succesful as this King Edward was we find he cared not to meddle himself with the Spiritual Lords taken in the field fighting against him but rather chose publikely to send them to the Pope with an high offence laid to their charge to be punished at his pleasure Whereby we may presume he gratified the Popes Ambition in making him as it were the sole Judge of their offences and yet thereby doubtless sufficiently secur'd himself against those men of the Church his late Enemies for the future Could the Pope in Civility and Gratitude refuse to revenge the King in punishing these Clergy-men for fighting against him who had thus highly mounted the power and Authority of the Triple Crown above his own in this matter to the publick view of the world If the Popish Clergy in those times were grown so formidable that this Triumphant King in the midst of his Victorious Arms thought it safer to remit these Clergy-men's offences to the Popes Correction than punish them himself for I think it was policy more than zeal that made him act thus what weak matches were the other Puny Princes to them in those days of their worldly Prosperity Pomp and Grandeur Now their wings are pretty well clipt by the escape of so many people Nations and Countries out of this Popish House of Bondage let Crowned Heads and free States be careful that they suffer not the Popes wings to grow again or permit their Sworn Vassals the Jesuits to imp them anew with fresh Feathers lest they mount up again over their heads to their Ancient greatness or take a flight higher than ever they did Now the French King through the base connivance of some others Treachery and many great Mens careless negligence is become Europe's Terror if Popish Plots and designs should â—nce so far take effect as treacherously to deâ—rive our present King of his life and Crown and â—ntroduce a Popish Successor into the English Throne how far they might in time proceed towards the extirpation of that pestilent Northern Heresy as Mr. Coleman out of his Extraordinary â—â—ndness to the Religion from which he himself â—postaliz'd has been pleased to term the Protestant Religion oâ—t of these parts of the world I submit â—o the better Judgments of more able Politicians Hast we now hence from this Edward the first who died in the five and thirtieth year of his Reign after a charge given to his Son in divers points upon his blessing and Oaths taken of some of his chief Nobles to keep the Land for his Sons use and to Crown him King as soon as they conveniently could after his death at Burgh upon the Sands beyond Carlile in his return into England unto Edward the Second where I could find matter enough to exercise my Pen were I minded to describe all the disorders and troubles that hapned throughout the Land under his unprosperous Reign We need not wonder that this Prince met with so unhappy a fate at his End when as we find him at the very beginning immediately transgressing his dead Fathers commands by recalling Gaveston from his Banishment contrary to his Father's charge on his Death Bed he entailing his curse on him if he should presume it as Stow tells us governing himself wholly by his advice affecting him so much as to affirm that he should succeed him in the Kingdom if he could effect it If I should endeavour perfectly to delineate thâ— many Crosses Losses Battails and Bloodshed thaâ— fell out in the Land under this King and to Writâ— in a stile and manner suitable to the matter â— know not but I might well dip my Pen in Blooâ— instead of Ink such were the misfortunes of thâ— Land and unfortunate fates of many Noblemeâ— thereof For in his Reign there were Beheaded anâ— put to death by Judgment upon the number of eighâ— and twenty Barons and Knights as Fabian Coâ—putes besides the Noble men slain in Scotland The number whereof one Author expresses to â— mount to two and forty besides sixty and sevâ—â— Knights and Barronets and two and twenty 〈◊〉 over that of name taken in that one Battel of Bannocksborn Unsteadfastness of manners and vileness of Conditions the refusing the Company of Lords and men of honour and haunting the Society of Villains and vile Persons The being given to great drinking and lightly discovering therein things of great Counsel with many other disallowable Conditions related by Historians were blots in this Kings Scutcheon Scarce was old Edwards Obsequies fully finished according to my Author but the young King sends in all hast for his old Companion Piers of Gaveston receiving him with all joy and gladness and advances him to much honour gives him the Earldom of Cornwal and Lordship of Wallingford rules all by his wanton Councel and follows the appetite and pleasure of his body not guiding things by order of Law or Justice Then he Revenges himself and his favourite Gaveston on the Bishop of Chester who had before complained of them and their Outrages in his Fathers Reign by commanding him to the Tower of London and keeping him there strictly many days after When by the means motions and words of many potent Lords of the Realm Gaveston was again sent out of the Land though contrary to the King's pleasure and banish'd
into Ireland Yet thither we hear of the Kings sending him oftentimes secret Messengers and comsorting him with many rich gifts and the next year we read of his being fetch'd home again to still the grudges springing up between the King and his Nobles and continue amity amongst them which prov'd but so much the more mischievous to the Realm For this exorbitant Favourite's power more and more encreasing he having the keeping of the Kings Treasure and Jewels convey'd many of them some of great value out of the Land and brought the King by means of his wanton Conditions to manifold Vices as Adultery and others whereupon by the Lords Counsel and Resolution taken at Lincoln he was shortly after exil'd into Flanders to the Kings great displeasure In comes Gaveston again though he had before abjur'd the Realm with this condition by the Barons added that if he were found again in any Lands subject to the King's dominions he should be taken as a Common Enemy and Condemned But being recall'd by the King he ventures on his favour and afterwards demeans himself worse and worse In so much that we read that he disdain'd the Lords of England and of them had many spiteful and slanderous words so that there 's the less wonder that the Queen and the whole Court were sorrowful because they saw the King as Stow words it not very sound so great was his Joy and Jollity for his receiving him in safety Whereupon the Lords of one mind saith my Author consented to put him to death which they soon after effected by taking the Castle wherein he was and so having him in their hands smote off his Head For this was the King grievously displeas'd with those Lords and vow'd we hear to revenge his Death so that after this he sought occasion against them to grieve and displease them If the foremention'd disorders with many before express'd by Authentick Writers to have fallen out under this King If Treachery Robberies Rapes Extortions Divisions Civil discords at home slights contempts and losses abroad and much blood-shed in Battels fought and lost both at home and abroad If murrain of Beasts and scarcity of Grain dearness of Victuals sickness and mortality of Men ravages and outrages of cruel insulting Enemies and almost a general desolation in several places of the Land be glories that can eternize a Man's memory to succeeding Generations I know not whether this Kings Name and Reign may ever be forgotten as long as England stands a fixt Island in the midst of the Ocean In the midst of these troubles and crosses you are not to suppose the City of London scap't free from partaking in the Common misery of the Land In the first of this King's Reign I find that he and his new Married Bride were received joyfully by the Citizens and so conveyed to Westminster but the times afterwards grew so cloudy and full of storms that I don't think they had over much reason to rejoyce more than the rest of their poor distressed fellow Subjects Yet Providence in good time delivered the City out of these troubles and with advantage too as may be observed and remark't in the end of this and beginning of the next Kings Reign Twice more particularly in this Kings Reign do we read of a breach made on the Cities Priviledges by constraining the Citizens at their own charges to raise and maintain a certain number of Soldiers and send them whether they were appointed but the last time it seems it was conditionally that it should not be made a President which possibly was to appease them when they refused to go out of the City to fight unless they might according to their liberties as Stow says return home again the same day before Sun-set For 't is plain how great soever their respect was towards their Soveraign that they had no great kindness for some about him And therefore when aid and assistance was requested of them against the Queen who with her Son Edward was newly Landed and pretended Reformation of abuses they made this plea or excuse as favouring rather Reformers than makers of Grievances yet with profession of due obedience and Honour to the King the Queen and their Son who was after his Father the Right and Lawful Heir to the Crown At the Parliament of Whitebands held in the twefth of this King whether the Barons came in Arms the Citizens were the Keepers of the Kings peace in the City a thousand of them well Armed by the Majors order watching by day and as many by night in divers Wards and at several Gates thereof under the inspection of two Aldermen with Officers assigned to Ride about every night to oversee them and the rest of the Citizens were enjoyned to have their Arms in readiness upon a very short warning for more surety And what pray now was the effect of all this but that the peace was kept the City guarded it and no disturbance hapned that I read of notwithstanding there was so great an Army then on foot Ill men were removed several things were ordained for the good of the Realm Transactions were carried on without violence or blood-shed the Parliament was peaceably dissolved and every one returned home in quietness safety and security But on the contrary afterwards in the later end of this Kings Reign when the Courtiers were much disgusted in the City by reason of many violences committed and much harsh dealing used by some towards their fellow Subjects in the time of their power under the wings of Authority and pretence of Law and Justice the Citizens were so far from keeping the King's peace as before that they soon shew'd openly their favour good will and kindness for the Queen who under the glozing pretence of reforming the ill Government was come into the Land with a considerable force of Soldiers and had sent to the Mayor and Commonalty for their aid help and assistance in carrying on this her pretended Reformation A work generally highly acceptable to all such as think themselves oppressed and glorious in the Eyes of the people but such is the misery fate and infelicity the frailty and imperfection incident to all sublunary attempts that it very seldom if ever fully answers the expectation of every one concern'd Neither was the Citizens affection to the Queen and her Party barely shewn in words and expressions but it went much farther and was publickly brought into Act by beheading such as they took to be the Queens enemies not so much as sparing the Bishop of Exeter himself a great man among the spiritualty who had been there left by the King to have the Rule of the City in his absence The occasion is said to have sprung from his stiff and peremptory demanding of the Keys of the City Gates by vertue of his Commission which highly exasperated the Commons against him and so much the more because as was the saying he had rais'd an Army to withstand the Queen a fault
of any of the Kings Officers but only at the Kings Sute Sealed with the Great or Privy Seal except the Kings Justices according to their Charter That they shall by themselves enquire of Customs and impositions hapning or arising within the City That the Major and Chamberlain for the time being shall have the keeping of the City Orphans Lands and Goods No small advantage in those times when the Court of Wards was in being and greatly beneficial still by reason of the Deceits many poor Orphans meet with from Cheating or Insolvent Guardians and Trustees whereas the City's security is unquestionable and her Credit not in the least to be doubted of That the Interpretation of any word or Sentence touching their said Liberties which may severally be taken may be taken according to the intent and Claim of the said Citizens That the City may enjoy all such Liberties as any other Town in the Realm if they have any other than the Citizens have That no protection Royal be allowed in Debt Account or Trespass wherein a Freeman of London is ten pounds with several others By the Answers whereunto we find the Kings Will was that the Citizens of London should in no wise be restrained of any of their Liberties or ancient customs approv'd Such as were most useful and advantagious at the present time were by his Majesty granted and if any appear to have been denyed the denyal seems rather conditional than plain and direct in down right terms So cautious was the King in his Answers so careful not to displease this powerful Coporation and so well advis'd as not to shew himself Ungrateful at his first coming to the Crown to those who had so Cordially erewhile espous'd his interest and so stoutly defended his cause but a little before In the sixth of this King at the request of the Commons the Abridgment tells us it was enacted that the City of London should enjoy all such Liberties as they had in the time of King Edward the third or as were to them confirm'd by the King now and that Victuallers particularly should be â—under the Mayors Rule and have no particular liberties by themselves In the seventh we find it among the Commons Petitions enacted that the Citizens of London shall enjoy all their whole Liberties whatsoever with this Clause licet usi non fuerunt vel â—busi fuerunt notwithstanding any Statute to the Contrary Whether then 't is possible for any Corporate body endowed with so transcendent Priviledges by the publick Act and Deed of the known Legislators of the Land to forfeit and lose them all of a sudden Judge ye At the same time we read of a grant made by the same Authority that the Mayor and Aldermen should take no other Oath in the Exchequer than they did in the time of King Edward the third How careful were the Commons do we see in this Age to prevent the Citizens from being enslav'd in either their Bodies or their Souls They sha'nt be impos'd upon by their good Wills in so much as an Oath much less have Creeds Articles and Oaths by the dozens thrust upon them to Swear and subscribe to In the same year we have the Commons petitioning the King again in the Cities behalf so Sollicitous were they for her good and welfare That free choice may be made of the most able men for Aldermen as well of such as were the year before as of others yearly See we here the House of Commons pleading for a free choice an Election without disturbance threats or menaces and that particular Citizens should not be impos'd upon nor overaw'd And if they had formerly chosen good Men and found them so by experience that they should not be oblig'd next year to pass them by and choose others such as possibly might prove friends to them the backward way and over the left shoulders The Electors might pick and choose as they please which is the benefit of a free Election And as the Commons pray so the King grants as long as there is good Government in the City thereby What could be desir'd more As long as the Aldermen were lyable to be pass'd by every year as well as the Common-Council-Men 't is very unlikely that they should displease the City much less thwart and contradict the Common voice oâ— her Citizens for a few sprinklings of Court Holy Water Observe this was at the Parliament helâ— at Salisbury some scores of Miles from London yet 't was not the distance of place that could breed distance of affection Remove the national assembly to the other end of the Land to the utmost Coasts of Great Brittian yet Londons Name reaches thither 'T is not the place that makes our Westminster Conventions so mindful of her but her Merit her Power her Influence the respect and esteem they have for her Glory Honour and Renown to see her ever continue the fixt unmovable Defendress of the Protestant Religion under the Defender of the Faith In the Ninth the Commons require at the petition of the Mayor and Commonalty of London that the Patent lately made to the Constable of the Tower may be Revok'd The reason is plain 't was prejudicial to the City to have the Victuals brought to her upon her dearest and best beloved Thames made to pay Toll and Custom to another How Glorious and Gracious must we needs think that City to be in the peoples Eyes when we find their Representatives not once nor twice but so constantly almost at every 〈◊〉 pleading her Cause vindicating her Liberties and asserting her Rights And these we know are part of the Legislative power A general act of Oblivion is a Royal Grant not every day bestow'd upon the Subject and a grace not often obtain'd without much importunity and intercession We have reason therefore to believe the Londoners look't upon it as no small favour that at the Common's request the King granted a Pardon to the Citizens of London in the Eleventh of his Reign of all Treasons Felonies and other offences of loss of life For so Pardons run whether the parties were guilty of such crimes and delinquences or not and 't is a salvo that Wise men disdain not sometimes to make use of and why should they not unless a Pardon must of necessity imply a Crime We have heard how careful the House of Commons were under this King to secure the Cities Liberties ascertain her Rights defend her Priviledges and keep off encroachments that she might not be abus'd nor impos'd on Let me next have leave before I pass forwards to give a hint or two to intimate how ready the Commons were to free the City from Annoyances in order both to the Citizens health and the Cities Ornament that nothing offensive either to the Eyes or the Nostrils might be found therein 'T is to be seen Enacted among the Commons Petitions in the sixteenth of this King that all the filth upon Thames side in a certain place
in this Case be by the advice and discretion of the Justices thereto assigned To mitigate it doubtless not inhance it at pleasure to ruin particular persons and annihilate the City's Liberties by pretending the loss of her Charter How respectful King Lords and Commons in Parliament assembl'd shew'd themselves to this honourable City hath been sufficiently declar'd prov'd and made manifest I presume already in the foregoing Relation Let us now call off our Meditations from this particular point and fix our thoughts upon an other Argument highly demonstrative of the City's power drawn from no less uncouth a Topick than tumults and disorders insurrections and Outrages of unruly people There having pass'd an Act of Parliament in the fourth of this King to impower him to Collect and Gather Poll money throughout the Land and many exactions thereupon and incivilities being committed by the new Collectors and other Officers some of the Courtiers having procur'd the Kings Commissions for a review and a more exact Collection under the notion of the Kings being cheated and defrauded through the unfaithfulness of his former Tax gatherers the Commons thought themselves so abus'd and oppress'd that in many places they took Counsel together to make resistance and in several Counties assembled themselves in great numbers to the no small disturbance of the Land Amongst these the Commons of Kent and Essex are reckon'd the greatest bodies gathered together under such heads as Wat Tyler Jack Straw and the like obscure Fellows These we find quickly coming to London where they soon obtain entrance notwithstanding the Mayors intended opposition and then quickly carry all before them behead whom they thought good do what they would burn great mens Palaces at their Pleasure the Gates of the Tower are set open to them the King rides to 'm in fear unarm'd and ill guarded at their sending for and grants them as large Charters as they desired none of his Courtiers daring to oppose or resist their Insolencies so that they seem to have had all things for a small season under their sole Power Direction and Command as remaining Masters of the Field without a stroak stricken by any opposite Party such a terrour did their numbers and boldness strike into mens minds at the first and so effectual was their success in getting within the Walls of London either through the joynt assistance of many Commons there inhabiting or else rather under the repute of having the whole City at their beck But when the first brunt was over and it was visible that the greatest best and most of the Citizens joyn'd not with the Country Commons to approve or abet them in their furious outrages and violences the tide was soon turn'd and deliverance brought both to the King and Court by the courage of this Loyal City The Mayor himself as their Head made the first open beginning was seconded by his Brethren the Aldermen and quickly followed by the worthy Citizens He being a man of great boldness by the Kings permission first arrested and afterwards grievously wounded one of the chiefest of the Rebells Jack Straw saith Fabian Wat Tyler saith Stow to the great encouragement of those about the King among whom this Arch Rebel receiv'd his death and daunting of the Rebellious Commons to which valiant Deed the City is indebted for Walworths Dagger some say inserted upon this Account in her Coat of Arms. After this Act away rides the Mayor with one Servant only the Annalist tell us into the City and crying out to the Citizens to come speedily to the Kings assistance raises a considerable strength who well arm'd under the leading of Sir Robert Knowles came in good time into the Field where the King was among the tumultuous Commons not so well attended but that the unexpected coming of the Mayor and the armed Citizens is expresly said to have caus'd rejoycing in the minds of the King and those few Knights and Esquires then about him and the Issue acquaints us with the great consequence hereof when we read of the Commons throwing down their weapons immediately falling also themselves upon the ground and beseeching pardon who but a little before gloried that they had the Kings life in their own power and so possibly might have continued boasting had not the Citizens thus rous'd up themselves to the Kings relief and timely dispers't these seditious Rioters in the midst of their insulting Pride That this was a piece of Loyalty as well as valour most timely and seasonably shewn is evident from the great influence what was but barely done at London though without London's consent had upon the Countrey For from the Annalist we are given to understand that there were the like Insurrections in Suffolk and Norfolk and in express words told that these overthrew House and Mannors of great Men and of Lawyers slew the Students of the Law c. according to the manner of them at London having for their Captain an ungracious Priest nam'd John Wraw who had been at London just before had seen what was done there and came thence with Instructions from Wat Tyler So that what 's done in the City is very likely to be imitated in the Countrey A disorderly Rout of people were got together round about and within the City and committed many unsufferable Outrages and several parts of the Country were resolv'd to follow the Fashion and do the like The Citizens courage quel'd these Tumultuous Commons in London and then they were quickly suppress'd we hear in other Places Then had the King reason to reward the Mayor and several Aldermen with the honour of Knighthood and other recompences and time to assemble an Army of his Loyal Friends and Subjects at London to guard him till the Principals of these dispersed Rebels were brought to condign Punishment by Law which was quickly done thanks to the worthy Londoners who had thus vigorously asserted the Kings Right defended his Royalty rescued his Person and regained him the exercise of his Kingly Power well near lost before through the Rebellion of his meaner Commons and cowardly Faintheartedness of his Courtiers Men it seems that could speak big at the Council-board and talk high upon the Bench under the shelter of the Kings Authority but when they were to come into the Field of War to fight for their Prince they prov'd meer Courtiers all words and no deeds The Citizens were the Men of valour They lay still the King was like to be undone and the Court ruin'd They appear'd to oppose the vaunting Enemies they fled before them and the King regain'd his own This one famous City the terror of her Enemies the joy of her Friends cooperates in the grand turns and changes of affairs in the Brittish world or else such attempts for the most part at least if not always prove vain fruitless and insignificant And where 's the wonder of this The whole City as a compact Body with Strength and Beauty fitly united may well be
some persons of Quality were coming up to Westminster to the King which he and Sir Thomas Trivet privately sent away to London upon the discovery thereof That he was a sutable Tool to carry on great mens intreagues or at least thought fit enough to be made a Property to work upon why may we not conclude in that we find him elected at the latter part of the last Kings Reign and admitted at the Tower of London into the Mayoralty when the proud haughty Duke of Lancaster had got the other Mayor put out of his Office as not quick enough it seems to run along with that aspiring Dukes designs who aimed at that time to have put by his Nephew from the Throne and have intruded thereunto himself contrary to right reason and justice and the publick interest of the Nation Who knows likewise by whose influence and for what intents he was kept in the Office of Mayor for three years together in the seventh eighth and nineth of this King What a vast difference was there as to Principles and Practices between this man and the fam'd John Philpot his fellow Sheriff in the forty sixth of the precedent King The one prov'd as great a Patriot to his Country before in and after his Mayoralty as the other shew'd himself an ambitious Courtier under a Gold Chain in the City But what great wonder is this to see men once joyn Partners in an Office vastly differing each from other in their Judgments and Actions when raised to places of higher Dignity and Prâ—ferment I don't think but 't is easie enough to find an instance at present if there were any great occasion or necessity thereof 'T is said of this Sir Nicholas Brembar that if he had liv'd he had been created Duke of Troy or of London by the name of Troy What a pity 't was that he had not had a Patent ready sign'd and seal'd lying by him to have shrowded himself and all his old crimes under this new Dignity upon Occasion But this I Fancy would never have past upon that Parliament either Lords or Commons to have sheltred him from the Law of the Land though he had become really in act as well as desire and design a Peer of the Realm However this intention of his if truly related sufficiently shews us his Ambition to become a Titulado unless we shall venture upon a conjecture that some of the Courtiers sham'd upon him with the empty promise of this titulary honour when they wheadled him out of the directions they had before sent him for the better management of their designs which they were unwilling to let remain in his hands after they had made as much use of his Place and Power as opportunity would permit that they might not be produc'd as Evidences against them in a day of Tryal which they probably fear'd might one time or other come upon them and did it seems in this Parliament with a Vengeance For I will take the boldness to conclude that it was some other more skilful hand hid behind the Curtain that order'd the Scenes and manag'd the Machines though he was made the publick stalking horse to deceive the vulgar Herd the Skreen to shelter other mens heads from the violence of popular fury the open Actor in the face of the world the common Engine to set the Wheels of more politick mens contrivances a going though against Water Wind and Tide It being very unbecoming the Apes subtilty to put her own foot into the fire when she may make use of the Cats But if the Worshipful Sir Nicholas suffer'd himself thus impolitickly to be trapann'd whom had he to blame but himself if he were made at laâ—â— to pay so dear for his own folly and imprudence And that such is the ominous fate of less wary men who venture upon Actions not warranted by Law to serve a present turn and humour their own ambitious desires or other mens greatness is evidently demonstrable as in general from History and Experience so more particularly from an instance in Spain under one of the Philips of a certain Officer of that Kings who having by the Kings Order done an Act for which he was afterwards questioned and thrown into Prison and upon fair words and promises parted with the Kings Letter which he could have produc'd for his Warrant was soon after left in the lurch and suffer'd to fall a Sacrifice to his own imprudent Credulity and the Law of the Land Whether I have been exact as to all circumstances of the story I shall not positively affirm as not being fully sure but my Memory may deceive me in twelve or thirteen years space and being uncertain in what Book to look for it now or where I read it at first unless in some of the famous Fullers works perhaps in his holy or prophane State but as to the substance and truth hereof I dare aver it from Historical Relation and leave the Application to more Philosophical Logicians that I may press further forwards towards the mark the end intention and scope of this my present undertaking viz. To shew the respect and esteem several of the Nobles in particular had for this honourable City and their solicitous care for her welfare under this King Richard How that before the Parliament that wrought wonders was ended particular care was taken expresly to have the Citizens of London included in â— general Pardon to prevent doubtless new exactions upon old pretences hath been before related amongst the Commons requests as a sign of their good will and therefore now to be wav'd though it would not be impertinent in this Point to shew the Lords affection if that be a truth which is delivered by a modern Writer that in our Ancestors time most of the Members of the house of Commons thought it an honour to retain to some great Lord and to wear his blew Coat to make up his train and wait upon him from his own house to the Lords and make a Lane for him to enter thereto which argues how much the Lords did or might over-rule them in their frequent Petitions on the City's behalf But I shall pass over the consequence of this Conclusion as an Argument depending on the Readers Will and Choice which he may grant or deny at pleasure and produce an instance or two less dubitable and not left so much at discretion How hard a matter it hath generally prov'd to bring Offenders if great in Power Place and Authority to Justice is plain from History and Experience As evident likewise is it that the Offences to such imputed have been Exactions Extortions oppressions corrupt Abuses of the Law Illegal Principles Arbitrary Designs Unjust Actions and the like National Grievances ordinarily comprehended under the name 〈◊〉 ill Government dayly heapt up under weaâ— or negligent Princes by the exorbitant Power oâ— headstrong Favourites who through the excess of their Soveraign's kindness the easinesâ— of his Nature the mildness
wind and turn it about to their interests and bend it to their own irregular Desires and Designs since that they lik'd not to have them confin'd within the limits and bounds thereof This manner of acting however by the by appears to me the most beaten Path to Destruction and the high way to the Actors unavoidable Ruin and I think I have reason History and Experience all on my side This the City seems well to have understood and therefore with Prudence chose rather to yield to the times for a season than presently to strive against the running stream and immediately to fall a rowing against high wind and Tide but as soon as ever the flowing waters began to Ebb and the tide was a turning the City Barge struck in with the returning waves and assisted to steer the Ship of the Common-wealth to a quite different Haven from that whither the Court was furiously driving her before And then for the most favourable of the Citizens to shew themselves but faint Regardless friends was far less beneficial to the desolate forsaken King than for others of them to appear earnest Enemies in so critical a Juncture was disadvantagious to this unfortunate Prince as he may well be term'd either for having none but ill Councellors and faithless Trencher-friends about him and hearkning so much to their pernitious and destructive advice or else for the defect of his Judgment in not discerning between their private self ends and his own special and particular interest viz. Impartiality in doing Justice to all States and Persons from the highest to the lowest squaring all his own actions by the known Rules of the Law of the Land to the pleasing of his people not by the compass of other mens unstable fancies and anomalous Plat-forms to the loss of his Subjects love and affection and the unhappy fate that attended him upon this his ill conduct when he was violently thrown out of the Chair of State into a profound Abyss of miseries and infelicities and irrecoverably cast out of a Regal Throne into an unavoidable Prison between which and his grave he had but few steps to make For we are to know that as in the tuming of fortunes wheel the spoke that is got upermost presently begins to decline and so runs downwards till it comes to be the under-most of all or like as Sysiphus stone forc'd up e'en almost to the very top of the Hill presently tumbles down again to the bottom with a swiftness and violence not to be stop't by the strength of art or nature so this Prince arriv'd in a manner to the heigth of his desires by the Caprice of fortune or rather by the over-ruling power of a superior Being was suddenly and unexpectedly beyond Recovery hurl'd down from the Grandeur of a Potent King into the lowest Station among Men the Confinement of a Prison and that too occasion'd by the very same way and means whereby he thought to have secur'd to himself amore fixt and setled enjoyment of his greatness as comes now of course to be shewn in manner following After the suppression of the opposite Party under the shadow of Law and Justice diffention happening between the two Dukes of Norfolk and Hereford both then great at Court to the mutual accusation of each other the King greedily lays hold on the opportunity and instead of permitting them according to the Custom of those times where clear proofs were wanting to make good their accusations by the Sword in a single Combat as had been also before appointed unadvisedly banishes them both the Land the first for ever and the latter for a term of years with this hard measure into the bargain that they should not sue for a release of their Judgments on pain of Treason whereby he made both his Enemies and the latter so much the more dangerous the nearer he stood Related to the Crown and the more inveterate in that the King had procur'd the Letters Pattents before granted him to sue by Attorney for Lands descended to him to be revok'd by Assent of Parliament and declar'd to be against Law and had afterwards upon his Father John of Gaunts death violently seis'd on all his Estate whereto Hereford was Heir Then amidst the murmurs of the People for misgovernment and ill guidance of the Realm away goes the King for Ireland with a puissant Army when he thought he had left all things secure in England by the advantage he had made of the last Parliament by engrossing whatever he pleased into his own hands by the tricks found out to raise Money of the Subject by Blanks c. and the Subsidy he had gain'd in Parliament during his Life upon the continuance whereof without molestation he openly declar'd his general Pardon should stand and no otherwise and managed his Arms therewith success enough but ill news out of England that the Duke of Hereford by his Fathers death Duke of Lancaster was landed in England under colour of claiming his Inheritance and rais'd people as he went alarm'd him and bad advice afterwards which detain'd him longer than his promise in Ireland so loath were his Counsellors to spare his company under the shelter of whose Person and presence lay their greatest hopes of protection quite ruin'd him For coming over and finding the Army gone away which the Earl of Salisbâ—ry had rais'd against his coming and had newly voluntarily disbanded it self upon the Kings tarrying too long behind the Earl in Ireland his courage fail'd him and he trusting more to flight than fighting the treachery of his Principal Officers deceiv'd him and he himself also by soothing words and faiâ— promises was decoy'd into the Duke of Lancaster's hands who soon secur'd him fast enough withoâ—â— any intent to let him loose again in haste Now the King is in hold let us see how the Citizens behav'd themselves in this great Turn and Change of the Times They had in this Kings Nonage in his Grandfathers dayes appear'd the undaunted Assertors of his Right and Title and in the beginning of his Reign contributed much to his Security and Settlement on the THRONE But a new Generation being sprang up in Twenty Years space and their old Services at last so ill requited by new attempts on their Liberties by Inditements and blank-Charters instead of standing up with their Lives and Fortunes in the Kings Defence and Vindication they openly devoted themselves to anothers Service and became the known Favourers of that Party which assisted to Depose this unhappy Prince and set up in His Room the Duke of Lancaster under the Name and Title of Henry the Fourth As is provable both from Statute-Law viz. the Act made in the First of this New King to be seen in the Statute-Book Cap. 15. An. 1. H. 4. Where we find express mention of the good and lawful behaviour of the Mayor Sheriffs and Aldermen and all the Commonalty of the same City of London towards him and Stow's general Chronicle
of England wherein we read at the latter end of the Life and Reign of King Richard the Second That after the Duke was come from Coventry to St. Albans about five or six Miles before his coming to London the Mayor and the Companies in the Liveries with great Noise of Trumpets met the Duke doing more Reverence to him than to the King Rejoycing that GOD had sent them such a Prince that had Conquer'd the Realm i. e. the Court-party within one Months space Whereupon when the Duke was come within two Miles of the City he stopt his Army as if out of Reverence and Acknowledgment and in Submission thereto and ask't Advice of the Commons thereof what they would do with the King who Answered they would He should be led to Westminster upon which to them He was delivered and they led him accordingly to Westminster and from thence by Water to the Tower Nay some of the Londoners publickly shew'd themselves so much His Enemies as to Assemble together with an intent to have met Him without the City and there to have Slain him for his former Severities But the Mayor and Rulers and best of the Commonalty upon Information hereof with some difficulty reclaim'd them therefrom After the Citizens had thus receiv'd the King into their Custody and in effect thereby made a publick Declaration of their Minds and Opinions as to the great Change succeeding the Duke we are told entred London by the chief Gate and Rode through Cheapside to St. Pauls and there Lodg'd for some time so secure was he of the Citys good Will and Affection to him and afterward in October held a Parliament in Westmimster-Hall where the old King's Deposition and the new King's Election were compleated I shall not stay to make a long Paraphrase upon the Cityes proceedings in this Affair it being Matter of Fact and undeniable that the City consented hereto from the aforesaid passages which may be likewise thought very much to have influenc'd the Nation in their Elections to that Parliament if from the Annalists Computation we may safely and truly aver that the Parliament-Men were chosen after these Transactions at London because Forty dayes at least interven'd between this time and the first Wednesday in October whereon he sayes the Parliament began If any be desirous of another Observation I leave them to their own Liberty to infer from History and the Premises that it much conduc't to facilitate the King's Deposition that he had no known and generally acknowledg'd Heir of his own Body lawfully begotten boldly to stand up for Him and strongly plead his Cause in Armour for his own particular Interest as well as out of a due sence of his Duty Neither indeed do I well see how he could have any since that he had none by his first Wife that I read of his second Queen was too young another Heir was publickly pointed out to the Nation and he himself was also loosely addicted as seems plain beyond dispute His Lascivious living being hinted to us in Burton's Historical Remarks of London among the Articles drawn up against him and we have great reason to think it was an imputation too true when we read of several Ladyes expell'd the Court in the Eleventh of his Reign by the Procurement of the contesting Lords and a little before the sitting of the Wonder-Working-Parliament and take Notice out of Cotton's Abridgment of the House of Commons Request in the Twentieth Year for the avoiding the outragious Expences of the King's house and namely of Bishops and Ladyes and the King's Answer thereto made That he would be free therein and that the Commons thereby had offended against him his Dignity and Liberty Such was his Indignation against them for desiring to controul him in this Point and so highly incens'd was he thereat that to Appease him the Exhibiter of the Bill was adjudg'd to dye as a Traytor though upon some great Ones importunity his Life was for that time spared and he himself at length restor'd in Blood and to the recovery of his Goods Livings Lands and Tennements at the next King 's comming to the Crown But how I trow come the Bishops to be complain'd of by the Commons among the Misses Were they such Courters of Ladyes as instead of rebuking to follow or rather give bad Examples to the King and Country Yet now I think on 't these were Popish not Protestant Bishops Though I scarce believe every one of them that to the view of the World gives himself a Protestant Title is able well and truly to plead not Guilty If Noli-fet-ole-chery be a Motto rightly father'd upon one of our Western Diocesans How all things in a manner concur'd to further King Richard's Deposition and that he was actually depos'd hath already been spoken of which nevertheless barely did not content the Party but they would needs have it done in a formal and solemn way First the King must make a publick Renunciation of all Right Title and Claim to the Crown then Commissioners are by the States appointed in their Names to pronounce the Stentence of his Deposition from the Throne and make to him a Resignation of their homage and fealty for their Loyalty seems plainly enough to have been gone before Neither did they think this enough but were resolv'd over and above to leave Articles against him upon Record wherein are expressed the ill things done by others in his Reign and as they say by his Authority whereby they designed to justifie what they had done towards the unhappy Kings Deposition which visibly pav'd the way to his Grave So pernicious is it for Princes to suffer their Authority to be abus'd to shelter other mens Crimes or their Names to be made use of without a Present Resentment to carry on Designs hateful to the People though they never consent thereto themselves as their own Act and Deed. For I hope we may charitably Conclude what the worshipful Knights Sir Mayor and Sir Haughty the other-ill belov'd wight did in laying a trap to catch the Contesting Lords in the 11th year of this King was without the Kings privity because he swore it as in page 〈◊〉 though possibly they shrouded themselves under the shelter of his Authority and pretended his Warrant and Command for what they design'd and endeavoured And perhaps they had as Sir Richard Bakâ—r words it a warrant Dormant to prosecute the Kings Ends without the Kings Knowledge The Articles and Objections laid against the King are to be found in Cotton's Abridgment 1. H. 4. whence I trust I may securely transcribe them without hazarding the Courteous Readers Displeasure to shew him the grievances of the age as they are there exprest in this form of words Besides the Kings Oath made at his Coronation First for wasting and bestowing of the Lands of the Crown upon unworthy Persons and over-charging the Commons with Exactions For that the King by undue means procur'd divers Justices to speak against the
temper and inclination he lays Claim to the Crown in open Parliament and had it at last Entail'd upon himself and his Heirs King Henry to retain the Name and Honour of King during Life if he did not voluntarily Resign and the Duke of York to be Declared Heir Apparent to the Crown and Protector of the King's Person Lands and Dominions with some other Conditions Exceptions and Reservations This we may suppose was as much as they then â—ound the Citizens willing to agree and consent to â—or the present For we have it from Stow on the â—ne hand that the Duke of York when he Challeng'd â—he Kingdom as right Heir which Cotton's Abridgeâ—ent fixes upon the 16th of October purposed to have â—een Crowned on Allhollan-day next following and â—n the other side that the King was very much faâ—oured and highly honoured by the common People for his Holiness of life and abundant Clemency Whether the Citizens would have yielded to more or not I cannot be positive but this I am sure of that they so far gave way that now the York Party had got much the better end of the Staff by an Act of Parliament as well as by Arms Title and the Cities Affections and made use of it accordingly to the Old Kings actual Deposition and the setting up of a New one at London before the next Spring was over by the concurrent consent of many substantial Citizens thereof This the Yorkist Faction had reason enough notwithstanding their prosperous success in the Country to acknowledge as a great favour of the Commonalty of London and impute the following success to their Corstancy in adhereing to their Party after a double overthrow given the Yorkists by the Lancastrians when the Magistracy seemed in part at least to have altered Opinions and Resolutions if not their Affections For would but the Commons have sate still and continued Neutral in the Contest the other side was in a fair way to have made their Party good against the Yorkists but the Commons opposition to their Mayors Proceedings stem'd the Current to the others benefis and the manifest disadvantage of the Queen and the Court. Whereby we may observe where lies the orength of the City and who are likeliest in the end to carry the day the Mayor or the Commons when they vary in their Sentiments and as different Parties pull two contrrry ways The whole Story the Occasion and the Consesequences are to be seen in our English Historians who among the diversity of their Relations in many things and wonted variety in expressing the Transactions of the Times concur nevertheless in the Issue and Event of the Actions then iâ— hand For let any of them write never so partially out of Favour and Affection the Truth will out at last and shall prevail against all opposition The Queen with her Northern Army had overthrown and slain Richard Duke of York and routed his Party at Wakefield and afterwards discomfitted the Earl of Warwick and his Power at Saint Albons upon Bernard Heath and so delivered King Henry out of their hands who pretended to be his Life Guard but were in reality his Keepers Observes Overseers and Governours or in an yet harsher term though as true a sence his Jaylors upon which important Successes the Queen sent to the Mayor of London willing and commanding him in the King's Name speedily to send her Victuals without delay for her Army which Command the Mayor strove presently with great diligence to put in Execution by preparing several Cart-Loads of Lenten Provision and sending them to Cripple-Gate towards the Lancastrians Camp at Saint Albans But there the Commons unanimously withstood their further passage and by strong hand kept the Carts from going out of London saying It did not behoove them to feed their Enemies who intended to Rob the City and having repulsed the Northern Horsemen robbing in the Subberbs upon their attempt to enter that way into the City and slain three of them continued so firm and fixt in their Resolutions that let the Mayor do what he could by Exhortation and Arguments to shew them the danger that might ensue by stopping the Carts he could neither reclaim nor alter their minds nor by any means prevail upon them but in the end was fain to send the Recorder and some of the Aldermen to the Kings Council to request the Northern Mens Dismission besides two Female Mediators to interceed for him to the Queen and excuse his not using force in those dangerous and doubtful times against the Commons opposition least their fury being once stir'd it might not so easily have been allaid again Whereupon the Queen was sending some of the Lords with 400 Soldiers to the City to take a view of the peoples demeanour but having her hands full upon certain notice that the Earl of March Yorks Eldest Son and the Earl of Warwick with joint Forces were coming up in all haste to London she departed with the King her Husband and Son into the North her only refuge having little trust in Essex less in them of Kent but least of all saith Stow in the Londoners so little avail'd it to have the Mayor and some of the chief Commoners on her side as Fabian intimates when the Commonalty i. e. the vast majority held with the Duke of York and his party wherefore upon the Courts departure from St. Albans the Earl of March with his Yorkists entered the City in Lent with a great Attendance and was joyfully received the people resorting to him in great numbers out of Kent Essex and other parts to see aid and assist this lusty Prince as the Annalist words it in whom the hope of all their joy consisted as soon as his coming thither was known where he was quickly Proclaimed and acknowledged King by consent in the beginning of March and after eight or ten Battels actually Crowned in June with great Royalty and a splendid appearance of Lords and Commons Mayor Aldermen and Citizens In so high a degree did the Cities actions sway the Country and such an advantage was it to the Yorkists to have gained her over to their Party I need not here remark the prevalency of the Commonalty over the Temporising Mayor and his time-serving Interest the event plainly she wing in these particulars Vox Populi to have been Vox Coeli because I have touched upon this string already But this however I am warranted from History to observe that the Londoners after they had once throughly placed their hearts upon the House of York they continued so fixt and firm to their Interest that no shocks of Fortune nor the Troubles and Commotions about the middle of King Edwards Reign could shake the firmness of their adherence to him so fast was he Rivetted in their Affections nor yet the Popularity of the great Earl of Warwick himself so much greater than a King as that which makes is greater than that it makes whose Hospitality may be supposed to have
redounded so much to his own advantage and the Interest of the York Family which he had for a long time before espoused by the favour he gained thereby among the Commons of the Realm in general and of the City in particular For when he came to London the Analist informs us he kept such an House that six Oxen were eaten at a Breakfast and every Tavern was full of his Meat and whoso had any acquaintance in his House might have had as much Sodden and Rost as he might carry upon a long Dagger All this notwithstanding when upon disgust and discontent he had turned to the other side and became a favourer of the Lancastrians he was never the less disappointed in his aims and expectations from the Londoners For though by his turning sides the York Party had been once routed King Edward taken Prisoner and King Henry resettled once more on the Throne and he had in a manner the whole power of the Land in his hands besides the general Love and Affection the Commons bore to him and the dread and terror the sound of his Name oft struck into his Enemies Hearts it having in effect altered the Fortune and turned the Scales in two Battels one in King Henry's days for the Yorkists another in King Edwards for the Lancastrians yet upon the return of King Edward from beyond Sea whither he had some time before escaped out of Custody into England to recover his Inheritance and regain his Crown and the News of his Marching up to London both sides saith Baker seeking to make the City their Friends the Citizens backwardness to take up Arms in Defence of Old King Henry his Crown and Dignity and inclination to Young King Edward was so apparent that Warwicks own Brother the Arch-bishop of York distrusting the Event secretly sought King Edwards Favour he himself was received into London King Henry was redelivered unto him and the Great Warwick slain not long after at Barnet in a pitch'd Battell to the utter Ruin of the Lancastrian Party for that Age the consequence of this overthrow being enough to read them their succeeding ill Fate at Tewksbury they themselves having sufficient Cause to be daunted with the loss of their most powerful friends and favourers and the Yorkists to be flush'd with their Success in gaining so important a Victory As the Citizens continued thus favourable to the King so I don't find them them chang'd and alter'd in ther Inclinations to the other side till some of the Yorkists themselves by their own hands began to loose and untye those Bonds of Amity Friendship and Fidelity the Late King's Children being dispossest by his own Brother the Duke of Gloucester and the Earl of Richmond the surviving hopes of the Lancastrians had openly declar'd his Intentions and solemnly Sworn to marry King Edward's Eldest Daughter the rightful Heir of all the Yorkists Greatness which afterwards was as honourably as honestly perform'd whereby both Families became united in one Line and the two Roses happily inoculated each upon the other The expression I hope the ingenious Society of Gardiners and Florists will pardon me if harmlesly guilty of an absurdity in translating the term from fruits to flowers Did the Citizens of London appear so zealously on the Yorkists behalf and yield such powerful assistance to carry on their designs What other than can we expect with reason but that King Edward behaved himself very gratefully towards that City which Espoused his flaughtered Fathers Cause against even the Governing Party and contributed so considerably to his own Restauration Though it is but too commonly seen that as mean services are but meanly recompenced or else wholly ' slighted add forgotten so an excess of merit too great to be rewarded brings oftner danger than advantage to the party concerned Evident examples whereof our own and Foreign Histories can abundantly afford us and it is well if the City of London could produce no experience of her own in confirmation of their verity and validity while some others having gotten well by their services to the facilitating their ascent into high Places have no better improved them in the Eyes of the World than in keeping their Coaches their Horses and their Misses and made little other returns of thanks and gratitude to the City but some small slight acknowledgments and concessions and perhaps a few verbal promises and assurance or else forgetting their former needs and necessities have endeavoured most ungratefully to turn their power upon her which they may be thought to have gained chiefly and principally by her means But King Edward it seems or those about him had honester Principles in them or were better tempered For we find in Baker that he furnished his Councel Table for the most part with such as were gracious among the Citizens and we Read in Stow of no less than eleven Aldermen besides the Lord Mayor and Recorder Knighted by him at one time in the Highway betwixt Islington and Shoreditch upon his return from the Battel at Tewksbury in reward of the good service the Londoners had done him As for the jovial Entertainment of the Mayor Aldermen and Commons in Waltham Forrest by the Kings express order and appointment in his presence about an year before he dyed 't is a Subject Treated on by more English Historians than one with the circumstances and consequents thereof the pleasant lodge of Green boughs set up on purpose for them the Complemental condescention of the King in refusing to go to his own Dinner till he had saw them served the Hunting sport he shewed them the plenty of Venison he gave them at their departure and the noble Present of two Harts and six Bucks with a Tun of Wine he sent to the Lady Mayoress and her Sisters the Aldermens Wives to make merry with which they did afterwards at Drapers Hall where without all peradventure the Kings Health went all round the Table if it was then in Fashon but for this I will not put one finger in the fire If we dive into the reasons of the variation of the Pole at London and search into the occasional Causes of the manifest change and alteration of their Affections from thr Family of Lancaster to the House of York we may impute it partly to the losses crosses and unsuccessful management of Affairs under a weak King and a self seeking Court of Lancastrians but chiefly to the encrease of National grievances without timely care taken to redress them and the fixt Resolution of the Court Party to oppress their opposites the Yorkists any manner of ways by right or by wrong for we may easily observe from History and experience such to have been the usual motives to disgusts and the common incitements to discontent Therefore I presume I may draw hence better grounds and reasons of the Cities Love to King Edward than those alledged by Baker out of Comines viz. that he got the Love of the Londoners by owing them
receive him with Demonstrations of great Joy and Gladness for his safe and happy arrival there The Habit of the Mayor Aldermen and Citizens were either Scarlet or Violet and his Reception was in great State and Pomp they meeting him in orderly Array without the City and so conveying him through it to St. Pauls Neither may we think him insensible of their Favours if Baker records the truth as indeed I am not able on any good grounds to contradict him when he says that the City of London was this King's Paradice nor provably consute the Reasons he gives for his Assertion viz. That what good Fortune soever befel him he thought he enjoy'd it not till he acquainted them with it And can we fancy he had not good Grounds and Inducements for this honourable Acknowledgment of their Kindness and Goodness shewn him by them besides the first Expressions thereof in the beginning of his Reign when he was so far from being well warm'd in his Seat that he was not yet enter'd upon the Throne by the Solemnity of a Coronation nor had taken possession of the Government with the usual Ceremonies and Customary Formalities Certain it is that I read in Fabian Shâ—riff of London in his days that he had considerable Sums of Money of the City more than once twice or thrice an Assistance as requisite often times as Men in Arms and not seldom more difficult for Princes to obtain There being idle men enough generally at all times ready to come in at the Sound of Trumpet or Drum if there be but an Assurance or Probability of good Pay which to compass is commonly a difficulty not so easily surmounted even by great Kings and Princes so scarce a Commodity is Gold and Silver Coin Neither do I find the City at any time complaining or opposing or joyning with his Enemies For notwithstanding his settlement on the Throne and his uniting the two Families into one by marrying Edward the Fourth's eldest Daughter he had a Lambert and a Perkin to disturb his Quiet and Repose about Title A Favour therefore doubtless this was not inconsiderable in those days For the City of London is known to have been able to do much had she been so inclined Whereof we may well believe the King was very sensible and so were the opposers of his peaceable tranquility were it only from this consideration that when in the Second of his Reign it was bleer'd about by his Enemies that the Earl of Warwick George Duke of Clarences Son was escap'd out of the Tower and a counterfeited Earl was provided to act the part of the true one to draw People to their Assistance which might have created no little trouble to the King and greatly endanger'd his Person and Dignity to disappoint and frustrate their Designs and fully lay open the Cheat of all Parties and Places of his Kingdom he chose London to shew therein the right Earl of Warwick to the People though the principal Scene of those Affairs were then laid in Ireland And the other side appear'd so fearful of the Effect thereof upon the Londoners and their Influence doubtless upon the rest of the Nation even Ireland it self though so far distant that to buoy up the Spirits of their own Party they thought it most effectual to report about the Island that that was a Counterfeit purposely train'd and taught by King Henry and shew'd by him in London to blind the Eyes of the Simple and Ignorant So sollicitous were both to encrease the number of their Adherents and draw the People of the Land to a belief of the honesty and sincerity of their Intentions and Equity of their Actions among whom the City of London is certainly the greatest Body fitly joyn'd together by good Laws and Constitutions greatly confirm'd by an orderly succession of her Magistrates and much strengthned by a long and large train of continual Successes But the City continued fix to the King's Interest and therefore the others Devices and Pretences work'd little or nothing upon the Citizens They were rather ready to rejoyce on all occasions for his victorious Success than pronâ— to take part with his Enemies against him whereof they gave him sufficient Testimonies at several times and seasons when they had opportunity to express their Affections in a more free and open way at such glorious Solemnities as Coronations Installations publick Receptions and Royal and Princely Marriages 'T is confess'd that towards the latter end of this King's Reign some of her principal Officers her Mayors and Sheriffs were sore troubled and vext in the King's Courts and large Sums of Money demanded of them for things pretended to be done by them illegally in their Offices and such of them imprison'd as refus'd to pay those Arbitrary Fines as may be seen in Stow's Annals but these were Troubles only of particular Men and common also to many others of the King's Subjects when Empson and Dudley were got into Authority and to humour the old King 's covetous itch after Riches a Vice incident mostly to Old Age reviv'd old forgotten Laws and rais'd large Sums of Money upon Offences against Penal Statutes wherein they acted so exorbitantly and took such arbitrary illegal and unjust Ways many whereof Baker reckons up in his Chronicle to compass their Ends that they themselves at length were become the principal Grievances of the Nation and suffered accordingly in the beginning of the next King's Reign both of them by the hands of Justice being made to pay their Heads for satisfaction to the People and their Promoters most shamefully Pillory'd and Imprison'd So little did it avail them to pretend they put the Laws in Execution or to call themselves the King's Promoters or Informers King Henry the Eighth as soon as he came to the Crown more regarding the Commons Crys and the Complaints of his People than he valued the pretended Loyalty of such profligate Villains as had no other way to pick up a Livelihood than by raking it out of other Mens Miseries and Troubles This Prince in his youth was so much addicted to Pleasures and Pastimes fine Sights and Shews Masks Justs and Tournaments and in his elder years to Cruelty and Tyrannical Oppression that one might be apt to expect and perhaps with some colour of reason that little was to be found in London in the beginning of this King's Reign but Jollity Joy and Rejoycing gaudy Shews and pleasing Objects delightful to the Eye and grateful to Sense a King's Example commonly drawing along with it his Subjects Imitation and that in the latter end scarce any durst presume to make opposition to a Man of so domineering a Spirit as by his own death-bed Confession never spar'd Woman in his Lust nor Man in his Anger And yet notwithstanding we meet with under this Prince Instances of the City's Power Boldness and undaunted Resolution and of the King's Favour to the Citizens The last may haply be concluded even from the Effects of
the cries of the wounded in our streets A Miraculous effect of the Cities influence For what parts of the Land are so inconsiderate to oppose when London is engag'd and resolv'd Former Examples may teach them future wisdom These having been the necessary preparatives in sixty one on Saint Georges day April the 23. comes the Kings Coronation the fairest day except the Preceding in which he made his Cavalcade through London the Nation enjoy'd both before and after if the supplementers Observation be well grounded notwithstanding it began to Thunder and Lighten very smartly towards the end of Dinner time and soon after that another meeting of King Lords and Commons at Westminster whither the Kings Writs had Summoned them to make a New Parliament the former Assembly having been dissolv'd the December before by his Majesties Order and Command How acceptable the Actions of that Assembly were to City and Country hath been hinted before and the concurrence of the King when restor'd was not wanting to Authorize their proceedings yet this new Assembly notwithstanding thinking the manner of it's Assembling not to be drawn into Example and that therewas some defect as to the necessary point of Legality in the Statutes then made or at least desirous to remove all doubts fears and scruples about them would not let several of those Acts pass without being formally ratified and confirm'd anew by it's own Authority And therefore consequently not trusting to the receiv'd opinion of the dissolution of the Parliament of forty by the late Kings Death nor relying on the House of Commons Act to dissolve themselves in fifty nine nor the dissolution of the Lords and Commons in sixty another Declaration was made in the point in these word To the end that no Man bereafter may be misled into any seditious or unquiet demeanor out of an opinion that the Parliament begun and held at Westminster upon the third day of November in the year of our Lord one thousand six hundred and forty is yet in being which is undoubtedly dissolved and determined and so is hereby Declared and Adjudged to be fully Dissolved and Determined And it was further Enacted by the same Authority That if any Person or Persons at any time after the four and twentieth day of June in the year of our Lord one thousand six hundred sixty and one shall Malitiously and Advisedly by Writing Printing Preaching or other Speaking Express Publish Vtter Declare or affirm that the Parliament begun at Westminster upon the third day of November in the year of our Lâ—rd one thousand six hundred and forty is not yet dissolved or is not yet determined or that it ought to be in being or hath yet any continuance or Existence that then every such Person and Persons so as aforesaid offending shall incur the danger and penalty of a Premunire mentioned in a Statute made in the sixteenth year of the Reign of King Richard the second Thus then were all disputes upon this point effectually stil'd and suppress'd by this Authority and Command of King Lords and Commons and the greatness of the penalty incur'd by the person offending which amounts to no less than to be put out of the Kings Protection and have his Lands and Tenements Goods and Chattels forfeited to the King and his Body Attach'd if to be found and brought before the King and his Council there to Answer the premises or that process be made against him by Praemunire facias and if return'd non est inventus than to be Outlaw'd Next I proceed to observe that 't was Petitioning and addressing that prepar'd the way for His Majesties Restauration and therefore doubtless the remembrance thereof should be always grateful and acceptable to the Loyal Such preparatories to great turns and changes being alwaies preferrable to the other rougher methods of drawn Swords and loaded Pistols which are the general effects of Civil Broils and Commotions while these are the rational results of Wisdom and Prudence With the King was that part of the English Clergy likewise restor'd which appropriates to it self the name of the Church of England A Term much gloried in by many as if none but themselves were the constitutive parts thereof and which some now adays pretend freer from Ambiguity than the more general Name of Protestants What we understand by that Term we know very well and are not asham'd thereof Yet by the way I don't think but 't is as lyable to exceptions where Cavils take place as the other title of Protestants so much of late turn'd into ridicule by some few pretenders to wit and sense above the vulgar For if by Church we understand barely an Assembly of Men met together in one place then doubtless without any incongruity it may be applied to many a civil meeting of Men together about their own private concerns If by Church we mean a society of Men conjoyn'd in Spiritual duties or the Ordinances of Divine Worship then I hope it will be no Solecism in common Speech to affirm many of the Dissenters meetings may reasonably lay claim to the Name And if a due Celebration of the Sacraments will make a Church why then may not the Denomination as well belong to some private Conventicles as to the publick Oratories If it should denote only the Association of many distinct Assemblies under the same Ecclesiastical Government what should hinder the Presbiterians from enjoying the Title in those places where they are allowed to exercise their power in Classical Provincial or National Synods Which Power they once exercis'd in England publickly within the Memory of Man But if the Law of the Land makes the difference and the established Government of the Country in Ecclesiastical affairs as with us in England then I am apt to beleive this Expression the Church of England is not without it's Ambiguities and may be a denomination comprehensive of Men of as many different modes and forms as some would fain have us think the word Protestant admits of Heretofore at the first planting of the Gospel in this Isle among the Britains we may call it the British Church When Austin the Monk came in bringing with him the Customs and Ceremonies of the Church of Rome and introduc'd them among the converted Saxons then we may term it the Romish Church When the Monks and Fryers like the Frogs in Egypt had over-spread the whole face of the Land then we may give it the Epithite of Monkish In succeeding Generations when Popery was arriv'd to its height we may name it the Popish Church In King Edward the sixth days it may properly be called Reformed Under the Marian Persecution 't was certainly Popish Queen Elizabeth brought back the Reformed Religion under an Episcopal Government and therefore I venture to give it the Name of the Reformed Episcopal Church A little before the late Wars when the Hierarchy was arriv'd at its highest pitch of Pomp and Grandeur by the Laudean principles and practises It was certainly
then thought unpardonable by the Londoners who in words and deeds espoused the Queen's Cause seis'd on the Tower of London and kept it for the Queens use and not long afterwards received her into their City with great Joy and Honour A demonstrative evidence in my opinion of the City's strength and power For if London when she pleas'd could maintain the King's peace in the midst of Arms as was shewn above so inviolably as that none dar'd in opposition to break it and afterwards in the very same age and within the compass of half a dozen years did actually assert the Qeens cause and assist her in her proceedings as was pretended for Reformation of the Realm tho the Consequence thereof was in truth the unfortunate Kings resignation what greater instance can there be to shew her great influence upon the whole Nation in those unsetled times London having so visibly appeared in favour of the Queen the Prince and his party and contributed so much towards this notable revolution of affairs we have no reason to think but that out of Common gratitude her Citizens were to be aboundantly rewarded and that they themselves out of self interest and natural Prudence would so well and wisely look to their own affairs as to make hay while the Sun shines to the procuring new grants and Graces and so accordingly we find the event For in the first year of Edward the third Fabian tells us he confirmed the Liberties and Franchizes of the City making the Major Chief Justice in all places of Judgment within the same next the King every Alderman that had been Major Justice of Peace in London and Midlesex and such as had not been Justice in his own Ward Granting them also the Fee-farm of London for three hundred pounds and that they should not be constrained to go out of the City to â—o fight or defend the Land for any need A priviledge greater than what was claimed as their liberty in his Fathers days when unwilling to engage against the Queen and Prince they refused not to go out on condition of returning the same day as is related before But the most beneficial of all the grants was that the Franchises of the City should not be seized into the Kings hands but only for Treason or Rebellion done by the whole City It having before been a Common thing to have their Liberties seized on as hath been plainly manifested in the Precedent Relation on almost every petty disgust conceived by the Court against them were it but for the pretended offence of a particular Officer or for mony alledged to be owing by the City to some great ones at Court or some such like small trivial pretence But now at this time they took such care to have their Liberties setled and secured by this Royal Grant that it may be thought almost if not wholly a thing impossible for the City to forfeit her Charter and have it justly according to that grant taken from her The bringing of Southwark under the Rule of the City and the power allowed their Major to appoint such a Bailiff there as liked him best was a very advantagious favour at the same time by this King Edward bestowed on London but not comparable with the former grant which may most deservedly be esteemed Paramount to all others A particular Officer may offend and oftentimes does nay many may but for a City a whole City so great and glorious a City as London Traiterously to Rebel and so forfeit all her Liberties Priviledges and Franchises at one clap seems to me so great a contradiction as to imply little less than an Impossibility in Nature not to go a step or two higher This King being one of the most powerful Princes of his time and in the strength of his age very succesful in his Wars against the French King 't is not for us hastily to imagine there was any occasion given for so wise and good a King to contest with his Subjects much less with his Loyal Citizens We are rather to expect to hear of the City's Triumphs and glory the Joy and rejoyceing wherewith she often received her Victorious King returning Conquerour from France the frequent Justings Tiltings and Tournaments shewn thereat for his Recreation and entertainment the Wealth Riches and Ability of her head Officers whereof one to Londons great glory is said to have sumptuously feasted four Kings at once in the thirty first of this Kings Reign besides the famous Black Prince many Noble Knights and others to whom with the King he gave many Rich Gifts the splendor of the Citizens in general oâ— publick occasions and the harmonious concord of all in their own private and particular concerns relating more especially to the Cities good order and Government This King may be supposed too great and too good either to create or to permit differences and discord at home He had wherewithal to exercise his Wisdom and valour abroad in forreign Countries and such success too in his Enterprizes as might make him both feared and beloved by his Subjects at one and the same time Yet notwithstanding such still was Londons power strength and resolution to maintain her Liberties that this Victorious Prince Conquerour over others having sent out Justices into the Shires to make enquiry about his Officers offences and delinquences and the City of London not suffering as Stow tells us any such Officers to sit as Justices in their City as Inquisitors of such matters contrary to their Liberties he thought good rather to appoint those Justices their Sessions in the Tower for Inquisition of the damages of the Londoners and they refusing unless conditionally to answer there and a tumult thereupon arising among the meaner sort claiming their Liberties he esteemed it greater prudence to wave the Justices sitting as to that place and forgive all offences than to enter into a contest with such powerful tho Loyal Subjects as the Londoners were and such undaunted assertors of their own rights priviledges franchises and liberties For as 't is plain the City was very potent so we may as certainly perhaps conclude the Citizens no less suspicious of any thing done under the shadow of this Kings Authority if but looking towards the least breach of their Priviledges as the Commons of England in general seem to have appeared jealous of their Common liberty when upon this Kings laying claim to the Kingdom of France they procured a Law whereby it was enacted that the King should not Rule England as King of France and so Subject them to the insolencies of a fellow-Subjects Deputyship Would you know what esteem and respect the house of Commons in this King's reign had for â—he City Look in Cotton's abridgment of the Records â—n the Tower and there you may find the Commons â—ver and anon petitioning the King that the City â—f London may enjoy all her Liberties and the King's â—nswers generally to such petitions seem rather to â—rant than
deny such their important Requests â—o glorious and gracious did the City appear in the â—â—ght of the good people of the Land or rather â—â—ch was the influence she had upon the Nations reâ—resentatives As to the Common's Desires that 〈◊〉 the Counties might conform themselves to the â—eights and Measures made in London and the â—â—der there made against Usury might be observed â—â—oughout the Realm as if they would have this so famous a City more particularly give Law as well as example to all England I pass them over without pretending from thence to draw an Argument of the City's Grandeur and likewise Wave the priviledg by this King granted the Citizens that the Officers of the Mayor and Sheriffs should from that day forward use Maces of Silver parcel gilt as not intending to insist thereon as a more especial mark of honour design'd the City above the rest of the Nation in those days And choose rather to pass on to the last part of this King's reign wherein I must needs acknowledge there was a strong though short contest between the King and the Court But when was that and how hapned it 'T was when the King was grown old near to dotage after his good Queen Philippa was dead and he himself amidst the Infirmities of sickness and old age indulg'd his own lustful pleasures in the lascivious Embraces of a wanton Miss leaving the guidance of his Realm and all things about him to so ambitious a spirit as under the Wings of his Authority durst aspire so high as to the hopes of the Crown against the good Will of the people and the Title of a person much more affected and beloved at London The contest was short and sharp as may be seen in Stows Annals where it is plac'd in the fifty first i. e. the last year of the Kings Reign So short as not taking up the whole space of time between Christmas and the latter part of June wherein the King died and yet so sharp that the Cities Priviledges were in great danger menaces there were of deposing the Major which was at length actually done and of Creating a Captain in his Room with many other things threatned against their Liberties And all by the arts devices and contrivances of the aspiring Uncle who would fain have mounted up into the Throne of the Kingdom over his young Nephews head but that the Londoners opposed him in his designs both honourably and succesfully too So far were they from being Hector'd or trapan'd into a base Compliance with this Ambitious pretender and his flattering favourites desires who thought to have carried all before 'em because they esteem'd themselves sure of the Kings Authority and so lookt upon the principals of the opposite party if not under a Cloud at least under a great disadvantage comparatively such were their fond hopes and pretensions In the good Parliament as it was commonly called held in the fiftieth of this Kings Reign several Reformations had been made and divers at the Commons suit remov'd from about the King as evil Counsellors by the Mediation of the Black-Prince but the Parliament being ended and he dying the old King contrary to his promise soon recalled the former persons before removed and Committed the Government of the Realm again to his third Son John of Gaunt that aspiring Duke of Lancaster whereby the Tide being turn'd at Court the storm fell heavy upon some Patriots of the late Parliament who had been the greatest promoters and occasioners of â—he before mentioned change so lately made of the Ministers of State Now was the time to remember â—nd revenge all things about the King being mannaged by the Dukes order who making use of the Kings Authority turn'd out â—nd put in at his pleasure the more easily to bring â—bout his designs by his own Creatures now â—rought in again into the Government and manâ—gement of the affairs of State which tended to no less than the putting his Nephew the young Prince Richard an Orphan by the Fathers side though not the Mothers from the Crown and setling himself in the Throne upon the old weak Kings decease This it seems had been intended by the Duke for some time but now carried on more vigorously with all the art imaginable A Parliament is summoned to meet at Westminster after Christmas honour is openly shewn to the young Prince and his name made use of by his crafty Uncle to further and promote his own privy intentions and intreagues The name and power of the French as that they had raised great Armies and made new Confederacies to bloâ— out the English Tongue and Nation is likewise made use of for a stale to induce the Commons the more readily to part with a good round sum of Mony to put the King into a good posture of defence to speak and act as a King And the old Knights who in the last Parliament had stood up so couragiously in behalf of the Commonalty are by the Dukes meanes for the most part remov'd and Creatures of his own are made the chiefest managers of Parliament-business so that now he seemâ— ready to carry almost all things before him Buâ— only there lies a rub or two in the way that mighâ— spoil his bowling if they were not timely removed London was not nor would be at the Dukeâ— beck and therefore 't was thought daâ—gerous to attempt publickly what was privately and principally intended as long as the Laws and Customs oâ— the City were in force Moreover the Church oâ— England it seems in those days was look't upoâ— by the Duke as none of his best friends thougâ—â— I don't find but he might have been before anâ— was a Church-Man good enough afterwards as to outward appearance whatever he was in his heart and therefore if Stow may be Credited who writes after Walsinghams Pen he attempted to overthrow it for that end favouring Wickliff and his Disciples who went then under the name of Lâ—llards among the Commons and were as much hated in those days for pretended Heresies laid to their charge for at that time you must know the Nations Religion was Popish as the Papists are now adays for repeated Plots and Conspiracies proved upon them Whether or no it was to pull down the English Bishops the better to facilitate his own intents and purposes that he was a favourer of the fam'd John Wickliff as Walsingham a great Papist and also a Monk affirms Providence out of the Dukes sinful Ambition raising Protection for the Maintainers of the true Religion or else that being convinced of the Conformity of Wickliffs Doctrine to Truth and Godliness He like Herod heard John gladly and did many things at his instance I shall not now pretend to determine But most certain it is from the story that 't was London not the English Clergy that put the greatest stop to the Dukes aspiring designs and dash'd all his Ambitious Intreagues in pieces to his and his Favourites no small Disappointment
dearly belov'd Liberties when they might with greater ease and as effectually gently walk them down as a certain Person is said to have express'd it on a much later Occasion The City petition'd and address'd and she was follow'd by the Country She waited a while with patience and the secluded Members that were chosen in forty and from forty eight kept out of the house till fifty nine for almost twelve years space were restor'd in peace and quietness though under some few Obligations And so there was again the face of a House of Commons Being restor'd they dissolv'd themselves in a short time after to make way for another assâ—mbly call'd a Parliament though some thought in thâ—se times that the Parliament of Forty had been dissolv'd long before by his late Majesties death and so might haply think this a needless Ceremony It being most certain that that Parliament ow'd its beginning to the Kings Writ although its continuance was thought to depend on the continuing Act as long as the King liv'd Yet notwithstanding the House of Commons had actually dissolv'd themselves and it was become the receiv'd opinion that the Parliament of Forty was in Law dissolv'd before upon the old Kings death the next Assembly Stylo Communi Parliament would not barely stick to either of these ways but thought good likewise themselves by vertue of their Authority to declare that Parliament of Forty dissolv'd Whether or no they thought that the bare Act of a single house of Commons without King and Lords could not in Law be took for a formal Repeal of the former continuing Act made by King Lords and Commons joyntly and so rejected it as really insignificant in its self though made use of for the time and out of a Cautious foresight dreaded some ill consequences attending the receiv'd opinion of the long Parliaments being dissolv'd by the Kings death whether or no the continuing Act were formally repeal'd by as good Authority as made it lest thence in time no body knows when occasion might be taken to argue that if a Kings death repeals one unlimited Act it may likewise on the same ground vacate all by him made and so by affirming the same of all other Princes since the first William a foundation might be laid for the Introduction of Arbitrary Power when evil minded Pretenders are absolute enough to attempt it with hopes of Impunity I pretend not to determine For I remember my self to be a Relater of matters of Fact not a Reader of Law Cases Therefore I proceed to acquaint the Reader that that Assembly though call'd without the Kings Writ yet by his Majesty afterwards most Graciously own'd and acknowledg'd for a Parliament thought it fitting and convenient to declare and enact that the Parliament begun and holden at Westminster the third day of November in the sixteenth year of the Reign of the Late King Charles of blessed Memory is fully dissolved and determined They are the words of the Act to be seen in the Statute-book Cap. 1. 12 Car. 2. This was the Assembly that blessed us with his Majesties actual Restauration towards which there had been made so many steps a little before by the Loyal Nobility Gentry and Commonalty of the Land and the Worthy Citizens of this Honourable City Whose publick Reception and Triumphant Cavalcade through the City of London to White hill was very remarkable for the splendid appearance of the Citizens to conduct him the Gallantry shewn by them on so acceptable a Solemnity and the many demonstrations of joy and gladness they gave him worthy themselves and that glorious day which they had so long expected and contributed so much of their assistance to hasten For which I have a passage or two more to produce besides what hath been already brought For the first out of the supplement to Baker I quote his Majesties most Gracious Letter To his Trusty and well belov'd the Lord Mayor Aldermen and Common Council of the City of London wherein he Honourably acknowledges the publick and frequent Manifestations of their affections to him and the Encouragement and good Example â—hey gave the Nation to assert the Ancient Government and thereupon concludes with large Promises of Extraordinary kindness to this his Native City to the Renewal of their Charter Confirmation of all priviledges granted by his Predecessors and the adding of new favours to advance the Trade Wealth and Honour thereof The next is a Commemoration of the Cities Joyful Resentment of this Letter and the Kings Declaration enclos'd in it as it was was express'd by the Grateful Duty of the Common-Council who immediately upon the reading of them ordered a Present of Ten thousand Pounds to be made to His Majesty and a thousand pounds to each of his Brothers And likewise deputed several of the Aldermen and worthy Citizens to attend upon His Majesty from the City with a Presentment of their most Dutiful acknowledgments for his Clemency and Goodness towards them So desirous were they to give him the greatest demonstrations of their affection and Loyalty before his Return and Judiciously Wise as well as Loyal to set all parts of the Nation a good Example to imitate in a ready manifestation of their Duty and Allegiance to him after his Return Neither in this would they be behind hand with any of them all For the City of London as being the first the richest and most Honourable and the Seat of Kings for many ages might Judge it self oblig'd as the Supplementer insinuates in point of duty and Reputation to exceed all the rest in the Glory of their performances towards their Soveraign But whatever the Citizens did think of the Obligation on either side certain enough it is that the reiterated expressions of their Loyalty to the King were Honourable and Meritorious to the highest degree For to the splendor of their former Preparations at his first Reception and Triumphal Entrance they added the cost of a most magnificent Entertainment at Guild-hal for that very purpose richly beautified and adorned whither the King his two Brothers the Lords of the Privy Council the two Houses of Parliament and the chief Officers of State were conducted July the fifth 1660. in great Pomp by the Lord Mayor and the Grandees of the City and treated in a Royal manner with the choicest of Delicacies with excellent Musick and whatever else could be thought on or delightful for so Illustrious an Assembly As if the Citizens thought it not enough to entertain the King but for his sake were resolv'd to put themselves to the charge of gratifying others for their Loyalty Where 's now the Man can bring me a parallel hereto General Monk appear'd and London concur'd and then the House of Commons of the Parliament of forty is immediately reviv'd a face of the Ancient Government restor'd a new Parliamentary Assembly call'd the King sent for home to enjoy his Fathers Throne and most peaceably settled therein without the noise of War or