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A43531 Examen historicum, or, A discovery and examination of the mistakes, falsities and defects in some modern histories occasioned by the partiality and inadvertencies of their severall authours / by Peter Heylin ... Heylyn, Peter, 1600-1662. 1659 (1659) Wing H1706; ESTC R4195 346,443 588

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in this ca●e came before by whose continual importunity and 〈◊〉 the breach of the Treaties followed after The King lov'd peace ●oo well to lay aside the Treaties and engage in War before he was desperate of success any other way then by that of the Sword and was assur'd both of the hands and hearts of his subjects to assist him in it And therefore ou● Author should have said that the King not only called together his great Councel but broke off the Treaty and not have given us here such an Hysteron Proteron as neither doth consist with reason not the truth of story ANIMADVERSIONS ON The Eleventh Book OF The Church History OF BRITAIN Containing the Reign of King Charles THis Book concludes our Authors History and my Animadver●●ons And 〈◊〉 the end be 〈◊〉 unto the beginning it is like to 〈…〉 enough our Author stumbling at the Threshold 〈◊〉 ●mo●gst superstitious people hath been 〈…〉 presage Having placed King Charles upon 〈…〉 he goes on to tell us that Fol. 117. On the fourt●enth 〈…〉 James his Funerals were 〈…〉 Collegiat Church at 〈…〉 but the fourth saith the 〈…〉 Reign of King Charls and 〈…〉 was on the 〈…〉 ●●venth of May on which those solemn Obsequies were 〈…〉 Westminster Of which if he will not take my word se● him consult the Pamphle● called the 〈…〉 ●ol 6. and he shall be satisfied Our 〈…〉 mu●● keep time better or else we shall neve● know how the day goes with him Fol. 119. As for Dr. Pre●●on c. His party would 〈◊〉 us that he might have chose his own Mitre And 〈…〉 his party would perswade us That he had not only large parts of su●●icient receipt to manage the broad 〈…〉 but that the Seal was proffered to him fol. 131. But we are not bound to believe all which is said by that party who look'd vpon the man with such a reverence as came near Idola●●y His Principles and engagements were too well known by those which governed Affairs to vent●●e him ●nto any such great trust in Church or State and his activity so suspected that he would not have been long suffered to continue Preacher at Lincolns Inn. As for his intimacy with the Duke too violent to be long lasting it proceeded not from any good ●pinion which the Duke had of him but that he found how instrumental he might be to manage that prevail●●g party to the Kings advantage But when it was 〈◊〉 that he had more of the Serpent in him then of the 〈◊〉 and that he was not tractable in steering the 〈◊〉 of his own Party by the Court Compass he was discountenanc'd and ●aid by as not worth the keeping He seemed the Court M●reor for a while 〈◊〉 to a s●dden height of expectation and having 〈◊〉 and blaz'd a 〈◊〉 went out again and was as sudd●●nly ●o●gotten ●ol 119. Next day the King coming from Canterbury 〈…〉 with all solemnity she was 〈…〉 in London where a Chappel 〈…〉 her Dev●tion● with a Covent 〈…〉 to the Articles of her 〈…〉 how ●ame he to be suffered to be present at 〈◊〉 in the capacity of Lord Keeper For that he did so is affirmed by our Author saying That the King took a S●role of Parchment out of his bosom and gave it to the L●rd 〈…〉 who read it to the Commons four sev●ra● times East-West North and South fol. 123. Thirdly the Lord Keeper who read that Scrole was not the 〈◊〉 Keeper Williams but the Lord Keeper Coventry 〈◊〉 Seal being taken from the Bishop of Lincoln and 〈◊〉 to the custo●y of Sir Thomas Coventry in October before And therefore fourthly our Author is much ou● in placing both the Coronation and the following Parliament befo●e the change of the Lord Keeper and sending Sir Iohn Suckling to fe●ch that Seal at the end of a Parli●ment in the Spring which he had brought away with him before Michaelmas Term. But as our Author was willing to keep the Bishop of Lincoln in the Dea●●y of Westminster for no less then five or six years after it was confer'd on another so is he as desirous to continue him Lord Keeper for as many months after the Seal had been entrusted to another hand Fol. 122. The Earl of Arundel as Earl Marshal of 〈◊〉 and the Duke of Buckingham as Lord High Const●ble of England for that day went before his Majesty in that great Solemnity In this passage and the next that follows ou● Author shews himself as bad an Herald in marshalling a Royal shew as in stating the true time of the c●eation of a Noble Peer Here in this place he pla●eth the Earl Marshal before the Constable whereas by the 〈◊〉 31 H. 8. c. 10. the Constable is to have 〈◊〉 before the Marshal Not want there Precedents to shew that the Lord High-Constable did many times direct his M●ndats to the Earl Marshal as one of the Mini●●ers of his Court willing and requiring him to perform such and such services as in the said Precepts were exp●essed In the next place we are informed that Ibid. That the Kings Train being six yards long of Purple Velvet was held up by the Lord Compton and the Lord Viscount Dorcester That the Lord Compton was one of them which held up the Kings Train I shall easily grant he being then Master of the Robes and thereby ch●llenging a right to pe●fo●m this service But that the Lord Viscount Dorcester was the other of them I shall never grant there being no such Viscount at the time of the Coronation I cannot 〈◊〉 but that Sir D●dley Carleton might be one of those which held up the Train though I am not sure of it But sure I am that Sir Dudley Carleton was not made Baron of Imber-Court till towards the latter end of the following Parliament of An. 1626 nor created Viscount Dorcester until some years after Fol. 122. The Lord Archbishop did present his Majesty to the Lords and Commons East West North South asking their mindes four several times if they did consent to the Coronation of King Charles their lawful ●overaign This is a piece of new State-doctrine never known before that the Coronation of the King and consequently his Succession to the Crown of England should depend on the consent of the Lords and Commons who were then assembled the Coronation not proceeding as he after ●elleth us till their consent was given four times by ●cclamations And this I call a piece of new State-doctrine never known before because I finde the contrary in the Coronation of our former Kings For in the form and manner of the Coronation of King Edward 6. described in the Catalogue of Honor ●et ●orth by Tho. Mills of Canterbury Anno 1610. we finde it thus The King being carried by certain Noble Courtiers in another Chair ●nto the four sides of the Stage was by the Archbishop of Canterbury declared unto the people standing round about both by Gods and mans Laws to be the right and law●ul King of
of the English Parliament till the time of King Iames. It s true that on the Petition of the Commons in the beginning of each Parliament the King was graciously pleas'd to indulge them a freedom of reasoning and debate upon all such points as came before them and not to call them to account though they delivered their opinions contrary to his sence and meaning But then it is as true withal that they used not to waste time in tedious Orations nor to declaim against the proceedings of the King and the present Government or if they did the Speaker held it for a part of his Office to cut them short and to reminde them of their duty besides such after-claps as they were sure to finde from an injured and incensed Soveraign But of this take along with you this short passage as I finde it in a letter written ab ignoto to King Charls in this very business of the Duke May it please your excellent Majesty to consider That this great opposition against the Duke of Buckingham is stirred up and maintained by such who either maliciously or ignorantly and concurrently seek the debasing of this free M●narchy which because they finde not yet ripe to attempt against the king himself they endeavor it through the dukes sides These men though agreeing in one mischief yet are of divers sorts and humors Viz. 1. Medling and busie persons who took their first hint at the beginning of King Iames when the Vnion was treated of in Parliament That learned King gave too much way to those popular Speeches by the frequent proof he had of his great Abilities in that kinde Since the time of H. 6. these Parliamentary Discourses were never suffered as being the certain Symptoms of subsequent Rebellions Civil Wars a●d the dethroning of our Kings But these last twenty years most of the Parliament Men seek to improve the reputation of their Wisdoms by these Declamations and no honest Patriot dare oppose them lest he incur the imputation of a Fool or a Coward in his Countries cause But which is more the pride they took in their own supposed Eloquence obtain'd another priviledge for them that is to say The liberty for any man to speak what he list and as long as he list without fear of being interrupted whereof King Iames takes notice in his said Speech to both the Houses at White-Hall Nor did they onely take great delight in these tedious speeches but at first disperst Copies of them in writing and afterwards caused them to be printed that all the people might take notice of the zeal they had to the common liberty of the Nation and the edge they hed against the Court and the Kings Prerogative But to proceed Fol. 47. To ballance the Dukes enemies three persons his confederates were made Barons to compeer in the Lords house the Lord Mandevil the eldest son to the Earl of Manchester created by Patent Baron Kimbolton Grandison Son to the created Baron Imbercourt and Sr Dudly Carlton made Baron Tregate In which short passage there are as many mistakes as lines For first the Lord Mandevil was not created by Patent Lord Kimbolton that title together with the tite of Vicount Mandevil having been conferred upon his father by letter Patents in the 18. year of King Iames Anno 1620. whom afterwards King Charles in the first year of his Reign made Earl of Manchester The meaning of our Author is that Sr. Edward Montague commonly called Lord Mandevil was summoned to the Parliament by the Title of Lord Kimbolton as is the custom in such cases when the eldest sons of Earls are called to Parliament by the stile and Title of their Fathers Barony Secondly there never was any such Baron as the Baron Tregate Thirdly Sr. Dudly Carlton was not created Baron Tregat but Baron of Imbercourt that being the name of a Mannor of his in the County of Surry But fourthly Grandison son to the created Baron Imbercourt is either such a peece of negligence in not filling the blanks or of ignorance in not knowing that noble Person as is not often to be met with And therefore to inform both our Author and his Reader also I must let them know that William de Grand●son a noble Burgundian Lord allied to the Emperour of Constantinople the King of Hungary and the Duke of Bavaria was brought into England by Edmond Earl of Lancaster second son to King Henry the 3. by whose bounty he was endowed with fair possessions and by his power advanced unto the dignity of an English Baron The estate being much encreast by the Marriage of the Daughter and Heir of the Lord Tregoz fell by the Heir general to the Pateshuls of Ble●so in the County of Bedford and by a Daughter of that house to the house of the Beauchamps By Margaret the daughter and Heir of Sr. Iohn Beauchamp of Bletso the whole estate came by Marriage to Sr. Oliver St. Iohn from whose eldest son descended that Sr. Oliver St. Iohn whom Queen Elizabeth descended from the said Margaret by Iohn Duke of Somerset her second husband made Lord St. Iohn of Bletho in the first year of her Reign From Oliver St. Iohn the second son of the said Margaret estated by his mother in the Mannor of Lydiard Tregoz neer Highworth in the County of Wilts descended another Oliver St. Iohn the second son of Sr. Iohn St. Iohn of Lydiard Tregoz who having in defence of his Fathers Honour killed one Captain Best in St. Georges fields neer Southwark was fain to passe over into France where he remained untill his friends about the Queen had obtained his pardon To merit which and to avoid the danger which might happen to him by Bests acquaintances he betook himself to the wars of Ireland where he performed such signal service against the Rebels that passing from one command to another he came at last to be made Lord Deputy of Ireland at what time he was created viscount Grandison with reference to the first founder of the greatnesse of his House and family That dignity entailed on him and the heires males of his body and for want of Such Issue on the Heires males of Sr. Edward Villers begotten on the body of Mrs. Barbara St. Iohn the new Viscounts Neece according unto which remainder that Honnurable Title is enjoyed by that branch of the house of Villers But being the Title of Viscount Grandison was limited to the Realm of Ireland to make him capable of a place in this present Parliament he was created Lord Tregoz of Highworth to him and to the heires males of his body without any remainder Fol. 62. Carlton gone upon this Errand and missing the French King at Paris progressed a tedious journey after that Court to Nantes in Bohemia And here we have as great an Error in Geography as before in Heraldry there being no such Town as Nantes in Bohemia or if there were it had been too farre off and too unsafe a
any till he found it out such wherein he is not like to finde many followers though the way be opened I know it is no unusuall thing for works of different Arguments publisht at severall times and dedicated to severall persons to be drawn together into one Volume and being so drawn together to retain still those particular Titles and Dedications which at first they had But I dare confidently say that our Historian is the first who writing a Book of the same Argument not published by peece-meal as it came from his hand but in a full and intire Volume hath filled his Sheets with so many Title-leaves and Dedications as we have before us For in this one Book taking in the History of Cambridge which is but an Appendix to it there are no fewer then 12 particular Titles beside the generall as many particular Dedications and no fewer then fifty eight or sixty of those By-Inscriptions which are addrest to his particular Friends and Benefactors which make it bigger by fourty Sheets at the least then it had been otherwise Nay so ambitious he is of encreasing the Number of his Patrons that having but four Leaves to come to the end of his History he findes out a particular Benefactress to inscribe it to Which brings into my minde the vanity of Vitellius in bestowing and of Roscius Regulus for accepting the Consular Dignity for that part of the day on which Cecina by Order and Decree of the Senate was degraded from it Of which the Historian gives this Note that it was Magno cum irrisu accipientis tribuentisque a matter of no mean disport amongst the People for a long time after But of this Argument our Author heard so much at the late Act in Oxford that I shall say no more of it at this present time 3. In the next ranck of Impertinencies which are more intrinsecal part of the substance of the work I account his Heraldry Blazons of Arms D●scenis of noble Families with their Atchievements intermingled as they come in his way not pertinent I am sure to a Church-H●storian unless such persons had been Founders of Episcopal Sees or Religious Houses or that the Arms so blazoned did belong to either Our Author tells us lib. 5. fol. 191. that knowledge in the Laws of this Land is neither to be expected or required in one of his profession and yet I trow considering the great influence which the Laws have upon Church-matters the knowledge of the Law cannot be so unnecessary in the way of a Clergy-man as the study of Heraldry But granting Heraldry to be an Ornament in all them that have it yet is it no ingredient requisite to the composition of an Ecclesiastical History The Copies of Battle-Abbey Roll fitter for Stow and Hollingshe●d where before we had them can in an History of the Church pretend to no place at all though possibly the names of some may be remembred as their Foundations or Endowments of Churches give occasion for it The Arms of the Knights-Errant billeted in the Is●e of Ely by the Norman Conqueror is of like extravagancy Such also is the Catalogue of those noble Adventurers with their Arms Issue and Atchievements who did accompany King Richard the first to the War of Palestine which might have better serv'd as an Appendix to his History of the Holy War● then found a place in the main Body of an History of the Church of England Which three alone besides many intercalatious of that kinde in most parts of the Book make up eight sheets more inserted onely for the ostentation of his skill in Heraldry in which notwithstanding he hath fallen on as palpable Errors as he hath committed in his History For besides those which are observed in the course of this work I finde two others of that kinde in his History of Cambridge to be noted here For fol. 146. he telleth us That Alice Countess of Oxford was Daughter and sole Heir of Gilbert Lord Samford which Gilbert was Hereditary Lord Chamberlain of England But by his leave Gilbert Lord Samford was never the Heriditary Chamberlain of the Realm of England but onely Chamberlain in Fee to the Queens of England betwixt which Offices how vast a difference there is let our Authour judge And secondly The Honor of Lord Chamberlain of England came not unto the Earls of Oxford by that Marriage or by any other but was invested in that Family before they had attained the Title and Degree of Earls Conferred by King Henry the first on Aubrey de Vere a right puissant Person and afterwards on Aubrey de Vere his Son together with the Earldom of Oxford by King Henry the second continuing Hereditary in that House till the death of Robert Duke of Ireland the ninth Earl thereof and then bestowed for a time at the Kings discretion and at last setled by King Charls in the House of Lindsey But because being a Cambridge Man he may be better skild in the Earls of that County let as see what he saith of them and we shall finde fol. 162. That Richard Plantagenet Duke of York was the eighth Earl of Cambridge Whereas first Richard Duke of York was not Earl of Cambridge And secondly If he had been such he must have been the seventh Earl and not the eighth For thus those Earls are marshalled in our Catalogues of Honor and Books of Heraldry viz. 1. William de Meschines 2. Iohn de ●amalt 3. William Marquess of Iuliers 4. Edmond of Langley D. of York 5. Edward D. of York 6. Richard de Conisburgh yonger Brother of Edward 7. Iames Marquess Hamilton c. No Richard Duke of York to be found amongst them his Father Richard of Konisburgh having lost that Title by Attainder which never was restored to Richard his Son though most improvidently advanced to the Dukedom of York nor unto any other of that Line and Family 4. Proceed we in the next place to Verses and old ends of Poetry scattered and dispersed in all parts of the History from one end to the other for which he hath no precedent in any Historian Greek or Latine or any of the National Histories of these latter times The Histories of Herodotus Xenophon Thucydides and Plutarch amongst the Greeks of Caesar Livy Salust Taci●us and Sue●onius amongst the Latines afford him neither warrant nor example for it The like may be affirmed of Eus●bius Socrates S●zomen Theodoret Russin and Evagrius Church Historians all though they had all the best choice and the most excellent Poets of the world to befriend them in it And he that shall consult the Histories of succeeding times through all the Ages of the Church to this present day will finde ●h●m all as barren of any incouragements in this kinde as the ancients were Nay whereas Bishop Godwin in his Annals gives us an Epitaph of two Verses onely made on Queen Iane Seymour and afterwards a Copy of eighteen verses on the Martyrdom of Arch Bishop Cranmer
Discourse with the Bishop of Winchester And for the Narrative the Doctor whom I have talked with in this business doth not shame to say that he borrowed it from that great Treasury of Academical Antiquities Mr. Brian Twine whose learned Works stan● good against all Opponents and that he found the passage justified by Sir Isaack Wake in his Rex Platonicus Two Persons of too great wit and judgement to relate a matter of this nature on no better g●ound then common 〈◊〉 talk and that too spoke in merriment by Sir Henry Savil. Assuredly Sir Henry Savil was too great a Zealot for that University and too much a friend to Mr. Wake who was Fellow of the same Colledge with him to have his Table-talk and discourses of merriment to be put upon Record as grounds and arguments for such men to build on in that weighty Controversie And therefore when our Author tells us what he was told by Mr. Hubbard Mr. Hubbard by Mr. Barlow Mr. Barlow by Mr. Bust and Mr. Bust by Sir Henry Savil it brings into my minde the like Pedegree of as true a Story even that of Mother Miso in Sir Philip Sidney telling the young Ladies an old Tale which a good old woman told her which an old wise man told her which a great learned Clerk told him and gave it him in writing and there she had it in her Prayer-book as here our Author hath found this on the end of his Creed Not much unlike to which is that which I finde in the Poet Quae Phoebo Pater omnipotens mihi Phoebus Apollo Praedixit vobis Furiarum ego maxima pand● That is to say What Iove told Phoebus Phoebus told to me And I the chief of Furies tell to thee But to proceed Fol. 190. This was that Nevil who for Extraction Estate Alliance Dependents Wisdom Valour Success and popularity was superior to any English Subject since the Conquest Our Author speaks this of that Richard Nevil who was first Earl of Warwick in right of Anne his Wife Sister and Heir of Henry Beauchamp the last of that Family and after Earl of Salisbury by descent from his Father a potent and popular man indeed but yet not in all or in any of those respects to be match'd with Henry of Bullenbrook son to Iohn of Gaunt whom our Author must needs grant to have lived since the time of the Conquest Which Henry after the death of his Father was Duke of Lancaster and Hereford Earl of Leicester Lincoln and Darby c. and Lord High Steward of England Possessed by the donation of King Henry the third of the County Palatin of Lancaster the forfeited Estates of Simon de Montfort Earl of Leicester Robert de Ferrars Earl of Darby and Iohn Lord of Monmouth by the compact made between Thomas Earl of Lancaster and Alice his Wife of the Honor of Pomfret the whole Estate of the Earl of Lincoln and a great part of the Estates of the Earl of Salisbury of the goodly Tertitories of Ogmore and Kidwelly in Wales in right of his descent from the Chaworths of the Honor and Castle of Hartford by the grant of King Edward the third and of the Honor of Tickhill in Yorkshire by the donation of King Richard the second and finally of a Moity of the vast Estate of Humphry de Bohun Earl of Hereford Essex and Northampton in right of his Wife So royal in his Extraction that he was Grandchilde unto one King Cousin german to another Father and Grandfather to two more So popular when a private person and that too in the life of his Father that he was able to raise and head an Army against Richard the Second with which he discomfited the Kings Forces under the command of the Duke of Ireland so fortunate in his successes that he not only had the better in the battail mentioned but came off with Honor and Renown in the War of Africk and finally obtained the Crown of England And this I trow renders him much Superior to our Authors Nevil whom he exceeded also in this particular that he dyed in his bed and left his Estates unto his Son But having got the Crown by the murther of his Predecessor it stay'd but two descents in his Line being unfortunately lost by King Henry the sixth of whom being taken and imprisoned by those of the Yorkish Faction our Author telleth us Fol. 190. That States-men do admire how blind the Policy of that Age was in keeping King Henry alive there being no such sure Prison as a Grave for a Captive King whose life though in restraint is a fair mark for the full Aim of mal-contents to practise his enlargement Our Author might have sp●r'd this Doctrine so frequently in practise amongst the wordly Politicians of all times and ages that there is more need of a Bridle to hold them in then a Sput to quicken them Parce precor stimulis fortiùs utere loris had been a wholesom Caveat there had any friend of his been by to have advis'd him of it The mu●thering of depos'd and Captive Princes though too often practised never found Advocates to plead for it and m●●h less Preachers to preach for it until these latter times First made a Maxim of State in the School of Machiavel who lays it down for an Aphorism in point of policy viz. that great Persons must not at all be touched or if they be must be made sure from taking Revenge inculcated afterwards by the Lord Gray who being sent by King Iames to intercede for the life of his Mother did unde●-hand solicit her death and whispered nothing so much in Queen Elizabeths ears as Mortua non mordet if the Scots Queen were once dead she would never bite But never prest so home never so punctually apply'd to the case of Kings as here I finde it by our Author of whom it cannot be ●ffirm'd that he speaks in this case the sen●e of others but positively and plainly doth declare his own No such Divinity p●each'd in the Schools of Ignatius though fitter for the Pen of a Mariana then of a Divine or Minister of the Church of England Which whether it passed from him before o● since the last sad accident of this nature it comes all to one this being like a two-hand-sword made to strike on both ●●des and if it come too late for instruction will serve abundantly howsoever for the justification Another note we have within two leaves after as derogatory to the Honor of the late Archbishop as this is dangerous to the Estate of all Soveraign Princes if once they chance to happen into the hands of their Enemies But of this our Author will give me an occasion to speak more in another place and then he shall hear further from me Now to go on Fol. 197. The Duke requested of King Richard the Earldom of Hereford and Hereditary Constableship of England Not so it was not the Earldom that is
and that Nation satisfied by the Kings condescensions to them there might be such an explication made of those general words as to restrain them unto temporal pains and civil penalties by which the censures of the Church might remain as forme●ly And fourthly in order thereunto they had procured a Proviso to be entred in the House of Pa●s That the general words in this Bill should extend only to the High Commission Court and not reach other Ecclesiastical jurisdictions for which consult our Author fol. 181. ●aving thus passed over such matters as concern the Ch●●ch we will now look upon some few things which relate to the Parliament And the first is that Fol. 174. D● Pocklington and Dr. Bray were the tw● first that felt the displeasures of it the former for preaching and printing the later for licencing two Books one cal●● Sunday no Sabb●h the other the Christian Altar No other way to 〈◊〉 the hig● displea●ures of the Bishop of Lincoln but by ●uch a Sacrifice who therefore is intrusted to gather such Propositions out of those tw● Books as were to be recan●ed by the one and for which the other was to be depriv'd of all his preferments And in this the Bishop serv'd his own turn and the peoples too his own turn first in the great controversie of the Altar in which he was so great a ●●ickle● and in which Pocklington was thought to have provoked him to take that revenge The Peoples turn he serv'd next in the condemning and recanting of some points about the Sabbath though therein he ran cross to his former practice Who had been not long since so far from tho●e Sabbatarian rigors which now he would fain be thought to countenance that he caus'd a Comedy to be acted before him at his house at Bugden not only on a Sunday in the afternoon but upon such a Sunday also on which he had publickly given sacred Orders both to P●iests and Deacons And to this Comedy he invited the Earl of Manchester and divers of the neighbouring ●entry though on this turning of the tide he did not only cause these Doctors to be condemned for some Opinions which formerly himself allowed of but mov'd at the Assembly in Ierusalem Chamber that all Books should be publickly burnt which had disputed the Morality of the Lords-day-Sabbath Quo teneam nodo c. as the Poet hath it But whereas our Author tells us in the following words that soon after both the Doctors decea●ed for grief I dare with some confidence tell him there was no such matter Dr. Pocklington living about two years and Dr. Bray above four years after with as great chearfulness and courage as ever formerly How he hath dealt with Dr. Cousen we shall see more at large hereafter in a place by it self the discourse thereof being too long and too full of particulars to come within the compass of an Animadve●●on In the mean time proceed we unto Bishop 〈◊〉 of whom thus as followeth Fol. 182. A Bill was sent up by the Commons against Matthew Wren of●ly ●ly containing 25 Articles c. That such a Bill was ●●nt up from the House of Commons is undoubtedly true And no less true it is that many impeachments of like nature were hammered at and about the same time against many other Clergy men of good note though in●erior Order the Articles whereof were printed and exposed to open sale to their great disparagement And therefore I would fain know the reason why this man should be singled ou● amongst all the rest to stand impeached upon Record in our Authors History especially considering that there was nothing done by the Lords in pursuance of it the impeachment dying in a manner assoon as born Was it be●●use he was more criminal then the others were 〈…〉 the 〈◊〉 was better prov'd or for what 〈…〉 Well since our Author will not I will tell you 〈◊〉 And I will tell it in the words of King 〈◊〉 in the Conference at Hampton-Court upon occasion of a 〈…〉 exception taken by Dr. Reynolds at a passage in Ecclesi●sticus What trow ye said the King makes these men so a●g●y with Eccles●●●cus By my Sal I think he was a Bishop● or else they would never use him so And so much for tha● Fol. 174. About this time was the first motion of a new Protestati●n to be taken all over England which some months ●●ter was generally performed What time this was ou● A●tho● tells us in the margin pointing to Feb. 4. about which time there was no mention of the Protestation nor occasion for it The first mention which was made of the P●●testation was upon Munday May the third on which day it was mentioned fram'd and taken by all the Membe●s of the House of Commons excepting the Lord George Digby now Earl of Bristol and an Uncle of 〈◊〉 The occasion of it was a Speech made by the King in the House of Peers in favour of the Earl of 〈◊〉 upon the Saturday before which mov'd them to unite themselves by this 〈…〉 bringing to condign punishment all such as ●●all either by ●orce practice plots councels conspiracies or otherwise do any thi●g to the contrary of any thing in the same Pr●testation contain'd Which Pro●estation being carried into the 〈◊〉 of Peers was after some few d●yes generally taken by that House also But t●e prevalent party in the 〈◊〉 of Commons having f●●ther aims then such as our Author pleaseth to take notice of first ca●s'd 〈◊〉 to be 〈◊〉 by an Order of the fifth of May that they 〈…〉 down to the Sheriffes and I●s●ices of Peace in the several Shires to whom the intima●ed that as they 〈◊〉 the taking of it in themselves so they c●uld not but approve it in all such as should take i● But f●nding that this did not much edifie with the Count●●● 〈◊〉 they desired the Lords to concur with them 〈…〉 the same Failing thereof by an Order of their own House only Iuly 30. it was declared that the Prot●station made by them was fit to be taken by every Person that was well affected in Religion and to the good ●f the Common-wealth and therefore what Person ●●ever 〈◊〉 not tak● the same was unfit to bear Office in the Church or Common-wealth Which notwithstan●ing many refus'd to take it as our A●thor telleth us not knowing b●t 〈…〉 use might be made thereof as afte●ward 〈◊〉 by those Pikes and Protestations whi●h cond●●●ed some of the five Members to the House of Commons Fol. 183 About this time came forth the L●rd B●ook his Book against Bishops accusing them in respect of their Parentage to be de faece populi of the 〈◊〉 of the pe●ple and in respect of their Studies no way fi● for Government or to be Barons in Parliame●t A passage mis-be●oming no mans pen so much as his 〈…〉 whose Father neither was of a better Extraction then some no● better le●t as in the way of his subsis●ence then any of the Bishops
severally chalenged that Trial against the French King and by Charles of Arragon and Peter de Ta●●acone for the 〈◊〉 of Sicilie Either the Author or the Printer is much mistaken here The title to the Realm of Sicilie was once indeed intended to be tried by Combat not between Charles of Arragon and Peter of Tarracone as is here affirmed but between Peter King of Arragon and Charles Earl of An●ou pretending severally to that Kingdom 10. Such another mistake we have Fol. 55. Where it is said that there were some preparations in King James his time intended betwen two Scotch m●n the Lord Ree and David Ramsey Whereas indeed those preparations were not made in King Iames but King 〈◊〉 his time Robert Lord Willoughby Earl of 〈◊〉 and Lord great Chamberlain of England being made Lord Constable pro tempore to deside that Controversie Fol. 83. Katherine de Medices Pope Clements Brothers Daughter and Mother of King Charles c. 11 Katheri●e de medices was indeed wife to Henry the second and mother to Charles the ninth Fr●nch Kings but by no means a ●●●thers daughter to Pope Clement the seventh For first Pope Clement being the natural son of 〈…〉 who was killed young and unmarried had n● brother at all And secondly Katherine de Medeces was Daughter of 〈◊〉 Duke of Vrbin son of Peter de Mede●es and Gr●ndson of Laurence de Medic●s the brother of 〈◊〉 before mentioned By which account the father of that Pope and the great Grandfather of that Queen were Brothers and so that Queeu not Bro●hers Daughter to the Pope Of nearer ki● she was to Pope Leo the tenth though not his Brothers Daughter neither P●pe Leo being Brother to Peter de Medices this great Ladies Grand-father Fol. 84. This y●●r took away James Hamilton Earl of Arran and Duke of Castle-herauld at Poictures a Province in France The name of the Province is Poictou of which Poictires is the p●●●cipal City accounted the third City next to Paris and 〈◊〉 ●ll that Kingdom And such anoth●r slight mistake we have fol. 96. where we finde mention of the abs●nce of the Duke of Arran Whereas indeed the chief of the Hamiltons was but Earl of Arrar as he after calls him the Title of Duke being first conf●●'d by King Charls upon Iames Marquess of H●mil●on created Duke H●mil●on of Arran Anno 1643. The like m●●nomers we have after fol. 139. Where we finde mention of the History of Q. Elizabeth writ by 〈◊〉 whereas 〈◊〉 writ no further then King Henry 8. the rest which follows being clapt to by the publisher of it and possibly may be no other then Camde●s Annals of that Queen in the English Tongue The like I frequently observe in the name of Metallan Metellanus he is called by their Latine Writers whom afterward he rightly calleth by the name of 〈◊〉 fol. 149. Fol. 156. The Leagures with some iustice in Rebellion elect 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a degree nearer to the Crown then Navar. Not so but one degree at the least further off the Cardinal of 〈◊〉 called ●harls being the yongest Son of ●harls Duke of 〈◊〉 whereas Henry King of Navar was the onely Son and Heir of An●ho●y the eldest Brother So that not o●ely the King of Navar but the Princes of the H●use of 〈◊〉 deriv'd from Francis Duke of Anghein the second Brother had the precedency in Title before this 〈◊〉 But being of the Catholick party and of the Royal H●use of Bourbon in which the Rights of the Crown remained and withal a man of great Age and small Abilities he was set up to serve the turn and screen'd the main Plot of the L●aguers from the eyes of the people Fol. 161. Sir Thomas Randolph bred a Civilian was taken from Pembroke Colledge in Oxford Not otherwise to be made good in case he were of that House in Oxford which is now called Pembroke Colledge but by Anticipation Lavinaqueve●t Littora as in the like case the Poet has it that which is now called Pembroke Colledge was in those times call'd Broadgates H●ll not changed into a Colledge till the latter end of the Reign of King Iames and then in Honor of William Earl of Pembroke Chancellor of that University and in hope of some endowment from him called Pembroke Colledge Fol. 189. The other Title was of the I●●ant of Spain In laying down whose several Titles the Author leaves out that which is most material that is to say the direct and lineal Succession of the Kings of Spain from the Lady Katherine Daughter of Iohn of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster marryed to Henry the third King of Castile and Mother to King Iohn the second from whom descend the Kings of Castile to this very day Fol. 191. Hawkins Drake Baskervile c. Fi●e s●ne Towns in the Isle Dominica in the West Indies They fired indeed some Towns in Hispan●ol● and amongst others that of Dominica or St. Dom●ngo But they attempted nothing on the Isle of Dominica which is one of the Ch●rybes and they had no reason that Island being governed by a King of its own at deadly enmity with the 〈◊〉 an● conseq●ently more likely to be ayd●d then ann●yed by those Sea Adventurers A like mistake we had before in the name of C●●m●rdin fol. 157. That party who discovered unto Queen Elizabeth the Estate of the Customs not being named 〈◊〉 but Carw●rdin Fol. 229. Sr. Thomas Erskin created Earl of Kelly and by degrees Knight of the Garter Not so Knight of the Garter first by the name of Thomas Viscount Fenton as appeares by the Registers of the Order and then Earl of Kelly Thus afterwards we finde Sr. Iohn Danvers for Sr. Charles D●nvers fol. 238. And Iohn Lord Norris for Sr. Iohn Norris fol. 243. And some mistakes of this nature we finde in the short story of the Earle of Essex in which it is said first that Fol. 233. He was eldest son to Waltar Devereux c. created by Queen Elizabeth Earl of Essex and Ewe Not so but Earl of Essex onely as appears by Camden in his Britannia fol 454. If either he or any of his Descendants have taken to themselves the Tittle of Earl's of Ewe they take it not by vertue of this last Creation but in right of their descent from William Bo●rchier created Earl of Ewe in Normandy by King Henry the fift and father of Henry Bourchier created Earl of Essex by King Edward the fourth Secondly it is said of Robert Earl of Essex the son of this Wal●er that in 89. he went Commander in chief in the expedition into Portugal Fol. 233. whereas indeed he went but as a Voluntier in that expedition and had no command And so much our Author hath acknowledged in another place saying that Ambitious of common fame he put himself to Sea and got aboard the Fleet conceiting that their respect to his bi●th and qu●li●y would receive him their chief but was mistaken in that honou● Fol. 155. Thirdly it is said of this
their yongest Sons some Earldom or other until the time of Edward the third after which time they were invested with the Title of Dukes as appears evidently to any who are studied in their Chronologies But that they or any of them were Earls by Birth is a new piece of learning for which if the Historian can give me any good proof I shall thank him for it Fol. 278. Henry the eight thus cousened into some kindness both by his own power and purse makes Charls Emperor and the French King his Prisoner 1519. Neither so nor so For first though King Henry did contribute both his power and purse to the taking of the French King Prisoner yet to the making of Charls Emperor he contributed neither the one nor the other And secondly though Charls were created Emperor Anno 1519 yet the French King was not taken Prisoner till six years after Anno 1525. Fol. 31● Oswald united the Crowns of England and Scotland which were 〈◊〉 afterwards for many Ages 3● That Oswald King of Northumberland here mentioned was a Pui●●ant Prince as being the ninth Monarch of the English I shall easily grant but that he united the two Kingdoms of England and Scotland is not any where found Our Author therefore must be understood of his uniting the two Realms of De●ra and Pernicia part of which last hath for long time been accounted part of Scotland which after his decease were again divided Fol. 317. Whose Results notwithstanding are not to be obtruded on the S●culars to be obs●rved with the Authority of Laws until they be allowed by assent of the King and both Houses An error far more pardonable in our present Author to whom the concernments of the Church are not so necessary to be known or studied then in our Church Historian where before we had it and which hath had a full Con●utation in our Animadversions to which for brevity sake I shall now refer Fol. 320. Rory Duke of Solia from France Either the Printer or the Author are mistaken here The Ambassador who was sent from France was neither called Rory nor Duke of Solia but Marquess of Rhosney created afterward Duke of Sully and Lord High Treasurer of that Kingdom by King Henry 4. A Protestant and therefore purposely selected for that imployment Of whom it is reported in the conference at Hampton-Court that having observed the order and gravity of our Church Service in the Cathedral Chu●ch at C●n●erbury he was heard to say that if the like had been used in France there would have been many thousands of Protestants more then were at that present Fol. 329. Ce●il fo● his good Service was created Earl of Salisbury That is to say for so it must be understood for his activity and diligence in discovering the Powder-Treason But he was Earl of Salisbury before that Discovery call'd so by the Historian himself in the course of tha● Na●rative and made so by King Iames in the M●y forego●ng at what time also his Brother Thomas Lord Burley was made Earl of EXCESTER The like mistake I finde in the advancement of Thomas Lord Buckhurst to the Earldom of Dorcet plac'd by the Author fol. 342. in the year 1605. whereas indeed he was created Earl of Dorcet in the first year of King Iames March 13. Anno 1603. Fol. 333. The Earl of Flanders c. being by Storm cast upon our Coast c. was fain to yield to all the Kings demands in delivering up the Countess of Warwick and other Fugitives resident in Flanders This story is well meant but not rightly told there being at that time no Earl of Flanders commonly so called to be cast upon the Coast of England nor any such Woman as a Countess of Warwick whom King Henry the seventh could be afraid of the truth is that the person here meant was Philip King of Castile Duke of Burgundy Earl of Flanders c. who in his return from Spain was driven by Tempest on the Coast of England and being Royally Feasted by King Henry the seventh was detained here till he had delivered into the Kings hands the Earl of Suffolk who had fled into the Nether-lands for protection and began to work new troubles against his Soveraign The story whereof we have at large in the History of King Henry the seventh writ by the Lord Viscount St. Alban from fol. 222. to 225. Fol. 334 The fate of that Family evermore false to the crown This spoken of the Piercies Earls of Northumberland too often false to the Crown though not always so For Henry the second Earl of this Family lost his life fighting for King Henry the sixth in the Battle of St. Albans as Henry his Son and Successor also did at the Battle of ●owton And so did Henry the fifth Earl in the time of King Henry the seventh for his Fidelity to that King in a tumultuous Insurrection of the Common People not to say any thing of his Son and Successor who dyed without any imputation of such disloyalty Fol. 362. Zutphen and Gelders did of right belong to the Duk● Arnold who being Prisoner with the last Duke of Burgundy who died before Nancy that Duke intruded upon his Possession c. 40. Not so it was not Arnold Duke of Gelders that was Imprisoned by Charls Duke of Burgundy but his Son Adolphus who having most ungratiously Imprison'd his aged Father was vanquished by Duke Charls and by him kept Prisoner and the old Duke restored again to his power and liberty In a grateful acknowledgement of which favor he made a Donation of his Estates to Duke Charls and his Heirs to commence after his decease though it took no effect till Conquered under that pretence by Charls the fifth uniting it unto the rest of his Belgick Provinces Anno 1538. Fol. 423. Sir William Seymour Grandchilde to the third Son and the Heir of the Earl of Hertford created by Henry the eighth whose sister he marryed c. And being thus near the Crown c. In this business of Sir William Seymer now Marquess of Hertford there are two mistakes For first the Earl of Hertford from whom he derived his discent married not any of the Sisters of King Henry the eighth he having but two Wives in all the first the Daughter of Filol of Woodland from whom comes Baronet Seymer of the West the second Anne Daughter of Sir Edward and Sister to Sir Michael Stanhop from whom discends the House of Hertford still in being It s true King Henry married a Sister of Sir Edward Seymer by him created Earl of Hertford but not é contra the Earl of Hertford married not with a sister of his Secondly The nearness of this House to the Crown of England came not from any such Marriage of this first Earl with that Kings Sister but from the Marriage of Edward the second Earl with a Neece of that Kings that is to say with 〈◊〉 Daughter of Henry Duke of Suffolk and of F●a●ces his Wife
failing in their persons sent●their 〈…〉 I more admire at this gross pie●● of ignorance then at all the rest Silesia Moravia and 〈…〉 incorporated with the Realm of 〈◊〉 being n●ver qualified with sending any Electors ●or th● choice of the Emperour The three Electors which he meaneth were the Count Palatine of the R●●ne the Duke of Saxony and the Marquess of Brandenburg and they not coming in Person to the 〈◊〉 at Frackford appeared there by their Embassadors as at other times A like mistake but far more pardon●ble o●curreth Fol. 484. Where Da●mstal is said to be a Town of Bohemia whereas indeed it is a Town of the Land of H●ssen the whole Territories of the Duke of Saxony being interposed betwixt this Town and the nearest parts of that Kingdom Fol. 489. The Lord Marchers after the Conquest were re●ident upon the Confines and borders of the Welch and other places not subdued men of valour of high blood of the Normans with the name and priviledges of the Earls of Chester That the Lord Marchers on the Borders of Wales were at first many in number as it after followeth is a truth undoubted But their power being contracted into fewer hands one of them Roger Mortimer by name was by King Edward the third made Earl of March The Earldome of Chester was of another foundation conferrd by William the Conqueror upon Hugh sirnamed Lupus Son to the Viscount of Auranches in Normandy with all the Rites and Privileges of a County Palatine to him and to his Heires for ever So that this honour being appropriated to the Heirs of that House was not Communicable unto any of the rest of the Marchers nor could those Marchers claim the stile and privileges of Earles of Chester Fol. 490. Sir Edward Montague had three sons Edward the eldest Knight of the Bath c. The Author here is much mistaken in the House of the Montagues For first that Edward Montague who was 〈…〉 c. was not Brother to Iames Bishop of Winchester a●d Henry Earl of Manchester but their Brothers Son that is to say the Son of another E●ward their eldest Brother Secondly besides that Edward Iames and Henry there was another Brother whom the Author names not though he could not chuse but know the man viz. Sir Sidney Mon●●●● one o● the Masters of the Requests to the late King 〈◊〉 The●●fore to set this matter right I am to let both him and his Rea●ers know that Sr. Edward Montague chief Justice ●n the time of King Edward the sixth was father of another Edward who lived peaceably and nobly in his own Country To whom succeeded a third Edw●rd who 〈…〉 in the Wars and gained the reputation of a good Comma●der the elder Brother of Iames Henry and 〈◊〉 before mentioned and the father of a fourth Ed●●●● who was made Knight of the Bath at the Coron●tion 〈…〉 Anno 1●03 and afterwards created Lord 〈◊〉 of Bough●on in the nin●teenth year of that King Anno 1621. which honourable Title is now enjoyed by his Son anothe● Edward Anno. 1658. And thirdly th●●gh ● grant that Dr. Iames Montag●e Bishop of Winch●ster the second Brother of the four was of great power and favour in the time of King Iames and might have free accesse into the Bed-chamber of that King whensoever he pleased ye● that he was of the Bed chamber as the Author saith that i● to say admitted formerly thereunto and one of that number I do more then doubt Fol. 506. Then comes Iohn Howard c. created by Richard the 〈◊〉 Duke of Northfolk but not Earle Marshal In this and in the ●●st that follows touching the succession of the Earls M●rsh●●ls there a●e many mistaken F●r first t●is Iohn Lord Howard was by Richard the third ●ot onely created Duke of North-folk but Earl Mar●●●ll also as appears by Camd●n Fol 483. Secondly as well Thomas Earl of Surrey the son of this 〈◊〉 as an●th●r Thomas the son of that Thomas were both advan●●d 〈◊〉 the ●ffice of Earl Marshal as is affirmed by such as have writ the Genealogies of this noble family Thirdly that Thomas Howard whom queen Mary restored unto the Office of Earl Marsh●l was not the Grand-c●ilde of Thomas M●wbray ●ut the Grand-child of the Grand-child of the Daughter of that Thomas Mowbray as will appear to any who shall search that Pedigree But this perhaps may be an error of the Printer in giving us the name of Thomas Mowbray for Thomas Howard Fourthly though Robert Dev●r●ux Earle of Essex is by our Author placed next after this last Thom●s H●ward in the Office of Marshal yet sure it is that Georg Talbot Earl of Shrewbury came in between them advanc'd unto that Dignity by Queen Elizabeth Anno 157● Fol. 507. He 〈◊〉 the emine●t Stru●ture of the Library of St. Iohns in Cambridge where he had been Master for many years This spoken of Dr. Williams then Bishop of Lincoln and Lord Keeper who certainly was never Master of that Colledge though by his power and and party in that Society he advanced Dr. Gwin who had been his Tutor unto that place as is affirmed in the Church History of B●itain Lib. 11. fol. 225. It may be Mr. Williams was at that time of the same minde with ●harles Mart●l of whom it is affirmed that he chose rather to make a King then to be a King Non ●word regn●re sed R●gibus 〈…〉 as the old verse hath it Or else perhaps we may say of him as T●citus does of Mutian●s Cui facil●us er●t 〈…〉 that is to say that it was easier for him to procure the mastership for another then to obtain it for hims●lf But howsoever it was it seemes to have been carried by strong 〈◊〉 canvas of which Nation both the Pupil and the Scholer were as appeareth by these H●xameters following in which the four Competitors are thus laid before us Fol. 〈◊〉 Th● 〈◊〉 of that Protestation 〈◊〉 me●● 〈…〉 Regni negotiis but left out Quibusdam 〈…〉 particular cases as the King 〈…〉 This spoken of a Protestation entred b●●ome of the House of Commons Anno 1621. concerning 〈◊〉 of their pretended Rights and Privileges in which they 〈◊〉 mista●en and I wonder the Author did not see it in 〈◊〉 the ve●y grounds on which they built it For by the writ of summons the Commons were not called to consult of any thing either great of little difficult or not difficult whatso●●ver it was but onely 〈◊〉 consentiendum faciendum to consent to and perfo●m such things as by the great Councel of the Realm● consisting of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal should be then ordained as by the very ●writ it self doth at large appear By which it seems that the Commons assembled in Parliament were of themselves so far from being any 〈◊〉 o● that supreme Cou●t that they were not to be counted for a part of the Kings great Councel So that the founda●ion being 〈◊〉 the Superstructure could not stand which was built upon
Seas and a West●country Gentleman whose name I call not now to minde of the Western parts Our Author may be good for land service but we have some cause to fear by this experiment that if he should put forth to Sea he would easily fall into Scylla by avoiding Charybdis Fol. 18. This Gentleman was second Son of Thomas Cecil Earl of Exeter c. Our Author speaks this of Sr. Edward Cecil created by King Charles in the first year of his Reign Lord Cecil of Putney and Viscount Wimbleton and by the King made Commander General of his first Fleet against the Spaniards concerning whom he falls into several Errours For first Sr Edward Cecil was not the second but the third son of Thomas Earl of Exeter the second Son being Sr. Richard Cecil of Walkerly in the County of Rutland the Father of that David Cecil who succeeded in the Earldom of Exeter after the death of Earl William eldest Son of Thomas aforesaid Secondly this Sr. Edward Cecil was not of a Colonel made General of the English forces in the unhappy war of the Palatinate He was indeed made General of the English forces in the war of Cleve Anno 1610. the power which his Uncle Sr. Robert Cecil Earl of Salisbury had with King Iames advancing him to that imployment But that he was not General of the English forces in the Palatinate war I am very confident Sr. Horace Vere one of a more noble extraction and a far better Souldier being chief Commander in that service of the English forces Thirdly admitting this for true yet could not the mis-effects of that war be charged on him or any other of the English Commanders the English forces being inconsiderable for their number in reference to those which were raised for that war by the German Princes all of them under the Command of the Marquesse of O●alsback as their Generalissimo to whose either cowardize or infidelity the mis-effects of that war as our Author calls them were imputed commonly And fourthly it was not 27. years since his imployment there when he was called home to be Commander of this fleet there being not above five years from the beginning of the war in the Palatinate and his calling home and not above fifteen from his being made General of the English in the war of Cleveland Fol. 24. Dr. Williams outed of the Seal but kept his Bishoprick of Lincoln and the Deanry of Westminster which indeed he had for his life Our Author is as much out in this as in that before for though the Deanry of Westminster was given at first to Dr. Williams for terme of Life yet when he was made Bishop of Lincoln that Deanry fell again to the King and by the king was regranted to him to be holden in Commendam with that Bishoprick After which being made Arch-Bishop of York in the year 1641. he obtained it in Commendam for three years onely which term expired he was a Sutor to the King at Oxford for a longer term and on denial of that Suit retired into Wales and openly betook himself to the Parliament-party concerning which consult our Author in the latter part of his History Nor did he only keep the Bishoprick of Lincoln and the Deanry of Westminster but also a Residenciaries place in the Church of Lincoln the Prebend of Asgarve and Parsonage of Walgrove so that he was a whole Diocesse within himself as bing Parson Prebend Dignitary Dean and Bishop and all five in one Fol. 25. All setled and reposed the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury presented his Majesty to the Lords and Commons East West North and South asking them if they did consent to the Coronation of K. Charles their lawful Soveraign Our Author takes this whole Narrative of the pomp and order of the Kings Coronation out of the Church History of Britain endeavoured and but endeavoured by Mr. Fuller of Waltham● and takes it all upon his credit without so much as startling at that dangerous passage which is now before us That Author and this also following him conceive the peoples consent so necessary to the Coronation of the King that it was askt no less then four times by the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury before he could proceed any further in that solemnity But if we look into the form used in the Coronation of King Edward the sixth we shall finde it thus viz. That being carried by 〈◊〉 noble Cour●iers in another Chair unto the four sides of the Stage he was by the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury declared unto the People standing round about both by Gods and Mans Laws to be the right and lawful King of England France and Ireland and proclaimed that day to be Crowned Co●secrated and Anoi●ted unto whom he demanded whether they would obey an● serve or not By whom it was again with a loud●ery answered God save the King and ever live his Majesty And in the Coronation of King Iames more briefly thus The King is shewed to the people and they are required to make acknowledgement of their Allegiance to his Majesty by the Arch-Bishop which they do by Acclamations Which being so it cannot possibly be supposed that instead of requiring the peoples obedience to the Kings Authority the Arch-Bishop shou●d crave their consent to his Coronation as if the Coronation were not strong and valid nor his succession good in Law without their consent But though our Author follow Mr. Fuller in one Error yet he ●orrects him in another though in so doing he require some correction also Master Fuller tells us that the Kings Tra●● was held up by the Lord Compton as belonging to the Robes and the Lord Vicount Dorchester lib. 11. fol. 122. Mr. Sanderson knowing that there was no such man then being as a Viscount Dorchester must play the Critick on the Text and instead of Viscount Dorchester gives us Viscount Doncaster whom he makes Master of the Wardrobe and both true alike fol. ● 5. The Master of the Wardrobe at that time was the Earl of D●●b●gh and the Lord Viscount Doncaster now Earl of Carstile was then too yong to perform any Service in this solemnity which had he done Mr. Fuller who hath some dependence on him would not have robb'd him of the honor of performing that service which none but persons of place and merit could pretend unto Fol. 25. The Sermon being done the Arch-Bishop invested in a rich Cope goe●h to the King kneeling upon Cushions at the Communion Table and asks his willingness to take the Oath usually taken by his Predecessors c. The form and maner of w h Oath as having afforded much matter of discourse in these latter times I will first subjoyn and afterwards observe what descants have been made upon it The form and maner of the Oath as followeth Sir says the Arch-Bishop will you grant and keep and by your Oath confirm to the People of England the Laws and Customs to them granted by the Kings of England your Lawful and
if all the Issue of King Iames the sixth were utterly extinguishe● co●ld not serve the turn For first the Lady Katherine Stuart Daughter to Iames the second from whom and not immediately from Iames the first he must fetch his pedigree was first Marryed to Robert Lord Boide Earl of Arran from whom being forcibly taken by her brother King Iames the third and marryed in her said Husbands life time Sir Iames Hamilton the especial favorite of that Ki●g she carryed with her for her Dower the Earldom of Arran The Children born of this Adulterous bed could pretend no Title to that Crown if all the Issue of Iames the first second and third should have chanc'd to fail And yet there was another flaw as great as this For Iames the Grand childe of this Iames having first marryed a Wife of one of the Noble Houses of Scotland and afterwards considering that Cardinall Bet●n Arch-Bishop of St. And●ews was the only man who managed the affairs of that Kingdome put her away and married a Neece or Kinswoman of the Cardinals his first Wife still living by whom he was the Father of Iohn the first Marquesse of Hamilton whose Grandchilde Iames by vertue of this goodly Pedigree pretended to the Crown of Scotland Fol. 149. M. Rogers in his Preface to the 39. Articles saith That since the suppression of P●rit●ns by the Arch-Bishops Parker Grindal and Whitgift none will seems to be such That Archbishop Grindal was a suppressor of the Puritan Faction is strange to me and so I think it is to any who are verst in the actions of those times it being the generall opinion of our Historians that he fell into the Queens displeasure for being a chief Patron and promoter of it Certain it is that he wrote a large Letter to the Queen in defence of their prophesyings then which there could be nothing more dangerous to Church and State Nor does M. Rogers in his Preface to the 39. Articles tell us that he had any hand in the suppression of the Puritans it being affirmed by him on the contrary that they continued multiplying their number and growing strong even head-strong in b●ldnesse and schism till the dying day of this most Reverend Archbishop Fol. 151. But w●y to a forreign Title and not at as easie a rate to English as in Ireland he had t● all Sees there Our Authour makes a Quaery Why the Bishop appointed by the Pope to govern his party here in England should rather take his Title from Chalcedon in Greece then from any one of the Episcopal Sees in this Kingdom as well as they do in that of Ireland In answer whereunto though he gives us a very satisfactory reason yet I shall adde something thereunto which perhaps may not be unworthy of the Readers knowledge And him I would have know that at such time as Prince ●●arles was in Spain and the Dispensation passed in the Court of Rome it was concluded in the Conclave that some Bishops should be sent into England by the Name of the Bishops of Salisbury Glocester Chester Durham sic de caeteris the better to manage and improve their encreasing hopes Intelligence whereof being given unto the Iesuites here in England who feared nothing more then such a thing one of them who formerly had free accesse to the Lord Keeper Williams acquaints him with this mighty secret assuring him that he did it for no other reason but because he knew what a great exasperation it would give the King and consequently how much it must incense him against the Catholicks Away with this Intelligence goes the Lord Keeper to the King who took fire thereat as well as he and though it was somewhat late at night commanded him to go to the Spanish Embassadour and to require him to send unto the King his Master to take some course that those proceedings might be stopt in the Court of Rome or otherwise that the Tr●aty of the Match should advance no further The Lord Keeper findes the Embassadour ready to send away his packets who upon hearing of the News commanded his Carrier to stay till he had represented the whole businesse in a Letter to the King his Master On the receiving of which Letter the King imparts the whole businesse to the Popes Nuncio in his Court who presently sends hi● dispatches to the Pope acquainting him with the great inconveniences and unavoidable dangers of this new designe which being stopt by this devise and the Treaty of the Match ending in a Rupture not long after the same Jesuite came again to the Lord Keepers Lodging and in a fair and facetious manner thanked him most humbly for the good office he had done for that Society for br●aking the bearing off which blow all the friends they bad in Rome could finde no Buckler which Story as I heard from his Lordships own mouth with no small contentment so seemed he to be very well pleased with the handsomenesse of the trick which was put upon him Fol. 162. The German war made by Gustavus a pretension and but a pretension for liberty to the oppressed Princes Which Proposition as it stands is both true and false with reference to the beginning progresse and successe of his war For when he first undertook the conduct of it on the sollicitation of the Kings of England France and Denmark and many of the afflicted and disinherited Princes he cannot be supposed to entertain any other thoughts then to restore the Princes and free Cities to their former Rights for doing whereof his Army was defraid by the joynt charges and expence of the Confederates In order whereunto he caused the Inhabitants of all the Towns and Provinces which he had forced from the Emperours Forces before the overthrow of Tilly at the valley of Lipsick to take an Oath to be true unto the Liberty and Empire of Germany And hitherto his intents were reall not pretentionall only But after that great victory and the reducing of all Franconia and the lower Palatinate under his absolute command though he continued his pretensions yet he changed his purpose swearing the people of all degrees and ranks which submitted to him to be true from thenceforth to the King and Crown of Sweden This as it first discovered his ambition of the first designe which brought him over so was it noted that his affairs never prospered after receiving first a check from Wallenstein at the Siege of Noremberg and not long after his deaths wound and the battel of Lutzen Fol. 174. And now they revive the Sabbatarian controversie which was begun five years since Bradburn on the Sabbath day and directed to the King In this Discourse about the Sabbatarian Quarrels our Authour hath mistook himself in several particulars The businesse first is not rightly limn'd the coming out of Bradburns Book being plac'd by him in the year 1628. whereas it was not publisht until five years after But being publisht at that time and directed to the
of Tirone who had the conduct of that War was forced to submit unto him upon condition of his Pardon which not without great difficulty was obtain'd of the Queen After whose death the Lord Mount●oy returned into England brought the said Earl of Tyrone with him and presented him unto King Iames who by this means reaped the fruit of that Victory and setled Ireland upon a better foundation of Peace and Happiness then all the Kings which had Reign'd before him Thirdly There was never any such Lord Deputy of Ireland as Sir William Fitzers mentioned within few lines after Sir William Fitz-Williams was once Deputy there whom I think he means Nor ●ourthly was Sir George Cary whom he brings in by Head and shoulders to be the Governor of Ireland f. 187. ever advanced unto that Honor and our Author being as much mistaken in the name of the Man as of his Office Sir George Cary never had Command in Ireland Sir George Ca●ew had made by the Queen Lord President of Mu●ster which place he worthily discharg'd but not the Governor of that Kingdom Fol. 192. The Queen was delivered of her second Son the 13 of October 1633. and not upon the 14 of November 1634. he was 〈◊〉 ten days 〈…〉 James and created Duke of York by Letters Patents c. Our Author here corrects the former Historian for making the Kings second Son to be born on the 14 of 〈◊〉 and de●erves himself to be corrected for making him to be created Duke of York by Letters Patents on 〈…〉 day after his Birth For though he was by the King d●signed to be Duke of York and that it was commanded that he should be called so accordingly yet was he not created Duke of York by Letters Patents until ten years after and a●ove those Letters Patents bearing date at I●nuary●7 ●7 Anno 1643. The like mistake to that which he corrects in the former Historian he falls int● him●elf fol. 312. whe●e he makes Henry Duke of Glocester the Kings yongest Son to be born on the twentieth day 〈◊〉 Iuly An●o 1640. whereas it appears by the Arch Bishops Brevi●t that he was born on Wednesday the eighth day of that Moneth being the day of the solemn Fa●t And by this rule we may correct a pass●ge in the s●o●t view of this Kings life pag. ●3 wher● he is 〈…〉 born on the seventeenth of this Moneth though rightly 〈◊〉 46. on the eighth day of it he is said to be b●rn up●n the eighth And thus he fails fol. 232. in making Edw●rd 〈◊〉 the onely Son of George Duke of Clarence to be Duke of Warwick whom all our Heralds and 〈…〉 Earl of Warwick The like mistake I finde in the name of a Town near unto which a great Battle was fought between the 〈◊〉 and the Swedes The Town near which that Battle was fought being named Norlinghen a City of that part of Svevia which is called North-schw●h●n mis●akingly by 〈◊〉 Author called the Battle of Norlington The loss of which Battle drew after it the loss of the Palatinate restored to the Electoral Family but the year before Fol. 209. And that Story of truth that John of Orleans of this Family like a second Judith saved France from the Oppression of Strangers Not now to quarrel the ungrammaticalness of this passage nor the mistake of Iohn of Orleans for Iohane I would fain know by what Authority our Author makes this Iohn or● Ioane to be descended of this Illustrious Family of the Dukes of Lorrein Most of the French who have written the Story of her life report her to be a poor mans daughter of Ocolieur a Town in that Dukedom instructed by the Earl of Dunois commonly called the Bastard of Orleans to pretend to some Divine Revelations the better to incourage that dejected Nation and to take upon her the Conduct of the French Armies against the English in which she sped fortunately at the first but in the end was taken Prisoner and burnt at Rouen Nor does the paralel between her and Iudish hold so well as our Author would have it that Lady adventuring into the Tent of Holophernes accompanied onely with her Maid this Damosel Errant never looking on the face of an Enemy but when she was backt by the best Commanders and united Forces of the French that Lady carrying back with her the head of her Enemy which occasioned the total overthrow of all his A●my this Damos●l not being able to save her own Head from the power of the Conqueror that Lady dying honorably in the Bed of Peace and this ingloriously in a Ditch Fol. 219. A severe eye had been upon the Roman Catholicks and their numerous r●sorts c. to the ancient Chappel at Denmark House An ancient Chappel questionless of not much above twenty years continuance when our Author writ this part of his History and then built for the devotions of a small Covent of Capuchins whom the Queen had got leave ●o s●ttle there for her personal comfort No Chappell anciently belonging to that House which our Authour cals by the name of Denmark but is more commonly called Somerset House It having been observed of Edward Duke of Somerset the first Founder of it that having pull'd down one Parish Church and three Bishops houses each of which had their several Oratories to make room for that Palace for himself he could not finde in his heart to build a Chappell to it for the Service of God And though some Room was afterward set apart in it for Family-duties and devotions by the name of a Closet yet so uncapable was that Closet of admitting any numerous resort of Catholiques out of other places that it was not able to contain the Queens Domesticks at her first coming hither But perhaps our Authour will hit it better in the affairs of Scotland and therefore passe we on to them where first we finde That He makes Sir Iohn Stewart Earl of Traquair to succeed the Earl of Marr in the Office of Lord Treasurer of Scotland fol. 193. Whereas it is most undoubtedly true and acknowledged by himself in another place that he succeeded in that Office to the Earl of Morton the Earl of Morton being made Captain of the guard in the place of the Earl of Holland and the Earl of Holland made Groom of the Stool upon the death of the Earl of Carlile His making of Sir Iohn Hay of Scotland●o ●o be the Master of the Robes for that Kingdom fol. 237. in stead of Master of the Rolls Clerk-Register they call him there I look on as a mistake of the Printer only though such mistakes condemn our Authour of no small negligence in not reviewing his own work Sheet by Sheet as it came from the Presse and making an Errata to it as all Authours carefull of their credit have been used to do Fol. 230. And because the Earl of Strathern a bold man and had the Kings ear and deservedly too being faithfull and true these
men set on John Scot Director of the Chancery a busie person to inform against his Descent In the story of this Earl not only as to his Original and descent but as to his being Earl of Menteith our Authour is not to be faulted but on the other side not to be justified in making him to be Earl of Strathern by the power of Buckingham that Duke being dead some years before though by his power made Lord President of the Council for the Realm of Scotland Therefore to set this matter right and to adde something to our Authour that may not be unworthy of the Readers knowledge I am to let him understand that after the death of David Earl of Strathern second Son to King Robert the third this Title lay dormant in the Crown and was denied to the Lord Dromond created afterwards Earl of Perth when a Suitor for it But this Gentleman Sir William Graham Earl of Menteith descended from an Heir General of that David a man of sound abilities and approved affections was by the King made Lord President of the Councill of Scotland as before is said In which place he so behaved himself and stood so stoutly in behalf of the King his Master upon all occasions that nothing could be done for advance of Hamiltons designs till he was removed from that place In order whereunto it was put into his head by some of that Faction that he should sue unto the King to be created Earl of Strathern as the first and most honourable Title which belonged to his House that his merits were so great as to assure him not to meet with a deniall and that the King could do no lesse then to give him some nominall reward for his reall services On these suggestions he repaired unto the Court of England where without any great difficulty he obtained his Suit and waited on the King the most part of his Summers progresse no man being so openly honoured and courted by the Scottish Nation as he seemed to be But no sooner was he gone for Scotland but the Hamiltonians terrified the King with the dangers which he had run into by that Creation whereby he had revived in that proud and ambitious person the Rights which his Ancestors pretended to the Crown of Scotland as being derived from David Earl of Strathern before mentioned the second Son of Robert the Second by his lawfull Wife that the King could not chuse but see how generally the Scots slockt about him after this Creation when he was at the Court and would do so much more when he was in Scotland And finally that the proud man had already so farre declared himself as to give it ou● that the King held the Crown of him Hereupon a Commission was speedily posted into Scotland in which those of Hamiltons Faction made the greatest Number to enquire into his life and actions and to consider of the inconveniences which might redound unto the King by his affecting this New Title On the Return whereof the poor Gentleman is removed from his Office from being one of the Privy Council and not only deprived of the Title of Earl of Strathern but of that also of Menteith which for a long time had remained in his Ancestors And though he was not long after made Earl of Airth yet this great fall did so discourage him from all publike businesses that he retired to his own house and left the way open to the Hamiltonians to play their own game as they listed Faithfull for all this to the King in all changes of Fortune neither adhering to the Covenanters nor giving the least countenance to them when he might not only have done it with safety but with many personal advantages which were tendered to him Fol. 238. The Marquesse now findes this place too hot for him and removes to Dalkieth without any adventuring upon the English Divine Service formerly continu●lly used there for twenty years in audience of the Council Nobility and Iudges Compare this passage with another and we shall finde that our Authour hath mis-reckoned no lesse then fifteen years in twenty For in the year 1633. he puts this down after the Kings return from Scotland agreeable to the truth of story in that particular What care saith he King Iames took heretofore to rectifie Religious worship in Scotland when he returned from his last visiting of them the like does King Charles so soon as he came home The ●oul undecent Discipline he seeks to reform into sacred worship and sends Articles of order to be observed only by the Dean of his private Chappell there as in England That Prayers be performed twice a day in the English manner A monethly Communion to be received on their knees He that officiates on Sunday and Holydaies to do his duty in his Surplice No publick reading of the English Liturgy in Scotland since the year 1562. but only during the short time of King Iames his being there Anno 1617. therefore not read continually twenty years together as our Authour states it But twenty years is nothing in our Authours Arithmetick For telling us that the sufferers viz. Dr. Bastwick Mr. Prinne and M. Burton obtained an order for satisfaction to be made them out of the Estates of those who imposed their punishments that none of those Judges being left but Sir Henry Vane the Elder it was ordered that satisfaction should be given by him to one of their Widows and thereupon it was observed for a blessed time when a single Counsellour of State after twenty years opinion should be sentenced by Parliament to give satis●action for a mis-judgement acted by a body of Counsell fol. 867. But the punishment inflicted on those sufferers was in the year 1637. and this order made about eight years after Anno 1645. being but twelve years short of our Authours twenty which is no great matter Fol. 282. As for Sir John Finch Chief Iustice of the Common Pleas who succeeded him in the place of the Lord Keeper he could not hold out so many moneths as he did years from being in hazard to have forfeited his head But first this Gentleman was somewhat more then Sir Iohn Finch he being created Lord Finch of Forditch in the beginning of the April before Secondly If he were in any hazard it was not for any thing he had done in the place of Lord Keeper but only for his zeal to the Kings service in the case of Ship money or to his actings under the Earl of Holland in Forrest businesses before he came un●o that place neither of which could have extended to the losse of his head though he thought not fit to trust that head to such mercilesse Judges With like prudence did Sir Francis Windebank principal Secretary of Estate withdraw into France of whom our Author telleth us That he remained there to his death a profest Roman Catholick fol. 338. But first Sir Francis Windebank remained not there until his death for he came
Lindsey Lord High Constable ● Our Author borrows this Error as he does some others from the former History and makes it worse by an addition of his own For first The Earl of Lindsey was not made High Constable upon this occasion nor did he act there in that capacity●● He had been made High Constable to decide the difference between the Lord Rey and David Ramsey which being an extraordinary case was likely to be tried by battle But in this case there was no need of any such Officer the Triall being to be made by proofs and Evidences the verdict to be given by the Lords of Parliament and sentence to be pronounced by the Lord High Steward all ● things being to be carried and transacted in due form of Law Secondly The Court being broken up which was before the passing of the Bill of Attainder in the end of April the Office of Lord High Steward expired also with it And therefore when our Authour speaks of a Request which was made unto the King in Parliament that the Earl of Pembroke should be made Lord High Steward in the place of the Earl of Arundel then absent fol. 430. he either speaks of a Request which was never made or else mistakes the Lord Steward of the Kings houshold which place might possibly be desired for the Earl of Pembroke not long before turn'd out of the Office of Lord Chamberlain for the Lord High Steward of the Kingdome And now we are fallen on his mistakes touching these great Officers I shall adde another It being said in our Authours unfigured Sheets that the King having signed the Bill of Attainder sent Sir Dudly Carlton Secretary of State to acquaint him what he had finished An errour too grosse and palpable for our Authour to be guilty of considering his Acquaintances in the Court and relations to it which may perswade me to beleeve that these unfigured Sheets patcht in I know not how between fol. 408. and 409. should be none of his But whether they be his or not certain I am that there was no Secretary at this time but Sir Henry Vane Windebank being then in France and his place not filled with the Lord Falkland till the Christmas after Sir Dudly Carlton Lord Imbercourt and Vicount Dorchester was indeed Secretary for a while but he died upon Ashwednesday in the year 1631. which was more then nine years before the sending of this message and I perswade my self the King did not raise him from the grave as Samuel was once raised at the instance of Saul to go on that unpleasing errand Sir Dudly Carlton whom he means being Brothers son unto the former was at that time one ●f the Clerks of the Councel but never attained unto the place and honour of a principall Secretary Our Authour having brought the businesse of the Earl of Strafford toward a Conclusion diverts upon the Authour of the Observations on the former History to whom he had been so much beholden for many of the most materiall and judicious Notes in the former part of his Book and he chargeth thus Fol. 406. I conceive it convenient in more particular to clear two mistakes of our Authours concerning the Articles of Ir●land and the death of the Earl of Strafford reflecting upon the late most Reverend Prelate the Archbishop of Armagh Primate of all Ireland whilest he was liuing and worse pursued since his decease somewhat too sharp also upon D. Bernard What Fee or Salary our Authour hath for this undertaking I am no● able to determine but if he be not well paid by them I am sure he hath been well paid by another who in his Answer to D. Bernards Book entituled The ●udgement of the late Primate of Ireland Ac. hath fully justified the Observator against all the exceptions which either our Authour or D. Bernard or the Lord Primate himself have made against him in these two points Which being extrinsecall as to the matter of this History shall not be repeated the Reader being desired if he want any further satisfaction to look for it there All I shall here observe is this that our Authour grounds himself in his whole Discourse of that businesse upon somewhat which he had in writing under the hand of the said Lord Primate and more which he hath took verbatim out of the said Book of D. Bernards who being both parties to the Suit ought not to be admitted for Witnesses in their own behalf And yet our Authour having driven the matter to as good a conclusion as he could from such faulty Premises conceives an hope that by the ●ight of those Testimonies he will be of more moderation notwithstanding he hath there shewn much disaffection to the Primate in endeavouring to his utmost to evade divers of those particulars either in giving the worst sense of them or turning them to other ends But as I can sufficiently clear the Observator from bearing any disaffection to the Lord Primates person and the equal Reader may defend him from the imputation of giving the worst sense of any thing which he found in the Pamphlet called The Observator observed or turning it to other ends then was there intended so am I no more satisfied by this tedious nothing touching the Articles of Ireland or the death of the Earl of Strafford as they reflect upon the Archbishop of Armagh then I was before As little am I satisfied with the following passage in the last Folio of the unfigured Sheets viz. That D. Iuxon Bishop of London resigned his Office of Treasurer of England into the hands of five Commissioners more sufficient then he could be Our Authour might have spared these last words of disparagement and diminution and yet have left his Proposition full and perfect But taking them as they come before me I must first tell him that the Lord Bishop of London resigned not his Office of Treasurer into the hands of any Commissioners but only into the hands of the King who not knowing at the present how to dispose of it for his best advantage appointed some Commissioners under the great Seal of England to discharge the same And next I would have him tell me what great sufficiency he found in those Commissioners which was not to be found in the Bishop of London how many of his debts they paid what improvement they made of his Revenue what stock of money they put him into toward the maintaining of the Warre which not long after followed In all which particulars the Bishop of London had very faithfully performed his part though not as to the Warre of England to the great honour of the King and content of the Subject But to look back upon some passages in the busines●e of the Earl of Strafford which are not toucht at by the Observator or his alterid●m the first we meet with is a very pretty devise of the Bishop of Lincoln to cheat the poor Gentleman of his head by getting a return of the
consent to the acting of any thing to take away his life By which it needs must follow if the Bill of Attainder was first passed or at the least in probability to be passed in the House of Peers before the King had given any such promise under his hand for the words are that the King had given him a promise under his hand never to passe that Bill Now that Bill was not taken into consideration in the House of Lords till Saturday the 24. of April in which considering their own danger and the little satisfaction they are able to give themselves M. St Iohn the Kings Sollicitor Generall was appointed by the House of Commons to open the Bill before their Lordships and to give them information in it which was done upon Thursday the nine and twentieth of the same Moneth On the next day some of the Lords began to stagger in their resolutions and to incline unto the Commons which moved the King to declare himself before both Houses on the first of May That he could not with a good Consci●nce condemn the Earl of High Treason which he must needs do if he passe that Bill and therefore hoped that they would not expect that from him which neither fear nor any other respect whatsoever should enforce him to Other assurance then this of not passing the Bill as the King never made the Earl so indeed he could not the Earl being a close Prisoner and so narrowly watcht especially after his Majesties said Declaration of the first of May that no such Paper●promise under the Kings hand could be sent unto him if either the King had thought it necessary to make any such promise or the Earl to seek it Adeo mendaciorum natura est ut coherere non possint as Lactantius hath it This point thus cleared and the King discharged from making any such promise under his hand there must some other way be found out to preserve the Earl by devising some means for his escape and to this plot the King must be made a party also our Authour telling us positively That Some Designe there was no doubt of delivering the Earl of Strafford by escape in order whereunto Sir William Balfour Lieutenant of the Tower must be commanded by the King to receive one Captain Billingsley with an hundred men to secure the place If so how durst Balfour refuse to yeeld obedience to the Kings command Marry forfooth because three good Women of Tower-street peeping into the Earls Gallery through the Key-hole could by the Spectacles of their eyes discern him talking with this Captain and by the Otoco●sticon of their ears could hear them talk of some Desig●e for this escape The Summe of their Discourse being this that a Ship of Captain Billingsleys Brothers should be in readinesse which was fallen down on purpose below in the River that they three might be there in twelve hours that if the Fort were but secur'd for three or four Moneths there would come aid enough and that there was nothing to be thought upon but an escape and much more broken speech to that purpose It seems the womens ears must be very long and the tongues both of the Earl and Billingsly must be very loud or else how could a practise of such a close and dangerous nature be so plainly heard Assuredly by the same means by which the Zealous Brother in More fields discovered a dangerous plot against the Parliament discoursed of by some who were passing by but he knows not who they were as he was sunning himself under an hedge Of whom as creditable an Authour as Sir William Balfour hath told me this That while he was contriving some Querpo-cut of Church-Government by the help of his out-lying ears and the Otocousticon of the Spirit ●e discovered such a Plot against the Parliament that Selden intends to combat Antiquity and maintain it was a Taylors Goose that preserved the Capitol But in good earnest I would fain know of our Author or of Sir William Balfour or of both together whether the three Good-Wives of Tower-street did hear these Passages in discourse by their eyes or their ears Not by their Eyes for the Eye is not the sense of hearing nor by their Ears for it is not said that they laid their Ears to the Key-hole but that they peeped thorow it And next I would fain know wh●ther they peep'd or hearkned all at once or one after another If all at once the Key-hole must be wondrous wide as Heavenly-wide as Mopsus mouth in Sir Philip Sidney which could admit of three pair of hearing Eyes or of three single seeing Ears at one time together And if they peep'd or hearkned one after another they must needs have both very quick Wits and strong Comprehensions that could make up so much of a set Discourse from such broken Speeches though they within spake never so loudly Letting this pass therefore with a Risum teneatis Amici we have next a more serious discovery of this Design by the Conference which the Earl of Strafford had with Sir William Balfour offering him but four days before his death no less then Twenty thousand pounds and a Marriage of his Daughter to Balfours Son if he would assent to his Escape And for this also as well as for the tale of the three Good-Wives of Tower-Street and the command of admitting Billingsley with an hundred men to secure the Tower we must take Sir Williams bare word for he gave it not in upon his Oath in the House of Commons And what the bare word of a Scot a perfidious Scot and one that shortly after took up Arms against his Master will amount unto we all know too well Nor was the Earl so ignorant of the hatred which generally the Scotish Covenanters bare unto him or of the condition of this man particularly as to communicate any such design unto him had he been so unprepar'd for death as our Author makes him And so this second Romance of Sir William Balfour and the three Women Good-Wives of Tower Street being sent after that of the Bishop of Lincoln we leave the Earl of Straffords business and go on with our Author to some other Fol. 418. Then follows King Henry the fourth c. of●larence ●larence Title to precede that of Mortimer That some of the Lords combined to depose this King I shall easily grant though not upon those grounds which our Author mingles with the Speech of one Mr. Thomas a Member of the House of Commons against the Bishops For though the Title of Clarence did precede that of the King yet was not the Kings Title derived from Mortimer the Title of Mortimer and Clarence being one and the same The Title of King Henry the fourth came by his Father Iohn Duke of Lancaster the fourth Son of King Edward the third the title of Mortimer came by Philip the sole Daughter and Heir of Lionel Duke of Clarence the third son of the said King Edward
the Church-Wardens generally in all the Parishes of the Kingdom notwithstanding they were told that the Lords had never given their consent unto it and that it would be safest for them to suspend their proceedings till the Parliament was again assembled But so mighty was the name of Pym that none of them durst refuse Obedience unto his Commands Nor did the Lords ever endeavour to retrench this Order but suffered their Authority and priviledge to be torn from them peece-meal by the House of Commons as formerly in imposing the Protestation of the third of May so now in this great Alteration in the face of the Church Fol. 432. The late Irish Army raised for the Assistance of the Kings Service against the Scots was disbanded and all their armes brought into Dublin This though our Authour reckoneth not amongst the grounds and reasons of the Irish Rebellion yet was it really one of the chief encouragements to it For when the King was prest by the Commons in Parliament for the disbanding of that Army a Suit was made unto him by the Embassadour of Spain that he might have leave to List three or four thousand of them for his Masters Service in the wars The like Suit was made also by the Embassadour of France and the King readily condescended to their severall motions and gave order in it accordingly But the Commons never thinking themselves safe as long as any of that Army had a sword in his hand never left importuning the King whom they had then brought to the condition of denying nothing which they asked till they had made him eat his word and revoke those Orders to his great dishonour Which so exasperated that Army consisting of 10000 Foot and 1500 Horse that it was no hard matter for those who had the managing of the Plot to make sure of them And then considering that the Scots by raising of an Army had gain'd from the King an Abolition of the Episcopall Order the re●cinding of his own and his Fathers Acts about the reducing of that Church to some Uniformity with this and setled their Kirk in such a way as best pleased their own humours why might not the Irish Papists hope that by the help of such an Army ready raised to their hands or easily drawn together though disperst at that present they might obtain the like indulgences and grants for their Religion Tantum Religio potuit suadere Malorum as true on the one side as the other Fol. 443. The next Morning the Vpper house sent them down to the House of Commons by the Lord Marshal Privy Seal c. the Lords Goring and Wilmot Our Authour speaks this of the first Letter sent from Ireland touching that Rebellion but is mistaken in the last man whom he makes to be sent down with these Letters The Lord Wilmot at that time was no Peer of England and therefore had no place in the English Parliaments The honour of an English Baron being first conferred on his Son the Lord Henry Wilmot by Letters Patents bearing date 29. of Iune Anno 1643. And as I am sure that the Lord Wilmot was not of that number so I am doubtfull whether the Lord Marshall were or not Our Authour not long before tels us that his Office of Lord High Steward was like to be begg'd from him in regard of his Absence which is to be understood of his absence out of the Realm and if he were then absent out of the Realm he could not now be present in the House of Peers Either not absent then or not present now is a thing past questioning Fol. 462. The King returns from Scotland magnificently ●easted by the City of London But while the Citizens at one end of the Town were at their Hosanna some of the Commons at the other end were as busie at their Crucifige intent on hammering a Remonstrance which they entitled A Remonstrance of the State of the Kingdom in which they ript up all the actions which they had complained of in the King and sum'd up all those services which they had done for the common people The whole so framed that it served for a pair of Bellows to blow that fire which afterwards flamed out and consumed the greatest part of the Kingdom In the presenting whereof to the King at his coming from Scotland though the Lords refused to joyn with them in it yet was it presented to the King by some of their Members an Order made for the publishing and dispersing of it and the Lords brought at last to justifie what they had condemned Nor did the Citizens continue long in their good Affections For though they gave him Rost-meat now yet they beat him with the Spit in the Christmas following of which our Authour tels us saying Fol. 471. The loose people of the City and the Mechanick sort of Prentices were encouraged by the Ministers and Lecturers and other Incendiaries in tumultuous manner to come down to Westminster and by the way at Whitehall to be insolent in words and actions And insolent they were indeed both in words and actions some of them crying out as they past by that the King was not fit to live others that the Prince would govern better all of them with one voice that they would have no Porters lodge between them and the King but would come at him when they pleased using some other threatning words as if they meant to break open the Gates But so it happened that some of the Officers of the Kings late Army being come to the Court some of them to receive the Arrears of their pay and others to know the Kings Commands before they returned into the Low Countries to their severall Charges and observing the unsufferable Insolencies of this Rascal Rabble sallied upon them with drawn swords in which scuffle some of that tumultuous Rabble were slightly hurt and others dangerously wounded To these men being profest Souldiers was the Name of Cavaliers first given communicated afterwards to all the Kings party and Adheren●s though never in Arms or otherwise appearing for him then in the Loyalty of their Affections Fol. 477. This fell out as many would have it a l●●●ing case to their confusion How so Because saith he at a conference desired by the Lords with the House of Commons they were told by the Lord Keeper that this Petition and Protestation of the twelve Bishops was extending to the deep intrenching upon the fundamentall priviledges and beings of Parliaments c. Upon which Declaration the Bishops were voted to be guilty of High Treason committed first to the custody of the black rod and from thence to the Tower But first the Authour is to know that the Lord Keeper at that time was not altogether so rectus in Curia as might have been wished and therefore having received that Petition and Protestation from the hands of the King to whom in the first place it was addressed he communicated it privately to such of both
Monroe an old experienced Commander with his three thousand old and experienced Scots train'd up for five or six years then last past in the Wars of Ireland By whose assistance it is possible enough that he might not have lost his first Battle not long after his Head which was took from him on the same day with the Earl of Hollands But God owed him and that Nation both shame and punishment for all their ●reacheries and Rebellions against their King and now he doth begin to pay them continuing payment after payment till they had lost the Command of their own Countrey and being reduced unto the form of a Province under the Commonwealth of England live in as great a Vassalage under their new Masters as a conquered Nation could expect or be subject to Fol. 1078. This while the Prince was put aboard the revolted Ships c. and with him his Brother the Duke of York c. the Earls of Brentford and Ruthen the Lord Cu●pepper c. In the recital of which names we finde two Earls that is to say the Earls of Brentford and Ruthen which are not to be found in any Records amongst our Heralds in either Kingdom Had he said General Ruthen Earl of Brentford he had hit it right And that both he and his Reader also may the better understand the Risings and Honors of this Man I shall sum them thus Having served some time in the Wars of Gustavus Adolphus King of Sweden he was Knighted by him in his Camp before Darsaw a Town of Pomerella commonly counted part of Prussia and belonging to the King of Poland Anno 1627. at what time the said King received the Order of the Garter with which he was invested by Mr. Peter Yong one of his Majesties Gentlemen Huishers and Mr. Henry St. George one of the Heralds at Arms whom he also Kinghted In the long course of the German Wars this Colonel Sir Patrick Ruthen obtain'd such a Command as gave him the title of a General and by that title he attended in a gallant Equipage on the Earl of Morton then riding in great pomp towards Windsor to be installed Knight of the Garter At the first breaking out of the Scots Rebellion he was made a Baron of that Kingdom and Governor of the Castle of Edinburgh which he defended very bravely till the Springs which fed his Well were broken and diverted by continual Batteries Not long ater he was made Earl of Forth and on the death of the Earl of Lindsey was made Lord General of his Majesties Army and finally created Earl of Brentford by Letters Patents dated the 27 of May Anno 1644. with reference to the good Service which he had done in that Town for the fi●st hanselling of his Office So then we have an Earl of Brentford but no Earl of Ruthen either as joyn'd in the same Person or distinct in two Not much unlike is that which follows Ibid. His Commissions to his Commanders were thus stiled Charls Prince of great Britain Duke of Cornwal and Albany Here have we two distinct Titles conferred upon one Person in which I do very much suspect our Authors Intelligence For though the Prince might Legally stile himself Duke of Cornwal yet I cannot easily believe that he took upon himself the Title of Duke of Albany He was Duke of Cornwal from his Birth as all the eldest Sons of the Kings of England have also been since the Reign of King Edward the third who on the death of his Uncle Iohn of Eltham E. of Cornwal invested his eldest Son Edw. the Black Prince into the Dukedom of Cornwal by a Coronet on his head a ring on his finger and a silver Verge in his hand Since which time as our learned Camden hath observed the King of Englands eldest Son is reputed Duke of Cornwal by Birth and by vertue of a special Act the first day of his Nativity is presumed and taken to be of full and perfect age so that on that day he may sue for his Livery of the said Dukedom and ought by right to obtain the same as well as if he had been one and twenty years old And he hath his Royalties in certain Actions and Stannery Matters in Wracks at Sea Customs c. yea and Divers Officers or Ministers assigned unto him for these or such like matters And as for the Title of Duke of albany King Charls as the second Son of Scotland receiv'd it from King Iames his Father and therefore was not like to give it from his second Son the eldest Son of Scotland being Duke of Rothsay from his Birth but none of them Dukes of Albany for ought ever I could understand either by Birth or by Creation Fol. 1094. And so the dignity of Arch-Bishops to fall Episcopal Iurisdiction also Our Author concludes this from the general words of the Kings Answer related to in the words foregoing viz. That whatsoever in Episcopacy did appear not to have clearly proceeded from Divine Institution he gives way to be totally abolished But granting that the Dignity of Arch-Bishops was to fall by this Concession yet the same cannot be affirmed of the Episcopal Iurisdiction which hath as good Authority in the holy Scripture as the calling it self For it appears by holy Scripture that unto Timothy the first Bishop of Eph●sus St. Paul committed the power of Ordination where he requires him to lay hands hastily on no man 1 Tim. 5 22 And unto Titus the first Bishop of Crete the like Authority for ordaining Presbyters or Elders as our English reads it in every City Tit. 1. v. 5. Next he commands them to take care for the ordering of Gods publick Service viz. That Supplications Prayers Intercessions and giving of Thanks be made for all men 1 Tim. 2. 1. which words relate not to the private Devotions of particular persons but to the Divine Service of the Church as it is affirmed not onely by St Chrysostom Theophylact and O●cumenius amongst the Ancients and by Estius for the Church of Rome but also by Calvin for the Protestant or Reformed Churches Next he requires them to take care that such as painfully labor in the Word and Doctrine receive the honor or recompence which is due unto them 1 Tim. 5. 17. as also to censure and put to silence all such Presbyters as preached any strange Doctrine contrary unto that which they had received from the Apostles 1 Tim 1. 3. And if that failed of the effect and that from Preaching Heterodoxies or strange Doctrines they went on to Heresies then to proceed to Admonition and from thence if no amendment followed to a rejection from his place and deprivation from his Function 1 Tit. 3. 10. as both the Fathers and late Writers understand the Text. Finally for correction in point of Manners as well in the Presbyter as the people St. Paul commits it wholly to the care of his Bishop where he adviseth Timothy not to receive an Accus●ation against
to say the Title of Earl of Hereford which the Duke requested but so much of the Lands of those Earls as had been forme●ly enjoy'd by the House of Lancaster Concerning which we are to know that Humphry de Bohun the last Earl of Hereford left behinde him two Daughters only of which the eldest called Eleanor was married to Thomas of Woodstock Duke of Gloster Mary the other married unto Henry of Bullenbrook Earl of Darby Betwixt these two the Estate was parted the one Moiety which drew after it the Title of Hereford falling to Henry Earl of Darby the other which drew after it the Office of Constable to the Duke of Glocester But the Duke of Glocester being dead and his estate coming in fire unto his Daughter who was not able to contend Henry the fifth forced her unto a sub-division laying one half of her just partage to the other Moiety But the issue of Henry of Bullenbrook being quite exti●ct in the Person of Edward Prince of Wales Son of Henry the sixth these three parts of the Lands of the Earls of Hereford having been formerly incorporated into the Duchy of Lancaster remained in possession of the Crown but were conceiv'd by this Duke to belong to him as being the direct Heir of Anne Daughter of Thomas Duke of Glocester and consequently the direct Heir also of the House of Hereford This was the sum of his demand Nor do I finde that he made any suit for the Office of Constable or that he needed so to do he being then Constable of England as his Son Edward the last Duke of Buckingham of that Family was after him Fol. 199. At last the coming in of the Lord Stanley with three thousand fresh men decided the controversie on the Earls side Our Author is out in this also It was not the Lord Stanley but his Brother Sir William Stanley who came in so seasonably and thereby turn'd the Scale and chang'd the fortune of the day For which service he was afterward made Lord Chamberlain of the new Kings Houshold and advanc'd to great Riches and Estates but finally beheaded by that very King for whom and to whom he had done the same But the King look'd upon this action with another eye And therefore when the merit of this service was interposed to mitigate the Kings displeasure and preserve the man the King remembred very shrewdly that as he came soon enough to win the Victory so he staid long enough to have lost it ANIMADVERSIONS ON The Fifth and Sixth Books OF The Church History OF BRITAIN Relating to the time of King Henry the Eighth WE are now come to the busie times of King Henry the Eighth in which the power of the Church was much diminisht though not reduced to such ill terms as our Author makes it We have him here laying his foundations to overthrow that little which is left of the Churches Rights His superstructures we shall see in the times ensuing more seasonable for the practice of that Authority which in this fifth Book he hammereth only in the speculation But first we will begin with such Animadversions as relate unto this time and story as they come in our way leaving such principles and positions as concern the Church to the close of all where we shall draw them all together that our discourse and observations thereupon may come before the Reader without interruption And the first thing I meet with is a fault of Omission Dr. Newlen who succeeded Dr. Iackson in the Pres●dentship of Corpus Christi Colledge in Oxford Anno 1640. by a free election and in a statuteable way being left out of our Authors Catalogue of the Presidents of C. C. C. in Oxford fol. 166. and Dr. Stanton who c●me in by the power of the Visitors above eight years after being placed therein Which I thought fit though otherwise of no great moment to take notice of that I might do the honest man that right which our Author doth not Fol. 168. King Henry endevoured an uniformity of Grammar all over his Dominions that so youths though changing their School-masters might keep their learning That this was endevoured by King Henry and at last en●oyned I shall easily grant But then our Authour should have told us if at least he knew it that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thereof p●oceeded f●om the Convocation in the yea● 1530. in which complaint being made Quod multiplex varius in Scholis Grammaticalibus modus esset 〈◊〉 c. That the multiplicity of Grammars did much him to learning it was thought meet by the Prelates and Clergy then assembled Vt una eadem edatur formula Auctoritate 〈…〉 singula Schola Gramma●icals per 〈…〉 that is to say that one only 〈…〉 that within few years after it was enjoyned by the Kings Proclamation to be used in all the Schools thoughout the Kingdom But here we are to note withall that our Author anticipates this business placing it in the eleventh year of this King● Anno 1519. whereas the Convocation took not this into con●ideration till the eighth of March Anno 1530. and ce●tainly would not have medled in it then if the King had setled and enjoyned it so long before Fol. 168. other●ardiner ●ardiner gathered the Flowers made the Collections though King Henry had the honour to wear the Posie I am not ignorant that the making of the Kings Book against Martin Luther is by some Popish writers ascribed to Dr. Iohn Fisher then Bishop of Rochester But this Cav●● was not made till after this King had re●ected the Popes Supremacy and consequently the lesse credit to be given unto it It is well known that his Father King Henry the seventh designed him for the Arch-bishoprick of Canterbury and to that end caused him to be trained up in all parts of learning which might inable 〈◊〉 for that place But his elder Brother Prince Arthur d●ing and himself succeeding in the Crown though he had laid aside the thoughts of being a Priest he could not but retain that Learning which he had acquired and reckon it amongst the fairest Flowers which adorned his Diadem Too great a Clerk he was to be called Beauclerk junior as if he were as short in learning of King Henry the first whom commonly they called Beauclerk as he was in time though so our Author would fain have it Hist. Cam. p. 2 3. A little learning went a great way in those early dayes which in this King would have made no shew● in whose ●●me both the Arts and Languages began to flourish And if our Author doth not suspect this Kings lack of learning he hath no reason to suspect his lack of 〈◊〉 the work being small the glory great and helps enough at hand if he wanted any But of this enough Fol. 196. Which when finished as White-hall Hampton-Court c. he either freely gave to the King or exchanged them on very reasonable considerations That Hampton Court was either freely given by
passing of the Statute of Praemunire were without any further Ratification obligatory to all subjected to their jurisdiction And he hath told us also of such Convocations as had been called between the passing of the Statute of Praemunire and the Act for Submission that they made Canons whiche were binding although none other then Synodical Authority did confirme the same Upon whi●●●remisses I shall not fear to raise this Syllogism viz That power which the Clergy had in their Convocations before their submission to the King to binde the subject by their Canons and Constitutions without any further Ratification then own Synodicall Authority the same they had when the Kings power signified in his Royal assent was added to them but the Clergy by our Authors own confession had power in their Convocations before their submission to the King to binde the Subject by their Canons and Constitutions without any further ratification then their own Synodical Authority Ergo they had the same power to binde the Subjects when the Kings power signified by the Royal assent was added to them The Minor being granted by our Author as before is shewed the Major is only to be proved And for the proof hereof I am to put the Reader in minde of a Petition or Remonstrance exhibited to the King by the House of Commons Anno 1532. in which they shewed themselves agrieved that the Clergy of this Realm should act Authoritatively and Supremely in the Convocations and they in Parliament do nothing but as it was confirmed and ratified by the Royal assent By which it seems that there was nothing then desired by the House 〈◊〉 ●ommons but that the Convocation should be brought down to the same level with the Houses of Parliament and that their Acts and Constitutions should not binde the Subject as before in their Goods and Possessions untill they were confirmed and ratified by the Regal power The Answer unto which Remonstrance being drawn up by Dr. Gardiner then newly made Bishop of Winchester and allowed of by both Houses of Convocation was by them presented to the King But the King not satisfied with this Answer ●●solves to bring them to his bent le●t else perhaps they might have acted something to the hindrance of his divorce which was at that time in agitation and therefore on the 10 of May he sends a paper to them by Dr. Fox after Bishop of Hereford in which it was peremptorily required That no Constitution or Ordinance shall be hereafter by the Clergy Enacted Promulged or put in Execution unlesse the Kings Highness do approve the same by his high Authority and Royal assent and his advice and favour be also interponed for the execution of every such constitution among his Highnesse Subjects And though the Clergy on the receipt of this paper remov'd first to the Chappel of St. Katherines and after unto that of St. Dunstan to consult about it yet found they no Saint able to inspi●e them with a resolution contrary to the Kings desires and therefore upon the Wednesday following being the 15 of the same Moneth they made their absolute submission binding themselves in Verbo Sacerdotii not to make or execute any Canons or other Synodical Constitutions but as they were from time to time enabled by the Kings Authority But this submission being made unto the King in his single person and not as in conjunction with his Houses of Parliament could neither bring the Convocation under the command of Parliaments nor render them obnoxious to the power thereof as indeed it did not But to the contrary hereof it is said by our Author that Fol. 194. He viz. the King by the advice and consent of his Clergy in Convocation and great Councel in Parliament resolved to reform the Church under his inspection from grosse abuses crept into it To this I need no other Answer then our Author himself who though in this place he makes the Parliament to be joyned in Commission with the Convocation as if a joynt Agent in that great business of Reforming the Church yet in another place he tels us another tale For fol. 188. it will appear saith he and I can tell from whom he saith it upon serious examination that there was nothing done in the Reformation of Religion save what was acted by the Clergy in their Convocations or grounded on some Act of theirs precedent to it with the Advice Counsel and Consent of the Bishops and most eminent Churchmen confirmed upon the Postfact and not otherwise by the Civill Sanction according to the usage of the best and happiest times of Christianity So then the Reformation of the Church was acted chiefly by the King with the advice of the Clergy in their Convocation the confirmation on the post-fact by the King in Parliament and that by his leave not in all the Acts and Particulars of it but in some few only for which consult the Tract entituled The Way and Manner of the Reformation of the Church of England Now as our Author makes the Parliament a joynt Assistant with the King in the Reformation so he conferreth on Parliaments the supreme Power of ratifying and confirming all Synodicall Acts. Fol. 199. The Parliament saith he did notifie and declare that Ecclesiasticall power to be in the King which the Pope had formerly unjustly invaded Yet so that they reserved to themselves the confirming power of all Canons Ecclesiastical so that the person or property of Refusers should not be subjected to temporal penalty without consent of Parliament But certainly there ●is no such matter in that Act of Parliament in which the submission of the Clergy and the Authority of the King grounded thereupon is notified and recorded to succeeding times nor any such reservation to themselves of a confirming power as our Author speaks of in any Act of Parliament I can knowingly and boldly say it from that time to this Had there been any such Priviledge any such Reservation as is here declared their power in confirming Ecclesiastical Canons had been Lord Paramount to the Kings who could have acted nothing in it but as he was enabled by his Houses of Parliament Nor is this only a new and unheard of Paradox an Heterodoxie as I may call it in point of Law but plainly contrary to the practice of the Kings of England from that time to this there being no Synodical Canons or Constitutions I dare as boldly say this too confirmed in Parliament or any otherwise ratified then by the superadding of the Royal assent For proof whereof look we no further then the Canons of 603 and 640 confirmed by the two Kings respectively and without any other Authority concurring with them in these following words viz. We have therefore for Us our Heirs and lawful Successors of our especial Grace certain knowledge and meer motion given and by these p●esents do give our Royal assent according to the fo●m of the said Statute or Act of Parliament aforesaid to all and every of
am that it continued and the money was duly paid into the Exchequer for many years after the true cause thereof was taken away the Queens displeasure against Pilkington ending either with his life or hers and all the Garrisons and forces upon the Borders being taken away in the beginning of the Reign of King Iames. So true is that old saying Quod Christus non capit fiscus rapit never more fully verified then in this particular The Sixth Book Containing the History of Abbeys THis Book containing the History of Abbeys seems but a Supplement to the former but being made a distinct book by our Author we must do so likewise In which the first thing capable of an Animadversion is but meerly verbal viz. Fol. 266. Cistercians so called from one Robert living in Cistercium in Burgundy The place in Burgundy from whence these Monks took denomination though call'd Cistercium by the Latins is better known to the French and English by the name Cisteaux the Monks thereof the Monks of Cisteaux by the English and Lesmoines de Cisteaux by the French and yet our Author hath hit it better in his Cistercians then Ralph Brook York Herald did in his Sister-senses for which sufficiently derided by Augustin Vincent as our Author being so well studied in Heraldry cannot chuse but know Fol. 268. But be he who he himself or any other pleaseth brother if they will to St. George on Horseback ● Our Author not satisfying himself in that Equitius who is supposed to be the first Founder of Monks in England makes him in scorn to be the Brother of St. George on Horseback that is to say a meer Chimera a Legendary Saint a thing of nothing The Knights of that most noble Order are beholding to him for putting their Patron in the same Rank with St. Equitius of whose existence on the Earth he can finde no Constat But I would have him know how poorly so ever he thinks of St. George on Horseback that there hath more been said of him his Noble birth Atchievements with his death and Martyrdom then all the Friends our Author hath will or can justly say in defence of our present History Fol. 270. So they deserve some commendation for their Orthodox judgement in maintaining some Controversies in Divinity of importance against the Jesuites Our Author speaks this of the Dominicans or preaching Fryers who though they be the sole active managers of the Inquisition deserve notwithstanding to be commended for their Orthodox judgement How so Because forsooth in some Controversies of importance that is to say Predestination Grace Free-will and the rest of that link they hold the same opinions against the Iesuites and Franciscans as the Rigid Lutherans do against the Melanchthonians and the Rigid or Peremptory Calvinists against the Remonstrants As powerful as the Iesuites and Franciscans are in the Court of Rome they could never get the Pope to declare so much in favour of their Opinion as here our Author out of pure zeal to the good Cause declares in favour of the Dominicans It was wont to be the property or commendation of Charity that it hoped all things believed all things thought no evill and in a word covered a multitude of ●ins But zeal to the good cause having eaten up Charity so far ascribes unto it self the true qualities of it as to pass over the sins and vices of such who have engaged themselves in defence thereof And he that favours the good cause though otherwise heterodox in Doctrine irregular in his Conversation as bloudy a Butcher of the true Protestants as these Preaching Fryers shall have his imperfections covered his vices hidden under this disguise that he is Orth●dox in judgement and a true Professor Otherwise the Dominicans had not ●ound such favour from the hands of our Author who would have drawn as much bloud into their cheeks with his pen as they have drawn from many a true Protestant by their persecutions Fol. 300. We will conclude with their observation as an ominous presage of Abbies ruine that there was scarce a great Abbey in England which once at least was not burnt down with lightning from Heaven ● Our Author may be as well out in this as he hath been in many things else it being an ordinary thing to a●scribe that to Lightning or fire from Heaven which happened by the malice or carelesness of Knaves on Earth of which I shall speak more hereafter on occasion of the firing of St. Pauls s●eeple in London lib. 9. Now only noting by the way that scarse any and but thirteen for our Author names no more which were so consumed hang not well together If only thirteen were so burnt and sure our Author would have nam'd them if they had been more he should have rather chang'd his style and said that of so many Religious Houses as suffered by the decayes of time and the fury of the Danish W●●s or the rage of accident I fires scarse any of them ●●d been striken by the hand of Heaven Fol. 313. Hence presently arose the Northern Rebellion wherein all the open undertakers were North of Trent c. Not all the open undertakers I am sure of that our Author telling us in the words next following that this commotion began first in Lincolnshire no part whereof except the River Isle of Axholm lies beyond the Trent Concerning which we are instructed by Iohn Stow that at an Assise for the Kings Subsidie kept in Lincolnshire the people made an insurrection and gathered nigh twenty thousand persons who took certain Lords and Gentlemen of the Country causing them to be sworn to them upon certain Articles which they had devised For which Rebellion and some other practises against the State 12 of that County that is to say 5 Priests and 7 Lay-men were not long after drawn to Tyborn and there hang'd and quarte●ed By which we see that all the open undertakers in the Northern Rebellion were not North of Trent nor all the principal undertakers neither some Lords and Gentlemen of that County though against their wills appearing in it and amongst others Sir Iohn Hussey created Baron not long before by King Henry the eighth and shortly after punisht by him with the loss of his head for being one of the Heads of this Insurrection Fol. 316. Where there be many people there will be many offenders there being a Cham amongst the eight in the Ark yea a Cain amongst the four Primitive Persons in the beginning of the world In this our Authors Rule is better then his Exemplification For though there where but eight persons in the Ark whereof Cham was one yet in all probability there were more then four persons in the world at the Birth of Abel reckoning him for one For though the Scripture doth subjoyn the Birth of Abel unto that of Cain yet was it rather in relation to the following story wherein Abel was a principal party then that no other children
had been born between them The world had peopled very slowly and never increased to such vast multitudes in so short a time if Eve had not twinned at least at every birth and that some other children had not intervened between Cain and Abel Not was Cain in relation to the time of his brothers birth to be accounted of as Cain in our Authors sense that is to say a Malefactor an Offender a murtherer of his innocent brother or if we take him in that sense there must be then some scores of persons at the least if not many hundreds and consequently no such Cain amongst the Four Primitive Persons in the beginning of the world as our Author would Fol. 338. Such who are Prelatically affected must acknowledge these new Foundations of the Kings for a worthy work c. So then the Foundation of six Bishopricks with the Capitular Bodies Schools Alms-houses and other Ministers and Officers subservient to them is to be thought a worthy work with reference to the work it self by none but such as are Prelatically affected The Preferment of so many men of Learning the Education of so many children the maintenance of so many Quire-men the relief of so many decay'd and impotent persons the provision made for so many of all sorts who had their being and subsistence in the said Foundations had nothing in it which might Signifie a worthy work unless there be somewhat of a Prelatical perswasion in them who put that value and esteem upon it If any of a contrary judgement do approve the same it is not to be attributed to the worth of the work but to the accidental use which the unhappiness of this Age hath put them to that is to say by selling all the Lands which severally belong'd unto them to supply the present necessities of of the Common-wealth as our Author telleth us Assuredly such as are now founded in Colledges or possest of Tithes have good cause to thank him for this Discourse which by this Rule and Reason are to be approved of by none but those who are interessed and concerned in th●m except it be with reference to some subsequent sal● when the pretended exigencies of the Common-wealth or of any prevailing party in it shall require the s●me Fol. 340. It was in those days conceived highly injurious to thrust Monks and Nuns out of House and Home without assigning them any allowance for their subsistence Our Author says very well in this there being few Religious persons thrust out of their Houses except those that suffered by the first act of dissolution who either were not prefer'd in the Church as Wakeman the last Abbot of Tewksbery was by the King made the first Bishop of Glocester or otherwise provided of some liberal pension according to their age wants and quality insomuch as Sir William Weston Lord Prior of the order of St. Iohns had an yearly Pension of a thousand pounds Rawson the Subprior of a thousand Marks some of the Brethren of two hundred pounds per annum and thirty pounds per annum he that had least Not did the King only give them such competent Pensions as might yeeld them a subsistence for the future but furnisht them with ready money beforehand their viaticum or advance money as it were toward their setting up in the world which commonly amounted to a fourth part of their yearly Pension The like honest care to which I finde in our Authors History of Waltham Abbey fol. 8. where he telleth us that the Canons founded there by King Harold were not remov'd thence by King Henry the second notwithstanding the scandalous conversation which was charg'd upon them and Augustinian Fryers brought into their place done● praedictis Canonicis sufficienter provisum fuisset till the said Canons were other ways pro●ided of sufficient maintenance And this may serve for the instruction I will not say the reproach of the present times in which so many Bishops Deans and Prebendaries no was obnoxious to any such scandalous accusations have been thrust out of their Cathedrals without the allowance of one penny towards their subsistence The like may be said also in the case of the sequestred Clergy For though by an Order of the House of Commons their wives● and children were to enjoy a fifth part of the yearly profits of their Benefices yet the unconscionable Intruders found so many shifts to evade that Order that very few enjoy'd the just benefit of it and they that did found their attendance on the Committee for plundred Ministers so troublesome and chargeable to them that it did hardly quit the cost One man I know particularly who after above twenty Orders pro and con● and the riding of above a thousand miles backward and forward besides a chargeable stay in London to attend the business was fain at last to make a private agreement with the adverse party and take a tenth part in stead of a fifth The like may be said also of the late Bill by which the Presbyterian Intruders are setled in the Bene●●ces of the seque●tred Clergy for term of life For though it be thereby provided that the Commissioners for rejecting of scandalous Ministers shall have power to grant a fifth part together with the arrears thereof to the sequestred and e●ected Clergy yet is the Bill clog'd with two such circumstances as make it altogether unuseful to some and may make it little beneficial unto all the rest For by the first it is declar'd that no man shall receive any benefit by it who hath either thirty pound per annum in Real or five hundred pounds in Personal Estate by means whereof many who have had some hundreds of pounds yearly to maintain their Families are tyed up to so poor a pittance as will hardly keep their chil●ren from begging in the open streets By the other there is such a power given to the Commissioners that not exceeding the fifth part they may give to the poor sequestred Clergy as much and as little as they please under that proportion And one I know particularly in this case also who for an Arrear of twelve years out of a Benefice rented formerly at 250 l. per annum to my certain knowledge could obtain but 3 l. 6 s. 8 d. the first Intruder being still living and possest of that Benefice and no more then 20 Marks par annum for his future subsistence which is but a nineteenth part in stead of a fifth And this I have observ'd the rather that if these p●pers should chance to come into the hands of any of those who have the conduct of affairs they would be pleas'd to cause the said Bill to be review'd and make the benefit thereof more certain and extensive then it is at the present Our Author might have sav'd me the greatest part of this Application had he been minded to do the poor Clergy any right as he seldom doth For proof whereof we need but look upon a passage in
his very Book fol. 283. which is this that followeth Once saith he it was in my minde to set down a Catalogue easie to do and useful when done of such Houses of Cistercians Templers and Hospitallers which were founded since the Lateran Council yet going under the general notion of Tithe-free to the great injury of the Church But since on second thoughts I conceived it better to let it alone as not sure on such discovery of any blessing from such Ministers which should gain but certain of many curses from such Lay-men who should lose thereby So he But I have heard it for a usual saying of King Henry the fourth of France That he that feared the Popes curse the reproaches of discontented people and the frowns of his Mistress should never sleep a quiet hour in his bed And so much for that Fol. 357. But this was done without any great cost to the Crown only by altering the Property of the place from a late made Cathedral to an Abbey Our Author speaks this of the Church of Westminster which though it suffered many changes yet had it no such change as our Author speaks of that is to say from a Cathedral to an Abbey without any other alteration which came in between For when the Monastery was dissolved by King Henry the eighth An. 1539. it was made a Deanry Will. Benson being the first Dean In the year 1541. he made it an Episcopal See or Cathedral Church and placed Thomas Thurlby the first Bishop there But Thurlby being remov'd to Norwich Anno 1550. the Bishoprick was suppressed by King Edward the sixth and the Church ceased from being Cathedral continuing as a Deanry only till the 21. of November 1557. at what time Dr. Hugh Weston the then Dean thereof unwillingly remov'd to Winsor made room for Feckna● and his Monks and so restor'd it once again to the State of an Abbey as our Author telleth us Fol. 359. Nor can I finde in the first year of Queen Elizabeth any particular Statute wherein as in the r●ign of King Henry the eighth these Orders are nominatim suppressed c. But first the several Orders of Religious Persons were not suppressed nominatim except that of St. Iohns by a Statute in the time of King Henry the eight Secondly if there were no such Statute yet was it not because those Houses had no legal settlement as it after followeth Queen Mary being vested with a power of granting Mortmains and consequently of founding these Religious Houses in a Legal way Thirdly there might be such a Statute though our Author never had the good luck to see it and yet for want of such good luck I finde him apt enough to think there was no such Statute Et quod non invenit usquam esse putat nusquam in the Poets language And such a Statute as he speaks of there was indeed mentioned and related to in the Charter of Queen Elizabeth for founding the Collegiate Church of St. Peter in Westminster But being an unprinted Statute and of private use it easily might escape our Authors diligence though it did not Camdens who being either better ●ighted or more concern'd had a view thereof For telling ●s how the Monks with their Abbot had been set in possession again by Queen Mary he after addeth that they within a while after being cast out by Authority of Parliment the most vertuous Queen Elizabeth converted it into a Collegiate Church or rather into a Seminary or Nurse Garden of the Church c. Fol. 369. Jesuits the last and newest of all Orders The newest if the last there 's no doubt of that but the last they were not the Oratorians as they call them being of a later brood The Iesuites founded by Ignatius Loyola a Spaniard and confirmed by Pope Paul the thi●d Anno 1540. The Oratorians founded by Philip Meri● a Florentine and confirmed by Pope Pius the fourth Anno 1564. By which accompt these Oratorians are younger Brethren to the Iesuites by the space of four and twenty years and consequently the ●esuites not the last and newest of Religious Orders ANIMADVERSIONS ON The Seventh and Eighth Books OF The Church History OF BRITAIN Containing the Reigns of King Edward the sixth and Queen Mary WE are now come unto the Reign of King Edward the sixth which our Author p●sseth lightly over though very full of action and great alterations And he●e the first thing which I meet with is an unnecessary Quaere which he makes about the Injunctions of this King Amongst which we finde one concerning the religious keeping of the Holy-dayes in the close whereof it is declared That it shall be lawful for all people in time of Harvest to labour upon Holy and Festivall dayes and save that thing which God hath sent and that scrupulosity to abstain from wo●king on those dayes doth grievously offend God Our Author he●upon makes this Quaere that is to say Fol. 375. Whether in the 24 Injunction labouring in time of Harvest upon Holy-dayes and Festivals relateth not only to those of Ecclesiastical Constitution as dedicated to Saints or be inclusive of the Lords-day also Were not our Author a great Zelot for the Lords-day-Sabbath and ●●●dious to intitle it to some Antiquity we had not met with such a Quaere The Law and Practice of those times make this plain enough For in the Statute of 5 and 6 of Edward the sixth c. 3. the names and number of the Holy-dayes being first laid down that is to say All Sundayes in the year the Feasts of the circumcision of our Lord Iesus Christ of the Epiphany c. with all the rest still kept and there named particularly it is thus enacted viz. That it shall and may be lawful to every Husbandman Labourer Fisherman and to all and every other person and persons of what Estate Degree or Condition he or they be upon the Holy-dayes aforesaid in Harvest or at any other times in the year when necessity shall so require to labour ride fish or work any kinde of 〈◊〉 at their free-wils and pleasure any thing in this Act to the contrary notwithstanding The Law being such there is no question to be made in point of practice nor consequently of the meaning of the Kings injunction For further opening of which truth we finde in Sir Iohn Haywoods History of this King that not the Countrey only but the Court were indulged the liberty of attending but ness on that day it being ordered by the King amongst other things That the Lords of the Councell should upon Sundayes attend the publick Affairs of the Realm dispatch Answers to Letters for good order of the State and make full dispatches of all things concluded the week before Provided that they be p●esent at Common Prayer And that on every Sunday night the Kings Secretary should deliver him a memorial of such things as are to be debated by the Privy Councell in the week ens●ing Which Orders had our Author
read and compared with the Statute he had not needed to have made this Q●ere about the true intent and meaning of the Kings Injunction Fol. 386. In the first year of King Edward the sixth it was recommended to the care of the most grave Bishops and others assembled by the King at his Castle at Windfor and when by them compleated set forth in Print 1548. with a Proclamation in the Kings name to give Authority thereunto being also recommended unto every Bishop by especiall Letters from the Lords of the Councel to see the same put in execution And in the next year a penalty was imposed by Act of Parliament on such who should d●prave or neglect the use thereof Our Author here mistakes himself and confounds the business making no difference between the whole first Liturgy of King Edward the sixth and a particular form of Administration For the better understanding whereof he may please to know that in the first Parliament of this King there past a Statute Entituled An Act against such as speak against the Sacrament of the Altar and for the receipt thereof in both kindes Upon the coming out whereof the King being no lesse desirous as Fox relates it to have the form of Administration of the Sacrament reduced to the right Rule of the Scriptures and first use of the Primitive Church then he was to establish the same by Authority of his own Regal Lawes appointed cert●in of the most grave and learned Bishop and others of his Realm to assemble together at his Castle of Windsor there to argue and intreat of this matter and conclude upon and set forth one perfect and uniform Order acco●ding to the Rule and use aforesaid which Book was printed and set out March 8. 1548. which is 1547. according to the accompt of the Church of England with a Proclamation of the Kings befo●e as by the Book it self appea●●● But this Book thus set out and publisht contained nothing but a Form and Order of Adminis●ing the Holy Communion under both kinds in pursu●nce of the Statute before mentioned and served but as a preamble to the following Liturgy a B●e● fast as it were to the Feast insuing The Liturgy came not out till near two years after confirmed in Parliament Anno 2. 3. Edw. 6. cap. 1. and in that Parliament cryed up as made by the immediate aide and inspiration of the holy Ghost Which notwith●●anding some exceptions being taken at it as our Author notes by Calvin ab●o●d and some Zealots at home the Book was brought under a Review much altered in all the parts and offi●es of it but wheth●r ●nto the better or unto the worse let some others judge Fol. 404. At last the great Earl of Warwick deserted his Chaplain in open field to shift for himself Indeed he had higher things in his head then to attend such trifles A man may easily discern a Cat by her claw and we may finde as easily by the scratches of our Autho●s pen to what party in the Church he stands most inclined He had before declared for the Dominicans and Rigid Calvinists in some points of Doct●ine and now declares himself for the Non-Conformists in point of Ceremony He had not else called the Episcopal Ornaments particularly the Rochet Chimere and Square-cap by the name of trifles such trifles as were not worth the contending for if Res●lute Ridley had been pleased to dispense therein The truth is that Hoopers opposition in this particula● gave the first ground to those Combustions in the Church which after followed Calvin extremely stickling for him and writing to his party here to assist him in it And this I take to be the reason why our Author is so favourable in his censure of him fol. 402. and puts such Answers in the mouthes of the Non-Conformist fol. 404. as I can hardly think were so well hammered and accommodated in those early dayes Such as seem rather fitted for the temper and acumen of the present times after a long debating of all particulars and a strict search into all the niceties of the Controversie then to the first beginnings and unpremeditated Agitatious of a new-born Quarrel Fol. 406. Yet this work met afterwards with some Frowns even in the faces of great Clergy-men c. because they concoived these singing Psalms erected in Corrivality and opposition to the reading Psalms which were formerly sung in Cathedral Churches And tho●e great Church-men ●ad good re●son for what they did wisely foreseeing that the singing of those Psalms so translated in Rythme and Meeter would work some alteration in the executing of the publique Liturgy For though it be exprest in the Title of those singing Psalms that they were set forth and allowed to be sung in all Churches before and after morning and eveni●g Prayer and also before and after Sermons yet this allowance seems rather to have been a Connivence then an approbation no such allowance being ●ny whe●e found by such as have been most industrious and concerned in the search thereof Secondly whereas ●t was intended that the said Psalms should be only 〈◊〉 before and after morning and evening Prayer and also before and after Sermons which shews they were not to be intermingled in the publique Liturgy in very little time they p●evailed so far in most Parish Churches as to thrust the Te Deum the Benedictus the Magnificat and the Nunc dimittis quite out of the Church And thirdly by the practices and endevours of the Puritan party they came to be esteemed the most divine part of Gods publique service the reading Psalms together with the first and second Lessons being heard in many places with a covered head but all men ●itting bare-headed when the Psalm is sung And to that end the Parish Clerk must be taught when he names the Psalm to call upon the people to sing it to the praise and glory of God no such preparatory Exhortation being used at the naming of the Chapters of the dayly Psalms But whereas our Author seems to intimate that the Reading Psalms were formerly sung only in Cath●dral Churches he is exceedingly mistaken both in the Rubri●ks of the Church and the practice too the Rubricks l●●ving them indifferently to be said or sung according as the Congregation was fitted for it the practice in some Parish Churches within the time of my memory being for it also And this our Author as I think cannot chuse but know if he be but as well studied in the Rules of the Church as in some Popish Legends and old ends of Poetry Fol. 407. Let Adonijah and this Lords example deterr Subjects from medling with the Widows of their Soveraigns lest in the same match they espouse their own danger and destruction I see little reason for this Rule lesse for his examples For first Abishag the Shunamite whom Adonijah des●red to have to wife was ●ever marryed unto David and therefore cannot properly be called his Widow And secondly Queen
their private discontents into open practices endeavouring to settle their Religion by the destruction of the King and the change of Government And first beginning with the Papists because first in time Fol. 5. Watson with William Clark another of his own profession having fancied a Notional Treason imparted it to George Brooks To these he after adds the Lord Cobham a Protestant the Lord Gray of Whaddon a Puritan and Sir Walter Rawleigh an able Statesman and some other Knights In the recital of which names our Author hath committed a double fault the one of omission and the other of commission A fault of omission in leaving out Sir Griffith Markham as much concerned as any of the principal actors design'd to have been Secretary of Estate had the Plot succeeded and finally arraign'd and condemn'd at Winchester as the others were His fault of commission is his calling the Lord Gray by the name of the Lord Gray of Whaddon a fault not easily to be pardon'd in so great an Herald whereas indeed though Whaddon in Buckinghamshire was part of his Estate yet Wilton in Herefordshire was his Barony and ant●ent Seat his Ancestors being call'd LL. Gray of Wilton to difference them from the Lord Gray of Reuthen the Lord Gray of Codnor c. Having thus satisfied our Author in this particular I would gladly satisfie my self in some others concerning this Treason in which I finde so many persons of such different humors and Religions that it is very hard to think how they could either mingle their interefles or unite their counsels But discontentments make men fuel fit for any fire and discontents had been on purpose put upon some of them the more to estrange them from the King and the King from them And though I am not Oedipus enough for so dark a Sphinx yet others who have had more light into the businesses of that time have made their discontents to grow upon this occasion Sir Robert Cecil then principal Secretary to the Estate fearing the great abilities of Rawleigh and being wearied with the troublesome impertinencies of Gray and Cobham all which had joyned with him in design against the Earl of Essex their common Enemy had done their errand to Kings Iames whose counsels he desired to ingross to himself alone before his coming into England And the Plot took so good effect that when the Lord Cobham went to meet the King as he came towards London the King checked him being then Warden of the Cinqne Ports for his absence from his charge in that dangerous time The Lord Gray was not look'd upon in the Court as he had been formerly there being no longer use of his rashness and praecipitations And the better to discountenance Rawleigh who had been Captain of the Guard to Queen Elizabeth the King bestowed that Office on Sir Thomas Erskin then Vicount Fenton and Captain of his Guard in Scotland All which being publickly observ'd it was no ha●d matter for George Brook to work upon the weak spi●its of Gray and Cob●am of which the last was his brother and the first his brothers special friend and by such Artifices as he us'd in laying before them their disgraces and shewing them a way to right themselves to draw them into the confederacy with Clark and Watson And it is possible that they not being substantive enough to stand alone might acquaint Rawleigh with the Plot whose head was able to do more then all their hands But of his actings in it or consenting to it when the pa●ties were brought unto their Tryal there appear'd no proof but that Cobham in his confession taken before the Lords had accus'd him of it and that not only as an accessary but a principal actor But Cobham not being brought into the open Court to justifie his accusation face to face as the custom as it was thought a good argument by many that Rawleigh was not so criminal in this matter as his Enemies made him And though found guilty by the Jury on no other evidence then a branch of Cobhams confession not so much as subscribed by his hand yet all men were not satisfied in the manner of this proceeding it being then commonly affirm'd that Cobham had retracted his accusation as since it hath been said and printed that in a letter written the night before his Tryal and then sent to the Lord●● he cleared Rawl●igh from all manner of Treasons against the King or State for which consult the Observations upon some particular Persons and passages c. printed Anno 1656. But from the practices of the Papists which have led me thus far out of my way it is now time that I proceed to the Petition of the Puritans presented to the King much about that time Fol. 7. This called the Millenary Petition And it was called so because given out to be subscribed by 〈◊〉 thousand hands though it wanted a fourth part of thi● number More modest now then they had been in P●●ries time when in stead of one thousand they threatn●● to bring a Petition which should be presented by the hands of a hundred thousand More modest also in the style and phrase of their Petition and in the subject M●●ter of it then they had been when Martin Mar Pr●●●rul'd the Rost and would be satisfied with nothing 〈◊〉 the ruine of the English Hierarchy Which notwithstanding the King thought fit to demur upon it and 〈◊〉 commended the answering of their Petition to the U●●versity of Oxford and was done accordingly The An●●● and Petition printed not long after gave the first stop●● this importunity represt more fully by the Confer●●● at Hampton-Court of which it is told us by our Auth●● how some of the Millenary party complained that 〈◊〉 Fol. 21. This Conference was partially set forth only 〈◊〉 Dr. Barlow Dean of Chester their professed Adversa●● to the great disadvantage of their Divines If so 〈◊〉 did it come to pass that none of their Divines th●● present no● any other in their behalf did ever manife●● the world the partialities and falsehoods of it The 〈◊〉 was printed not long after the end of the Conference publickly passing from one hand to another and ne● convicted of any such crime as it stands charged with 〈◊〉 any one particular p●●●age to this very day Only pleas'd some of the Zealo●s to scatter abroad some tri●●ing Papers not amounting to half a sheet amongst them which tended to the holding up of their sinking Party and being brought by Dr. Barlow were by him put in Print and publisht at the end of his Book Vt deterrim comparatione gloriam sibi compararet in the words of Tacitus He could not better manifest his own abilities then by having those weak and imperfect Scribbles for a foil unto them And here before I leave this conference I must make a start to fol. 91. for rectifying a mistake of our Authors which relates unto it Where speaking of Dr. King then Bishop of London and
Design 'T is 〈◊〉 the stomack of the Scots were sharp set still crying Give give but never satisfied King Iames as boun●●ful and open handed towards them as they could desire But neithe● were they to impudent as to crave nor the King to impotent as to give a whole Bishop●ick 〈◊〉 on●e especially so rich a Bishoprick as this of Durham But the truth is that George Hume Earl of Dunbar Lord Treasurer of Scotland and highly favour'd by the King having procur'd a grant of all the batable grounds as they then called them upon the Borders of both Kingdoms began to cast his eye upon Norham-Castle and the Lands about it belonging to the See of Durham conceiving it a fit place to command the rest But being a well principled man and a great Minister of that Kings in restoring the Episcopal Government to the Church of Scotland he acquainted Bishop Bancroft with his desires who knowing what great use might be made of him for the good of this Church and being sure enough of the consent of Dr. Matthews then Bishop of Durham he thus ordered the business Whereas the Revenue of Norham-Castle and the lands adjoyning were valued at one hundred twenty pounds per annum in the Bishops Rental it was agreed that the Earl should procure of the King an abatement of sixscore pounds yearly out of the annual pension of a thousand pound which had been said upon that Bishoprick by Queen Elizabeth as before is said Secondly that he should obtain from the King for the said Dr. Matthews and his Successors a restitution of his House in the Strand called Durham-House with the Gardens Stables and Tenements thereto appertaining which had been alienated from that Bishoprick ever since the dissolving of it by King Edward the sixth Thirdly that in consideration hereof Bishop Matthews should make a grant of Norham-Castle and the Countrey adjoyning in Feefarm to the King by him immediately to be convey'd to the Earl of Dunbar And fourthly that his own 〈◊〉 being thus serv'd the said Earl should joyn with Bishop Bancroft and his friends for obtaining from the King an Act of Parliament whereby both he and his successors should be made uncapable of any the like Grants and Alienations for the time to come which as it was the 〈◊〉 Marke● that ever Toby Matthews was at so was it the best bargain which was ever driven for the Church of England so ●ar from swallowing up that Bishoprick that it was the only means to save that and preserve the rest And yet perhaps the credible information which our Author speaks of might not relate unto the Bis●oprick but the Dea●ry of Durham bestowed by that King being then not well studied in the Composition of the Church of England on Sir Adam Newton a Courtier prevalent enough as having been Tutor to Prince Henry the Kings eldest Son And possible it is that the Scots might have kept it in their hands from one generation to another if Dr. Hunt not otherwise to be remembred had not bought him out of it and put himself into the place Fol. 59. And as about this time some perchance overvalu●d the Geneva Notes out of that especial love they bare to the Authors and place whence it proceeded so on the other side some without cause did slight or rather without charity did slander the same ● I trow our Author will not take upon him to condemn all those who approve not of the Genevian Notes upon the Bible or to appear an Advocate for them though he tells us not many lines before that they were printed thirty times over with the general liking of the people I hope he will not do the first for King Iames his sake who in the Conference at Hampton-Court did first declare that of all the Translations of the Bible into the English Tongue that of Geneva was the worst and secondly that the Notes upon it were partial untrue seditious and savouring too much of dangerous and traiterous conceits For p●oof whereof his Majesty instanced in two places the one on Exod. 1. vers 19. where disobedience to Kings is allowed of the other in ● Chron. 8. 15 16. where Asa is taxed for deposing his Moth●r only and not killing her A Note whe●eof the Scottish Presbyterians made special use not only deposing Mary their lawful Queen from the Regal Th●one but prosecuting ●er openly and under hand till they had took away her life These instances our Author in his Summary of that Conference hath passed over in silence as loath to have such blemishes appear in the Genevians or their Annotations And I hope also that he will not advocate for the rest For let him tell me what he thinks of that on the second of St. Matthews Gospel v. 12. viz Promise ought not to be kept where Gods honour and preaching of his truth is hindered or else it ought not to be broken What a wide gap think we doth this open to the breach of all Promises Oaths Covenants Contracts and Agreements not only betwixt man and man but between Kings and their Subjects Wh●t Rebel ever took up Arms without some pretences of that nature What Tumults and Rebellions have been rais'd in all parts of Christendom in England Scotland Ireland France the Netherlands Germany and indeed where not under colour that Gods honour and the preaching of the truth is hindered If this once pass for good sound Doctrine neither the King nor any of his good Subjects in what Realm ●oever can live in safety Gods Honour and the preaching 〈◊〉 his Truth are two such pretences as will make void all Laws elude all Oathes and thrust our all Covenants and Agreements be they what they will Ne●● I would have our Author tell me what he thinks of this Note on the ninth of the Revelation ver 3. where the 〈◊〉 which came out of the smoak are said to be 〈◊〉 teachers Hereticks and worldly subtil ●relates with 〈◊〉 F●iers Cardinals Patriarchs Archbishops Bishops 〈◊〉 Batchelors and Masters Does not this note 〈◊〉 fasten the name of Locusts on all the Cle●●y of 〈◊〉 Realm that is to say Archbishops Bishops and all 〈◊〉 as are graduated in the University by the name of Doctors Batchelors and Masters And doth it not as plainly yoak them with F●iers Monk● and Cardinals p●incipal instruments in all times to advance the Popecom I know the words which follow after are alleadged by some to take off the envy of this Note viz. who forsake Christ to maintain false doctrines But the enumeration of so many particulars makes not the Note the lets invidious the said explication notwithstanding because the Note had been as perfect and significant had it gone thus in generals only that is to say by Locusts here are meant false Teachers Hereticks and other worldly subtil men that seduced the people perswading them to fo●sake Christ to maintain false Doctrine But the Genevians who account Archbishops and Bishops to be limbs of the Pope
resolved to joyn them with the rest of his members Fryers Monks and Cardinals and our Author being a great favourer of the Presbyterians must not take notice of this scandal especially considering that Papacy and Praelacy are joyn'd together in the language of the present times and therefore fit to go together in this Annotation Fol. 68. In this Parliament Dr. Harsnet Bishop of Chichester gave offence in a Sermon preached at Court pressing the word Reddite Caesari quae sunt Caesaris as if all that was levied by Subsidies or paid by Custom to the Crown was but a redditum of what was the Kings before This Par●●ament is plac●● by our Author in the year 1613. but 〈◊〉 Parliament in the sitting whereof Bishop Ha●●●et 〈◊〉 the Sermon above mentioned was held by Pro●ogation in the year 1609. and afterwards dissolved by Procl●mation in December of the year next following Concerning which Sermon King Iames gives this account to the Lords and Commons assembled before him at White-hall March 23. and therefore s●ith he That Reverend B●shop here amongst you though I hear by divers he was mi●●aken or not well understood yet did he preach both learnedly and 〈◊〉 ancient this point concerning the power o● a King for what he spake of a Kings power in abstracto is most true in Divinity for to Emperors or Kings that are Monarchs their Subjects bodies and goods are due for their defence and maintenance But if I had been in his place I would only have added two words which would have cleared all for after I had told as a Divine what was due by the Subjects to their Kings in general I would then have concluded as an English man shewing this people that as in general all sub●ects were bound to relieve their King so to exhort them that as we lived in a setled state of a Kingdom that was governed by his own fundamental Laws and Orders that according thereunto they were now being assembled for this purpose in Parliament to consider how to help such a King as now they had and that according to the antient form and order established in this Kingdom putting so a difference between the general power of a King in Divinity and the setled and established state of this Crown and Kingdom and I am sure that the Bishop meant to have have done the same if he had not been strai●ned by time which in respect of the greatness of the present Preaching befo●e us and such an Auditory he durst not presume upon 〈◊〉 that the doctrine of the Bishop being thus justified and explained by King Iames and the Parliament continuing undissolved till December following we have no reason to believe that the Parliament was dissolved upon this occasion and much less on the occasion of some words spoken in that Parliament by Bishop 〈◊〉 of which thus our Author Ibid. Likewise Dr. Neile Bishop of Rochester uttered words in the House of Lords interpreted to the disparagement of some reputed zealous Patriot in the House of Commons ● In this passage I have many things to excep● against As 1. That this Patriot is not nam'd to who●e disparagement the words are pretended to be uttered And 2. that the words themselves are not here laid down and yet are made to be so hainously taken that to s●ve the Bishop from the storm which was coming ●owards him the King should principally be occasion'd to ●●ssolve that Parliament 3. That Dr. Neile is here call'd Bishop of Rochester whom twice before viz. sel. 64. 67. he makes to be Bishop of Coventry and Lei●hfield And 4. That the words here intimated should be spoken in Parliament Anno 1613. whereas by giving Dr. Neile the Title of Rochester it should rather be referred to the Parliament holden by prorogation till the last of December Anno 1610. when it was dissolved and then dissolved as appears by the Kings Proclamation for not supplying his necessities and other reasons there expressed whereof this was none Fol. 70. Some conceive that in reveng● Mr. John Selden soon after set forth his Book of Tithes wherein he Historically proveth that they were payable jure humano and not ●therwise Whether the acting of the Comedy called Ignoramus might move Mr. Selden at the first to take this revenge I enquire not here though it be probable it might that Comedy being acted before King Iames Anno 1614. and this Book coming out about two years after Anno 1616. But here I shall observe in the first place our Authors partiality in telling us that Mr. Selden in that book hath proved Historically that Tithes are payable 〈◊〉 humano and not otherwise whereas indeed he undertook to prove that point but proved it not as will ●ppear to any which have read the Answers set out against him I observe secondly our Authors ignorance in the Book it self telling us within few lines after that the first part of it is a meer Iew of the practice of Tithing amongst the Hebrews the second a Christian and chiefly an English man whereas indeed that part thereof which precedes the manner of Tithing amongst Christians hath as much of the Gentil as of the Iew as much time spent upon examining of the Tithes paid by the Greeks and Romans as was in that amongst the Hebrews Thirdly I must observe the prejudice which he hath put upon the Cause by telling us in the next place that though many Divines undertook the Answer of that Book yet sure it is that never a fiercer storm fell on all Parsonage Barn since the Reformation then what this Treatise raised up And so our Author leaves this matter without more ado telling us of the Churches danger but not acquainting us at all with her deliverance from the present storm neither so violent not so great nor of such continuance as to blow off any one Tile or to blow aside so much as one Load of Corn from any Parsonage barn in England For though this History gave some Countrey Gentlemen occasion and matter of discourse against paying Tithes yet it gave none of them the audaciousness to deny the payment So safe and speedy a course was took to prevent the mischief which since our Author hath not told us as had he plaid the part of a good Historian he was bound to do I will do it for him No sooner was the Churches Patrimony thus called in question but it pleased God to stir up some industrious and learned men to undertake the answering of that History which at the first made so much noise amongst the people Dr. Tillesly Archdeacon of Rochester first appeared in the Lists managing that part of the Controversie which our Author cals a Christian and an English-man relating to old Chartularies and Infeodations The three first Chapters which Dr. Tillesly had omitted concerning the payment of Tithes by the Iews and Gentiles were solidly but very smartly examined and confuted by Mr. M●ntague at that time Fellow of Eaton Colledge and afterwards Lord
Author speaks of but some years before They were now come unto their height and had divided the whole body of the united Belgick Provinces into two great Factions that of the Remonstrants whom in reproach they call their Minions being headed by Iohn Olden Barnevelt a principal Counseller of State and of great Authority in his Countrey the other of the Calvinists or Contra-Remonstrants being managed by Maurice Prince of Orange the chief Commander of the Forces of the States united both by Sea and Land But the troubles and divisions were now come to their full growth they began many years before occasioned by a Remonstrance exhibited to the States of Holland by the followers of Dr. Iames Harmin who liked better the Melanchthonian way then that of Calvin Anno 1610. and that Remonstrance counterballanced by a Contra-Remonstran●● made by ●uch Divines who were better pleased with Calvins Doctrine in the deep Speculations of Predestination Grace Freewil c. then with that of Melanchthon Hence grew the names of Remonstrants and Contra-Remonstrants occurring frequently in the Writings on both sides till the Remonstrants were condemned in the Synod of Dort and either forced to yield the Cause or quit their Countrey Each party in the mean time had the opportunity to disperse their Doctrines in which the Remonstrants gained exceedingly upon their Adversaries especially after they had been admitted to a publick Confe●ence at the Hague Anno 1611. in which they were conceived to have had much the better of the day and so continued in encrease of their power and credit till the Quarrels and Animosities between the Prince and Barnevelt put a full period to the businesse by the death of the one and the Authority of the other Fol. 82. Hereby the equal Reader may judge how candidly Mr. Montague in his Appeal dealeth with our Divines charging them that the Discipline of the Church of England is in this Synod held unlawfull And again the Synod of Dort in some points condemneth upon the by even the Discipline of the Church of England Ass●redly Mr. Montague deals very candidly with our Divines professing that he doth reverence them for their places worth and learning though not obliged as he conceived to all or any of the Conclusions of the Synod at Dort And he might very well declare as indeed he doth that the Discipline of the Church of England in that and other Dutch Synods was held unlawfull and by them condemned upon the by For whereas in the Confession of the Belgick Churches ratified and confirmed in the Synod of Dort it is declared and maintained that all Ministers are by the word of God of equall power it must needs follow thereupon that the Superiority of Bishops over other Ministers is against Gods word Quantum verò attinet Divini verbi Ministros ubicunque locorum sint eandem illi Potestatem Authoritatem habent ut qui omnes sint Christi unici illius Episcopi universalis unicique Capitis Ecclesiae Ministri These are the words of that Confewon as it stands ratified and recorded in the Acts of the Synod of Dort as before was said In which and by which if the Discipline of the Church of England be not made unlawful in terminis terminantibus as they use to say I am sure it is condemned upon the by which is as much as Mr. Montague had affirmed of it And howsoever Dr. Charleton then Bishop of Landaffe as well to vindicate his own dignity as the honour of the Church of England tendred his Protestation of that Synod in behalf of Episcopacy yet was it made to signifie nothing nor so much as honored with an Answer our Author noting at the end of this protestation Britannorum interpellationi responsum ne gru q●●dem viz. to this interpellation of the British Divines nothing at all was answered There might be some wrong done to our Divines by the rest of that Synod but no wrong done by Mr. Montague neither to our Divines nor unto that Synod Fol. 89. Now whilest in common discourse some made this Iudge others that Sergeant Lord Chancellor King James made Dr. Williams lately and still Dean of Westminstet and soon after Bishop of Lincoln In this and the rest which followes touching the advancement of Dr. Williams to the place and dignity of Lord Keeper there are three things to be observed And first it is to be observed that though he was then Dean of Westminster when the custody of the Great Seal was committed to him yet was he not then and still Dean of that Church that is to say not Dean thereof at such time as our Author writ this part of the History For fol. 80. speaking of Dr. Hals return from the Synod of Dort Anno 1618. he addes that he continued in health till this day thirty three years after which fals into the year 1651. And certainly at that time Dr. Williams then Archbishop of York was not Dean of Westminster that place having been bestowed by his Majesty upon Dr. Steward Clerk of the Closet An. 1645. being full six years before the time which our Author speaks of Secondly whereas our Author tells us that the place was proper not for the plain but guarded Gown I would ●ain know how it should be more proper for the guarded Gown then it was for the plain There was a time when the Chancellors as our Author telleth us elsewhere were always Bishops and from that time till the fall of Cardinal Wolsey that Office continued for the most part in the hands of the Prelates at what time that great Office was discharged with such a general contentment that people found more expedition in their Suits and more ease to their Purses then of later times By which it seems that men who are never bred to know the true grounds and reasons of the Common Law might and could mitigate the Rigour of it in such difficult cases as were brought before them the Chancery not having in those days such a mixture of Law as now it hath not being so tyed up to such intricate Rules as now it is But thirdly whereas our Author in advocating for the Common Lawyers prescribeth for them a Succession of six Descent●s he hath therein confu●ed himself and ●aved me the trouble of an Animadve●sion by ● 〈◊〉 Note in which netelle●● us that Sir Ch. Hatton was not bred a Lawyer If so then neither was the Title 〈◊〉 strong nor the P●oscriptions so well grounded as ou● Author makes i● the int●●position of Sir Christopher Hatton between Sir Tho. Bromley and Sir Iohn Puckering 〈◊〉 it to three descents and but thirty years which is too short a time 〈◊〉 a Prescription to be built upon Fol. 93. He had 14 years been Archbishop of Spalato c. Conscience in shew and covetousness indeed caused his coming hither ● This is a very hard s●ying a censure which en●●enches too much upon the P●iviledges of Almighty God who alone knows the
as promised no good unto the peace and happiness of the Church of England Their names our Author truly gives us 〈◊〉 36. four Ministers four Common Lawyers and four Citizens men not unknown to such as then lived and observed the conduct of Affairs to be averse unto the Discipline of the Church then by law establisht And ●f such publick mischiefs be presaged by Astrologers●rom ●rom the conjunction of Iupiter and Saturn though the first of them be a Planet of a most ●weet and gentle 〈◊〉 what dangers what calamities might not be ●eared from the conjunction of twelve such persons of which there was not one that wished well to the p●e●ent Government And therefore I may say of them 〈◊〉 Domitius Aenobarbus said unto his Friends when they came to congratulate with him ●or the birth of Nero Nihil 〈…〉 nisi detestabile malo public● 〈…〉 〈…〉 this will ●u●ther appear by their pro●●●dings in the business not laying the imp●opriation● by them purchased to the Church or Chappelry ●o 〈◊〉 they had antiently belonged nor ●etling them on the 〈◊〉 of the place as many hoped they would That had been utterly destructive to their main 〈◊〉 which was not to advantage the Regular and e●tablished Clergy but to set up a new body of 〈◊〉 in convenient places for the promoting of the cause And therefore having bought an impro●●iation they parcelled it out into annual Pensions of 40 or 50 l. per annum and therewith ●alared some 〈◊〉 in such Market Towns where the people had commonly lesse to do and consequently were more apt to ●action and Innovation then in other places Our Author notes it of their Predecessors in Cartw●ights dayes that they preached most diligently in 〈◊〉 places it b●ing observed in England that those w●o hold the Helm of the Pulpit alwayes steer peoples h●arts as they please Lib. 9. fol. 195. And he notes it al●o of these ●eoffees that in conformity hereunto they set up a P●eaching Ministery in places of greatest need not in such Pa●ish-Churches to which the Tithes pro●e●ly belonged but where they thought the Word was most wanting that is to say most wanting to advance their p●o●ect Thi●dly if we behold the men whom they made choice of and employed in p●eaching in such Market Towns as they had an eye on either be●ause most populous o● because capable of electing Burgesses to serve in 〈◊〉 they were for the most part Non-con●●●●● and sometime such as had been silenced by 〈…〉 or the High-commission for their 〈…〉 And 〈◊〉 an one was placed by 〈…〉 Town of 〈…〉 by the Archbishop of Canterbury out of 〈◊〉 in Middlesex by the Bishop of London 〈…〉 Yorkshire by the Archbishop of York 〈…〉 Hartfordshire by the Bishop of Lincoln and finally ●●●pended from his Ministry by the High-Commission yet thought the 〈◊〉 man by Geering as indeed he was to begin this Lecture Fourthly and finally these Pensions neither were so setled nor the●e Lecturers so well establisht in their several places but that the one might be withdrawn and the other removed at the will and pleasure of their Patrons if they grew slack and negligent 〈◊〉 the holy cause or ab●red any thing at all 〈…〉 and fury they first brought with them Examples of which I know some and have heard of more And now I would fain know of our Author whether there be no danger to be seen or suspected in this 〈…〉 these Feoffees in short time would not 〈◊〉 had more Chaplains to depend upon them then all the Bishops in the Kingdom and finally whether such needy fellowes depending on the will and pleasure of their gracious Masters must not be forced to Preach such Doctrines only as best please their humours And though I shall say nothing here of their giving under hand private Pensions not only unto such as had been silenced or suspended in the Ecclesiastical Courts but many times also to their Wives and Children after their decease all issuing from this common-stock yet othe●s have beheld it as the greatest piece of Wit and 〈◊〉 both to encourage and encrease their 〈…〉 could be possibly devised If as our 〈…〉 Design was generally 〈…〉 〈◊〉 men were 〈…〉 ●as because they neither 〈…〉 the mischiefs which 〈…〉 crush● in tim● ●ol 148. However there was no express in this Declar●tion that the Ministers of the Parish should be pressed to the 〈◊〉 Our Author doth here change his style He had 〈◊〉 told us that on the 〈◊〉 publishing of the Decla●ation about lawful Sports on the Lords day no Mini●●er was de facto enjoyned to read it in his Parish lib. x. fol. 76. and here he tells us that there was no express Orde● in the Declaration when reviv'd by King Charls that the Minister of the Parish should be prest to the 〈◊〉 of it adding withall that many thought it a mo●e proper work for the Constable or Tithing-man then it was for the Ministers Bu● if our Author mark it well he may easily finde that the Declaration of King Iames was commanded to be published by order from the Bishop of the Diocess through all the Parish Churches of his Jurisdiction and the Declaration of King Charles to be published with like order from the several Bishops through all their Parish Churches of their several Dioceses respectivly The Bishop of the Diocess in the singular number in the Declaration of King Iames because it principally related to the County of Lancaster the Bishops in the plural number in that of King Charles because the benefit of it was to be extende● over all the Realm In both the Bishops are commanded to take Order for the publishing of them in their several Parishes and whom could they require to publish them in the Parish Churches but the Ministers only The Constable is a Lay-Officer meerly bo●nd by his place to execute the Warrants and commands of the Iustices but not of the Bishop And though the ●i●hing man have some relation to Church matters and consequently to the Bishop in the way of pres●●●●ents yet was he not bound to execute any such commands because not tyed by any Oath of Canonical 〈…〉 were So that the Bishops did no● tha●● conceive he will not ofte● to gain●ay him It is the Author of the Book called the Holy Table Name and Thing who resolves it thus All the commands of the King saith he that are not upon the first inference and illation without any Prosyllogisms contrary to a clear passage in the Word of God or to an evident Sun-beam of the Law of Nature are precisely to be obeyed Nor is it enough to finde a remote and possible inconvenience that may ensue therefrom which is the ordinary ob●ection again●● the Book of Recreations for every good ●ubject is bound in cons●ien●e to believe and rest assu●ed that his Prince environed with 〈◊〉 Councel will be more able to discover and as 〈◊〉 to prevent any ill sequel that may come of it as
But that which could not be obtain'd by this checking of the Commons in the declining and last times of King Edw. 3. was in some part effected by the more vigorous prosecution of King Hen. 8. who to satisfie the desires of the Commons in this particular and repress their checkings obtained from the Clergy that they should neither make nor execute any Canons without his consent as before is said so that the Kings power of confirming Canons was grounded on the free and voluntary submission of the Clergy and was not built as the third Argument ob●ecteth on to weak a foundation as the Popes making Canons by his sole power the Pope not making Canons here nor putting his Rescripts and Letters decretory in the place of Canons but only as a remedy for some present exigency So that the Kings power in this particular not being built upon the Popes as he said it was it may well stand That Kings may make Canons without consent of Parliament though he saith they cannot But whereas it is argued in the fourth place that the clause in the Statute of Submission in which it is said that the Clergy shall not make Canons without the Kings leave doth not imply that by his leave alone they may make them I cannot think that he delivered this for Law and much less for Logick For had this been looked on formerly as a piece of Law the Parliaments would have check'd at it at some time or other and been as sensible of the Kings encroachments in executing this power without them as antiently some of them had been about the disuse of the like general consent in the making of them Fol. 180. In the next place our Author tells us that Mr. Maynard endevoured also to prove that these Canons were against the Kings Prerogative the Rights Liberties and Properties of the Subject And he saith well th●t it was endevoured to be proved and endeavoured only nothing amounting to a proof being to be found in that which follows It had before been voted by the House of Commons that the Commons are against fundamental Laws of this Realm against the Kings Prerogative prop●●● of the Subject the Right of Parliament and do tend to faction and sedition and it was fit that some endeavours should be used to make good the Vote But this being but a general charge requires a general answer only and it shall be this Before the Canons we●e subscribed they were imparted to the King by the Archbishop of Canterbury and by the King communicated to the Lords of the Councel who calling to them the assistance of the Judges and some of the Kings Councel learned in the Laws of this Realm caus'd the said Canons to be read and considered of the King being then present By all which upon due and mature deliberation the Canons were approv'd and being so approv'd were sent back to the Clergy in the Convocation and by them subscribed And certainly it had been strange that they should pass the approbation of the Judges and learned Lawyers had they contained any thing against the fundamental Laws of the Land the property of the Subject and the Rights of Parliament or been approv'd of by the Lords of his Majesties Conncel had any thing been contained in them derogatory to the Kings Prerogative or tending to Faction and Sedition So that the foundation being ill laid the superstructures and objections which are built upon it may be easily shaken and thrown down To the first therefore it is answered that nothing hath been more ordinary in all former times then for the Canons of the Church to inflict penalties on such as shall disobey them exemplified in the late Canons of 603. many of which extend not only unto Excommunication but even to Degradation and Irregularity for which see Can. 38. 113. c. To the second That there is nothing in those Canons which determineth or limiteth the Kings Authority but much that makes for and defendeth the Right of the Subject for which the Convocation might rather have expected thanks then censure from ensuing Parliaments To the third That when the Canon did declare the Government of Kings to be founded on the Law of Nature it was not to condemn all other Governments as being unlawful but to commend that of Kings as being the best Nor can it Logically be infer'd that because the Kingly Government is not received in all places that therefore it ought not so to be or that the Gove●nment by this Canon should be the same in all places and in all alike because some Kings do and may lawfully p●t with many of 〈◊〉 Rights for the good of their Subject● which others do 〈◊〉 may as lawfully retain unto themselves ●o the fourth That the Doctrine of Non-Resistance is 〈…〉 the words of St. Paul Rom. 〈…〉 condemn the Canon in that behalf 〈…〉 Word of God upon which it is 〈…〉 fifth and last That the Statute 〈…〉 that the dayes there m●ntion● 〈…〉 dayes and no other rel●tes only to the 〈…〉 some other Festivals whi●h had been formerly 〈…〉 in the Realm of England and not to the 〈…〉 Church from ord●ining any other Holy 〈…〉 causes in the times to come Assuredly 〈…〉 Lawyer would have spoke more home 〈…〉 could the cause have born it Floquent●m 〈…〉 in the Ora●o●s language And therefore 〈…〉 on the heads of the Arguments ●s our 〈…〉 them to us I must needs think that they were 〈◊〉 fitted to the sense of the House then they were 〈…〉 own What influence these arguments might have on the House of Peers when reported by the Bishop of 〈◊〉 I am not able to affirm But ●o far I 〈…〉 our Author that they lost neither 〈…〉 came from his mo●th who as our Author sayes 〈◊〉 back friend to the Canons because made 〈…〉 and durance in the Tower A piece of 〈…〉 I did not look for The power of 〈…〉 thus shaken and endangered that of 〈…〉 and the Bishops Courts was not 〈…〉 one being taken away by Act of 〈…〉 other much wea●ened in the 〈…〉 a clause in that Act of which 〈…〉 Fol. 182. Mr. 〈…〉 should so supinely suffer themselves to be surprised in their power And well might Mr. Pim triumph as having gain'd the point he aim'd at in subverting the coercive power and consequently the whole exercise of Ecclesiastical J●risdiction But he had no reason to impute it to the ●inger of God or to the carelesness of the Bishops in suffe●ing themselves to be so supinely surpris'd For first ●e Bishops saw too plainly that those general words by which they were disabled from inflicting any pain or penalty would be extended to Suspension Excommunication and other Ecclesiastical censures But secondly they saw withall that the stream was too strong for them to ●ive against most of the Lords being wrought on by the popular party in the House of Commons to pass the Bill Thirdly they were not without hope that when the Scots A●my was disbanded
false But I must needs say that there was small ingen●ity in acknowledging a mistake in that wherein they 〈◊〉 not been mistaken or by endeavouring to avoid a reputed Rock to run themselves on a certain Rock even the Rock of scandal For that the English Bishops had their vote in Parliament as a third 〈◊〉 and not in the capacity of temporal Barons will evidently appear by these reasons following For first the Clegy in all other Christian Kingdoms of the●e No●thwest p●rts make the third Estate that is to say in the German Empire as appears by Thuanus the Historian lib. 2. In France as is affirmed by Paulus Aemilius lib. 9. in Spain as testifieth Bodinus in his De Bepub lib. 3. Fo● which consult also the General History of Spain as in point of practice lib. 9 10 11 14. In H●ng●ry as witnesseth Bonfinius Dec. 2. l. 1. In 〈…〉 by Thuanus also lib. 56. In Denmark● as 〈◊〉 telleth us in Historia 〈…〉 observing antiently the same form and order of Government as was us'd by the Danes The like we finde in Camden for the Realm of Scotland in which antiently the Lords Spiritual viz. Bishops Abbots Priors made the third Estate And certainly it were very strange if the Bishops and other Prelates in the Realm of England being a great and powerful body should move in a lower Sphere in England then they doe elsewhere But secondly not to stand only upon probable inferences we finde first in the History of Titus Livius touching the Reign and Acts of King Henry the fifth that when his Funerals were ended the three Estates of the Realm of England did assemble together and declared his Son King Henry the sixth being an Infant of eight moneths old to be their Soveraign Lord as his Heir and Successor And if the Lords Spiritual did not then make the third Estate I would know who did Secondly the Petition tendred to Richard Duke of Glocester to accept the Crown occurring in the Parliament Rolls runs in the name of the three Estates of the Realm that is to say The Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons thereof Thirdly in the first Parliament of the said Richard lately Crowned King it is said expresly that at the request and by the consent of the three Estates of this Realm that is to say the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons of this Land assembled in this present Parliament and by Authority of the same it be pronounced decreed and declared That our said Soveraign Lord the King was and is the very and undoubted King of this Realm of England c. Fourthly it is acknowledged so in the Statute of 1 Eliz. cap. 3. where the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons in that Parliament assembled being said expresly and in terminis to represent the three Estates of this Realm of England did recognize the Queens Majesty to be their true lawful and undoubted Soveraign Liege Lady and Queen Adde unto these the Testimony of Sir Edward Cooke though a private person who in his Book of the Jurisdiction of Courts published by order of the long Parliament chap. 1. doth expresly say That the Parliament consists of the Head and Body that the Head is the King that the Body are the three E●tates viz. the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons In which words we have not only the opinion and tes●imony of that learned Lawyer but the Authority o● the long Parliament also though against it self Tho●e aged Bishops had been but little studied in their own concernments and betray'd their Rights if any of them did acknowledge any such mistake in ch●llenging to themselves the name and priviledges of the third 〈◊〉 Fol. 196. The Convocation now not sitting● and matters of Religion being brought under the cognizance of the Parliament their Wisdoms adjudged it not only convenient but necessary that some prime Clergy men might be consulted with It seems then that the setting up o● the new Assembly consisting of certain Lords and Gentlemen and two or more Divine● out of every County must be ascrib'd to the not sitting of the Convocation Whereas if that had been the rea●on the Convocation should have been first wa●ned to reassemble with liberty and safe conducts given them to attend that service and freedom to debate such matters as conduced to the Peace of the Church If on those terms they had not met the substituting of the new Assembly might have had some ground though being call'd and nominated as they were by the Ho●se of Commons nothing they did could binde the Clergy further then as they were compellable by the power of the sword But the truth is the Convocation was not held fit to be trusted in the present Designs there being no hope that they would 〈…〉 change of the Gover●●ent or to the abrogating of the Liturgy of the Church of England in all which the Divines of their own nomination were presum'd to serve them And so accordingly they did advancing their Presbyteries in the place of Episcopacy their Directory in the room of the Common Prayer Book their Confession to the quality of the Book of Articles all of them so short liv'd of so little continuance that none of them past over their Probationers year Finally having se●v'd the turn amus'd the world with doing nothing they made their Exit with far fewer Plaudites then they expected at their entrance In the Recital of whose names our Author craves pardon for omitting the greatest part of them as unknown to him whereas he might have found them all in the Ordinance of the Lords and Commons by which they were called and impowered to be an Assembly Of which pardon he afterwards presumes in case he hath not marshalled them in their Seniority because saith he Fol. 198. It ●avours something of a Prelatical Spirit to be offended about Precedency I ●ee our Author is no Changeling Primus ad extremum similis sibi the very same at last as he was at the first Certainly if it ●avour of a Prelatical Spirit to contend about Precedencies that Spirit by some Pythagorean Metempsychosis hath passed into the bodies of the Presbyterians whose pride had swell'd them in conceit above Kings and Princes Nothing more positive then that of Travers one of our Authors shining Lights for so he cals him Lib. 9. fol. 218. in his Book of Discipline Huic Discipline omnes Principes submittere Fasces suos necesse est as his words there are Nothing more proud and arrogant then that of the Presbyterians in Queen Elizabeths time who used frequently to say That King and Queens must lay down their Scepters and lick up the very dust of the Churrches feet that is their own And this I trow doth not savour so much of a Prelatical as a Papal Spirit Diogenes the Cynick affecting a vain-glorious poverty came into Plato's Chamber and trampled the Bed and other furniture thereof under his feet using these words Calco Platonis fastum
to call it to minde or else if no such Oath was tendred by him as our Author is assur'd there was not that part of the Tragedy might be acted by Mr. Good the other Chaplain without communicating his Instructions to his fellow Visitor And therefore thirdly I would know why Mr. Good was not writ to also that having from him the like Certificate our Author might have had the better grounds for his unbelief before he had pronounc'd so positively against the Author of that Querela Fourthly and finally it is not easie to be thought that the Author of that Book should have vented s●ch a manifest falshood especially in a matter so derogatory to all Christian charity and that neither the Earl of Manchester nor either of his two Chaplains or any friend of theirs should in the space of ten years and more endeavour to wipe off such an odious imputation till our Author out of pure zeal to the Paramount power played the Advocate in it But to return again to Oxford one of the first effects which followed on the alteration before remembred though mentioned by our Author in another place was the risling of the Treasury in Magdalen Colledge of which he tells us lib. 9. fol. 234. That a considerable sum of gold being by Dr. Humphry who had been Master of that Colledge left in a Chest not to be opened except some great necessity urged thereunto was lately shar'd between Dr. Wilkinson who then held the place of President by the power of the Visitors and the Fellows there But first our Author is mistaken in Dr. Humphry though he be willing to entitle him whom he calls a moderate Non-conformist to some benefaction The sum there found amounted to above twelve hundred double Pistolets the old Doctor having no fewer then one hundred for his part of the spoil and every Fellow thirty a piece for theirs each Pistolet exchang'd at sixteen shillings six pence and yet the Exchanger got well by the bargain too Too great a sum for Dr. Humphry who had many children and no provident woman to his wife to leave behinde him to the Colledge had he been so minded The money as the Tradition went in that Colledge was left there by the Founder to remedy and repair such ●uines as either the casualty of fire or the ravages of a Civil war might bring upon it to which the nature of the Coin being all French pieces remember that the English at that time were Masters of a great part of France gives a further testimony Secondly I would have our Author observe that those whom he accuseth of this act of Rapine were neither high Royalists nor Covetous Conformists as we know who words it but men agreeable to the times and of the same temper and affections which himself is of the Conformists never being so covetous as to cast an eye tow●r●s it nor the high Royalists so ignoble in their greatest extremities as to lay hands on it And thirdly I must needs charge our Author with some partiality in aggravating this fact which indeed cannot be excused with so many circumstances and passing over the like at Cambridge as a thing incredible I cannot believe saith he Hist. Camb. fol. 38. what I have read in the Querela Cantabrigiensis That three or four hundred pounds worth of Timber brought to Clare-hall for the repair of that House was lately taken away that is to say inverted to the use of some private persons whom our Author hath be●riended with this incredulity Nay so extremely favourable he is to his friends in Cambridge as to pro●ess that had he seen it he would n●t have believed his own eyes which is the highest point of partiality and most invincible unbelief that I ever met with There remains nothing now to conclude these Animadversions but some passages relating to Archbishop Williams in which I must confess my self not willing to meedle but that I think it is as much against the Rule of distributive Justice to give one man to much as to give another man too little Let us see therefore what he saith of this Prelate and how far he saith truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth And first saith he Fol. 227. He sueth to the Parliament for favour and obtained it whose●General in a manner he becomes in laying siege to the Town and Castle of Abercon-way c. This is the truth but whether it be the whole truth o● not I do more then doubt His suing for and obtaining pardon from the Parliament precedeth in the order o● time his being their G●neral and there●ore it is not to be thought but that he had done some special service to the Parliament to prepare the way for such a favour Before his commitment to the Tower about the Bishops Protestation he was grown as odious to the Commons as before he had been honoured by them He had liv'd some time with the King at Oxford and is said to have done him good services in Wales and which is most he had a fair temporal Estate able to yeeld some thousands of pounds for Composition in Goldsmiths-hall So that there must be somewhat in it more then ordinary which occasioned that he neither came under Fine nor Ransom as the rest of the Kings Party did But what that was whether he serv'd them with intelligence when he was at Oxford or by inhibiting his Tenants and neighbours to pay their accustomed Taxes to the Kings Forces when he liv'd in Wales I determine not Certain it is that before his redintegration with them he had been in a manner besieged in his House of Penrin by the Lord Byron for the prohibiting of sending in such provisions as had been required and that observing with what carelesness the Kings Souldiers did attend that service he caus'd a sally to be made out of the House and slew many of them Upon the merit of which service and the promise of greater it is no wonder if such Ministers and Sollicitors of his as were imploy'd in that business compounded for him without fine though not without money That which our Author tells us of his being their General seems to have been fore-signified some five or six years before the siege of Conway Castle For I remember that about such time as he was Prisoner in the Tower with the rest of the Bishops his picture was sold commonly in black and white in his Episcopal Roabs with a square Cap on his head a Rest in his hand a Musket on his shoulder and a Bandeleir about his neck For which fancy at that time I could learn no reason though he came up to it at the last But he goes on Ibid. He was very chast in his Conversation And I hope so too notwithstanding the scandalous reports of Weldon the nameless Author aim'd at in the following words in his Pamphlet called the Court of King Iames and some vulgar fames or hear-says too much credited by a late Historian
Earl of Essex that he went Deputy into Ireland Fol. 234. Whereas indeed he was not sent over into Ireland with the Title of Deputy but by the more honourable Title of Lord Levi●enant having power to create a Lord Deputy under him when his occasions or the the necessities of the state should require his absence Fol. 2●1 The 26. of February 1●00 was born the Kings third son and Christn●● Charles at Dunferling The Kings third son and afterwards his Successor in the Crown of England was not born on the 26. of February but on the 19. of Nove●●er as is averred by all others who have written of it and publickly attested by the annual ringing of Bells upon that day in the City of London during the whole time of his p●wer and prosperity The like mistake we finde in the ti●e and day of the Birth of Queen Elizabeth of whom it is ●●id Fol. 261. 25. That she gave up the Ghost to G●d o● that day of her Birth from whom she had it intimating tha● she died on the Eve of the same Lady-day on which she was born But the truth is that she was born on the Eve of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary being the seventh day of September and died on the Eve of the Annuntiation being the 24. of March And so much for the History of the Reign of Queen Mary and King Iames her Son as to the Realm of Scotland onely both of them Crowned as Iames the fift had also been in their tenderest infancy But whereas our Author tells us Fol. 8. that Q Mary 〈◊〉 the kingdom to her son who was born a King I can by no means yeild to that I finde indeed that our Sa●iour Christ was born King of the Iews and so proclaimed to be by the Angel Gabriel at the very time of his Conception And I have read that Sapores one of the Kings of Persia was not onely born a King but crowned King too before his birth for his Father dying withou●●●ue as the story saith left his wife with child which child the Magi having signified by their Art to be a Male the Persian Princes caused the Crown and Royal Ornaments to be set upon his Mothers Belly acknowledging him there by for their King and Sovaraign But so it was not with King Iames who was born on the 19 of Iune Anno. 1566. and Crowned King on the 24. of Iuly being the 5. day after his Mothers resignation of the Crown and Government Anno. 1567. ADVERTISEMENTS ON THE REIGN DEATH OF KING IAMES Of GREAT BRITAIN FRANCE and IRELAND the first WE are now come unto the Reign of King Iames as King of England or rather as King of England and Scotland under the notion of Great Britain of whose reception as he passed through Godmanchest●r the Historian telleth us that Fol. 270. At Godmanchester in the Coun●y of Notthamptonshire they presented him with 70 Teem of Horses c. be●●g his Tenants and holding their Land by that Tenure But first God●a●chester is not in Northampton but in Hunti●gtonshire And secondly Though it be a custom for those in Godmanch●ster to shew their Bravery to the Kings of England in that rustical Pomp yet I conceive it not to be the Tenure which they hold their Lands by For Camden who is very punctual in observing Tenures mentions not this as a Tenure but a Custom onely adding withal that they make their boast That they have in former time received the Kings of England as they passed in their progress this way with ninescore Ploughs brought forth in a rustical kinde of Pomp for a gallant shew If onely for a gallant shew or a rustical Pomp then not observed by them as their Tenure or if a Tenure not 〈◊〉 from ninescore to 70. all Tenures being ●ixt not variable at the will of the Tenants Fol. 273. This most honorable Order of the Garter was instituted by King Edward the third c. So far our Author right enough as unto the ●ounder and rig●● enough as to the time of the institution which he placeth in the year 1350. But whereas he telleth us withal that this Order was founded by King Edward the third 〈◊〉 John of France and King James of Scotland being then Pris●ners in the Tower of London and King Henry of Castile the Bastard expulst and Don Pedro restored by the Prince of Wales called the Black Prince in that he is very much mistaken For first It was David King of the Scots not Iames who had been taken Prisoner by this Kings Forces there being no Iames King of the Scots in above fifty years after Secondly Iohn of France was not taken Prisoner till the year 1356. nor Henry of Castile expulsed by the Prince of Wales till ten years after Anno 1366. By consequence neither of those two great Actions could precede the Order But worse is he mistaken in the Patron Saint of whom he tells us that Fol. 273. Among sundry men of valor in ancient days was Geo. born at Coventry in England c. This with the rest that follows touching the Actions and Atchievements of Sir George of Coventry is borrowed from no better Author then the doughty History of the Seven Ch●mpions of Christendom of all that trade in Knighthood-errant the most empty Bable ●But had our Author look'd so high as the Records of the Order the titles of Honor writ by Selden the Catalogue of Honor publisht by Mills of Canterbury Camdens Britannia or any other less knowing Antiquary he might have found that this most noble Order was not dedicated to that fabulous Knight S●● George of Coventry but to the famous Saint and Soldier of Christ Jesus St. George of Cappadocia A Saint so universally received in all parts of Christendom so generally attested to by the Ecclesiastical Writers of all Ages from the time of his Martyrdom till this day that no one Saint in all the Calender those mentioned in the holy Scriptures excepted onely can be better evidenced Nor doth he finde in Matthew Parts that St. George fought in the air at Antioch in behalf of the English the English having at that time no such i●●eress in him but that he was thought to have been seen fig●ting in behalf of the Christians Fol. 275. Earldoms without any place are likewise of two kindes either in respect of Office as Earl-Morshal of England or by Birth and so are all the Kings Sons In the Authority and truth of this I am much unsatisfied as never having met with any such thing in the course of my reading and I behold it as a diminution to the Sons of Kings to be born but Earls whereby they are put in an equal rank with the eldest sons of Dukes in England who commonly have the Title of their Fathers Earldoms since it is plain they are born Princes which is the highest civil Dignity next to that of Kings It was indeed usual with the Kings of England to bestow upon
some of the 〈◊〉 of those who had possest themselves of the Crown ●ands in his ●athers Minority in which course he might hope to finde good success without noise or dange● And ●f this may be called the adding of fuel to the fi●e of 〈…〉 King will finde a safe way to recover his own 〈…〉 from him by power and pride unless he do 〈…〉 strong hand which findes no resistance For which good ser●ice if he were afterwards Knighted and made second Secretary of Estate the principal being called Lord Secretary in the stile of that Kingdom it was no more then he had worthily deserv'd for his sound Advice ●rom the Title and the Introduction proceed we next unto the History it self in which the first mistake we meet with 〈◊〉 the placing of the ●uneral of King Iames on the 14 of May which Mr. H. L. in his History of the Reign of King Cha●ls had 〈…〉 on the fourth in both erron●ously alike But the 〈◊〉 of the ●ormer History hath corrected his error by the 〈…〉 and placed it rightly on the seventh which the 〈…〉 Historian might have done also having so thorowly 〈…〉 all the Passages in those Observations 〈…〉 land had nothing but foul weather triste lugubre Coelum when she was at the Sea and the worst of foul weathers from the time of her landing to the very minute of her death The like tempestuous landing is observed to have happened to the Princesse Catharine daughter of Ferdinand and If bell● Kings of Spain when she came hither to be married to Prince Arthur eldest Son to King Henry 7 which afterwards was lookt on as a sad presage of those Cala●●ities which hapned to that pious but unfortunate Lady in the last part of her life And certainly such presages are neither to be rejected as superstitious nor too much relied on as infallible such a middle course being to be stee●'d in such conjecturals as is advised to be held in Prophetical or presaging dreams not wilfully to be slighted nor too much regarded ●ol 6. The Parliament to be subordinate not coordinate with the Prince c. though King Charles unadvisedly makes himself a member of the house of Peers which the Parliament would never acquit him A passage which the Author likes well enough and hopes the Reader will do the like as it comes from himself but will not let it go uncensured in the O●servator It is noted in the Observations p. 62. that the King having passed away the Bishops votes in Parliament did after by a strange improvidence in a Message or Declaration sent from York the 17. of Iune reckon himself as one of the three Estates which being once slipt from his pen and taken up by some leading men in the Houses of ●●●●ament it never was let fall again in the whole agitati●n of those Controversies which were bandied up and down between them Our Author says the same thing though in fewer words and yet corrects the Observator for ta●ing notice of the Kings strange imp●ovidence in a message 〈…〉 Iune 17. where he reckons himself as one of the 〈…〉 member of the House of Peers Fol. 10● for which he 〈◊〉 to call him to a further account in 〈…〉 and so perhaps he may in a second edition of his History there being no such thing to be found in this 〈◊〉 Councels are privy and publick his Privy Councel by his own 〈…〉 election●● publick his Parliament Peers and people In these words there are two things to be enquired after first why the Bishops are not named as Members of this publick Councel and secondly why the people are admitted art thereof That the Bishops are to be accounted of as necessa●y members of this publick Councel appeareth by the 〈◊〉 writ of Summons by which they are severally and respectively called to attend in Parliament In which it is declared that the King by the advice of his Privy Councel hath called a Parliament unto this end ut cum Pralatis 〈…〉 Reg●● Colloquium ha●eret that he for his part might confer with the Prelat● Peers and great men of the Realm and that they for their parts super dictis Negotiis tractaren● co●●ilium suum impenderent should debate of all such difficult matters concerning the preservation of the Church and State as the King should recommend unto them and give their faithful Counsel in them accordingly So that the Author dealt not well with the Bishops in excluding them from being a part of the Kings publick Councel and putting the people in their room who never were beheld as members of it till so made by our Author the Commons being called to Parliament to no other purpose but ad consen●iendum faciendum to give consent and yield obedience to all such things as by the great Councel of the Kingdom 〈◊〉 communi Concilio Regni nostri shall be then ordained But if our Author say that he includes the Bishops in the name of Peers though I allow his meaning and am able to defend him in it yet I must still except against his expression because not plain and full enough to the vulgar Reader Ibid. But 〈◊〉 Iames altered that course a● best able of any his Predecessors to speak for him self It was indeed the common usage of the Kings of England to speak to their people in ●arliament by the mouth of the Chancellors not that they were not able to tell their own tales and express their own me●ning but that it was held for a point of State not to descend so much beneath themselves as to play the Orators Yet somtimes as they saw occasion they would speak their own mindes in Parliament and not trouble their Chancellors as appears by that speech of King Henry 7. when he resolved to engage himself in a war with France a copy whereof we have in the History of his Reign writ by the Lord Viscount St. Alban which he thus beginneth My Lords and you the Commons when I purposed to make a war in Britain by my Lieutenant I made declaration thereof to you by my Chancellor But now that I mean to make war upon France in person I will declare it to you myself c. Fol. 96. But King Iames thinking himself an absolute Master in the Art of speaking and desirous that his people should think so too in the opening of all his Parliaments and the beginning of each Session and many occasions on the by used no tongue but his own Which though it might seem necessary at the opening of his first Parliament to let the Lords and Commons see how sensible he was of that Affection wherewith the whole body of the Nation had imbraced his coming to the Crown yet the continual use thereof made him seem cheaper in the eyes of the People then might stand with Majecty Nor was this all the inconvenience which ensued upon it for first it put a necessity upon his son and ●●●cessor of doing the like to whom it
would otherwise have been imputed for a Defect that he was not able or for a Crime as if he thought himself too great to speak to his people and secondly it put the Commons on a ●og of following the Kings example not onely in making long speeches but of printing them also of which more hereafter Ibid. His place being 〈…〉 of King William Rufus where he is to 〈◊〉 totius Regni 〈◊〉 Our 〈◊〉 speaks this of the Speaker of the house 〈…〉 but he speaks without Book the Commons no● being called to Parliament in the time of Rusus as all our 〈…〉 agree ●oyntly He that was called 〈◊〉 〈…〉 might be a speaker of the Parliament though not of 〈…〉 in regard h● delivered the kings minde to the 〈◊〉 and Peers of that great Counsil and theirs 〈◊〉 to him Which office was commonly performed by the lord Chancellor of the Kingdom who is therefore 〈◊〉 the Speaker of the house of Peers And when the Commons had the Honour to be called to Parliaments they also had their Sp●ak● to perform the same Offices betwix● the King and them as the Lord Chancellor performed between the King and the Peers who the●for● was as still he is at the Kings Nomination and appointment admitted rather then elected on that nomination by the house of Commons It was not properly and Originally the Speakers Office to sit still in the Chair and ●earken to those trim Oratio●s which the Gentlemen of the House were pleased to entertain the time and themselves with all but to signifie to the people the Command 〈◊〉 th● King and to present unto the King the desire of his people It ●s from speaking not from hearing that he take● his name though none have spoken lesse in tha● House since the time of King Iames then the Speaker himself as if he were called Speaker by that figure in Rhetorick by which Lucus is said to take its name a non lucen●● Fo● ● 〈…〉 in the Prince Elector to 〈◊〉 〈…〉 Bohemia so no ●ustice in the House of 〈◊〉 to 〈…〉 Palatinate from him Neither so not so 〈…〉 Prince Elector had no coulour to accept of th● Kingdom of 〈◊〉 at our Author plainly saies he had not then was i● no in●ustice in the House of Aust●●a to ●ade conquer and detain the 〈◊〉 from him as our Author plainly saies it was In the last of these two propositions the Author shall confute himself and save me the Labour he telling us within few lines after that an 〈…〉 〈…〉 〈…〉 〈…〉 Then for the first of the two propositions I must needs tell him that the Prince Elector had not only some colour to accept the Crown of ●●mia but a fair one too The kingdom of Bohemia according to the fundamental constitutions of it was elective meerly And though the Electo●●used constantly to keep them selves to the royal family except onely in the case of George Pogibrachio yet they reserved a latitude unto themselves of chusing one rather then another many times pretermitting the eldest son of the former King and pitching on a younger brother and sometimes on some other more remote from the Crown But Mathias the Emperor being childlesse adopted Ferdinand of G●ats the next Heir male of the House of Austria for his Son and successor and caused him without any formal election as the Bohem●ans did pretend to be Crowned King of that Kingdom and put him into the actual possession of it in his own life time But after his decease the Bohemians rejecting Ferdinand as not lawfully chosen elected Frederick the fift Prince Palatine of the Rhene for their King and Soveraign as lineally de●cended from Ladislaus 2. King of Poland and Bohemi● from whom the House of Astria also do derive their Claim ●o that his Action was not so precipitae and his ground more justifiable in accepting that Crown then our Author hath been pleased to make it Fol. 163. And had King Iames espoused that quarrel as all generally did expect he would have done he might with far lesse charges have assured the possession of that Crown or at the least have preserved the 〈◊〉 from the hand of Ruin then he did put himself unto by sending Embassadors to excuse the one and mediate the restitution of the other In which last point I grant him to have been for some years deluded not onely by the Emperour but the K. of Spain but that he was deluded by the Spaniards also in the businesse and treaty of the Match I by no means grant and could sufficiently prove the contrary if it had not been already done in the Observations on the former History But our Author hath not yet done with the Spaniard telling us that Ibid The Crown of Spain hath enlarged her bounds these last 60. years more than the Ottoman Not so neither The House of Austria within sixty years from the time that our Author writ this part of the History hath been upon the losing hand the Kingdom of Portugal with all the appendixes thereof being revolted from that Crown as also are the Countries of Catalonia and Rousillon in the Continent of Spain it self the lower Palatinate surrendred to its lawful Prince according to the Treaty at Munster and many of his best Towns if not entire provinces in the Netherlands extorted from him by the French besides the seven united Provinces which within the compasse of that time have made themselves a free state and are now rather confederates with that King then Subjects to him whereas upon the other side the Ottomans within that compasse of time have regained Babylon and all the Countrey there about from the hands of the Persians and conquered a great part of the Isle of Candy from the State of Venice Ibid. The Kings Mercer infected and fled no purple velvet to be had on the suddain and so the colour of his Robes was changed by necessity This passage is brought in out of season as not relating to the Parliament but the Coronation The Author of the former History had told us out of Mr. Prinne that the King upon the day of his Coronation was arraied in white Sattin contrary to the custom of his Predecessors who were clothed in purple which change although the King affected to declare the innocency of his heart or to expresse that Virgin purity wherewith he came unto the marriage betwixt him and his Kingdoms yet our Author would fain have it to be done upon necessity and not upon designe or choice How so Because saies he the Kings Mercer being infected and fled there was no purple velvet to be had on the suddain But first though the Kings Mercer was infected and fled yet there were other Mercers in the City who could have supplied the King with that commodity Secondly at the time of the Coronation the infection had been much abated the Air of London being generally corrected by a very sharp winter and most of the Citizens returned again to their former dwellings amongst
which the Kings mercer might be one for any thing which our Author can assure us to the contrary Thirdly it appears by another passage in our Author himself that there was Purple velvet enough to be had for this occasion he telling us out of Mr. Fullers Church History out of whom he borrows his description of the Coronation that the train of the Kings vest or Royal Robe consisted of six yards of purple velvet Some purple velvet then was to be had at the Coronation though the Kings Mercer were infected and had left the City And finally there was no such need that any such provision should be made on a suddain neither there being ten moneths from the Kings coming to the Crown and his Coronation and as much time for providing a few yards of purple as for preparing all the other royal necessaries which concerned that day Fol. 11. And so accounting to them the disbursmen● of his Land and Naval Forces with a clear and even au●●c of the charge and expence to come they were so candid that the La●y gave him without Conditions two Subsidies from Protestants and four from Papists And candid they had been indeed if on so fair an auditing of the Kings Account for all expences as well past as to come they had given unto him such a present supply as would have equalled that account toward the carrying on of the War which themselves projected and given those two Subsidies over and above as a Testimony of their good Affections to his sacred Person But these two Subsidies from Protestants and four from Papists were so short from carrying on that work that there was nothing of ●ngenuity or Candor in it The particular of the Kings Account stood thus viz. 32000 l. for securing of L●eland 47000 l. for strengthning the Forts 37000 l. for the repair of the Navy 99000 l. upon the four English Regiments in the States Countrey 62000 l. laid out for Count Mansfield total 287000 l. Besides which he sent in a Demand of 200000 l. and upwards upon the Navy 48000 l. upon the Ordnance 45000 l. in charges of the Land-men 20000 l. a moneth to Count Mansfield and 46000 l. to bring down the King of Denmark the total of which latter sum amounts to 339000 l. both sums make no less then 626000 l. to which the grant of two Subsidies from Protestants and four from Papists hold but small proportion especially considering to how low a pitch the Book of Subsidies was fallen Our Author tells us somewhere in this present History that in Queen Elizabeths time a single Subsidy amounted to Ninety thousand pound and that in these times whereof he writes a single subsidy of four shillings in the pound amounts but to fifty six thousand only and I am able to tel our Author that in the time of King Henry the eighth a single Subsidy of four shillings in the pound amounted to eight hundred thousand pound sterling as appears by this passage in I. Stow● In which we find that the Cardinal he means Cardinal Wolse● accompanied with divers Lords both Spiritual and Temporal acquainted the House of Commons with the Kings necessity of waging war against the Emperor Charls the fifth thereupon required a Subsidy of 800000 l. to be raised by 4● in the pound out of every mans Estate throughout the Kingdome and that it was accorded by the Commons after a long and serious debate upon the matter to give two shillings in the pound which by his calculation did amount to 400000 l. But then he is to know with all that in the raising of Subsidies in that Kings time there was not onely an oath prescribed to the Assessors to give a perfect valuation of all mens estates as far as they could understand them but an oath imposed also on the subjects who were to pay it to bring in a true and just account of their Estates and several penalties injoyn'd if they did the contrary as of late times upon Delinquents as they call them when they were admitted to compound at Goldsmiths and Haberdashers Halls which course held also all the time of King Edwards Reign but being intermitted in Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeths time on good reasons of State the Subsidies were brought so low by little and little that before the death of the last Queen they came not up to an hundred thousand and sunk so sensibly in the time of King Iames that they came not to above sixty thousand or thereabouts so that although the Parliament in the one and twentieth of that King bestowed upon him three Subsidies and three Fifteens when they first ingaged him in this War yet King Charls told them in his first Speech to this very Parliament that those supplies held no Symmetry or proportion with the charge of so great an enterprize And though the charges of the Enterprize which he was in hand with much exceeded his Fathers as much as the addition of a Navy of an hundred and twenty sail could amount unto and that he prest them earnestly at Oxford to a further grant yet nothing more could be obtained but that sorry pittance sufficient onely for advance money for ingaging those Sea and Land Forces which he had provided by means whereof the Expedition proved dishonorable to the King and Kingdom Nor came these two Subsidies so clearly and so candidly from them but that the King was fain to gratifie them in two points which they mainly drove at that 〈◊〉 to say the granting them a publick Fast to begin their Parliament and laying some restraints on the Lords Day which never could be obtain'd from any of his Predecesso●s For when such Fasts had first been moved in Queen Elizabeths time and afterwards in all the Parliaments of King Iames till the 21 of his Reign it was answered that there were so●many ordinary Fasting-days appointed by the Laws of the Land on which they might humble themselves before the Lord that there was no necessity or use of any such extraordinary Fasts as they desired Such Fasts in those times were conceiv'd to have too much in them of Aerius an old branded Here●ick by whom it was held forth for good Catholick Doctrine Non celebrand esse jejunia Statuta sed cum quisque voluerit jejunand●m And when the Commons in the 23 of Elizabeth finding no hopes of gaining any such Fast by the Queens Authothority had voted one to be solemniz'd at the Temple Church for such of their own Members as could conveniently be present at it upon notice thereof the Queen sent a Message to them by Sir Thomas Henneage then Vice-Chamberlain declaring with what admiration she beheld that incroachment on her Royal Authority in committing such an apparent innovation without her privity or pleasure first known On the receit of which sharp Message the House desired Mr. Vice-Chamberlain to present their submission to the Queen and to crave her pardon for which Consult the Book entituled The
Free-holders grand Inquest pag. 57. No news of any such attempt in all the rest of her Reign nor of any Parliament Fasts as far as I can remember till the 21 of King Iames when they first engaged him in this War whose example followed by King Charls who indeed was not in a condition to dispute the point gave such incouragement to the Commons that no Parliament could begin without them and gave them such an head at last as to appoint and continue Fasts by their own Authority not onely without the Kings consent but against the very express words of his Proclamations How well this Fast was kept by some leading Members when they had procured it that is to say with a good neck of Mutton and broath in the Morning a Collation of sweet Meats between the Sermons and a Sabbatarian Supper in the Evening I could make known by a very memorable story had I list and leisure And what ill use was made of another in the Pulpits Prayers and Sermons of many seditious Lectures to stir up and continue the War rais'd against this King appears by his Proclamation of the fifth of October Anno 1643. by which he endeavored to translate the then Monethly Fast from the second Wednesday to the second Friday in every Moneth but without success Of this indulgence of the Kings our Author takes no notice as he doth of the other viz. the laying of such a restraint from Recreations on the Lords day as never had been known in this Kingdom since the Reformation Concerning which he telleth us that Fol. 13. These Lawes are enacted this Sessions viz against Abuses committed on Sundayes c. Now it appeareth by the Act that the Abuses as he calls them which were prohibited at that time were first the Concourse of people out of their own Parishes on the Lords-day for any sports or Pastims whatsoever and secondly the use of Bull-baiting Bear-baiting Enter ludes common plaies and other unlawful exercises and pastimes used by any person or persons within their own parishes In the composure of which Act the first clause made against the concourse of people out of their own Pa●ishes on that day was purposely intended for a counterballance to the Declaration of King Iames about lawful sports and was afterwards made use of by some publick ministers of Justice to suppresse the Annual feasts of the dedication of Churches commonly called and known by the name of Wakes Such feasts of love and entertainments of good Neighbour-hood though they drew some People out of their own Parishes were no abuses in themselves though so called by our Author And as for Bull-baiting Bear-baiting and the rest there mentioned they had been all prohibited by a Proclamation of King Iames bearing date the 7. of May in the first year of his Reign Anno 1603. Nor were they used upon that day for ought that I am able to call to mind in all the time of my Boyage So that this Parliament by interdicting those rude Sports did but actum agere save that they gained unto themselves the reputation of more then ordinary Zeal to the day of worship and laid the first foundation of those many Rigor● which afterward they imposed upon it For in the next Parliament of this King they passed an Act that no Carrier with any horse or horses no Waggon men with any waggon or waggons nor Carmen with any Cart or Carts nor Wain-men with any wain or waines nor any Drovers with Cattle should fourty dayes next after the end of that Session by themselves or any others travel upon the said day upon pain that every person or persons so offending should forfeit 20 s for every such offence committed and that no Butcher after the said time should kill or sell any Flesh upon that day on the forfeiture of 6s 8 d. toties quoties Matters whith had been moved in Parliament in the 18 year of K. Iames but without success the Lords unanimously opposing the Bill when sent up by the Commons as tending to the disturbance of the Trade of the Kingdom and some inconveniencies to the Poor But having brought the King to a condition of denying nothing they obtain'd this also of him as they had done the other and at last became their own Carvers imposing since the first beginning of the long Parliament by their Orders and Ordinances so many several restraints on that day from all kindes of lawful pleasure and civil businesses that greater never were imposed on the Jews by the Scribes and Pharisees nor by some Casuits on the Papists nor by Dr. Bound the first Broacher of these Sabbath-speculations in the Church of England on his Puritan Proselytes But notwithstanding these condescensions of the King to the desires of the Commons the Commons were resolv'd to condescend in nothing to the desires of the King unless as they had moved the war so they might also be made acquainted with the Kings Design in the conduct of it which point they prest with such importunity that the King commanded M. Glanvil to serve as Secretary to the Navy for that Expedition that knowing all the secrets and intentions of it when he was at Sea he might acquaint the members with it at his coming back Fol. 20. For Mansel was vice-Admiral of the Narrow Seas that 's his Office and there indeed he succeeds to the Admiral Our Author is as much out in this particular as the Mariners had been in another The Mariners thought if Mr. H. L. report them rightly that Sr. Robert Mansel the then vice-Admiral had an unquestionable right to the chief conduct of that Enterprise upon the Dukes default The Mariners in this point sailed without their compasse as is proved by the Observator And this our Author building upon the Observator calls a Monstrous Error although not half so Monstrous as that Error which himself committeth in making this Sr. Robert Mansel to be no other then the vice-Admiral of the Narrow seas and restraining his Office and Authority to those Seas alone But had he consulted with the Sailers as Mr. H. L. may be thought to have done they would have told him that Sr. Robert Mansel was vice Admiral of England and that it belonged unto his Office next under the Admiral to see the Royal Navie kept in good reparation the wages of the Mariners and shiprights to be duly paid and that the ships should be provided of all things necessary for any occasionall expedition They could have told him also that there is no such Officer as a Vice-Admiral of the narrow Seas but that those narrow Seas are commanded by two several Admirals which hold their places from the King and not by grant or patent from the Lord Admiral of England and that one of these Admirals commandeth in the East and the other in the Western part● of those Seas And finally that at the time of his Expedition Sr. Henry Palmer was Vice-Admiral of the Eastern parts of those
Religious Predecessors and namely the Laws Customs and Franchises granted to the Clergy by the glorious King St. Edward your Predecessor according to the Laws of God the true profession of the Gospel establi●hed in this Kingdom and agreeable to the Prerogative of the Kings thereof and the ancient Customs of this Land The King answers I grant and promise to keep them Arch-Bishop Sir Will you keep Peace and godly agreement entirely according to your power both to God the holy Church the Clergy and the People Rex I will keep it Arch-Bishop Sir Will you to your power cause Iustice Law and discretion in Mercy and Truth to be executed in all your Iudgements Rex I will Arch-Bishop Sir Will you grant to hold and keep the Laws and rightful Customs which the Commonalty of this your Kingdom have and will you defend and uphold them to the H●nor of God so much as in you lieth Rex I grant and promise so to do Then one of the Bishops reads this admonition to the King before the People with a loud voice Our Lord and King we beseech you to pardon and to grant and to preserve unto us and to the Churches committed to our charge all Canonical Priviledges and due Law and Iustice and that you would protect and defend us as every good King in his Kingdom ought to be a Protector and Defender of the Bishops and the Churches under their Government The King answereth With a willing and devout heart I promise and grant my Pardon and that I will preserve and maintain to you and the Churches committed to your charge All Canonical Priviledges and due Law and Iustice and that I will be your Protector and Defender to my power by the assistance of God as every good King ought in his Kingdom in right to protect and defend the Bishops and Churches under their Government Then the King ariseth and is led to the Communion Table where he makes a solemn Oath in sight of all the People to observe the premises and laying his hand upon the Book saith The things which I have before promised I shall perform and keep So help me God and the contents of this Book Such was the Oath taken by the King at his Coronation against which I finde these two Objections First That it was not the same Oath which anciently had been taken by his Predecessors and for the proof thereof an Antiquated Oath was found out and publisht in a Remonstrance of the Lords and Commons bearing date the twenty sixth of May 1642. And secondly It was objected in some of the Pamphlets of that time that the Oath was falsified by D. Laud Arch-Bishop of Canterbury to make it more to the Kings advantage and less to the benefit of the Subject then it had been formerly For answer whereunto the King remits the Lords and Commons to the Records of the Exchequer by which it might be easily prov'd that the Oath was the very same verbatim which had before been taken by his Predecessors Kings and Queens of this Realm And to the Pamphleters it is answered by Mr. H. L. the Author of the former History That there was no variation from the old forms but the addition of a clause to a Prayer there mentioned and that this var●ation was not the solitary act of Laud alone but of a Committee And this saith he I positively assert as minding the reformation of a vulgar Error thrown abroad in loose Pamphlets that Bishop Laud altered the Coronation Oath whereas the Oath it self was precisely the same with former precedents More candidly in this then the Author of the present History how great a Royalist soever he desires to be reckoned Fol. 31. This necessary Message produced no other supply then this insolency from a Member Mr. Clement Cook It is better says he to dye by a foreign Enemy then to be destroyed at home And this seditious speech of his was as seditiously seconded by one Dr. Turner of whom the King complain'd to the House of Commons but could finde no remedy nor was it likely that he should He that devests himself of a Natural and Original power to right the injuries which are done him in hope to finde relief from others especially from such as are parcel-guilty of the wrong may put up all his gettings in a Semtress thimble and yet never fill it But thus King Iames had done before him one Piggot a Member of the House of Commons had spoken disgracefully of the Scots for their importunity in begging and no less scornfully of the King for his extream profuseness in giving adding withal that it would never be well with England till a Sicilian Vesper was made of the Scotish Nation For which seditious Speech when that King might have took the Law into his own hands and punisht him as severely by his own Authority as he had deserv'd yet he past it over and thought that he had done enough in giving a hint of it in a Speech made to both Houses at White-Hall on the last of March Anno 1607. I know saith he that there are many Pigots amongst them I mean a number of Seditious and discontented particular persons as must be in all Commonwealths that where they dare may peradventure talk lewdly enough but no Scotish man ever spoke dishonorably of England in Parliament It being the custom of those Parliaments that no man was to speak without leave from the Chancellor for the Lords and Commons made but one House in that Kingdom and if any man do propound or utter any seditious Speeches he is straightly interrupted and silenced by the Chancellors Authority This said there was an end of that business for ought I can learn and this gave a sufficient encouragement to the Commons in the time of King Charls to expect the like From whence they came at last to this resolution not to suffer one of theirs to be questioned till themselves had considered of his crimes Which as our Author truly notes kept them close together imboldned thus to preserve themselves to the last fol. 35. This Maxim as they made use of in this present Parliament in behalf of Cook Diggs and Eliot which two last had been Imprisoned by the Kings command so was it more violently and pertinaciously insisted on in the case of the five Members Impeacht of High Treason by the Kings Attorney on the fourth of Ianuary Anno 1641. the miserable effects whereof we still feel too sensibly Fol. 40 And though the matter of the Prologue may be spared being made up with Elegancy yet rather then it shall be lost you may please to read it at this length Our Author speaks this of the Eloquent Oration made by Sir Dudly Diggs to usher in the Impeachment of the Duke of Buckingham which being amplified and prest in six tedious Speeches by Glanvil Pim Selden Wansford Herbert and Sherland was Epilogued by Sir Iohn Eliot A vein of Oratory not to be found in the Body
hundred thousand pound which the King desired to borrow of them upon good security so peny wise and so pound foolish was that stubborn City Fol. 107. Which we shall refer to the subsequent time and place fitting But of those in their due place hereafter Our Author had found fault with the Observator for saying that the King had not done well in excluding the Bishops from their Votes in Parliament and that there was some strange improvidence in his Message from York June 17. where he reckons himself as one of the three Estates a Member of the House of Peers But why he thus condemneth the Observator we must seek elsewhere which is a kinde of Hallifax Law to hang him first and afterwards to put him upon his Tryal Seek then we must and we have sought as he commandeth in subsequent time and place fitting in their due place hereafter as the phrase is varied But neither in the latter end of the year 1641. when the Bishops were deprived of their Votes in Parliament nor in all the time of the Kings being at York Anno 1642. can we finde one word which relates to either of those points In which our Author deals with the Observator as some great Criticks do with their Authors who when they fall on any hard place in Holy Scripture or any of the old Poets or Philosophers which they cannot master adjourn the explication of it to some other place where they shall have an opportunity to consider of both Texts together Not that they ever mean to touch upon it but in a hope that either the Reader will be so negligent as not to be mindeful of the promise or else so charitable as to think it rather a forgetfulness then an inability in the undertaker Fol. 115. To these he was questioned by a Committee and in reason ●ustly sentenced The party here spoken of is Doctor Manwaring then Vicar of the Parish of St. Giles in the Fields his Crime the preaching of two Sermons in which he had maintained that the King might impose Taxes and Subsidies on the Subject without consent in Parliament and that the people were bound to pay them under pain of Damnation his Sentence amongst other things that he should be Imprisoned during the pleasure of the Parliament pay a thousand pound Fine unto the King and be made uncapable of all Ecclesiastical Preferments for the time to come which heavy Sentence our Author thinks to have been very justly inflicted on him though the Doctor spake no more in the Pulpit then Serjeant 〈◊〉 in Queen Elizabeths time had spoke in Parliament By whom it was affirmed in the Parliament of the 43 of that Queen that He marvell'd the House stood either at the granting of a Subsidy or time of payment when all we have is her Majesties and she may lawfully at her pleasure take it from us and that she had as much right to all our Lands and Goods as to any Revenue of the Crown and that he had presidents to prove it For which see the Book called The Free-holders grand Inquest pag. 62. But some may better steal a Horse then others look on as the saying is the Serjeant being never questioned and the poor Doctor sentenced and justly as our Author makes it to an absolute ruine if the King had not been more merciful to him then the Commons were From Dr. Manwaring our Author proceeds to the Observator for saying that Doctrinal matters delivered in the Pulpit are more proper for the cognizance of the Convocation or the High Commission then the House of Commons which though it may consist most times of the wisest Men yet it consists not many times of the greatest Clerks For saith he Fol. 116. That the Preacher is Jure Divino not to be censured but by themselves smells of the Presbyter or Papist But Sir by your good leave neither the Presbyter nor the Papist stand accused by our Orthodox Writers for not submitting themselves their Doctrines and Opinions to the power of Parliaments who neither have nor can pretend to any Authority in those particulars That which they stand accused for is that they acknowledge not the King to be the supream Governor over all persons in all causes as well Ecclesiastical as Civil within his Dominions and consequently decline his Judgement as incompetent when they are called to answer unto any charge which is reducible to an Ecclesiastical or Spiritual nature How stiff the Papists are in this point is known well enough by their refusing to take the Oath of Supremacy And for the peremptoriness of the Presbyterians take this story with you One David Blake at a Sermon preached at St. Andrews in the time of King Iames had cast forth divers Speeches full of spight against the King the Queen the Lords of Councel and Session and among the rest had called the Queen of England an Atheist a Woman of no Religion For which being complained of by the English Ambassador he was cited to appear before the King and his Councel on the tenth of November A●no 1596. Which being made known to the Commissioners of the last general Assembly it was concluded that if he should submit his Doctrine to the Tryal of the Councel the liberties of the Church and Spiritual Government of the House of God would be quite subverted and therefore that in any case a Declinator should be used and Protestation made against these Proceedings This though it was opposed by some moderate men yet it was carried by the rest who cryed out it was the cause of God to which they ought to stand at all hazards thereupon a Declina●or was formed to this effect That howbeit the Conscience of his Innocency did uphold him sufficiently against the Calumnies of whomsoever and that he was ready to defend the Doctrine uttered by him whether in opening the Words or in Application yet seeing he was brought thither to be judged by his Majesty and Councel for his Doctrine and that his answering to the pretended Accusation might import a prejudice to the Liberties of the Church and be taken for an acknowledgement of his Majesties Iurisdiction in matters meerly Spiritual he was constrained in all humility to decline ●udicatory Which Declinator being subscrib'd by the Commissioners and delivered by Blake he referred himself to the Presbytery as his proper Iudges And being interrogated whether the King might not judge of Treason as well as the Church did in matters of Heresie i● said That speeches delivered 〈◊〉 Pulpi●s albert alledged to be 〈…〉 could not be judged by the King till the Church 〈…〉 ther●of What became after of this 〈…〉 may ●inde it in Arch-Bishop Spotswoods History of the Church of Scotland Had Dr. Manwaring done thus and the Observator justified him in it they had both favored of the Presbyter or Papist there 's no question of it But being the Observator relates onely to the proceedings in Parliament and incroachments of the House of
Commons in matters Doctrinally delivered without the least diminution of the Kings Authority in Ecclesiastical Causes there is nothing of the Presbyter or the Papist to be charged upon him as the Historian to create him the greater odium would fain have it to be Fol. 115. But how suddenly the Commons House 〈◊〉 upon the Lor●s liberties excluding the words the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in the very grant of the Bill of Subsidies c. And to say truth the Lords were but serv'd in their own kinde who having so unworthily joyn'd with the Commons in devesting the King from whom they deriv'd all their Honors of his just Prerogatives are now assaulted by those Commons and in danger of losing their own Rights which by the favor of the King or his Predecessors were conferr'd upon them which might have given them a sufficient warning but that there was a Spirit of In●atuation over all the Land not to joyn with them any more in the like Designs against the King whose Authority could not be diminisht without the lessening of their own nor any Plot carried on toward his Destruction by which they would not be reduc'd to the same condition with the rest of the People But Quos Iupiter vult perdere dementat pr●us so it prov'd with them Fol. 123. His body brought to York House and after sumptuously intombed at Westminster in St. Edwards Chappel The Church of Westminster was indeed founded by King 〈◊〉 the Confessour whom they called sometimes by the name of St. Edward the King 〈◊〉 that part of it that lies betwen the crosse Isle and the Chappel of King Henry 〈…〉 best known by the name of the Chappel of 〈◊〉 by reason of the many Kings and Queens which are there 〈◊〉 In a side Isle or inclosure whereof the Dukes body was Sumptuously interred with this glorious Epitaph which in honour of his invincible fidelity to his gracious Masters for I am otherwise a meer stranger to all his Selatious I shall here Subjoyn P. M. S. Vanae multitudinis improperium hic jacet Cujus tamen Hispania Prudentiam Gallia Fortitudinem Belgia Industriam Tota Europa mirata est Magnanimitatem Quem Daniae Sweciae Reges integerrimum Germaniae Transilvaniae Nassautiae Princip Ingenuum Veneta Reipublica Philobasileia Sahaudiae Lotharingiae Duces Politicum Palatinus Comes Fidelem Imperator Pacificum Turca Christianum Papa Protestantem Experti sunt Quem Anglia Archithalassum Cantabrigia Cancellarium Buckinghamia Ducem habuit Verùm siste viator quid ipsa Invidia Sugillare nequ●t audi Hic est ille Calamitosae virtutis Buckinghamius Maritus redamatus Pater ama●s Filius obsequens Frater amicissimus Affinis Beneficus Amicus perpetuus Dominus Benignus Optimus omnium servus Quem Reges adamarunt optimates honorarunt Ecclesia deflevit Vulgus Oderunt Quem Iacobus Carolus Regum perspicacissimi intimum habuerunt A quibus Honoribus auctus negotiis onustus Fato succubuit Antequam par animo periculum invenit Quid jam Peregrine Aenigma mundi moritur Omnia fuit nec quidquam habuit Patriae parens hostis audiit Deliciae idem querela Parliamenti Quidum Papistis bellum infert insimulatur Papista Dum Protestantium partibus consulit Occiditur à Protestante Tesseram specta rerum humanarum At non est quòd serio triumphet malitia Interimere potuit laedere non potuit Scilicet has preces fundens expiravit Tuo ego sanguine potiar mi Iesu dum mali pascuntur meo Fol. 127. But the Religious Commons must reform Gods caus● before the Kings nor would they be prescribed their Consultations but resolved to remit the Bill of Tunnage and Poundage at pleasure This is another new incroachment of the House of Commons that is to say the poasting off of the Kings businesse and the publick concernments of the State till they had either lessened his prerogative weakned the Authority of the Church or advanced the interest of the people Which resolution of not being prescribed their Cons●ltations became at last so fixt amongst them that when the King had frequently recommended to them his Message of the 20. of Ianuary Anno 1641. So necessary for the setling of the peace of the Kingdome they returned answer at the last that it was an infringing of their Priviledges to be p●est with any such Directions Fol. 128. And King Iames commended them over to the Synod of Dort and there asserted by suffrage of those Doctors and were afterwards commended to the Convocation in Ireland Our Authour takes this Errour from the former Historian but takes no notice of the correction of it by the Observator though it ●ppears by his citation in the margin that he had consulted with those Observations in this very point And therefore I must let him know since otherwise he will not take notice of it that this is a strange Hysteron Proteron setting the Cart before the Horse as we use to phrase it The Convocation in Ireland by which the Articles of Lambeth were incorporated into the Articles of that Church was holden in the Year 1615. the Synod of Dort not held till three years after anno 1618. and therefore not to D●rt first and to Ireland afterwards The like mistake in point of time we finde in our Authour fol. 134. where speaking of that wilde distemper which hapned in the House of Commons on the dissolving of the Parliament Anno 1628. he telleth us That the effects of those Malignities flew over Seas and infected the French Parliaments about this time where that King discontinued the Assemblies of the three Estates upon farre lesse Provocations Whereas he lets us know from the Observator within few lines after that those Assemblies of the three Estates in Franc● were discontinued by King Lewis th● 13. and a new form of Assembly instituted in the place thereof Anno 1614. So that the malignity of those distempers which happened in the Parliament of England Anno 1628. could not about that time passe over the Seas and infect the French Parliaments which had been discontinued and dissolved 14. years before Fol. 133. This was rati●ied by the Contract of this Nation which the Conquerour upon his admittance had declared and confirmed in the Laws which he published Our Author speaks this of an hereditary Freedom which is supposed to have been in the English Nation from paying any Tax or Tallage to the King but by Act of Parliament And I would fain learn so much of him as to direct me to some creditable Authour in which I may finde this pretended contract between the Norman Conquerour and the English Subject and in what Book of Statutes I may finde these Laws which were publisht by him to that purpose The Norman Conquerour knew his own strength too well to reign precariò to ground his Title on his admittance by the people or to make any such contract with them by which he might more easily win them
to that admittance He won the Kingdome by his sword and by that he kept It. 'T is true that the people did petition him for a Restitution of the Laws of Edward the Con●essor in which such an immunity from extraordinary Taxes might be granted to them But I cannot finde that either he or William Rufus who succeeded did ever part with so much of their powet as not to raise money on the Subject for their own occasions whensoever they pleased And it is true also that both King Hen. 1. and K. Steven who came to the Crown by unjust or disputable Titles did flatter the people when they first entred on the Throne with an hope of restoring the said Laws but I cannot finde that ever they were so good as their words nay I finde the contrary The first of our Kings which gave any life to those old Laws was King Hen. 2. the first granter of the Magna Charta which notwithstanding he kept not so exactly as to make it of any strength and consequence to binde his Heirs But the Commons having once tasted the sweetnesse of it and with the Lords in a long war against King Iohn from whom they extorted it by strong hand and had it confirmed unto them at a place called Running Mead near Stanes Anno 1215. Confirmed afterward in more peaceable times by King H●n 3. in the Ninth year of hi● Reign But so that he and his Successors made bold with the Subject notwithstanding in these money matters till the Statute de Tallagio non concedendo was past by Edward of Carnarvon eldest Son to King Edward the third at such time as his Father was beyond the Seas in the war of Flanders which being dis●llowed by the King at his coming home seems to have been taken off the File to the intent it might not passe for a Law for the time to come nor is it to be found now in the Records of the Tower amongst the Laws of that Kings time as are all the rest But from the generall position touching the hereditary freedom of the E●glish subject from Taxes and Tallage not granted and confirmed by Parliament our Authour passeth to such R●tes and Impositions as are laid on Merchandize of which he telleth us that Ibid. Mo●●ly these upon Merchandise were taken by Parliament six ●r twelve per pound f●r time and years as they saw cause for defence of the Sea and afterwards they were granted to the King for life and so continued for divers descents Our Authour had before told us that the Merchant in ●ormer times usually gav● consent to such taxes but limited to a time t● the ratification of the next following Parliament to be cancelled ●r confirmed By which it seems that the Kings hands were so tied up that without the consent of the Merchant or Authority of the Parliament he could impose no tax upon ●ny Merchandise either exported or imported But cer●ainly whatever our Authour saies to the contrary the King might impose rates and taxes upon either by his sole prerogative not troubling the Parli●ment in it nor asking the leave of the Merchant whom it most concerned Which Taxes being accustomably paid had the name of Customes as the Officers which received them had the name of Customers Concerning which we finde no old Statute or Act of Parliament which did enable the King to receive them though some there be by which the King did binde himself to a lesser rate then formerly had been laid upon some commodities as appears by the Statute of the 14. of King Edward 3. where it is said that neither we nor our Heirs shall demand assesse nor take nor suffer to be taken more custome for a Sack of Wool of any English man but half a mark only And upon the Woolfels and Lether the old Custome And the Sack ought to contain 26. stone and every stone 14. pound By which it seems that there had been both Customes and old Customes too which the Kings of England had formerly imposed on those commodities now by the goodnesse of this King abated to a lesser summe and deduced to a certainty The like Customes the Kings of England also had upon forreign Commodities 〈◊〉 namely upon that of wine each Tun of Wine which lay before the Mast and behinde the Mast b●ing du● unto the King by C●stome receiv'd accordingly sic de c●teris But being these old Customes were found insufficient in the times of open hostility betwixt u● and France both to m●intain the Kings Port and to enable him to guard the Seas and secure his Merchants a Subsidie of T●nnage and Poundage impos'd at a certain rate on all sorts of Merchandize was granted ●●rst by Act of Parliament to King Hen. 6. and afterward to King Edw. 4. in the 12. Year of his Reign and finally to all the Kings successively for term of life Never denied to any of them till the Co●mons beg●n to think of lessening the Authority Royall in the first Y●ar of King Charles whom they had engaged in a War with the King of Spain and me●n●●o make use of the advantage by holding him to hard meats till they had brought him to a necessity of yeelding to any thing which they pleased to ask For in the first P●rliament of his Reign they past the Bill ●or one Year only which for that cause was rejected in the House of Lords In the 〈◊〉 Parliament they were too busie with the Duke to do any thing in it And in the first Session of the third the● drew up a Remonstrance against it as if the King by pass●●g 〈◊〉 Petition of Right had parted with his Interest in that Imposition Nor staid they there but in the ●umultuous end of the next Session they thundred out their A●athema's●ot ●ot only against such of the Kings Ministers as should act any thing in the levying of his Subsidie of Tunnage and Poundage but against all such as voluntarily should yield or pay th● same not being granted by Parliament as betrayers of the Liberties of England and enemies to this Common-wealth And though the King received it but not without some losse and difficulty from the first year of his Reign to the sixteenth current yet then the Commons being backt with a Scottish Army resolved that he should hold it not longer but as a Tenant at will and that but from three Moneths to three Moneths neither And then they past it with this clogge ' which the King as his case then stood knew not how to shake off viz. that it must be declared and enacted by the Kings Authority ●nd by the Authority of the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament Th●t it is and hath been the ancient Right of the Subjects of this Realm that no Subsidy Custome Impost or other charge whatsoever ought or may be laid or imposed upon any Merchandise exported or imported by Subjects Denizen● or Aliens without common consent in Parliament As for the Imposition raised on
Secondly he bought not the Dutchy of Gelders neither but possest himself of it by a mixt Title of Arms and Contract The first Contract made between Charls the Warlike Duke of Burgundy and Arnold of Egmond Duke of Gelders who in regard of the great Succors which he received from him when deprived and Imprisoned by his own ungracious son passed over his whole Estate to him for a little mony But this alienation being made unprofitable by the death of Charls the intrusion of Adolph the son of Arnold and the succession of Charls the son of Adolph this Emperor reviv'd the claim and prest Duke Charls so hotly on all sides with continual Wars that he was forc'd to yield it to him upon condition that he might enjoy it till his death which was afterwards granted Thirdly if he had any right to the Dukedom of William it accrued not to him by discent as King of Spain but as a ●ief forfeited to the Empire for want of Heirs male in the House of Sforsa which not being acknowledged by the French who pretended from the Heir General of the Galeazzo's he won it by his Sword and so disposed thereof to his Son and Successor King Philip the second and his Heirs by another right then that of Conquest The proceeding of the short Parliament and the surviving Convocation have been so fully spoken of in the Observations on the former History that nothing need be added here But the long Parliament which began in November following will afford us some new matter for these Advertisements not before observ'd And first we finde That Fol. 336. There came out an Order of the Commons House that all Projectors and unlawful Monopolists that have or had ●●tely any benefit from Monopolies or countenanced or issued out any Warrants in favor of them c. shall be disabled to sit in the House A new piece of Authority which the Commons never exercised before and which they had no right to now but that they knew they were at this time in such a condition as to venture upon any new Incroachment without control For anciently● and legally the Commons had no power to exclude any of their Members from their place in Parliament either under colour of false elections or any other pretence whatsoever For it appears on good Record in the 28 year of Queen Elizabeth that the Commons in Parliament undertaking the examination of the chusing and returning of Knights of the Shire for the Coun●y of Norfolk were by the Queen sharply reprehended for it that being as she sent them word a thing improper for them to deal in as belonging onely to the Office and Charge of the Lord Chancellor from whom the Writs issue and a●e returned And if they may not exclude their Members under colour of undue Elections and false Returns much less Authority have they to exclude any of them for acting by vertue of the Kings Letters Patents or doing any thing in order to his Majesties Service For if this power were once allowed them they might proceed in the next place to shut out all the Lords of the Privy Councel his Counsel learned in the Laws his Domestick Servants together with all such as hold any Offices by his Grant and Favor because forsooth having dependance on the King they could not be true unto the Interest of the Commonwealth And by this means they might so weed out one another that at the last they would leave none to sit amongst them but such as should be all ingag'd to drive on such projects as were laid before them But whereas our Author tells us in the following words that it was Ordered also That Mr. Speaker should issue out new Warrants for electing other Members in their places he makes the Commons guilty of a greater incroachment then indeed they were All that they did or could pretend to in this case was to give order to the Speaker that intimation might be given to his Majesty of the places vacant and to make humble suit unto him to issue out new Writs for new Elections to those places But the next Incroachment on the Kings Authority was far greater then this and comes next in order Fol. 360. The Bill for the Trienial Parliament having p●ssed both Houses was confirmed with the Kings Royal Assent Febr. 16. And then also he past the Bill of Subsidies fol. 361. The Subsidies here mentioned were intended for the relief of the Northern Counties opprest at once with two great Armies who not onely liv'd upon Free Quarter but raised divers sums of money also for their present necessities the one of them an Army of English rais'd by the King to right himself upon the Scots the other being an Army of Scots who invaded the Kingdom under colour of obtaining from the King what they had no right to So that the King was not to have a peny of that Money and yet the Commons would not suffer him to pass the one till he had before hand passed the other which the King for the relief of his poor Subjects was content to do and thereby put the power of calling Parliaments into the hands of Sheriffs and Constables in case he either would not or should not do it at each three years end But the nex● incroachment on the Power and Prerogative Royal was worse then this there being a way left for the King to reserve that Power by the timely calling of a Parliament and the dissolving of it too if called within a shorter time then that Act had limited But for the next sore which was his passing of the Bill of Tonnage and Poundage there was no Plaister to be found the King being for'd remember that the Commons had an Army of Scots at their devotion to pass away all his Right unto it before he could obtain it but for three Moneths onely as was said before In which Bill it is to be observ'd that as they depriv'd the King of his Right to Tonnage and Poundage so they began then to strike at the Bishops Rights to their Vote in Parliament For whereas generally in all former Acts the Lords Spiritual and Temporal were distinctly named in this that distinction was left out and the Bill drawn up in the name of the Lord● and Commons which being disputed by the Bishops as well fore-seeing what the Commons intended by it was notwithstanding carried for the Commons by the Temporal Lords who thereby made a way for their own exclusion when the Commons were grown as much too strong for them as they were for the Bishops The secular Lords knew well that the Lords Spiritual were to have the precedence and therefore gave them leave to go first out of the House that they themselves might follow after as they ought to do Proceed we next to the business of the Earl of Strafford a● whose Tryal our Author tells us That Fol. 376. The Earl of Arundel was made Lord High Steward and the Earl of
promise which the King is said to have made him of not consenting to his death The sum of the story is briefly this viz. That the King had promised the Earl of Strafford under his hand that his prerogative should sav● him that he would never passe the Bill nor consent to the acting of any thing to take away his life that being satisfied in all other scruples he rested in this only affirming that in regard of this promise he could not passe the Bill though the Earl were guilty the Bishop of Lincoln finding him harping on that string assured him that he thought that the Earl was so great a Lover of his Maj●sties peace so tender of his conscience and the Kingdoms safety that he would willingly acquit the King of that promise that though the King received this intimation with a brow of anger yet the said Bishop in pursuance of the Earls destruction sends a Message to him to that purpose by the Lieutenant of the Tower or some other person whom he found attending near the place that as the devil and he would have it the Earl received that intimation with great disdain saying that if that were all which bound the King he would soon release him and thereupon opening his Cabinet drew out that Paper in which the Kings promise was contained and gave it to the said Lieutenant or that other person but whether sealed or unsealed that he cannot tell by whom it was delivered to the Bishop of Lincoln and finally that the Bishop of Lincoln finding no other scruple to remain in the Kings Conscience but the respect he had to that promise he put the fatall paper into the Kings hands which as it seems gave a full end to the conference and the Kings perplexities This is the substance of the Legend and in all this there is nothing true but the names of the parties mentioned in it And first I would fain know from what Authour he received this fiction unlesse it were from say I and say some as his own words are that is to say either from himself or from some body else but he knew not whom Most certainly he had it not from any of the Bishops then present the Lord Primate affirming in the end of his first Narrative that neither he nor the rest of his Brethren knew what was contained in that Paper and no lesse certain it is that the Bishop of Lincoln was too wise to accuse himself of such a practise if he had been really guilty of it And then as for the thing it self no man of reason can imagine that the King would either make such a proviso to the Earl or that the Earl would so far distrust his own integrity as to take it of him If the Kings knowledge of his innocence of his signal merits and the declaration which he made in Parliament to the Lords and Commons that he could not passe the Bill with a good Conscience were not sufficient to preserve him there was no help to be expected from such Paper-promises Such a Romance as this we finde in Ibrahim the Illustrious Bassa who is said to have obtained the like promise from Solyman the Magnificent which notwithstanding the Mufti or Chief Priests of the Turks devised a way to discharge the Emperour of that promise and to obtain from him an unwilling consent to the Bassa's death as the Bishop of Lincoln is said to do for the Earl of Straffords Secondly There was no such scruple of conscience propounded to the Bishops in the morning conference as the obligation which that promise laid upon him there being no other question propounded at that time but whether he might in justice passe the Bill of Attainder against the Earl To which the Bishops gave their Answer when it was again renewed in the Evening as appears by the Lord Primates first Narrative that if upon the Allegations on either ●ide at the hearing whereof the King was present he did not conceive him guilty of the crime wherewith he was charged he could not in justice condemn him and by this answer it appears that no such scruple as the obligation of that Paper-promise had been before tendred to the Bishops Thirdly Admitting that the Bishop of Lincoln might be so bold as to make that overture to the King forgetting a release of that promise from the Earl of Strafford yet was he too carefull of himself too fearfull of the Kings everlasting displeasure to pursue that fatall project when he perceived his Majesty to entertain it with a brow of anger Fourthly Admitting this also that the Bishop was so thirsty of the Earls bloud as to neglect his own safety in pursuance of it yet cannot our Historian tell us whether that intimation were sent by the Lieutenant of the Tower or some other person And certainly as the Lieutenant of the Tower was not so obscure a person but that he might easily be known from another man so is it most improbable that he should go on such an errand without speciall order from the King or that the Earl should admit of such an intimation from any other who was like to run on the Bishops bidding but only from the Lieutenant himself Fifthly It cannot be beleeved that the Earl should fall into such a passion when the Tale was told him considering that he knew that by a Letter sent unto the King on the Tuesday before he had set the Kings Conscience at liberty most humbly beseeching him for the prevention of such mischief as might happen by his refusall to passe the Bill So that the passing of the Bill could be no News to him which he had reason to expect because it was a thing so much prest by his enemies and so humbly and affectionately● desired by himselfe Sixthly and finally Though our Historian make it doubtfull whether that Paper-promise were sent back sealed or unsealed yet no man can suspect the Earl to be so imprudent in his actions so carelesse of his own honour and so untrusty to the King in so great a secret as to send it open by which it must needs come first to the eyes of others before it came unto the Kings And if it were not sent unsealed how came our Authour to the knowledge that that paper contained the Kings promise as he saies it did But nothing more betrays the vanity and impossibility of this fiction then the circumstance in point of time in which this promise must be made which must needs fall between the passing of the Bill of Attainder and the Kings conference with the Bishops sent to him for the satisfaction of his Conscience by the Houses of Parliament Our Authour tels us that at the conference with the Bis●ops the King being satisfied in all other scruples started his last doubt If in his Conscience he could not passe the Bill although the Earl were guilty having promised under his hand that his prerogative should save him never to passe that Bill nor to
and Wife to Roger Mortimer Earl of March from whom the House of York laid their claim to the Diadem But our Author is as good at the Pedigree of the House of the Beauforts as of that of Mortimer telling us That Cardinal Beaufort was not onely great Uncle to King Henry the sixth but Son to John of Gaunt and his Brother Cardinal of York The first two parts whereof are true but the last as false Cardinal Beaufort I am sure had no such Brother as our Author gives him for so he must be understood though the Grammar of the words will not bear so much sense namely a Cardinal of York unless it were King Henry the fourth whom Iohn of Gaunt had by Blanch of Lancaster his first Wife Iohn Earl of Somerset or Thomas Duke of Excester which two together with this Cardinal Beaufort he had by his last Wife Katherine Swinfort More Sons then these none of our Heralds or Historians give to Iohn of Gaunt and therefore no such Brother as a Cardinal of York to be found out any where for this Cardinal Beaufort except onely in our Authors Dreams Fol. 419. That in Anno 37. of Henry the eighth Letters Patents were granted to Lay-men to exercise all maner of Ecclesiastical Iurisdiction as the Kings Officers not the Bishops These are the words of Mr. Thomas in his Invective against the Bishops before mentioned and these our Author swallows without chewing not searching whether Mr. Thomas had rightly given the sense of that Act of Parliament or not but telling his in his gloss upon it That no Reason or Iustice are to be deduc'd from that Kings Actions more like an Atheist then a Christian either Ecclesiastical or Temporal But by the leave of good Mr. Thomas there can be no such matter gathered from that Statute of King Henry the eighth viz. That Letters Patents were granted to Lay-men to exercise all maner of Ecclesiastical Iurisdiction as the Kings Officers not the Bishops Before this time no man could be admitted to the Office of a Chancellor Vicar-General Commissary or Official in any Ecclesiastical Court or exercise any Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction except he were a single person and in Holy Orders To take away which curb and thereby to give the better incouragement to Students in the Civil Laws it was Enacted by this Statute that all such Ecclesiastical Officers whether made by the Kings Letters Patents as in the case of Sir Thomas Cromwel the Kings Vicar General or by any Arch-Bishop Bishop or Arch-Deacon within this Realm might from thencforth lawfully execute and exercise all maner of Iurisdiction commonly called Ecclesiastical Iurisdiction and all Censures and Coercions appertaining or in any wise belonging unto the same albeit such person or persons be Lay married or unmarried so that they be Doctors of the Civil Law lawfully created and made in any Vniversity Out of which premises if Mr. Thomas can conclude that such Lay-men so quallified to exercise Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction were the Kings Officers and not the Bishops he must have some new piece of Sandersons Logick which never was read in any of the Universities in which those lay persons did receive the Degree of Doctors Fol. 419. She was the right Heir apparent to her Brother and the onely right Issue to the Crown begotten no donbt in lawful Matrimony I dare not take upon me to dispute of Titles to the Crown but I dare take upon me to tell our Author that there was some doubt made by the most learned men of that time whether Queen Mary of whom he speaks were begotten and born in lawful Marriage All the Bishops in this Realm by a publick Writing under their Hands and Seals declared the Marriage of King Henry the eighth with Queen Maries Mother to be unlawful and so did the most eminent Divines in both the Universities as also in the Cathedrals Monasteries and other Conventual Bodies within this Realm The like declared also by several Universities in France and Italy under their publick Seals And so it was declared finally by the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons assembled in ● full and free Parliament in which it was pronounced That the Marriage between the King and the Lady Katherine of Spain the Relict of his Brother was null and void to that it seems there was some doubting in this case though our Author makes no doubt of it at all Nor is it very certain neither that Queen Mary was the right Heir apparent to her Brother For if the Law of the Crown diff●r not from the Law of the Land in this particular which I leave unto our learned Lawyers she could not be the Heir to her Brother King Edward the sixth as being born of another Venter and consequently his Sister by the half blood onely Now as he makes no doubt of Queen Maries Title to the Crown so he makes the Title of Queen Elizabeth to be subject unto some dispute which all the Estates of the Realm convened in her first Parliament declared in the way of Recognition to be past disputing But I leave these inviduous Arguments and proceed to some other Fol. 429. Doctor Wren Bishop of Ely and Dean of the Kings Chappel had been accused of Misdemeanors in his Diocess amounting to Treason And being committed to the Tower there he hath lain ever since But fitst no misdemeanors how great soever can amount to a Treason nor ever was it so adjudged but onely in the Case of the Earl of Strafford Secondly There was no Evidence taken upon Oath to prove any of the misdemeanors which were charged upon him our Author confessing that after he had been Voted in the House of Commons unworthy and unfit to hold and exercise any Office or Dignity in Churh or Commonwealth there was no further speech of him or his Crimes Thirdly He was not committed to the Tower for any misdemeaners charged against him by those of his Diocess but for subscribing to the Protestation with the rest of the Bishops in the end of D●cember 1641. who were committed at the same time also Fourthly He hath not remain'd there ever since his commitment neither but was discharged with the other Bishops about the end of February then next follow●ng and about three or four Moneths after brought back again Anno 1642. without any Accusation brought against him either then or since Fol. 430. And then they adjourned until the twentieth of October and a standing Committee of the House of Commons consisting of fifty Members appointed during the Recess Of this Committee Mr. Iohn Pim was the principal Man without whom all the rest were Ciphers of no signification And by him there issued out an Order against Innovasions extended and intended also for taking down the Rails before the Communion-Table levelling the ground on which the said Table stood and placing the said Table in the middle of the Church or Chancell In which it is to be admired how eagerly this Order was pursued by
Houses as were like to make the worst use of it and the more to ingratiate himself with the prevalent party he aggravated the supposed offence to the very utmost And the supposed offence was this that the Bishops having been frequently reviled pursued and violently kept from the House of Peers protested by a Writing under their hands That they durst not sit or Vote in the House of Peers untill his Majesty should secure them from all affronts indignities and dangers and therefore that all Laws Orders Votes Resolutions and Determinations should be reputed null and of none effect which in their absence had passed or should passe in the said most Honourable House during the time of their forced and violent absence Which Petition and Protestation being 〈…〉 Records of Parliament was thought to be a good 〈◊〉 of their place and right suffrage in the House of 〈◊〉 ●●●withstanding the Subsequent Act of Parliament 〈◊〉 deprived them of it But how that Protestation could amount to Treason in the newest construction of the word was so impossible to be proved that they who 〈◊〉 so voted it having served their turns by the imprisonment of the Bishops for depriving them of their place and vote in Parliament and divesting the King of his power and prerogative in pressing Souldiers for his wars at once released them of the imp●i●onment and accusation under which they suffered Adde hereunto that when the Members of the House of Commons were seized upon and kept in custody by the Officers of the Army under the command of Sir Thomas Fairfax on the sixt and seventh daies of December 1647. they made a Protestation to this effect viz. that all Acts and Ordinances Votes and proceedings of the House of Commons made after the said sixt and seventh of December or after to be made during their restraint and forcible seclusion from the House and the continuance of the Armies force upon it should be no way obligatory but void and null to all ●ntents and purposes whatsoever Which protestation though it toucht the Officers of the Army to the very quick yet had they so much modesty as not to count it for high Treason And when the Members which were left remaining in that House for the present turn had scanned over every particular of that protestation they only ventured so far as to Vote it to be scandalous and seditious as tending to destroy the present visible Government and that all that had a hand in it were unworthy of trust for which consult Mercurius Pragmaticus Numb 38. By which we see that which was counted Treason in the Bishops was not conceived to be such in these Members of the House of Commons No more then farre worse crimes then those which 〈…〉 for Treason in the Earl of Strafford could 〈◊〉 to be Treason in the Case of the Five 〈…〉 Lord of Kimbolton So true is that which Horace 〈…〉 Book De Arte Poetica viz. Coecilio Plautoq●e dabit 〈…〉 Virgilio Varioque which cannot be englished more ●●●nificantly then by this old Proverb that is to say that 〈◊〉 better steal a Horse then others look on Fol. 478. The City taking h●art and hands with the House of Commons summon a Common Councel where they debate their jealousies and fears The constitution of the Common Councell of the City was of great concernment at this time and therefore it behoved the Commons in order to the prosecution of their designe that it should be new moulded most of the old ones laid aside and creatures of their own elected into their places And by their Emissaries and Agents they prevailed so far that on S. Thomas day when the Common-Councell-men were to be chosen for every Ward in stead of those grave sober and substantiall men which before they had they chose a company of factious and indigent persons known only by their disaffections to Monarchical and Episcopal Government And whereas by the ancient custome of the City the Common-Councell-men then elected were not admitted unto Councell till the Munday after Twelfthday when their Elections were returned and enrolled by the Town-Clerk these men well knowing how much the Designe of the Commons did depend upon them would not stay so long And therefore when the King had appointed a Common-Councell to be called on the last day of December for the prevention of such tumults as had happened a few daies before they thrust themselves in amongst the rest The like they did when the King gave a meeting to a Common Councel appointed by him on the fifth of Ianuary wherein he acquainted them with the reason of his proceedings against the five impeached Members desiring that they might not have any retreat or harbour within the City At what time Fowke one of these Common-Councell men as being the Bell-weather to the rest made a sawcy and insolent speech unto the King concerning fears and ●●●lousies touching the Members accused the Priviledges of Parliament and that they might not be tried but in a Parliamentary way To which though the King returned a very milde and gracious Answer yet the Rabble being once inflamed by their seditious Orator would not so be satisfied but at his coming out of the Hall and as he past in his Coach thorow the Streets there was nothing ecchoed in his ears but Priviledges of Parliament Priviledges of Parliament By the help and vote of these men also was that Petition framed and delivered to the King on the morrow after which follows immediatly in our Authour And by the help of these men did they extort the Militia of the City out of the hands of the Mayor and Aldermen and put it into the power of inferiour persons such as the Faction in the House of Commons might best confide in And for their Iealousies and Fears which were to be debated in the Common Councell they were of no lesse nature then the blowing up of the Thames to drown the City or the beating it down about their ears by Col. Lunsford from the Tower or the sacking it by the King and the Cavaliers Horrible Gulleries but such as were generally disperst and no lesse generally beleeved by fools women and children Fol. 482. Vpon information of Troops of Horse to be gathered by the Lord Digby and Colonell Lunsford at Kingston where the County Magazine is lodged they order that the Sheriffs of the severall Counties c. shall suppresse all unlawfull Assemblies c. Most true it is that such an order was made by the House of Commons the better to amaze the people and keep them in continuall Fears and Iealousies of the Kings proceedings But nothing is more false then that any Troops of Horse had been rais'd by the Lord Digby or Colonel Lunsford or that they had any such designe as to seize the Magazine at Kingston which they might easily have done had they been so minded before it could have been prevented But the truth is that the King not knowing what the London Tumults might
amount unto commanded the Officers of the late Army before-mentioned to attend his pleasure till he saw some issue of the practices which were held against him On which command they followed him to Hampton Court Ianuary the tenth 1641. at his Removall from Whitehall for avoiding such fresh Insolencies as the people in their triumphant conducting of the accused Members to the Houses of Parliament might have put upon him These Officers now known by the Name of Cavaliers were lodged at Kingston and upon them the Lord Digby accompanied with Col. Lun●●ord in a Coach with six Horses intended to bestow a visit no Troops of Horse being raised by him nor any other appearance of Horse at all except those six only His Majesties Declaration of the 12. of August hath so cleared this businesse that I marvell our Authour could let it passe by without Observation Fol. 485. And so the breach between the King and Parliament was stitcht up That is to say that great breach of pretended priviledge in the Kings coming to the House of Commons to demand the five impeached Members And yet this breach was not stitcht up now nor in a long time after For fol. 495. we finde the Parliament again at their five Members insisted on in the preamble to the Ordinance about the Militia fol. 498. and prest in their Petition delivered to the King at Royston fol. 501. and finally made one of the Propositions presented to the King at Oxford fol. 599. So far was this breach from being stitcht up in the end of Ianuary Anno 1641. that it was not made up in the Ianuary following at what time those Propositions were brought to Oxford From the five Members passe we to the Militia of which he telleth us That Fol. 496. The Parliament having now the Militia the security of the Tower and City of London Trained Bands of the Kingdom and all the Forces out of the Kings hands Our Authour placeth this immediatly after the Kings coming back from Dover whither he went with the Queen and the Princesse Mary there shipped for Holland at what time the Parliament had neither the command of the Tower nor of the Trained Bands in the Countrey or of any Forces whatsoever but their City-guards For fol. 498. we finde his Majesty sticking at it especially as to the Militia of London or of Towns incorporate and after fol. 502. when they petitioned him about it being then at New-Market and not as our Authour saith at Royston he answered more resolutely then before that he would not part with it for a minute no not unto his Wife and Children After which time finding the King too well resolved not to part with such a principall flower of his prerogative they past an Ordinance for entituling themselves unto it and did accordingly make use of it in the following war against the King Nor was the Petition any thing the better welcome for the men that brought it viz. the Earls of Pembroke and Holland both of them sworn Servants to him both of them of his Privy Councell both in great favour with him when he was in Prosperity and both per●idiously forsaking him when his Fortunes changed unto the worse Particularly our Authour tels us of the Earl of Holland That Fol. 501. He was raised and created to become his most secret Counsellour the most intimate in affection the first of his Bed-chamber his constant companion in all his Sports and Recreations Yet notwithstanding all these favours this Earl as much promoted the Puritan affairs of the Court but secretly and under-hand as his Brother the Earl of Warwick more openly and professedly did in the Countrey Of which thus Viscount Conway in a Letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury dated at Newcastle Iune 8. 1640. I assure my self saith he that there is not any lesse your friend then my Lord of Holland and I beleeve that at all times you ought to take heed to your self with him c. My Lord of Warwick is the temporal head of the Puritans and my Lord of Holland is their spirituall Head or rather the one is their visible Head the other their invisible Head Peradventure not because he means to do either good or hurt but because he thinks it is a Gallantry to be the principall pillar on which a whole Caball must rely Fol. 511. And taking only a guard for his person of his Domesticks and Neighbour Gentry went in person the 23. of April but contrary to his expectation the Gates were shut upon him the Bridges drawn up and Hotham from the Wals flatly denies him entrance Of this Affront Hotham being first proclaimed Traitor under the Wals of the Town the King complains to the Houses of Parliament but he had more reason to complain of some about him For in his Answer to their Petitition about the Magazine of Hull delivered to him in the beginning of April he had let them know how confident he was that place whatsoever discourse there was of private or publick Instructions to the contrary should be speedily given up if he should require it Being thus forewarn'd it was no wonder that they were fore-arm'd also against his Intentions or that he was ●epulst by Hotham at his coming thither For which good Service as Hotham was highly magnified for the present so he had his Wages not long after For being suspected to hold intelligence with the Marquess of Newcastle he was knockt down on that very place on which he stood when he refused the King admittance into the Town sent Prisoner unto London together with his eldest Son and there both beheaded the Son confessing that he had deserv'd that untimely death for his Disloyalty to the King the Father whining out his good affections to the Parliament and still expecting that reprieve which was never intended Fol. 512. All which that is to say the Kings going to Hull being by the King a high breach of Priviledge and violation of Parlia●ent they think fit to clear by voting it and Hotham justif●ea and send a Committee of Lords and Commons to reside there for the better securing Hull and him April 28. The breach of priviledge objected was the Kings endeavor to possess himself of the Town of Hull his own Town and to get into his hands a Magazine of Arms and Ammunition which he had bought with his own money To hinder which and to justifie Hotham the Lord Fairfax Sir Philip Stapleton Sir Henry Cholmn●y and Sir Hugh Cholmnly were sent by the House of Commons as a standing Committee to reside at York And had they come thither on no other business then what was openly pretended it had been such an extent of Priviledge making the House of Commons as wide as the Kingdom as never was challenged before But they were sent on another errand that is to say to be as Spies on all the Kings Actions to undermine all his Proceedings and to insinuate into the people that all their hopes of Peace
the Houses of Parliament being loth to lose so many good men appointed Mr. Stephen Marshal to call them together and to absolve them from that Oath which he did with so much confidence and Authority that the Pope himself could not have done it better The King was scarce setled in Oxford the fittest place for his Court and Counsel to reside in When Fol. 597. The noble Lord Aubigny Brother to the Duke of Richmond dyed and was buried at Oxford This Lord Aubigny was the second Son of Esme Duke of Lenox and Earl of March succeeding his Father both in that Title and Estate entail'd originally on the second Son of the House of Lenox he receiv'd his deaths wound at Edge-Hill but dyed and was solemnly interr'd at Oxford on the 13 of Ianuary then next following the first but not the last of that Illustrious Family which lost his life in his Kings Service For after this in the year 1644. the Lord Iohn Stewart lost his life in the Battle of Cheriton near Alresford in the county of South-Hampton And in the year 1645. the Lord Bernard Stewart newly created E. of Litchfield went the same way in the fight near C●ester The Duke of Richmond the constant follower of the King in all his Fortunes never injoying himself after the death of his Master languishing and pining from time to time till at length extremity of Grief cast him into a Fever and that Fever cast him into his Grave A rare example of a constant and invincible Loyalty no paralel to be found unto it in the Histories of the antient or latter Ages Philip de ●omines telleth us of a Noble Family in Flanders that generally they lost their lives in the Wars and Service of their Prince And we finde in our own Chronicles that Edmond Duke of Summerset lost his life in the first Battle in St. Albans Duke Henry following him taken in the Battle of Hexam and so beheaded a second Duke Edmond and the Lord Iohn of Somerset going the same way in the Battle near Te●xbury all of them fighting in the behalf of King Henry the sixth and the House of Lancaster But then they heapt not Funeral upon Funeral in so short a time as the first three Brothers of this House in which as those of the House of Somerset did ●all short of them so those of that Noble House in Flanders fell short of the House of Somerset Fol. 601. In this time the Queen in Holland now Imbarques for England the sixteenth of February and with contrary winds and foul Weather was forced back again and thereafter with much hazzard anchored at Burlington Bay the nineteenth and Lands at the Key the two and twentieth In this our Author tells the truth but not the whole truth the Queen induring a worse Tempest on the Shore then she did upon the Sea Concerning which the Queen thus writes unto the King viz. The next night after we came unto Burlington four of the Parliament Ships arrived without being perceived by us and about five of the clock in the Morning they began to ply us so fast with their Ordnance that it made us all 〈◊〉 rise out of our Beds and to leave the Village at least the Women one of the Ships did me the favor to flank upon the House where I lay and before I was out of my Bed the Cannon Bullets whistled so loud about me that all the Company pressed me earnestly to go 〈◊〉 of the House their Cannon having totally beaten down all the neighboring Houses and two Cannon Bullets falling from the top to the bottom of the House where I was So that clothed as I could be I went on foot some little distance out of the Town under the shelter of a ditch like that of New-market whither before I could get the Canon-Bullets fell thick about us and a Sergeant was killed within twenty paces of me We in the end gained the Ditch and staied there two hours whilest their Canon plaied all the time upon us the Bullets flew for the most part over our head● some few only grazing on the Ditch covered us with Earth Nor had they thus given over that disloyal violence if the ebbing of the Sea and some threatnings from the Admiral of Holland who brought her over had not sent them going Fol. 603. The next day the Prince marches to Glocester his hasty Summons startled them at these strange turnings So saies our Authour but he hath no Authour for what he saith The Prince marched not the next day to Glocester nor in many moneths after having businesse enough to do at Cirencester where he was upon the taking of which Town the Souldiers Garrison'd for the Parliament in the Castles of Barkly Sudely and the Town of Malmsbury deserted those places which presently the Prince possessed and made good for the King Which done he called before them all the Gentry of Cotswold and such as lived upon the banks of Severn betwixt Glocester and Bristol who being now freed from those Garisons which before had awed them were easily perswaded by him to raise a Monethly contribution of 4000. pound toward the defence of the Kings person their Laws and Liberties It was indeed generally beleeved that if he had marched immediatly to Glocester while the terrour of sacking Cirencester fell first upon them the Souldiers there would have quitted the place before he had come half way unto it the affrightment was so generall and their haste so great that Massey had much adoe to perswade the Townsmen to keep their Houses and the Souldiers to stand upon their Guard as I have often heard from some of good quality in that City till the Scouts which he sent out to discover the Motions of the Prince were returned again But whatsoever they feared at Glocester the Prince had no reason to march towards it his Army being too small and utterly unfurnisht of Canon and other necessaries for the attempting of a place of such a large circumference so well mann'd and populous as that City was Contented therefore with that honour which he had got in the gaining of Cirencester and feeling the Kings affairs in that Countrey he thought it a point of higher wisedom to return towards Oxford then hazard all again by attempting Glocester Fol. 604. The Scots Army marched Southwards and crossed Tine March 13. If so it must be in a dream not in Action the Scots not entring into England till December following when the losse of Bristol Exceter and generally of all the West compelled the Houses of Parliament to tempt the Scots to a second invasion of the Kingdome And this appears most clearly by our Authour himself who tels us fol. 615. ' That Sir William A●min was sent to Edinburgh from the Parliament to hasten the Scots Army hither having first sworn to the Solemn League and Covenant each to other Before which Agreement as to the taking of the Solemn League and Covenant by all the Subjects of
issued out of the Chancery which they still kept open But when it came to be debated in the House of Commons it was alledged by some sober men that the counterfeiting of the Great Seal was made High Treason by the Statute of the 25. of King Edward the third To which it was very learnedly replied by Sergeant Wilde that they intended not to counterf●t the Old Great Seal but to make a new one On which ridiculous Resolution of this Learned Sergeant whose great Ruff had as much Law in it as his little head the designe went forward but not with any such alteration in the Impresse as our Authour speaks of The Impresse of this New Seal was the same with that in the old the Feathers or Princes Arms being only added in a void place of it to Shew the difference between them that so their Followers might disti●guish be●ween such Commands as came from his Majesty and such as came immediatly from themselves in his Majesties Name But whereas our Authour speaks in some words fore-going of a Legislative Power which he conceives to be in the Parliament he shews himself therein to be no better a Lawyer then M. Ser●cant The Legislative power was only in the King himself though legally he was restrained in the exercise of it to the consent of the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament Fol. 623. lin l● 〈…〉 the one a Cripple the other somewhat like a Lunatick Our Authour speaks this of the Children of M. Iohn Hambden one of the five Members so much talked of the principal Member of the five as our Authour cals him but on what ground he speaks it as I do not know ●o neither is it worth enquiry And though I might leave the Children of M. Hambden under this reproach as an undoubted signe of Gods judgements on him for being a principall Incendiary in that fire which for a long time consumed the Kingdom yet so far do I preferre truth before private interesse that I shall do him that right in his post●●ity which our Authour either out of ignorance easinesse of belief or malice hath been pleased to deny him And therefore the Reader is to know that the surviving children of that Gentleman are not only of an erect and comely stature but that they have in them all the abilities of wit and judgement wherewith their Father was endued though governed with a more moderate spirit and not so troublesomely active in affairs of state Fol. 626. The five and twentieth of August the Earls of Bedford and Holland went from London towards Oxford c. That the said two Ea●ls came to Oxford to tender their s●bmission to the King is a Truth undoubted sooner then our Authour speaks of but that they were received with favour and forgivenesse may be very well questioned not as in reference to forgivenesse which considering the Kings good nature may be ●asily granted but in relation unto Favour A point wherein our Authour hath confuted himself telling us fol. 639. of the Earl of Holland that he had but slender Reception though he put himself in a posture of Arms with the King in the Field And 〈◊〉 this slender Reception he complain'd in a Letter to the Lo●d Ierm●n after his departure wherein he did relate that the King did not shew so much countenance to him as he had seen h●m do at the same time to some C●mmon Souldiers who had fled from the Enemy to come to him There came to Oxford also at or about the same time the Earl of Clare and found the like cold entertainment It was conceived and by some reported that if the King had shewed good countenance to these three Lords most of the rest would have left the Parliament and repaired unto him But the King considered well enough that not so much the sense of their duty as his successes in the West had brought them thither and that if five or six only of the Lords should be left in Westminster those five or six only would be thought sufficient to constitute a House of Peers as many times there were no more present fo● the passing of any Ordinance which the Commons should be pleased to commend unto them Fol. 630. And now was the King drawn down before the Town attended by Prince Charles and the Duke of York Prince Rupert and Generall Ruthen c. For the Kings sitting down before Glocester and laying a formal Siege unto it there was given this reason viz. that by the taking of this Town all Wales would be preserved in the Kings Obedience entirely united unto E●gland and free passage given on all occasions and distresses to assist each other And so far the design was not to be discommended But on the contrary it was said that the Kings unhappy sitting down before that Town lost him the opportunity of marching directly towards London and ●●attering the Faction in the Parliament both which by reason of the affrightments which fell upon them by the taking of Bristol and oth●r places in the West were ready to give up themselves even to desperation And so much was affirmed by the Earl of Holland when he was at Oxford assuring Sir Iohn Heydon Lieutenant of the Ordinance from whose mouth I have it that the prevailing Members of both Houses were upon the point of trussing up of Bagge and Baggage but that they hoped as some of them told him that N. N. one of great nearnesse to the King an especiall confident of theirs would prevail with him at the last to lay siege to Glocester and not to leave that Town at his back to infest the Countrey Fol. 633. Two Spies sent out long since returned from Warwick giving them News of the March of the Earl of Essex but was not assured he lodging then ●nder a Cloud of disgrace being beaten out of the West But certainly the Earl of Essex could not be under a cloud at that time for being beaten out of the West his preparing to raise the Siege of Glocester happening in the end of August Anno 1643. and his being beaten in the West not happening till the beginning of September Anno 1644. But we must think the Houses were indued with the spirit of prophecy and frowned upon the man before-hand for that which was to happen to him a Twelve moneth after Nor was it any fault of his that Bristol Exceter and so many places of importance had been lost in the West he having no Forces able to act any thing against the King till the Pulpit-men in London preacht him up an A●my for the Relief of Glocester An Army which came time enough to do the work the siege being very slackly followed and having done the work were as desirous to return back to their own Houses But see what hapned by the way Fol. 636. From Cirencester he marches to Chilleton the Cavaliers facing them on Mavarn Hills If so then First The Earl of Essex must be the Ianus of this Age
and be presumed to have two faces with the one looking towards London for which he was upon his march with the other on Malvarn Hills where the Cavaliers faced him And secondly We must think the Cavaliers to be very Cowards that durst not face him supposing still that he had two faces at a nearer distance then from Malvarn Hills distant from Cirencester thirty miles at the least and how far from Chilleton let them tell me who have searcht the Maps But though he makes the Cavaliers to keep out of danger yet he brings the Queen neer enough unto it whom we finde at Newle●y Fight fol. 648. placed by him with the King on the top of an Hill to behold the battle But herein his intelligence fail'd him the Queen being at that time safe in Oxford and the King venturing his most sacred person with the rest of his Army Mercurius Aulicus one of his best Authours for a great part of the War could have told him so had he consulted him in this as in other places Fol. 639. The Irish Forces coming under the command of Sir Michael Ernly an experienced Souldier and landing in Wales c. The Forces which our Authour speaks of were not Irish but English sent over in the beginning of the War to defend the South-parts of Ireland against the Rebels But being forced for the Reasons mentioned in our Authour to come to a cessation with them four thousand of them put themselves into a body under the command of Sir Michael Ernly above-named and came over into England to serve the King against the Houses of Parliament by which they had been so unhandsomely handled Had they been kept together in a Body and serv'd under their old known Commanders there is no question to be made but that they might have much advanc'd his Majesties Service But Prince Rupert who was all in all in the Councell of War caused them to be divided from one another distributed them into severall Regiments of his Majesties Armies and placed them under new Commanders which gave the Souldiers great displeasure and their Offi●ers more rendring their Service less honourable to themselves and of small advantage to the King Of these Officers Col. Monk was one descended from a Daughter of Arthur Plantaginet Vicount Lisle the Na●urall Son of King Edward the fourth who afterwards falling off to the Houses of Parliament much advanced their affairs defeating a great Fleet of the Hollanders Anno 1653. and at this day Commander in chief over the English Forces in Scotland Fol. 661. In all the Western Countries the Parliament had not a Souldier but at Plymouth and Pool ● What think we then of Lime a Sea-Town in Dorsetshire and consequently in the West Had there not been some Souldiers in it of the Parliament party and good Souldiers too it could not have held out so long against Prince M●urice who wasted there the greatest part of the Cornish Army which had serv'd so fortunately under the Command of Sir Raph Hopton and yet could not take it But Lime was a Sea-Town as before was said and Prince Maurice had only a Land●Army which rendred the Design not more impossible then imprudent the besieging of a Haven-Town without a Navy to prevent all relief by Sea being like the hedging in of Cucko or the drowning of a quick E●le by the Wise men of Gotham Fol. 662. The Marquesse of Newcastle for the King went into Darbyshire where he listed fifteen hundred Voluntiers assisted by Sir John Gell his Interest thereabouts and Sir John Harpers Worse and worse still The Earl of Newcastle assisted by Sir Iohn Gell were brave News indeed That Sir Iohn Harper might do his best in it I shall easily grant But Sir Iohn Gell was all along a principall stickler for the Houses of Parliament and spent his whole stock of Interesse in that Countrey to advance their Service In the pursuit whereof he was observed to be one of their first Commanders which issued out Warrants to the Tenants of the Lords and Gentry who did adhere unto the King to bring in their rents and be responsall for them for the time to come to the Committee at Darby one of which Warrants Dated in March 1642. was brought to Oxford and is this that followeth To the Constable of Acmanton WHereas these unna●ur all Wars at this present are s●mented and maintained by ` Papists and Malignants to the utter undoing of many honest men and the ruine of the whole Commonwealth for the better preventing of which misery and to do the best we can to put a speedy end to these distractions according to the trust reposed in us by the Ordinance of Parliament we think sit to command you that presently upon receipt hereof you give notice to all the Tenants within your Constablery named in a Schedule herewi●h sent you that henceforward they pay all their Ren●s due to any of those persons or to any other that contribute or bear Arms against the Parliament to the Committee here at Darby or to such other person or persons as the said Committee shall nominate And we all promise that such of those Tenants who shew their forwardnesse to bring in their Rents to the Committee at Darby by our Lady day next or within four daies aft●rwards shall have a discharge against their Landlords of the whole rent and shall have a fourth part aba●ed them And those Tenants that are refractory and come not willingly to us shall not only be forced to pay their whole Rents but also shall be p●occeded against as malignant persons and such as endeavor the continuance of these troubles Given under our hands March 1642. The Names of the Persons contained in the Schedule above-mentioned amou●t to the number of 46. viz. the Earl of Shrewsbury the Earl of Devonshire the Earl of New-castle whom our Authour makes so much befriended by Sir John Gell the Earl of Chesterfield the Lord Maltravers Sir John Harper of Caulk and Sir John Harper of Swarstone Sir William Savill Sir John Fitz Herbert of Norbury Sir Edward Mosely c. All men of very great Estates and therefore like to send in the more grist to the Mill at Darby So farre did Sir John Gell act for the Houses of Parliament And he continued in those actings till the end of the War After which falling into some suspition to have changed his Affections he was committed to the Tower in no small danger of his life and came not off but with the loss of former Actings Fol. 712. This no question caused their General Essex early the next day to quit his glorious Command and in a small Boat to shift away by Water If that were it which caused him to shift away in a small Boat he must needs play the part of a Cowardly Soldier whilst every one of the Soldiers stood ready to act the part of a brave Commander And therefore it is probable that there was somewhat more in it then
a Consideration of the straits he was driven unto by the King which he might easily have prevented by keeping himself in the more open Country of Devonshire where he might have had Elbow room enough on both sides and a Countrey rich enough to furnish him with all sorts of Provisions His Army was every way equal to the Kings if not superior he drawing after him no fewer then 50 Brass Pieces of Ord●ances and 700 Carriages and it appears by the number of Arms delivered up by Composition amounting to 8000 in all that his Foot could not consist of less then ten or twelve thousand And for his Horse no fewer then 2500 made a clear escape So that he might have kept the Field and put the King to it in a Battle if there had not been somewhat more in it then our Author speaks of It was therefore thought by some knowing men which understood the state of Affairs that knowing his Horse were gone off without any danger and that his Foot might save themselves by a Composition he was willing to keep the Seas even as before was intimated For partly being discourag'd from pursuing the War by his first success at Edge-Hill and partly coming to know more of the Intentions of such as managed the design then had been first imparted to him he beg●n to grow more cold in carrying things on unto the utmost then befo●e he was Upon which ground as he had neglected the opportunity of marching directly towards Oxford when he had removed the Kings Forces out of Reading so on the defeat of Waller at Lands-Down he writ unto the Houses to send Petitions to the King for Peace as appears by this History fol. 625. For which coldness of his so plainly manifested it was not onely moved by Vassal in the House of Commons that he should lay down his Command but many jeers were put upon him and some infamous Pictures made of him to his great dishonor Considering therefore that on the defeat of Prince Rupert at Marston-Moor all the North parts were like to be regain'd to the Houses of Parliament he was willing to let the King remain as absolute in the West as they were like to be in the North which since he could not do with Honor by hearkning to the Kings fair proffer seconded by a Letter from all the chief Officers of his Army he cast himself into such necessities as might give him some colour to shift for himself and leave his Foot to some Agreement with the King No way but this as he conceiv'd to bring the leading Members of both Houses unto such a Temper as might induce them to meet the King half way in the Road to peace and if this could not do it the coming on of Winter might perhaps cool them into some conditions which the King might be as willing to hearken to as they to offer This I remember to be the summe of such Discourses as were made at that time in and about the Court by men of the best knowledge and understanding in the state of businesses but whether they hit upon the right string or not I am not able to affirm This I am able to aff●rm that cur Authour is mistaken in telling us that the Earl of Essex did quit his glorious Command upon this occasion For afterwards we finde him in his glorious Command at the fight near Newbery and he continued in it till the Spring next following when by the Ordinance of Self-deniall and the new modelling of the Army under the Command of Sir Thom●s Fairfax he was quitted of it All that he did at this time was to q●it his Army for which the Houses of Parliament cried quits with him as before is said Fol. 714. The King regains Monmouth and returns to Oxford the 23 of November That Monmouth was regained for the King is undoubtedly true but that it was regain'd by the King is undoubtedly false Our Author in some lines before had left him at Hungerford in the County of Berks and now he brings him thorow the ayr to the taking of Monmouth But the truth is that Monmouth having been betrayed to Massey then Governor of Glocester by Major Kyrl a Garrison of 600 Soldiers was put into it who having a Design to surprize Chepstow left the Town so naked that the Lord Charls Somerset one of the yonger Sons of the Marquess of Worcester taking with him 150 Horse from Ragland-Castle and assisted by some Foot from the Neighboring Garrisons which held for the King fell on the Town on Tuesday morning the 19 of November Anno 1644. and makes himself master of the place before our brave Adventurers at Chepstow heard any thing of it Fol. 719. Next Morning July 2. the Prince advances after them resolving to give them Battle by Noon c. The Battle hear meant is that of Marston-Moor near York between Prince Rupert for the King the Earls of Manchester and Leven better known by the name of Colonel Lesly and the Lord Ferdinando Fairfax commanding over their several Forces fot the Houses of Parliament Concerning which our Author tells us That at first Prince Rupert got the Ground that those in the main Battle were so hard put to it that they ●ell on the Reserve of Scots which were behinde them that the right Wing of the Enemies Horse being as hard put to it by the Princes left Wing committed the like Disorder on the Lord Fairfax his Foot and the Scotch Reserves and were pursued very fiercely by their Conquerors and finally that no Horse being sent to make good the Ground which those who followed the Chace had left the broken Army of the Enemy rallied again and got the better of the day But the Gentlemen of York 〈◊〉 who liv'd n●ar the place tell us more then this viz. That Prince Rup●rt had not onely got ground at the first and 〈◊〉 the right Wing of the Enemies Horse but so disordered the main Battle that he postest himself of the Canon the three Generals ret●●●ing out of the field with more haste then Honor. And so the News came flying to Oxford reported in divers places by such of the ●nemies Soldiers as had fled out of the field and at Oxford it was entertained with Bells and Bone-●●res and the shooting off of all the Ordnance about the Town But Prince Rupert better knowing how to get then pursue Advantages and his ●oldiers busie upon Pillage gave opportunity to Colonel Cromwel who commanded the Earl of Manchesters Horse and who onely had made a fair retreat in the heat of the fight to put new life into the Battle and having put the broken Foot into some good order first gave a check unto the Prince and after pressing hard upon him tu●n'd the whole fortune of the Day For which good service Cromwel is cryed up by his party to be● the Saviour of three Kingdoms of which the Scots who had done very well that Day and bore the greatest part
Ordnance being drawn off and the Works slighted the men were sent away to Glocester And these were the three hundred and fourty Auxiliaries which were sent from the grand Garison of Newport Pagnel the Town being small and consequently not capable of receiving any great number of Souldiers or to give those Souldiers the name of so grand a Garison Fol. 809. About five a Clock in the morning June 13. the King drew off from Burrough Hill towards Harborough and Pomfrait ● He might as well have said that the King drew toward 〈◊〉 and Orkney in the North of Scotland as that he drew ●oward Harborough and Pomfrait both lying Northward from the place of his remove For though it would be thought by any ordinary Reader who is not well studied in the Maps that Harborough and Pomfrait towards which the King is said to remove did lie very near to one another yet Harborough and Pomfrait are at least eighty miles asunder the one a Town of Leicestershire remarkable for a great Fair of Horse and ●attle the other a Town of great Note in Yorkshire renowned for a fair and ancient Castle which being anciently part of the possessions of the Lacies Earls of Lincoln by Marriage and Capitulation descended on the Earls of Lancaster and is now part of that great Dutchy Fol. 811. Naseby the fatall battle to the King and his party ● Fatall indeed whether we look upon the Antecedents or the Consequents of it For if we look on the Antecedents there could be nothing but some unavoidable fatality in it that the King having taken Leices●er and thereby put his affairs into a more hopefull way as he writ to the Queen then th●y had been in at any time since the Rebellion should come back to Daventry and there spend eight or ten daies without doing any thing If it be said that he returned back upon the noise that Oxford was besieged by Fairfax his staying so long at Daventry was not the way to raise that siege Nor was the Town in any such danger but that the Ladies wanted fresh Butter for their Pease as to bring him back from the pursuit of his Successes and thereby to give time to Cromwell without whom Fairfax could do little to come with 600 fresh Horse to the rest of the Army And yet being come they had not made so fast after the King as to resolve on ●ighting with him when they did if they had not Intercepted a Letter the night before sent from Col. ●oring to the King in which he signified that he was upon his march towards him desiring his Majesty to keep at a distance and not to engage with the Enemy till he came to him For which intelligence I am beholding to Hugh Peters who in one of his Thanks-giving Sermons hath informed me in it Upon the reading of this Letter it was concluded to fall on with the first opportunity before these new supplies should be added to the rest of the Kings Forces And it was as fatall in the Consequents as it had been in the Antecedents neither the King no● his party being able after that time to make any considerable opposition but losing battle after battle and place after place till there was nothing left to lose but their Lives or Liberties Ibid. The Kings Coaches his Cabinet of Letters and Pa●pers In the loss of his Coaches there was no great matter nor so much in the loss of his Cabinet of Letters and Papers as his Enemies did conceive it was A Cabinet in which were many Letters and Paper most of them written to the Queen but they together with the rest publisht in Print by Order of the Houses of Parliament The Design was to render the King odious in the sight of the People by giving license to the Queen to promise some favors for the Catholick party here in England if she could obtain any succour for him from the Catholicks there But they lost more by it then they got For first They drew a general obloquy on themselves by publishing the secret passages betwixt Man and Wife contrary to the rules of Humanity and common honesty And secondly They gave the People such a representation of the Kings Abilities his Piety Prudence and deep foresight into Affairs as rais'd him to an high degree of Estimation with all sorts of men as Mr. Pryn had done before of the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury in printing the Breviat of his Life though intended otherwise An errour which the Houses were soon sensible of and thereupon gave Order that in the publishing of the great Volume of Ordinances c. by Edward Husbands in which were many passages also betwixt them and the King these intercepted Letters should be left out though the Letters in the Lord Digbies Cabinet which was taken at Sherburn were printed there among the rest So wise are men upon the post fact when it is too late Fol. 826. But the same night at the very noise of the Kings coming from Worcester they prepared for flight and the next morning not a Scot to be seen felt or heard of they were all fled The Scots had lain before Hereford from the 30. of Iuly to the first of September and had so well entrencht themselves that there was no fear of being beaten up by the King who since the fatall blow at Naseby had never been the Master of such Forces as to give Battell to the Scots and much lesse to assault them in their Trenches So that the noise of the coming of the Kings Forces from Worcester might be the pretence but it could not be the reall cause of his hasty raising of the Siege Lesly unworthily made Earl of Leven at the Kings being in Sco●land An. 1641. had received Letter after Letter out of Scotland touching the successes of Montrosse And now there comes the lamentable News of the taking of Edinburg and consequently the losse of all if he hasted not towards their Relief On the receiving of which Letters he was willing to take the noise of the Kings coming from Worcester with all his Forces for an occasion to be gone and being gone march'd directly Northwards till he came neer enough to Scotland to dispatch David Lesly with all his Horse and without any noise to set upon the Marquesse of Montrosse at the first opportunity By reason of whose sudden coming and coming with no lesse then 6000 Horse the Noble Marquesse by the treachery of the Earls of Ro●burgh and Traquair who were acquainted with the plot the Marquesse was almost surprized and the greatest part of his Forces routed himself escaping with the rest and making an orderly ma●ch to the North-parts of Scotland where he continued in some strength till he was commanded by the King to lay down his Commission and dis●and his Forces I adde here only by the way that the Sco●s had pretty well scoured the Countrey who came in but with two thousand Horse and had now raised them to six thousand
besides such as they had lost in the course of the War Fol. 828. Nor would they budg● from the North parts though they are called Southwards for the Kingdoms security and service But just before we found the Scots at the Siege of Hereford a City beyond the Severn on the borders of Wales and here we finde th●m so fast r●ve●ed in the Northern ●ounties that they would not budge a foot Southwards for the Kingdoms safety Reconcile these differences he that can for my part I dare not undertake it The like irreconcileablenesse I finde within few lines after in which he tel●eth us that being entreated to march to the Siege of N●wark they sta●ed not long there but marched in a pet Northwa●ds to Newcastle where they stuck till they got the King into their clutches sold him and so went home again But first If the Scots marched towards Newark whether upon entreaty or not is not much materiall they must needs budge Southward the whole County of York and part of Nottinghamshire lying between Newark and the Scots Quarters Secondly The Scots did not go from Newark in such a pet as to leave the Siege for aftewards we finde fol. 892. that L●sly only went away in a p●t but left his Army there to attend the continuance of the Siege till the Town was taken Secondly he did not force the Town by firing one of the ●●ates but had it surrendred to him by Composition the Capitulations being made on the Sunday night and his Sould●er entring into it on the Munday morning Thirdly the Souldiers of the Garrison were not forced by him into the Castle who had time enough all that night to retire into it or otherwise to leave the Town as all the Horse and many of the Foot had leave to do And fourthly there was no such difficulty in the businesse a● to bring God upon the Stage in the taking either of the Town or Castle which the Governour Sir William Ogle wa● resolved beforehand not to hold out long He had bragg'd 〈◊〉 times that he had so stored that Castle with Victuals Arme● and Ammunition that he durst bid defiance for six 〈◊〉 to all the Armies in England But when the news ●am● o● the taking of 〈◊〉 and Bridgewa●er he changed his 〈◊〉 af●rming frequently that it could be no dishonour to affirmed expresly being desired to shew the truth in this particular that there were about 80. Women in it at that time when the House was stormed So that our Authour in this point was extremely out as much as the difference can amount to between a Company of 80. and one single person The words to be explained are these viz. a Godly Divine Protestant for protection mixt with some Popish Priests Profession Which words have neither sense nor Grammar as they be before us and therefore must be taught to speak English before the ordinary Reader can understand them And if the words were put into proper and Grammaticall English we must reade them thus viz. A Godly Protestant Divine mixt for protection with some Priests of the Popish profession Which being the Grammar of the words will give a Logical dispute about the party to whom the Character is given I think our Authour would not have it understood of D. Griffiths Daughter who though a very vertuous and godly Gentlewoman cannot be called a Godly Protestant Divine in the common notion of the phrase and yet the current of the words does import no lesse For it is said that there was but one woman amongst so many men D Griffiths Daughter a Godly Protestant Divine c. Nor can it properly be understood of D. Griffith though a Godly Protestant Divine the following words depending on those before D. Griffiths Daughter and not relating literally and grammatically to the Doctor himself Had the tenour of the words run thus The Daughter of D. Griffith a Godly Protestant Divine the adjunct of a Go●ly Protestant Divine must have related to the Father but as they he before us it relates to the daughter With what propriety of speech or sense let the Reader judge and make himself as mery at it as he pleaseth Fol. 836. For Digby was sometimes Secretary of State And so he was at this time also when he was discomfited at Sherburn in Yorkshire when he lost that Cabinet and those Letters which our Authour speaks of He had been made principall Secretary of Estate in the place of the Lord Falkland about the beginning of October Anno 1643. And continued in that office till his Majesties death though by reason of the Kings restraint and his own enforced absence he was not able to act any thing in it as neither could M. Secretary Nicholas who notwithstanding neither lost the Office nor name of Secretary I trow Sir Francis Walsingham or Sir Robert Cec●l were not the lesse Secretaries of Estare to Queen Elizabeth because she employed them sometimes in forreign Embassies nor was Digby sometimes only but at that time Secretary of E●tate when he took upon him the Command of a Body of Horse in his Masters Service Fol. 871. And the West being cleared Fairfax returns back again to the Siege of Bristol The west so far from being clear'd that except Bridgewater in Somersetshire and Sherburn Castle in Dorsetshire little or nothing was done in order to it The Counties of Devon and Cornwall still remained untoucht in which the Prince had not only a considerable Army under brave Commanders but many strong Towns and Garisons well stored with Souldiers so as at this siege of Bristol it was conceived that two great Errors were committed the first by Fairfax in sitting down before a Town in which were so many able men well armed and commanded by the General of his Majesties Forces and leaving an Army at his back which might have charged him in the Rear while those within sallied out upon him and assailed him in the very front The second Errour was in Rupe●t in that being Generall of the Kings Forces he shut himself up within a Town when it had been more proper for him to have been abroad gathering together the Kings old Souldiers and raising new from severall places by which he might have put himself into a Condition to raise the Siege But Fairfax knew well what he did making no doubt to have the Town delivered to him before the Prince could be inform'd of the danger in which it was For the delivery of which City so strongly fortified so well mann'd so furnisht with all sorts of necessary provisions Prince Rupert incurr'd the suspicion of Disloyalty both with the King and all his party He had before sent certain Letters to the King in which he pressed him somewhat beyond good manners to come to a speedy conclusion with his Parliament without relating either to point of honour or conscience with which the King seemed more displeased as appeareth by his answer to him fol. 841. then was agreeable unto his
ordinary temper And so much was the King startled when he heard of the giving up of that City with the Fort and Castle and that too in so short a time that he posted away a Messenger to the Lords at Oxford to displace Col. Legg a well known Creature of Prince Ruperts from the Government of that City and Garison and to put it into the hands of Sir Thomas Glenham which was accordingly done and done unto the great contentment of all the Kings party except that Prince and his Dependents But Legg was sweetned not long after by being made one of the Grooms of his Majesties Bed-chamber a place of less command but of greater trust Fol. 891. And now the Parliament consider of a Term or Title● to be given to the Commissioners intrusted with their Great Seal and are to be called Conservators of the Common-wealth of England Not so with reference either to the time or the thing it self For first The Commissioners of the Great Seal were never called the Conservators fo the Common-wealth of England And Secondly If they ever had been called so it was not now that is to say when the Kings Seals were broken in the House of Peers which was not long after Midsummer in the year 1646. But the truth is that on the 30 of Ianuary 1648. being the day of the Kings most deplorable death the Commons caused an Act or Order to be printed in which it was declared that from thenceforth in stead of the Kings Name in all Commissions Decrees Processes and Indictments the ●●tle of Custodes Libertatis Angliae or the Keepers of the Liberties of England as it was afterwards englished when all Legall Instruments were ordered to be made up in the English-Tongue should be alwaies used But who these Keepers of the Liberties were was a thing much questioned some thought the Commissioners for the great Seal were intended by it whom our Authour by a mistake of the Title cals here the Conservators of the Common-wealth others conceiv'd that it related to the Councel of State but neither rightly For the truth is that there were never any such men to whom this Title was appliable in one sense or other it being onely a Second Notion like Genus and Species in the Schools a new devised term of State-craft to express that trust which never was invested in the persons of any men either more or fewer Fol. 892. ●o then the eldest Son and the yongest Daughter are with the Qu●●n in France the two Dukes of York and Glocester with the Princess Elizabeth at St. James 's The Prince in the We●t with his Army ● This is more strange then all the rest that the Kings eldest Son should be with his Mother in France and yet that the Prince at the same time should be with his Army in the West of England I always thought till I saw so good Authority to the contrary that the Prince and the Kings eldest Son had been but one person But finding it otherwise resolved I would fain know which of the Kings Son● is the Prince if the eldest be not It cannot be the second or third for they are here called both onely by the name of Dukes and made distinct persons from the Prince And therefore we must needs believe that the Kings eldest Son Christned by the name of Charls-Iames who dyed at Gre●nwich almost as soon as he was born Anno 1629. was raised up from the dead by some honest French Conjurer to keep company with the yong Princess Henrietta who might converse with h●m as a Play-Fellow without any terror as not being able to distinguish him from a Baby of Clouts That he and all that did adhere unto him should be safe in their Persons Honors and●●onsciences in the Scotish Army and that they would really and effectually joyn with him and with such as would come in unto him and joyn with them for his preservation and should employ their Armies and Forces to assist him to his Kingdom● in the recovery of his ●ust Rights But on the contrary these jugling and perfidious 〈◊〉 declare in a Letter to their Commissioners at London by them to be communicated to the Houses of Parliament that there had been no Treaty nor apitulation betwixt his M●●esty and them nor any in their names c. On the receit of which Letters the Houses Order him to be sent to Warwick Castle But Les●ly who had been us'd to buying and selling in the time of his Pedl●ry was loth to lose the benefit of so rich a Commodity and thereupon removes him in such post-haste that on the eighth of May we finde him at Southwel and at Newcastle on the tenth places above an hundred Miles distant from one another and he resolv'd before-hand how to dispose of him when he had him there ●o Scotland he never meant to carry him though some hopes were given of it at the first for not onely Lesly himself but the rest of the Covenanters in the Army were loth to admit of any Competitor in the Government of that Kingdom which they had ingrossed who●y to themselves but the 〈◊〉 in an Assembly of theirs declare expresly against his coming to live amongst them as appears fol 〈◊〉 So that there was no other way left to dispose of his person but to ●ell him to the Houses of Parliament though at the first they made 〈◊〉 of it and would be thought to stand upon Terms or Honor The Ea●l of Lowdon who lov'd to hear hims●lf speak more ●hen ●ny man living in some Spe●ches made be●ore ●he Houses protested strongly against the d●livery of their Kings Person into their Power 〈◊〉 what in 〈◊〉 ●●amy would lie upon them and the whole Nation ●f 〈◊〉 ●hould to 〈◊〉 But this was but a co●y of their Countenance onely 〈◊〉 ●●vice to raise the Mar●e● and make is ●uch money 〈…〉 as they could At last they came to this Agreement that for the sum of Two hundred thousand pounds they should deliver him to such Commissioners as the Houses should Authorize to receive him of them which was done accordingly For Fol. 939. The Commissioners for receiving the Person of the King came to Newcastle Iune 22. c. Not on the 22 of Iune I am sure of that the Commodity to be bought and sold was of greater value and the Scots too cunning to part with it till they had raised the price of it as high as they could The driving of this Bargain took up all the time betwixt the Kings being carried to Newcastle and the middle of the Winter then next following so that the King might be delivered to these Commissioners that is to say from Prison to Prison on the 22 day of Ianuary but of Iune he could not And here it will not be amiss to consider what loss or benefit redounded to those Merchants which traded in the buying and selling of this precious Commodity And first The Scots not long before their breaking out
against their King had in the Court two Lords High Stewards and two Grooms of the Stool successively one after another And at their taking up of Arms they had a Master of the Horse a Captain of the Guard a Keeper of the privy Purse seven Grooms of eight in his Majesties Bed-Chamber and an equal number at the least of Gentlemen Ushers Quarter-Waiters Cup-Bearers Carvers Sewers and other Officers attending daily at the Table I speak not here of those which had places in the Stables or below the Stairs or of the Servants of those Lords and Gentlemen which either lived about the Court or had Offices in it All which together made up so considerable a number that the Court might well be called an Academy of the Scots Nation in which so many of all sorts had their Breeding Maintenance and Preferment Abroad they had a Lieutenant of the Tower a Fortress of the most consequence in all the Kingdom and a Master-●unner of the Navy an Office of as great a trust as the other and more of those Monopolies Suits and Patents which were conceiv'd to be most grievous to the Subject then all the English of the Court. In the Church they had two Deanries divers Prebendaries and so many Excclesiastical Benefices as equalled all the Revenue of the Kirk of Scotland All which they lost like Aesops Dog catching after a shadow For what else were those empty hopes of ingrossing to themselves all the Bishops Lands and participating equally with both Houses in the Government of this Kingdom which drew them into England the second time but an airy shadow And yet by catching at that shadow they lost all those Advantages which before they had both in Court and Countrey and that not onely for the present but in all probability for the times to come The Presbyterians laid their Heads and Hands together to embroil the Realm out of a confidence that having alienated the greatest part of the Tribes from the House of David they might advance the golden Calves fo their Presbyteries in Dan and Bethel and all other places whatsoever within this Land And for the maintenance thereof they had devoured in conceit all Chapter Lands and parcelled them amongst themselves into Augmentations But no sooner had they driven this Bargain but a Vote passed for selling those Lands towards the payment of the Debts of the Commonwealth Nor have they lived to see their dear Presbytery setled or their Lay-Elders entertained in any one Parish of the Kingdom for the advancement whereof the Scots were first incouraged to begin at home and afterwards to pursue their work by invading England Others there were who labored for nothng more then the raising of a New Commonwealth out of the Ruins of the old Monarchy which Plot had been a carrying on from the first coming of this King to the Crown till they had gotten him into their hands these being like the Husbandmen in Saint Matthews Gospel who said among themselves this is the Heir come let us kill him and let us seize on his Inheritance Matth. 21. 38. A Commonwealth which they had so modelled in their Brains that neither Sir Thomas Moors Vtopia nor the Lord Verulams new Atlantis nor Plato's Platform nor any of the old Idaeas were equal to it the Honors and Offices whereof they had distributed amongst themselves and their own Dependents And in pursuance of this project they had no sooner brought the King to the end they aimed at but they pass an Act for so they called it prohibiting the Proclaiming of any Person to be King of England c. That done they passed another for the abolishing the Kingly Office in England c. dated the 17 of March One thousand six hundred forty eight A third for declaring and a constituting the People of England to be a Commonwealth and Free State dated May 19. 1649 which last they solemnly proclaimed by their Heralds and Serjeants in the most frequented parts of London and made themselves a new Great Seal with the Arms and Impress of their new Commonwealth ingraven on it And yet these men that had the purse of all the Kingdom at command and Armies raised for defence of their Authority within the space of six years were turned out of all And this was done so easily and with so little noise that the loss of that exorbitant Power did not cost so much as a broken Head or a Bloody Nose in purchasing whereof they had wasted so many Millions of Treasure and more then an Hundred thousand Lives So that all reckonings being cast up it will appear that all were losers by the Bargain as it happens commonly to such men as love to traffick in the buying and selling of prohibited Commodities and thereby make themselves obnoxious to all such forfeitures as the severity of the Laws and the King Displeasure shall impose upon them How he was carried by those Commissioners to Holdenby●House ●House and from thence by a party of Horse to the Head-Quarters of the Army our Author hath inform'd us in the course of this History But being there he tells us that he was permitted to give a meeting to his Children Fol. 995. And accordingly they met at Maidstone where they dined together Well boul'd Vincent as our Authour knows who says in another place He gives us the Copy of a Letter in the very same fol. from the King to the Duke of York dated at Casam Iuly 4. 1647. in which he declares his hope that the Duke might be permitted with his Brother and Sister to come to some place betwixt that and London where he might see them adding withal that rather then h● might not see them he would be content they should come to some convenient place to dine and go back at night So then the place for this joyful meeting must be some convenient Town or other betwixt Casam and London But Casam is a Village of Berkshire distant about thirty Miles from London Westward and Maidstone one of the chief Town● of Kent is distant about thirty Miles from London towards the East so that London may be truly said to be in the middle betwixt Maidstone and Casam but Maidstone by no means to be in any position betwixt Casam and London Perhaps our Author in this place mistakes Maidstone for Madenhith from Reading ten and from London two and twenty miles distant and then he may do well to mend it in his second Edition And then he may correct also another passage about Judge Ienkins whom fol. 836. he makes to be taken Prisoner in the City of Hereford and fol. 976. at Castle in Wales So strangely does he forget himself that one might think this History had several Authors and was not written nor digested by any one man Fol. 96● Nay did not Heraclius the Greek Emperor call for aid of the● R●ke-hell rabble of Scythians to assist him against the Saracens ● I believe he did not For as I remember not to
it But upon the best judgement which I am able to make I conceive it to be so full so punctuall and satisfactory that our Authour calling all the Doctors of his own making to his assistance is not able to mend it Fol. 1068. Some of these mutinied against each other and in the dissention a rumour was rais'd there of a Designe to impoyson the King c. Our Historian makes very slight of this matter disparaging both the Informer and the Information The Informer he disparageth by telling us that he was but an ordinary man though Osburn himself in a Letter to the Earl of Manchester takes on himself the Title of Gentleman which is as much as our Authour though he take upon himself the name of an Esquire can pretend unto The Information and the Evidence which was brought to prove it he censures to be disagreeing in it self and irregular in Law of which more anon In the mean time take here the whole Information word for word as Osburn published it in print as well for his own justification as the satisfaction of all loyall and well●affected Subjects But not to leave your Lordship unsatisfied with this generall account the Intelligence I speak of concerning his designe I received from Captain R●lfe a person very intimate with the Governour privy to all Counsels and one that is very high in the esteem of the Army he my Lord informed me that to his knowledge the Governour had received severall Letters from the Army intimating they desired the King might by any means be removed out of the way either by p●●son or otherwise And that another time the same person perswaded me to joyn with him in a de●igne to remove the King out of that Castle to a place of more secrecy profering to take an Oath with me and to do it without the Governours privity who he said would not consent for losing the allowance of the House His pretence for this attempt was that the King was in too publike a place from whence he might be ●escued but if he might be conveighed into some place of Secrecy he said we might dispose of his person upon all occasions as we thought fit and this he was confident we could effect without the Governours privity This N●rrative he inclosed in a Letter to the Lord Wharton dated Iu●e 1. 1648. But finding that the Lord Wharton had done nothing in it the better as he conceived to give those time that were concerned in it to think of some stratagem to evade the discovery He inclosed it in another Letter to the Earl of Manchester by whom it was communicated to the House of Peers on the 19. of Iune But they in stead of sending for him to make good the Information on his corporall Oath as he earnestly desired in the said Letters committed both him and Rolfe to prison there to remain till the next Assizes for the County of Southhampton and not the Southhampton Assize as our Authour makes it At what time M. Sergeant Wilde a man for the nonce as we poor Countrey folks use to say was sent to manage the proceedings who so cunningly intangled the evidence and so learnedly laid the Law before the Jurors that Rolfe was acquitted and Osburn left under the disgrace of a salse Informer But the best is I should rather have said the worst though M. Ser●eant could finde no Law to condemn Rolfe for an attempt to poison the King he could finde Law enough within few moneths after to condemn and execute Captain Burleigh for an intent to free him from the hands of those who were suspected to have no good intentions towards him as it after proved Fol. 1069. The Earl of Holland is sent Prisoner to Warwick Castle where he continued until his Arraignment and execution at Westminster the 9. of March ● Of this Earl we have said somewhat already enough to shew with what disloyalty and ingratitude he forsook the King his Master in the time of his greatest need To which I shall adde nothing now but this generall Note viz. that none of those who had prov'd disloyall to the King or acted openly against him in the Wars or otherwise had ever so much blessing from Heaven as to prevail in any thing which they undertook either for the re-establishment of his person or the re-stauration of his posterity witnesse in the first place Sir Iohn Hotham accursed in his mothers belly as himself confessed in an intercepted Letter brought to Oxford witnesse the fruitlesse attempts of Lougnern Powell and Poier not only in Pembrokeshire but other Counties of Southwales which they had made themselves Masters of in order to his Majesties Service witnesse the unfortunate expedition of Marquesse Hamilion of which more anon and the unseasonable rising of the Earl of Holland of whom now we speak witnesse the frequent miscarriages of the Lord Willoughby of Parham a man whom the King had courted to Loyalty beyond all example in his attempt to head a New Army against the old to employ some part of the Kings Navy against the rest and to make good the Barbador in despight of the Houses I take no notice ●ere of the miscarriages of such who had at first declared against him in set Speeches in the Houses of Parliament none of which prospered either in their persons or their actings when they returned to their own duty and endeavored the Advancement of the Kings Affairs And that I may not contain may self within England onely or be thought perhaps to partial in this Observation we have the Examples of the Lord Inchequin in Ireland and of the gallant Marquess of Montross in Scotland Of which the first for the actings of the other are known well enough was one of the first if not the very first of all who openly read any Protestation at the Market-Cross in Edinburgh against the Kings Proceedings in the Book of Common Prayer and other subsequent Actions which concerned the happiness of that Kingdom Fol. 1071. The Estates of Scotland had formed a Committee of Danger who had of themselves Voted to raise Forty thousand Men. ● But the Vote was bigger then the Army though the Army were much bigger then our Author makes it by whose calculation it amounts not to above Ten thousand five hundred men besides such additional Forces as were expected out of England and Ireland An Army gallantly appointed both for Horse and Arms which they had plundered out of England in the long time of their Service there for both Houses of Parliament the like being never set so out by that people since they were a Nation And it was big enough also to do more then it did had it been under a more for●unate Commander then the Marquess of Hamilton who brought from Scotland a greater Enemy within him then he was like to finde in England And possibly that inward Enemy might spur him on to a swift destruction by rendring him impatient of tarrying the coming of
al ove one hundred in number forcibly s●●ze upon violently kept out of and driven from the House by the Officers and Souldiers of the Army under Thomas Lord Fairfax c. And thirdly We finde after this that Sir Iohn Temple Sir Martin Lumley C●l Booth M. Waller M. Middleton and others were turned back by such Souldiers as were appointed to keep a strict guard at the doors of the House So that the whole number of those who we●e imprisoned and kept under restraint or otherwise were debarred and turned back from doing their service in the House wa● reckoned to amount to an hundred and fourty which comes to thrice as many as the 40 or 50 which our Author speaks of But to proceed the Officers of the Army having thus made themselves Masters of the House of Commons thought fit to make themselves Masters of the City also To which end they ordered two Regiments of Foot and some Troops of Horse to take up Quarters in Pauls Church and Black-fryers on Friday the 8. of the same moneth and on the ●unday following sent diverse Souldriers to be quartered in the Houses of private Citizens which notwithstanding such was their tender care not to give any di●turbance to them that lbid Not to f●ighten the City the General writes to my Lord Mayor that he had s●nt Col. Dean to seize the Treasuries of Haberdashers Goldsmiths and Weavers Halls where they seize on 20000.l that by the Monies he may pay his Armies Arrears The Authour whom our Historian followeth in all these late traverses of State relates this businesse more distinctly and inte●ligently then we finde it here viz. That two Regiments of Foot and some Troops of Horse took up Quarters in Pauls and Black-frier and seized upon 20000. l in Weavers Hall which they promised to repay when the Lord Mayor and Common Councell please to bring in the Arrears due from the City They secured likewise the Treasures of Haberdashers and Goldsmiths Hall Here we have first a seizure of the 20000. l in Weavars Hall for the use of 〈◊〉 Army and a securing of the Treasures in the other two that they might not be employed against it The 20000 l. which they found in the first was the remainder of the 200000 l. which was voted to be brought in thither for the raising of a New Presbyterian Army under the command of the Lord Willoughby of Parh●● as Lord Generall and Sir Iohn Maynard as Lieutenant Generall to reduce that Army to conformity which had so successively served under the command of Sir Thomas Fairfax But the other two being hard names and not very easie of digestion require somewhat which may make them lighter to the understanding of the vulgar Reader Concerning which we are to know that severall Ordinances were made by the Lords and Commons for sequestring the Estates of all such who had adhered unto the King whom to distinguish them from their own party they called Delinquents and a severe cou●se was taken in those sequestrations as well in reference to their personall as reall Estates to make them the more considerable in the purse of the House● But finding no such great profit to come in that way when every Cook who had the dressing of that dish had lickt his fingers as they did expect they were contented to admit them to a Composition These Compositions to be manag●d at Goldsmiths Hall by a select Committee consisting of severall Members of the House of Commons and some of the most pragmaticall and stiff sort of Citizens the parties to compound had 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. or 7. years purchase according as they either offered themselves voluntarily or came in upon Articl●s or were forced to submit to mercy What infinite summes of money were brought in by these compositions he that list to see may finde them both in the severall Items and the summa to●●al●s in their printed Tables And yet the payment of these Sums was the least part of the grievance compared unto those heavy clogs which were laid on their Consciences For first No man was admitted to treat with the Committee at Goldsmiths Hall till unlesse he was priviledged and exempt by Articles he had brought a Certificate that he had taken the Negative Oath either before the Committee for the Militia of London or some Committee in the Countrey where he had his ●welling And by this oath he was to swear that he would neither directly nor indirectly adhere unto or wil●●●gly assist the King in that War or in that cause against the Parliament nor any Forces raised without the consent of the two Houses of Parliament in th●t cause or War for which consult the Ordinance of the Lords and Commons bearing date April 5. 1645. And secondly It was Ordered by the said Lords and Commons on the 1. of November 1645. That the Committee of Goldsmiths Hall should have power to tender the Solemn League and Covenant to all persons that come out of the Kings Quar●●●s to that Committee to compound and to secure such as should refuse to take it until they had conformed thereunto And by that Covenant they were bound to endeavour the extirpation of Popery and Prelacy that is Church-government by Arch-Bishops and Bishops c. and to defend the Kings Person and Authority no otherwise then in order to the preservation and defence of the true Religion and Liberties of the Kingdoms And if the party to compound were a Romane Catholick there was an Oath of Abjuration to be taken also before any such Sequestration could be taken off if once laid upon him By which he was to swear That he abjured and renounced the Popes Supremacy that he beleeved not there was any Transubstantiation nor Purgatory nor any worship to be given to the consecrated Host Crucifix or Images and that salvation could not be merited by works renouncing and abjuring all Doctrines in defence of th●se points To such a miserable necessity had they brought many of that party that they thought if safer as they use to say to trust God with their souls then such unmercifull men with their Lives Fortunes and Estates And yet this was not thought to be a sufficient punishment to them but they must first passe through H●berdashers Hall which is the last of my hard words before they could be free of the Goldsmiths And in that Hall they were to pay the fifth and twentieth parts of their Estates as well real as personall in present money all men being brought within the power of the Committee not only who were called Delinquents but such as had not voluntarily contributed to the Parliament in any place whatsoever as appears by the Order of the Commons bearing date August 25. 1646. By which last clause more Grist was brought unto that Mill then can be easily imagined their Agents being very eager in that pursuit So that it was accounted a great benefit as indeed it was to them who came in upon the Articles of
He tells me indifinitely of my Helpers page 5. of the charitable Collections of my numerous Helpers pag. 23. Helpers import a plural number and numerous Helpers signifie a multitude and who can stand against so many when they joyn together But I would not have my Squire affright himself with these needless terrors my helpers are but few in number though many in vertue and effect for though I cannot say that I have many helpers yet I cannot but confess in all humble gratitude that I have one great Helper which is instar omnium even the Lord my God Aurilium meum a domino my help cometh even from the Lord which hath made heaven and earth as the Psalmist hath it And I can say with the like humble acknowledgements of Gods mercies to me as Iacob did when he was askt about the quick dispatch which he had made in preparing savery meat for his aged Father Voluntas Dei suit ut tam cito● occurre●et mihi quod volebam Gen. 27. 20. It is Gods goodness and his onely that I am able to do what I do And as for any humane helpers as the French Cour●iers use to say of King Lewis the XI That all his Councel rid upon one Horse because he relyed upon his own Judgement and Abilities onely So may I very truly say That one poor Hackney-horse will carry all my Helpers used be they never so nume●ous The greatest help which I have had since it pleased God to make my own ●ight unuseful to me as to writing and reading hath come from one whom I had entertained for my Clerk or Amanuensis who though he reasonably well understood both Greek and Latine yet had he no further Education in the way of Learning then what he brought with him from the School A poor Countrey School And though I have no other helps at the present but a raw young fellow who knows no Greek and understands but little Latine yet I doubt not but I shall be able to do as much reason to my Squire as he hath reason to expect at my hands My stock of Learning though but small hath been so well husba●ded that I am still able to winde and turn it to the vindication of the truth● never reputed such a Banckrupt till I was made such by my Squire as to need such a charitable Collection to set me up again as is by him ascribed to my numerous helpers Thus singly armed and simply seconded I proceed to the examination of those personal charges which defect he is pleased to lay upon me and first he tells us how gladly Dr. Heylyn would take occasion to assume fresh credit of copeing with ●he deceased now at rest whom he hath endeavored to disturb even the most R●verend Name and living Fame of that approved Learned Prelate the late Arch-Bishop of Armagh Primate of all Ireland pag. 5. And still he might have been at rest without any d●sturbance either unto his Reverend Name or Living Fame if Dr. Barn●●d first and afterwards Squire Sanderson had not rated him out of his Grave and brought him back upon the Stage from which he had made his Exit with so many Plaudites And being brought back upon the Stage hath given occasion to much discourse about his advising or not advising the King to consent unto the Earl of Stra●●ords death and his distinction of a personal and political conscience either to prepare the King to give way unto it or to confirm him in the justice and necessity of it when the deed was done Both these have been severally charged on the Observator by Dr. Barnard and his Partakers Pag. 18. and both of them severally disclaimed by him both in the Book called the Observator rescued pag. 296 297 349. and in the Appendix to the Book called Respond● Petrus c. p. 143 144 and 152. Nay so far was the Obse●vator of his al●er idem from disturbing the reverend Name living Fame of that learned Prelate that in the Book called Extra●e●s v●pulans he declares himself unwilling to revive that question Whether the Lord Primate had any sharp tooth against the Lord Lieutenant or not in regard the parties were both dead and all displeasures buried in the same grave with them page 292. And in the Book called Respondit Petrus he affirms expresly That having laid the Lord Primate down again in the Bed of Peace he would not raise him from it by a new disturbance and that having laid aside that invidious argument he was resolved upon no provocation whatsoever to take it up again pag. 124. Had not this promise tyed me up I could have made such use of these provocations as to have told the Doctor and his Squire to boot that the Lord Primate did advise the King to sign that destructive Bill by which that Fountain of Blood was opened which hath never been fully shut up again since that ebolishion for which I have my Author ready and my witness too And as for the distinction of a political and a personal conscience ascribed to the Lord Primate by the Author of the Vocal Forest as Mr. Sanderson in his History saith nothing to acquit him of it so neither doth the Squire affect to act any thing in it if he speaks sence enough to be understood in this Post-Haste Pamphlet for having told us that Petrus fancied him to act for Dr. Barnard in acquitting the Lord Primate from the distinction of a poli●ical and a personal conscience page 18. he adds That it is confessed by himself the self-same Pe●rus to have been done to his hand by Mr. Howels attestation of his History who was concerned in those words In which passage if there be any sence in it it must needs be this that it appeareth by the attestation which Iames Howell gave unto his History that he had acted nothing toward the discharge of the Lord Primate from the fatall distinction which D. Bernard had ascribed in his Funerall Sermon to the Vocall Forrest So that the Respondent may conclude as before he did pag. 144. of the said Appendix that as well the errour of that distinction as the fatall application of it must be left at the Lord Prim●te● door as neither being removed by D. Bernard himself or by any of his undertakers The next Charge hath relation to the Lord Primate also in reference to the Articles of the Church of Ireland which he will by no means grant to be abrogated an● those of England setled inserted in his own word in the place thereof How so Because the Respondent hath prevented any further confirmation of either by his own confessing of his being too much ●●edulous in beleeving and inconsiderate in publishing such mist then intelligence which are his own words fol. 87. And his own words they are indeed but neither spoken nor applied as the Squire would have it who must be thought to be in very great Post-haste when he read them over For