transported even as in a Rapture to make this Digression For who could come near the Shrine of such a Saint and not offer up a few Grains of Glory upon it Or how durst I omit it For he was the first that planted me in my tender Studies and water'd them continually with his Bounty The Occasion that brings in this was the new Dean's addition to his Pattern that looking into such a Mirror he might keep up the Learning of that happy Plantation that it might never hear worse then as Mr. Camden testifies for it Felix eruditorum in Ecclesiam Rempublicam proventus Eliz. p. 61. Fol. In his Zeal to this Work as soon as he was possess'd of the Deanery he was assiduous in the School and miss'd not sometimes every week if he were resident in the College both to dictate Lectures to the several Classes and to take account of them The choicest Wits had never such Encouragement for Praise and Reward He was very Bountiful in both and they went always together scattering Money as if it had been but Dung to manure their Industry And seldom he did fail no not when he kept the Great-Seal to call forth some of them to stand before him at his Table that in those intervals of best Opportunity he might have account of their Towardliness which ripen'd them so fast made them so Prompt and Ingenuous that the number of the Promoted to the Universities which swarm'd out of that Stock was double for the most part to those that were Transplanted in the foregoing Elections 55. These were the first Fruits of his Care In tenut labor at tenuts non glovia Virg. Georg. 4. The Buildings of Abbat Islip Monuments of a great worth were the next Object of his Emulation That wife and holy Man was the Lord Abbat over the Benedictine Monks who profess'd their Vows within those Cloysfers in the Glorious Reign of King Henry the Seventh The Abbat was a Privy-Counsellor and for his Fidelity and Prudence was one of the Executors to the King his Master by his Last Will and Testament The Structure of the Abby was left imperfect from the Reign of King Henry the Third who had been very Sumptuous in advancing the Workmanship from the Altar to the lower-end of the Quire From his Death that stately Pile of Building had look'd for some to help and there was none that pitied it This Abbat a devout Servant of Christ and of a wakeful Conscience considered the Office he bore how he was the Chief who had that House of God in possession Therefore he enlarged the length of the Church at his own Cost from the entring in of the Quire or thereabout to the West-Gate that looks towards Tuttle-street and contrived the Lodgings with strength and handsomness at the South-end which after the Change made in King Henry the Eighth's Reign received the Dean and his Retinue But Eternal Fame doth best shine upon his Memory in the Rising-Sun or upon the Eastern part There this Abbat and John Fisher Bishop of Rochester the Executor to King Henry the Seventh joyned with him laid out such Sums of Money as that King had appointed for the Noble Enterring of his own Body and his Queens with the Stems of their Royal Line and none other These two like men of faithful and large Minds built the Chappel next behind the Chappel of Edward the Confessor called by King Henry the Seventh's Name which nothing can surmount for Cost and Curiosity There they set up his Monument in a Brazen Impalement which looks like the Work not of our Moderns but of Bezaleel Now though not the Soul yet the Piety and Liberality of the Abbat to this Domo came into Dr. Williams by Transmigration who in his entrance to that place found the Church in such decay that all that passed by and loved the Honour of God's House shook their Heads at the Stones that drop'd down from the Pinacles Therefore that the Ruines of it might be no more a Reproach this Godly Jehoiada took care for the Temple of the Lord to repair it to set it in his state and to strengthen it a Chren 4.3 He began at the South-east part which looked the more deformed with decay because it coupled with a latter Building I mean the Chappel of King Henry the Seventh which was tight and fresh The North-west part also which looks to the great Sanctuary was far gone in Dilapidations The great Buttresses were almost crumbled to Dust with the Injuries of the Weather which he re-edified with durable Materials and beautified with elegant Statues among whom Abbat Islip had a place so that 4500 Pounds were spent in a trice upon the Workmanship All this was his own Cost Neither would he Impatronize his Name to the Credit of that Work which should be raised up by other men's collatitious Liberality like Laonicus in Castilio his Courier Lib. 4. Vide quà m liberalis sit qui non sua solùm sed etiam aliena largiatur I do not expect that the Sacrilegious of our Times should commend him for disbursing so much upon a Building of Sacred Use who either make no difference between Holy and Prophane or Tender Prophane and Common Things before the Holy Never in the days of old was so much spent in private Buildings Enough is Erected upon new Foundations in the Skirts of London to make two large and beautiful Cities Yet we suffer all our Cathedrals of egregious Piety and stupendious Bravery to run to a general Decay which is all one as to put hands to their Demolishment What Christians would not tremble to see their Rubbish rise up in Judgment against them I appeal to found Judgment whether in an Heathenish but a Civil Republic the Aedils of Rome would not have saved such Structures from Ruine at the public Charge But I am indifferent to appeal to any man sound or corrupt against Art Will. in his History p. 191. who nibbles at the good Name of the magnificent Dean upon his magnificent Church-works because he could not bite it For this is his Censure These Works were Arguments of a great Mind but how far from Ostentation in this frail body of Flesh cannot be determined Such suspicious and ungrounded Glances discover more Rancor then direct Contumelies for which Macrobius hath a pretty Simile Lib. 7. c. 3. Hami angulosi quam directi mucrones tenacius infiguntur Ill-favoured Suspicion is like a crooked Hook where it enters it will stick in the Flesh though it make but a little wound But thus he serves King James and all his Courtiers of both Sexes of all Professions pelts them all along with rotten Surmises or palpable Untruths I will fit him with Spalatensis his Judgment upon Baronius the great Annalist who was Squint-eyed Omnia regum facta non rectis sed contortis oculis intuetur Lib. 7. c. 9. In all his Volumes he squinted at the famous Actions of Kings and Princes 56. For their further
working in the Must Every day this Sufficiency grew with him more and more till he became the only Jewel which the Lord Chancellor hung in his Ear. Yet in four months after he fell to this Trade his best Customer fail'd him the Court of the Prince being Dissolv'd by the Death of Prince Henry Nov. 6. 1612. with whom so much Light was extinguish'd that a thick Darkness next to that of Hell is upon our Land at this day O matchless Worthy live in everlasting Fame with the Elogy given by that quaint Historian Velleius to Pub. Rutilius Non seculi sui sed omnis aevi optimus The third Step of Felicity upon which he clim'd Eis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it is Athanasius his Metaphor into the Bosom of his Master's Soul was That he had pick'd up in a short space some Gleanings in his own modest words in the knowledge of the Common Laws of the Realm but indeed full Sheaves if his Acquaintance may be believ'd He remitted not the Studies of his own Science and Profession but having read the Tenures the Doctor and Student and somewhat else like unto them at hours of Relaxation he furnish'd himself with no little quantity of that Learning by Discourse and Conference and enquiring after some cases how they sped in the Courts of Justice When he was at a non-plus he respited that Difficulty till he met with Sir John Walker afterward Lord Chief Baron whose Judgment was most agreeable to his Genius This was his Practise not now but all along to gather up more at the Interspaces of Leisure then others do at their Study Which was the Contrivance of Scipio Aemilianus the Sir Philip Sidney of the Old Romans Neque quisquam Scipione elegantius intervalla negotiorum otio dispunxit says the Character of the Author lately cited 35. Here I will provide a little to set my Shoulder against the Justle of an Objection Perhaps some will say What did the Study of our Laws belong to him The Dainties of the Scriptures were his daily Diet prescrib'd him by his Calling Why did he seed upon those coarse Coleworts And who could spare any of the Time of this short Life when the Work of a Divine is more then this Life can dispatch so that the Remainder must be learnt in Life Eternal Somewhat to that purpose is pithily express'd by Seneca Quae dementia est in tantâ temporis egestate supervacua discere Ep. 48. And what say you to the Judgment of Pope Honorius the Third who sat an 1216. who forbad all Clerks to study Physick or the Pandects of the Laws Or to the Emperor Justin the elder who lived 600 years before Honorius c. leg 41. Opprobrium est si Ecclesiastici peritos se velint ostendere legum forensium I say those Laws must be weighed with Grains of Temper and Charity Whom Nature hath made docile it is injurious to prohibit him from learning any thing that is docible Marie he that forsakes his holy Calling and lists himself in another Warfare that gives himself up wholly to scrape a Livelihood from curing Diseases or fogging in Secular Causes is a Renegado and must be brought back again to his Colours with the Infamy of a Fugitive But far is he from being guilty of this Fault who serves Christ Jesus faithfully in the Labour of the Gospel and can do it the better by poizing Humane Laws and trying how consonant they are to God's Justice and by searching the Virtue of Plants and other Creatures can find out how wonderful the Almighty is in all his Works The Collation between Moses and the Imperial Laws which Paulus Modestinus and others of his Robe have made why may not a Minister peruse it with as much profit as an Advocate It were a Tyranny more then barbarous to confine a Wit that hath a Plummet to found the depth of every Well that the Arts have digged or to clip his Wings that he may not fly into every Bush as freely as the Fowls of the Air. Padre Paulo the Frier the brightest Star in the Hemisphere of Italy was second to none in Divinity while he liv'd equal with the best Doctors in Rome or Siena in explicating Canon or Civil Laws and above all the Practisers of Padua or in the World in understanding the Aesculapian Art says Fulgentius Albericus Gentilis spoke it to do Honour to the Industry of Dr. Reynolds of Corpus-Christi College that he thought that great 〈◊〉 had read as much in the Civil Law as himself Wherein then consists the difference Why might not Mr. Williams examine the Cases Reports and Maxims of our Municipal Laws to be expert in them Both being egg'd on into it by the Happiness of his Attendance in the Pretorian Court where he might learn much and labour little for it and making it the Recreation not the Intermission of his proper Studies Therefore out of Charity give him leave to gather Stubble where he would since he fulfil'd his Task of Brick Exod. 5.18 The Lord Chancellor did highly countenance him in it and was so taken with his Pregnancy that at his leisure-times both for his own solace and his Chaplain's furtherance he would impart to him the Narration of some famous Causes that had been debated in Chancery or Star-Chamber What could not such a Master teach What could not such a Scholar learn Socrates says in Plato of Alcibiades that he Gloried in nothing so much as that he was Ward to Pericles and brought up under him Neither had this Chaplain a more graceful Ornament to shew in the Eyes of the World then that he was Disciple to the Lord Egerton That great Senator the most judicious Judge and Counsellor of his Age would not have disparaged himself to give a young Divine so great a Place in his Affections but that he had founded him and discover'd him to be a person of rare Abilities By this favour to which he had attained though he was not in the place of one of the Secretaries yet he became to be like a Master of Requests especially in weightier Petitions he could prevail more then any other Minister which was not to be presisted by the other Officers He had a Mind full of worth and full of warmth and no place became him so well as the foremost as Pliny says of Cocks lib. 10. c. 21. Imperitant suo generi regnum in quâcunque sunt domo exercent None of his Fellows had cause to repent that he rode upon the Fore-Horse For he was courteous and ready to mediate in any Cause and as bountiful as might be wish'd for he left all Fees and Veils of Profit to those to whom they did belong By this in a little while they that would have kept him back at first did their utmost to put him forward which did not need For the Lookers on did mark that his Lord did not only use him in his most principal Employments but delighted to confer with him
came in place of it was most Happy in a thrice Noble Progeny All beside was Flat and Unfortunate Not an Inch of the Palatinate the better for us and we the worse for our Wars in all Countries I say no more but as Q. Curtius doth Optime Miserias forunt qui abscondunt They that hide their Miseries bear them best The Observator upon H. L. I will abet him writes no more then many have Whisper'd That the Ruin of P. Charles by the Spanish Match might have been prevented the Spaniard being for the most part a more steady Friend then the wavering French I am not skilful in them to make Comparisons thus far I will adventure positively The French are as brave a people as be under the Sun Yet for my part I think we might better want them then the Spaniard The Spanish Ladies Married to the Royal Seed among us have been Vertuous Mild Thrifty beloved of all Not such a one as Harry the Sixth had from the other Nation of whom Mr. Fuller says well in his Eccles History That the King's parts seemed the lower being overtop'd by such a High Spirited Queen The Spaniards are for the most generously bountiful where Service hath deserv'd it the best Neighbours in the World for Trades Increase A Friend to his Friend with his Treasure and with his Sword But withal Refractory in his own Religion and a Hater of ours and very False where he can take occasion to enlarge his Dominions wherein we had no Cause to fear him But if the Daughter of Spain had landed upon our Shore I believe we should have had more Cause to love him 172. Which was not to be look'd for after the Prince put off from the Coast of Biscay From whence he made such haste home as the Wind would suffer and he had it in Poop till he came to the Islands of Silly the remotest Ground of the British Dominion in the West whether some Delinquents were deported of old by the Roman Emperors Here the Navy was compelled to rest because the Winds were contrary From thence the Courtiers brought home a Discourse about an old Miller who was with long Experience Weather-Wise to Admiration For he told them exactly how long they should continue there and named the Hour when after one day and a half the North-West would blow and serve their turn The Seamen who had resorted thither before knew him so well and how his Prognosticks came to pass that they prepared to Launch against that opportunity which fail'd not and attain'd Portsmouth on the Fifth of October 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Odduss 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Though our Noble Traveller left the Lady behind that should have been his Penelope yet he came well home to his own Ithaca and to the Wise Laertes his Father His Highness left Portsmouth and came to York-House at Charing-Cross an Hour after Midnight early in the Morning Octob. 6. Praises were given to God for him in divers Churches at Morning Prayer The Lord Keeper composed an excellent Prayer for that Occasion which was used in the Chappel of Henry the VII and in the Collegiate Church at the accustomed Hours in that Place Bells and Bonfires began early and continued till Night Alms and all kind of Comfort were dispensed bountifully to the Poor and many poor Prisoners their Debts being discharg'd were Released But too often as St. Austin complain'd Publicum gaudium celebratur per publicum dedecus So Bacchanals of Drunken Riot were kept too much in London and Westminster which offended many that the Thanks due only to God should be paid to the Devil The Prince after a little rest took Coach with the Duke for Royston to attend the King his Father where the Joy at the enterview was such as surpasseth the Relation His Majesty in a short while retir'd and shut all out but his Son and the Duke with whom he held Conference till it was four Hours in the Night They that attended at the Door sometime heard a still Voice and then a loud sometime they Laught and sometime they Chased and noted such variety as they could not guess what the close might prove But it broke out at Supper that the King appear'd to take all well that no more was effected in the Voyage because the Profters for the Restitution of his Son-in-Law were no better stated by the Spanish And then that Sentence fell from him which is in Memory to this Hour That He lik'd not to Marry His Son with a Portion of His Daughters Tears His Majesty saw there was no Remedy in this Case but to go Hand in Hand with the Prince and his now prepotent Favorite Ducunt volentem fata nolentem trabuns Sen. Trag. It is easier to be led then drawn Presently it was obtain'd that is Octob. 8. That his Majesty should send an Express to the Earl of Bristol with his High Command to defer the Procuration entrusted with him and to make no use of it till Christmas whereas indeed the Power of it expired at Christmas for so it was limited in the Instrument which his Highness Signed at St. Lorenzo And by the next Post the Duke acquaints Sir W. Aston That the King himself had dictated the Letter then wrote unto him Cab. p. 36. which contain'd That His Majesty desir'd to be assur'd of the Restitution of the Palatinate before the Deposorium was made seeing he would be sorry to welcome home one Daughter with a Smiling Cheer and have his own only Daughter at the same time Weeping and Disconsolate My Lord of Buckingham had his Advisers about him yet he need not now be set on to prevent with all his Wit that the Prince might never have a Wife out of Spain 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As soon should a Wolf Wed a Lamb. Aristoph Com. de pace But the King had such Esteem of the Spanish Wisdom that he did verily look that his Letters I mean these last sent to his Ambassador Resident there would quicken them to a short and real Satisfaction for the Prince Palatine's Distress and that the Treaty would sprout again which was wither'd with that obstacle 173. Our Dispatches at Court went all together that way so he that is diligent may Trace them to the end of January Some of the Letters of Mr. Secretary Conway at least somewhat out of them are useful to be produced which will also confirm the good course that the Lord Keeper took with the Spanish Ambassadors that he reserv d the Pardon and Dispensation from them to the end against all Contests of Importunity Nor suffered the Letters to the Lord Bishops and Judges to go abroad for the Suspension of some Penal Statutes whereupon the Fat of the Project of the Papists dript insensibly away at a slow Fire After the Prince had rested at Roiston but one Night his Majesty caused Directions to be sent to the Lord Keeper for the Enlargement of the Roman Priests
hopeful Marriage When the Eyes of all our 〈◊〉 were set upon the Infanta of Spain he took into his House as it is formerly remembred a Spaniard by Birth and a Scholar John Taxeda by whose Conversation he grew expert in the Spanish Grammar in the Castilian Pronunciation and in the Knowledge of those Authors that in Ten Weeks he could not only understand the most difficult Writers of that Nation but was able to Entreat with the Ambassadors without an Interpreter How much will Fruit upon in one Mans Intellectuals before anothers who hath the advantage of so much Sun and Warmth in his Brains Now when the Glorious Nuptial Torch was in Election to be lighted from the Neighbour Kingdom of France he endeavour'd to make himself expert in that quaint and voluble Language and by parling often with a Servant whom he had listed into the Check of his House for that purpose a Frenchman that was continually at his Elbow in Three Months he was as ready at it to Read Write or Speak as he that had lyen Liegier Three years for it at Paris And to Evidence that he had a publick Soul in every thing where he put his Finger as he had caused a Translation of our Liturgy out of Latin into Spanish to be finish'd by Taxeda and Printed it at his own Costs so to go no less in his Preparations for this French Association he encourag'd a most able Divine Mr. Delaun Minister of the French Church in Norwich to turn that Excellent Liturgy into his Country Language which was effected and the accurate Translator greatly both Commended and Rewarded Hereupon how it hapned that our Liturgy now made legible to the French did clear the Church of England even to the Conscience of its Enemies especially from the gross Slanders of Fugitives that had gone out from us is a passage that may challenge Publication with the Attendance of its Circumstances 216. His Majesty having in the behalf of his Son begun the woing part to Madam Henrietta Maria with due Ceremony of State The Queen Mother Moderatrix of this and all other Solemn Negotiations in France at that time bethought seriously to have this Happiness and high Honour setled upon her Daughter And her First prudential forecast was not to loiter out time with a Spanish Pause nor to endanger the forfeiture of a Bond of such Royal Love for want of payment of Courtesie at the due day Therefore she dispatch'd Marquess Fiatte afterward the great Financer and Monsieur Villoclare one of the principal Secretaries Embassadors extraordinary into England to remove all Obstructions by their Commission and wise management of it and to entwine the Rose and Lilly upon one Matrimonial Stem When they Landed the King had removed himself from New-Market to Trinity College in Cambridge where he gave Audience to those Embassadors providing to their welcom this Grace more then ordinary That he receiv'd them where his choicest Darlings the liberal Arts were round about him Now that the Conferences about this Marriage were gone so far and seemed as it were to be over the last Fire and sit for Projection his Majesty would have the Lord Keeper taken into the Cabinet and to make him known by a Mark of some good Address to the French Gallants upon the return of the Embassadors to London he sent a Message to him to signifie that it was his pleasure that his Lordship should give an Entertainment to the Embassadors and their Train upon Wednesday following it being Christmass-Day with them according to the Gregorian Prae-occupation of ten days before our Account The King's Will signified the invitement at a Supper was given and taken Which was provided in the College of Westminster in the Room Named Hierusalem Chamber but for that Night it might have been call'd Lucullus his Apollo But the Ante-past was kept in the Abby as it it went before the Feast so it was beyond it being purely an Episcopal Collation The Embassadors with the Nobles and Gentletlemen in their Company were brought in at the North-Gate of the Abby which was stuck with Flambeaux every where both within and without the Quire that strangers might cast their Eyes upon the slateliness of the Church At the Door of the Quire the Lord Keeper besought their Lordships to go in and to take their Seats there for a while promising in the Word of a Bishop that nothing of ill Rellish should be offered before them which they accepted and at their Entrance the Organ was touch'd by the best Finger of that Age Mr. Orlando Gibbons While a Verse was plaid the Lord Keeper presented the Embassadors and the rest of the Noblest Quality of their Nation with our Liturgy as it spake to them in their own Language and in the Delivery of it used those few Words but pithy That their Lordships at Leisure might Read in that Book in what Form of Holiness our Prince Worshipp'd God wherein he durst say nothing savour'd of any Corruption of Doctrine much less of Heresie which he hoped would be so reported to the Lady Princess Henrietta The Lord Embassadors and their Great Train took up all the Stalls where they continued about half an Hour while the Quire-men Vested in their Rich Copes with their Choristers sung three several Anthems with most exquisite Voices before them The most honourable and the meanest persons of the French Attended all that time uncover'd with great Reverence except that Secretary Villoclare alone kept on his Hat And when all others carried away the Looks of Common Prayer commended to them he only lest his in the Stall of the Quire where he had sate which was not brought after him Ne Margarita c. as if had forgot it 217. At the same time among those Persons of Gallantry that came into England to make up the Splendor of the Embassage and were present at this Feast d'Amours as some of themselves call'd it there was an Abbat but a Gentleman that held his Abbacy â—lla mode de France in a lay Capacity He had receiv'd the Gift of our Service Book and to requite the Doner having much of a Scholar and of ingenuous Breeding he laid aside all other business to read it over Like a Vowed Person to another Profession he was not hasty to praise it but suspended his Sentence till he might come in Place to see the practice of it It was well thought of by him that the Tryal of the soundness in Religion consists not all together in the Draught of a Book but in the motion likewise and Exercise of it The Abbat made his mind known to the Lord Keeper by Sir George Goring now Earl of Norwich that he would gladly be present in the Abby of Westminster upon our Christmass Day in the morning to behold and hear how that great Feast was solemnized in our Congregations which heard very ill beyond the Seas for Profaneness Whereas the Book for Uniformity of Publick Prayer which he had receiv'd though
long time never enjoy'd a calm Sea He was made for such a Tryal which was sanctified by Gospel-Promises giving unto just Men assurance of vigour to endure them Every one pittieth himself everyone covets Ease and Prosperity which is more Childish than Manly And a Design that is commonly mistaken Adversity out of doubt is best for us all because we would not carve it out to our selves but God chooseth it for us and he chooseth better for us than we can for ourselves By his Providence some Mens Sorrows are greater than others and few had a deeper Cup to drink than this Prelate But every Man's Calamity is fittest for himself trust the Divine appointment for that And if all Adversities of several Men were laid in several heaps a wise Man would take up his own and carry them home upon his Shoulders Hâ—rmolaus Barbarus in an Epistle to Maximilian King of the Romans Polit. Epis p. 447. distinguisheth between Happiness and Greatness Secundae res felicem Magnum faciunt adversae But if he that is beset round with distresses bear them to the Estimation of good Men to appear great in them then is he happy as well as great Which is to be demonstrated in the Subject that I write of as followeth 2. King Charles began his Reign Mart. 27. 1625. The next day he sent for the Lord-Keeper to his Court at St. James's who found his Majesty and the Lord-Duke busied in many Cares The King spake first of setling his Houshold among whom the Keeper commended two out of his own Family to be preserr'd but it was past over without an Answer only his Domestick Chaplain was taken into ordinary Service for whom he had made no suit But to begin the well-ordering of the new Court he was appointed to give the Oath to the Lords of the Privy-Council Sir Humphrey May taken into the Number a very wise States man and no more of a new Call Then likewise order was given for the Funerals of the deceased King and the Keeper chosen to Preach on the occasion of which enough is said already by a convenient Anticipation The Coronation was spoken of though the time was not determin'd Yet the King told the Keeper he must provide a Sermon for that likewise but he that bespoke him was of another mind before the Day of the Solemnization was ripe That which was much insisted upon at this Consult was a Parliament His Majesty being so forward to have it sit that he did both propound and dispute it to have no Writs go forth to call a new one but to continue the same which had met in one Session in his blessed Father's days and prorogued to another against that Spring The Lord-Keeper shewed That the old Parliament determined with his death that call'd it in his own Name and gave it Authority to meet Since necessity requir'd a new Choice the King's Will was That Writs should be dispatcht from the Chancery forthwith and not a day to be lost The Keeper craved to be heard and said it was usual in times before that the King's Servants and trustiest Friends did deal with the Countries Cities and Boroughs where they were known to procure a Promise for their Elections before the precise time of an insequent Parliament was publisht and that the same Forecast would be good at that time which would not speed if the Summons were divulged before they lookt about them The King answer'd It was high time to have Subsidies granted for the maintaining of a War with the King of Spain and the Fleet must go forth for that purpose in the Summer The Keeper said little again lest Fidelity should endanger a Suspicion of Malice and he little dreamt that the Almanack of the new Year or new Reign was so soon calculated for the Longitude of a War and the Latitude of vast Sums of Money to pay the Service Yet he replied in a few words but with so cold a consent that the King turned away and gave him leave to be gone He that was not chearful to say good Luck have you with that Expedition was not thought worthy to have an Oar in the great Barque which was launching out and making ready for the King's Marriage with the sweet Lady of France Yet who but he to treat with Embassadors of that Nation and on that Score in his old Master's time Among all the Cares that came into Consideration that day in the sulness of business this had the start and was hastned the same Morning with Posts and Pacquets Cupid's Wings could not possibly fly faster Yet his Majesty spake nothing of it to this able Counsellor although the Rumor of it in a Week was heard from Thames to Twede And the Duke began to hold no Conference with him neither from that day did he call for this Abiathar and say Bring hither the Ephod to ask Counsel of the Lord. Evident Tokens to make any Man see what would come after that was far less than a Prophet Which this wife Man past over and seem'd to observe nothing that was ominous or unfriendly But as Lord Mornay says in his Answer about the Conference at Fountain-bleau when Henry of France the 4th forbad him coming to the Louver Specto eclipsin expecto intrepidus securus quid illa secum vehat So the Lord-Keeper was better acquainted with Heaven than to be troubled at an Eclipse which is an accident prodigious to none but to a Fool but familiar to a Philosopher And he had learnt in the Morals by heart that the way to lose Honour is to be too careful to keep it 3. While the great Assairs did run thus the Keeper went close to his Book as much as publick business would allow to frame a Sermon against the Obsequies of blessed James He did not conceive that the Counsels which he gave to the King on the second day of his Reign were so ill taken as he heard not long after He that speaks with the trust of a Counsellor and which is more with the Tongue of a Bishop should be priviledged to be plain and faithful without offence As St. Ambrose mindeth Theodosius Ep. 29. Non est imperiale libertatem dicendi negare neque sacerdotale quid sentias non dicere But News knockt at his Study-door two days after that my Lord-Duke threatned before many that attended to turn him out of his Office And the French Ambassadors were not the last that gave him warning of it These Rumors he lookt upon with his Eyes open and saw the approaching of a Downfal and so little dissembled it that he warn'd some of his Followers secretly who were in best account with him to procure dependance upon some other Master for his Service e're long would not be worthy of them It were to small purpose to enquire why the Duke's Grace did so hastily press the Ruine of one that had been his old Friend and Creature It was his game and he lov'd it I
to worry him who had as much relation to the place as himself where these good Deeds were done But there is a Writer and not one year scapes him but that he publisheth somewhat to bespatter the Bishop of Lincoln's good Name Odimus accipitrem quia semper vivit in armis Ovid. Art Amand. he it is that would cover all the Monuments of his Bounty with one Blot if he could find Readers such as he wish't that would take all that he vents without examination Mr. Fuller in his Church History of Britain after he had given some unhandsome Scratches to this Bishop parts with him thus Envy it self could not deny but that whit hersoever he went he might be traced by the foot-steps of his Benefaction That he expended much in the repair of the Abby-Church of Westminster and that the Library was the effect of his Bounty This is truth and praise-worthy in the Historian and yet I say not the Bishop is beholding to him for it because it is truth That 's Politian's judgment in an Epistle to Baptista p. 197. Pro vâ—ris laudibus hoc est pro suis nemo cuiquam debet Quis enim pro suo debeat But what says one of the Swallows to it that built under the roof of the Abby Just like a Swallow carried all the filth he could pick up to his Nest But worse then a miry Swallow he resembles those obscene Birds that use to flutter about the Sepulchres of the Dead and insults extreamly over the Grave of the Deceased in his Animadversions upon the Church History p. 273. That Lincoln received so much out of the Rents of the Colledge in the time when he was Lord Keeper four years and more that the Surplusage of all that he paid out in several sums respectively amounted to more then he laid out upon the Church and Library 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says Demost orat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 about the end The very Enemies of the dead cease to hate them when they are dead But as Anabaptists and Quakers say they are above Ordinances so it seems the Conscience of some Divines is above moral Niceties As to the Calumny squeeze it and in round Russian Language you shall wring out a great lye First before the Dean was Lord Keeper or dreamt of that honour that is before the Chapter had committed the Rents to his management he had repaired the great Ruins of the south side of the Church abutting upon the stately Chappel of Henry the Seventh If the Animadverter knew this why did he not separate it from that which was expended in those four years wherein he lays his Challengeâ— If he did not know it for it was done ten years before he was hatcht into a Prebend then when blind men throw stones whose head is not like to be broken For that which was laid out by the Lord Keeper to strengthen and beautifie the north side of the Abby to the end that the right Pay-master may be known and the mouth of all Detraction stopt the Chapter shall testifie in their Act as followeth Whereas there hath lately been divulged as we have heard an unjust report that the Right Honourable and Right Reverend Father in God the Lord-Bishop of Lincoln our Dean should have repair'd and new-built our Church on the north side of the same and south side of the Chappels belonging to it out of the Diet and Bellies of the Prebendaries and Revenues of our said Church and not out of his own Revenues We therefore the Prebendaries of the same with one consent do affirm That we verily believe the same to be a false and injurious Report And for our selves we do testifie every man under his own Protestation that we are neither the Authors nor Abettors of any such injurious Report untruly uttered by any mean man with intention to reflect upon his Lordship And this we do voluntarily record and witness by our Chapter Act dated this present Chapter Decemb. 8. 1628. Theo. Price Sub-Deacon Christopher Sutton George Darrel Gabriel Grant Jo. King Rob. Newell John Hâ—lt Gr. Williams Whether will we believe eight men in their right minds or one in his rage To slight the Bishops erecting such a beautiful Pile the Library of St. John's Colledge and put that of Westminster with it he is as froward as a Child that hath worms in his Stomach and tells us that it possibly cost him more Wit than Money many Books being daily sent unto him Vis dicam tibi veriora veris Martial It was not only possible but very true For what Library no not the Bodleian the choicest of England but grew up and doth grow by contributory Oblations as Athenaeus says Lib. 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Symbols or Portions that many Friends bring in to furnish a publick work have good influence into it but the Founder is the Lord of the Ascendant A great deal of the like the Author hath crowded into a few Leaves I do not accuse it for want of Salt it is a whole Hogshead of Brine Wisely and mildly Melanchthou was wont to say Answer not Slanders but let them vanish Et si quid adhuc in hujus saeculi levitate quasi innat at brevi interiturum est cum autorum nominibus Camer p. 79. The worthy Works of the Bishop's excessive cost at Westminster and in both Universities will stand when Pamphlets shall be consum'd with moths The liberal deviseth liberal things and by liberal things he shall stand Isai 32.8 A fair Walnut-tree the more it bears the more it is beaten as it complains in the Greek Epigram 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But such as yield the fruits of good works in this world shall become Trees of Life hereafter as I have read it from some good Pen He is well that is the better for others but he shall be happy for whom others are the better 91. Method hath digested the troubles about the Deanry altogether which is the reason why this Paragraph recoils five years back that is to 1630 to make a transition into the next disturbance A Commission was directed this year to very honourable and knowing persons the Lord Privy Seal Earl of Arundel Vicount Wimbleton Lord Wentworth Sir Hugh Middleton Sir W. Slingsby Sir Hen. Spelman Ed. Ascough Th. Brett Th. Bridgman to question the oppression of exacted Fees in all Courts and Offices Civil and Ecclesiastical throughout all England A noble Examination and full of Justice if due and convenient Fees thereupon had been straitned and appointed which was frustrated two ways First by indigent and craving Courtiers who enquired after such as were suspected for Delinquency and of great Wealth with whom they compounded to get them Indempnity though not a Doit of a Fee were abated Secondly By vexatious Prosecutions of abundance that were Innocent before Sub-committees where Promoters got a great livelyhood to themselves to redeem them from chargeable Attendance which deserves such a Complaint as Budaeus