Prince rather afraid than asham'd to employ him in the greatest Affairs of State which he first discover'd in the House of Commons was very happily brought into Court where through several Stages of eminent Trusts and Council he arriv'd at the highest Command our Crown hath to dispose of that in Ireland which he manag'd and improv'd in so prodigious a manner as all Men of Sense and Business were astonish'd in their Acknowledgments thereof And this sufficiently appear'd at his Tryal for though 't is true there were several Articles of a very high Nature brought against him yet none prov'd And herein Ludlow discovers his Commonwealth Ingenuity to tell us he was accus'd of Governing Ireland in an Arbitrary Manner of retaining the Revenue of the Crown without giving an Account of promoting and encouraging the Romish Religion c. p. 14. whereunto though English and Irish Puritans and Papists his open Enemies and false Friends were encourag'd to give Evidence they could make nothing of it nor of that High Charge which our Author mentioning more than once would have instar omnium how he advis'd the King That since the Parliament had deny'd him such Supplies as he demanded he was at Liberty to raise them by such means as he thought fit and that he had an Irish Army should assist him to that end All which had but one single Witness to prove it Sir H. Vane who hesitated very much and though at last would have had the Irish Army imploy'd in England all Circumstances speak otherwise the very Council sitting upon the Scotch Affairs and every Member thereof averring the contrary the Earl of Northumberland more especially that he had heard the Earl of Strafford often say that that Power was to be us'd Candide et Caste and that the Kingdom could not be Happy but by a good Agreement between the King and his People in Parliament So that after a great deal of Art and Eloquence by the best parted bad Men Westminster-Hall ever sent into the House of Commons with Father Pym c. this Great Person so clearly bafled all their Allegations and Evidences as they were forc'd to turn the Tables pursue another Method and Vote him guilty by Bill of Attainder which not only precluded all further Arguments according to the Regular Course of Iustice but made themselves Accusers Parties and Iudges throughout the whole Procedure both as to Matter of Fact and Law an odd and unusual Course for they say it had been discontinu'd from Henry VIII's Time whose grough Humour too often made use of this when he could not otherwise gain his Point that is his Will But when laid in his Cold Tomb that Men might freely speak their Minds next the Barbarous Treatment of his Queens this is the foulest Blot upon his Memory And as he then made his Parliament the Properties in this ungrateful ay and unjust Procedure so the Parliament here were as hot and violent in forcing it upon the King and that with so great Precipitancy as the Bill was read thrice in one Day and consequently pass'd with an earnest Request when carried up to the Lords of the like quick Dispatch But they were more Deliberate as well upon his as their own Account which made the Commons fall to their then a la mode Course of Rabble and Tumults 5 or 6000 whereof assembled at Westminster crying for Justice and Execution with many other intollerable Insolencies as shall be by and by related upon which Account many of the Lords dar'd not to appear at the House and of those few that did being 45 it was carried but by 7 Votes 19 giving their not Content to the 26 that gave their Content to the passing this Fatal Bill And this brought the King into that inextricable Perplexity being to use his own incomparable Words perswaded by those that wish'd him well to choose rather what seemed safe than just preferring the outward Peace of my Kingdom with Men before that inward exactness of Conscience before God and this made a continu'd Remorse in his Soul for ever after incessantly complaining of that bad exchange to wound a Man 's own Conscience thereby to salve State-Sores to calm the Storms of popular Discontents by stirring up a Tempest in a Man 's own Bosom whereas in all likelyhood I could never have suffer'd with my People greater Calamities yet with greater Comfort had I vindicated Strafford's Innocency and not gratify'd some Mens unthankful importuning so cruel a Favour In fine the whole Chapter is so great in its self as we find nothing so sincerely to express the true Remorse of a Penitent Soul since David pen'd the 51 Psalm and withall gives so high and just a Character of this great Man as no People which us'd them both so Barbarously ought ever to be bless'd with such a Prince or Minister Yet one thing I must further observe from his Majesty how that after-Act vacating the Authority of the Precedent for future Imitation sufficiently tells the World that some Remorse touched even his most implacable Enemies as knowing he had very hard Measure and such as they would be very loth should be repeated to themselves The return likewise that virulent Faction made to his Majesty when he had oblig'd them with so much Regret to himself is worth taking Notice which was only this hath he given us Strafford then he can deny us nothing And accordingly at the same time this cursed Bill was past there past another to make that cursed Parliament perpetual whereupon I find this Remark that as the one was for the Earl's present Execution so the other prov'd in the Event for the Kings One thing more and I have done when the Nation came to its Wits again in the Year 60 An Act was pass'd for reversing the Attainder of this great Worthy wherein are enumerated the several unjust and irregular Practiecs for obtaining that Bill as well from Lords as King together with the Illegality and untruth of the Charge it self 'T is pity there had not been a Clause likewise that whosoever should dare to Libel and belye his but more especially his Master 's Sacred Memory or indeed any others who unjustly Suffer'd in that just Cause should forfeit their Ears at last if not have their Breath stop'd at Tyburn what a company of Spill-Paper Rascals would this have freed the Press or the World of But since 't is thought fit to permit them we must be Content with discovering thereby their sordid Temper and base Principles and accordingly discriminate them from such vertuous Understanding Souls as will not be afraid of any euil Tidings but have the Righteous in everlasting Remembrance Arch-Bishop Laud shall be here likewise consider'd for tho they did not take away his Life till about three Years after yet was he forc'd to Linger it out all that time in an unjust Confinement kept on purpose as one would think to serve another turn with the Scots For as they would
not stir out of the Kingdom in 41 till gratify'd with Strafford's Blood so they would not return in 43 without an assurance of Laud's A blessed Religion must those Covenanters be of in thirsting as much after Blood as Wolves and Tygers could I believe a Metempsychosis I should very much incline likewise to think that the Souls of those Pharisees and other Iews which persecuted our Saviour and his Apostles were now at length got so far as our Northern Clyme and taken up their Habitation in the several Members of our Scotch and English Sanhedrims The first particular Charge as to the English Church and Nation Ludlow brings against this great Man is the Clergy sitting in Convocation after the short Parliament in 40. was dissolv'd took upon them to frame Canons and Oaths and impose four Shillings in the Pound upon Ecclesiastical Benefices throughout the Kingdom p. 10. Roger Coke likewise Harps upon this String so doth the Defence and it was one of the most considerable Branches of his Charge at his Tryal whereto he reply'd that he did nothing but by the King 's express Order had the Iudgment of the Council learned in Law and exactly follow'd a Precedent of Archbishop Whitgift's in the Happy Days of Queen Elizabeth the Original whereof the House of Commons commanded away that the poor Man might be the less able to make his Defence although therein they were disappointed too discovering only their own mean Spirits and his great Parts And for the Oath c. or rather c. in the Oath which made such a ridiculous Noise 't is pity but Posterity should be acquainted with their Impertinency and Prejudices therein the Words which the c. included were after Deans Archdeacons where the c. cuts off And other Persons having peculiar and exempt Iurisdiction which was mention'd at large in the Precedent Canons and here contracted by the Clerk tho' design'd as the others when Engross'd however through haste forgotten and that nothing more could be intended by it clearly appears from the Restraint of the following Words viz. as it stands now establish'd But if People are resolv'd to strain Knats and swallow Camels 't is impossible to perswade them otherwise till they have nigh Choak'd themselves Roger Coke is very witty upon the foremention'd Tax and saith the Clergy who now Taxed their fellow Subjects without Consent of the Commons shall ever after be taxed by the Commons without Consent of the Clergy where in the mean while is Magna Charta whose first Article speaks Ecclesia Anglicana debet habere suas Libertates Privilegia illaesa And they tax'd none but themselves and none else by Law can do it 'T is likewise false that they never Tax'd themselves since there was a Convocation in 61. which did it But upon the Dutch War in 65 the old Way of Tenths and Fifteenths arose so high upon the Bishops and Dignify'd Clergy as it was thought easier to be thrown in common with the Laity amongst whom likewise the new Rebel improvement of a Land Tax and Monthly Assesments were substituted in room of Subsidies to their very great Edification What I most admire herein is that when this Course was agreed upon to throw them both together there should be no care taken then nor since by the Fathers of our Church the only Representative she hath in that Body to have some of the Clergy in Commission throughout each Laud's Publick Spirit and Fatherly Care would not have been guilty of such an Omission for want of which they are as much enhanc'd in their Taxes as defrauded in their Tythes whereupon I know a Person who when he would express the Summum jus of any rigorous proceeding doth it in this Phrase was as kindly dealt with as the Country-Commissioners deal with the Clergy I do not find Ludlow bringing any other particular Charge against this Great Man the Defence mentions the Heads of 20 he should have added four more which would have equall'd those Articles from the Commons and done a great Kindness in telling us how well they had been prov'd for after seventeen Days Prosecution by Three as Virulent Tongues as ever spake in Westminster-Hall he made so full and vigorous a Defence so effectually refell'd all their Cavils and Evidences that they were forc'd as in the Earl of Strafford's Case to have recourse to that dead striking Bill of Attainder by Accumulating those many Charges they had not prov'd altogether to make that Treason in the Conclusion which could not be gather'd from the Premises This was very uneasy to the Lords though none of them his Frinds as not knowing how soon it might be their own Case till frighted by the several Threats from the Lower House now become Paramount Six Mean-Spirited Peers pass'd the Ordinance all the rest though they had not Courage to appear against it yet were asham'd to give their Votes in so illegal and inhumane an Act. I cannot omit one Instance of their Barbarity He having obtained leave at his first Commitment to repair to his Study at Lambeth and take thence such Papers and Memomorials as might conduce to his Defence that Miscreant Pryn obtained an Order of the House to seise upon and ravish them from him neither were they so satisfi'd but came again and rob'd his Pockets of his Diary and carryed away the very Manual of his Devotions to see what they could discover which was only their own Shame That Account likewise of his Troubles and Tryal fell into the same base Hands although by a signal Providence retriev'd to be an Everlasting Record of their infamous proceedings This brief Relation I thought proper to give of these two great Ministers for that they were the main Prop of all Royal Dignity and chief promoters of whatever true Policy fell under debate in Order to the King and Kingdom 's safety And had their Advice been follow'd the Scots had never entred England but receiv'd the due Reward of their Rebellion at their own Doors nor Irish thought at leastwise attempted theirs so long as Strafford held the Rains without which Abettors and Advantages the English Confederates could have carryed on none of their Designs But what with the King 's Good Nature Natural Kindness and strange Irresolution his only Fault together with the Factions Solemn Professions of Duty and Loyalty that they would make him the most Glorious and Potent Prince in Europe he lost so much ground at first as afterwards it was impossible to retrieve it they still pressing for one Concession after another till in the end they gain'd enough to ruine him as well as his Ministers for whatever popular Clamors were made none stood up so much for the true English Constitution as they never denying that Parliaments were the best Expedient to settle Affairs in all great Emergencies if they would go regularly about it but they Both thought what the One hath declared that Corruptio optimi est
Army in prejudice to theirs which caus'd Commissary Wilmot who with some others was a Member of the House to tell them upon a Paper the Scots had presented to get Mony design'd for our Army that if Papers could procure Money he doubted not but the English Officers would soon do the same Neither were their Resentments less upon the King 's than their own account that after so many complyances and too great condescention they should still press forward to the overturning of all whereupon they entred into a confederacy obliging themselves by an Oath of secrecy to Petition the King and Parliament upon these Four Heads For Money for the Army not to Disband before the Scots To preserve Bishops Votes and Functions To settle the King's Revenue Which being shown to and approv'd by the King he sign'd all which appears both from Mr. Percy 's letter to the Earl of Northumberland his Brother that they resolved to act nothing which should infringe the Subjects Liberty or be prejudicial to the Laws As likewise from the foremention'd Manuscript of the Earl of Manchester which gives the same account And could Ludlow or any of his Partisans imagin there should be no Men of Courage and Resolution left in the Nation or that having Swords by their Sides they should keep their Hands in their Pockets and see Votes and Ordinances do more mischief than all the Gunpowder of a seven Years Campain and since the Parliament were resolv'd upon a War 't is Pity these Gentlemen parted with their Forces Had they come up and cut Ten or Twenty the lowdest Throats in the House it might have sav'd the effusion of a great deal more and much better Blood and preserv'd both King and Kingdom from Ruin To shew farther that the Parliament was always in danger the King continually plotting against them they never against him our Author tells us how a great number of loose debauch'd Fellows repair'd to Whitehall where a constant Table was provided and many Gentlemen of the Inns of Court tamper'd with to assist him in his Design and how briskly he took up one for speaking against the Fellows at Westminster who upon this fright desir'd leave to provide themselves a Guard and that the Militia might be at their disposing p. 21. To turn a Story or frame a Lie so as to make it serve their own turns hath been all along observ'd the peculiar Talent of our Commonwealth Men and of the whole Party Ludlow had most right to the Whetstone That the Fellow should be so impudent to charge the King with raising Tumults or threatning Force when all the World knows it was the chief Engine the Parliament had to carry on all their mischievous Enterprises and when any thing stuck with him or the Lords a Rabble of 5 or 6000 were immediately summon'd out of the City to affright and threaten all that would not comply according to their Desire and in their passage by Whitehall did the same to the King till their Insolencies grew so intolerable as he was forc'd to leave that and Parliament at once for which they had the confidence to charge him and yet would take no care he might be secure with them and this occasion'd what Ludlow relates Several Gentlemen about Town more especially at the Inns of Court were asham'd to see Majesty so scandalously affronted proffer'd their service for the security of Whitehall his Majesty and Family which was kindly accepted and some little Entertainment made for them from whence this vile Fellow rais'd his great Story And since he hath given me this just provocation it will be here very proper to give some small account of those many violences from the insults and tumults of the Rabble how necessary the Faction found them and thereupon what Encouragement they had The Bill of Attainder against the Earl of Strafford went on very slowly in the House of Lords and 't is probable but for the Menaces of the Mob had never pass'd whereof 5 or 6000 came up to Westminster fill'd the Palace-Yard posted themselves at all the Entrances to the Parliament House and stopped every Coach crying Iustice and Execution which upon a Sign given was repeated with such an hideous Noise as to create Amazement in the greatest Constancy Such Lords as they knew were averse to Humour them they threatned most severely and had the Impudence to add if they had not the Leiutenant's Life they would have the King 's whereof his Majesty complained by Message to the Lords they to the Commons and there it stuck For sometime after when they trudg'd away to cry no Bishops as Hudibras hath it and the Lords complained in a Conference with the Commons of their horrible Insolency Mr. Pim their chief Setter cry'd God forbid we should proceed to dishearten People from obtaining their just Rights and the rest of that cursed Cabal secretly whisper'd they must not discourage their Friends this being a time to make use of them which vile Abettings made them so Impudent as to threaten White-hall too and declare as they pass'd by there should be no Porters Lodg but they would come to speak to the King without Control and at their own discretion And when presently after there was another descent of the same Rout and some Opposition made upon their Attempt upon White-hall Gate till the Sheriffs of London and Middelsex with what Guard they could draw together seiz'd and committed some of them the Commons immediately posted up Mr. Hollis to the Lords complaining 't was a Violation of the Liberty of the Subject and an affront to the Parliament and so the Good Boys must be discharg'd 'T were too tedious to relate the several Insults of this kind both King and Lords were forc'd to put up the Commons underhand giving them all Encouragement imaginable and had their Setters in the City to be ready on the first Intimation whereof Dr. Cornelius Burges a Lecturing Beautifeu was chief seconded by a Lay Brother one Ven the Captain Tom of those Times the Dr. as he led up these Doughty Champions was wont to look back and cry These are my Ban-dogs I can set them on and I can take them off again by which means saith my Author four parts in five of the Lords and two parts in three of the Commons were frighted out of the House to leave the Faction absolute Masters thereof All these before unheard of Affronts to Majesty and Government our faithful Recorder of Memoirs takes no Notice of but a few honest Loyal Gentlemen asham'd to see such abominable Insults and therefore coming to defend if occasion serv'd their abused ay and threatned Prince must pass for a Plot upon the Parliament and they forsooth must have a Guard With like veracity he relates the Kingston Plot too where the Lord Digby with Colonel Lunsford in a Coach and Six and three or four Footmen attending pass'd for a Body of 500 Horse with many such like extravagant Rumors
of Queen Elizabeth who though she indulg'd Liberty of Speech to her Members yet if any dar'd to open or so much as quetch against her Prerogative or fall upon any Debates which did not properly come within their Sphere she never spar'd to express the height of her Resentment whereof take this single Instance One Morris a Member of Parliament and Chancellor of the Dutchy offer'd a Bill ready drawn for Retrenching the Ecclesiastical Courts into much narrower Bounds with several such like Alterations wherewith his busy Head was pregnant Of this the Queen having present Notice sends for Coke then Speaker of the House of Commons afterwards Lord Chief Iustice and a violent Beautifeu in these three Parliaments of King Charles by whom she order'd this Message to the House viz. That it was wholly in her Power to Call to Determine to Assent or Dissent to any thing done in Parliament that the calling of this was only that the Majesty of God might be the more Religiously observ'd by compelling with some sharpe Laws such as neglect that Service and that the Safety of her Majesty's Person and the Realm might be provided for that it was not meant they should meddle with Matters of State or Causes Ecclesiastical that she wondered any should attempt a thing so contrary to her Commandment and that she was highly offended at it And finally that it was her pleasure no Bill touching any Matters of State or for Reformation of Matters Ecclesiastical should be there Exhibited On the delivery of which Morris is said to have been seiz'd on in the House by a Sergeant at Arms however seiz'd upon he was and committed Prisoner kept for some Years in Tutbury Castle discharg'd from his Office in the Dutchy and disabled from any Practice in his Prosession as a Common Lawyer What would Ludlow have done had he been a Member in those happy Times Here at home either Tutbury or Tyburn would have been his Fate and if got abroad 't is a question whether Swisserland it self could have secur'd him from the long Arm of that great Virago CHAP. IV. Not any just Ground for Complaint of Grievances NEither had they better Authority for the several Grievances they made such a Noise about hunting after them with all the Earnestness imaginable receiving none so kindly as those who brought them Information of fresh Game though generally it proved a Brake-bush instead of a Hare That Disparity printed in Sir Henry Wotton's Remains between the Elizabeth's time and the Duke of Buckingham was sometime after discovered to be the first Essay of a Younger but much abler Pen the Person who writ it making as great a Figure during all the Troubles of Charles the I. and II. as any whatsoever and upon the Restauration was advanc'd according to his great Merits and Sufferings This Ingenious little Piece to make good the Disparity undertaken observes how great an Advantage the Earl had from the Temper of the Age and easy Good Natur'd disposition all People were then in 'T was saith he an ingenious uninquisitive Time when all the Passions and Affections of the People were lapp'd up in such an innocent and humble Obedience that there was never the least Contestations nor Capitulations with the Queen nor though she frequently consulted with her Subjects any further Reasons urg'd of her Actions than her own Will When there were any Grievances they but Reverendly convey'd them to her Notice and left the Time and Order of the rest to her Princely Discretion Once they were more importunate and formal in pursuing the Complaints of the Purveyors for Provision which without doubt was a crying and an heavy Oppression The Queen sent them Word they all thought themselves wise enough to reform the Misdemeanors of their own Families and whisht they had so good an Opinion of her as to trust her with her Servants too I do not find that the Secretary who delivered this Message received any Reproach or Check or that they proceeded any further in the Inquisition On the other side that of the Duke of Buckingham's Favour with King Iames and Charles the I. He tells us was a busy querulous froward Time so much degenerated from the Purity of the former that the People under pretences of Reformation with some Petulant Discourses of Liberty which their great Impostors scattered amongst them like false Glasses to multiply their Fears began Abditos Principis Sensus quid occultius parat exquirere extended their enquiries even to the Chamber and private Actions of the King himself forgetting that Truth of the Poet Nusquam libertas gratior extat quam sub Rege pio 'T was strange to see how Men afflicted themselves to find out Calamities and Mischiefs whilst they borrowed the Name of some great Persons to scandalize the State they lived in A general disorder throughout the whole Body of the Commonwealth nay the Vital Parts perishing the Laws violated by the Judges Religion prophan'd by the Prelates Heresies crept into the Church and countenanced All which they themselves must rectify without being beholden to the King or consulting the Clergy And give me leave to add proving there was any Truth in those Allegations they made such a Noise about Thus far that Great Man who hints likewise at the most probable Causes which might produce that Frenzy this World of ours was then got into As 1 st The heat of young Heads who are ever more forward to reform others than themselves 2 dly The Disappointments some of longer standings met with in reference to their own Advancement But more especially in the 3 d. place The Revolution of Time which had made them unconcern'd in the Loyal Fears that govern'd sixty Years since and the Nation too happy in that Spirit and Condition Unless more sensible of it and thankful for it From which stupid Humour it was that such as cry'd Fire most with the same Breath blew the Coals and would never give over till they had set all in a Flame One of these Grievous Cries was Tunnage and Poundage about which we have already mention'd his Majesty's just Resentments but withall his too great Condescention in hopes to give them Satisfaction So far beneath our self to use his own Words As we are confident never any of our Predecessors did the like nor was the like ever required or expected from them Notwithstanding which they continued their Proceedings and as the King goes on We endured long with much patience both these and sundry other strange and exorbitant Incroachments and Usurpations such as were never before attempted in that House Roger Coke is also very hot upon this Scent and gives a History thereof out of his Grandfather's Institutes so far as to serve his turn yet withall is forc'd to own that they had been continued to all the Kings and Queens since Edward the 4 th so that passing an Act was only Matter of Form for if Prescription long continued Custom be Common Law
for the People and make the best Tenures why not for the Prince Nay 't is farther apparent that in most of those Reigns there were several Alterations and Additions too as Circumstances of Trade varied or Reason of State required Queen Elizabeth more especially took her Liberty therein at pleasure without Regret or Complaint from Merchant or Member particularly the Venetians having Tax'd a Charge upon our English Cloath She to be even with them rais'd that upon Corinth's which continued all her Life without dispute and when a Pragmatical Fellow stood it out with King Iames it was adjudg'd due by the Barons of the Exchequer But the debate here was perfect Spite and Contradiction otherwise no Man of Sense of Honour would have made a Breach between Prince and People in refusing to confirm what his Predecessors had enjoy'd some hundred Years before Especially considering the Charge and Care the King was then at above any of his Ancestors in reference to Naval Preparations whereto the Customs were all along assign'd I have seen an Account of the Navy Royal as it stood in Queen Elizabeth's Time presented by Sir Walter Rawleigh to Prince Henry consisting of Twenty four Sail the best of which did not reach one of our Fourth or Fifth Rates as now built 'T is true he tells him it might be advanc'd to what Number she pleas'd by pressing Merchants Ships of equal or greater Force And so it continued without any considerable Improvement all Iames's Time till the Earl of Nottingham Lord Admiral overgrown with Age importun'd the King for a Discharge as he own'd both to Lords and Commons wherein he was comply'd with and succeeded by the Duke of Buckingham who apply'd himself thereto with so much Diligence and Circumspection as at the same time his neglect was so severely complain'd of in the House of Commons we had an Hundred Sail in one Fleet gon against the Spaniard with another Squadron join'd the Dutch to block up Dunkirk and a third to guard the Channel which was likewise continually improv'd so far as the King's Purse could reach under the many Exigenties he then lay and would the Parliament have perform'd their Parts might have then clear'd the Ocean of all Opposition whatsoever which they were so far from as to make an attempt of withdrawing the Customs the only support he had to this great Defence and Undertaking Yet notwithstanding their perverse Disposition 't is a Question whether we had not the Ballance upon our Neighbours more then than now and as able to maintain the Sovereignty of the Seas Though it shall be acknowledg'd our Strength at present may be five perhaps ten times greater with a proportionable Charge and Opposition too which is worst of all In the mean while we may from hence perceive what a creditable Evidence Common-fame is for as the Clamour then ran which our several Sets of Pamphletteers and Libellers would have us still believe one would have imagin'd we had not been able to fight a Fleet of Dutch Fisher-Busses or that our Admiral knew or car'd whether there had been two such places as Chatham or Portsmouth such strong Prejudices can Men of ill design Fool the People into Neither was the Conduct of other Affairs so much to be run down as their Pettishness did Suggest when amongst other things they would enquire how the Reputation and Interest of our Nation came to decline so much from what it was in Ages past which if they had considered the Man's Caution they would have omitted for their own Reputation sake Say not thou what is the Cause that the former Days were better than these For thou dost not enquire wisely concerning this And I am confident every ordinary Reader will judge there was more Malice than Wisdom in the Matter before us when told their Charge was chiefly Level'd at those Storms which Dissipated our Fleets both upon the Spanish and Flemish Coasts On the contrary could there be a more Sober or Christian Answer than what the King reply'd That 't was God's Pleasure to send stormy Weather and his Will must be done Though 't is confess'd they might have gon out at a more Seasonable time of the Year had they furnish'd him with a seasonable Supply but it became now their usual Practice to charge him with their own Defects Yet notwithstanding that and the Miscarriage at the Isle of Rhe where nevertheless a great deal of English Bravery was shewn so little were they degenerated from their Ancestors the French were so much Allarm'd at our entring into a War and Assisting the Rochellers as they proffer'd the Duke of Rohan and the Protestant Party any Terms to join with them against the English and it was their ill Conduct and Positiveness not to excuse something of Treachery amongst them which made the first Attempts for their Relief miscarry as shall be made appear in due Time and Place as likewise how glad the French were of a Peace on Honourable Terms on our Side tho they knew too well the Perverseness of our great Senate But to look back upon former Times even those so happy Days of Queen Elizabeth they were not attended with constant Success the great Sir Francis Drake did not always answer Expectation in his Returns out of the West-Indies and as great a Sea Captain as he was Frozen to Death in Search of the North-East-Passage with several such like Instances which might be given as to those Affairs So likewise for Land-Service Leicester's Conduct in the Low Countries was neither to his Mistresses nor their Satisfaction and that popular Favourite Essex miscarried most Scandalously in his Second Expedition against Spain and how fatal his Irish Management was is known to all At some of these indeed the Queen was concern'd but had any of her Parliaments meddled therewith they would have soon discovered how much she had of Henry the VIII's Spirit Neither ought it to seem strange if after that continued Peace God and King Iames had so long bless'd us withall we should be somewhat at a Loss entring afresh into War since that we have gain'd more Experience and paid sufficiently for our Learning both in Blood and Treasure and which is worse still cannot give over when we would And whilst we are upon this Head of Grievances there is a Commission to several Lords of the Privy Counsel must by no means be past by For though it was only in general Terms To enter into Consultation of all the best and speediest Ways and Means ye can for raising of Monys for the most important Occasion aforesaid which without extreamest hazard to us our Dominions and People and to our Friends and Allies can admit of no long delay c. Yet Rushworth and from him Roger Coke and from them both the Defence c. will have it to raise Monys by way of Excise in which Sense likewise this present Parliament would have it go and made a Bussle accordingly sending
he had plac'd it in the Whale and declar'd how without any Provocation the Thresher and Sword-fish plotted together and destroy'd him the next Stanza turns off with this Apostrophe Who will revenge his Death Or who will call Those to Account that sought and wraught his Fall The Heirs of slain Kings we see are often so Transported with the Ioy of what they get That they Revenge and Obsequies forget c. For what remains is as Applicable to that unhappy Neglect when the whole Kingdom thought nothing too much for expiating the Guilt and honouring the Memory of so excellent a Prince so barbarously Treated But tho' the Bill did not pass for the Monument yet the same Parliament had done another Thing before which may out-last all of that Kind in Westminster or elsewhere in the whole Nation viz. Enacted that the Day of that horrid Parricide be observ'd as a Solemn Fast throughout the Kingdom for ever and doubtless could they have foreseen any Person would have taken the Confidence to Asperse his Sacred Person or Memory at that impudent Rate our Libellers and too many 〈◊〉 do it had been Voted no less Treason than his Murder yet however there be Enemies still which speak Evil of him and some that hate him wrongfully are Mighty with all that are Wise and Good his Name will be Blessed and his Righteousness had in Everlasting Remembrance To which purpose I shall here add a little Passage of a Reverend Divine lately deceased in Buckinghamshire who amongst other Ingenious Legacies out of the Common Road gave 40 s. per Annum for ever to New College whereof I presume he had been formerly Member for a Speech on this dismal Day And 't is to be hoped the continual Provocations of such bold Profligates as dare to open their Mouths against and Blaspheme whatever is Superior to them either in Heaven or Earth may in due time rouse up some generous Publick Spirits which shall at leastwise put to Silence if not punish the Ignorance and Impudence of those foolish Men for 't is not an easy thing to stem a strong Tide of Virtue or hold out long against the Truth and therefore as my foremention'd Author denounces Though they live long yet shall be nothing regarded and their last Age shall be without honor or if they die quickly they have no hope nor comfort in the Day of Tryal for horrible is the end of an unrighteous Generation And this brings me to one further Consideration of greatest Consequence though I fear least regarded that however defective Men have been as to the deserved Obsequies of this our Royal Martyr the Iustice of Heaven fail'd not to do him Right and kindled such a Pile to his Memory as the Romans most pompous Magnificence of that Kind could never reach in the least Degree indeed it never was nor ever will be paralell'd till the last Conflagration I mean the dismal Fire of London which to my Observation when that Iudgment was immediately upon them there was scarce a Fanatick so hardned as not to think it a return from Heaven for that impious and abominable Fact though since they have learnt to Palliate the Matter or shuffle it off with Plots and Popery whereas could they prove nay granting that it no ways hinders but the Almighty Avenger might make use of them as well as any other secondary Causes to kindle the Flames of his most high Displeasure to speak really and the Truth a groundless Suspition thereof did so far infatuate them into a stupid careless Neglect as even that seem'd to be part of their Curse although it was impossible for the utmost of Humane Industry to stop so violent and rapid a Current which was driven on by one continued Breath from Heaven flying over all with an irresistible Force agreeable to the Severity of that upright and omnipotent Power which made the Inquisition I shall not here omit a Passage which however now it may seem Ridiculous made no little Impression upon most Men even of Sense at that Time that Nostredamus a French Man in a Ramble of Prophesies Printed above an Hundred Years before expresly foretold this Fire and for this Cause The Original indeed is somewhat obscure as nothing of that Nature was ever supposed to be positively declar'd yet was it then thought so clear as it occasion'd an Impression of the whole Book in French and English with Annotations upon every Stanza according to which take it thus rendred by a Friend of mine with the Original Le sang du Iuste a Londres fera faute Brusser par feu de vingt trois les six La Dame antique cherra de place haute De mesme secte plusieurs seront ouis A Righteous Monarch's Blood shall London spill Which to avenge not expiate the Ill Her lofty Piles to Ruins shall be turn'd At least three parts in four to Ashes burn'd Her Antient Temple too shall be consum'd And many more to the like Fate be doom'd We are told likewise that the Numbers seem to imitate the very Year in which it should happen 1666 and really they look very much that way That this Account will meet a different Reception now from what it had at first when that Iudgment was abroad amongst us I am fully sensible yet the same Text declares that to be the time for the Inhabitants of the Earth to learn Righteousness and could wish our Modern Wits had some better Argument to refel what they are so forward to run down than an affected ridiculous Contempt That Reply the Soothsaier made Iulius Caesar The Ides of March were not past prov'd almost as sharp as the Daggers which soon followed If all Predictions of this Kind must be Exploded because we cannot tell from whence they come History will have but little Faith and Men by degrees must dis-believe their Senses However this is only en Passant we depend upon a more sure Word of Prophecy that the true and Righteous Iudge will avenge the Blood of his Servants and more especially upon such as stretch forth their Hands against his Anointed It was a Saying amongst the Iews that whatever Iudgments they lay under tho' upon other Accounts there was always some Grains of the Golden Calf mixt with them and I have found the Application several times made in Discourses upon that Day that whatever Calamities this Nation hath hitherto or shall for the future lie under there are some Drops of this Royal Blood in the Composition and therefore could I prevail one of the largest Chappels in this New St. Paul's should be finished all with Black Marble and the Corps of our Royal Martyr remov'd thither to which the Lord Mayor Aldermen and Common Council should repair every 30 th of Ianuary and with a particular Office for that sad Occasion Deprecate those Remains of Divine Vengeance which may yet hang over that City as well as the whole Kingdom But let this pass for a Conceit