according to Law that sometimes he moderates the rigour of the Law according to Equity pardons Malefactors and in cases that are not decided by any Law interposes his Imperial Sentence Lastly that I may assert nothing rashly but all upon the credit of Lawyers the life force and authority of every thing that is acted in England is to be found in the King alone But because the King of England has not like Briareus an hundred hands nor can he like the Sun view all things at one glance he hath been accustomed to create from amongst the Nobility Bishops Judges and Commons of the Kingdom without the envy and emulation of any such and so many Counsellors as he pleases to assist and ease him in the weighty care of the Government Having named these Prerogatives of a most August and Imperial Crown what shall I call that barbarous and inhumane Principle and Purpose of bringing the King to Judgment before the Kings Tribunal and then to smite him with the Sword which he alone is to draw the King I say whom the Law it self openly declares can never die There is no necessity of curbing arbitrary government by such inhumane Tyranny upon the sacred Person of the King since whatever may be done in the administration of the Government either against the Laws of the Country or inconsistent with the good and profit of the People the blame and punishment of it is cast upon the publick Ministers so that it was not flattery but the highest Justice which gave ground to this noted maxime That the King cannot err nor do any wrong because the whole blame and all the punishment is wont and ought to fall upon the publick Ministers and Counsellors whose duty it is to admonish the Prince and to deny their concurrence with him in any thing that is unjust and to resigne their place rather than obey him when he commands any thing contrary to Law Nay the Laws are so sollicitous for the safety of the Prince as of him who is to maintain and preserve the Law that the next Heir to the Crown whatsoever Crime he might be guilty or accused of whilst he was a private person yet by the death of his Predecessor as by a certain postliminious Absolution he is freed from all taint and guilt and his stepping up into the Throne purges him from all defects It is enough to curb him that holds the Reins of the Government That he must expect the Judgment of God Nevertheless it is not lawful for the King to rule arbitrarily in England oppress his Subjects or make and abrogate Laws by his sole Authority But as the Law allows a decorous administration of absolute Authority in some things to the King so does it assigne to the Commons others and those no inconsiderable Priviledges in the Kingdom in common with the King that so the joynt Authority in Government might the more easily engage the Subjects to obedience For for the making and repealing of Laws and the interpreting and explaining former ambiguous Statutes for raising of Money out of the ordinary course when there is occasion for it legitimating of Bastards naturalizing of Strangers altering and setling the Rights of Possessions confirming by civil Sanctions the Divine Worship after it hath by the Convention of the Clergy been formed according to the Word of God setting Rates upon Weights and Measures and the like that the people may not seem to suffer any thing without their own consent and concurrence the Votes of Parliament which is the supreme Court of England and in conjunction with the King under God hath a certain Omnipotence in this little World are necessarily required The Parliament is an Assembly of the States of the Kingdom consisting of the Bishops Lords and Representatives of the Commons called by the King who is the Head of it who meet and sit in two distinct places called the Upper and Lower Houses in respect of dignity not of scituation The Upper House which is called the House of Lords contains two Estates to wit the Spiritual Lords who are the Bishops and the Temporal who are Dukes Marquesses Earls and Barons the Judges of the Kingdom assisting to give advice in matter of Law but not to vote The Lower House consists of the third Estate of the Kingdom who are the Commons and is therefore called also the House of Commons they are chosen by the plurality of Voices of the Freeholders of the Counties and Freemen of Corporations two Knights for each County or Shire and two Burgesses for the most part for every City and Corporation-Town according to the use and custom of the place The day and place of the meeting of the Parliament is appointed by the King by him also it is prorogued transferred and adjourned to another place or dissolved at his pleasure The Peers are summoned to attend in Parliament by Writs severally directed to them and signed by the King To the rest the Sheriffs of the several Counties by virtue of a Writ out of the Chancery give notice that the King within a certain time orders an Election to be made of Knights and Burgesses which he commands to be made by the Sheriff in time and place convenient Vetus Rescripti formula ad Dynastas Rescriptum Regis ad Dynastas seu Pares sic sonat Carolus Dei gratiâ c. Reverendissimo in Christo Patri c. si Episcopos compellet Consanguineo nostro si Duces Marchiones vel Comites alloquatur Dilecto fideli nostro si Barones Quia de advisamento Concilii nostri pro quibusdam arduis urgentibus negotiis Nos Statum defensionem Regni nostri Angliae Ecclesiae Anglicanae concernentibus quoddam Parlamentum nostrum ad Westmonast c. teneri ordinavimus ibidem vobiscum cum caeteris Praelatis Magnatibus Proceribus dicti Regni nostri Angliae colloquium habere tractatum vobis in fide Dilectione si ad Episcopos mittatur Rescriptum per fidem Allegiantiam si ad Pares quibus nobis tenemini firmiter injungendo mandamus quod consideratis dictorum negotiorum arduitate periculis imminentibus cessante quacunque excusatione die loco dictis personaliter intersitis Nobiscum cum caeteris Praelatis Magnatibus Proceribus super dictis negotiis tractaturi vestrúmque Consilium impensuri hoc sicut Nos honorem nostram ac salutem Regni praedicti Ecclesiae sanctae Expeditionémque dictorum negotiorum diligitis nullatenus omittatis si ad Episcopos scribat praemonere Decanum Capitulum Ecclesiae vestrae tolúmque Clerum vestrae Dioeceseos quod idem Decanus Archidiaconi in propriis personis ac dictum Capitulum per unum idémque Clerus per duos Procuratores idoneos plenam sufficientem potestatem ab ipsis Capitulo Clero habentes praedictis die loco personaliter
the Clergy Which by the Deans Archdeacons and Deputies of the Clergy are holden in the Convocation Their Acts bind not the People without the consent of the King and Parliament The Rights Priviledges of the Vpper House Of the Lower The providence of the Law thae the Members might debate freely and without fear The modesty of the Parliament What honour Kings were wont to shew the Parliament But when occasion required reduced them into order The happiness of the Kingdom under this Government VVhat were the beginnings of the Troubles raised by some Members of the House of Commons Hence mutual Jealousies betwixt the King and Parliament And then the dissolution of Parliaments This gave occasion of stirring the people up against the King And yet the Kingdom in a most flourishing condition Though unfortunate in War abroad and some Taxes imposed at home Some seditious persons are punished New Ceremonies startle the Puritans The Archbishop endeavouring to impose the Liturgy of England upon the Scots offends them Vpon which pretext but for other causes they grow turbulent They take Arms alter the Government both in Church and State The King marches against them And upon Articles makes Peace with them The Scots innovating the Articles cause a new VVar. A Parliament is called in England And dissolved The Scots making a secret Combination with the Factious invade England Having made a Truce the Judgment of the Parliament is expected The Parliament meets The Factious in it Who under pretext of reforming Grievances endeavour to new-model the Government both in Church and State And by what steps Many are accused the E. of Strafford and Arshb of Canterbury The L. Keeper Judges And twelve Bishops The terrified Judges are freely discharged The Bishops also being deprived of the right of voting in the House of Lords Strafford is brought to his tryal before the House of Lords the King over-hearing The Earl in his defence clears himself of the Accusation The House of Commons make a new Law whereby they make him guilty of Treason Not without opposition many dissenting The Lords deliberating more seriously The Rabble beset the House And hinder the Lords and Bishops from entering it then they break into Westminster-Abbey And afterward run in tumult to White-hall And answer the K. sawcily Whilst the Justices of Peace repress the Tumults they are imprisoned by the factious House The factious Members of Parliament consult with the Apprentices and teach them the time and manner of tumultuating Whereby the Members being frightned forbear coming to the House and are therefore excluded Whence the Authority of Parliament wears out of date The Lords pass the Bill against the Earl of Strafford The Kings consent is very hardly obtained Till the Judges pronounced it lawful the Bishops removed his scruples And Strafford advised him to it The King by Letters desires the execution may be delayed The Lords deny it Courtiers fearful of their condition freely resigne their places The Sheriffs Justices of the Peace comply with the times In that thing alone the King withstood the will of the Parliament In the rest he left himself in a manner at their discretion He suffers the Jurisdiction of the Court of Stannaries of the Court of the President of Wales to be lessened The extent of the Forests also be abridged The Court of the Star-Chamber And of the High Commission to be abrogated As also that of the Lord President and Council of the North. He allows Monopolies to be rescinded He yields up also his right of levying Souldiers Ship-money Tunnage and Poundage Allows also a Triennial Parliament And that the present Parliament should not be dissolved without the consent of both Houses Yet with these the Factious are not pleased But are thereby emboldened to raise Animosities and Divisions The Scots are sent home The English Irish Armies are also disbanded The K. follows the Scots into their Country And upon his return is feasted by the Londoners The Factious congratulate the Kings return by a defamatory Declaration ☞ To which the King shortly answers New Tumults for snatching the power of the Militia out of the K.'s hands The K. obviates the Sedition by accusing the Heads of it of Treason Whom the House of Commons takes into protection Wherefore the K. enters the House of Commons in person That he may demand them Who fled The K. afterward desisted and in a manner acknowledged his fault But the Factious take thence occasion of slandering and of raising jealoâ—sies stirs Buckinghamshire Essex petition The accused Members abscond in London and with a Guard of Citizens are conducted to the Parliament-house The K. withdraws to Windsor-Castle Sends the Q into Holland Sends for the Prince Moves towards York Having first sent pacificatory Letters to the Parliament VVhich notwithstanding the House of Commons misinterpret as contrary to the Priviledges of Parl. and pretend to be in great fear Daring alone to demand the power of the Militia VVhich when they could not obtain they stir up the Corporations to take up Arms of their own accord The House of Commons pass a Vote for ordering the Militia by Deputies and having prevailed with the Lords with joynt address they demand the Militia of the King upon pretence of dangers The K. allows a share in the power of the Militia reserving to himself the supreme Authority he exhorts them to moderation and peace But the Factious slight these things fill the rest with idle fears and by them stir up the People Fearing that the K. might possess himself of the Magazine of Hull They send Sir John Hotham to prevent it Who shuts the Gates against the King And is proclaimed Traitor He is justified by the House of Commons Afterward repenting of what he had done and being about to deliver up the Town to the K. he is taken with his Son beheaded The Parl. sends Proposals of Peace to the King The Parl. Propositions to the King The King answers The matter comes to nothing as all future Treaties Propositions The Parl. proposing most rigid Conditions The mediation of the K. of France the States of the United Provinces and of the Scots is rejected The Parl. seizes the Militia The K. commands the contrary citing Laws that are against it They answer And the K.'s Majesty replies And opposes the Aggressors They skirmish on both sides in Apologies and Manifesto's wherein the K. has the better The Parl. levies an Army Having deceived the People by wheedles And the Ministers They raise Pay Who favour the King By their assistance and his own authority the King raises an Army such as he could The Irish Rebellion intervenes Macquire and Macmahon the Incendiaries of the Irish Rebellion are taken carried to London There to be punished with the utmost rigour Macquire upon the brink of death Constantly asserts the innocence of the K. Vpon whom nevertheless the Rebels charge the Crime Who were the Authors of it And what opportunities they
Archbishop of Canterbury are accused of High-Treason both the English and Scots impeaching them Against Strafford also out of Ireland where the greatest matter of accusation was to be pickt up both Witnesses and Accusers are brought For whilst he was Deputy of Ireland he had by some severities which though perhaps they could not stand the test of the punctilio's and niceties of Law yet were necessary for the publick raised the indignation of the Inhabitants in that he endeavoured to reclaim the native Irish from their wonted Barbarity to Industry Civility and better Manners and to enure them to the Customs and Practices of the English Whence in a short time he had been so successful in this that having setled Trades Husbandry and Commerce amongst those lazy and stubborn people they began to flourish more than in all Ages before and to bring money into the Exchequer of England which by Rebellions they had so often exhausted before From amongst these though they were Roman Catholicks and sworn enemies to the English Government and even then plotting a Conspiracy against it Accusers in name of the Kingdom of Ireland and Witnesses were sent for who being prone enough of themselves to the work that they might the more securely attempt the Rebellion which then they hatched in their minds the wise Deputy being taken off were by all civilities and kind offices caressed by the Factious that by accumulated crimes they might overwhelm Strafford The Lord Keeper Finch was also accused and all the Judges who being sworn had after long deliberation declared in favour of the King as to the lawfulness of Ship-money Twelve Bishops also who by the riotous Rabble having been barred from coming into the House of Lords protested against all Laws that should be made as invalid until all that were concerned in the Council of the Kingdom might safely be present Others withdrew to avoid the impendent storm The Judges scared with this Parliamentary Thunderclap and taught to obey their Lords and Masters are at last all freely discharged and some of them continued in their places or promoted to higher The Bishops having lost their power of voting in the Lords House by a Law made in their absence being likewise set at liberty Canterbury is reserved for a future Sacrifice All the Storm at present fell upon the head of the Earl of Strafford whose Tragedy since it lay heavy upon the King during his whole life and at his death and that he by the Rebels was reckoned the most guilty I shall more fully relate that by the instance of one judgment may be made of the rest what kind of men they were who were so hated by the Parliament With great pomp he is accused by the Commons of twenty eight Articles of High Treason before the House of Lords all the Commons were present of whom six of the most violent were his Prosecutors or Managers of the Tryal the King also Queen and Prince being there privately behind the Curtain The weight of his Impeachment lay in this That in Ireland he had acted many things arbitrarily contrary to Law That in time of Peace he had raised Money of the Inhabitants against their wills by Military Exactions That he had advised the King to force the Subjects of England to obedience by foreign Arms and to make War against Scotland The Tryal lasted many days during which the Earl with great presence of mind and judgment defending himself so refuted the Arguments of his Prosecutors that amongst so many Articles there was not one even in the judgment of his enemies that could amount to Treason nor could all put together be constructed an acumulative Treason which inraged the House of Commons so far that having no colour of Law to take his life they make a new Law ex post facto whereby he is made guilty of High-Treason with a clause therein That it should not be made a Precedent in other Courts But this past not without great debate and opposition many speaking and arguing to the contrary and fifty nine of the chief Members of the House dissenting whose names were posted up in publick places that being exposed to the view and fury of the Mobile they might learn to vote with the Factious for the future if they had not rather be torn in pieces alive This Bill was in two days time past and engrossed in the House of Commons and carried up to the Lords for their consent but a matter of such moment was more seriously deliberated about there The Factious impatient of this delay stir up the Rabble and Dregs of the People who armed with Staves and Clubs and what Weapons Rage put into their hands came rushing to the Parliament-house roaring out Justice Justice and growing dayly more and more insolent morning and evening persisted in their riotous Clamours These Blades besetting the House of Lords lay hands upon what Lords and Bishops they please and tossing them to and fro hinder them from entering and threaten them worse if they obstinately refused to comply with the Commons Next they break in into Westminster-Abbey pull down the Organs rob the Vestments and sacred Furniture of the Church and then with furious clamours run to White-hall the Kings own house Nay they proceeded to that impudence as to dare to affront the King by sawcy and insolent Answers when his Majesty from a Balcony told them as they passed by White-hall that they should keep at home and mind their business Whilst some of the Justices of Peace according to their Oath and duty imprison those of that Rabble whom they could catch to be kept there for condign punishment they themselves are clapt up by the factious House of Commons pretending that it was free for all to come and petition the Parliament though they had caused the Gates of London to be shut against the men of Kent who came to petition the contrary and frightened others who intended to have done the like And when some discreet and good men had desired the Factious that they would at length lay the Devils whom they had raised they made answer That they ought rather to thank their Friends Nay so far was the Parliamentary Dignity debased that many times Members of the House of Commons came to the Clubs of Apprentices where they consulted about related and examined the affairs that past in Parliament what was designed to be done what parts they themselves were to act and when Hence their Tumults became by this kind of schooling in a manner to be regular being distributed into proper Classes and Fraternities as of Porters Watermen Taylors c. who under pretext of petitioning at the least hint from their Demagogues flocked together into bodies And that once for all we may lay open the nature of this Sore if any difficult knot occurred which by other arts they could not unty they presently betook themselves
to this Sword to cut it By this means many being terrified and thinking it safer to keep at home and abstain from coming with danger to the House for that fault alone they were excluded by the prevailing Faction Others who did appear durst not for fear of their own lives give their Votes freely for the publick Good so that from that time forward all authority of Parliament seemed to be worn out of date since the Riff-raff of the People challenged the right of voting in Parliament and put a restraint upon the liberty of the rest But to return to Strafford The Lords being overcome by these Arguments succumb and scarcely a third part of them being present the Bill of the House of Commons past in the Lords House by the plurality of seven voices The King is not so easily prevailed upon though the riotous Rabble hardly forbearing their hands continually plagued him with Clamours and Threatnings and the Noblemen and Courtiers that were about him plied him incessantly with their Prayers and Remonstrances Nor would he signe the Bill until the Judges who durst not so much as mutter against the actions of the Parliament and People satisfied him that he might do it in Law and some Bishops in Conscience and until the brave Earl had by a Letter perswaded and almost besought him to do it like another Curtius that he might fall a Sacrifice for the publick Peace and the safety of the Royal Family The Sentence being past against the Earl the the King immediately sent the Prince with Letters to the Lords earnestly recommending it to them that at least they would delay the execution for some time But they having sent twelve of their number to wait upon his Majesty perswade him that without great danger to himself and Family it could not be done The fall of so great a man from the very Pinacle of Honour terrified the inferiour Lords who bore publick Offices The Master of the Court of Wards the Lord High Treasurer who had with great integrity discharged that Office and the Princes Governour freely resigne their places like some Creatures who biting off the Prize of the chace escape the fury of the Huntsmen The Sheriffs and Justices of the Peace who were formerly in Office comply with the times and worship the rising Sun In this thing almost alone the King abandoned not himself wholly to the will of the Parliament for afterwards he granted them every thing that they themselves were not ashamed to ask The Jurisdiction of the Kings honourable Privy-Council that of the Court of Stannaries wherein by Patent from the King the Lord Warden decided all Controversies relating to the Labourers in the Mines and the Officers concerned in that work as also of the Court of the President and Council of Wales established in the marches betwixt England Wales wherein as in Chancery Law-suits amongst the Inhabitants were by the Kings Substitute determined according to the Rules of Equity were stinted and limited by narrower bounds The extent also of the Kings Forests and Chaces was abridged into a narrower compass The Star-Chamber wherein the Chancellor of the Kingdom being President greater Crimes which were not at all or not sufficiently provided against by any particular positive Law were tried and punished such as Sedition Conspiracy Faction Scandalum Magnatum c. and those also who by cunning or power eluded the force of the Law was wholly abrogated The Court of High Commission wherein the Archbishop presiding some Nobles and the learned in the Law by the Kings authority past sentence upon the more enormous Crimes that fell under Ecclesiastical censure suffered the same fate also The Court of the Lord President and Council of the North was abolished which for a long time had administred Justice to that part of the Kingdom and wherein Seditions Conspiracies and Associations were by Royal authority supprest and Law-suits about civil matters determined amongst those who wanted money to go according to the Laws for a tryal to London With all these the King readily parted in prospect of the publick good though they were shining Jewels in the Imperial Crown He suffered all Monopolies to be rescinded leaving it fully to the Parliament to punish all those who in prosecution of them had acted any thing contrary to Law and Justice He renounced also his Right of raising Souldiers and the Ship-money in lieu of which alone the former Parliament had offered him six hundred thousand pounds He also freely parted with Tunnage and Poundage which none of the Kings his Predecessors who without any interruption had enjoyed it past all prescription would ever consent to And that all Grievances might be timely remedied for the future and that no Great man or Magistrate might infringe the lately-granted Concessions or oppress the People if he himself should omit to call a Parliament once in three years he gave power to the Chancellor to issue out Writs for that effect and the Chancellor failing to the Lords and Sheriffs and in fault of them to the People to meet for Elections Lastly at their desire he granted that which some magnified as a favour exceeding all former benefits and others complained of as a mischief surpassing all future Grievances to wit That they might have time to pay the publick Debts and secure to Posterity the Priviledges granted by his Majesty he suffered a Law to pass whereby the Parliament had leave to sit until by consent of both Houses it should be thought fit to dissolve it as if he would make amends for the many intervals of Parliaments by the long continuance of one Which however others may interpret it was an argument of his great candour and sincerity towards his Subjects or at least a symptom of a mind not inclin'd to Violence and War No man would think now but that the Kings Power was abundantly limited and that the Property of the Subject and Priviledges of Parliament were sufficiently enlarged But alas these Harpies are not satisfied and one of them made answer to a Gentleman that put the question to him What more has the King now to grant That he may said he lay aside all Authority and commit himself and the management of all Affairs to our care That the Factious might attain their ends they suggest so many Fears and Jealousies to the weaker and less discerning Members that like the heads of Hydra more Divisions and Animosities sprung from the Kings grace and desire of appeasing them and his Concessions so far from satisfying them increased onely their thirst and made them insolent in demanding more as it usually happens in popular Councils where the people once infatuated with Jealousies some dance to the Pipes of others others that they may not appear shorter sighted or less publick spirited than the rest see Plots beyond the Moon and look for joynts in a Bull-rush This
in a War with his Subjects of England they were taken and at the Kings-bench-bar tried for High-Treason Macquire being found guilty by a Jury had sentence pronounced against him according to the Laws of the Country That he should be dragged to Tyburn in a Hurdle hang'd by the neck till he be half dead his privy Members and Bowels burnt before his face his Head cut off and set upon London-bridge and his Quarters upon four Gates of the City This Sentence was punctually executed in the presence of the Sheriff of London and fifteen thousand Spectators at least Nor is it to be omitted that the Sheriff having adjured Macquire by the dreadful Tribunal of God before which shortly he was to appear and the clearing and easing of his Conscience which was then or never to be done that he would ingenuously confess whom he knew to be guilty of the same Crime though the Rope was about his neck and he half up the Ladder yet by name he acquitted King Charles from being any ways privy to it solemnly professing that he knew no English-man but one and he a Papist that had any hand in the matter Nay and being cast off the Ladder and when after he had tried what hanging was he was a little reprieved and had no small hopes given him of a pardon he still persisted in the same protestation But in the Pulpits Clubs and publick Pamphlets the Crime was charged upon King Charles nor did the Rebels blush to asperse even the sacred and innocent Majesty of the King with so heinous a guilt hoping that whilst they continued so boldly to vent their Calumnies and Slanders against him some of them at least would stick The Irish Nobility and Priests who were the chief Actors in this Tragedy were encouraged to the Villany by the late successes of the Scots who to speak in the language of Sir John Temple a Privy-Counsellor of that Kingdom who wrote the History of those Troubles having happily succeeded in their attempts obtained by their last Commotions considerable Priviledges from the King To this adde that our intestine Troubles seemed to offer fair opportunity of changes it being very rational and easie to conjecture that the English being ready to fall together by the ears at home there was no fear that they would cross over to Ireland to defend and assist their Colonies in that Kingdom Their boldness was increased by the Interregnum occasioned by the murder of Strafford and the change of the Magistrates of whom the severer and best acquainted with the State of that Kingdom were by the interest of the Irish Lords whilst they prosecuted Strafford in England either turned out of place or accused of High-Treason men who were either ignorant of the Affairs and State of Ireland or who were prone to Rebellion being put into their places Being thus in a readiness the unseasonable disbanding of an Army of eight thousand Irish who had been raised for the Scottish expedition did not a little strengthen their resolution for though the King after the pacification of the Scots lest they might occasion Stirs in Ireland had permitted the Spanish Embassadour to transport four thousand of them yet the Irish Lords put on by the Conspirators got the Parliament under pretext that the French King might take it ill earnestly to beseech that it might not be done And afterwards when the King had ordered the same number to be raised for the service of the French without any reasons alleadged they utterly rejected it Very few of the Captains and Officers of that Army dishonoured themselves by joyning in the Rebellion but the private Souldiers whose custom it is to be insolent and at length appear valiant when they are about to be dismissed from the dangers of War easily rushed into that Villany The Lords and Priests being soothed with these so many fair opportunities of fishing in troubled waters that they might weaken our Colonies divide and distract their thoughts and in the mean time incense the Natives to slaughter and rapine they cast about all ways To the English they brag That the Queen is in their Army that the King was coming with an Army to their assistance that the Scots were agreed with him and to make that the more credible amongst the slaughter of the English they spare the Scots They give out that they have the Kings Commission and act by virtue of his authority shewing indeed a counterfeit Commission to which one Plunket with the consent of many Lords and Priests at Farn-Abbey had appended the Kings Seal taken from another old Commission as appeared by the confessions of a great many afterwards That they defend the King's Cause against the Puritans Amongst their own men they divulge counterfeit Letters whereby they pretend to be informed from England That there was an Act lately past whereby all the Irish were to be forced to go to Church and assist at the Devotion of the Protestants upon pain of forfeiture for the first offence of their Chattels for the second of their Lands and Inheritances and for the third of their Lives They propose besides to the Natives the hopes of Liberty and of recovering their ancient Customs That the English Yoke is to be cast off a King to be chosen of their own Nation and the Goods and Estates of the English to be divided amongst the Natives By this hope of booty and of living at their own liberty for the future the Irish are allured to the War and being egg'd on with fury and rage they committed such horrid and heynous Crimes as hardly any Age can parallel The King foresaw the Storm a coming whilst he was in Scotland and therefore that he might prevent it whilst it was a gathering he presently dispatched Sir James Hamilton to the Lords and others of his Majesties Privy-Council of Ireland with instructions and what money he could raise of his own and from his friends on the sudden He earnestly desires the assistance of the Parliament of Scotland and acquaints the Parliament of England with it also But the one under pretext that Ireland was under the dominion of England refuse their assistance and the other takes but little notice of it The Factious tacitly rejoycing that new Troubles were arising to the King and that Kingly government being abolished alike in all the three Kingdoms they would shortly be turned into so many free Commonwealths But the Sparks breaking out into a flame and the report of the Irish barbarity being in every bodies mouth the Parliament was enraged and all were filled with an extraordinary zeal of revenging the bloud of their Country-men treacherously killed and of defending and protecting the surviving For the charges of a War in a short time three hundred thousand pound English was raised partly by benevolent Contributions and partly out of the price of the Lands and Inheritances of the Rebels which by the Parliament were sold to be
be a sufficient Conviction of Popish Recuâ—ancy An Act or Acts of Parliament for Education of the Children of Papists by Protestants in the Protestant Religion VIII An Act or Acts for the true Levie of the Penalties against them which Penalties to be levied and disposed in such manner as both Houses shall agree on wherein to be provided that his Majesty shall have no loss IX That an Act or Acts be passed in Parliament whereby the practices of Papists against the State may be prevented and the Laws against them duly executed and a stricter course taken to prevent the Saying or Hearing of Mass in the Court or any other part of this Kingdom or the Kingdom of Ireland The like for the Kingdom of Scotland concerning the four last preceding Propositions in such manner as the Estates of the Parliament there shall think fit X. That the King do give his Royal assent to an Act for the due observation of the Lords Day XI And to the Bill for the suppression of Innovasions in Churches and Chappels in and about the Worship of God XII And for the better advancement of the preaching of Gods holy Word in all parts of this Kingdom XIII And to the Bill against the enjoying the pluralities of Benefices by Spiritual Persons and Non-Residency XIV And to an Act to be framed and agreed upon by both Houses of Parliament for the reforming and regulating of both Universities of the Colledges of Westminster Winchester and Eaton XV. And to such Act or Acts for raising of Moneys for the payment and satisfying of the publick Debts and Damages of the Kingdom and other publick uses as shall hereafter be agreed on by both Houses of Parliament and that if the King do not give his Assent thereunto then it being done by both Houses of Parliament the same shall be as valid to all intents and purposes as if the Royal Assent had been given thereunto The like for the Kingdom of Scotland And that his Majesty give assurance of his consenting in the Parliament of Scotland to an Act acknowledging and ratifying the Acts of the Convention of Estates of Scotland called by the Council and Conservers of the Peace and the Commissioners for the common Burthens and assembled the two and twentieth day of June 1643. and several times continued since and of the Parliament of that Kingdom since convened XVI That the Lords and Commons in the Parliament of England assembled shall during the space of twenty years from the first of July 1646. arm train and discipline or cause to be armed trained and disciplined all the Forces of the Kingdoms of England and Ireland and Dominion of Wales the Isles of Guernsey and Jersey and the Town of Barwick upon Tweed already raised both for Sea and Land-service and shall from time to time during the said space of twenty years raise levy arm train and discipline or cause to be raised levied armed trained and disciplined any other Forces for Land and Sea-service in the Kingdoms Dominions and places aforesaid as in their Judgments they shall from time to time during the said space of twenty years think fit and appoint and that neither the the King his Heirs or Successors nor any other but such as shall act by the authority or approbation of the said Lords and Commons shall during the said space of twenty years exercise any of the Powers aforesaid And the like for the Kingdom of Scotland if the Estates of the Parliament there shall think fit That Moneys be raised and levied for the maintenance and use of the said Forces for Land-service and of the Navy and Forces for Sea-service in such sort and by such ways and means as the said Lords Commons shall from time to time during the said space of twenty years think fit and appoint and not otherwise That all the said Forces both for Land and Sea-service so raised or levied or to be raised or levied and also the Admiralty and Navy shall from time to time during the said space of twenty years be employed managed ordered and disposed by the said Lords and Commons in such sort and by such ways and means as they shall think fit and appoint and not otherwise And the said Lords and Commons during the said space of twenty years shall have power 1. To suppress all Forces raised or to be raised without authority and consent of the said Lords and Commons to the disturbance of the publick Peace of the Kingdoms of England and Ireland and Dominion of Wales the Isles of Guernsey and Jersey and the Town of Barwick upon Tweed or any of them 2. To suppress any foreign Forces who shall invade or endeavour to invade the Kingdoms of England and Ireland Dominion of Wales the Isles of Guernsey and Jersey and the Town of Barwick upon Tweed or any of them 3. To conjoyn such Forces of the Kingdom of England with the Forces of the Kingdom of Scotland as the said Lords and Commons shall from time to time during the said space of twenty years judge fit and necessary To resist all foreign Invasions and to suppress any Forces raised or to be raised against or within either of the said Kingdoms to the disturbance of the publick Peace of the said Kingdoms or any of them by any authority under the Great Seal or other Warrant whatsoever without consent of the said Lords and Commons of the Parliament of England and the Parliament or the Estates of the Parliament of Scotland respectively And that no Forces of either Kingdom shall go into or continue in the other Kingdom without the advice and desire of the said Lords and Commons of the Parliament of England and the Parliament of the Kingdom of Scotland or such as shall be by them appointed for that purpose And that after the expiration of the said twenty years neither the King his Heirs or Successors or any person or persons by colour or pretence of any Commission Power Deputation or Authority to be derived from the King his Heirs or Successors or any of them shall raise arm train discipline employ order mannage disband or dispose any of the Forces by Sea or Land of the Kingdoms of England and Ireland the Dominion of Wales Isles of Guernsey and Jersey and the Town of Barwick upon Tweed Nor exercise any of the said Powers or Authorities in the precedent Articles mentioned and expressed to be during the said space of twenty years in the said Lords and Commons Nor do any act or thing concerning the execution of the said Powers or Authorities or any of them without the consent of the said Lords and Commons first had and obtained That after the expiration of the said twenty years in all cases wherein the Lords and Commons shall declare the safety of the Kingdom to be concerned and shall thereupon pass any Bill or Bills for the raising arming training disciplining employing mannaging ordering or disposing of the Forces by Sea or Land of the Kingdoms
Treasurers at Wars of the Kingdom of Ireland be nominated by both Houses of the Parliament of England to continue Quam diu se bene gesserint and in the intervals of Parliament by the afore-mentioned Committees to be approved or disallowed by both Houses at their next sitting The like for the Kingdom of Scotland concerning the nomination of the Lords of the Privy-Council Lords of Session and Exchequer Officers of State and Justice-General in such manner as the Estates of Parliament there shall think fit That the Militia of the City of London and Liberties thereof may be in the ordering and government of the Lord Mayor Aldermen and Commons in Common Council assembled or such as they shall from time to time appoint whereof the Lord Mayor and Sheriffs for the time being to be three to be employed and directed from time to time in such manner as shall be agreed on and appointed by both Houses of Parliament That no Citizen of the City of London nor any of the Forces of the said City shall be drawn forth or compelled to go out of the said City or Liberties thereof for Military service without their own free consent That an Act be passed for the granting and confirming of the Charters Customs Liberties and Franchises of the City of London notwithstanding any Nonuser Misuser or Abuser That the Tower of London may be in the government of the City of London and the chief Officer and Governour thereof from time to time be nominated and removeable by the Common Council And for prevention of inconveniencies which may happen by the long intermission of Common Councils it is desired that there may be an Act that all by-Laws and Ordinances already made or hereafter to be made by the Council assembled touching the calling continuing directing and regulating the same Common Councils shall be as effectual in the Law to all intents and purposes as if the same were particularly enacted by the Authority of Parliament And that the Lord Mayor Aldermen and Commons in Common Council may adde to or repeal the said Ordinances from time to time as they shall see cause That such other Propositions as shall be made for the City for their further safety welfare and government and shall be approved of by both Houses of Parliament may be granted and confirmed by Act of Parliament That all Grants Commissions Presentations Writs Process proceedings and other things passed under the Great Seal of England in the custody of the Lords and other Commissioners appointed by both Houses of Parliament for the custody thereof be and by Act of Parliament with the Royal assent shall be declared and enacted to be of like full force and effect to all intents and purposes as the same or like Grants Commissions Presentations Writs Process Proceedings and other things under any Great Seal of England in any time heretofore were or have been And that for time to come the said Great Seal now remaining in custody of the said Commissioners continue and be used for the Great Seal of England And that all Grants Commissions Presentations Writs Process Proceedings and other things whatsoever passed under or by any authority of any other Great Seal since the 22th day of May Anno Dom. 1642. or hereafter to be passed be Invalid and of no effect to all intents and purposes Except such Writs Process and Commissions as being passed under any other Great Seal than the said Great Seal in the custody of the Commissioners aforesaid on or after the said 22th day of May and before the 28th day of November Anno Dom. 1643. were afterward proceeded upon returned into or put in ure in any the Kings Courts at Westminster And except the Grant to Mr. Justice Bacon to be one of the Justices of the Kings-Bench And except all Acts and proceedings by virtue of any such Commissions of Goal-delivery Assize and Nisi prius or Oyer and Terminer passed under any other Great Seal than the Seal aforesaid in custody of the said Commissioners before the first of October 1642. And that all Grants of Offices Lands Tenements or Hereditaments made or passed under the Great Seal of Ireland unto any person or persons Bodies politick or corporate since the Cessation made in Ireland the fifteenth day of September 1643. shall be null and void And that all Honours and Titles conferred upon any person or persons in the said Kingdom of Ireland since the said Cessation shall be null and void That the several Ordinances the one intituled An Ordinance of Parliament for abolishing of Archbishops and Bishops within the Kingdom of England and Dominion of Wales and for seâ—ing of their Lands and Possessions upon Trustees for the use of the Common-wealth the other intituled An Ordinance of the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament for appointing the sale of Bishops Lands for the use of the Commonwealth be confirmed by Acts of Parliament These were the Conditions of Peace proposed by the Parliament as the subject matter of that Conference which all passionately wished and a great many fought for They were the very same that had been heretofore sent to the King when he was at Hampton-Court and not onely rejected by his Majesty but by the Army also as being too unreasonable they onely differed in this that in those last there was no mention made of the Scots In the mean time the Pacificators are invested with no other authority but that of answering the Royal Arguments and of returning Reasons to induce the King to assent they had no power of softening any Proposition or altering the least word nay nor so much as of omitting the Preface Their Instructions likewise bear that they are to acquaint the Parliament with the Kings Concessions and the whole progress of the Negotiation to treat altogether in writing nay and to debate the Propositions as they lay in order not descending to a new Proposition until the former was adjusted Nor was it thought enough that the Conditions and Commissioners were so strictly limited they confine the Conference also to the Town of Newport in the Isle of Wight and the continuance of it to the space of forty days The King also who was to be present at the Conference was so far well treated as to be permitted to come out of his Prison and have that Island allowed him for a larger confinement but upon promise given that he would not depart out the Island within forty days after the conclusion of the Conference and the sly Oligarchick and Democratick Republicans who had a hand in the Councils were the Authors of those scruples and restrictions With great caution the Parliament permitted some of his Majesties necessary Servants by name some Lawyers Divines and a Secretary to be present but not to be admitted into the Conference onely to be without behind the Curtain in the Lobby So that the King alone was singly to sustain the person of a Politician and Divine against the
and France as being divided at home and many of them had the confidence openly to glory that they would break that Yoke wherewith the Kings of the Earth oppress the People Nor truly could any man have told where the fierceness of this Scourge would have ended and where that Floud would have spent it self unless the divine Majesty which hath hollowed a channel for the Sea set bounds and limits to it and said Hither shalt thou come and no further had not opposed the over-swelling pride of these Waters and commanded his Angel to sound the Retreat A Chronological INDEX FOR This First Part. Old Stile MDCXXV KIng James being dead CHARLES the First succeeds King of Great Britain He marries Henrietta Maria Sister to Louis XIII King of France MDCXXV VI VII VIII The King calls three Parliaments and little or nothing done as often dissolves them MDCXXX Prince CHARLES is born MDCXXXIII James Duke of York is born MDCXXXVII Prin Burton Bastwick having lost their ears are put in prison The Scots grow rebellious MDCXXXIX The King meets the Scots intending to invade England but having made a Pacification disbands his Army MDCXL The Stirs of the Scots occasioned the Kings calling of a Parliament at Westminster which was dissolved without any success So the Scots invade England and take Newcastle The King marches against them but having made a Truce calls a Parliament at Westminster The Parliament meets and under pretext of Reformation put all into Confusion Thomas Wentworth Earl of Strafford Deputy of Ireland and William Laud Archbishop of Canterbury are accused MDCXI The Deputy of Ireland condemned by a Law made for the purpose is beheaded The King also by Act of Parliament grants That the Parliament shall not be dissolved without the consent of both Houses William of Nassaw Son to Frederick Prince of Orange is married to Mary Daughter to K. Charles The Scots full of money return into their own Country The King follows them into Scotland The Irish conspire against the English and cruelly fall upon them The King returns to London from Scotland A Remonstrance of the Lower House offered to the King MDCXLI MDCXLII The King accuses five Commoners and one Lord of High-Treason The King goes into the House of Commons The King withdraws from London Sends a Pacificatory Letter to the Parliament Sends the Queen into Holland with her Daughter He himself goes towards York Sir John Hotham shuts the Gates of Hull against the King Vnjust Propositions of Peace are made by the Parliament to the King The Parliament raising an Army the King at length sets up his Standard at Nottingham Both Armies engage at Edge-hill and both challenge the Victory MDCXLIII A Treaty of Peace appointed at Oxford comes to nothing The Earl of Newcastle gets the better of Fairsax Commander of the Rebels in the North. In the West Waller a Commander of the Rebels is routed by the Kings Party Prince Rupert taketh Bristol Maurice his Brother takes Exeter In the mean time the King himself besieges Gloucester Essex General of the Rebels relieves Gloucester The King meets Essex upon his return and fights him at Nubury The English Rebels put to a streight call in the Scots and take the Covenant The King therefore makes a Truce with the Irish for a year MDCXLIII IV. James Marquess of Hamilton is committed to prison The Scots again enter England The King holds a Parliament at Oxford The Earl of Montross is sent Commissioner into Scotland Essex and Waller Generals of the Rebels march towards Oxford The King defeats Waller at Cropredian-bridge Then pursues Essex into the West The Scots in the mean time joyned with the English defeat the Cavaliers at Marston-moore And then take York by surrender In the West the King breaks all Essex his Forces Vpon his return he is met by Manchester at Newbury where they fight a second time Alexander Carey is beheaded MDCXLIV V. Hotham the Father and Son are beheaded William Laud Archbishop of Canterbury is beheaded Macquire an Irish Lord is hanged The Treaty of Peace at Uxbridge comes to nothing Fairfax General of the Parliament Forces defeats the King at Naseby Henceforward all by degrees fell into the hands of the Parliament MDCXLVI The King having in vain tried the English departing privately from Oxford commits himself into the hands of the Scots Fairfax takes Oxford by composition Robert Earl of Essex dies MDCXLVI VII The Scots sell the King to the English and return fraighted with Money The King is made close Prisoner in Holdenby-Castle The Marquess of Ormond Lord Lieutenant of Ireland delivers up Dublin to the English The Army take the King out of Prison And march against the Parliament The Speakers of both Houses with fifty other Members flie to the Camp The Souldiers attend the Members that fled to West-minster Vnjust Conditions of Peace are proposed to the King at Hampton-court The King makes his escape to the Isle of Wight From thence writing Pacificatory Letters they propose to him four Demands as preliminary to a Conference The King is made close Prisoner MDCXLVII VIII The Parliament votes no more Addresses to the King The Counties everywhere stir the Kentish Essex-men and some others take up Arms. The Duke of Buckingham Francis his Brother and Earl of Holland in vain take up Arms. The Fleet comes over to the Prince of Wales The Scots commanded by Duke Hamilton advance into England They are defeated by Cromwel and Hamilton taken Fairfax takes Colchester upon surrender Rainsborough a Commander of the Parliament Army killed at Duncaster A Conference appointed with the King in the Isle of Wight The Marquess of Ormond returns Lord Lieutenant into Ireland The Remonstrance of Ireton is approved in a Council of War And is presented to the Parliament in name of the Army and People of England The King is carried from the Isle of Wight to Hurst-Castle Nevertheless the Parliament votes That the Kings Concessions are a sufficient ground for a Peace Many Parliament-men are made Prisoners by the Souldiers MDCXLVIII IX The rest amongst other and unheard things vote That all Power is originally in the People Then That the King himself is to be brought to a tryal The King therefore is brought to the Bar. The King is brought a fourth time and condemned CHARLES the best of Kings by unparallel'd Villany is beheaded James Duke of Hamilton Henry Earl of Holland and the generous Arthur Lord Capel are beheaded Lastly Monarchy it felf is abolished by the Regicides The Act is proclaimed by the mock-Mayor of London
for they grow openly mutinous and infect others with the same itch of Rioting They accuse the Lord Lieutenant in presence of the Lord O-Bryan Inchiqueen as the Disturber of the Affairs of Ireland whose continuing longer at the Helm would quickly be the ruin of the Government but that if he alone would undertake the management of Affairs being a person descended of the ancient Race of their Kings whom they had found to be a Valiant Watchful Faithful and Successful General they all promise to swear Obedience to him and willingly submit to his Government On the other hand they whisper the Lord Lieutenant in the Ear that Inchiqueen having been an inveterate Rebel had not as yet laid aside the thoughts of his ancient Enmity nor would he cordially defend the cause of those against whom he had been so long accustomed to draw his Sword that if the Lord Lieutenant would consent to lay him aside the Irish would unanimously joyn and in all things obey his Commands Thus whilst by an abominable Treachery and Hatred to either they strive to Calumniate and Blacken both they make it their business to propagate Faction and Divisions But the Lord Lieutenant meeting the Bishops and Great Men earnestly exhorts them That at length laying aside all private Grudges and Animosities which still remained to be composed they would consult the Publick Interest become Friends and unanimously prepare for a more vigorous defence That they would reflect upon the great danger they were in three Provinces being already almost wholly subdued and the last not like to resist much longer That if his Government was less grateful to them and was a hindrance to the defence of the Country he would hasten his departure and commit the charge to another For he had already secretly obtained leave to depart from the King being still at Jersey and had got the Goverment conferred on Clanricard When they heard this all of them pretended extraordinary Sorrow that they would submit to his Will and Pleasure banish all mutual Jealousies and perswade the Towns to Obedience They departed with glad and cheerful Countenances as abundantly satisfied though they were still inwardly discontented So true it is That those whom God intends to destroy he first infatuates For the Inhabitants and Roman Catholick Clergy combining privately together kept Clubs and Cabals and dispersed infamous Libels wherein they shew the Rancour of their Minds by calumniating the Lord Lieutenant as unactive Cowardly and Treacherous finding fault with the Commissions that were granted to Officers of the Reformed Religion and repining that the War should be committed to the Caâ—e and Conduct of unfit Men wholly addicted to Whoring Gaming Gluttony and Impiety The Bishops of Cork and Toam and of Clonfert and the rest of the Clergy declare the Government void and the Followers of the Lord Lieutenant liable to Excommunication And therefore they order the Army to be Disbanded before they could think of the raising of another Nevertheless the Lord Lieutenant that he might as much as lay in his Power preserve the Forces in their Duty and Loyalty to the King he left the charge of them to the Earl of Clanricard with the Title of Lord Deputy who being admitted by the unanimous consent of all that stuck to the Kings Party took upon himself the management of the War A general Muster being thereupon appointed new Levies are made the Souldiers Exercised necessaries for the War provided and all things prepared afresh the Clergy being very Zealous and the People assistant in carrying on the Work About that time Ireton betook himself to Winter Quarters in Dublin that he might consult with the Commissioners of the Common-wealth about the future War and other Affairs having left Orders to Axtel Governour of Kilkenny to have an eye upon the Garrisons about Athlome Axtel by chance whil'st he was upon Duty fell in with Clanricards Men who passing the Shannon at Athlome had taken some of Iretons Garrisons and had surprised more if he had not come in the nick of time They charge Axtel who being much inferiour in number retreated a little until being recruited from Wexford and other places he had joyned thirteen hundred men to the eight hundred which he himself had and then he made head against the Enemy But so soon as they began to Skirmish though the Irish were five thousand Foot and four hundred Horse strong yet not daring to venture a battel they retreat to the River Shannon and skulk in two Boggs about Melecha fortifying themselves with Poles and Stakes driven into the ground and filled up with Earth as by a double Wall However the English leaving no means unessayed and breaking through all impediments bravely drove them out of their Station and destroyed them five hundred men who were partly slain and partly drowned After this overthrow it was thought safer in the very extremity of Winter to keep the Souldiers betwixt the Shannon vast Lakes and the Collough Mountains than any more to molest the Enemy whom daily Success made bolder The Reader may be apt to wonder that the Irish shewed themselves so Cowardly and Timerous during the whole Series of this War as if from Men they had degenerated into Women being every where defeated though they fought for their Lives and Liberties But whoever equally weighs matters will easily leave off to wonder For on the one hand he 'll find the English provided of all necessaries for a War unanimous amongst themselves all expert in War and confiding as it is usual in their continual good Fortune The Irish on the other hand almost without Arms for most part destitute of Weapons and other necessaries disagreeing also amongst themselves miserably rent into Factions raw and unskillful in War and in a manner cowed by constant ill Fortune Besides they are neither comparable to the English in Foot nor Horse how brave soever they be in Foreign Countries The private Souldiers I know not whether it be by the Skill and Knowledge they have of the Bogs and lurking Places that they are to soon enticed to fly or that through the force of an old Custom they could not but turn their Backs envied to the Blows of the English Now as to their Horse they are far exceeded by the English not only in number but also in the quality of the Horses and Riders The Horses indeed march but softly but in bulk of Body strength of Limbs and Courage one Troop of them is worth three almost of the Irish and breaks Ranks better And the Riders again are for close Fighting discharging their Pistols in the Enemies Breast and laying about them with their Swords Hence it is that in every Engagment the Irish presently betake themselves to flight nor can they endure the looks yea hardly the Neighing of the Horses of the English I hope the Reader will pardon me that I have tacked this Apology
Peace But on the third day when it was Calm they began to thunder on both sides with their great Guns on the one hand from Threscoe and the other Islands and on the other from St. Mary's Grimsby Haven being betwixt them But the Governour Greenvill now Earl of Bath wanting supplies at length upon pretty good Conditions surrenders the Island Shortly after that continual Victories might drop into to the lap of the Rebels news was brought from the Caribbe Islands that Barbadoes the richest of them had delivered it self up into the power of Aisckew according to the example of which the rest would take their measures He with eighteen or twenty Sail of Men of War had steered his Course to the West Indies to reduce those Islands once more under the yoak of England and setting upon them unexpectedly he took twenty or thirty Dutch Ships who in contempt of two Acts drove a Trade with them cruising off and on in sight of the Island he blocked it up for the space of six Months and at length a Sedition arising amongst the Planters he forced the Lord Willoughby whom the King had made Governour of it to surrender Whilst these things are acting in the Indies they erect of new in England a High Court of Justice as they were pleased to call it not upon the account of a present Emergent but to continue for six Months which if it could pass without the envy of Tyranny and Oppression might be adjourned de die in diem Keeble is by the Rump-Parliament made President of this Court being assisted by others and fifty Assessors of the popular Faction Most of these being Souldiers were ready at the beck of the General to smite the Prisoner as an Enemy all the rest were Creatures of the new Common-wealth whose hopes and whole Estates depended upon the favour of the Parricides except perhaps one or two who had more Zeal than Judgment And this horrid Violence unheard of under the Government of our Kings past in all Ages is imposed upon the ignorant multitude under the specious name of Justice These Men had Power to bring before them try and punish without appeal any that had held Correspondence with the King Queen Duke of York the Royalists or Irish that had assisted them by Word or Deed or received them into their Houses or that had delivered up any Castle Town or Ship or had attempted any such Surrender besides many other Crimes of the same nature Now if you inquire into the constitution of the Court and whence it derived its Authority you must know that it was first appointed against the Kings Majesty by those who were so far from having any Power of administring Justice that by our Laws and Customs they had not the Power to condemn the meanest Slave then against the Nobles afterwards as occasion offered it was of ten made use of but now was turned into a custome If any man was suspected of plotting and contriving against the Publick he was presently dragged before this supreme Tribunal and exposed to the Calumnies of pettifogging Lawyers who for a little Reputation and Profit sold their Souls in pleading against him who having none to defend his Cause and being terrified or shamed out of Countenance without the Evidence of two Witnesses or the Verdict of a Jury of twelve men which has onely force in England he is Condemned and why should not I say Murdered It was indeed no small matter of terrour to see a drawn Sword hanging as by an Hair over all mens naked Heads at every minute ready to fall upon them About that time especially and afterward when Cromwell had got the chief administration of the Government whole swarms of informers wandered about in all places both publick and private sacred and prophane They listned in Churches sneaked into companies in Taverns and Alehouses and went to wrestling in the Rings Noblemen and Gentelmens Servants were corrupted that they might discover what their Masters talked at Table the chief Vintners or their Drawers at least were feed to hearken to the free discourses of their Customers over their Wine either in the room or skulking behind the Hangings or thin partition Walls Such kind of Spies and eave-droppers Hiero the Tyrant of Syracusa used to employ who were called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In a word Prisons were full of accusers that they might accuse so that there was no Village free from snarlings nor snares The Cities themselves were filled with solitude silence trembling and fear All flocked into the Countrey not for pleasure or the Society of their Neighbours but where they could find solitude and retreat where the Barrenness and desertness of the place might neither allure Soldiers nor secure Informers where they might neither be known nor have acquaintance and where avoiding the company of men they might have the satisfaction of being secure without the pleasure of the Countrey or company All Neighbourhood Society and intimacy were suspected Those who where naturally averse from ill things yet often deceived because they had been deceived before Into such confusion had the Rout the disturber of common Peace put all things With observant eyes do curious Spies run about and were not idle when they had nothing to do They tope it stoutly that by a gentle rack they may pump out the secrets of the heart They pry into words and actions but much more into mens looks the interpreters of the mind It is their business to hanker about for Rumors and spread reports to rouze the drooping hopes of the credulous and to foment them with strange stories which afterwards vanishing into smoak they might be cowed and rendered more pusillanimous for the future The Noblemen and Gentlemen who had been of the contrary side are pursued with secret whispers and calumnies wherever they could be pickt up onely to vex them the more moderate are obnoxious to Suspicions Those who were found any way to have assisted or corresponded with the King were either forced to bribe lustily or to stand a Tryal There were also a kind of Duckoys and Trapans of all men the most accursed whose chief study was to teaze the more hot-headed and cholerick and draw them thereby into Capital snares and when they had thus caught them inform against them that they might be brought to a Tryal or oppress them with secret Calumnies Colonel Andrews thus circumvented lost his Head Nor was the president Bradshaw ashamed openly to declare in Court that by counterfeit Letters he had corresponded with him in the name of the King Thus was the Estate of the Lord Craven confiscated though being no way obnoxious but for a large Estate which he possessed in England he lived beyond Seas in Holland Whither one Faulkner of that Gang a turn-coat to the Kings Party being sent but for what end I dare not affirm laid a snare for him One single
place standing in the middle of the Forth leaving behind them sixteen piece of Cannon and Blackness Brantiland also on the other side of the Frith over against Leeth surrenders no less disgracefully delivering up the Guns Ammunition and Ships Cromwell being informed of these successes would not lose time by waiting the motions of the King's Army Wherefore he passed over to Brantiland whence sending Whaley to take in the smaller Garrisons which lay upon the Coast of Fiffe he himself marches towards St. Johnston which the King had entrusted to the defence of the Lord Duffus with twelve hundred men though to no purpose For Cromwell having drained the water out of the Mote and Ditches and battering the Walls with his Cannon forces a surrender of the place Cromwell being now at a great distance from Sterling and wholely taken up about these matters the King having given the best Orders he could about the Affairs of Scotland sets out upon his march into England that in that Kingdom of his he might try his fate which had been very cross to him in the other Therefore on the last of July one thousand six hundred fifty one at Carlisle he enters England with about fourteen thousand men Horse and Foot But the Soldiers march with so much hardship and so severe discipline that hardly any Age hath seen the like so that from Carlisle to Worcester about two hundred Miles distant from one another no man much less any house received the least injury if you 'l except the breaking of one Orchard and the taking of four or five Apples for which notwithstanding the Soldier that committed it was presently shot to Death In all places on their march the Garrisons are summoned in the Kings name to surrender but without any success And in the more eminent places by Heralds CHARLES the Second is proclaimed King of England Scotland France and Ireland the people in the mean while being in great Consternation So soon as the news of this expedition was by Post brought to the Rump-Parliament and the report flying that the King having mounted his Soldiers on Horses which he found upon the Rode hastened his March towards London as it is common to fear to make dangers far greater than they are such Horror and Consternation invaded the minds of the Parricides and Rebels that in despair they began to cast about for lurking holes and places of escape and accused Cromwell of rashness and precipitancy Until they had notice that the King had diverted to Worcester and received fresh comforts from Cromwell's Letters who bad them be of good cheer and use their utmost force to obviat that last danger and wholely destroy the Enemy Harrison on the left hand with three thousand Horse waited the motion of the King's Army being for that end left behind on the Borders of England after followed Lambert with two thousand both as occasion offered harassing and hindering them in their March At Warrington Bridge they made the chiefest attempt to hinder the King's Forces to pass it But before the Bridge could be cut Lambert's men being engaged and forced to retreat the Scots get over And now leaving London Rode they resolve to rest at Worcester a City scituated upon the Savern from whence they hoped to receive succours from Wales and make great levies in Glocester and Oxford shires by the means of Muffey who heretofore had with reputation been Governour of Glocester for the Parliament Thither therefore they march and having met with one repulse from some of the Paliament Souldiers that were there by chance they possess the City but were much weakened and impaired in strength by the tediousness and length of the march From hence the Kings Majesty by Letters invites the Lord Mayor and Common-Council of London to Arm for his Defence and for their own just Liberties promising Pardon to all for what was past except the Murderers of his Father But these Letters are burnt at the Royal Exchange by the Hand of the Common Hangman a Copie of them is also burnt by the Hand of the Speaker Lental at a general Muster of the Trained-bands of London in Moor-fields The King presently after his arrival in Pitchford-field near Worcester by Proclamation Commands all from sixteen to sixty years of Age according to the Ancient Laws of the Kingdom to come to his Assistance In obedience to that Proclamation shortly after Francis Lord Talbot eldest Son of the Earl of Shreusbury with sixty Horse Thomas Hornihold with fourty John Mashburn with fourty John Parkinton Walter Blunt Ralph Clair and many more both Knights and Esquires besides two thousand common People come in this desperate State of Affairs to hazard their Lives in the Kings Service The conjunction of these makes in all fourteen thousand two thousand Scots either for fear or because of the tediousness of the March having dropt off by the way Why more did not come into the Kings Camp any Man may guess at the reason of it to wit That the late suppression of the Insurrection of the Welsh Londoners and Norfolk and Suffolk Men and the cruelty of the Rump-Parliament in punishing the fruitless attempts of rising run in all Peoples Minds Besides the sudden and unexpected coming of the King gave no truce to the well affected of animating one another and of associating for his Service Nor lastly could the injuries done by the Scots not long before in England be got out of the Minds of the English it seeming much the same to them whether they suffered Bondage under the Tyranny of their Countrey-men or the Insolence of the Scots And above all we are to consider the great diligence of the Republicans of both sorts in stirring up the Countries encreasing their Forces and in observing and suppressing those who were Loyal to the King Cromwell who left Monck in Scotland with Eight thousand Men to carry on his Victories there being now come back into England animates with new Vigour the Forces of the Rebel-Parricides and presently joyning his Men with Lambert Harrison Gray and Fleetwood and those who from all parts came flocking in partly voluntarily and partly by compulsion he made up an Army if some be not mistaken in their reckoning of fourscore thousand Men and more whom he posts round the City of Worcester But the brave though unfortunate attempts of the Earl of Derby which happened about that time are not to be past over in silence He with a small handful of two hundred and fifty Men from his own Isle of Man arrived at a little Town in Lancashire and in that Countrey raised almost fifâ—n hundred Men with whom he marches to â—chester there to joyn five hundred more bâ— to his misfortune he met with Lilburn a Colonel of the Rump-Parliament Forces with sixteen hundred Men. For coming presently to blow up the Town of Wigan after a smart conflict the
and the Officers of the Army to the Mayor and Common-Council of London and to Montague Admiral of the Fleet. Which were received with so universal a Joy and Applause that the Parliament forthwith ordained him to be proclaimed KING in the City and all over England with the accustomed Solemnities having made a Proclamation to this purpose Although it can no way be doubted but that his Majesties Right and Title to these Crowns and Kingdoms is and was every way compleat by the death of his most Royal Father of glorious memory without the ceremony or solemnity of a Proclamation yet since Proclamations in such cases have been always used to the end that all good Subjects might upon this occasion testifie their duty and respect and since the armed violence and other the Calamities of many years last past have hitherto deprived us of any opportunity wherein we might express our Loyalty and Allegiance to his Majesty We therefore the Lords and Commons now assembled in Parliament together with the Lord Mayor Aldermen and Common-Council of the City of London and other Freemen of this Kingdom now present do according to our Duty and Allegiance heartily joyfully and unanimously acknowledge and proclaim That immediately upon the decease of our late Soveraign King CHARLES the First the Imperial Crown of the Realm of England and of all the Kingdoms Dominions and Rights belonging to the same did by inherent Birth-right and lawful undoubted Succession descend and come to his most Excellent Majesty King CHARLES the Second as being lineally justly and lawfully next Heir of the Bloud-Royal of this Realm and that by the goodness and providence of Almighty God he is of England Scotland and Ireland the most potent mighty and undoubted King And thereunto we most humbly and faithfully do submit and oblige our selves our Heirs and Posterities The King being proclaimed throughout the City with the joyful shouts and acclamations of all and all things being prepared for his reception both Houses of Parliament appointed an honourable body of Commissioners to be sent to the King with their Letters all men of great Quality and Birth Obery Earl of Oxford Charles Earl of Warwick Lionel Earl of Middlesex and Hereford Viscount of Leicester the Lords Berkley and Brooks for the Lords The House of Commons chose Fairfax Bruce Falkland Castletown Herbert Mandiville all Lords Ashley-Cooper Townsend Booth Holland Chumley and Hollis Knights Who besides Letters carried Instructions with them humbly to beg that his Majesty would be pleased to hasten his long wished-for return into England And because they knew that the Exchequer of their exiled King could not be very full they order them to carry him a Present of fifty thousand Pieces of Gold and also ten thousand to the Duke of York and five to the Duke of Gloucester Clerges a person in great favour with the King carried General Monk's and the Armies Submission and Letters The City of London also sent twenty Commissioners chosen out of the Flower of the Citizens and the wealthy Citizens present the King and his Illustrious Brothers with twelve thousand pounds All things now succeeding beyond expectation Monk was secure in his fortune having so dexterously managed things with such innocent and harmless Arts defeated the Snares and Arms of the Parricides and procured the publick safety without bloud that the same Virtue of the General was both hated and admired whilst the praying Sectaries in vain called upon God who was not certainly the Lord of their Hosts now The Eleventh of May the Commissioners set sail from England and with all dutifulness waited upon the Kings Majesty at the Hague where they were gladly and kindly received by him Clarges had been with him before whom the King having first knighted sent back into England as a Messenger of his coming and having sent Letters to Monk full of expressions of good will and gratitude towards the General and Army he designed Dover for his place of landing In the mean time by the Kings command Admiral Montague since Earl of Sandwich came with the Fleet upon the Coast of Holland and waited for the King before Scheveling And now all things being in a readiness for his departure the best of Kings with the Dukes of York and Gloucester came on board the Admiral Thither they were attended by the Queen of Bohemia their Aunt their Sister the Princess of Orange and the young Prince their Nephew where after they had taken a glad Farewel with a joyful Huzza of the Sea-men they set sail Charles the Second now in possession of his Fleet the first Pledge of his Government which was speedily to waft him over to that of his Kingdoms with a prosperous Gale directs his course to Dover Monk having received Letters by Clarges accompanied with a numerous train of Nobility and Gentry hastened thither to welcome him on the shore and to pay Honour to that Virtue at home which he had reverenced at so great distance abroad So soon as the Fleet with full sail came in sight innumerable crouds of over-spied Spectators flocked to the shore and Sea-coast and to every other place from whence they might have any prospect being desirous to see and congratulate their restored Prince The Troubles of England Composed by his Majesties happy Restauration On the 25th of May amidst the roaring of all the Canon in the Fleet ecchoed and answered from the Castle and shore and which was a more glorious sound amidst the joyful and louder Acclamations of his Subjects AVGVST CHARLES landed at Dover with so much Piety Gravity and Gracefulness in his Countenance that he seemed to be come to pay his Vows to God the Protector of the Government His department shew'd no Vanity nor Pride but a mind rather above the reach of them yet capable of any fortune and so great was his Majesty in all his actions that he seemed more to deserve than to desire a Crown Here Monk falling upon his knees to welcome the King was by his Majesty embraced kissed and raised from the ground the rest of the Nobility having also performed their duty the same night the best of Kings advanced to Canterbury and next morning created Monk Knight of the honourable Order of the Garter the most illustrious Princes the Dukes of York and Gloucester putting the George about his neck Here the King spent Sunday and restored the service of the Church in the Metropolitan Church of England Setting forward from hence he lodged all night at Rochester and next day upon Black heath he viewed the Forces drawn up with much military pomp and splendour Forces heretofore onely brave in shedding of Civil Bloud whose Trophies and Triumphs were then disgraced with horrid Crimes but now upon the return of Charles loyally and deservedly triumphant The Regiments drawn up in a most lovely order made an Army worthy of King Charles The King having by the
for the deceased or sung their Praises in hanging Elegies his Poetry surpassing his Oratory especially when he treated of such monstrous subjects Strangers may perhaps wonder and no less our Posterity at home that such base and contemptible fellows many of them Brewers others who drank as they had brewed and spent their Estates and some again whose ignominious Poverty was a scandal to the Nation should overturn the flourishing state of England and get to the top of Authority and Government Would we know the cause of it These were the Spoils and these the Trophies of Heresie which taking its rise from the Sermonizing Presbyterian Ministers increased by the Independants hurried on by the Kennel of all the Sectarians and by a kind of flying Contagion spread over all the Forces could not be stopt till they had shed the Royal Bloud subverted the Parliament and made one ruinous heap of all good Subjects Some time before September the twenty third the Princess of Orange was come into her Native Country more fatal to her than a foreign Land to congratulate his Majesties return but falling sick of the Small Pox at London on Christmas-Eve she died being snatched away amidst the Triumphs and fresh Lawrels of her Brother Charles she onely shared in the adverse fortune of her Family and renewed the Mourning wherein the Court still was for the untimely death of the Duke of Gloucester I shall begin the year with the Solemnities of the Coronation of King Charles On the two and twentieth of May the King from the Tower of London as the custom is at the Coronation of our Kings passed through the City where in honour of so great a Solemnity the Citizens of London in the more eminent places of the streets erected four Triumphal Arches of a vast height and bigness elaborate Pieces of Art and exquisite Engines of Pomp bearing Inscriptions and Devices and adorned with Painting and gilding The first Arch bore in its Frontispice the Triumph of Charles upon his return To CHARLES the II. By the grace of G. K. of G. Brit. To the Best and Greatest And ever most Venerable Ever most August The most Happy most Pious Who was born for our Good Who of his Native Britain And of Mankind in general Has deserved most To the Father of our Country The Extinguisher of Tyranny The Restorer of our Liberty The Founder of our Quiet In memory of his happy And long-desired Restitution We Willingly and Joyfully Have placed this S. P. Q. L. CAROLO II. D. G. Britanniarum Imp. Optim Maxim Vbique Venerando Semper Aug. Beatissimo Piissimo Bono Reip. Nato De Avitâ Britan. De omnium Hominum genere Meritissimo P. P. Extinctori Tyrannidis Restitutori Libertatis Fundatori Quietis Ob Faelicem Reditum Ex voto L. M. P. S. P. Q. L. The second being a Naval bore this Inscription To the British Neptune CHARLES the II. By whose Authority The Sea Is free or restrain'd NEPTVNO Britannico CAROLO II. Cujus Arbitrio Mare Vel Liberum vel Clausum The third placed in the middle of the City represented the Temple of Concord with this Inscription The Temple of CONCORD Erected in honour of the best of Princes By whose return The British Sea and Land being appeas'd and By its ancient Laws reform'd He has restored Enlarged and adorned it S. P. Q. L. Aedem CONCORDIAE In Honorem Optimi Principis Cujus Adventu Britannia Terrâ Marique Pacata Et Priscis Legibus Reformata est Ampliorem Splendidioremque Restituit S. P. Q. L. The last exhibited the Garden of Plenty and Cornucopia's with the Statues of Bacâ—bus Ceres Flora and Pomana with this Inscription To Plenty and to Augustus The fire of Civil War Being Extinguished And the Temple of War shut This Lofty Altar Was built by the S. A. P. O. L. VBERTATI Aug. Extincto Belli Civilis Incendio Clausoque Jani Templo Aram Celsiss Construxit S. P. Q. L. Under all these the King rode on horse-back streight to his Palace in a triumphant manner with Trumpets Musick and the joyful Acclamations of the People being attended by the Nobility his Majesties Ministers and Servants the Heralds Kings at Arms the Kings Judges and Knights of the Bath The solemnity of this day though it was not so great in the number of Attendents yet in richness and splendour of Cloaths and Arms it surpassed the triumphant Entry of the King upon his return Next morning the King was in great pomp conducted to Westminster-Abbey where in his Imperial Robes the Prelates in their Myters and the Nobles in their Parliament-Robes conducted him to his Throne and the Archbishop of Canterbury anointed him with the sacred Oyl Afterwards all the ancient and usual Ceremonies upon such occasions were performed ¶ The Author of this History designing the utmost brevity hath not mentioned any of these Ceremonies but Mr. Philips in his Continuation of Dr. Richard Baker's Chronicle has very exactly set forth all the Rituals then used but hath omitted the Coronation-Oath and onely given an Epitom of it and there having of late years been strange Pretences raised upon the account of this Oath it is thought fit to insert the same here from Mr. Sanderson's History of Charles the First with that variety of Circumstances which were used in the Coronation here mentioned expressed by Mr. Philips Coronation-Oath SIR said the Bishop of London 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 Religious Predecessors and namely the Laws Customs and Franchises granted to the Clergie by the Glorious King St. Edward your Predecessor according to the Laws of God the true Profession of the Gospel established in this Kingdom agreeable to the Prerogative of the Kings thereof and the ancient Customs of the Realm The King's Answer I grant and promise to keep them Bishop Sir Will you keep Peace and goodly Agreement according to your power both to God the holy Church the Clergie and the People King I will keep it Bishop Sir Will you to your power cause Law Justice and Discretion with Mercy and Truth to be executed to your Judgment King I will Bishop Sir Will you grant to hold and keep the Laws and rightful Customs which the Commonalty of this Kingdom have and will you defend and uphold them to the honour of God so much as in you lieth King I grant and promise so to do Then the Bishop of Rochester read 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 your charge all Canonical Priviledges and do Law and Justice and that you would protect and defend us as every good King to his Kingdoms ought to be Protector and Defender of the Bishops and the
most valiant General in War not onely to be compared to the chief Commanders of his own age but to the most renowned Warriours of elder times and of so great reputation he was in Military affairs that the modestest do acknowledge too great a Courage in Albemarle He spent almost his whole life in Arms and at length growing old amidst Victories he became gray-headed under a Helmet In Britain and Ireland by Sea and by Land so happy was Albemarle that Fortune traced out for him Honour Renown and Titles He had indeed a hidden and a silent kind of Sagacity in the management of affairs and improved almost all the Arts of Prudence by Silence He had a Modesty that set off all the other Virtues of his Mind nor was he ever heard to brag of what he had done or deserved The Fame of so great a man doubtless inferiour to no other Mortal will propagate it self to Posterity who without Pride or Ostentation gratified a banished Prince with so signal Services and onely rejoyced in the conscientious performance of his Duty and Obedience Nor after the Restauration of Charles did he behave himself as a Colleague in the Government as Mucianus was of old reported to have done to Vespasian but as a Servant neither did he ever boast that having the Power in his own hands he had bestowed it upon another whereby he burned to his glory the Arrogance of the Rump and the Impudence of Cromwel his Loyalty inclining him more to give up than his Ambition to retain the Government We may moreover reckon Albemarle happy not onely in the greatness of the Action but also in the seasonableness of the Service That he brought back the Government to a Prince of so just and good a temper who put so true an estimate upon his Loyalty and under whom it would never be unsafe nor dangerous to deserve the most For good Offices are acceptable especially to Kings so long as the obliged think they may be able to requite them but when they are too great to be rewarded instead of Thanks they procure Hatred And it is rare and almost unusual for Princes to think themselves obliged or if they think so to love their Benefactors Peace being now established at home and Janus his Temple shut Albemarle departed the more joyfully out of this life that when he left no Troubles in Britain yet he left behind him a Love for himself in the hearts of all good men so much the more wanted that he had taken care that nothing should be wanting having left nothing in the State but his own death to be bewailed the King flourishing in his Government and the Loyalty of the Parliament as yet vieing with the modesty of the Prince Every one enjoyed the happiness they desired at home and Peace with all Nations abroad till the League-breaking Dutch again provoked the English Arms. But the Actions of that War the steddy Fortune of the British Nation and the future Triumphs of CHARLES I have set aside as a subject for my more advanced years FINIS A Table to the Third Part. A. ALbemarle vid. Monk Army disbanded 52 B. Bishops restored 51 Booth Sir George his Insurrection 8 C. Committee of Safety 13 Commissioners from the Parliament wait on the King at Breda 44 Conventicles supprest 73 Covenant burnt by the Hangman 66 Cowley Abraham 99 D. De Wit 76 Dutch War beginning and occasion 74. The first Engagement 81. The second 87. The third 88. the fourth 90. The fifth 92. Their Attempt at Chatham 98. Peace concluded 98. F. Fanaticks rise but are supprest 72 G. Gloucester Duke dies 52 K. King Charles 2. Comes to Breda 42. Lands at Dover 46 Enters London 47. His Coronation 61. Marries the Infanta of Portugal 69. L. Lambert proclaimed a Traytor 40. Committed to the Tower 41. Condemn'd but obtains mercy 71. Libels 73 The Liturgie and Ceremonies of the Church confirm'd and establish'd by Act of Parliament 71 London the great Plague there 84. The great Fire there 94. Rebuilt 99 100. M. Monk Sir George 6 13 inf His famous march into England 25. Enters London 28. Admits the secluded Members 36. Receives Letters from the King 37. Created Duke of Albemarle 51. A short account of his Life and Death 102 inf His Character 105. O. Oblivion Act 52 Great Officers upon the Kings Restoration 51 Orange Princess dies in England 60 Oxford the Court and Term there 85. The new Theatre there built 101. P. Parliament the long one dissolved 41. A new one meet 42. A new one call'd by the King 66. Physicians Colledge visited by the King 78 Q. Queen-Mother dies 101 R. Recapitulation of things past 1 Regicides brought to Tryal 53. Their several Characters 54 55 56 57 58 67 68 70. Rump-Government 5. inf Rump and Army at variance 10. S. Solemn League and Covenant burnt by the Hangman 66 V. Uly-Island and Ships there burnt by the English 93 Y. York Duke made Lord High Admiral 50. His great Victory at Sea 81. The Right of Kings in England In the person of a Monarch for above a thousand years And he hereditary And never dying To him all swear Allegiance and Supremacy The Prerogatives of the K. or chief marks of Majesty and the Regalia belong onely to the King So that all Estates and Possessions are derived from him and to him return at last He hath the care of Pupils and Lunaticks The power of coyning Money He confers all Honours and Offices Which are to be administred in his name alone His power in matters of War Also in Ecclesiastical affairs He moderates the rigour of Laws And judges in undecided cases He chuses his own Counsellors He that mounts the Throne is never to be brought to the Bar since the Law says he cannot die Nor can he err or do wrong But as he offends by his Ministers so is he punished The Heir of the Crown is by the death of his Predecessor ipso facto cleared from all guilt Yet it is not lawful to rule arbitrarily VVhat Rights belong to Parliaments To make and repeal Laws Impose Taxes Legitimate Bastards Enact the VVorship of God Set Rates on VVeights and Measures VVhat the Parliament of England is The Vpper House of it The Lower The time and place appointed by the King They are called by VVrits The manner of meeting The King declares the causes of their meeting in the Vpper House All and every one of the Members of the House of Commons take the Oath of Allegiance to the King And of Supremacy They chuse a Speaker whom they accompany to the King beseeching his Majesty to approve their Election And not to be offended with their freedom in speech ☞ All may petition but by the mediation of Deputies The way of debating and communicating opinions betwixt both Houses By the Kings consent the Bills are made Laws Or otherwise rejected Religious matters aâ—â—ommitâ—ed by the Kiâ—g to
3. Octob. 24. January 1. August 7. August 20. August 25. Septemb. 3. Septem 12. October 2. Oct. Dec. Octob. 15. October November Novem. 26. Januar. 12. Feb. 24. March 11. May 19. August 16. Septem 28. March 4. April 20. July 4. June August 2. Novem. 22. Decem. 12. Decem. 16. April 5. July 10. Septemb. 3. Septem 12. Octob. 18. November Januar. 22. March 11. May 16. June May 5. May 7. Octob. 25. November July 10. July 25. Septem 10. Septem 17. Octob. 24. Februar 9. Feb. 13. April 10. April 20. May 8. June 26. July 29. August Octob. 23. Novem. 19. Januar. 20. February 4. June 8. June 15. August 6. Septemb. 3. Septemb. 4. Novem. 24. Januar. 27. February 3. Febr. 14. March 28. April 8. April 18. April 22. May 7. A Recapitulation of things past January 30. 1648. September 3. 1650. and Sept. 3. 1651. April 20. 1653. Cromw takes upon him the Protectorship He dies Sep 3. 1658. Richard succeeds Vnfit for the dignity He is despised by the Democratical Colonels Richard's Relations combine with them Lambert c. returns to the Army The Rump-Parliament is restored by the Colonels To be turned out again iâ— time Which deposes Richard Then exposes him And excludes many of the Members May 8. The Rump prevents the power of the Colonels Henry Cromwel Deputy of Ireland submits to the Rump And Monk Governour of Scotland and the Fleet under Lauson Fleetwood's temper Lambert's ambition The deplorable state of the Commonwealth Through the perfidiousness of the Souldiers And madness of the People 1659. The dangers of the Nobility and of good men From the confusion of things the Royalists take hopes Their Enterprizes Booth's Insurrection in Cheshire By whom assisted The Rump is terrified Prepares to fight Lambert is sent against Booth Booth is defeated And flies He is taken Aug. 20. The confidence of the Rump upon Booth's overthrow And the arrogance of Lambert and his souldiers Jealousies arising betwixt the Parliament-men the Colonels Sept. 16. October 5. Lambert's ambition is taken noting of by Haselrigg The Army divided The Parl. mad Discharges the Country from Taxations October 10. And disbands some stubborn Colonels Octob. 11. No General now but a Council of War The Colonels conspire against the Rump The Rum orders their Friends to guard them Lambert besets the Rump And despises them Octob. 13 The Colonels having turned out the Rump consult about the Government They appoint a Committee of Safety Octob. 23. They invite the Forces of Scotland and Ireland into their Party Monk refuses Octob. 28. At Edinburrough Monk harangues the souldiers Octob. 18. He secures the Garrisons of Scotland Changes the Officers and prepares for War Fleetwood the Colonels desires a Pacification Octob. last They sent Commissioners into Scotland Monk admits of a Pacification Monk sends Commissioners to London The Pacificators meet in Wallingford-house Lambert enters York Sends â—organ to Monk as a Mediator of Peace Monk invites the Nobility of Scotland to a Council Decemb. 13. The Scots offer assistance Monk considers of it The Commissioners signe the Pacification Novemb. 15. Monk is angry Clarges informs Monk of the affairs of London Whereupon he prorogues the Pacification And demands a new place of Treaty Fleetwood Lambert condescend Lambert posses himself of Newcastle Monk goes to Caldstream Octob. 8. The number of Monk's Army Tumults in the mean while in London And Grievances The tumult of the London-Prentices Is suppressed by Hewson Decemb. 3. The Garrison of Portsmouth rises for the Rump The Navy endeavours the same Fleetwood yields to the Rump The Committee of Safety wavers Fleetwood's souldiers make defection to the Rump The Committee of Safety is dissolved Monk breaks off the Conference of Pacification The Rump restored to the Government Decemb. 6. Recals Lambert's Army The treachery of Lambert's men towards him 1659 60. Monk marches into England January 1. 1659 60. At Morpet he receives Letters from the Mayor of London He comes to Newcastle Jan. 4. Jan. 5. He enters York Monk meets with Fairfax at York He sends part of his Army under Morgan back into Scotland Monk meets Clarges at Nottingham Jan. 19. The Commissioners of the Rump meet Monk at Leicester Jan. 22. The people everywhere petition Monk for a new Parliament From St. Albans he sends to the Rump Jan. 28. Desiring Fleetwood's Forces to be sent out of Town The Rump consented Fleetwood's men march angrily out Feb. 2. Monk enters London The Rump by Oath abjures Monarchy The Council of State offers Monk the Oath He delays He goes to the Rump Feb. 6. Monk's Speech suspected by the Members The Londoners refuse to pay Taxes Monk is sent into the City in Arms. Feb. 9. To which he offers violence The action of Monk is variously interpreted And is presently displeased with himself for it He sends an angry Letter to the Rump Feb. 11. Monk returns into the City Feb. 12. Makes a Speech to the Citizens And promises a new Parliament The Citizens rejoyce And honour Monk Reproaching the Rump Which was offended at Monk's Letter The Rump weakens Monk's authority He takes it in indignation And sends the secluded Members to the house Feb. 21. The Abjurators depart The Votes of the fuller Parliament Monk acquaints the distant Forces with the restauration of the Parliam Feb. 21. They consent to him And take an Oath to be true to the Parliament Monk quarters at S James's Here he receives Letters from the King by the hands of Greenvile March 18. A new Conspiracy of the Traytors 1660. Lambert escapes out of Prison April 9. He gathers together an Army Lambert is proclaimed a Traytor Ingoldsby is sent against Lambert Both prepare to fight And do fight Lambert is overcome And taken Is carried a Prisoner to the Tower of London The dissolution of the Long Parliament March 17. A new one met April 25. The People desire a King Thâ— King comes to Breda From whence he sends Letters to the Parliament c. April 14. The Parliaments Proclamation Commissioners from the Lords to the King Commissioners from the Commons The K. Dukes of York and Gloucester have Presents sent them from the Parliament The Londoners send Commissioners and Presents The Traytors with astonishment beheld the Revolution The Commissioners sail from England May 11. and wait upon the K. at the Hague May 16. Sir Thomas Clerges the first Messenger of the Kings coming The K. went on board May 23. Monk hastens to Dover There the King lands May 25. Monk receives the King upon his knees at his landing The King hastens to Canterbury There he made Monk Knight of the Garter May 27. May 28. He came to Rochester The K. views the Army upon the Road and praises them The King is welcomed by the Lord Mayor and Citizens of London He enters London May 29. By Tyber Euphrates and Tygris are meant the Roman Persian and Assyrian Empires and their Triumphs The Pomp of his entry And Attendants
Lord Bishop of Winchester the Worthy Nicholas Oudart Secretary and Counsellour to the Prince of Orange by Sir John Wederburn Knight by Dr. Richard Owen Professor of Divinity and Rector of St. Swithins in London by Dr. George Ent heretofore Physician to Charles the First and now to the present King and also by Fabian Philips an Attorney who was my Assistant in searching the Rolls Offices and Monuments of the Law that I may not mention Dugard who printed it men above all exceptions although there is an insolent Defamer who pretends I have fathered another mans Work whose Calumnies I neither value nor fear This Passage is inserted by him onely to prove he was the Author of it but is at the same time a strong proof of his integrity for it is very well known these Persons were not all of one side in our late Distractions The first Part of this Piece was first printed about the year 1651 without his name for the information of Strangers and therefore he premiseth a short account of the Prerogatives of the Crown and the Priviledges of Parliament and Liberties of the Subject here which had been so abominably misrepresented to Forreigners that they stood generally in great doubt on which side the right lay and considering the time when it came out first nothing could be of greater use and benefit to the then-oppressed interest of our late Soveraign Nor was it onely useful abroad but at home also for the People of England were then so distracted by the Contradictions betwixt the Royal and the Rebel Party that they at least many of them did as little know on which side to give their Verdict as the Neighbour Nations Hence the Learned and Ingenuous Mr. Henry Foulis in his Preface to his History of the wicked Plots of our pretended Saints gives us this Account of himself As for the Author saith he whilst a School-boy he was too much sway'd to Presbytery and delighting in the Stories of our Times had none to peruse but May Vicars Ricraft and such-like partial Relators by which means believing with the ignorant all things in print to be true he was perswaded to encline to the wrong side But a little before his going to theVniversity lighting by chance upon Dr. Bates 's judicious Book Elenchus Motuum he found the Laws and true Government to be opposite to his former Readings and therein the Knavery and Jugling of their Opposers strange things which he had never heard of before Which with some other assistance so far prevail'd with him that in a short time he threw off Father Schism and ever since like little Loyal John in the Epitaph For the King and Church and Bloud-Royal He went as true as any Sun-Dial There are some others who have acknowledged to the World in print the benefit they and the Government received from this first Part. The Second Part was added by Dr. Bates after his late Majesties Restitution to inform the World of the manner of his Majesties Escape from Worcester and how things were carried till the deposition of Richard Cromwel wherein is an excellent account of the bloudy War in Ireland and the just Judgment of God upon the Scotch Covenanters for joyning with our English Parliamentarians upon pretence of setting up Presbytery here but indeed to inrich themselves the second time with the Spoils of England the effect of which was that Presbytery was ruined even in Scotland by O. C. and his victorious Independant Army and they lost at the same time all their Civil Priviledges and were treated till the Kings return as a conquered People by their fellow-Rebels The Third Part was written by one Dr. Tho. Skynner another Learned Physician to continue and bring down the Story and shew the Joy of our Nation at the Restitution of his late Majesty It is in the Original written in a florid stile and full of curious and ingenuous Reflections The Translations of all these have been managed with great care to make them both true to the Originals and delightful to the Reader onely the Translator thought fit to supply some Papers which are but hinted at or wholly omitted in the Author as the Treaty of the Isle of Wight in the First Part the Coronation-Oath in the Third and others And also when there are any Papers or Expressions mentioned to publish the original Papers and words when he could find them but when not he hath humoured the Translation as near the Latin as the sence of the Author and idiome of the two Languages would permit There is great hope that this short account of our late horrible Confusions here in England which is so acceptable in the Original to all Forreigners and Learned English-men may now translated be no less acceptable to all those who either cannot read the Latin or care not to give themselves so much trouble and that it may contribute something to the interest of the Government by forewarning men how they betake themselves to those courses again which produced such dreadful Effects heretofore A TABLE To the First Part. A. ACcusations against the Lord Keeper and Judges pag. 24 Army fall off from the Parliament and seize the King out of their possession 82. Seem to comply with the King ibid. but relapse 87. The Assembly set up Presbytery 57 B. Beginning of the Troubles 17 Bishops accused 24. Their Lands sold 59 C. Covenant and Solemn League 60. Its fruits 62 Courts several abrogated 28 Cromwel Oliver 77 E. Episcopacy abrogated 56 F. Fairfax Sir Thomas 77 Fasts the noted fore-runners of some mischief 134 H. High Court of Justice falsely so called its beginning and proceedings 139. and inf Hotham Sir John 38 I. Independents 61 71. and inf work the Presbyterians out of power 76 79 Intercessions for the King 142 Ireton's Remonstrance 133 Irish Rebellion its beginning 45 The Junto or Rump of the House of Commons 138 K. King Charles the First goes into Scotland 31. Goes to the House of Commons 34. Withdraws to Windsor and thence towards York 35. Goes to the Scots Army 65. Designed to be murdered 88. Escapes to the Isle of Wight 91. He is murdered 158. His excellent Character 161. Keepers of the Liberties or Council of Forty 166 L. Laud Archbishop 23 Lords House in Parliament abolished 163 M. Militia 33 36 41 Monarchy of England and the Rights thereof 1. Abolished by the Rebels 163. O. Oxford-Parliament 63 P. Parliaments what their Power and Customs 5. and inf Parliament-Factions 22. To sit as long as they please 30. Their scandalous Declaration 32. Their unreasonable Demands 39. Modelled by the Army 137. Peters Hugh 133 143 Prerogative abated 29 The Presbyterian Model 57 Prynn William 137 Q. Queen goes into Holland 35 R. Religion the pretence of the Rebellion 43 S. Scots Rebellion 20. They come into England 62. The King puts himself into their hands 65. They sell him 67. Take up Arms for the Kings deliverance 100. Are defeated 101. Sects and Sectaries
intersint ad consentiendum his quae tum ibidem de communi concilio Regni nostri Divinâ favente clementiâ contigerit ordinari Teste Meipso c. The ancient form of the Writ to the Peers The Kings Writ to the Nobles or Peers runs thus CHARLES by the grace of God c. to the most Reverend Father in Christ if it speaks to any of the Bishops to Our Cousin if it is addressed to any Duke Marquess or Earl To our Beloved and Faithful if to a Baron Whereas by the advice of Our Council We have ordained that Our Parliament shall be holden at Westminster c. for the dispatch of certain difficult and urgent Affairs concerning or pertaining to Us and the State and Defence of Our Kingdom of England and of the Church of England and there to hold a Colloquy and Treat with you and with the rest of the Prelates Great men and Nobles of Our said Kingdom of England Therefore We by the Fidelity and Love if the Writ be sent to the Bishops by the Fidelity and Allegiance if to any of the Peers which you owe to Us streightly injoyning command you that in consideration of the difficulty of the aforesaid Affairs and of the Dangers impending laying aside all Excuses at the day and place aforesaid you personally appear to treat with Us together with the rest of the Prelates Great men and Nobles concerning the Affairs aforesaid and thereupon give Us your counsel And this you are not to omit as you love Us and Our Honour and the Safety of Our said Kingdom and the expedition of the said Affairs And if the Writ be directed to a Bishop it goes on further thus And you are to forewarn the Dean and Chapter of your Church and all the Clergy of your Diocess that the said Dean and the Archdeacons be personally present and the said Chapter by one and the said Clergy by two sufficient Procurators having full and sufficient power from the said Chapter and Clergy at the day and place aforesaid to Consent to those things which then and there by the favour of the divine Clemency shall happen to be ordained by the Common Council of Our Kingdom Witness my self c. Ad Communes seu Inferioris Confessus Senatores Aliud Rescriptum ad Vicecomites Praesides Civitatum seu Municipiorum conceptis hisce verbis ità se habet Rex Vicecomiti salutem Quia de advisamento assensu Concilii nostri c. progreditur ut superius ibidem cum Praelatis Magnatibus Proceribus Regni nostri Colloquium habere tractatum Tibi praecipimus firmiter injungentes quòd factâ Proclamatione in Comitatu tuo post receptionem hujus Brevis nostri Parliamenti tenendi die loco praedictis duos Milites gladiis cinctos magis idoneos discretos Comitatûs praedicti de qualibet Civitate Comitatûs illius duos Cives de quolibet Burgo duos Burgenses de discretioribus magìs sufficientibus liberè indifferenter per illos qui Electioni huic interfuerint juxta formam Statutorum indè edictorum provisorum eligi nomina eorundem Militum Civium Burgensium in quibusdam Indenturis inter te illos qui hujusmodi Electioni interfuerint conficiendis sive hujusmodi electi praesentes fuerint sive absentes inseri eósque ad dictum diem locum venire facies Ità quòd iidem Milites plenam sufficientem potestatem pro se Communitate praedicti Comitatûs ac dicti Cives Burgenses pro se Communitatibus Civitatum Burgorum praedictorum divisim ab ipsis habeant ad faciendum consentiendum his quae tum ibidem de communi Concilio Regni nostri favente Deo contigerit ordinari super negotiis antè dictis ità nè pro defectu potestatis hujusmodi seu propter improvidam Electionem Militum Civium aut Burgensium praedictorum praedicta negotia infecta maneant quovis modo Nolumus tamen quòd tu nec aliquis alius Vicecomes dicti Regni nostri aliqualiter sit electus To the Members of the House of Commons Another Writ directed to the Sheriffs and Chief Magistrates of Cities and Corporations runs thus The King to the Sheriff greeting Whereas by the Advice and Assent of Our Council c. as before then and there to hold a Colloquy and Treaty with Our Prelates Great men and Nobles of Our Kingdom c. We command and streightly injoyn you that a Proclamation being made in your County Court after the receipt of this Our Writ concerning Our Parliament to be holden at the day and place aforesaid you do cause two Knights of the most fitting and discreet of your County aforesaid and of every City in the said County two Citizens and of every Burrow or Corporation two Burgesses of the most discreet and sufficient to be freely and indifferently chosen according to the form of the Statutes in that case made and provided by those who shall be then present at the said Election and you are also to insert the names of the said Knights Citizens and Burgesses whether the persons so elected be present or absent in certain Indentures to be made betwixt you and those who shall be present at the said Election and you shall cause them to appear at the day and place aforesaid so as the said Knights have full and sufficient power for themselves and the Community of the aforesaid County and the said Citizens and Burgesses for themselves and the Communities of the said Cities and Corporations severally to do and consent to those things which by the favour of God shall by the Common Council of Our Kingdom be ordained concerning the Affairs aforesaid so that by the want of such Power or by the improvident Election of the Knights Citizens or Burgesses aforesaid the Affairs aforesaid be not in any way left unfinished undispatched Yet We will not that you or any other Sheriff of Our said Kingdom be by any means elected These things being punctually performed according to exactness of Law the Members in a solemn and splendid Procession such as may imprint an Awe and Reverence in the minds of the People go first to Church and then to the Parliament-house And at that time the King coming into the House of Lords and having called up the Members of the House of Commons either speaks to them himself or causes the Lord Chancellor to declare to them the weighty causes of their meeting and what it is he would have them consult and deliberate about for the Publick Good The King is not obliged afterward unless he please to be present at their Consultations except at the end of a Session that he may give the strength and vigour of a Law to their Bills The Knights and Burgesses of the Lower House have severally the Oath of Allegiance administred unto them by one appointed for that effect by the King which amongst other things
contains this clause I will bear Faith and true Allegiance to his Majesty his Heirs and Successors and him and them will defend to the uttermost of my power against all Conspiracies and Attempts whatsoever which shall be made against his or their Persons their Crown and Dignity and make known unto his Majesty his Heirs and Successors all Treasons and traiterous Conspiracies which I shall know and hoar of to be against him or any of them c. But lest any one being advanced to the high Honour and Dignity of consulting with the King and sharing in some part of the Government should forget that he is still a Subject the better to keep him within the bounds of duty he is to take another Oath of Supremacy in these words I A. B. do utterly testifie and declare in my Conscience That the Kings Highness is the onely Supreme Governour of this Realm and of all other his Highness's Dominions and Countries as well in all Spiritual or Ecclesiastical things or causes as Temporal and that no foreign Prince Person Prelate State or Potentate hath or ought to have any Jurisdiction Power Superiority Preeminence or Authority Ecclesiastical or Spiritual within this Realm And therefore I do utterly renounce and forsake all foreign Jurisdictions Powers Superiorities and Authorities and do promise from henceforth I shall hear Faith and true Allegiance to the Kings Highness his Heirs and lawful Successors and to my power shall assist and defend all Jurisdictions Priviledges Pre-eminences and Authorities granted or belonging to the Kings Highness his Heirs and Successors or united or annexed to the Imperial Crown of this Realm So help me God and by the contents of this Book Being thus obliged to their duty upon their entry into this auspicious Honour by the Votes of the Lower House according to the Kings designation or nomination a Speaker is chosen whom they accompany to the King beseeching his Majesty to approve their election which the King readily grants This being done the Speaker in the name of himself and of all the Commons thanks the King and begs of his Majesty that they may enjoy their Priviledges and have the freedom of debating and that if any one in the heat of discourse should speak too warmly his Majesty would not take it ill nor be offended and that they may have free access to his Majesty and the Upper House so often as occasion shall require Which being granted they are dismissed All men heretofore were admitted to petition this August Assembly provided their Petitions were preferred within six days after the opening of the Parliament and by the hands of some appointed by the Upper House it belonging to them to judge what were fitting to be presented in Parliament and to reject such as were trivial or seditious Each House has power to consult debate and form Bills about the matters proposed by the King or concerning the making or abrogating of Laws so that what is agreed upon in the one House is by Messengers to be sent to the other and if both concur in judgment after the matter hath been debated the Assent is marked over the head of the Bill if it be in the Lords House in this form of words Les Seigneurs out assentes The Lords have consented And in the House of Commons thus Les Communes out assentes The Commons have consented But if they disagree many times both Houses or Committees chosen by them meet in conference in a convenient place which is called the Painted Chamber where the Lords covered and sitting in solemn manner receive the Commons standing uncovered and both argue the matter in debate If in such Conferences opinions disagree as it happens sometimes the thing is laid aside but if they concurr the Bill is carried to the King which if he approve of it is written upon Le Roy le veut The King wills it whereby as by a Soul infused into the body it receives life and passes into a perfect Law to be afterwards promulgated to the people If on the contrary the King approve not the Bills brought to him he uses to write over head Le Roy s'avisera The King will consider of it sometimes he utterly rejects them and then they are wholly laid aside But matters of Religion which require the Kings more especial care are not so intirely committed by him to the Parliament but to the Convocation of the Clergy to be handled unless for the sanction of Parliament to give them the authority of a Law which otherwise they could not sufficiently have The Deans Archdeacons two Prebendaries commissionated by the several Chapters and as many Priests out of every Diocess meet in an appointed place to consult about affairs of that nature where having first chosen a Prolocutor they settle points of Religion Ceremonies and other matters belonging to the Church and the imposition of Subsidies also in name of the Clergy yet in these latter times their Acts bind not the People until as we said before they be passed into a Law by the King with consent of both Houses of Parliament And so cautious have our Kings been that Laymen should not meddle in such affairs that as it is recorded in History Queen Elizabeth severely checked the Parliament for having appointed a Fast without â—sking her leave nor would she be satisfied till they begg'd her Majesties pardon for it That we may return to the Authority of Parliament each House hath its several and distinct Priviledges The House of Lords not onely concurs in Council and making of Laws but hath also power of Judicature and giving Judgment and so of administring an Oath especially in weightier Causes as in the corruption of Judges and Magistrates and in highest Appeals which yet the Lawyers say cannot lawfully be brought to a tryal without the consent and warrant of the King and is never done unless the Judges of the Law do assist The House of Commons claims to it self the priviledge of petitioning and proposing Laws or of prosecuting but never of judging unless within its own walls and over the Members of their own House nor that neither beyond a Fine and Imprisonment By ancient custom that House was so far from pronouncing any Sentence much less in cases of Life and Death in the name of the People against the meanest Servant in England that it never took to it self the power of administring an Oath It is also extant in the Rolls to this purpose Vpon the humble supplication of the House of Commons that whereas all Parliamentary Judgment belongs to the King and the Peers and not to the Commons unless by a Grant and Permission from the King it would please the Kings Majesty that they be not contrary to custom obliged to give Judgment whereupon the King for the future excused them from that trouble reserving the Parliamentary power of Judging for the time to come to the King and
House of Lords onely save onely in making Laws or imposing Taxes and Subsidies unless when it shall otherwise seem fit to the Kings Majesty to require their particular counsel and assent for dispatching the publick Affairs of the Nation Nay it was of old the custom also that if any Controversie or Doubt arose about the validity of the Election of the Members of the House of Commons the matter was not determined by the other Members of the same House but either by the Lords in the Upper House or by the Judges in Chancery And if any of them also departed from the Parliament without leave from the King and both Houses he was brought before the Kings Privy-Council or Kings-Bench to receive sentence for his faults but he was never punished at the will and pleasure of his own House This also is peculiar to the House of Commons that we may again return to their Priviledges that it belongs to them first to debate and form the Bill for raising Money from the People Such therefore is the wonderful temper of our Monarchy that the King Lords and Commons have their several parts in the publick administration of Affairs yet with that harmonious proportion that All can help but none of them hurt the Publick For the Prerogative of the King that gives him the supreme power of Government and of Peace and War tends to this that he may have strength enough to defend the Laws against the Factions of the Nobility and the Tumults and Insurrections of the people whilst the Nobles by the high Authority they have in giving Judgment and making Laws can on the one hand put a stop to tyrannical attempts if any should be offered by the King and on the other curb the insolence of a tumultuous and seditious common People Nor are the Commons through the priviledge they have of accusing any man and giving or denying Money unprovided of means of restraining the licentiousness of the Lords and Privy-Counsellors and of preventing the arbitrariness of the Prince The Laws are very careful that the liberty of Debating and Voting be not obstructed through fear and the insolence of wicked men for it is enjoyned under severe penalties that no Member of Parliament come to the House with hidden or open Arms nor that any other person armed with a Sword or any other Weapon presume to walk in the Palace-yard or near the House thereby to give cause of terrour and apprehension or to lessen the reverence of the place Yea it hath been the custom that the Members of Parliament and their menial Servants should during the sitting of Parliament be protected from arrests for debt or other slight crimes but the Priviledge of Parliament excuses no man that is guilty of Treason Felony or Breach of the Peace from the ordinary prosecution of Law Yet if by the mistake either of the Magistrate or Officer any Parliament-man or their Servants happen to be arrested they cannot be set at liberty according to Law but by a Writ assigning the cause directed out of the Chancery So much heretofore did both Houses contain themselves within the bounds of modesty that if any one inconsiderately offended against the received customs or spake any way irreverently of the King he was severely punished for the fault and that at the suit and instance of the House of which he was a Member The Kings also did very seldom unless it were for weighty causes act any thing that might give offence to so August an Assembly Yet sometimes upon high provocations some of our mildest Princes have severely rebuked the whole Parliament and caused some Members to be brought to the Bar to answer for their offences and have punished others by Fine Imprisonment or Death according to the nature of their crimes These were the old customs and those the men that made England for many Ages past to flourish being happy at home and renowned abroad until too much happiness as often happens in humane affairs with Luxury and all sorts of Vice brought in amongst us Pride Ambition and the contempt of the Laws both of God and man so that with mutual emulation and envy men began to covet and invade the Rights of one another to despise and set at nought rather than to reverence and obey the King Religion and Laws and to gape after Novelties rather than to acquiesce in what was most excellently established Of late some perverse men and they at first but a few who had screwed themselves into the Lower House being desirous of changes and crafty Promoters of publick Debates began to clamour about the Rights and Liberties of the People and Power of Parliaments to arrogate to themselves unheard-of Priviledges to be very busie where they were no ways concerned take upon them what they were not capable of effecting and at length breaking out into insolent Expressions and Invectives against the the Kings power calling into question the Tunnage and Poundage which the Kings of England in all times enjoyed and forbidding them to be payed to the King nay and to offer violence to their Speaker within the very walls of the House and in a word to shake off their ancient modesty all reverence which they ought to bear to the Majesty of their King and to trample under foot the sacred Customs of the Kingdom and Priviledges of Parliament Hence arose mutual Heart-burnings and Jealousies that the King designed to invade the Liberties of the Parliament and the Parliament to encroach upon the Prerogative of the Crown For this reason the King put an end to several Parliaments much sooner than many desired but not without precedents in former times and checked the rashness of some by imprisonment Being some time afterward sollicited he refused to call new Parliaments that so the Heats and Animosities might be allayed and that they might learn for the future to bring along with them Modesty and greater Gravity to so great a Council But that gave occasion to crafty and restless men of spreading their poyson all over England so that every where they gave it out That Religion was ruined the publick Liberty opprest and the Laws in danger of being subverted hoping that it would be no difficult matter to perswade credulous people of this who were greedy of Novelties and prone to listen to Calumnies and Slanders especially of the great men They reproached the King with bitter Railings calling him uxorious imprudent addicted to the Popish Religion covetous and what else they knew to be infamous and hateful to the People They censured the best of his actions and strained them to the worst sence They wonderfully aggravated his Misfortunes and Failings and were more injurious than ill fortune her self in their horrid constructions Amongst so many Complaints and Outcries if you demand what real calamity happened Britain was never in a more flourishing condition stately Buildings both publick and private every where reared not
Counties to wit of Buckinghamshire and Essex are egg'd on that being armed in several bodies they might come and petition that their Members might have free liberty of voting and that their Priviledges might be kept inviolate Although the Kentish-men who came to supplicate on the other side were denied liberty to enter the Gates of London and others who were about to do the like were restrained by threats and reproaches So that by polling and in a manner mustering the people they give the signal to War The accused Members abscond in London until they might feel the pulses and stir up the Citizens to draw out for their Guard and conduct them to the House in arms and triumph The King being advertised of this though at that time by the care and contrivance of Gurney the then Lord Mayor many valiant and loyal men offered themselves to mix with the Croud and being scattered through the streets like Spectators to oppose the Army if they attempted any thing against the King yet his Majesty hoping that these storms might break and spend themselves by giving way to them he with the Queen removed to Windsor-Castle But afterwards the Quarrel rising higher having sent the Queen beyond Sea under pretext of accompanying her eldest Daughter lately married to the Prince of Orange over into Holland but in reality that she might pass the Winter secure from the future storm and having sent for the Prince whom as he was informed the Factious did intend to seize by authority of Parliament he moves towards York but not before he wrote to the Parliament giving them the reasons of his departure perswading them by all means to Peace and desiring them That whatever it was they so much desired that he would grant and do for them they would set it down in writing that without ambiguiety they would state what the Parliament and People claimed and what on the other hand was to be granted to the King and he religiously protests that he would have the Rights of others no less to be inviolate than his own and that he would most willingly give his consent to all things that might contribute to the restoring of Peace and the just Rights of his Crown and Kingdom They not onely slight but caluminate this goodness of so gracious a King as if it were contrary to the Priviledges of Parliament to be informed what was fit to be done and that their consultations should be interrupted by Letters It can hardly be exprest how much the House of Commons proud of the favour of the Multitude pretended to be scared at these admonitions to Peace as portending new dangers and ruine in disguise Hence laying hold of the opportunity the House of Commons being onely the third and lowest Estate of the Kingdom the Lords being as yet averse from so unjust a desire had the boldness to demand that the power of all Castles and Forts and of the Militia should be put into their hands When they could not obtain this from the King they move all the Towns and Corporations that sided with them that as of their own accord they should make musters train up the Youth in Military Discipline and divide them into Companies which was afterward confirmed and approved in the House of Commons as done according to Law They pass also a Vote in their own House that by Authority of Parliament Deputies should be named in each County To exercise arm draw out and muster the Youth and those that were fit to carry Arms that they might be ready upon the future Orders of Parliament for suppressing Rebellions resisting Invasions c. Having at length by their known Arts prevailed with the Lords to give their consent both Houses joyn in an Address to the King That it was a thing not onely expedient but necessary to be done as well for himself as for the State pretending fears from France Germany and Spain who then were all in Arms and the intelligence they had from Paris Venice and Rome that the restless Papists and ill men were plotting and contriving how they might overset the Parliament of England and the reformed Religion The King willing to grant any thing for Peace sake yields them a share in the power of the Militia for a certain time reserving to himself the supreme Authority whereby he might be able to maintain the Dignity of the Crown and the Rights of Parliament He approves also the Deputies appointed by them some Londoners excepted and does pathetically exhort and adjure them That at length laying aside vain fears and mutual jealousies they would calmly and seriously consider by what means the troubled State divided into several Factions and torn almost into pieces by it self might be united again into one and that since no former Prince had made greater Concessions to his Subjects they would peaceably enjoy them But they slighting this Indulgence of the King and his sound Admonitions impose upon the rest with their bugbears of Fears and Jealousies They ordered strict Watch to be kept in suspected places the Beacons to be watch'd and prepare Pilots as for a War The People are dayly stirred up with false Rumours spread amongst the Multitude On Sundays when they are in Church at their Devotion they are put into panick fears as if the Papists who were to come no man knew whence were ready to burn their houses and to mingle their Bloud with their Prayers and by and by again that their throats were to be cut by enemies lurking in the Woods and Vaults under ground And many though not the wisest of the Londoners were perswaded that the River of Thames was to be blown up by Gunpowder to drown the City in the night-time so ridiculous were the surmises that gave occasion to most fatal changes By these and such-like tricks the Populace is frightened out of their senses and resolved to do any thing to rid themselves of these apprehensions Amongst the other preparatiss to War all the particulars whereof it is not our designe to trace the cunninger sort smelt a Plot as if the King in his progress to the North intended to seize the Town and well-provided Magazine of Hull which might be of great consequence in carrying on the War That they might prevent this the Factious of their own head without any authority from both Houses give the government of the place to Sir John Hotham which he instantly secured with a Garison and the assistance of some Towns-men So soon as the King had notice of this he marched thither attended with his Nobles and Servants but the Gates being shut and Souldiers planted upon the Walls he is denied entrance The King being highly offended commands the Governour to let him enter attended onely with twenty Gentlemen on horseback but he refusing to let him in unless alone is proclaimed a Traytor and the King by Letters to the Parliament
complains and demands reparation for the affront But the House of Commons approve Sir John Hotham's Fact and vote that the King had violated the Priviledges of Parliament in proclaiming a Member of the House guilty of Treason Before he was heard in their House they give Orders to the Earl of Warwick to send some Souldiers from on board into the Town and to transport the Magazine from thence to London But Sir John Hotham repenting too late when he perceived that these Sparks had put the whole Country into a flame having afterwards obtained pardon and being about to deliver up the Town to the King was taken and payed to the Parliament what he owed to the King both he and his Son being beheaded Amongst these preludes to War there is some mention and hopes of peace for after some months the Parliament send an Answer to the King's Proposals which he made at Windsor upon his departure for the North in nineteen Articles or Demands of which this is the sum 1. That all the King's Privy-Council great Officers and Ministers of State may be put out excepting such as the Parliament shall approve and to assigne them an Oath 2. That all affairs of State be managed by the Parliament except such matters as are transferred by them to the Privy-Council and to be concluded by the major part of the Nobility under their hands the full number not to exceed 25 nor under 15 and if any place fall void in the interval of Parliament then the major part of the Council to chuse one to be confirmed at the next Session of Parliament 3. That all the great Officers of the Kingdom shall be chosen with approbation of Parliament c. as before said 4. The government and education of the King's Children by Parliament c. ut supra 5. Their Marriages to be treated and concluded by Parliament c. 6. The Laws against Papists Priests and others be executed without Toleration or Dispensation except by Parliament 7. No Popish Lord or Peer to have vote in Parliament and their children to be educated in the Protestant Faith 8. To Reform Church-government as the Parliament shall advise 9. To settle the Militia as the Parliament have ordered and for the King to recal all his Declarations published against their Ordinances therein 10. All Privy-Counsellers and Judges to take Oath for maintenance of the Petition of Right and other Statutes which shall be made this Parliament 11. All Officers placed by Parliament to hold their places quam diu bene se gesserint 12. All Members of Parliament put out during this time be restored again 13. The Justice of Parliament to pass upon all Delinquents and they to appear or abide their censure 14. The general Pardon to pass with Exceptions as the Parliament shall advise 15. All Forts and Castles of the Kingdom to be disposed of by Parliament ut supra 16. The King to discharge all his Guards and Forces now in being and not to raise any other but in case of actual Rebellion 17. The King to enter into a strict Alliance with all Reformed States for their assistance to recover the Rights of his Royal Sister and her Princely Issue to those Dignities and Dominions which belong unto them 18. To clear the Lord Kimbolton and the five Members by Act of Parliament 19. No Peer hereafter to be made shall sit in Parliament without their consent And these Articles being confirmed the Parliament engage to make him a happy Prince To these Commands rather than Articles of Peace being such as were more proper to move Indignation than to gain an Assent the King sends an Answer by two noble and discreet Lords the Marquess of Hertford and the Earl of Southampton who were enjoyned to treat on more equal terms in the House of Lords But they not being admitted the Treaty came to nothing And because in this place we have made mention of Peace and Proposals we are to take notice that afterwards in the heat of the War at the instance of the King Propositions of Peace being mutually sent and Commissioners on both sides twice meeting to treat about it nothing could be effected and mostly by the Parliaments fault For seeing they proposed such severe Conditions on their own parts and which tended onely to their own advantages and the King on the other hand such just and equitable Terms more favourable to the Parliament and State than to himself and Family the People began to be enraged and to fall off dayly from the Parliament The King of France also how sincerely I shall not judge and the States of the Vnited Provinces interposed for accommodating the differences but were rejected by the Parliament and the Scots who likewise offered to mediate were refused by the King as partial But farewel Peace Bellona is now at the doors The People being in the disposition we mentioned before Deputies were sent with Commissions into all the Counties and the Parliamentarian Rebels by force and their own authority invade the Militia which they could not obtain from the King by petitioning The King on the contrary commands them to desist upon pain of Treason citing the Act of the 25 Edw. 3. whereby To contrive the death of the King Queen or Prince to violate the Queen or the Wife of the Prince to take up Arms against the King to assist the Kings enemies within or without the Kingdom to counterfeit the great Seal or Kings Coyn are for the future declared to be Treason having also alleadged other Acts whereby it is declared That the power of the Militia and taking up of Arms belongs onely to the King But they make answer That the Letter of the Law is for the King but the mind of it for them That it is not forbidden to take up Arms against the Kings Person but against his Authority which being in all Courts of Judicature was most eminently in the Parliament To this the King replies That that distinction was condemned above three hundred years since when the Spencers under that cover carrying on Sedition were condemned to death by the Parliament That besides the present Parliament was not free but the better part of the Members being excluded the rest were slaves to the Faction These courses taking no effect the King also sends Deputies into all Counties with authority from his Majesty to array and arm the Subjects and to have fit men in readiness if necessity should require for suppressing Rebellions and Seditions And from this we may date our Sorrows and Calamities whilst the King endeavouring to maintain his ancient Rights and they again to invade them War breaks out in the Kingdom But the Match was unequal on what side soever the Right stood The Parliament superiour in strength prevails and in most Counties usurps the Government the Royal Cause being very weak and in a few Counties struggling for life With no greater
difficulty also the Fleet under the command of the Earl of Warwick is divided but all this still without any fighting There was much skirmishing indeed on both sides by Apologies and Manifesto's but after that the King in the judgment of most men had got the better on 't at the Pen at length they come to try the matter by Armies and the Sword It was easie for the Parliament to raise an Army in London a City abounding with swarms of seditious and restless men where so many Arms so great quantity of Provision and Ammunition so much Money and so many thousand pieces of Ordnance were ready at hand Where by the publick Declarations of so many specious Causes for which it might seem even honourable to die and the plausible Motto's in their Colours they inflamed the minds of the deluded Rabble more than with the sound of the Trumpet or Drum pretending forsooth That they took Arms for the defence of the Kings Person and to remove evil Counsellors from him for maintaining the Priviledges of Parliament and the preservation of the Reformed Religion for asserting the Laws and ancient Government of England nay and for securing their Religion Lives and Estates and therefore inviting all to their assistance By which Artifices the Preachers being bewitched who were desirous of a change in the Church-government and somewhat tickled with the hopes which the Rebels had roundly promised that the Livings of the Loyal Clergy and the fat Benefices of the Bishops Deans and Chapters would fall to their share in the Dividend they sound the Trumpet to Rebellion from the Pulpit from whence they ought to have preached the Gospel of Peace The People upon this spurred on with other hopes of a future Golden Age and of the temporal reign of the Messias comes flocking from all quarters the men bringing a vast quantity of Money and Plate and the women their Wedding-Rings Thimbles and Bodkins and without any regard to their Families by a strange kind of a phrenzy casting them into the publick Stock or Treasury The men strove who should be first to list themselves in this holy War whence in a short time there was an Army of about twenty thousand men got together before the King had levied five hundred for his defence and they also having more Cannon than he had Muskets in his possession For raising Pay for their Army besides the profuse Contributions and Benevolences of the People they seize the Goods of the Nobility and Gentry whom they knew to be of the Kings Party they fall also upon the Revenues of the Bishops Prince Queen and of the King himself by way of sequestration so that the Kings Majesty was forced to complain That they had not left him enough to live on And now they thought there was no more to be done but to march and seize the person of the King who was overcome and in a manner taken in a toyl which they doubted not to promise themselves to be done within the space of a month But the Will of God was otherwise for the Juggles of the Rebels had not so blinded the understanding of the English but that most part of the Lords and Peers of the Vpper House and almost an equal number of the Lower who for Estates and Quality far exceeded the rest went over to the Kings Party Many also of those who tarried at London favoured the Royal Cause in secret and in all Counties of the Kingdom there were many Gentlemen and common people that stood for the interest of the King By the assistance of these and the Royal Authority which like the Sun in an eclipse drew together a crowd of Spectators and by a certain pity and commiseration of some men who were ashamed to behold the Head of the Kingdom depressed into such a condition as to be forced to flie from the Imperial City to York from York to Nottingham from Nottingham into Shropshire and the borders of Wales after he had wandered up and down above four months long and in vain imploring the help and assistance of his Subjects the King at length got together a kind of a small Army which afterwards increased to greater Forces the people the more readily flocking to the King because with him they thought the Government must stand or fall Many of the Nobility and Gentry also brought what Forces they could to the Kings Party amongst whom not to rob any of the Honour due to them the Loyalty and Interest of the two Marquesses of Hertford and Newcastle was eminently conspicuous of whom the first brought with him a considerable Body of Dutch and the other almost at his own charge raised no inconsiderable Army in the North the Queen also sending over Moneys and Arms which by pawning her Jewels she had raised for which dutiful office to her Husband the Rebels accuse her of Treason Whilst these Clouds overcast the Sky at home a dismal Tempest thunders from abroad upon the heads of the English which because it was of no small moment as to our affairs that I may not wholly pass by in silence the Reader must cross the Sea with me into Ireland The Irish who always bore impatiently the Yoke of the English Government out of a natural aversion heightened by the emulation of different Religions watched for an opportunity to shake off the one and to assert the other I mean the Roman Catholick Religion did now attempt the Enterprize which long before they had formed in their minds For the whole Nation of a sudden and which was strange by a clandestine and concealed Conspiracy fell upon the English scattered over Ireland who were secure and expected no such thing turn them out of house and hold and without distinction of Age or Sex without respect to Affinity or Relation barbarously butcher many thousands like so many humane Sacrifices to their Superstition And had not the Conspiracy been detected at Dublin and in other places the more cautious running to Arms had not withstood their fury the English name was in a fair way of being totally extinguished in Ireland The good luck was that the very day before the intended Insurrection the mystery of the Plot was discovered at Dublin by an Irish Footman belonging to Sir John Clotwaithie who having refused to act the part that was put upon him in the Conspiracy opened the whole Intrigue to his Master who presently informed the Privy-Council of it Though many of the Conspirators fled yet two of the chief Incendiaries and Promoters of the Rebellion who had also undertaken to surprize Dublin-Castle I mean the Lord Macquire and Macmahon were apprehended Being committed to Prison they were afterwards conveyed to London where having long suffered the incommodities of a Prison that we may at once make an end of them they made their escape but being by another Irish-man betrayed in the absence of the King who was then inevitably engaged
after the Victory that the goodness of the Cause made them not doubt of distributed amongst the Purchasers and many thousand English listed themselves for the service Nevertheless such was the misery of this Nation that that which is wont to procure some short Peace at least amongst those who are at greatest variance served onely to inflame our Broils On the one hand they who were altogether given to changes buzzing I know not what fears and jealousies into the ears of those who were but too prone to make the worst of things obtain in Parliament that the War be not carried on in the name of the King nor that any Souldier who had shew'd his Loyalty to the King or had served in the Scottish Expedition should be admitted into this War And for managing the War they also prefer factious men and such as were ungrateful to the King On the other hand the King intended to lead the Army against the Rebels in person urging and insisting That he might use the right and power of War which the Laws and Customs of the Kingdom entrusted him with The King at length desiring to overcome his Competitors by courtesie and yielding if he could not by power and strength consents that the War be carried on in his own and the Parliaments name and that the Commissions should run in the name of the King and Parliament granting the Parliament the power of levying and arming the Army and of chusing the Generals and Commanders and the King reserving to himself no liberty of making Peace or pardoning the Rebels without the consent of Parliament Yet neither so did the swellings of the Parliament abate for not long after the Civil War breaking out in England the Parliament make use of an hundred thousand pound raised for the Irish War and two or three Regiments of men that were to be sent over for suppressing that Rebellion for oppressing of the King here at home Nay and they make no scruple to employ the money that was charitably collected for the relief of the poor distressed Protestants and for building of Churches in paying their own Souldiers On the other side the King's Souldiers seize the Ammunition sent by the Parliament towards Chester which so soon as they gave it out that it was designed for the War in Ireland the King commanded to be restored The Parliament that by putting indignities upon the King they might raise their own Reputation alleadging some silly slight suspicions are not ashamed to impute the Irish Rebellion to the King as the Author of it But as the truth was his Majesty retorts the crime and infamy of it with far better reasons upon the factious Members of Parliament Yet these things hinder not but that our Auxiliary forces bâ—at the Irish Rebels and put them to flight in all places kill plunder burn and destroy many thousands of the Natives and by a great slaughter revenge the murder of their Country-men But at the same time they lay all the Country waste and desolate which at length was no less prejudicial to themselves than to the Natives for the War increasing in England the Souldiers wanting Corn Ammunition Clothes Pay and indeed all things necessary and at length being unable to support their wants it is hardly to be exprest what miseries and calamities our Country-men suffered in Ireland and having long struggled with these difficulties and with all importunity but in vain begg'd assistance from the Parliament The Privy-Council of the Kingdom Commanders of the Army and the Souldiers themselves write to the King earnestly begging to be disbanded or employed in other service where they might have any Enemy but Hunger to fight with The King at length seeing the Scots were coming with assistance to the Parliament-forces being too weak to make head against the Rebellion moved on the one hand by his own necessities and on the other by the importunate Prayers of his Subjects commands a Truce to be made with the Irish for a year that in the mean time if it were possible he might make Peace upon good terms A Truce being made with the Irish and Forces being left sufficient for maintaining the Garrisons the Souldiers return from Ireland to the assistance of the King whose fortune against the Parliament at home manifestly declined But the Scots who inhabited the greatest part of Vlster supplied with Pay and Ammunition by the Parliament refuse the Truce as also some English in Connaught and Vlster who lived in good correspondence with the Scots A little after the Lord Inchiqueen who commanded the Munster-Forces having brought over some thousands of men to the Kings assistance when he thought himself not treated according to his dignity and merit flying over secretly into Ireland tampers first with those of Cork and then with all such of the Province of Munster as were on the English side and having drawn them over to the Parliament he rejects the Truce and is presently assisted by the Scottish Forces and supplied with Money Provisions and Ammunition from the Parliament Ireland being now delivered from the English Souldiers the Natives lay hold on the opportunity of recovering the whole Kingdom under the command of Owen Ro General of the Rebels and having broken the truce which they had solemnly made and arming of a sudden they had surprized and seized the Marquess of Ormond not dreaming of any such thing had he not being informed of it a little before by by-ways mays made his escape to Dublin Having afterward joyned their Forces those who were willing to keep the Truce being instigated to the contrary by the Nuncio who produced the Popes Bull they all together besiege the City of Dublin by Land whilst at the same time the Parliament-Ships shut up the Haven The Marquess being overmatched by the Forces of three Nations acquaints the King with his condition who sends him instructions that if he could not defend the City he should rather deliver it up to the Parliament than suffer it to fall into the hands of the Irish Having therefore agreed upon Articles amongst which it was one That he should have liberty to go to the King that he might give his Majesty an account of all the affairs of Ireland the Marquess returned into England and found the King at Hampton-Court environed by the Parliaments Rebel-Souldiers where being informed that he was to be apprehended by Order of Parliament he secretly withdrew into France that he might escape their Snares Not long after when the King was committed to Prison in the Isle of Wight and that the Rebels had cut off all hopes of restoring Peace and Liberty by their Vote of no more addressing to the King of which more hereafter having received new instruction he returned in quality of Lord-Lieutenant into Ireland where he endeavoured with all care to make the best Peace he could and to unite the English Scots and Irish for
the assistance of the King The Lord Inchiqueen with the English under his command joyns him Some Irish commanded by Preston and Taaff not forgetting their former Truce make no scruple to joyn with them others being still in doubt what to do The Scots forbear hostility against the Kings Party and march against the Rebels but give hopes that at length they may unite with the Marquess And now Jones Governour of Dublin and the Parliament-forces there the very same who with so bitter and vehement Reproaches inveighed against the Truce and Peace made by Ormond with the Papists as the utter ruining of their Religion was caught in the same embraces of the Whore of Babylon for without either conscience or shame they at length make a strict League and unite their Forces with Owen Ro the General of the Rebels a man infamous for the bloud and slaughter of the English against the Kings Army and the Protestants But now from foreign miseries though indeed they be not altogether foreign which though happening in very distant times yet for avoiding frequent digressions we thought fit to present to the Reader under one view Let us now return to our own which were carried on with far greater and more pitched Battels though with less slaughter and treachery the fire burning but slowly because to our sorrow the fuel was the longer to last Many Battels with various success and in several places were fought betwixt the Kings Forces and the Parliament-Rebels till at length Fortune breathing favourably upon the Kings Banners the Rebels began to lose courage and many that had been Sticklers in the Faction to desert and fall off from their Party The Parliament being reduced to streights invite the Scots to their assistance and that they might revive the expiring and almost extinct opinion of the people which formerly they had enjoyed and the admiration they were had in for wonderful zeal for the Publick Good and purity of Religion and at the same time time drain the peoples Purses of their money they have recourse to their often-practised tricks They forge new Calumnies against the King and those of his Party and spread abroad every-where amongst the people As if the King affected an absolute tyrannical Power and that he would forfeit the Estates of all those who had been against him that he would make Slaves of their persons and leave no place for pardon nor the least footstep of their ancient Liberty nay and that renouncing the reformed Religion he was about to bring in Popery whereby all would be forced to go to Mass And that the silly ignorant people might not want Pretexts for their obstinacy they perswade the Rabble That the Kings Souldiers being accustomed to eat mens flesh would feed and feast upon them nay and that their Dogs and Horses bred up to the same dishes were already gaping for their carcasses They appoint some remarkable Sacrifices to be offered to Publick Justice for so was that barbarous practice of pleasing the Rabble with bloudy Spectacles and gratifying their own cruel revenge at that time called amongst the ignorant people Amongst these were Sir John Hotham and his Son Carey and especially that the friendship of the Scots might be cemented with Episcopal bloud William Laud Archbishop of Canterbury he being condemned of High-Treason by a partial and factious sentence of the House of Peers who according to the ancient Laws of the Kingdom cannot without the Kings consent adjudge the meanest person to death and they by a Council of War They appoint days of Fasting and publick Prayers and of Thanksgiving also for inconsiderable Victories publickly and with great solemnity burn the Pictures of our Saviour the Virgin and Saints and so renew their Martyrdom and with no ordinary devotion pull down Crosses and Standards bearing the Images of Saints though they were not onely ornamental but useful in the chief streets of London They also vote the abrogation of Episcopacy and Service-book and commit it to the care of the Assembly to frame a new Church-government and manner of Divine Worship instead of them of which the Reader I hope will pardon me if contrary to my custom I discourse a little more largely To this Assembly two Ministers of the most zealous Enemies of the Bishops and Liturgie are called and come by authority of the House of Commons some of the Episcopal Clergy being also invited who having no command from the King refuse to come and give place to some of the more eminent Scottish Ministers to mingle with them These having long hatched at length bring forth a Confession of Faith a Catechism containing the heads of the Christian Religion and a Directory or Scheme of publick Worship wherein no Set-forms were prescribed but a certain Rule whereby according to general heads appointed for all occasions the Levites of the new Law were instructed to pour out their extemporary and conceived Prayers The Presbyterian Government and Worship were likewise established to be administred by Pastors Teachers Lay-Elders and Deacons in four Courts to wit the Parochial Classical Provincial and National The Parochial Court consisted of one or two Lay-Elders at least and one or two Pastors or Ministers according to the nature of the place These had power to rule over the Parishoners and weekly to meet to call before them the Parishoners and to take inspection into their lives and manners admitting those whom they thought worthy to the Communion of the Lords Supper reproving and publickly censuring others nay and for some time debaring them from the Sacrament if they were guilty of any offence that might give scandal to the Congregation and to excommunicate those that would not submit The Classical Court or Presbytery was to meet once a month or oftener and was made up of the Deputies of twelve Parishes at least two out of each the one a Church-man and the other a Laick or sometimes more To these it belonged to take cognizance of the aforementioned matters especially if any difficulty or Appeal intervened to correct the Ministers themselves give orders to the Expectants pronounce sentence of Excommunication and to determine Cases of Conscience and Controversies in Doctrine The Provincial Court or Assembly consisting of Deputies from the several Classes or Presbyteries of the whole Province both of the Church and Laity had an authority superiour to the former Over all was the National Assembly the supreme Judicature in Ecclesiastical affairs which had power to make or rescind the Canons or Laws of the Church inflict severer punishments and to determine all points concerning Manners Church-discipline and Government From the lowest to the highest of these Courts it was lawful to appeal This assembly endeavoured to have no Sect allowed the liberty of Worship but all to be extirpated But when they could not obtain this from the Parliament in which were many Independents Erastians Anabaptists and Atheists the Rabble
rob their Parents Fathers their Children Servants their Masters Wives their Husbands so that the mutual Offices to which men are bound in society were denied to those that differed from them in opinion For these reasons many contrary to the Dictates of Conscience run into the noose of the Covenant and at length whether that they thought themselves obnoxious to the Kings Laws or really bound in conscience by their Oath they seriously espoused the Party of the Parliament Against this many learned and pious men took up the Cudgels and in several Treatises amongst which was the Judgment of the University of Oxford an unanswerable piece in Latin confuted it as contrary to the Laws both of God and man the Covenanters in the mean time making no answer but with force and the sharper Arguments of the Sword The Scots who faithfully promised the King to give him no trouble in his affairs in England having by those previous artifices cleared their way into that Kingdom with twenty thousand men come to the assistance of the Parliament But first for forms sake they send Commissioners to the King to perswade him being inclinable enough of himself to make peace with the Parliament and to offer themselves as Mediators of the Controversie but the King having rejected them as unjust and partial Judges and commanded them to mind their own affairs at home they call a Parliament against all Law in the Kings name and then declare War The King foreseeing the Storm that was like to fall upon himself and Party had provided against it as well as possibly he could The Lords and Members of the House of Commons who though they were excluded the Houses thought it their duty still to stand by the Publick came over to the Kings side and the former to the number of forty with the Lord Keeper of the great Seal and the latter above two hundred transfer the Parliament to Oxford where being called to Council before they were admitted to take Arms by the King they held a Session of Parliament by the Kings authority nothing being wanting to the power and dignity of a Parliament but Walls and the place appointed by the Kings Writ To these the King gave strictly in charge that they would do what lay in their power to avert the Storm or at least consult how they might be able to resist it This Parliament wrote to the Scots that they would not in an hostile manner invade the King and Kingdom of England nor violate the Pacification formerly made They declare it Treason to take up Arms against the King or without his consent to call a foreign Nation into the Kingdom and that therefore the Rump-Parliament sitting at Westminster were upon both accounts guilty of High-Treason They also pass an Act for raising as much money as could reasonably be expected from the exhausted Counties and Towns which still continued in obedience to the King for defraying the charges of a double War now approaching The King also by Letters earnestly dehorted the Scots from that unlawful attempt and prohibits them by Proclamation That being his Subjects and obliged by so many bonds they would not come to the assistance of Rebels But this being signed by the hands of nineteen Lords the prevailing Rebels of Scotland with matchless insolence in Subjects cause it publickly to be burnt by the common Hangman The Marquess of Hamilton is commanded to keep the Scots at home that they might not meddle in the affairs of another Kingdom who being discovered to have unfaithfully discharged that Office having under pretext of danger fled out of Scotland to the King was afterward committed to Prison The Marquess of Montross being made General and Commissioner of Scotland is dispatched thither that by giving them a diversion at home they might be kept from invading England This Commission was valiantly discharged by the Marquess having with a handful of men and those raw and undisciplined put whole Armies to flight and every-where wasted the Country However the Scots pursuing their point left not England before by the help of Fairfax they had routed no small part of the Kings Army which they had long diverted from quelling the Parliamentarians elsewhere taken Newcastle and other strong places and handed on the Victory into the more Southern parts Henceforward the Kings affairs do dayly decline and were at length totally ruin'd Victory everywhere smiling upon the Rebels The Republican Rebels having obtained many Victories began to vent their hatred and indignation against the Lords and especially after the last Newberry-Fight they grew sick of the Earl of Manchester For he in a Council of War giving his opinion and exhorting them to Peace which he judged more expedient to the State seemed not so thorough-paced and fierce upon the War as they could have desired and being therefore in a long Speech accused by Cromwel in the Lower House he defends himself in the Vpper retorting the accusation So that both Houses thought it more convenient to compose the difference betwixt them than to enter into the merits of the Cause The Kings Forces being at length scattered and broken by the Scots on the one hand and the Parliament-Rebels on the other Pay and Provisions being wanting and Factions arising betwixt the Commanders of the Army and the Lords that all things might conspire to draw down Judgments upon us His Majesty had in his mind first to come to London and trust himself in the hands of the Parliament next to cast himself into the arms of the English Army but being rejected by both and his affairs in a very doubtful condition he ventured to betake himself to the Scots the French Embassadour who then was in the Scottish Army and some Scottish Commanders having obtained from them promises of honour safety and freedom for his Majesties person This revived former Grudges betwixt the English and Scottish Rebels which had almost broken out into a War It was likewise given out that the Earl of Essex who from a General was now become a private person would joyn with the Lords and Commons that conspired for their ruine in new Articles and Resolutions with the Scots but his sudden death occasioned by lying on the ground when he was all in a sweat after hunting dissipated all those rumours Nevertheless the Rebels thought fit at publick cost to humour him with magnificent Funerals as being more for their interest to shew gratitude to a dead friend than to have him perhaps a living enemy Upon this they began to deny the Scots their Pay put a necessity upon them of exacting Money and free Quarters from the Counties where they lay expose them to hatred extenuate their merits undervalue the courage of the Nation call them mercenary Souldiers of fortune whilst they in the mean time paid them onely with Reproaches threaten to drive them out of the Kingdom by force of Arms publickly provoke
vigilant part by degrees circumvented the greater but less sedulous If any thing were moved in Parliament that they would not have pass or which at a distance they foresaw might be hurtful to their practices they vigorously opposed it or by shams evasions scruples started in the heat of debate and the like arts got it put off till another time If the greater number of Voices were against them they brought in some other Bill over head and shoulders that might invalidate the former and elude the intention thereof If they contrived any thing that might give suspicion to their Adversaries or that they despaired to obtain in a full House they send the Presbyterians of an Errand into the Country either about real and urgent business or feigned necessities In the unavoidable absence or supine neglect of whom they got any thing voted and past with a nemine contradicente Nor did their private Clubs and Cabals a little promote their designes where having laid their heads together they took their best measures before hand how they should behave themselves in publick and what Province every one was to undertake By these and such-like arts that branch of the Rebels being advanced to no small power and separated as we said before from the Presbyterians under the name of Independents who would have no Head make head against them This Title did well quadrate to all the other Sects in general and was used by them because depending on the government of no National Church nor Civil Power they ordered all things relating to Doctrine and Church-Discipline in their private Congregations Not that most part of them had any concern for Religion but that that specious Profession giving a comprehensive latitude to all Sects Anabaptists Quakers Millenaries and all other Fanaticks they might swell the number and power of their Faction whom others in derision called the Holy Brethren a name they themselves affected Nevertheless that they might enlarge their Party and by a hypocritical humanity and readiness to condescend hook in the good will of many they sollicitously strike in with men of all Perswasions and by allurements suitable to their tempers feel their Pulses To the godly they promise Reformation of Divine Worship sweeten the Preachers with the hopes of the Revenues of the Bishops Deans and Chapters and of establishing Presbytery by Law allowing still liberty to tender Consciences do really grant indemnity to Hereticks and Schismaticks draw in the Ambitious by honour and titles feeding the Covetous with money under the notion of Pensions or Rewards for good services they threaten the Obnoxious protect Malefactors and in a word no man resolutely opposed them but was by Emissaries and Spies whom they had in all places Letters intercepted misinterpreted words and actions brought into suspicion and danger Whoever they admitted into their friendship and service though the most infamous and flagitious wretch living yet in all things they protected him and amongst others the Speaker of the House of Commons who being a man for their turn when he was accused of Bribery they brought him off gave him money and gain'd him to their Party as one that would be no less serviceable to them for all that and the more faithful to their Party as he was the more obnoxious and guilty They tamper also with the Earl of Essex who being dejected by his defeat in Cornwall they thought might be grown more tractable and therefore they put it to him if he would for the future be for a down-right Commonwealth Upon which condition they promise To put him at the head of a new Army to be payed monthly and supplied with Ammunition and all necessary Provisions But he refusing it was said that the same Conditions were privately offered to other Noblemen not that they had any respect for the Lords whom shortly they intended to turn out and to level with the Commoners but that they might poyson them with their own venom and rise to greater authority by drawing more over to their side But they being of a contrary mind and more inclinable to the Kings Party no sooner rejected the offers but the Rebels cast their eyes upon another By a new and specious Ordinance whereby they said they would reform the Parliament and restore it to its integrity to which they gave the title of the Self-denying Ordinance they clipt the Presbyterians wings and confirmed their own strength For by this Ordinance it was provided that none of either House after a limited day should bear any Office Military or Civil whereby it was brought about that many of the emulous Faction were obliged to resigne the places they held This gives them a fair opportunity of altering the whole Civil State and new modelling the Army as they called it to the administration of which the Candidates of that Faction are for the most part preferred nor could some Republican Lords long refrain from the ambition of the rest hunting after all opportunities of Preferment and turning the Self-denying Ordinance into an Act of pure Self-love Essex who suited not so well with their temper being laid aside they give the command of the Army to Sir Thomas Fairfax onely Son to Fardinand Lord Fairfax a valiant man indeed and of a good natural disposition but easie and forward to undertake and execute any thing that he was put upon as a sure Tool to work the effect which was designed by the hand that managed it wherefore he was the more readily chosen by both Parties To him they joyn Cromwel with the Title of Lieutenant-General but with intention of being his Governour by whom some Officers at first desired onely to be commanded for a time though afterwards contrary to the intent of the Self-denying Ordinance they were established and commissionated by authority of Parliament This last having wholly run out his Estate which was not very great resolved to trade in Religion for repairing his broken Fortune and for that end became the Ringleader and Stickler for the Schismaticks and by means of these he was chosen a Member of Parliament Would you see him painted to the life in his natural colours and such as his own Party have drawn him in in their publick Writings He was a great Master in Hypocrisie and Dissimulation who lifting up his eyes to Heaven and laying his hand upon his breast would invoke the Name of God weep pray and bewail his sins till he stabb'd him he spoke to under the fifth rib I mention not his Ambition Avarice and Pride which the Republicans who were before his Brethren and Companions afterwards openly charged him with The Colonels Captains and inferiour Officers are for the most part chosen from among the Schismaticks or those that were no great enemies unto them In the mean while Cromwel's Son-in-law and his other Relations and Friends have the chief Commands in the Army bestowed upon them These having got so fair
both of a Christian and a King and will patiently wait the good pleasure of Almighty God to incline the hearts of his two Houses to consider their King and compassionate their fellow-Subjects miseries The King having delivered this Answer sealed up to be carried to the Parliament the Earl of D. who hankered too much after the Oligarchick Republicans desired it to be opened again that the Commissioners might be acquainted with what they brought back as he said was fitting they being Commissioners and not Posts or Couriers though no such thing was contained in their publick instructions he having past his promise that no prejudice should therefrom accrew to the King But so soon as the King to satisfie them had read over his Answer himself without any respect had to their faith and promise they confine the best of Princes to closer imprisonment in â—arisborough-Castle where then he was They put from him all his Servants except some new comers and enemies whom they placed about his person rather in derision and as a Guard than for attending and serving him And that he might not have the use of the least bit of Paper secretly conveyed to him by any Messenger they set Sentinels at all the entries at the doors and windows of his Chamber The Oligarchick Rebels Cromwel and the other Commanders of the Army being resolved to pursue their designe the Kings Answer wrought no good effect in the Parliament yet the emulation of the Democratick Republicans and of the Adjutators for some time put a stop to their proceedings That they might suppress this Party of whom they had now enough a general muster of the Forces is appointed amongst whom one whole Regiment having got the Democratical Proposals which they termed the Ordinance of the People put into writing they carried the Paper as a signal in their hats the Oligarchick Republicans by their sollicitations had gained one or two Regiments and the rest of the Army consisted of both Parties promiscuously jumbled together The chief Commanders who were of the first as the inferiour were of the other Party drawing together into a ring they command the private Souldiers to throw away their Paper-signals which when they refused to do according as they had laid the designe they break in amongst them and pulling out some of the more sawcy fellows of the Regiment they cause them presently to be shot to death which made the rest throw away their Badges and submit to the pleasure of the Generals This danger being over they began to publish the villany they had so long concealed to rail openly against the King in the House make Speeches exhort the other Members and to contrive four Interdicts rather than Votes whereby 1. It is resolved That the Lords and Commons do declare that they will make no further Addresses or Applications to the King 2. That no Application or Address be made to the King by any person whatsoever without leave of both Houses 3. That the person or persons that shall make breach of this Order shall incur the penalties of High-Treason 4. That the Lords and Commons do declare that they will receive no more any Message from the King to both or either Houses of Parliament or to any other person But neither were these carried in the House of Commons without tricks and the usual artifices For before any mention was made of these Propositions in the House fourty or fifty leading-men who for the most part would have withstood those attempts are sent into their several Counties upon pretext of raising money to pay off the Souldiers that by their absence fewer opposing and the greater part of the House being packt the matter might be easily carried Nevertheless this execrable motion made to the scandal of mankind of abjuring their King was debated to and again from ten in the morning until seven at night and had not after all found the Votes rather tired out than perswaded unless the chief of the Oligarchick Party had given them hopes that they would attempt nothing worse against the King The three last Votes past in the space of half an hour with much precipitation whilst the Factious got into the places of the dissenting Members who had withdrawn out of the House to take a little refreshment However the Vpper House was more hardly brought over to an assent for there the Debate lasted many days until Commissioners coming from the Army upon pretext of thanking the Lower House for those Votes and protesting the Army would protect the Commons therein threatned the Lords if they persisted to oppose them and shortly after whilst they still delayed forced them out of fear to consent two Regiments of Souldiers being sent into Westminster-hall under colour of a Guard to the Lower House but in reality to awe the dissenting Lords This having terrified the three or four Lords that met who at that time often usurped to themselves the authority of the Upper House many stealing out of the way they agree to the Votes of the House of Commons And then Commissioners were likewise sent from the Army to thank the Lords for that good service done to the Kingdom and solemnly to assure them in name of the whole Army That they would maintain and defend the Rights and Priviledges of the Vpper House The Reader may be pleased to observe what Cloak Cromwel used for this perfidiousness This Blade whilst he was praying that Almighty God would be pleased to prosper his endeavours in raising again the King to the Throne and Majesty of his Ancestors here the words stuck between his teeth so that he could not utter one word more which he interpreting as a signe of Gods displeasure concluded the King to be rejected of God But to others he roundly expressed himself That it was lawful to circumvent a wicked deceiver by craft and deceit After this comes out a Proclamation by authority of the House of Commons wherein the sticklers both for Oligarchy and Democracy who agreed very well together against the King declare the Reasons that enclined them to pass those Votes of none Addresses to his Majesty This they stuff with all the Calumnies that were raised against the King by the Clubs and Conferences of his lewdest enemies or by uncertain Rumours spread abroad by themselves to which they adde other Aspersions which though they had been bawled over and over again in the House yet were found not to have had the least shadow of truth and were onely invented and exaggerated to create greater hatred They cause this infamous Libel to be sent about into all the Parishes of the Kingdom being secure that no body durst or indeed could undergo the danger of answering it since all the Presses were narrowly watched The Ministers are commanded to read it to the people in the Church and to preach as well as they could in praise of it And that they might be the
Lloyd now called Sir Rich. Lloyd Mr. David Jenkins Sir George Strode George Carteret Esq now called Sir Geo. Carteret Sir Charles Dallison Kt. Richard Lane Esq now called Sir Rich. Lane Sir Edward Nicholas John Ashburnham Esq Sir Edward Herbert Kt. his Majesties Attorney-General Lord Rae George Gourdon sometime Marquess of Huntly James Graham sometime Earl of Montross Robert Dalyell sometime Earl of Carnewath James Gordon sometime Viscount of Aboyne Lodowick Linsey sometime Earl of Crawford James Ogley sometime Earl of Airby Alester Madonald Gordon Younger of Gight Col. John Cockram Graham of Gorthie Mr. John Maxwell sometime pretended Bishop of Ross And all such others as being processed by the Estates for Treason shall be condemned before the Act of Oblivion be passed 2 Qualification All Papists and Popish Recusants who have been now are or shall be actually in Arms or voluntarily assisting against the Parliaments or Estates of either Kingdom and by name The Marquess of Winton Edward Earl of Worcester Lord Brudnell Carell Mollinex Esq Lord Arundel of Warder Sir Francis Howard Sir John Winter Sir Charles Smith Sir John Prestan Sir Bazil Brooke Lord Audley Earl of Castlehaven in the Kingdom of Ireland William Shelden of Beely Esquire Sir Henry Beddingfield 3 Qualification All persons who have had any hand in the plotting designing or assisting the Rebellion of Ireland except such persons who having onely assisted the said Rebellion have rendred themselves or come into the Parliament of England 4 Qualification That Humfrey Bennet Esq Sir Edward Ford. Sir John Penruddock Sir George Vaughan Sir John Weld Sir Robert Lee. Sir John Pate John Ackland Edmond Windham Esq Sir John Fitzharbert Sir Edw. Lawrence Sir Ralph Dutton Henry Lingen Esq Sir Hen. Fletcher Sir Rich. Minshall Laurence Halestead John Denham Esq Sir Edmund Fortescue Peter Sainthill Esq Sir Tho. Tildisley Sir Hen. Griffith Michael Wharton Esq Sir Hen. Spiller Mr. Geo. Benyon now called Sir Geo. Benyon Sir Edw. Walgrave Sir Edw. Bishop Sir William Russell of Worcestershire Thomas Lee of Adlington Esq Sir John Girlington Sir Paul Neale Sir William Thorold Sir Edward Hussey Sir Tho. Lyddell Sen. Sir Philip Musgrave Sir John Digby of Nottinghamshire Sir Robert Owseley Sir John Many Lord Cholmley Sir Tho. Aston Sir Lewis Dives Sir Peter Osbourne Samuel Thornton Esq Sir John Lucas John Claney Esq Sir Tho. Chedle Sir Nicholas Kemish Hugh Lloyd Esq Sir Nicholas Cripse Sir Peter Ricaut And all such of the Scottish Nation as have concurred in the Votes at Oxford against the Kingdom of Scotland and their proceedings or have sworn or subscribed the Declaration against the Convention and Covenant and all such as have assisted the Rebellion in the North or the Invasion in the South of the said Kingdom of Scotland or the late Invasion made there by the Irish and their Adherents be removed from his Majesties Councils and be restrained from coming within the Verge of the Court and that they may not without the advice and consent of both Houses of the Parliament of England or the Estates in the Parliament of Scotland respectively bear any Office or have any Employment concerning the State or Commonwealth And in case any of them shall offend therein to be guilty of High-Treason and incapable of any pardon from his Majesty and their Estates to be disposed as both Houses of the Parliament of England or the Estates of the Parliament in Scotland respectively shall think fit And that one full third part upon full value of the Estates of the persons aforesaid made incapable of Employment as aforesaid be employed for the payment of the publick Debts and Damages according to the Declaration Branch 1. That the late Members or any who pretended themselves late Members of either House of Parliament who have not onely deserted the Parliament but have also sate in the unlawful Assembly at Oxford called or pretended by some to be a Parliament and voted both Kingdoms Traytors and have not voluntarily rendred themselves before the last of October 1644. be removed from his Majesties Councils and be restrained from coming within the Verge of the Court. And that they may not without advice and consent of both Kingdoms bear any Office or have any Employment concerning the State or Commonwealth And in case any of them shall offend therein to be guilty of High-Treason and incapable of any pardon by his Majesty and their Estates to be disposed as both Houses of Parliament in England or the Estates of the Parliament of Scotland respectively shall think fit Branch 2. That the late Members or any who pretended themselves Members of either House of Parliament who have sate in the unlawful Assembly at Oxford called or pretended by some to be a Parliament and have not voluntarily rendred themselves before the last of October 1644. be removed from his Majesties Councils and restrained from coming within the Verge of the Court and that they may not without the advice and consent of both Houses of Parliament bear any Office or have any Employment concerning the State or Commonwealth And in case any of them shall offend therein to be guilty of High-Treason and incapable of any pardon from his Majesty and their Estates to be disposed as both Houses of the Parliament of England shall think fit Branch 3. That the late Members or any who pretended themselves Members of either House of Parliament who have deserted the Parliament and adhered to the Enemies thereof and have not rendred themselves before the last of October 1644. be removed from his Majesties Councils and be restrained from coming within the Verge of the Court and that they may not without the advice and consent of both Houses of Parliament bear any Office or have any Employment concerning the State or Commonwealth And in case any of them shall offend therein to be guilty of High-Treason and incapable of any pardon from his Majesty and their Estates to be disposed as both Houses of Parliament in England shall think fit 5 Qualification That all Judges and Officers towards the Law Common or Civil who have deserted the Parliament and adhered to the Enemies thereof be incapable of any place of Judicature or Office towards the Law Common or Civil And that all Serjeants Counsellors and Attorneys Doctors Advocates Proctors of the Law Common or Civil who have deserted the Parliament and adhered to the Enemies thereof be incapable of any practice in the Law Common or Civil either in publick or private and shall not be capable of any preferment or employment in the Commonwealth without the advice and consent of both Houses of Parliament And that no Bishop or Clergy-man no Master or Fellow of any Colledge or Hall in either of the Universities or elsewhere or any Master of School or Hospital or any Ecclesiastical person who hath deserted the Parliament and adhered to the Enemies thereof shall hold or enjoy or be capable of any preferment or employment in Church or Common-wealth
ablest Parliamentarian Politicians and Divines of the whole Kingdom In managing the Conference the King alone with such incredible Prudence and Eloquence sifted and bafled all their strongest Arguments with so great lenity and readiness of condescension granted their Demands even when he had made it appear they were unreasonable so far as with Honour and a safe Conscience he could that he ravished them all into admiration of him and which was an Argument of a supernatural Wit he brought over the Commissioners who were his most inveterate enemies even against their will to his Opinion though their Employment and the danger of their heads obliged them against their Conscience to continue in opposition to him Without doubt in this as in all things else he gave a glorious proof of his Fatherly goodness in that with his own loss and prejudice onely he would gladly have redeem'd his people from the havock and miseries of War The Conference had for some time been taken up in composing affairs when of a sudden news is brought to the Parliament that the Marquess of Ormond was arrived in Ireland to govern that Kingdom in quality of Lord Deputy by authority from the King and that he was to settle a Peace there upon the best conditions he could as also to levy an Army for delivering the King out of prison Upon this Letters are sent to the Commissioners in the Isle of Wight with instructions to demand of the King that he would recal Ormond's Commission and turn him out of that authority which was somewhat uneasie to the Pacificators In the mean while report is made to the Parliament by piece-meals of what was transacted in the Conference where many with a mind as averse as the Kings was inclinable to peace quible at and censure the least punctilio of every thing unless all were condescended to in every tittle according to their own words and prescribed form for they were afraid which some of them openly professed that the Propositions being fully granted and no more place left for Animosity or Grievance they might if not by force from the people yet out of shame be compelled to conclude a Peace in good earnest which they onely desired in shew For the the King having contrary to the opinion of all condescended to many things had not onely admitted the subject matter but also the scrupulosities and niceties of words To the Preface which aimed not so much at the publick Peace as the branding of himself and his party with a note of Ignominy he would not consent but with this clause That nothing in that Conference should be taken for granted unless all were aagreed upon in general He agreed to the Ist Proposition of recalling the Declarations to the XVIth of the Forces the XIXth of the government of Ireland the XVth of the payment of publick Debts Provided these Debts were stated within the space of two years to the XVIIth of anulling Titles of Honours the XIXth of the chief Magistrates of the Kingdom the XIXth of the Great Seal the XIXth of the Priviledges of London Of the Court of Wards provided he had an hundred thousand pound a year paid him in lieu of it In all these points he made himself an easie prey to the avarice and ambition of others and that he might render the Kingdom more peaceable to others he even suffered it to be snatched out of his own hands He gave his consent to all the Articles of the IIId Proposition except one concerning Bishops and their Revenues yet in that he was not altogether wanting to the desires of the Parliament for whatever did not plainly appear to be of Divine Institution he allowed might be abrogated so that he suffered Archiepiscopacy to be abolished Episcopal Jurisdiction also that is the exercise of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction and the state and priviledge of holding Ecclesiastical Courts but he would not suffer the power of conferring Orders and administring Church-censures as being Apostolical to be altered and lessened But at length the little Rabbies of the Assembly and Pacificators interweaving with the other Arguments which he could better refute that of invincible Necessity and promising privately that if he would consent to these at present they would hereafter enlarge his Bonds as also giving him hopes that the Parliament would condescend to him in other matters provided in this he would remit somewhat of his strictness of Conscience he consents that for the space of three years Orders shall not be conferred by the Bishops without the consent of Presbyters nay that the power of Ordaining shall be suspended until twenty Divines of his chusing and an Assembly called by the Parliament do meet determine and settle the Government of the Church to which he promised to acquiesce if the Parliament would do the like In the mean time he is not against it but that Presbytery may be setled for a tryal Abhorring the thought of Sacriledge he would not suffer Bishops and Church-lands to be divided and alienated from the Church but permitted them to be let out by lease for ninety nine years paying a small yearly rent for the maintenance of the Bishops and as a token of their Tenure provided after the expiring of the Lease they should return to the Crown to be employed for the use of the Church which in the mean time he was firmly resolved to redeem with his money and to restore them to the Church-men to whom in right they belonged Nor would he being mindful of his Friends amidst his own dangers consent to the XVIIIth Proposition concerning Delinquents but he allowed I. That they might be moderately fined II. That they may be debarred from the Kings presence and coming to Court that some of them also may be banished but not as Traitors nor yet to lose their Lives and Estates if they act to the contrary III. That for three years they be excluded from sitting in Parliament IV. That they might be brought to tryal if it were thought fit and be condignly punished if they had acted any thing against the known Laws of England which certainly favoured the Kings Party But he thought it unjust that any man should be punished for his Loyalty to him according to the dictates of his Conscience and the municipal Laws by a Law made ex post facto Yet he condescended to other Articles of the same Proposition upon this condition that pious and learned Church-men free from scandal might enjoy a third of their Livings and not be totally deprived of the liberty of preaching He could not as he said recal the Authorities which he had given to the Marquess of Ormond at the very time when himself was confined to prison The Parliament agreed with him in the rest which succeeding then according to the Concessions in the XIXth Proposition the Parliament should have the sole administration of the affairs of Ireland In the mean time however he wrote to the Marquess of Ormond
and scornfully raze out of their Journal as an Act unworthy of Parliament New Orders in place of the former pass in this House of Commons whereby they invade the Government by Votes which before they had snatched by Arms. They first vote That all Power resides in the People Secondly That that Power belongs to the Peoples Representatives meaning themselves in the House of Commons Thirdly That the Votes of the Commons have the force of a Law without the consent of the King or House of Lords a plain Horatian Law that what the lowest Order of the People enacteth binds the whole body of them Fourthly That to take Arms and make War against the Representatives of the People or the Parliament is High-Treason Fifthly That the King himself took up Arms against the Parliament and that therefore he is guilty of all the bloud shed in this Civil War that so they might seem to excuse themselves of the Villany and ought by his own bloud to expiate it These were the Preludes to that most horrid and abominable Villany I tremble to mention it which it behoved them to bring about by degrees for trusting now to their great power which indeed was as great as they thought fit to take to themselves they had the boldness to erect a new Tribunal of most abject wretches against the King to which they give the name of the High Court of Justice thinking that its name might procure it reverence In this Mock-Court they appoint an hundred and fifty Judges that they might in number at least represent the people the most factious Sticklers of the whole Faction to whom they give power of arraigning trying judging and condemning Charles Stuart King of England In the number of these they appoint six Earls out of the House of Lords and the Judges also of the Kingdom lately chosen by themselves But the greater part consist of the Commanders of the Army who first conspired the murder of the King and the Members of the House of Commons who were the most inveterate enemies to Monarchy The rest were Rascals raked out of the Kennel of London or the Neighbourhood Amongst these some were Coblers Brewers Silversmiths and other Mechanicks the greater part were Bankrupt Spend-thrifts Debauchees and Whoremasters who nevertheless by the Disciples of the Sect were called Saints Nay there was none of them but did expect impunity for his cheating the Publick Sacriledge Bribery and other enormous Crimes or did hope to glut his Avarice with the Kings Revenue Houses Furniture or gainful places to be conferred upon him for so bold an attempt or in a word that was not drawn in and allured up to the horrid fact by the tamperings threats and promises of Cromwel Ireton and the other Commanders of the Army In the mean time there was hardly any regard had to the Lords and it was commonly believed that being now terrified by so many and so great dangers they would of their own accords absent from the House except four or five that were slaves to that Republican Faction The Rebels thought that the authority of these was sufficient to confirm any attempt whatsoever as they had already oftener than once experienced Nor indeed were their hopes altogether frustrated However when the matter came to the push their luck proved somewhat worse than they expected for a few Lords used daily to come to the House but that day when the Bill for trying the King was to be brought to the Lords House for their consent unexpectedly seventeen Lords were present who all not excepting those who favoured the Republicans not onely deny their consent but cast the Bill over the Bar as destructive and contrary to Law This inraged the Oligarchick Rebels and put them upon thoughts of revenge taking it hainously that so publick an affront and disgrace had been put upon them However at present they thought it enough to dash all the Lords out of the number of the Kings Judges By and by also the Judges of the Kingdom were struck out of that black List because being privately asked their opinions in that affair though through the interest of this Faction they had been lately by authority of Parliament raised to their places they had answered That it was against the known and received Laws and Customs of England to bring the King to a Tryal For a President of this Court who might match it in fame and reputation they pitch upon one John Bradshaw a base-born broken Pettifogger a fellow of a brazen forehead and an insolent and sawcy tongue who a little before was of no value amongst those of his own Gang. One Cooke they make Attorney-General a fellow of the same stamp poor guilty as was reported of Polygamy who had plaid a thousand tricks and cheats to get Bread and now was ready to do any villany in hopes of profit They privately consult for some days about the matter and form of the Arraignment or the manner of perpetrating the Villany where in drawing the Kings Indictment one Dorislaus a Doctor of the Laws a German who was either banished or had fled his Country took the greatest pains In the mean time all the Presbyterian Ministers of London in a manner and more out of several Counties yea and some out of the Independents also declare against the thing in their Sermons from the Pulpit in Conferences monitory Letters Petitions Protestations and publick Remonstrances They earnestly beg That contrary to so many dreadful Imprecations and Oaths contrary to publick and private Faith confirmed by Declarations and Promises contrary to the Law of Nations the Word of God and sacred Rules of Religion nay and contrary to the welfare of the State they would not defile their own hands and the Kingdom with Royal Bloud The Scots by their Commissioners protest against it The Embassadours of the States General of the Vnited Provinces if they faithfully perform'd their Masters Orders intercede Some English Noblemen to wit the Earl of Southampton the Duke of Richmond the Marquess of Hertford and Earl of Lyndsey c. do what lies in their power they neither spare prayers nor money offer themselves as Hostages or if the Republicans demanded it their lives as being onely guilty if the King had offended in any thing The people whisper their rage for that was all they could now do hardly restraining their unarmed fury Our present King then Prince CHARLES used all means to assist his Father in this danger Besides the Embassadours of the States General whom he had procured to be sent he daily dispatched Agents as well from the Prince of Orange as himself and such as were Relations Kinsmen and Friends to Cromwel Ireton and the rest of the Conspirators who being warranted with full power might by prayers promises threats or what arguments they judged fit either disswade them from that unparallel'd Barbarity or at least for
some time prevail with them to delay the execution of the Villany Nor was Bradshaw the bloudy President secure from violent hands for one Burghill armed with sword and pistol watched him one night behind Gray's Inn-gate when he was to come home late but missing of his designe that night because Bradshaw did not come home next day being betrayed by one Cooke to whom he had discovered the matter he was brought before the Parricides However his Guards being drunk finding an occasion of an escape he saved his own life having onely laid in wait for another mans But all was in vain for the Rebels slighting these things pretend Gods providence and the motions of the Holy Ghost for their warrant and security Peters a brazen-faced Hypocrite who being disgracefully whipt out of Cambridge ever after that clove close to the Schismaticks bids them from the Pulpit Go on and prosper that now was the time When the Saints should bind Princes in chains and their Nobles with fetters of iron so lewdly did that profane Knave interpret holy Scripture telling them That they need not question but this Prophecy was to be fulfilled by them and in the Sermon he addresses himself to the holy Judges the title he thought fit to give them and protests that he was certain there were in the Army five thousand men no less Saints than those that conversed with God himself in Heaven Then kneeling in the Pulpit with flouds of forced tears and lifted up hands he earnestly begs in the name of the People of England That they would do Justice against CHARLES and not suffer Benhadad the enemy to escape Nay he most insolently inveighed against Monarchy it self and straining his virulent wit he relates the History How the Trees chusing a King and the Vine and Olive-tree refusing the office they submitted themselves to the sharper government of the bramble and compared Kingly government to briars By such kind of Arguments he stirs up and confirms those new Judges who of their own nature were already but too much enraged and fiercely bent against the King There was another besides Peters the Preacher an Herald one Serjeant Dendy also employed who being environed with a Guard of Horse for fear of being stoned by sound of Trumpet cited all those to appear who had any crime to object against the King and this he did first in Westminster-hall and then in the most publick places of the City Before these Judges of the new Court the most August Charles already stript of three most flourishing Kingdoms by the Rebels and having now no more but Life to be deprived of is brought without the least signe in his countenance of any discomposure of mind His indictment is read wherein he is accused In the name of the People of England of Treason Tyranny Murders and of all Rapines that were occasioned by the War with the highest aggravations of the Crimes But the whole stress of the Indictment lay in this That he had made War against the Parliament which the Army under the Parliaments pay had long ago trampled under foot scarcely any shadow of it remaining Great was the company of Spectators who with groans sighs and tears lamented the condition of the best of Princes Nor without injustice can I pass over the brave action of the heroick Lady Fairfax Daughter to the Lord Vere who out of a Belcony that lookt into the Court cried out publickly That that was a lye that the tenth part of the People was not guilty of that Villany but that it was a contrivance of the Traytor Cromwel And this she did with great danger of her life The King having heard this Indictment with a majesty in his looks and words that cannot be exprest puts the question to those new Judges By what Authority they brought their King to the Bar contrary to the publick Faith which was very lately made to him when he entered into a Conference with the Members of both Houses By what lawful Authority said he emphatically He knew indeed there were many unlawful and powerful Combinations of men in the world as of Thieves and Robbers by the High-ways He desires they would tell him by what Authority they had taken that Power such as it was upon them and he would be willing to answer but if they could not he bids them think well upon it before they go farther from one sin to a greater That he had a Trust committed to him by God by an ancient and lawful Descent and that he would not betray it by answering to a new and unlawful Authority The President replying That he was brought to answer in the name of the People of England of which he was elected King The King made answer That England was never an Elective Kingdom but an Hereditary Kingdom for near these thousand years That he did stand more for the liberty of the People by rejecting their usurped Power than any of them that came to be his pretended Judges did by supporting it That he did not come there as submitting to the Court That he would stand as much for the Priviledge of the House of Commons as any man there whatsoever but that he saw no House of Lords there that might together with a King constitute a Parliament That if they would shew him a legal authority warranted by the Word of God the Scriptures or warranted by the Constitutions of the Kingdom he would answer for that he did avow that it was as great a sin to withstand lawful Authority as it is to submit to a tyrannical or any ways unlawful Authority The President in the mean time often interrupted him and at length commanding him to be carried back to Prison Yet was the good King a second and a third time brought before the Bar of the Common People where the President puts him in mind of his Indictment and commands him to answer to the Articles brought against him or otherways to listen to his sentence But the King still protested against the Authority of the Court affirming That his life was not so dear to him as his Honour Conscience the Laws and the Liberties of the People which that they might not perish all at once there were great reasons why he could not make his defence before those Judges nor acknowledge a new form of Judicature for what power had ever Subjects or by what Laws was it granted them to erect a Court against their King That it could not be warranted by Gods Laws which on the contrary command obedience to Princes not by the Laws of the Land since by them no Impeachment can lie against the King they all going in his name nor do they allow the House of Commons the power of judging the meanest Subject of England And that lastly that pretended Power could not flow from any Authority or Commission from the People since they had never asked the question of the
tenth man he might have said of the thousandth of the Kingdom The President interrupting him again as before takes him up now more insolently bids him be mindful of his condition tells him that the Court is sufficiently satisfied and do affirm their own Jurisdiction and that no Reasons were to be heard that declined the Authority of the Court But shew me that Court answered the King where Reason is not to be heard We shew it you here replied the President and the next time you come you 'll know more of their pleasure But the King urged That at least he might be permitted to give in his Reasons in writing to which if they could give him satisfaction he would not decline their Jurisdiction Here the President not satisfied to deny his modest suit but falling also into a heat commanded the Prisoner to be carried away who made no other return but this Remember it is your King whom you refuse to hear it will be in vain for my Subjects to expect Justice from you when you will not hear your King make his lawful defence Now the King is the fourth time brought before this unjust Court of Justice where the President in his Scarlet-robe bitterly taxes the King of Contumacy and runs out in commendation of the Patience of the Court He bids him at length submit to the Court or to expect his Sentence But the King constantly refuses to plead before them telling them however That he had something to say that concerned the Peace of the Kingdom and the Liberty of the Subject wherein he desires to be heard before the Lords and Commons Yet they refuse to grant him that favour which is not wont to be denied to men of the meanest condition pretending it would delay and put a stop to Justice To which the King replied That it would be better to admit the delay of a day or two than to hasten a Sentence that might bring on that trouble and perpetual inconvenience to the Kingdom that the Child that is unborn might repent it For if I had had said he respect to my Life more than the Peace of the Kingdom and the Liberties of the Subject certainly I should have made a particular defence for my self for by that at leastwise I might have delayed an ugly Sentence which I believe will pass upon me and that the Zeal to my Country had not overborn the care that I have of my own preservation I should have gone another way to work than I have done Now since a hasty Sentence once past may be sooner repented than recalled I desire that having something to say more for the Peace of the Kingdom and the Liberty of the Subject than for my own particular I may be heard before Sentence be given Upon which Colonel Downs one of the Judges being prickt in Conscience contrary to what had been privately agreed upon amongst the Judges desires that they may withdraw and debate that Proposal privately Though this extreamly vexed the President Cromwel and most of the rest yet that they might not seem publickly to quarrel among themselves they all withdraw into an adjoyning Chamber where Downs being paid off with flouts and jeers intermingled with no small threats they return wonderfully unanimous and agreeing into Court Then the President with the same inhumane barbarity that he began proceeds to Sentence having premised a long Speech wherein he aggravates the Contumacy of the King and the haynousness of the Crime he asserts the Power of Parliaments producing instances both foreign and domestick especially from Scotland how aptly the Scots are to look to it wherein the People have punished their Kings and that the Power of the People of England over their King was not less than that of other Nations that the King's guilt was greater than that of all others seeing that according to the wish of Caligula he had endeavoured to have cut off the head of the whole Nation by undertaking a War against the Parliament Having ended his Harangue he orders the Sentence to be read in these words That whereas the Commons of England in Parliament had appointed them an High Court of Justice for the trying of Charles Steuart King of England before whom he had been three times convented and at first time a Charge of High-Treason and other Crimes and Misdemeanours was read in the behalf of the Kingdom of England c. Which Charge being read unto him as aforesaid he the said Charles Steuart was required to give his Answer but he refused so to do c. For all which Treasons and Crimes the Court doth adjudge That he the said Charles Steuart as a Tyrant Traytor Murderer and a publick Enemy shall be put to death by severing his Head from his Body The Sentence being pronounced sixty seven Judges that were present as lifted up by the conscience of the Villany they had conspired in at the desire of the President the thing having been privately concerted stand up and confirm the same the rest amongst whom was Fairfax for the horrour of the Crime not daring to be present Then was his sacred Majesty hurried away by the Souldiers to be by them most like to his Saviour scoffed at before he suffered who laying aside all reverence to the name of a King as if they led their Captive in triumph with cruel barbarity the aforesaid Peters setting them on whereas in the beginning they cry'd Justice Justice so now they cry Execution Execution like the Jews of old Crucifie him Crucifie him They spit upon his Clothes as he passed by nay one or two had the boldness to spit in his majestick face which one of his Judges a Colonel took notice of to many then present commending the bravery of his Souldiers and more beheld with horrour They blew the smoak of Tobacco a thing which they knew his Majesty hated in his sacred mouth throwing their broken Pipes in his way as he passed along They also enjoyn inhumane rudeness to others beating those who with a hat or bow saluted him as he passed nay whilst one more compassionate than the rest sighing said God have mercy upon him they knockt him down dead Rushing into his Chamber both by day and by night they allowed him no retirement nor any private discourse not so much as with his Chaplain When with much ado they had suffered one Bishop onely I mean of London to have access unto him with loud laughing they interrupt him in paying his Devotions according to the Rite of the Church of England and even then when he was preparing for his last they disturb him with scoffs and frivolous and impertinent Questions But he with great presence of mind whilst they cried out Justice and Execution turning to those that were about him said Alas poor Souls for a piece of money they would do so for their Commanders Wiping off the Spittle when they spit upon him all that
to death Out comes presently an Ordinance under pain of High-Treason That no man should presume to declare CHARLES STEUART commonly called Prince of Wales King And as if this had been but a small matter That no man should pray for CHARLES the Second under the name of Prince of Wales King of Scotland or eldest Son of the King or for the Duke of York or any of the Royal Family under pain of Sequestration Monarchy and the House of Lords being both abolished the first under pretext of change uselesness and danger and the other both of uselesness and danger they make an Ordinance for changing the most ancient Government of England into a Democraty or Popular Commonwealth and because the Mayor of London refused to publish the Ordinance they turn him out of his Office fine him in two thousand pounds and commit him to the Tower notwithstanding his alleadging That such an act was to be performed by the Sheriffs and not the Mayor of London and that being bound by so many Oaths he could not in conscience do it A dull blockhead one of the Kings Judges was forthwith put into his place and that others upon account of conscience might not boggle at any of their commands they abolish the Oath which all men upon their entry into publick place were obliged to take to the Kings Majesty They purge the Common Council of the City which was wont to consist of the richer and graver Citizens and turn out many Aldermen making this their colour for it that the year before though at the desire of the major part of the Parliament They had signed the Petition for a personal Conference with the King and filled their places with the abject Riff-raff of the Rabble many of them very young and most of them broken fellows They also turn out the Recorder Town-Clerk and other Officers of the City who had refused to attend the Mayor at the publishing of the Ordinance for abolishing of Monarchy other factious Villains of their own Gang being preferred to their places who leading the other Citizens by the noses the City of London in a trice became obedient to the Orders of the Mock-Parliament With one single Vote they repeal all the ancient Laws made against Sects and Schisms They deprive the Ministers of the promised Revenues I mean of Deans and Chapters Lands They also make profession of easing tender Consciences from the burthen of Tythes assigning some thousands a year out of the Kings Revenue for Stipends and Salaries for the Preachers that so they might be at the beck of the Republicans and be at length by Office constrained with mutual Assistance and Pay to conspire against Monarchy Nay it was debated whether they should not for some time shut the Church-doors and restrain the licentiousness of Presbyterians but milder Councils prevailing some having been imprisoned others threatned with death all are commanded upon pain of Sequestration to refrain from Invectives and to comply with their Rulers in keeping Fasts and Thanksgiving-days and whatever else concerned the affairs of the Church They break down the Kings Arms and Statues that were set up in publick places and put up their own instead of them They coyn new money with the impression of a Cross and Harp as the Arms of England and Ireland In a word as by Law and in full right they invade and appropriate to themselves all the Regalia which as by way of Sequestration they had before usurped From henceforward without any regard to Justice and Honesty they spare neither Sex nor any Order of men The Kings Children who remained in England to wit the Lady Elizabeth and Henry Duke of Gloucester Princes of singular accomplishments of Nature are many ways basely used by them Amongst the Regicides it was moved oftener than once whether they had not better put her out Apprentice to a Trade that she might get her living than to breed her up in a lazy life at the charge of the Publick From the gentle tuition of the Earl of N. she is turned over to the severer discipline of another with orders that when there was no occasion for it she should not be treated as the Daughter of a King Afterward she was confined to Carisborough-Castle in the Isle of Wight under the custody of one Mildmay an inspired fool but implacable enemy to the Royal Family that she poor Lady thus put in mind of her Fathers Imprisonment and Murder being already consumptive might the sooner be brought to her end And indeed when through the irksomness of Prison Grief and Sickness she visibly and daily decayed and pined away the inhumane Traytors deny her the assistance of a Physician nay the Physician whose presence she earnestly desired they so frighten from his duty that he durst not wait upon her She being dead they send the Duke of Gloucester into banishment having allowed him a small piece of money that I may not omit any act of their humanity to carry him over into Flanders They basely treat the Countess of Carlisle by an usage unworthy of her Sex and Quality as being one who of too much a friend before was now become an Enemy and commit her to the Tower of London Duke Hamilton and the Earl of Holland who now too lately repented their having been the first of the Lords and chief of the Factious who for their own safety had too much served the times against the King and of the Royal Party the heroick Lord Capel a prime Champion both for his King and Country are by the same President Bradshaw who dyed red with Royal bloud knew not what it was to spare the bloud of other men in the same Court of Justice sentenced to lose their heads Whom the Rebels thought fit they banished and seized all Estates and Inheritances how large soever at their own discretion There was a debate amongst them about making a Law that whosoever was by them suspected to be an ill willer to the Commonwealth or an enemy to the Army might be brought to a tryal before a Council of War and sentenced by them as they thought fit Nay they order the stately Fabricks of the Royal Houses and Palaces to be thrown down that Kings for the future might not have a house of their own to cover their heads under God any stately Temples wherein he might be worshipped or the Kingdom any publick Structures to shew its magnificence St. Paul's Church in London that of Salisbury and the Kings house of Hampton-Court Fabricks that may compare for stateliness with the best of Europe with much ado escaped the fury of their desolating hands A Council of forty persons is erected which by a gentle name to the common people they call the Keepers of the Liberties who altogether or at least seven of the number had the full administration of the Commonwealth Amongst these were three or four contemptible Lords Slaves to the Republican Faction admitted of whom
Bradshaw was made Head with the Title of Lord President and a yearly Salary of two thousand pounds as the price of Regicide Moreover a Writing is commanded to be taken by all whereby they were bound to approve whatsoever the Rebels had acted against the King and Kingdom Yet when many had refused to take it they were nevertheless admitted upon this condition That with their lives and fortunes they should maintain and defend for the future the State and Mock-Parliament in the same condition they were Henceforward none of the secluded Members nor of those who had withdrawn were admitted into the House unless they approved underhand the late Villanies Nevertheless they command all to appear against a certain day or otherways to be excluded for ever and others chosen in their places So that some for fear of Sequestration and I know not what hurt and damage they were apprehensive of others out of hopes of profit to be got in publick changes by a base temporizing strike in with the Republican Vsurpers and are admitted into a share of the labour and danger but not of the Government About the same time the secluded Members meet in Lincolns-Inne to consult together and take the advice of S. a Lawyer what was fittest to be done in the present state of affairs But he readily gave his opinion that the late changes were made against the tenor of the Laws the Customs and Interest of the Country and the Dictates of right Reason and that no commerce could be kept with the Usurpers without the guilt and horrid crime of Treason and indeed he frightened many of the Members from coming to the House who could never afterward be brought to joyn in council with the Regicides Nevertheless within a few days he himself became a leading-man in the Rebel-Parliament and the Council of the Keepers of the Liberties and submitted to their Authority nay and did not reject the place of Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas conferred upon him by the same men though the King before the Troubles had honoured him with the title of his Attorney-General These things are carried on under pretext of speedy setling the State but in reality with designe to secure the Government to themselves to whom all the rest almost being cow'd into a submission the Popular Republicans onely resist These demand that the Representative so often desired and so often promised might be established by a free and equal election of the people the Rump of the Mock-Parliament being dismissed In Writings and Conferences they inveigh against the arbitrary dominion of the Vsurpers the High Court of Justice Council of State or of the Keepers of the Liberties as onely the softer names of a harder Tyranny nay they cry out against the Kings murder as unjust and committed against all Law and just Authority that the People had changed but not shaken off the Yoke that they had rather live ten years under the government of the worst of Kings than one year under their dominion that the loins of King Charles were lighter than their little finger So great force has truth as that it draws such Expressions even from the unwilling At length they flie to Arms and the private Souldiers especially the Troopers who formerly consented with them in most things being everywhere stirred up they at length begin to gather together in form of an Army But the Vsurpers who were never wanting to occasion obviate the beginnings and under pretext of composing Differences amongst honest men who minded the same things though they mutually entertained bad opinions one of another having corrupted and gained some of them to their Party they suddenly fall upon the rest and defeat them disarm the Prisoners and having caused the chief Authors of the Stirs to be shot and others to be punished more mildly they terrifie all the rest from disturbing for the future the Rulers either with cutting Truths or sharper Arms. The Vsurpers being fixed in the Saddle publish a Proclamation forbidding all men to accuse them of Tyranny to object any thing against them by word or in writing or to attempt any alteration under pain of High-Treason They appoint a solemn Thanksgiving-day to render publick thanks to God for their prosperous success against the Democraticks that so by mocking of God they might the more easily make the silly people rejoyce in their Calamities And the same day they are sumptuously feasted by the Mayor and Aldermen of London not without the Reproaches and Curses of almost all the Spectators where amidst the tears and miseries of a great many that perished by a famine that then raged they junket it deliciously Fairfax and Cromwel are complemented with splendid Presents of Gold and Silver And that the wretched Citizens might not seem to have lost all their labour in feeding these Ravens they bestow upon them the Kings new Park under colour of making them some recompence for their late Magnificence but in reality that the distracted men being allured by the sweetness of that morcel might be won over to their Party and wish well to the new Government Henceforward there is nothing to them sacred or holy They either distribute amongst themselves or sell at easie rates the Kings Houshold-furniture Lands and Houses the Revenues and Lands of the Church which belonged to the Deans and Chapters and which remained intire till now by the Votes of both Houses of Parliament for the use of the new Clergy or Presbyterian Ministry That by these arts they might both glut their own Avarice and by involving many in the same guilt with themselves make them firmer to their Faction Nor being yet satiated by the Crown and Church-lands and the Estates of the Noblemen and Gentlemen who disagreeing from them made up the far greater part of the Kingdom which they had seized long ago by way of Sequestration nor by the Goods and Chattels of those aforementioned whom they had plundered and the vast sums of money which those that had been for the King dayly paid for redeeming their Estates and purchasing favour they daily raise an incredible quantity of money from the Customs and the Excise a Tax which before would not have been endured in England Not to mention the secret Veins of Wealth I mean Bribes and Gifts which those that stood for Places or had business and Law-suits slipt privately into their pockets Nay they were not ashamed to flea the so-often fleeced people by a most heavy Imposition of ninety thousand pounds a month to pay the idle Souldiers However the spoils and government of one Kingdom was not enough to satisfie them they invade the Irish also that were ready to submit to the King whom whilst they were Rebels most part of them praised few at least did hostilely assault them promising themselves certain victory over them and hoping that Ireland being subdued they might easily reduce Scotland
the treachery of the Irish to deliver up to Jones Dublin with the whole Garrison and all that continued in their Duty From that time the Pope's Nuncio Commanded in Chief except in those places which were under Jones Coot and Monck which espoused the Party of the Rump-Parliament He took to himself the whole Power made Laws pronounced Judgments drew up and mustered Armies managed the War and imposed money with an absolute and despotick Authority But by this means he became both hated and despised so that having received one blow after another especially Preston's Forces being defeated by Jones he grew weak both in Men and Authority This opportunity was laid hold upon by Clanricard who Commanded one Army in Vlster and Taff who Commanded another in Munster who having consulted with Inchiqueen resolved upon it as the most expedient course to implore the Royal Assistance again Unite together into one and to send forthwith to the Queen and Prince of Wales to acquaint them with what they had done confessing that the Truce was not faithfully observed and discovering those by whose fault and instigation it was broken They moreover most humbly beg that the Marquess of Ormond may be sent over with Authority and Supplies and engage upon conditions which were not disliked by the King to fight under his Banner till the broken Forces of the Rump-Parliament should be utterly destroyed and his Majesty and they themselves fully restored to their former peace The Popes Nuncio suspecting that matters would fall out so and that the storm which his Government had raised would break over his own head forbids any farther Treaty threatens the Contraveeners with dire Punishments and at length strikes those that persisted in their purpose with the usual Weapon of Excommunication But that blunt Thunderbolt scared no body for they march against him and besiege him in the Town of Galloway Whilst in the mean time the Lord O-brian diverts the Succours that Ouen-Ro-Oneal designed to bring to his Party Then the Pope's Nuncio despairing of relief capitulated for a dishonourable Retreat and departed Whilst these matters were acting the Glorious King Charles the First Murdered by the Hands of Rebel Parricides Crowned his Death with Martyrdome Nevertheless the Marquess of Ormond being rid of that difficulty and having a new Commission and Instructions from King Charles the Second repairs to Corke and shortly after to Kilkenny where a Parliament or Convention of the States of Ireland was then kept and after long Debates on each side they came to a great many Articles of Agreement of which this was the substance After a Recognition whereby they owned his Majesty for Soveraign and lawful King of Ireland and that they would to the utmost defend him with their Lives and Fortunes they agree That the King should give the Irish free liberty of their Religion That if it seemed fit to the Deputies or Commissioners who were appointed to the number of eighteen a Parliament should be called within two Months wherein Papists as well as others should have liberty of free Voting and that the King shall confirm their Acts provided they be not grievous to Protestants All Acts and Decrees past since August 1641 that might be dishonorable to the Irish Nation shall be repealed That all Law Suits Sentences Actions or Processes commenced or determined since that time be wholly abolished and that the Irish be restored to the Lands and Estates whereof they had been dispossessed That all Impediments be removed that were wont to barr the Irish Papists from sitting in Parliament That all Debts be reckoned to be in the same state as they were in in the Year 1641 and that no body be molested nor troubled upon that account That the Lands of the Barons and Nobles in the Counties of Toumond Clare Tipperrary Limmerick Kilkenny and Wicklo be adjudged to the ancient Possessors and their Titles made good by new Acts. That Inns be Erected for the Students in Law wherever the Lord Lieutenant shall think convenient and where Degrees also in the Law may be taken as well as in England That Places and Titles of Honour and beneficial Offices may be free both to Papists and Protestants That the use and Exercise of Arms Commands and Governments may be in the power of the same and that during the War five thousand Irish Foot and two thousand Horse be kept in pay That the Court of Wards be abolished and in lieu of it twelve thousand pounds a year payed into the Kings Exchequer That no Peer have liberty to Vote by Proxy That the Nobles be obliged within five years to purchase Lands a Baron to the value of two hundred pounds a year a Viscount four hundred an Earl six hundred a Marquess eight hundred and a Duke a thousand That they may be free to treat of the independance of the Parliament of Ireland upon that of England That those of the Kings Privy-Council shall meddle with no Affairs but the Publick That Suits about Titles be referred to the Judges of the Kingdom to whom it belongs to try them That the Acts against the Exportation of Irish Wool Tallow and other Goods out of the Kingdom be repealed That they who have been under any pretext Fined or Punished in the County of Ulster since the first of King James shall be relieved according to Equity That the Inhabitants and Citizens of Corke Youghal and Dungarban be restored to their Possessions that they were turned out of in the beginning of the War provided they give Security for their Loyalty and that they shall not be troublesome to the Garrisons That an Act of Oblivion be past of all things before committed those excepted who stand guilty of Barbarous and Inhumane Crimes That it be lawful to none of the Nobles to Farm the Customes That Laws be made against Monopolies That the Jurisdiction of the Court called Castle-Chamber be moderated That the Law be abrogated which ordained That Horses should not draw the Plow by the Tail and that the Straw should not be burnt to separate the Corn from it That Law Suits about Sea Matters shall be decided in the Chancery of Ireland That for the future all Actions about the want of Title shall be suppressed if the owners have from ancient times possessed the Lands by any Right That also all Interest for Moneys since the beginning of the Troubles be discharged and that for the following years it exceed not five per Cent. a Year That the Deputies or Commissioners shall impose sufficient Taxes for carrying on the War both by Sea and Land either by way of Excise or any other way that they shall judge most convenient for the Publick That Justices of the Peace shall have Power to determine Suits under the value of ten Shillings That the Governours of the Popish Perswasion enjoy the Governments and Commands that they are at present in possession of That the Tenths of taken Ships and
Impositions upon Commodities shall remain in the hands of those to whom they have been granted until further order be taken about all these things That the Commission of Oyer and Terminer Grand Assizes and Goal-delivery shall have Power according to the standing Laws of punishing Murders Felony Thefts and Robberies until the twentieth of May following That Courts be established according to the Will and Pleasure of the Deputies or Commissioners in matters belonging to themselves That the Romish Priests who behave themselves modestly shall not at all be molested but shall enjoy the Salaries paid them by the Laicks for their maintenance and the enclosures of the ancient demolished Monasteries and Abbeys As to other matters that the King with consent of his Parliament shall order them For expeding of those Conditions the Papists chose about fifteen Deputies or Commissioners that as so many Mediators betwixt the King and the People they might bring back the Confirmation of them So dear did a frail and transitory Peace with Rebels cost the King But necessity is a prevalent Orator that perswades Men even to unbeseeming and many times to dishonourable Resolutions Nevertheless the Lord Lieutenant whether willingly or unwillingly agrees to these Articles And the Peace is instantly proclaimed by the Heralds But Ouen Ro-Oneal and the Native Irish that were on his side refused to acquiesce to these Conditions of Pacification under pretext that their Religion was not sufficiently secured Jones also and others find fault with the Commissions as too ample and as they gave it out unseasonable and that likewise they were patcht up with the King without the Authority of Parliament But the Lord Ards with the rest of the Scots who abominating the Rump-Parliament first favoured and then struck in with the Kings Party bestir themselves bravely in taking in the Castles and Garrisons which held out for the Rebels in Vlster The Lord Lieutenant being General in the mean time had many and great Affairs to mind Men Arms Money Ammunition and all Military Provisions are wanting which nevertheless were to be raised amongst Men of contrary Interests different Perswasions and who mutually hated one another The English indeed were of themselves ready to undergo any danger but they were but few in number and of bad Correspondence with the Irish by reason of their ancient Feuds and Animosities And suspecting their Courage no less than their Loyalty they decline to serve with them under the same Ensigns The Irish again being in a great part Treacherous Bloody and Perfidious divided amongst themselves into several Factions were more apt to sheathe their Swords in one anothers Bowels than to fight against the Common Enemy Nevertheless by his own Presence Wisdom Diligence and at his own Charges being assisted with seven or eight trusty Commanders he luckily mastered all these difficulties He found the Magazines of Ireland exhausted the Treasury empty and the Citizens and Inhabitants in whose Hands was all the money of the Kingdom very unwilling and sparing to contribute and the Roman Clergy opposing and undermining his Designs Wherefore in the beginning he got together a small Army which being increased in number by the conjunction of Inchiqueens Forces and the rest of the English his fellow Souldiers for the first Months he provided them pay either of his own money or what he could borrow from others Thus being pretty well provided with Men and Ammunition he marches through Queens County streight against Jones and by the way takes in some Castles belonging to Ouen-Ro-Oneal of which the most remarkable were Kildare and Talboth Jones having had certain intelligence of this March advanced to meet the Lord Lieutenant But being informed by his Spies that he was coming with a greater Army than he was able to encounter and distrusting his own Souldiers he forthwith returns to Dublin The Lord Deputy in the mean time passes the River Liff where having called a Council of Inchiqueen Taff Dillo Preston and the rest of the Principal Commanders they consult what was best to be done whether they should besiege Dublin or directing their course another way take the Towns about or else rather block up the City and at the same time have an eye upon the other places Being as yet doubtful what to do they advance to view Dublin and so to take a resolution upon the spot But Jones expected them with an Army without the Walls but under the Cannon of the Town Both Armies were drawn up but without any Skirmishing That night the Lord Deputy Quartred at Finglass three miles distant from Dublin Next day all the Papists both Men and Women that were unfit for War are thrust out of the Town and the Cavalry that were needless in the Siege are sent to Drogheda at the mouth of the River of Boin that they might incommode the Enemy in the Rere and take care to send Provisions into the place So soon as the Lord Lieutenant had notice of this he sends the Lord Inchiqueen Lieutenant-General to pursue Jones's Horse and if opportunity offered to take in the Towns on all hands In the mean time he thought it not convenient to divide his Army but to encamp and entrench himself with his whole Forces near Dublin that he might intercept the Provisions going into the place and entice the Souldiers and Citizens to desert it not doubting but that the Souldiers would be easily inclinable to do so Affairs being doubtful his Neighbourhood affording opportunity and the City being straitned for want of Provisions and the rather knowing that most of the Souldiers who were in Garrison had formerly sworn to be true to him This he found to be a successful resolution for about two thousand by stealth and as every one best could taking occasion to get out came over to his Camp Nay he was not wanting to essay Jones himself by many fair Promises which he made him one after another But he that he might oppose Art to Art having threatned the Deserters with most severe Punishments pretended a willingness to comply with honourable Conditions and shuffled off the Treaty with shifts and delays though sometimes he seemed to be at a stand and uncertain what to do However he sent private intelligence to the Rump-Parliament and the General in what dangerous straits he was earnestly beseeching them to hasten the sending him Relief In the mean time he surrounds the Walls views the Works repairs what is defective casts up new Works plants Palisadoes drives sharp Stakes into the ground and did what lay in his power to fortifie the place Nay and having sallied out upon the Enemies Camp near Finglass he took amongst other Prisoners a Relation of his own whom for a terrour to all others that they might not desert he caused to be hanged Inchiqueen on his part falls in upon a Troop of Jones's Horse and beat them in their Quarters and next morning pursuing the rest that were Commanded by the
Garrison to Kilkenny about six hundred English falling off to the Enemy he marches thither with fifteen hundred A horrid piece of Villany and not to be excused were it not for the bad Correspondence that was betwixt the English and Irish Souldiers and that he would preserve his own Irish entire for a Battel and divide at least Cromwells Forces by the multitude of Garrisons his Army being already much impaired and hardly able to wagg worn out by Fatigue Fluxes lying abroad in the Fields and for want of Winter-Quarters About this time by the Mediation of Daniel Oneal a Peace was made betwixt the Lord Lieutenan and Ouen-Ro-Oneal with the rest of the Irish Papists almost upon the same Conditions as we told you formerly had been offered to the Rump-Parliament and were rejected by them and thereupon both Forces Joyn. But Ouen shortly after died Nor is it here to be pass'd over in silence how the Princes Rupert and Maurice with no more than six Ships the remaining part of that Fleet which two years before fell off from the Rump-Parliament had the boldness to infest the Seas hover upon the Coast of Ireland put in Souldiers and Ammunition and by all ways divert the supplies of the Enemy But Blake and Popham pursuing them with a stronger Fleet they were fain to sly to King sale and from thence the Sea-men being idle and running away to the Enemy that they might consult their own safety prevent the danger that might befall them from the defection of Munster which they might foresee and that they might have the opportunity of Sea-room Wind and Tide favouring them they break through the whole Fleet of the Enemies and with the loss only of two Ships escaping out of that noose they steer their Course towards Portugal But this is out of the Rode I now return to Cromwell whose Victories were such as could not be limited by the banks of the River of Barrow For he cast over it a Bridge of Boats at Ross having first taken Estionege a small but Walled Town standing upon this side of the same River five Miles above Ross Afterward having past a great part of his Horse with his nimblest Foot he reduces Carick a Town upon the River Suir eight miles above Waterford then quickly crossing the River he takes Passage a very strong Fort with five Canon lying two Miles below Waterford where the Conjunction of the two Rivers Suir and Barrow by the impetuosity of the Current render it difficult for Vessels to reach the Town Nay he had the boldness to attaque Waterford it self though in vain But Dungarvan which the English Souldiers might have defended with the Canon and Ammunition is delivered up into his hands And now at length Cromwell begins to think of Winter Quarters for refreshing of his Men who were not above four thousand Sound and in Health The Lord Lieutenant on the other hand had eight thousand which though for the most part they were raw Men yet were very conveniently posted But what he had best to do or whether to go he was uncertain For neither could he march back to Dublin being at such a distance without a necessity of Fighing nor yet Winter in those parts without the greatest Inconvenience the Enemy being posted about him on all Hands who would continually Allarm him and intercept his Provisions Whilst he was casting about in his mind what course to take the most desirable and by Cromwell long expected defection happened for all Munster that had stood for the King revolted to the Rump-Parliament Some combined Souldiers had long ago given hopes of this if ever occasion offered and now Cromwell being upon their Borders and past the River Barrow when they saw Succours at hand they attempt the performance of what they had promised The first sparks of this Flame appeared long ago at Youghal which the Mayor and a great many Citizens conspiring with two Colonels and other Commanders agreed to deliver into the hands of Cromwell The Lord Inchiqueen smelling the Treachery seized the Mayor and Souldiers and committed them to Prison in Cork Youghal and King sale until they might be brought to a fair Tryal But that kind of Custody was unlucky since thereby the sparks spread farther For the Colonels being too negligently kept at Cork draw over the Commanders one after another into the same Conspiracy and in the absence of Inchiqueen whil'st the Souldiers carelesly kept the Guard they of a sudden seize the Town From thence the sparks fly into Youghal Kingsale Bandon-Bridge Mallow and other places and by the coming of the Lord Broghill Colonel Far and a great many of Cromwell's Forces was fomented into a Conflagration Inchiqueens House at Cork was plundered where neither the modesty of the dress could protect his Lady nor innocent Age his Children for all together were clapt up in Prison and there detained till by an exchange that happened shortly after they were set at liberty Here at length Cromwell in the beginning of December put his Men into Winter Quarters and disappointed the Lord Lieutenant who had intercepted his way on his return to Dublin with an Army double in number Nor will it be amiss in this place to take notice of the death of Jones for it happened about the same time who basely stained the Reputation that he gained in subduing the Irish Rebels by the defending even unto the last the Cause of the Murderers of the King The Lord Lieutenant in the mean time that he might provide what lay in his power against ensuing Storms calls a general Council where representing how grateful and profitable the Divisions and Animosities were to the Enemy he intreats the Clergy Nobility and Gentry to mutual Peace and Concord shewing them how that might be done This produced amongst all a pretence of Sorrow for what was past of true Friendship by shaking Hands and promises of mutual Assistance in causing the Commands of the Lord Lieutenant to be obey'd pay raised for the Souldiers Quarters and other necessaries for the War provided and in persuading the Inhabitants especially of Limmerick Waterford and Galloway to Obedience and Submission This put the Lord Lieutenant in heart again who whilst Cromwell refreshed his Men in Winter-Quarters resolves to recover Wexford and Passage For the effecting of which Inchiqueen Armstrong and Trevers are designed for the one and Farell with the Forces of Ouen-Ro-Oneal for the other Farell marching secretly to Passage falls into the Snare that he had laid for others For Cromwell presently having notice of the Design Colonel Zankie pursues him in the Rear Alarms and puts him to flight kills three hundred takes two hundred and had not suffered a Man to escape if in the nick of time Farell had not in great disorder cross'd the River in Boats By this misfortune it plainly appeared how the Waterfordians were affected whilst
sends two thousand five hundred Horse under the command of Reynolds and Theophilus Jones the Brother of the late Jones to hinder the Lord Lieutenants Levies and to reduce Towns every where as occasion did present For he understood that the Lord Lieutenant having held a Council of the Irish Nobility and Bishops at Baltimore in West Meath it was resolved that on the one hand that is to say in the North Cromwell should be kept in play and harressed with frequent Incursions whilst he should make greater Levies and join together the Forces of the Counties that on the other hand to wit in the South the Bishop of Ross should relieve the Besieged in Clonmell or at least give Cromwell some diversion But Reynolds being much stronger in Horse prevents the Lord Lieutenant and as if he had had him in a Toyl renders all unsafe nor did he desist before he had driven the Earl of Castle-haven and all the Governours of Castles into Connaght Nay and over and above he took Bala-house near to Trim and forced Finagh and other neighbouring places to Surrender But a greater storm was coming upon the English out of Munster for the Bishop of Ross pittying the Condition of so many brave Men that were Besieged in Clonmel advanced to their relief with four thousand Foot and three hundred Horse But Broghill meeting him with twelve hundred Foot and fourteen hundred Horse part of which he himself had and part he had received from Cromwell he easily defeated and put them all to slight having slain and wounded seven hundred and taken an hundred Prisoners and amongst them the Bishop whom because he had turned his Myter into a Helmet and used the Temporal Sword instead of the Spiritual he caused ignominiously to be hanged before Caringdred which Garrison he having lately taken in Munster the Captain would not deliver up till he was terrified by that sad Spectacle In the mean time the Siege of Clonmel is carried on and though the Garrison bravely defended it and had beat off the Enemy in a fierce Assault with the loss of Colonel Culham and many others yet fearing since there was no hopes of Relief that they would at length fall as Sacrifices under the bloody hands of Cromwell packing up Bag and Baggage about Mid-night thay desert the Town and secure themselves by flight The Mayor and Towns-People destitute of Defence without mentioning the departure of the Garrison desire a Cessation and Parly and upon condition of saving their Houses from being Plundered and of liberty of living as they had formerly done they very willingly open their Gates But the morning discovering the trick Cromwell was vexed and sends some Troops to pursue the Garrison in the Rear But they were before got out of reach having in the night time past the Hills and most difficult ways but the Cromwellians overtaking many Straglers who by reason of their Wounds or other hindrances staid behind amongst them there were not a few Women put them all without Mercy to the Sword Afterwards the little Towns that lay about Duncannon Waterford and Carlow were taken in that these stronger Garrisons being more and more straitned if they could not by Force and Assault they might at least at length be starved into a Complyance and Submission Nor were the other Cromwellian Commanders less successful in the remaing parts of Ireland For the Elder Coot joyned to Venables in Vlster not to mention any but the principal strong holds took Culmore Done Ems Castle seated in Logh Suile Colrane famous for a Salmon fishing standing commodiously upon the River Wane Armagh and the Scots and Irish to the number three thousand four hundred whom Monro a Scottish Man brought to raise the Siege being cut off Karick Fergus Belfast Castlefordan Carlingford Margraff Monagh and Liskelagh At length he routed Eyer-Marmahon Bishop of Cloger who by the Votes of the Vlster Nobility being substituted in place of the late Oneal commanded four thousand Foot and four hundred Horse But coming to an Engagement they were all broken and dispersed and their Mitered General taken and Hanged It is observable of this Army that they were all Roman Catholicks who upon that account more confidently promised themselves the Victory Charlemont cost a great deal of Labour and Pains nor at length would the Garrison surrender it but upon very honourable terms Huson also subdued Kilmalock Hariston Hau Blackwater Rabrig Talbo At h Dermit Castle and which we mentioned before Kildare Belsannon and Lochlin I purposely omit Yekrohan and other places which Reynolds and other Commanders subdued to the rest of Logh Foyl It was about the beginning of May when Cromwell within less than a year with wonderful success having carried his victorious Ensignes through three Provinces of Ireland like a thunderbolt of War of whom it might truly have been said and to his praise had he fought for his Prince Veni vidi vici I came I saw I overcame is now recalled to fresh Labours and to a new War against the Scots of which I shall hasten to the Relation after I have given the Reader in one glance a view of the remaining affairs of Ireland Cromwell therefore hastening his expedition leaves Ireton his Son in Law General of the Forces of Ireland who without longer delay besieges Waterford and at the same time two other Castles Carlow and Duncannon Preston Commanded Waterford not very willing to hold out a place difficult to be maintained by reason it was beset on all hands and no hopes of relief Nevertheless at first he seemed to carry high and demands Conditions accordingly which being rejected by the Enemy when he perceived himself shut up within the Walls Batteries raised and the great Guns begin to roar he abates a little of his height and at length condescends to these Articles That the Ships Guns Ammunition and publick Provisions shall be delivered up to the Common-wealth That the Governour all the Colonels inferiour Officers and Souldiers with their Horses shall march out with Drums beating flying Colours charged Musquets lighted Matches and have safe conduct to Athlome That the Sick and wounded Towns-People shall remain there until they recover That such as intended to transport their Families beyond Sea shall have three Months time to do it in That those who would stay at home shall be free from all Injuries That the Servants of Preston shall have liberty to pack up and carry away all his Goods that he hath either in this place or else-where at Carlow In the same manner and upon the same Conditions out of Carlow and Duncannon fifteen hundred Men marched all under the Command of young Preston for the elder was at that time sick But it is now time to return to the Lord Lieutenant whom as the Papist Clergy had by all means formerly withstood so now affairs declining and daily running into Ruin they licentiously slight and despise
sometimes another presiding there for a strict enquiring into and no less severe punishment of those who were the beginners of the Rebellion No man was pardoned who had dipt his Hands in the Blood of the English But of that sort of Men all Ireland could not furnish above two hundred so great a havock had either the Sword or Plague made or else the rest mingling with those who departed the Ringdom under that disguise seasonably withdrew or at least there were not English enough left to be Witnesses of their Barbarity But it will not be amiss to mention one or two of the most obstinate Rebells such as Philem Oneal by the Pope created Earl of Vlster and Luke O-Tool Lying Fame had spread it abroad that Charles the First had granted those two liberty to stir up the Rebellion that he might cut out work for the Parliament that then was bent upon Sedition This base and false Rumour was industriously fomented by the Parliamentarians that they might load the best of Kings with Envy nor indeed did the Irish at that time endeavour to falsifie the Report of this both of them are accused but though they had hopes given them of Life and Reward if they would confess yet with solemn Imprecations both of them acquitted the King and by the just Judgment of God though by the hands of unjust Men they payed the just reward of Rebellion and Murder with their Lives and were Hanged So sure is Justice though sometimes she be slow in pursuing Malefactors About that time the Plague raged all over Ireland as if Humane Vengeance were not sufficient to chastise the madness of that Nation without the concurrence of the Divine This was the grievous Sickness of any that for fifty years backwards had plagued that whole Nation so that which is strange there was but one House free in all Dublin And that they might suffer under a double Pestilence the profane People laying aside all sense of Shame became more Lewd and Licentions both towards God and Man just as in the time of Thucydides when the Laws of God and Man were equally despised Not long before if not about the same time so great a scarcity and Famine was sent upon them from above that with horrour I mention it the starved Mothers Sacrificed to their Bellies the dear Fruit of their Wombs nor as it is written of Saguntum could inexorable hunger be satisfied with less than humane Flesh Now though these Evils fell heaviest upon the Irish yet it is not to be omitted that a most heavy Tax of six and thirty thousand pounds per Month was imposed equally upon the English and Irish and that upon the Irish too when so many Lands and Estates lay desolate without Possessours and when there were neither Men nor Cattle to labour the Land especially by reason of the multitude of Tories who every where carried away the Fruits and Corn so that some Landlords being disappointed of the hopes of their Crops betook themselves to flight others complained that their Crops were not sufficient to furnish them with Bread and other necessaries for their Families and not a few sold their Inheritances for two or three years purchase In the mean time the idle Souldiers to the number of twenty thousand and the most of them Anabaptists alone live plentifully upon the Money they got in Ireland and the Pay they received in England and their Commanders heaped up Estates All Law being administred at the pleasure of four or five Judges was in a manner Arbitrary and depended upon the Wills of the Commissioners and chief Commanders of the Army nay and sometimes of the Souldiers especially the Anabaptists against whose Judgment if the Court at any time pronounced they cry out of the breach of Faith and the violation of the Laws of God and Man About that time the Rebels surprised two or three very strong Forts near Galloway Emsbuffen Ernescrought and Arran which were scituate in some of the numerous Islands on that Coast But Reynolds having conveyed over fifteen hundred Men upon Planks reduced them to his Obedience giving the men liberty to remove to other places At length they came to the division and distribution of the Lands and Possessions of the Irish That all might receive their shares which either they had gained in the Wars or by Moneys subscribed and payed in the year 1642 for suppressing the Rebellion they had purchased upon the publick Faith But upon the first publication many are accused of the same Crime as the Marquess of Ormond Lord Inchiqueen and as many as had been for the King and had put a stop to the impetuous torrent of the first Rebellion And tho whatever was remaining in Ireland was due to their Faithfulness and Valour yet they stick in the same Mire and are made liable to the forfeiture of their Lives and Fortunes nor were any to be spared who enjoy'd plentiful Estates or had enough to stay the voracious Appetites of those insatiable Harpies Nay if they could find out any one that for the space of a day had fallen off from the Obedience of the Rump-Parliament he came off very well if he was but only sequestrated and redeemed his Sequestration at two years purchase of his Estate All the Popish Nobles who had either in the beginning been Rebels or afterwards born Arms for the King are condemned of High Treason their Estates forfeited and their Lives also if they could be apprehended Both the English and the Irish Papists who had been Neutro and favoured neither side are Fined in the fifth part of their Estates to be Levied into the Exchequer But for easing of the Publick Charges there was a heavy dispute betwixt the new Souldiers that came lately over into Ireland under the Command of Cromwell and the Veterans who had served the Parliament in suppressing the Rebellion in its first rise These the new Souldiers endeavoured by all means to have disbanded as being for the most part Anabaptists and Sectarians and indeed their Intention was to cheat them of their pay and promised dividend of Lands But the ancient Souldiers refusing to be so dismissed after much jangling and debate at length they agreed Friendly upon these Articles to wit that being disbanded they should monthly receive half pay untill the distribution of the Lands should be made and that they should enjoy their due proportion of the same With this they were pleased and had it in a great part performed They had often laboured hard about the dividing and appropriating of the Irish Lands Mathematicians met and laying their Heads together made Divisions but in a rude manner only by a general Estimate some by the view others by measuring But neither way could they find half enough to satisfie the Creditors till they came to William Petty a Doctor of Physick but a most expert Geometrician who
and the suspicion of a sudden Insurrection again amongst the Irish because they parted so easily with their Inheritances is laid at their door as a ruine We purposely pass by matters of less importance least what we are about by the by should swell up to too vast a bulk The Officers of the Army what by craft and what by force turning Richard out of the Supream Power and the Rump-Parliament after five years interment being raised again from the dead the eyes of all are fixed upon Henry It was thought by some that he would defend his own Authority and vindicate that of his Brother Others hoped that he would favour the Royal Cause and so make his interest with the King the Navy especially giving no obscure marks of their inclination and the Army and Kingdom of Ireland being ready enough to promote such an Enterprize Nor dare I swear that he entertain'd no such Projects But the Lord Broghill and Coot deserting him in dubious Affairs and Steel and Tomlinson old Commissioners managing and Waller and Corbet new ones continually solliciting him he at length resigns himself to the Will and Pleasure of the Rump-Parliament and returns into England there to give an account of his administration Hitherto we have dwelt in Ireland that without interruption we might give the Reader an account of the Affairs of that Kingdom Now bringing our discourse back to former years we must return to the Democratical Republicans who after the murder of the King swayed Affairs in England under the Olygarchicks These being upstarts promoted for the most part men of their own Edition to places of honour and profit Which the Londoners took so ill that the Mayor and Aldermen came and petitioned the Rump-Parliament that the cheif Citizens or that some of them at least might be again admitted into the common Council of the City These were about three hundred whom either age or wealth at least recommended But the year before the Rump-Parliament had turned a great many of them out and judged them unworthy of carrying any office in the City for no other reason but because they had signed the Petition making Peace with the King which the greater and sounder part of the Parliament were also for But that desire of the Mayor and Aldermen though they seriously alledged the want of ingenious and honest men of moderate Estates for discharging the offices of the City is rejected with contempt nor would they have any but the Riff Raff and inconsiderable rable to manage Publick Affairs as being such who measured good and evil according to the will and pleasure of their Masters Whil'st these things are carried on at London CHARLES the Second was not asleep nor did he neglect his Affairs though the Regicides carried all before them in England but moves every stone and leaves nothing unessayd that the wit and power of man could devise or execrate for resetling the undone Nations asserting the publick Liberty and the Regicide being revenged recovering his ancient Inheritance He implores the assistance of Foreign Kings and Princes who are all equally concerned according to the Supream Power they have received from God and their common duty to give Sanctuary to the oppressed but especially to Kings whom above all men living they ought to protect not only upon the account of Kindred and Cognation but also for fear of Contagion least the horrid example of Rebellion might have an influence upon their own Subjects that if perchance they should be reduced to the like streights they might likewise obtain the like help and assistance He sends Ambassadours to the Emperour and German Princes to the Grand Signior the great Duke of Moscovie the Kings of Poland Denmark and Sweden to the republick of Venice and the States General of the united Provinces He sends into Spain from whence he had the greatest expectation the Lord Edward Hide who had formerly been Lord cheif Baron of the Exchequer and was afterwards Lord Chancellor and Earl of Clarendon whose Iuvenile and vegete wit might put life into the aged head of Cottington In France besides a particular Ambassadour the Queen Mother and Duke of York were there and the King himself to sollicite his own affairs But alass almost every where unsuccessfully the distance of place hindering the aid of some and either the want of money domestick seditions or dangers from neigbours obstructing the assistances of others None are touched with the sence or pity of the Calamities of another The Ottoman Court dealt barbarously in that for a little money they delivered up the Ambassadour Henry Hide a most accomplished Gentleman into the hands of the Rump-Parliament who being brought over into England for his unshaken Loyalty without any pretext of ancient Law he was beheaded before the Royal Exchange in London France with promises gives hope of large assistance so long as they could procure any help from the Subjects of the King of England especially from James Duke of YORK who commanding the English and Irish that served the French in Flanders had given many Noble and Illustrious proofs of his Heroick Valour and Courage Until that Blake had beaten the French Fleet under the Command of the Duke of Vendosme which came to the relief of Dunkirk at that time besieged by the Spaniards Then they sent Burdex to treat of peace at London whil'st the Regicides expected no less than a declaration of War And having afterwards entred into a strict allyance they inwardly rejoyced that the Kings Majesty was deluded and no small stop put to the fury of the Rebels The Spaniard seemed to be grieved at the Kings Murder but excused himself that it did not belong to him to determine about the controversies of England nor did he take pleasure to meddle in other Peoples Affairs out of his own Terrritories but that in the mean time he should be ready to do the King all the kindness he could within his Countries Nevertheless not long after Ascham being killed which I shall shortly relate he was the first King who Commanded his Hedge Ambassadour Don Alonso de Cardenas to Worship the rising sun of the Common-wealth wish the Parrcides all happiness intreat the continuance of Friendship and good Correspondence betwixt his Kingdomes and the New Common-wealth and promised severely to punish the Wicked Murderers of Ascham Now there are some not obscure Reasons why the great Mind of so Wise a King was by so unexpected a change that rather discovered than altered his Inclinations brought over to the contrary side For besides Ancient and Paternal enmities with Queen Elizabeth Philip himself had particular Quarrels against Charles It wounded him deep that his Sister being courted in Marriage even so far as to have had an interview and conference with her she should afterwards be slighted for a Daughter of France though a Princess of extraordinary Worth Besides the old offence
the future as occasion did present Windram being sent into Scotland the Kings Answer is kindly received and joyful hopes of concord begin to shine out over the whole Nation The Kings Majesty in the mean time writes to Montross to whom he had formerly given a Commission to invade Scotland acquainting him with what the Scots had done what answer he had sent to them and that a Treaty was to be held at Breda for settling a Peace That he nevertheless should go on in levying Souldiers that he might with as many men as possibly he could make be ready in Scotland at the time that the Scots began their Treaty For so he doubted not but that they would insist upon easier terms when they perceived him in a readiness to revenge by Arms the injuries that might be offered to him Now his Majesty thought it fit to leave Jersey both because he had intelligence that the Rump-Parliament were preparing a Fleet for invading the Island and also that all things necessary might be in readiness against the time of the following Treaty In the mean time the convention of the Estates of Scotland consult about Proposals and the chusing of Commissioners to be sent to the King Where the Ministers forgetting all Modesty and Justice propose Conditions extreamly rigid difficult and impossible for qualifying and mitigating which the Lay-men bestir themselves and at length they ioyntly agree upon this That the Commissioners be the Earls of Cassils and Louthian the Lord Burleigh and Laird of Liberton Smith and Jeffreys to represent the Laity and Brodie Lawson and Wood the Clergy That the Proposals should be these That a Proclamation should be issued out prohibiting all Excommunicated Persons to come to Court That the King should bind himself by his Royal Promise under Hand and Seal to take the National Covenant and the Solemn League and Covenant of the three Kingdoms That he should besides ratifie all Acts of Parliament whereby the League and Covenant Presbyterian Government the Directory of Worship Confession of Faith and Catechism are enjoyned and that he should use the same in his own Family and not suffer them to be innovated or abolished by any Moreover that in all Civil Affairs he should govern according to the direction of Parliament and in Ecclesiasticals according to that of the Assembly of the Kirk These Proposals are after a Sermon were delivered by the Earl of Cassils at Breda The King asking if they had any more to say They answer Nothing and after if they were obliged by any engagement to be revenged on the Regicides They answer By none Whil'st his Majesty was consulting about these other Commissioners come to wit Murrey and the Earl of Carnwath with some few additions to the former Proposals as that His Majesty would forbid Montross and his Followers to enter the Kingdom and by his assent confirm the last Acts of Parliament And now it is time to relate the misfortune of Montross He being honoured with the Kings Commission uses all his endeavours amongst the Sweeds Danes Poles Germans and all the Northern Nations that being furnished and assisted with Men Money Arms and Provisions he might pass over into Scotland And without delay having for haste left behind King with a Body of Horse in Sweden who designed to follow him and Ogilbey also in Holland to gather the disbanded Souldiers of the Prince of Oranges Army who misapplied the Money designed for that purpose with fifteen hundred Arms furnished by the Queen of Sweden fuor Ships of which two were cast away upon the Rocks and four hundred raw Souldiers raised in a hurry he arrives at the Isles of Orkney and there having ioyned about a thousand of the Islanders most part Fishermen he set Sail and landed at the Wick of Cathness chearfully reflecting upon what he had done before and full of hopes that he should in a short time get together a considerable Army by the concourse of those who had heretofore been for the King But alas that hope deceived Montross The Nation was now of another mind being tired out and broken with the Wars their dangers over inclinable to Peace and restrained by the severities of the Covenanters The whole Country was in Arms so soon as they heard of his arrival The Parliament happened at that time to be sitting and not without the King's Command and had seven or eight thousand men under the Command of Lesly The Clans chose rather to have a Peace from any Masters than an uncertain one though more favourable and to enjoy with security rather an incommodious rest than with the danger of Fortune to endeavour a change by stirs Nay many who were even ready to lay down their lives for the King having now at length capitulated with the Parliament and promised obedience and submission think they cannot act contrary without a Crime Nevertheless he takes Dumbeath Castle with a resolute mind advances farther and expecting that the Earl of Seaforth would joyn him with two thousand Men whom he had raised for the King He hastens to possess himself of a narrow and difficult pass which being taken would facilitate their Conjunction But Straughan met him upon his march who was sent before by Lesly with three hundred choice Horse that he might watch his motion beat up his Quarters withstand his Progress intercept Men and Provisions that might be sent to his Camp and if a fair occasion offered not only Skirmish with him but put it to the hazzard of a Battel This Man perceiving them to be out of order weary and only Foot in an open and plain Champion falls suddenly in upon them and tries the fortune of War and with that success that the Souldiers of the Isles at once throwing away both their Arms and Courage betake themselves to flight The Germans in the mean time defending themselves until getting leave to depart they sailed over Seas All the Baggage was taken by Straughan and the Standard bearing the Figure of a Head cut off with this Motto Judica vindica causam Domine Judge and avenge the Cause O Lord. Montross fled and having changed his Cloaths with a certain High-lander for three or four days he lurked accompanied only with one Servant till being weakned and spent with Hunger and Fasting he trusted himself with the Laird of Aston who although he had formerly served under him yet having changed his Faith with his Fortune betrayed him to Leslie for a reward of two thousand pounds The Lord Freuderick Colonel Hurrie Francis Haye of Dalgetty another Haye of Naughton Sibbald Grey Spotswood and others were likewise taken by Straughan But Montross is made a subject of triumph when he was come within a Mile of Edinburrough is ordered to be bound by the Hangman in a Chair and planted backwards in a Cart that he might be seen of all the Executioner riding with his Cap on upon
had not been for the reverence and awe they stood in of the King would have flown in the faces of those Countrey-men of theirs at least would have been very troublesome unto them And now being informed how basely the King was used by the Covenanters they invite him to them promising to protect and defend him these were the Marquess of Huntley Earls of Athol and Seaforth the Lords Ogilby and Gordon Middleton and several other great men The King had already listned to these and secretly casts about with himself how he might make his escape out of the hands of those Covenanters Therefore mounting on Horse-back without Boots as if he had been going a Hawking with three or four more in Company he slips out of Town and directs his Journey to the house of the Lord Vicount Diddop with a purpose to abscond until the return of the Messengers who had been sent to learn the minds of the Highlanders whether or not they were able and were indeed willing to assist him In the mean time an Englishman having discovered where the King was great debates arise amongst the Nobles whether the Scots should leave him to shift for himself and onely look to themselves or having made submission unto him and promised greater obedience for the future they should use his means and Authority for reconciling all parties and perswasions This was liked of by most and for that end Montgomery is quickly dispatched with a trusty party of Horse that he might represent to his Majesty how dangerous that forsaking of the Covenanters would be to himself and his Affairs intreat him to return and promise better usage for the future In pursuance of his orders he came and beset the Lord Diddop's house in the night time and entring in the morning fell at his Majesties feet and pressed him so urgently that by his and others perswasion he was prevailed upon to return back with him to St. Johnston About that time as an accession to other Calamities the Death of the Prince of Orange happened He had fallen sick of the small Pox which at first seemed to threaten no danger having been let Blood put on clean Linnen and eaten Flesh unseasonably he suddenly dies and indeed too soon for the King and his own Family But he left a posthumous Son the present Prince to inherit his just Rights and Dignities in the Vnited Provinces Now began the minds of the Scots to bend by degrees Heretofore none to be admitted into the War but he who first gave a confession of his Faith and whose Religion was no ways suspected Flatterers who could countefeit Godly looks and grimaces were freely admitted but men of Courage who had signalized themselves in the Wars were put back No Water could serve them to quench the fire but what came from the clear Fountain Head no Sword but the Holy Sword of the Spirit was to be drawn against the Enemy Now all are sharers in the War yet not before they had confessed their Sins and by a kind of Repentance scowred their Consciences The Marquess of Hamilton is oblig'd of new to take the Covenant as also the Earls of Lauderdale Crawford Buchan the Lords Diddop Levingstone and many other Persons of great Quality Nay and the English also as the Duke of Buckingham Lord Wilmot Earl of Cleveland Massey and others whose names I do not remember are associated But Middleton and Huntley not satisfied with the Act of Indemnity having joyned the forces of the Earl of Athol march against them and defeat Browns Regiment and had also engaged Lesly had not the coming of the King put an end to the Controversie all being relaxed from Excommunication taking the Covenant and associated into the War Whilst these things are in agitation on the other side of Forth the effects of Cromwell's Letters and practises began to appear in that Seeds of Sedition being sown amongst the Scots the foundations of the Kirk were miserably shaken the Remonstrators from the Pulpit railing at the King and his Ministers and publishing Libels nay at length appealing to Cromwell against General Assemblies which they sawcily enveigh against because they prohibited their clamorous buffoonery And in all places cry that it was lawful for none that were truly Godly to take up Arms for the cause above mentioned at the Command of the Parliament King or Kirk All the South part of Scotland with greatest part of the Ministers and the Horse that were Commanded by Ker and Straughan are drawn in to subscribe the Remonstrance wherein they spew out the poison of their rancour against all those Who had called in the King too hastily before he had given certain marks of sincere Repentance and Conversion to God and before they had sounded the minds of the Parricides who had not had satisfaction objecting to them much more of the same stuff At last they propose ways for remedying those Evils The Parliament and Assemblie of the Kirk at first essay to mitigate and appease those violent Spirits with Lenities inviting them to send Commissioners to St. Johnston that if they had any remaining Scrupules they might be removed without noise But they returning an answer more insolently propose Sterling as a place of greater security to both meetings That the Parliament might repress that Sedition they order Ker to apprehend Straughan and bring him to Justice But he discovering the Train instantly sled into Cromwell's Camp where soon after dying he concluded the Catastrophe of his Fortune And so Ker alone has the command of the Horse Cromwell now despairing of the intestine dissentions amongst the Scots pursues Ker and having ordered Lambert and Whaley with five Regiments of Foot and an hundred Dragoons to keep along the South side of the River Clide he himself advances on the North side Lambert marching through Peebles quartered at Hamilton which Ker being informed of by his Scouts and knowing that Cromwell was absent with fifteen hundred Horse he suddenly falls upon Lambert in the night time and that very successfully at first till by chance a Tree being laid cross the street in the middle of the Town which a Captain with a Company defended put a stop to their Progress whilst Lambert drew up his Men and surrounding the Enemy charged them on the Rear And having made a considerable slaughter of them and Ker himself who was shot through the hand being taken he pursued the rest to Air which Town being presently taken was secured with a Garrison And so those of the old Army that hitherto remained are quite broken and dispersed whether more to the grief or satisfaction of the King I cannot tell About the same time a great Conspiracy of Presbyterians both Ministers and Lay-men is discovered at London which took vent first in Scotland and was by Cromwell upon some suspitions he had not without ground conceived recommended to the Regicides of England to
Earl is defeated who having received two wounds by By-ways cross the Countrey he flies to Worcester the Lord Widderington Sir Thomas Tilsley Matthew Bointon and Trollop Colonels with Lieutenant Colonel Galliard being kill'd and Sir William Throgmorton Colonel Richard Leg with four other Officers and fourty Private Souldiers taken Cromwell in the mean time views the Kings Camp uncertain as yet in what part to fall on He thought it however fit to make his first attempt at Vpton seaven Miles above Worcester to the South where there is a Stone-bridge over the Savern Massey had broken the Bridge and accidentally left a Plank from one Arch to another lying secure with two hundred and fifty Horse in the Neighbouring Town and no Guard left to defend the pass But the Cromwellians laying hold of the occasion stradling upon the Plank pass over one after another and encreasing in number they possess themselves of Vpton Church and for some time defend it until more Swimming over the River on Horseback and crossing the Bridge that was now in some manner repaired came up to their Assistance Massey takes the Allarm too late and having received a grievous wound in the Hand is forced to Retreat to Worcester Then upon a Bridge of Boats they pass the small River Team which running at some distance to the West falls into the Savern a little below the Town Soon after a like Bridge of Boats being made over the Savern it self they joyn'd all their Forces under Bun-hill within a Mile of Worcester and march towards the Citie as challenging the Kings Forces to come out The night following Middleton with fifteen hundred Horse and Foot all Scots resolves to Sally out upon the Enemy But the Cromwellians were in readiness having had timely Intelligence given them by a Taylor who was hang'd for his Treachery Nevertheless the Royalists attempt to break into the Camp but in vain and having lost Major Knox with some others they Retreat back again And now the third of September came a Day fatal to and never to be forgot by the Scots for the overthrow they received at Dunbar the year before when the King with a Council of War viewing the Enemies from the high Steeple of the Cathedral-Church perceived them upon their March towards the Town All presently Arm and the King himself marches out to the defence of Powick-bridge and to hinder the Enemies passing over the Bridge of Boats which we just now mentioned The King was scarcely got back into the Town when Montgomery who defended the Bridge being dangerously wounded and destitute of Gunpouder Kreth also another Commander being taken returns to the City Whil'st these things were acting the Kings Majesty turning towards the East-side of the Town resolves to hazard a Battel Therefore with a considerable Body of Foot but a small number of Horse for the Scottish Cavalry scarce budg'd he marches against the Enemy at Perry-wood with a most undaunted and present Mind being followed by the Dukes of Hamilton and Buckingham and Sir Alexander Forbes at the Head of his Foot At the first charge he beat the Van and made himself Master of the Artillery but afterwards though with wonderful Sagacity he gave orders in the heat and confusion of the Fight fac'd the greatest dangers with a High and Steady Mind not to be matched by others and with his own Hand did many brave Actions though at that time he gave illustrious proofs of his Personal Valour even in the Judgment of his Enemies yet being overpowred by fresh Men whom Cromwell in great numbers sent in he despaired not but that he might reserve himself for better Fortune thought it best to retreat in time and save himself in the Town but he was for some time stopt by a Wagon laden with Ammunition which the Wheel being accidentally broken lay cross Sudbury-Gate However alighting from his Horse he went in on Foot and presently mounting another he used all manner of perswasions to encourage the Souldiers who now were giving over to renew the Engagement till the danger growing greater and greater by St. Martins-gate he went out to the Horse Commanded by David Leslie being almost whole entire and directed his course towards Barbon-bridge earnestly entreating the Horse that they should take Courage and hasten to the Assistance of the Foot who were put to utmost extremity But many refused some threw away their Arms all slunk away and chose rather to decline the danger than by fighting stoutly either make that the last day of their Life or the first of their Victory But whil'st the King is making his escape the Earl of Cleveland Sir James Hamilton Colonel Careliss and some other worthy and Loyal Gentlemen with the remains of the Horse renewing the fight at Sudbury-Gate put a stop to the Enemy for some time till Fleetwood on the West-side having past the River broke into the Town through the Suburbs of St. John and Cromwel having thrown down Sudbury-gate beat off the Earl and the rest From thence he marched on victorious to the Fort Royal maintained by Colonel Drummond with fifteen hundred Soldiers who having refused to surrender it was Attacked on all Hands and cut off with all his Men. Deplorable and sad was the Countenance of the Town after that The Victorious Souldiers on the one Hand Killing breaking into Houses Plundering Sacking Roaring and Threatning on the other hand the Subdued flying turning their backs to be cut and slasht and with stretched out hands begging Quarters some in vain resisting sold their lives as dear as they could whil'st the Citizens to no purpose prayed lamented and bewailed All the Streets are strowed with dead and mangled Bodies Here were to be seen some that begg'd Relief and there again others weltering in their own gore who desired that at once an end might be put to their lives and miseries The Dead Bodies lay unburied for the space of three days or more which was a loathsome spectacle that encreased the horrour of the Action Three thousand and five hundred Private Souldiers were slain Duke Hamilton having his Thigh broken lived but four or five days after the Battel Forbess was shot through both his Legs Five thousand were taken Prisoners some Towns-people but most Scots amongst whom were the Earls of Rothes Karnewath Kelly the Lord Sinclare Montgomery the General of Artillerie as also of English Colonel Graves and Fanshaw Secretary to the King with the Officers of the Scots Army all the Baggage and an hundred and five and fifty Colours The Kings Majesty having a little beyond Barbon-bridge left Leslie who resolved to march with the Horse that were almost entire by Newport streight into Scotland and being attended by the Duke of Buckingham the Earls of Derby and Lauderdale the Lords Wilmot Talbot and other Persons of Qualitie with about fifty Horse followed By-ways partly that he might refresh himself with sleep and partly that
he might disappoint those that pursued him Upon their Journey the Earl of Derby told the King That lately when he was defeated by Lilburn one Pendrel harboured him safely in Boscobel-house but that he was a Papist Thither the King resolved to betake himself This House is distant from Worcester twenty six Miles stands in Shropshire upon the borders of Staffordshire seated betwixt Tong-Castle and Brewood in a woody place very fit for a retreat One Gifford that was well acquainted with the Ways leaving Kedderminster on the Left-hand conducted him by Stonebridge and at Whiteladies an old Monasterie of Cistertian Nuns in the midst of the Woods about a Mile from Boscobel having knockt up another Pendrel about midnight he and his Company are let in Whilst the King had his Hair cut off in this House and burnt in the Fire his Hands blackned with Soot and shifting his Cloaths put on an old Countrey Suit two other Pendrells Brothers Richard who lived in a Neighbouring little Farm at Hobbal and William in Boscobel are sent for whom the Earl of Derby acquainting them with the disaster and shewing them the Kings Majesty Beseeches for Gods sake their Loyalty and all that was Good and Sacred to keep him safe and forthwith find out some place for him where he might securely lurk The honest Countrey-men promising to do what lay in their Power Richard by a back door led him out into the next Wood Wilmot having been before ordered to go on Horseback to London where at the sign of the Green Dragon by the Vintry in Thames-street the King had resolved to meet him John Pendrell promising to shew him a way which he might more securely follow After that the Nobles had taken the best care they could of the King they consult about their own safety and think it safest to follow and if they could overtake Leslie because of the number of men he had with him that might secure them from a few stragling Soldiers and because they were got so far on their way that a considerable body of the Rebels could hardly overtake them They were not far from thence when they protected the Lord Livingstone Captain of the King's Troop of Guards from the Enemies that pursued him but that good fortune lasted not long For soon after when they had advanced beyond Newport they fall in amongst Lilburn's men who easily rout and put them to slight being quite spent with fatigue the Earl of Derby whom the impious Rebels afterwards condemned in a Council of War and put to Death Lauderdale who for his Loyalty suffered a tedious Imprisonment until the King's Restauration and others whom it would be long to name being taken In the mean time the Duke of Buckingham Livingstone Talbot with many others severally shifting for themselves made their escapes and at length went beyond Sea Nay Lesly was not got far beyond Newport when he is beset by the Enemies and all his men either dispersed or taken and particularly the Earl of Cleveland who had overtaken Lesly after the Battel Kenmore the Lord Wentworth and Middleton Most of the dispersed straglers were by the Countrey people not without a brand of Cruelty which the English Nation abhors knockt down wherever they were found with Staves Pitch-forks â—lails and what weapons rage and fury put into their hands a very unsuitable return indeed to the moderation and continence which not long before they had shewed amongst them upon their march Massey being wounded in the hand fled of his own accord to the protection of the Countess of Stanford under whose husband the father of Gray he had formerly served in Glocestershire From thence after a fortnights stay he was carried to the Tower of London where he endured the irksomness of a tedious imprisonment and being to be brought to his Tryal before the High Court of Justice he changed Cloaths with a certain Porter and made his escape The Kingdom of Scotland thus taken and most part of the Nobility cut off truckles under the Victorious Arms of the English and had not the Supreme Judge of all things reserved a root from which the Royal Issue and cause might spring out again of new and had not the same right hand of the Duke of Albemarle whom as yet we must call Monck that gave the Wound also wrought the Cure it had been undone for ever But now what befel the King the Care of Providence Hopes of the English Race and Defender of the Church since the English I know are insatiably desirous to be informed of it and that hardly in any Age a more remarkable adventure hath happened I shall according as I have heard it from the King 's own Mouth relate with some exactness and curiosity The King went into the Wood in the very nick of time as will appear For within less than half an Hour the Souldiers of Colonel Ashenhurst come in quest of him hunt all over the Monastery and running from Chamber to Chamber search into all secret places recesses and hidden corners Yet as Fate would have it they made no enquiry abroad out of the House for it rained all Day and the droppings from the Trees made the Grass very wet so that what did hurt to others saved the King For whilst he lurked amongst the thick shrubs of the Woods Richard Pendrell borrowed a Blanket for him to cover him in the Rain and furnished him with a Bill that he might seem busie in mending Hedges entreating the Wife of a Countrey-man one Francis Yates that was related to him that if she had any Victuals ready she would bring it into the Wood. She without delay brings forth some Milk and Sugar with a few Eggs and Butter The King somewhat startled at the coming of the Woman because of the babling the Sex is subject to asked her Can you be true to any one that hath served the King Yes Sir answered she I 'le die sooner than betray you At which the King being reassured fed heartily on the Victuals that were brought him Towards the Evening Richard brings him into his House that stood hard by where he prepares for a New Journey that he was to take that Night For the King amongst other things had asked If he knew any Faithful Honest Man living upon the Severn who might provide him a hiding place for a short space till he might find an opportunity of passing over into Wales for in that Country he wanted not Faithful Friends by whose means he might either get to London or lurk more securely amongst the Rocks and Mountains Being therefore informed of one Wolfe but a Papist by Religion living at Madely five Miles from thence and one from the Severn at nine of the Clock at Night accompanied with Richard he sets out to go thither But they were hardly gone the first mile when they had a Water-mill to pass by where
house to Nortons was their Guide and they lodged the first night at Carew-Castle seven miles on this side Trent The appointed hour of their coming drawing nigh VVindham and his Wife as if to take a walk went out to meet them and send the King privately into the house by one whom they had chosen for that purpose Jane and Lassels in the mean time are publickly received as Relations who coming from a place far distant were to be gone next day In this place the King's Majesty stayed securely nineteen days expecting a Vessel at leisure and having been several times disappointed But one day it happened that the Countrey People fell to ringing of Bells with more than usual Solemnity and the King enquiring into the cause of this extraordinary rejoycing was told that it was for the joyful News of the King's Death which was confidently reported But whilst they consulted and cast about a long time concerning a passage VVindham bethought himself of one Elden a Merchant formerly a Captain under CHARLES the First who since that drove a considerable trade at Lime that he possibly might procure a Vessel since he had assisted the Lord Berkley in distress with a safe passage Therefore VVindham is dispatched to him to learn whether or not he could procure a safe passage for VVilmot and another Nobleman who had made their escape from VVorcester fight He readily listened to it and presently went to Chayermouth near to Lime where having sent for the Master of a Ship he asked him under promise of secresie if he durst venture to carry VVilmot and his servant safely over to France He undertook it and bargains with a Captain for threescore Pound which he obliged himself under Hand and Seal to pay him after he had carried a Nobleman over to France The hour and day when he was to put them on Board in a Boat are prefixed Hitherto all things succeeding according to their expectation there only wanted a pretext of staying in Lodgings till all things might be made ready for their passage For that end Henry Peters VVindham's Servant who was privy to the design applies himself to an Hostess at Chayermouth and amongst other discourses told her that he was servant to a worthy Nobleman who was deeply in Love with a Maid that had neither Father nor Mother who lived not far off and was as much in Love with him But that her Guardian opposing the Marriage he resolved to steal her away by Night He therefore asks her if she would for some hours entertain them in her house and at the same time gives her a small Gift as a pledge of a greater reward and drinks a Glass of Wine with her The woman softned by the present and touched with Compassion for the young Lady promises to serve them Leaving therefore Trent the King sets out towards Chayermouth with Juliana Conisbey his pretended Bride who was privy to the matter riding behind him upon the same Horse The Lord Wilmot Colonel VVindham and Henry Peters accompany them and were met by Elden who carried them into a private house whither he went under pretext of viewing a little Farm Here the King's Majesty discovered himself unto him giving him a small present as an earnest of future Gratitude From thence the Merchant goes to Lime that he might give notice to the Master of the Ship to be in readiness to put to Sea at the appointed time The King with the rest went to their Lodgings at Chayermouth and Peters to stay for the Boat But having waited till it was almost day he returned without any News of the arrival of the Boat This put them all into disorder and made them think of taking other measures there was no safe place here to stay in and the King was resolved not to loyter a moment After a short consultation the King with Juliana and the Colonel accompanying them advance towards Bridport there to expect the coming of the Lord VVilmot and Peters in an appointed Inn. Peters being to go to Lime to learn from the Merchant the reason of the disappointment And VVilmot staying behind in the Inn upon pretext of new shooing his Horse But Elden the Merchant who thought that by this time they had made half their Voyage could not imagine the reason of the breach of promise nor could he attribute it to any thing else save that the man taking his leave of his Friends it being then the Market-day at Lime had drank so much as to make him forget the prefixed time But it was known afterward that the Master of the Vessel being come home to take clean Cloaths and other necessaries for his Voyage with him was locked up in his Chamber and bolted in by his Wife For that very day a Proclamation had been made in the Town whereby it was declared Death for any Person to aid or conceal the King and a thousand Pounds promised to any that could apprehend him This put the woman into so great fear lest her Husband in doing that Office which he had confessed to his Wife to have taken upon him might suffer Shipwrack on Shore She therefore used Entreaties Tears and almost Violence to hinder him from it and at length screamed out thereby to allarm the Neighbourhood Being therefore overcome by so much importunity he kept at home and committed himself to the direction of his Wife Upon the way to Bridport VVindham went a little before the King to view the Rode and coming near the Town he found it to be full of Soldiers For there was a Muster that day and a taking on of Soldiers for an Expedition against the Isle of Jersey under Haines VVindham was therefore for the Kings going to another place but he laying aside all fear would needs enter the Town lest he might seem to have deceived VVilmot and partly also that he might refresh himself tir'd out with night-watching and travelling and wait for the coming of VVilmot The Colonel took care to provide a Chamber and Victuals which was no easie matter to be done amongst so many Guests The King in the mean time was employed in carrying the Horses into the Stable and looking after them nor could he avoid talking with the Soldiers in the yard about his Journey But the Hostler looking him in the face as he deliver'd him the Horses told him You are welcome I know you very well Where did you know me answered the King At Exeter said he for the King had continued long there during the heat of the War I lived two years in an Inn there And so did I replied the King in the Service of Master Porter I am glad I have met with a Country-man but I perceive you are so busie that you have no time to drink with me when I come back from London we 'll talk of old Stories Being pleased with these promises and full of Business or God Almighty casting a Mist
before his Eyes he forbore all farther discourse Shortly after VVilmot passing through the Town they take Horse and following the streight Rode to London they met with several Travellers in the way and amongst those one who had formerly been a Servant to CHARLES the First Therefore thinking it most convenient to turn out of the Rode they followed the next way upon the left hand and having rid a long time towards night they came to a Village called Broad-windsor Windham goes before to enquire where they were what the name of the Village was and whither the way led And by good luck he stumbled upon an Inn-keeper an old Servant of his own who had been also a Soldier in the Kings Army pleased with this good Fortune he speaks him kindly and because it grew dark he easily obtained Lodging that night for his Company However it was not long before the Constable came with forty Soldiers at his back who marching to the Sea Coast to be transported over to Jersey must be quartered there The House being pestered with them the Kings Majesty had but a very narrow Lodging yet that was not all the inconvenience For about midnight a Woman that followed the Soldiers fell into Labour Which being noised about the People of the Village flock'd together and kept a bawling and heavy rout about the keeping of the Child and Mother which continued till break of day when the Soldiers weary of the jangle hastened to their Ships During the hubbub let us look back a little to Chayremouth where the Shoeing of a Horse went near to have cost the Lord Wilmot dear by a discourse started betwixt the Smith and the Hostler The Smith asking From whence came these Gentlemen From Exeter as they say answered the Hostler To whom the Smith replied but I dare swear these last Shoes were put on in the North. All other circumstances being considered to wit that the Saddles were not taken off in the night time that though Travellers they had sat up all night and that the Servant went out of the Inn early in the morning they presently conclude that they were Persons of Quality who flying after the late Worcester fight had wandered thither and that perhaps the King was amongst them So that the Hostler hoping to make his Fortune went to consult the Minister of the place one Westley a great stickler for the Regicides what he had best to do on this occasion But neither was it fit to disturb him at his Morning Prayers nor durst the Hostler stay till they were winded out for fear of losing the Vails he expected from the Gentleman that was upon parting and therefore returning without any thing done he lets him go The Smith having blazed about the story presently came the Minister solicitously enquiring of the Inn-keeper what the Travellers were that he had lodged that night from whence they came whither they were going and what was their Business there His suspicion being encreased by the Inn-keeper's answers he runs to Butler the next Colonel for obtaining a Warrant to raise the Countrey and Soldiers for apprehending the King The Colonel refusing Captain Massey quartered hard by having gathered together as many Horse as he could in the hurry follows after on the London Rode as far as Dorchester but the King dy divine Providence having quitted the Rode he returned disappointed of his fair hopes This set all the Soldiers about a working who search all places and suspected houses especially that of Sir Hugh Windham Uncle to the Colonel where they left not a Chest nor corner unsearched and having made the whole Family Prisoners they will needs have a young Lady of extraordinary Beauty and Parts to be the King in disguise nor did they let her go till by an undoubted experiment they had found out her Sex The King's steps however are to be traced by a surer Guide For after mature deliberation it was resolved upon that he should return to his known recess at Trent and that the Lord Wilmot with Peters should hasten to Salisbury that there he might advise with John Coventry the eldest Son of the Lord Keeper Coventry by a second Marriage by what means the King might either securely pass the Seas or at least find a new retirement for it was to be feared lest staying too long in one place he might be discovered After a consultation with Coventry application is made to one Mrs. Hide a Widow who lived at a Village called Heal within a mile of Salisbury that she would look out for a lurking place and Robert Philips who had been a Colonel in the Army of CHARLES the First is sent to Southampton to freight a Vessel He returning from thence assured them that a Ship and all things necessary were in readiness for a Transportation But it fell out unluckily that the same Ship whilst the King was going to the Widows House was taken up and engaged to carry over Soldiers and Ammunition to the Isle of Jersey Philips being therefore disappointed of his hopes begs assistance of Colonel Gunter whom he met with by chance in that affair The King in the mean time came to the Widows House in the night time and goes to Supper Doctor Henchman afterward Bishop of Salisbury with other Guests sitting with him at Table After Supper he privately disclosed himself to the Widow and entreated shelter from her and though she had never seen him before but once and that seven years before in passing yet at first sight she knew him She therefore advises him early in the morning to depart towards London but having turned out of the way to come back about one of the Clock in the afternoon at what time he should by a back door be let into the House for that being a Market day at Salisbury and all her Servants and other Witnesses being gone thither by her permission she her self would let him in The thing was accordingly done For the King and Colonel Philips taking formally leave of the Mistress of the House mounted on Horseback and go to see Stonehenge but at the appointed hour returned back again here the Colonel carrying away the Horses the King is hid in a secret place which had been made in the time of the War for securing of Jewels and Goods of greatest value In the mean time by means of Colonel Gunter a Vessel was hired at Bright-helmstead in Sussex which so soon as the King knew all things being in a readiness for a departure his Majesty in good earnest takes leave of the Lady and in the night time accompanied by Colonel Philips he removed to the house of one Simmons near Portsmouth and came next day in the Evening to an Inn at Bright-helmstead where all sit down at Table together the King Gunter Wilmot Mansel a Merchant and Tetershal Master of the Vessel opposite to the King The Master of the Vessel
having sent before him five thousand Prisoners who being sufficiently exposed to the Scoffs and derision of the People are either clapt up in Prisons or sent to the New World there to drudge in the Sugar Mills In the mean time Monck who was deservedly afterwards Created Duke of Albermarle being made General of the English Forces to the number of six thousand which Cromwell had left behind him in Scotland attacques Sterling-Castle and takes it by surrender with all the Guns Ammunition much Provision five thousand Arms the Registers Coffers Jewels and several Monuments and Relicks of Kings together with that lofty Inscription Nobis haec invicta dedere centum sex proavi Colonel Alured surprised and took the Aged Earl of Levin the Earl of Crawford-Lindsey Lord Ogilby and many other Noblemen whilst they were met for raising of Soldiers at Ellet a Town in Pearthshire Sir Philip Musgrave also the Provost of St. Johnstone and others being about the same business are taken at Dumfrise But Dundee because it had the boldness to hold out was stormed and taken by assault and the whole Town left to the mercy of the Soldiers who kill'd and plunder'd all they found Aberdeen and other Towns and Forts being warned by this sad example of their own accord yielded to the Enemy A little after the Marquess of Argile made a shew of maintaining the Interest of the Kingdom as also the Highlanders but having obtained indifferent good Conditions they also yield and submit their necks to the English Yoke Afterward four Citadels are built strong both by Art and Situation to which by Sea men and Provisions might easily be transported from England to wit at Air Innerness St. Johnston and Leith besides Sterling Castle standing on the Brow of a Hill and Edingburrough Castle which we described before Nay in every County they keep a Garison in some Castle or other that if any new Rebellion should arise they might have opportunity to suppress it where-ever it happened in Scotland Nor could the main Land of Scotland put bounds to the Victory of the English who slighting the dangers of those raging and voracious Seas carry their Victories over to the Isles Orkney and Shetland But as when the Serpent is bruised in the Head he often threatens with his Tail so the Marquess of Huntley Earls of Glencairn and Athol Midleton and others stir the Embers and raise new flames of a War But Morgan easily reduced them having before they could joyn routed the chief of them Henceforward they who had been accustomed to be most unruly and disobedient when occasion of Kicking offered are fain to bite upon the Bit and upon capitulation promise to live quietly for the future Now are Judicatures and Courts of Justices opened in Scotland for which end amongst other Itinerary Judges are sent from England George Smith John Marss Edward Moseley to whom were added of the Scots the Lord Craighall Lockhart and Swinton not to be forgotten A Council of State is also made up of English not of the best Quality who were matched by some Scots mingled with them nay in every Shire a Meeting is called wherein renouncing the King they are obliged to subscribe to the English Government and to unite into one Common-wealth with the English And at length they are commanded to send thirty Commissioners to the Parliament of England Nor is it to be denyed but that they were English though from Scotland who were appointed to that Office except the Marquess of Argile and Laird of Swinton which two were the only Scots that hearded themselves into that Parliament The use of Arms is likewise denyed to that Nation nay and of Horses also except only for some necessary ends and uses Besides their Commerce and Negotiations with Foreigners are narrowly observed lest under that pretext they might hatch mischief against the Common-wealth of England So much they got by disturbing the quiet of England and by medling in the stirs and troubles of others nay and by being the Authors of the innumerable Calamities which we suffered So they fell into the Pit that they dug for us and were taken in the Snares which they had laid for the Innocent nor was there any hopes of a Deliverer or an Avenger till God should think fit to look down from his Mountain and having chastised the perverseness of the People have Mercy upon them But so much for Scotland let us therefore leave it and return to matters that properly concern our selves Jersey must now come upon the Stage for the subduing whereof Hains with great preparations of Soldiers and all things necessary is empowred who passing over thither with about seventy sail of Ships great and small for three days space was beat off from several places of the Island by Sir George Cartright Governour of the Island since deservedly Vnder Chamberlain of the King's Houshold though sooner than was expected he afterward obtained the Victory For making a descent in the night time and Bovil who commanded the Cavalier Party doing his utmost to hinder the Enemies Landing being killed in the first Encounter the rest seized with a sudden fear and Consternation are put to flight The Inhabitants after that submitted to the will and pleasure of their new Masters Elizabeth Castle also standing upon a Rock and at high water encompassed by the Sea being battered and torn with great Guns and Mortar-Peeces one of which was so fatal as at one blow to kill or mangle eight and forty Soldiers after two Months siege capitulates upon Condition that the Governour and Garison with Bag and Baggage should have liberty to pass over into France Next follows the Isle of Mann this place though defended by Feminine Valour to wit by the Countess of Derby yet vied so much in honour with men that it was doubtful whether in the Royal Cause Sir George Cartright or she fell the last Victim under the Hands of the Traytors All the Provinces thus subdued an Act of Oblivion passes whereby the memory of what was past being abolished all Crimes whatsoever are pardoned But this was hampered with so many Limitations Restrictions Exceptions and ensnaring Clauses that there was little hopes for true Penitents to expect any good from it But such however as it was Cromwell alone was to be thanked for it by him chiefly it was proposed and by his means and endeavours it past in the Rump-Parliament that by so doing he might by a shew of kindness claw the suffering and vanquished People and at the same time heap hatred and indignation upon the Heads of his fellow Traytors For now forsooth it was time to put an end to Rapine and Violence Did they take so much pleasure in undoing Estates and ruining Families There was enough allowed to anger and revenge That it was altogether fit to shew Clemency and Mercy to the Guilty who having sufficiently payed for their faults
this Honourable Assembly to remedy all these Disorders shewed That the Wars with Portugal France and the Dutch do and did eat up the Assessments That swarms of Jesuits are crept in to make Divisions which were grown so wide that nothing but his Government could remedy them And let Men say what they will he could speak it with comfort before a Greater than any of them Then he shewed what he had done during his Government First his Endeavours of reforming the Laws having joyned all Parties to assist in that great Work Next his filling the Benches with the Ablest Lawyers Then his Regulation of the Court of Chancery and his Darling Ordinance for the Approbation of Ministers which hindred all that list from invading the Ministry by Men of both Persuasions Presbyterians and Independents c. And lastly his being Instrumental to call a Free Parliament which he valued and would keep it so above his Life Then he shewed the Advantage of the Peace with the Dutch Dane and Suede and the Protestant Interest which he would have them improve and intend chiefly That they were now upon the Edge of Canaan That he spoke not as their Lord but their Fellow-servant And then bad them go and chuse their Speaker Cromwell having spoken to this effect the Members without returning him Thanks as is usual went to the House Lenthall being again chosen Speaker they fall first upon the New Instrument of Government all the Clauses and Articles whereof they thorowly sift and examine The Officers of the Army who were Privy-Counsellors and all who depended on Cromwell vigorusly oppose that saying That that Instrument was to be taken for the Basis and Foundation of the Government no ways to be called in question since by the Authority thereof the Parliament met and that it would be contrary to the Dictates of Natural Reason to bring it to a Trial. Nay many and particularly Lambert threaten That if the Parliament did not approve and confirm it they themselves would call another nay a third and a fourth till it should be at length established by Publick Consent But the Republicans stood stiff to the contrary making answer That the Government was usurped by Craft and Force not procured by Right nor confirmed by the Free Votes of the People that it laid Snares for the Liberty of the Commonwealth and made way for a most grievous Tyranny One amongst the rest in the heat of the Debate was so bold as to say That since they were approaching so near to Monarchy it were better to call one of the Royal Family to the Government than that Cromwell should usurp the Scepter and Crown Cromwell being informed of these Debates comes in great rage to the Parliament and tells them to this effect That they were not called together that they might confound and turn all things again into the former Chaos but that they should build upon the Foundation and Ground-work already laid down and not to be altered That his Authority could not be called in question unless at the same time they invalidated their own Power since the present Parliament was called by him and by him had liberty to consult That he alone had the Right of setling Fundamentals upon which they had power to raise and beautifie Superstructures That he was resolved to maintain the Government and Supreme Power in a Single Person to call a Parliament once in Three years not to sit above Five months without his Consent c. That to violate or innovate these things should neither be in the Power of the Protector nor Parliament That in other things they might consult and enact as they pleased for the Publick Good But because Admonition might not be sufficient he thinks fit to apply Force Next day a Guard of Soldiers being set before the Door of the House no Man was suffered to enter unless he signed the following Recognition I shall be faithful to the Lord Protector and shall not endeavour to change the Government of a Single Person Many who could not swallow that Bit are debarred from the Privilege of Sitting Nevertheless so many Republicans took the Recognition as made the Cromwellian Faction and Republican almost equal some who underhand favoured the King joyning themselves to each Side enflaming Animosities and as much as might be setting the Parties who seriously treated these Affairs at greater variance Insomuch that after five Months continual jangling and debate Cromwell was not able to bring his Affairs to any good issue in this Parliament Nor do the Republican Spirits onely prevail in the Parliament but also in the Army For these consult and plot together how they might apprehend Cromwell and bring him before the Parliament to be accused and condemned of Treason thinking with themselves that if they could lay Hands upon him and make him Prisoner there would be a sudden change of Affairs and that his Favourers and Adherents being thereby baulked would sculk and shift for themselves The truth is the Officers of Three thousand Horse and of no inconsiderable number of Foot frequently met in Somerset-house and elsewhere about the contriving and carrying on of that Design But before the Matter came to maturity by the Treachery of Pride it came to Cromwell's Ears who by a hasty Dissolution of the Parliament prevented all those Machinations and disbanded those Officers In the mean time Cromwell having received a splendid Embassie from Sueden with equal Magnificence he concluded a Peace with that Crown and dismissed the Embassadors with hopes of a nearer Alliance He makes Peace also with France and promises to send over Assistance thither if the Affairs of England would permit him But all this while the specious Pretext of Supreme Authority was wanting to these Attempts The Parliament had denied their Collective Votes to make that up therefore it remains that the Distributive Votes of all the People be had and that the Officers break the Ice Wherefore Gratulatory Petitions or Addresses are sent by the Commanders of the several Regiments of the Army in Scotland whereby they thank the Lord Protector for having changed the Form of Publick Government to the better They pray him to go on in the discharge of that Province which by Providence he hath undertaken promising with their Lives and Fortunes to maintain and defend him in all difficulties But amongst the English Officers there was a necessity of a wheadling Pretext to wit That the Malignants and Enemies of the Country now triumphed as if the Army breaking into Discords and Divisions would presently renounce their General Cromwell That therefore a Petition of that nature must needs be framed wherein by applauding the Protector they would convince those that were of a contrary Opinion With much ado he obtained that amongst the Republicans but at length some refusing to sign it as venturing rather Cromwell's Displeasure and Revenge than by a sneaking Compliance to betray the
Back-doors Guards being set at all of them Let us here mention one Passage which tho' indeed ridiculous had nevertheless almost cost him his Life Being much troubled with the Stone he used sometimes to swill down several sorts of Liquor and then stir his Body by some violent kind of Motion as Riding hard on Horseback or Jolting in a Coach that by such Agitation he might disburden his Bladder Wherefore one day he took with him his Secretary Thurlow that they two by themselves might privately use this Exercise in a Coach in Hide-Park When they were come thither Cromwell himself got up into the Coach-box drawn by six stout Horses lately presented him by the Count Oldenburgh But so soon as he began to snap his Whip the Horses run away and the Postilion who was to guide them being thrown off of the Forehorse they fall a fretting and grow unruly and not knowing their Master toss their new Driver from his Seat upon the Pole who falling from thence upon the Ground and being entangled in his Coat was dragged up and down till having received many Bruises and a Pocket-Pistol going off in his Pocket his Coat rent and he escaped from the very Jaws of Death a Troop of Guards that waited without the Park hastning in to his Assistance God Almighty thought it not fit that this Plague of England should thus expire though he was not far from the just punishment of his Crimes that is from being torn to pieces alive by unruly Horses But this made work for Poets and Post-boys and afforded pleasant Discourse in Taverns Cromwell now growing bare of Money dispersed his Souldiers over the Countrey allowing them free Quarters instead of Pay taking a pretext from a late Insurrection without any accusation or proof of a Crime to plunder all those who had been sequestrated for the Royall Cause commanding them to pay the tenth part of their Goods and of their yearly Rents unless they could compound for it by laying down a Sum of Money as had been often done before The Publick Faith and Act of Oblivion stood them in no stead though it had cost vast Sums of Money or had been stipulated by Articles upon the surrender of Garrisons and strong places Nor did the innocence of many who had not meddled in these Affairs in the least excuse them all are equally involved in the Guilt and must all alike part with their Money New Major Generals are appointed to raise the Moneys in all Counties to the number of fourteen each having their Province which perhaps reached three or four Counties over which as amongst the Romans the Military Tribunes so these were appointed with almost an absolute Power And that they might not seem thus to domineer onely for Money they are impowered to make inquiry into all those who had carried Arms for the King or had favoured that Cause those who had heretofore bought up Arms or had hired or let out Post-horses into Privat Assemblies those who live at too high a rate when it is not known how they are able to afford it into Vagabonds and Idle Persons into those that frequent any sort of Game those who slight or are averse from the established Governments into such as raise Tumults or Sedition those who haunt Taverns Tipling and Eating-houses into unlearned and scandalous Ministers and School-masters All such the Major Generals had power to inquire into call before them and punish To these were joined Assessors in the several Counties Towns and Provinces for most part chosen out of the very Sink of the People though others of better note were sometimes mingled with them these had Power upon common Fame proper Knowledge or bare Conjecture to inform against others make them appear and accuse them before the Major General of the Army with whom they sat as Assessors in giving Judgment Good God! how Princely these fellows carry it how big and proud do they look despising and slighting all others of what rank and quality soever Nothing pleased them more than to insult over and oppress the Ministers of the Church of England sufficiently already born down who being long ago turned out of their Houses and Livings these Blades would not so much as suffer them to teach little Children thereby to get Bread to themselves and Families unless some Fanatick interceded for them which happened rarely and but to a few The Royalists being right or wrong before sequestred must now suffer a Decimation and be threatned with Imprisonment Bonds and Transportation which sometimes were actually inflicted Licentious indeed was the Rule of these Men they carry all things Arbitrarily and with Despotick Authority making themselves Judges of Controversies though they were ignorant of and despised all Forms and Methods of Process which they constantly decided in favours of the Faction and their Party They imposed new and unusual Punishments nay and made new Laws Raised People out of their Beds at Midnight and committed them to Goals nay and caused Constables who have the power of keeping the Peace in Countrey Villages to be whipt and put in the Stocks compelled Persons of Quality who had appeared for neither Party nay such as had been for the Parliament and others also who heretofore by hereditary right had siâ—ten in the House of Lords to come and give their Votes in the Elections for Parliament-Men Being at length drunk with that Exorbitant Power they hardly acknowledged the Protector himself and begun to spurn against the mighty Tyrant which made him by degrees lessen their Power and upon the approach of a Parliament wholly abolish it About the same time Cromwell sends one of his Bedchamber Envoy into Poland there to Congratulate the Victories of the King of Sweden with a present of four brave Horses as a Testimony of his Affection Whether or not Private Affairs be worth the relating may be a doubt yet that the inclinations of the People may be known I shall mention some Passages Davison Holder and Thorold are brought into suspition of acting for the King and of using endeavours to bring him in therefore they are committed to a Provost Marshal to be shortly brought to Tryal before the High Court of Justice In the mean time having obtained leave from him to walk abroad they wheadled the Soldier into a by place whom because he refused to consent to their escape they Pistolled But being afterwards apprehended they are brought to their Tryal for Murder before the Lord Chief Justice of the Kings Bench in Westminster-hall and submitted themselves to the Verdict of a Jury of Twelve Men a Tryal that onely pleases our Countrey-men as being according to Law Nevertheless though they were taken in the fact and that the Judge himself had promised to use his endeavours to have these Men Condemned yet I know not what scruples being started the Jury brought them in Not guilty which thing vexed Cromwell who had resolved with himself
prejudice to his Person or Interest which they would not make ample and sufficient amends for Richard then thought it enough in imitation of his Father to look big threaten chide and roar However they are not terrified but rather provoked to greater rage by that blunt Thunderbolt nor do they onely scoff and make mouths at him but slight him as an Ass and attempt greater matters against him From hence forward those that formerly wished best to him abandon him in Counsel and every way nor do they think it worth the while to meddle in his Affairs whom God had so infatuated as to make him neglect his own Interest Therefore they bequeath their Labour and Studies to the Cause of the King as being clearly convinced at length that that was the onely Interest that could justly and lawfully be maintained But the Officers seeing their Proposals tending to maturity frame a Remonstrance wherein they turn the fury of their engines aganst the Name of Malignants complaining That the Good Old Cause was forgot that the Asserters of it were every where vil fied the great Patrons and Patriots of it the Kings Judges put into Printed Lists and marked for destruction with the ruin of all the Godly and the Cause together that many Cavaliers came daily from beyond Sea and in presence of the People asserted the Kings Cause and Consulted together with much more of this Nature They pray that these things may speedily be redressed giving no obscure marks of their Inclination of bringing in a Democracy again This they desire Richard to represent to the Parliament scaring him thus with Lightning before the Thunderclap But the Parliament some true Republicans being amongst them out of design as some thought that he might have the Army against him pass a very imperious Vote Prohibiting any number of Officers and Soldiers to meet together for holding of Consults until the Parliament should determine about these Affairs Which Richard delivering both in his own and in Name of the Parliament and commanding their Consults to cease in a full meeting of the Officers Desborough takes him up for it so that the Officers becoming fiercer and more angry they apply themselves to the Lieutenancy of the Militia of London and allure them to a consent and to joyn with them that being involved in the same guilt with them they might not boggle to desire the same things of the Parliament This by means of Ireton the Brother of the late Ireton the Commander then Lord Mayor and of other Leading Men they easily obtained After these Prelimnaries the Officers of the Army drawing together their Forces before Day beset Whitehall where the Protector lived sending in in the mean time Desborough and Fleetwood earnestly to beseech him that he would presently dissolve the Parliament and to acquaint him That if it were not speedily done the Officers would cause Fire to be set to the House and all that resisted to be slain Richard terrified with these threats having in vain implored the Assistance of the City without either Guards or Soldiers to stand by him and his Bed-chamber Men and other Servants being frightned at length Signs a Proclamation to be published for Dissolving the Parliament After this some few days being allowed him to repent for what he had done and to take new Counsels there were a great many who prognosticated all evils to him nay affirmed them to be hanging over his Head seeing now the inveterate Enemies of his Family swoln with Pride and Malice who never kept Faith to any Man were got into Power again That perhaps they would sooth and slatter him at present till under pretence of his Authority they might rob him of the Assistance and Protection of his Friends and then having exposed him to hatred and derision try him for his Life and that under colour of a Law formerly made whereby to aspire to or introduce Monarchy is declared Treason It was moreover represented to him That he had still a safe refuge under the Mercy of the King if he would expiate his Fathers Crime by his own Allegiance that it was the part of a King to keep his Word that the Lord Petcombe the Danish Resident had promised to send over Letters safe to the Soundt that a Messenger might be more securely sent afterward to the Admiral to acquaint him with these Affairs and that he would likewise give security on the Kings part that the Articles should be fulfilled That that was no such difficult thing to be done since the Fleet was as yet free from Contagion the Admiral ready to serve the King and both hating and hated by the Parricides that besides Portsmouth and other strong Holds would joyn with him in a strict Confederacy that most part of the People also for the sake of the King and to revenge the injuries done to himself and the Parliament abruptly dissolved would rise in Arms and lastly that all Ireland was as yet subject to his Government Being sollicited by these and such like Arguments he was in suspence not knowing what to do he was tossed betwixt hope and fear having missed or abused the occasion of doing his business sometimes preferring the Counsels of some and by and by again of others and sometimes ready to run for it till at length being advised by Fleetwood and other Republicans whose Opinions he had privately asked That it would be much safer for him to enjoy certain and sure Priviledges than dangerously make tryal of new Experiments with fear and astonishment he keeps in Whitehall In the mean time a Council being called the Officers that had stood for Richard Ingoldsby Coff Whaley Falâ—onberge and Howard are â—asheered the old Republican Colonels whom his Father had formerly turned out Lambert Harrison Rich Parker Okâ—y and others being again brought into play Then the Officers of the Army with some five or six Members of the Musty Old Rump meeting together in the House of the Old Speaker Lenthall require him that he would reassume his Chair after a long intermission in Parliament and again sit at the Helm of the Government Which at first he refused alledging invincible Arguments to the contrary but afterwards partly through the threats and desires of Vane and chiefly of Lambert partly through his own Pusillanimity and partly through his own ambitious desire of Rule he is prevailed upon and condescends The Officers having acknowledged the injury they had done to the Rump and having publickly declared their sorrow for it and the Members obliging themselves of new by mutual engagements the Speaker with his Mace before him enters the House of Commons being attended by as many as could be got together out of the Streets Ale-houses Taverns even the Army and Prisons which nevertheless being computed hardly made up two and fourty Men by so small a Thread the Affairs of England then hung Yet these Varlets made no scruple to represent three
not now avail them That it was madness after the slaughter of so many Royalists the killing of so many Nobles and the unparallel'd Crime of the Murder of Charles the First to expect from a young banished man and exasperated by a long Exile a Pardon which God Almighty would hardly give for so many Villanies That there remained then no remedy for them but a daring boldness whilst as yet neither the Authority of the Parliament in the House nor that of Monk in both the Armies was firmly enough setled Let us therefore dare say they and re-attempt Murders Rapines Disturbances of State and all those Villanies that for twenty years past have so well succeeded with us rather than tamely and cowardly deliver up our Liberty purchased by our blouds into the power of an Enemy who will the more cruelly be revenged upon us that he hath been so often baffled and defeated by us Let us either by greater Crimes justifie the past or bury our misfortunes with our lives in the ruine of the Common-wealth Trahere omnia secum Mersa juvat gentesque suae miscere ruinae If we must sink we 'll drown the State And involve Nations in our Fate Having thus concerted a Conspiracy there wanted onely an opportune Leader but then Lambert being the person of greatest reputation amongst the Fanaticks was thought the fittest to undertake that Charge Having therefore corrupted his Keepers he made his escape out of the Tower by night then lurking privily in the City and consulting with the Ring-leaders of the Party they concluded amongst themselves O damnable madness by corrupting the English Regiments and raising Sedition in the Army to renew a Civil War And so Lambert secretly posts to Warwick the place appointed for their meeting Thither came Axtell Okey Cobbet Crede and other bloudy Traytors where being joyned by Turncoats and the disbanded Souldiers of the English Regiments whom they had allured into their Party they suddenly make up an Army and so the unhappy General is once more in command The first that gave Monk intelligence of Lambert's Insurrection was Colonel Streater who was with a Regiment of Foot quartered in Northampton The Council of State hearing of the escape of the Conspirators proclaim Lambert and his Adherents Traytors Monk in the mean time lest leaving the City of London he might bring the publick safety in danger resolved to reserve his main Force for greater occasions and to send in all haste some Horse after Lambert to crush the designe in its Infancy Richard Ingoldsbey acquitted himself like a brave man retrieving by a bold attempt the faults that being a Colonel under both the Cromwels he had formerly committed He having Orders from Monk with a body of Horse hastened to joyn Streater's Foot at Northampton and on the two and twentieth of April being Easter-day within two miles of Daventry came in sight of the Enemy in an open Country fit for a Horse-fight and no less for flight Lambert before his Forces were ripe for Action being thus unexpectedly beset for a last proof of his Valour drew up his men in order to fight leaving the rest that was not in his power to destiny and Ingoldsbey did the like both for some hours mutually expecting the charge Whilst thus they delayed to engage it was reported that Lambert made some overtures of restoring Richard Cromwel whom he knew Ingoldsbey to have been much affected to that so he might save Stakes But he disdaining to see the force of that scenical Prince plaid again they must come to blows Providence appeared in the engagement for hardly had they begun to skirmish but that many of Lambert's Horse turned to Ingoldsbey's side the rest either daunted at the desertion of their Companions or the force of the Enemy took quarters and yielded Which when the Commanders perceived they began to think of running Ingoldsbey charging then home put Lambert hard to it who far below the great fame that he had acquired in Arms his Courage sinking with his Cause and forgetting his former Reputation tamely yielded himself Prisoner With Lambert Cobbet and Crede were taken but Axtell and Okey making their escape delayed but avoided not their deserved punishments And now again Lambert forsaken of his Friends and a Prisoner became sensible of his fortune Yet this fresh madness of Rebels had it not been seasonably quelled by Ingoldsbey and Streater would have again embrewed the Nation in Bloud and Slaughter and turned all things into new Disorders The very day that Monk mustered the Militia of London Ingoldsbey brought his Prisoners to Town who were now led in triumph where they had so often triumphed by their Villanies passing disarmed through armed Souldiers And thus the Civil Wars had an end Not long before March the 17th the Long and Black Parliament dissolved themselves a Parliament infamous for such havock made in the State so many impudent and unwarrantable Undertakings and for the murder of Charles the Martyr being twice garbl'd twice turned out twice restored and at length much more happily ended than begun And now on the five and twentieth of April a new and more auspicuous Parliament assembled being made up according to the ancient English custom of Lords and Commons The Earl of Manchester was Speaker of the House of Lords and Sir Harbotle Grimstone of the Commons And this conjunction of both Houses seemed a natural Prelude to the Kings Restauration For the English accustomed to Kingly government cried that there remained no other way of remedying the publick Distempers but a submission to the rightful government of Charles the Second So was it ordered above that God and man should concur in recalling the King to his Throne And so great was the fame of the Virtues and Accomplishments of this August young Prince that though by reason of a long Exile he was by face almost unknown to all and though he had not had a lawful and hereditary Title to the Crown yet they would have courted him to accept of the Government Nor was he less desirable when compared and put into the balance with those bloudy Vsurpers Nay the compassionate sense of his adverse Fortune and tedious Exile kindled also in his Subjects an affectionate desire of recalling him to his Right And the inconsiderate mistakes of the imperious Traytors at length came to this That the Common-wealth no less desired the King than the King the Government and the languishing condition of the Publick made it as if not more necessary for the English to have a Prince than for him to have a People While these things were a doing Charles wholly intent upon the motions of England leaving Brussels a Town under the Spanish dominion came to Breda which belongs to his Nephew the Prince of Orange from whence he dispatched Sir John Greenvile with Royal Letters to both Houses of Parliament and Letters also to General Monk
famous Colonel Knight received the Salutations and Respects of the Forces in their Arms and having praised them for their dutifulness and affection proceeded forwards the people strewing Flowers and Leaves of Trees in the way and in all places offering him the choicest marks of their Honour When he was come near the City the Lord Mayor and Aldermen of London welcomed him upon their knees The Mayor delivered his Majesty the Sword the Badge of his Dignity which the King graciously gave him back again and being conducted into a large and richly-adorned Pavillion was entertained at a splendid Collation From thence with a magnificent train of Persons of all quality over London-bridge he entered the City amidst such a glorious appearance of brave and great men that scarcely in any Age the triumphal Bridge of Rome ever bore a greater Pomp or victorious Tyber saw or Euphrates of old or the yet more ancient Tygris Along the Streets from London-bridge to White-hall on the one side in a continued order the Trained-bands of the City were drawn up and on the other the Companies in their Livery-gowns the houses on each side being hung with Tapistry The tops of the houses and windows were filled with vast multitudes of Spectators the People from all places flocking to this glorious and joyful Show There were no less than twenty thousand richly attired on horseback The first that led the Cavalcade were some Troops of young Gentlemen in a various most rich dress and shining Arms with Trumpets sounding before them The Sheriffs of London's men with their Spears followed after next after whom marched six hundred of the chief Citizens in Velvet-coats and Gold-chains Then followed the Kings Horse-guards led by the Lord Gerrard their Captain With the chearful musick of Drums Trumpets and Waits next advanced the Sheriffs and Aldermen of London in their Scarlet-gowns and their Horses richly deckt with Trapings their Footmen attending them shining with Gold and Silver Then followed the Kings of Arms and Heralds in their rich Coats and next to them the Lord Mayor carrying in his right hand the naked Sword and after him the Illustrious Duke of Buckingham and the renowned General Monk And now appeared Charles the Wishes of all good men and the Joys of the happy conspicuous in a triumphant Majesty On the right hand rode the Duke of York on the left the Duke of Gloucester he himself on a stately horse in the middle carrying all Triumphs and Diadems in his looks which seemed then more than humane After his Majesty came his chief Courtiers and Servants General Monk's Life-guard commanded by Sir Philip Howard and then five Regiments of Horse of Monk's Army led by Colonel Knight This Triumphal Procession was brought up by a vast body of Noblemen and Gentlemen with red Colours fringed with Gold in rich Attire shining Arms their Swords drawn and Plumes of Feather in their Hats In this order the King marched slowly through the City amidst the shouts acclamations and joyful looks of his Subjects which he triumphantly heard and beheld And now entring his Royal Palace he mounted the Throne of his Forefathers on the twenty ninth of May heretofore the day of his Birth and now of his Restauration after he had been since Worcester-fight ten years banished his Country The Members of both Houses of Parliament came to wait on his Majesty in the Banquetting-house there to express their joyful Congratulations for his Return and unfeigned Loyalty to the Government which was eloquently done by the Earl of Manchester for the House of Lords and Sir Harbotle Grimstone for the Commons The King tired out with the Fatigues of his triumphant Journey made them this short Answer I Am so disordered by my Journey and with the noise still sounding in my ears which I confess was pleasing to me because it expressed the Affections of my People as I am unfit at the present to make such a Reply as I desire yet thus much I shall say unto you That I take no greater satisfaction to my self in this my Change than that I find my heart really set to endeavour by all means for the restoring of this Nation to their Freedom and Happiness and I hope by the advice of my Parliament to assert it Of this also you may be confident That next to the honour of God from whom principally I shall ever own this Restauration to my Crown I shall study the welfare of my People and shall not onely be a true Defender of the Faith but a just Assertor of the Laws and Liberties of my Subjects The night following was consecrated to Joy The Conduits running Wine and the whole City lighted by Bonfires The loyal Citizens willing to lull asleep the memory of twenty years Calamities merrily spent the night in the noise of Trumpets Drums and Volleys of shot The providence of God Almighty never appeared more visible in humane affairs for now the Golden Age returns a Happiness too good for our times the blessed day shone forth wherein King Charles being restored to his Country restored his Country to it self and united Liberty and Monarchy two things thought incompatible under the traiterous Usurpers The honour of the Laws which makes all things firm and durable returned The splendour of the Church of England and the ancient Rites of Worship also returned Piety coming in place of Sectarian Superstition The King having tasted a little of the delights of his Return seriously set about the setling of the State entangl'd with so many Civil Dissentions and rent by Divisions and in the first place appointed a Privy-Council and disposed of the chief places of his Kingdom and Court The King makes the most Illustrious James Duke of York Lord High Admiral a Prince renowned at home and abroad and crowned with many Victories Edward Hide Earl of Clarendon was made Lord Chancellor in Eloquence not inferiour to the most famed Orators nor in Prudence to the greatest Statesmen The uncorrupted Earl of Southampton with Honour and Integrity discharged the Office of Lord High Treasurer The Illustrious charge of Steward of the Kings Houshold was conferred upon the Duke of Ormond a Peer of a steddy Judgment of the Honesty of elder times and renowned both in Peace and War The Earl of Manchester whose Loyalty had been proved was created Lord Chamberlain of the House Nicholas and Morrice two aged Knights and consummated in business were the Principal Secretaries of State Monk the Restorer formerly by the Kings Commission made General of all the British Forces is now advanced to be Master of the Horse and honoured with the Illustrious Title of Duke of Albemarle For his noble Extraction gave him a claim to the Honour of the Albemarlian Family and the bounty of the King in rewarding his good Services an Estate to support it Nor was the most Religious King less careful of the
Church Those Bishops who had survived the fury of the Hereticks he restored to their Sees and chose others conspicuous for Primitive Piety Learning and a good Life in place of those that were dead who with the same Piety and Humility that they had suffered the Reproaches of Sectarians and born the Calamities of a Civil War now in their old age carried the Miter and governed the Church of God The King made Juxon Archbishop of Canterbury and primate of all England a Prelate of Primitive Piety venerable both in his books and words heretofore Confessor to Charles the Martyr and his Assistent to the last whilst amidst the fury and reproaches of bloudy Traytors he took his leave of this world Et nullo gemitu consensit ad ictum Despexitque nefas When without sighing he received that Blow And bravely scorn'd the Villanies below And now it was no small comfort to many that they to whom the Parricides had formerly been liberal were as poor as those whom they had robbed but it was fit that Clemency should usher in the new Administration of the Government and therefore Charles imitating God Almighty in mercifulness past in Parliament an Act of Indemnity and Oblivion for all his Subjects except those who had embrewed their hands in his Fathers Bloud the rest of the guilty Rebels being wonderfully pardoned but whether with greater Policy or Mercy let Posterity judge The King now secure in his own Majesty and the Loyalty of his Subjects resolved to disband the Army which for so many years had been the Burden and Grievance of the Nation for the paying of which a Tax by way of Poll was imposed on every head in England The Souldiers had also a Donative bestowed upon them and many of the Officers were rewarded according to their merit Amidst the Joys wherewith the first three months of his Majesties government was blessed Henry Duke of Gloucester fell sick and was fatally too soon snatched out of this world by the Small Pox so much the more lamented by the King his Brother and by the Kingdom that at twenty years of age he had given such sublime proofs of his Princely Accomplishments And this alone may seem an Eclipse of the Glory of Charles that almost in his own triumph he beheld the Funeral of his dear Brother Manibus date Lilia plenis Purpureos spargam flores Bring plenty of white Lillies to his Herse Whilst sad there the purple Rose disperse The affairs of England being setled Scotland and Ireland were to be taken care of The King therefore appointed Privy-Councils of the most Loyal Subjects of both Kingdoms to manage the Government till he might advise about calling a Parliament in Scotland and sending over a Lord Lieutenant into Ireland After the dutiful Addresses of his Subjects at home the neighbouring Kings of France Sweden Denmark and many Princes of Germany by honourable Embassies congratulate the Kings happy Restauration all which were outdone by the pompous and splendid train of the Prince Ligny Embassadour from the Catholick King And now it was time to bring the Murderers of Charles the Martyr to their Tryals many of whom were before clapt up in Prison others fled away secretly and wandered in foraign and distant Countries and some trusting to the hopes of a Pardon obeyed the Kings Proclamation and freely surrendred themselves Therefore on the tenth of October Harrison Carew Clements Jones Scot and Scroop who had been of the number of the Judges that condemned the King Cooke Attorney-General the famous infamous Peters Chaplain to the Traytors Axiell and Hacker Commanders of the Guards were brought to the Bar not before an accursed and new-made High Court of Justice but according to the ancient Laws of the Kingdom before the chief Justices and the rest of the Kings Justices to be tryed by a Jury of Twelve men after the usual manner of England They were chiefly charged by the Attorney-General and the Kings Council That they the aforesaid Traytors and others guilty of High-Treason conspiring with an accursed Army of Fanaticks had carried away to Prison King Charles securely treating a Peace with the two Houses of Parliament which was almost concluded in the Isle of Wight So that the House of Lords being abrogated and the founder Members of the Commons six and forty Villains that remained took to themselves the name of a Parliament invaded the Government and decreed to bring the King to a Tryal By whose authority these Parricides an High Court of Justice being impudently constituted had condemned and caused to be put to death the King of England who was above the Laws contrary to the will and to the great grief of the People To their Indictment rightly laid and fully proved having made many false and frivolous Answers concerning the supreme authority of the Parliament which indeed in this case had no authority at all they were by the Verdict of a Jury of Twelve men found guilty of and condemned for High-Treason The same Verdict past also upon nineteen other of the Kings Judges but with a different event as shall be mentioned in the proper place On the third of October a Gibbet was set up at Charing-cross near Whitehall whither in the morning Harrison being brought the first of the surviving Regicides both in guilt and punishment with the same madness and obstinacy as he had behaved himself at his tryal the cruel Traytor affecting an undauntedness at his death was hang'd and quarter'd as he well deserved CAROLE tuis jam Victima mittitur umbris Nec satis hoc fortuna putat procul absit ut ista Vindictae sit summa tui Great CHARLES a Victim to thy Ghost does fall And yet thy Fates are not appeas'd no all That just Revenge is not yet paid that shall Harrison rather of a base than low Birth was the Son of a Butcher bred at first a Pettifogging Country-Attorney but in the heat of the Civil Wars when the onely way to get into Power was Fanaticism and Treason he fled to the Rebellious Army and there turning a furious Anabaptist and advanced to be a Colonel he grew very intimate with Cromwel and his Competitor in Villany But being a proud and haughty fellow and a most desperate Republican he fell out and was highly displeased with Oliver when he was made Protector not that he hated the Tyrant Cromwel but disdained to be outstripped and to submit to one who from a fellow-Souldier was become his Prince Carew came next and suffered the like death but his Relations who had served the King in the Wars obtained as a mark of favour the liberty of burying his body which was the same night obscurely performed The day following Cook and Peters in the same place suffered the same punishment where Peters by a drunken and base death disgraced his infamous life Cook was an obscure ragged beggarly Lawyer and ambitious to get a
Churches under their government The King answered 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 Justice and that I will be your Protector and Defender to my power by the assistance of God as every good King in his Kingdom in right ought to protect and defend the Bishops and Churches under their government Then the King arose and was led by the Bishops of Duresme and Bath and Wells to the Communion-Table where he made a solemn Oath in sight of all the People to observe the Premises and laying his hand upon the Bible said The OATH The things which I have here promised I shall perform and keep So help me God and the Contents of this Book On the eighth of May a new Parliament met which continued many years Since the year before the Regicides had been brought to condign punishment the three Estates of Parliament now condemned to the flames the Solemn League and Covenant the Bond of the English and Scottish Conspiracy and Sacrament of the Presbyterian Villany The same was done by the Parliament of Scotland and Ireland and that which had raised a Civil Combustion and propagated the same all over Britain and Ireland is now burnt by the hand of the Hangman and by its own ashes expiated at length the wickedness of three Nations This year was concluded or the new begun by the further punishment of Regicides For by Order of Parliament Mouson an upstart Lord Sir Henry Mildmay heretofore Keeper of the Jewels to the late King and therefore the more criminal and Robert Wallop on the seven and twentieth of January the day whereon the blessed King had been condemned were in Hurdles with Halters about their necks dragged to Tyburn and back again to Town being sentenced to perpetual imprisonment It was sufficiently made out that they had been Members of that execrable High Court of Justice but because they had not signed the Warrant for the Kings execution they were onely punished by Bonds and Imprisonment Hazelrigg in the mean time one of the bitterest of all the Traytors being sentenced to the same punishment pined away with anger and grief and unable to bare his disgrace prevented the dishonour and his captivity by a timely death in the Tower of London The same punishment was inflicted upon the Traytors who as we said before came in upon the Kings Proclamation For being brought to the Bar because waving all defence they humbly acknowledged their Crime and that they were a Crew most part of them of silly seduced Rascals drawn in either by the arts or threatnings of Cromwel they redeemed their necks from the Gallows which they had so often deserved by a perpetual imprisonment to which being closely confined they lived to see their Villany punished by Infamy But fortune was more favourable to the Traytors that came in at home than to those who fled abroad for about that time Sir George Downing being Embassadour in Holland had intelligence that three of the Fugitive Regicides Barkstead Okey and Corbet being come back out of Germany lurked in Delf He therefore having obtained a Warrant from the States General seized them and sent them over to England where being brought to a tryal they were condemned for High-Treason and April the nineteenth executed at Tyburn They went all to death with a fanatical ostentation of Piety But Barkstead and Corbet approaching to their end after many ugly delays and cups of Strong-waters unwillingly put their trembling necks into the Halter which quickly put an end to the Wretches half dead already for fear But Okey being a man of an undaunted mind and making use of his courage to the last went off with the bravoury of a Souldier and not undecently had he so died for his Country Corbet was heretofore an inspired prating Lawyer more skilful in the Principles of Fanaticks than in the Laws he got to be a Member of that long and black Parliament and no man was more professedly an implacable Enemy to the King The low extraction of Okey is buried in obscurity Being a Tallow-chandler in London and weary of his poor condition he followed the profitable Wars of the Parliament where his daringness advanced him to the place of a Colonel and at length to be one of the chief Judges in trying and sentencing the King Barkstead was heretofore a whifling Goldsmith in London and had raised himself upon the Ruines of his Country But those who knew the cunning of Oliver in chusing his Magistrates wondered that he preferred so silly and idle a fellow even to be a Colonel and Lieutenant of the Tower of London besides other Offices But that kind of stupid fierceness was more useful to Cromwel than the cunninger knavery of others for the Tyrant himself for the most part looked another way and commanded the Villanies which he would not behold so that this fellow no doubt was privy to the furious Councils of Cromwel and a trusty Minister of his Protectoral Cruelty And so long as he was chief Jaylor to Oliver the barbarous Villain was never startled at the sight of the Murders and Imprisonments of so many Nobles and worthy Subjects His head was set upon a Gate of the Tower whereof heretofore he had been Governour that upon the same Stage where he acted his greatest Crimes he might suffer his greatest Punishment The first Prodigy of the Regicides was their matchless impudence in putting to death the King and their next their obstinacy to the last For when they had murdered the best of Kings to the shame of Christianity the infamy of the Reformation and the universal reproach and malediction of Fanatick Zeal these godly Regicides were ashamed when Treason stuck in their breasts to confess their hypocritical pretending Religion even at the last gasp Nay their Godliness made them so impudent as rather to know themselves guilty and deny it to save their reputation amongst their Brethren than humbly and modestly to acknowledge their Crimes The Authority of Parliament was the onely thing that all of them alleadged to justifie their Parricide as if a Gang of fifty Robbers who had so often violated that Authority had been worthy of that name when there was neither the colour nor resemblance of a House of Commons left Nec color Imperii nec frons fuit illa Senatûs But since they could live no longer to do mischief their whole care was at their death to harden the minds of their Party by a fanatical assertation of dying good men when it was rather the highest Judgment of an offended God to let them fill up the Cup of their bold Indignities by a desperate end It was time now for the King who was a Batchelour to think of Marriage that he might leave a Posterity for the future
security of his Kingdom and therefore communicating his intentions to the Parliament he addressed himself to the most Illustrious Catharine Daughter of Portugal descended from the ancient Race of the Family of Braganza with the universal Applause and Congratulation of the Estates And a Fleet was sent to Portugal to bring over the Royal Bride who having had a favourable passage to the English Coast was by his Royal Highness the Duke of York met and saluted with Naval Solemnities at the Isle of Wight The King received his Bride at Portsmouth and was with great Solemnity in presence of many Nobles there married the Office of Matrimony having been performed by Gilbert Sheldon Bishop of London The King from thence conducted his Royal Consort to Whitehall where after the reiterated festivity of the Royal Nuptials the dutiful Complements of the Great men and the Presents of the Lord Mayor and chief Citizens of London slighting the wanton Pleasures of a Court by the innocence of her Manners and an exemplary Piety of Life she consecrated the trancient Delights of a Palace to the severer Sanctity of a Monastery A Queen that wanted nothing to render her self and us happy had she been as fruitful as good On the second of June the last of the Traytors Sir Henry Vane after a two years imprisonment is brought at length to the Bar where after he had defended himself by shifts and strained querks of Law rather than by any colourable Plea he is found guilty of High-Treason The first advance he made in the career of his Villany was in the death of the Earl of Strafford afterwards being a great Incendiary in the Civil Wars and equally ungrateful and perfidious to Charles the Martyr he cherished and strengthened the Party of the Traytors and though more cautiously than innocently he was not present at the Condemnation of the King yet after the Murder of Charles he was very active in changing the Monarchy into a Commonwealth and in abolishing for ever the Government of Kings But at length when Cromwel got into the Supreme Power being ill-affected and envious against all Government by a single Person he was neglected and laid aside But when the Rump came again into play with the pretences of a Brutus or Cassius he stept again to the Helm of Government and was one of the Committee of Safety He was as to Religion a man of an inconstant and unsetled mind who professedly hating the name of a King was treacherous to Charles the First and envious to Charles the Second January the fourteenth being brought to a Scaffold on Tower-hill with a most affected shew of a composed and sedate mind as the rest of the Traytors had already done he insisted upon the Supreme Authority of Parliament and spake much of the Presbyterian Covenant the Engine of all our Evils which heretofore when he was a far more refined Heretick he had so often despised and laughed at And whilst he still persisted in asserting his own innocence not without reproaching his Judges Sir John Robinson Lieutenant of the Tower wanting patience to hear any more interrupted him Being vexed at this like a mad man he tore the written Speech that he had in his hand and though he had never shew'd great resolution amongst his Party yet resolutely or rather ragingly he submitted to the blow of the Executioner and fell a Sacrifice to the Ghost of the Great Strafford and to the Subverted Monarchy But Lambert who stood indicted with Vane had better luck and behaved himself with so much modesty in his looks and words at his tryal that though he suffered the Sentence of Death as deserving the utmost Rigour yet he tasted the Kings Mercy and ransomed his Life by a perpetual Imprisonment About the middle of Summer the Duke of Ormond went over to Ireland as Lord Deputy of that Kingdom there to give as great instances of Civil Prudence as heretofore he had erected Trophies of Military Glory during the Irish War The Parliament now sitting the Convocation of the Clergie sate also and the Licentiousness of Fanatical Sects increasing made the distressed Church look to the King and Parliament for relief It was therefore enacted by the King in Parliament That the Sacraments of Baptism and the Lords Supper and the publick Prayers and Liturgie of the Church should be celebrated after the ancient manner of the Reformed Church of England the Fanaticks on all hands crying out against it and refusing to conform For though they enjoyed Impunity with the rewards of their Crimes yet no gracious condescensions of the King could oblige them The Clemency of the Prince was maliciously interpreted by the Sects and the Power of this indulging Monarch was grievous to these Fanaticks Nor had the King granted so much to Traytors but that they still thought they might take to themselves more and the brazen-faced Sectarists demand of the Son the same liberty of Religion which had undone the Father And without any respect or reverence to Majesty and the Laws frequent Conventicles of seditious men were kept Meetings were to be found everywere in Towns and Villages and the Insolence of the Rabble growing greater by the boldness of their Preachers and the Lenity of the King there was nothing but a mustering of Parties boasting of strength and polling of heads amongst the Factious all which seemed to threaten imminent Dangers The year before the Fifth-monarchy-men under Venner raised the first Stirs amongst the Preaching Rout but their Fury like the thundering Rage of Marius of old was confined within the City and there expired the fiercest of the Traytors being killed upon the spot and others at length brought to the Gallows But this year a darker and therefore more dangerous Conspiracy was hatched the same being the cause of this as of all other Plots to wit a loose and obstinate licentiousness in Religion Many of all Sects were concerned in it several Officers of Cromwel's late disbanded Army Members of the late Rump-Parliament and many who were turned out of the Kings and Churches Lands which they had heretofore sacrilegiously purchased And a secret Committee at London had the direction of all their Councils and Actings The chief designe of their Villany was to kill the King and Duke of York murder the Duke of Albemarle set fire to the City seize the Tower of London rifle the Exchequer and through the Bowels of the Nation drive on a new Fanatical Government In the mean time to make way to the bold Attempts of these Rascals it was resolved that impudent Libels should be scattered about but the Papers being seized at the Press the Printer was hanged and payed dear for his officious medling But the licentiousness and boldness of the Conventiclers growing greater and greater daily the Parl. made an Act to put a stop to the seditiousness of the People commanding the doors of the Meeting-houses to be
Summer he was advised to order some Frigats to cruise in the Scottish Seas and others in the West about Plimouth thereby on all hands to shut up the British Ocean And by fortifying Sherness and Vpnore-Castle and drawing a Chain cross the River of Medway to secure the Royal Fleet at Chatham which was better advised than executed And now the powerful Kings of France and Sweden by their Embassadours mediate a Peace betwixt the King and the States so that the heat of both Parties being somewhat allied by the mutual losses that two trafficking Nations had sustained in their Trade as well as otherwise they both condescend to send Embassadours to Breda to treat of a Peace But the English trusting to a Truce or Cessation of Hostilities in order to a Pacification laid aside all thoughts of War and the Guard-ships were far off at Sea A part of the Dutch Fleet in the mean time entering Chatham-River and having forced the Garrisons on the shore and broken the Iron-Chain that was too weak to make a resistance fell upon the Kings Fleet which had often chased them lying mored in the River unrigged and unprovided of Sea-men and Souldiers Our Frigats were burnt by the Dutch Fire-ships and others snatched not carried away in triumph to the reproach no less of the Dutch Knavery than of our own vain Security a loss so much the greater by how much it cost the Enemy the less The King in the mean time passing by the Treachery of that People and conquering his own Resentment for the present performed his Promise and that he might not delay the Treaty of Peace sent the Lord Hollis one of his Majesties Privy-Council and Henry Coventry on the Prudence of which two the King much relied as his Embassadours for carrying on the Peace which at length was concluded at Breda upon no less honourable Conditions than what the King had demanded before the War And now this Naval War carried on by the successful Valour of York the Courage of Prince Rupert and Albemarle is at length terminated in a most specious Peace but such as drew the fate of that perfidious People upon themselves the beginning of the fall of the Vnited Provinces being to be calculated from that War The King was not a little inclined to facilitate the profitable Peace that the Citizens might have time to rebuild the City And the War being now over he made it his care to erect to himself Trophies of Glory upon the Ruines and Rubbish of London instead of a wooden City which he had lost laying the foundations of one of Brick that might more powerfully resist the flames Nor were the Citizens allowed to build at their pleasure but the streets being first staked out and enlarged on each side every one built their houses in a strait and equal front London rising again with so much beauty and uniformity that the loss of the old City was hardly regreted October the twenty third the King being honourably received in the City laid the first Stone in the foundation of the Royal Exchange the next was laid by the Duke of York an auspicuous Presage of the splendour of the Structure The loss of a memorable and much-lamented person must here have an honourable mention in our Annals For this year Abraham Couley a man of famed Wit both at home and abroad and for his delightful Learning a Companion to the chief of the Nobility of England departed this life His Poetical fancy seemed to be inspired with some divine breath which in sweet numbers the Monuments of his own glory after Maro and the delights of Rome equalled the Raptures of Pindar and the Gracefulness of Athens No man was more sublime nor modest than he and he lived with the same politeness and grace as he wrote in Verse and Manners being equally conspicuous The next year was taken up in building of the City with so great magnificence of modern Pomp that it might be thought that the Citizens in digging and clearing the Ground had found Mines of Gold amongst the Rubbish of the Ruines Nor will it be more the wonder of this than of future Ages that during the calamity of a dangerous War and amidst the many losses of Merchants there still remained in the hands of the Citizens such vast stocks of Money to build new and stately houses and in their minds so much resolution as in time of War to promote the works of Peace For now in less than the space of three years a new City was raised which being purged by Fire and having expiated its former Offences recovered more than its ancient Vigour and Glory The Fame of the Roman Virtue will hardly sound so loud in future Ages in that Lands were bought and sold at Rome whilst Hannibal was at the Gates of the City when now it may be heard that after a late and devouring Plague after a lamentable Fire that laid the City in Ashes and whilst three most powerful Nations were in War with us The English still retained that confidence of their own fortune and height of mind as to resolve and to be able to lay the Foundations of a new and so magnificent a City and that under so much Affliction they dared to look beyond their Calamities And that there might be a standing Monument of the sad Conflagration or rather a Trophy of the Cities Restauration the Citizens of London growing greater in their Misfortune and magnificent in their Adversity erected in the place where the dreadful Fire began a Lofty Pillar one hundred and seventy foot high all of Portland Stone not much inferiour to Marble And that we may not always have need to return to ancient Annals for Monuments of magnificence this year Gilbert Sheldon after the death of Juxon Archbishop of Canterbury perfected the Theatre of Oxford a lasting Temple of the Muses and a Capitol consecrated to Apollo which he dedicated as a Circle to the learned Exercises and Acts of the Gown and a new Ornament to the Vniversity finished at his own vast charges and by the advice and contrivance of Sir Christopher Wren a most ingenious Architect and Mathematician On the outside the Beholder may admire the magnificence of the Structure and within be delighted with the comliness and beauty of the Theatre being incompassed around with lofty and regular Benches for the convenience of Spectators Underneath is to be seen a most excellent and well-contrived Printing-house All which will be a lasting Monument of the Founders Fame so long as men can speak in his Theatre or Books be printed at his Press Last year the Duke of Ormond returned into England after he had with the reputation of extraordinary Wisdom governed Ireland as Lord-Lieutenant for the space of seven years and this year the Lord Roberts a Person of great Integrity Prudence and Worth succeeded in that Government In the mean time
Parl. should adhere The flight of the Members of Parl. is approved The Rebels having got the power into their hands forget the K. some being for an Oligarchy and others for Democraty All conspire against Monarchy and the K. Whose murder they plot some privately Others by a Council of War Some under pretext of a Parliamentary Authority To which they make way gradually sending Propositions to the K. with a pretence of peace but in reality to find a cause of accusing him Which though the Commanders of the Army had procured in Parl. yet in the Camp they perswade the K. not to condescend to them The K. makes answer to the Parl. proposals Appeals to the Demands of the Army as more conducing to peace Where at Cromwel and the Commanders seem to rejoyce But from thence labour to incense the rest of the Members against him They juggle with the K. putting him by turns in hope and fear At which his Majesty being moved makes his escape to the Isle of Wight From thence he speedily writes to the Parl. sending also Concessions Vpon which he demands a Treaty with the Parl. Thus the Rebels oppose and take occasion of asking Demands preliminary to the Treaty Which the Scots oppose both in Parl. and before the King The King answers Is confined to close imprisonment The Oligarchick Commanders reduce the Democraticks to order and restore Military Discipline They openly rail against the King And pass a Vote of none Addresses to the King But surreptitiously in the Lower House By force and threats in the Vpper House Cromwel excuses himself of perfidiousness They publish a Declaration Which they stuff with all the Calumnies they can against the King They command it to be read publickly by the Ministers in all Parish-Churches And sooth them with promises that they may commâ—nd it in their sermons They endeavour by their Emissaries to procure gratulatory Petitions The K. Majesty is justified by many Apologies The Parsons coldly execute their orders very few congratulate All the people grumble and fret Many petition for a personal Treaty with the King The Rebels in vain opposing it ☜ First were the Essex-men Next those of Surrey who are abused by the Souldiers But nevertheless more Petitions come from other Counties And the Kentish and Essex men with several others being repulsed betake themselves to Arms. The Fleet also falls off from the Parl. The Scots rise in arms for delivering the K. out of prison The English are overcome by the enemy And the Scots Hamilton the General being taken The ships prepare to make a defection from the Prince matters succeeding ill at Land The Parl. in the mean time think of making peace The Act of None Addresses is rescinded They appoint a Conference with the K. by Commissioner in the Isle of Wight No notice taken of the Scots To what Conditions the Commissioners are tyed The Conference to be held at Newport The K. is allowed his necessary servants The K.'s wonderful prudence in the Conference In the middle of the Treaty the Parliamentarians require that the Marquess of Ormond's Commission be recalled The K.'s Answers are censured in Parl. The K. unexpectedly granted many things * There is no mension of the Court of Wards in these Articles thô it is expressed both here and in Baker's Chronicle and perhaps was thought of after these Articles were printed The K. makes some Proposals To which the Parl. in a great part consent The promising hoâ—es of Peace Are disappointed by the Rebels In what manner The Commanders of the Army pretend to be pleased with Peace They stir up the common Souldiers against it and to destroy the King The souldiers are drawn together near London Ireton makes a Remonstrance against the Peace And that in name of the Army The Army being called together And a Fast appointed ☞ Which was often abused by them It is read and approved And presented to the Parl. in name of the Army and People Nevertheless the Lower House persists in considering of the Kings Concessions at which the Commanders of the Army are angry and carry the K. away from the Isle of Wight They march to London and post themselves about the Parliament-house Yet the Members meet And debate about the Kings Concessions They vote them to be a sufficient ground for a Peace The House of Lords agreeing to it This incensed the Oligarchick Rebels The Commanders of the Army beset the Parl. house imprison many Members debar others from entering Some they carry away by force out of the House And abuse the Captives The Oligarchick Faction to the number of about forty men snatches the Authority Who are still over-ruled by the souldiers They enact concerning the highest affairs and of bringing the King to a tryal They confirm the Votes of None Addresses and rescind that concerning a Conference with the King They pass Votes preliminary to the Kings murder * M. Horatius Cons of Rome caused a Law to pass Ut quod tributim plebes jussisset populum teneret that is That what Laws or Orders the Com-Counc or Tribes of Rome should make should oblige the body of the Common-wealth by which the Senate Nobility lost their power way was made for the turning that State into a Democracy to the ruine of it Liv. l. 3. c. 55 They erect a Trib. of subjects against the K. And appoint 150 Judges of their own Faction to do the fact Some Nobles and Judges also Commanders of the Army Members of the House of Com. Mechanicks Bankrupts All obnoxious men The Vpper H. is slighted But the Republicans send them their Bills to be confirmed They are rejected as hurtful and unlawful Wherefore the Lords are dashâ— out of the number of the Kings Judges And the Judges of the Kingdom as contrary to their Bill They chuse a President of the Court And an Attorney-General In the mean time the Presbyterian Ministers cry out against it The Scots also protest against it The States General intercede English Loâ—ds offer themâ—ves Hostages for the King The whole People rages Burghill lies in wait for Bradshaw But in vain and with danger of his life But all attempts are in vain Peters from the Pulpit encouraging the Judges Accusers and Witnesses against the K. are cited by a Herald The King is brought to the Bar. Is indicted in name of the People of England The Lady Fairfax publickly contradicting it He calls into question the Authority of the Court. Which the President affirming to be derived from the People that chuse the King the King denies it * But then that neither one nor both the Houses nor any other Tribunal upon Earth had any power to judge the King of England much less a parcel of pack'd Judges of the Lower House who were masked onely with the oppressed power of that Court. The King is again and a third time brought to the bar And being about to alleadge Reasons against the Authority of the Court The President
interrupts and takes him up The King is a fourth time brought to the bar refuses to plead Desires a Conference with the Lords and Commons One of the Judges prickt in Conscience The President in a set-speech makes way for the Sentence Orders the Sentence to be read All the Judges that were present stand up and confirm the Sentence The souldiers carry away the King scoff at him And barbarously use him His Majesty behaves himself courageously and prudently And prepares himself for his last sufferings The Judges before the publication of Sentence consult about the kind manner and time of the Murder Proposals are tendered unto him upon granting which he is offered his life He is permitted to take his leave of his Children What the King gave them in charge The K. is led to execution He speaks to Col. Tomlinson and the other Instruments of the Regicide His Maj. had not spoken but that otherwise he might have been thought to submit to the guilt He did not begin the War But the two Houses His Majesty lays not the the guilt upon the two Houses Ill Instruments the cause of it One unjust sentence punished with another His Majesty forgives all the world even the Causers of his death Prays that they may take the right way to Peace Conquest an ill way seldom just To give God his due the K. his due and the People their due is the right way Give God his due in setling his Church As to the K. it concerning himself his Majesty waves it Peoples liberty consists in having government not in sharing it His Majesty the Martyr of the People He professes he dies a Christian of the Church of England He is beheaded Barbarous Cruelty against him dead Against his body Against his soul Against his fame and memory to posterity * The Tyrant the last of Kings is gone They carry away all the Royal Writings that they might not be publish'd Nevertheless a golden book of the Kings Meditations saw the light The extraordinary grief of the people The Character of the late King ☜ The Rebels exercise Arbitrary Dominion over the Lives and Estates of others They forbid any man to call Charles the II. King or to pray for him his Brother or any of the Royal Family The Monarch being cut off thâ—y presently murder Monarchy they also abrogate the House of Lords Turns out the Lord Mayor of London They alter the Common Council of the City also And repeal all Laws against Heresies and Schisms They engage the Preachers to themselves by the Kings Rents Punish the Gain-sayers Sparing no body The Government committed to the Council of forty men A subscription is enjoyned S. inveighs bitterly against the Regicides By and by falls off to the same Party They labour to establish an Oligarchy The Democraticks oppose it Inveigh ☞ Resist with Arms. They are defeated by the Vsurpers Thâ—y publish a Proclamation that no man should accuse them of Tyranny Appoint a Thanksgiving Are feasted by the City Which they recompence They sell the Kings Houses Houshold-furniture c. They burden the people with most heavy Taxes Invade Ireland And threatned the whole world March 27. June 14. May 29. October 14. June July 23. April 13. May 5. Aug. November 3. November December May 12. May 10. May 2. August October 23. Novemb. 25. December 1. January 3. January 4. January 10. January 20. February 23. February 28. April 23. June 2. August 22. October 23. Feb. March April July 13. June 30. July 27. September 4. August 10. September Septemb. 20. Jun. Sept. 25. Septemb. 15. January 3. January 16. January 22. May. June 29. July Septemb. 1 2. October 27. Decemb. 23. January 1 2. January 10. February 20. February June 14. April 27. May 5. June 24. September January 30. February 16. March June 4. July 29. August 6. September 7. Novemb. 11. Decemb. 24. January 17. May. June July 5 July August 17. August 28. October 29. Sept. Octob. November Novemb. 16. Novemb. 20. Decemb. 1. Decemb. 5. Decemb. 6 7. January 4. January 6. January 20.22 23 27. January 30. March 9. March 17. May 30. May. June 7. September 8 The state of Affairs after the Regicide in England Scotland Ireland And the Islands belonging to England The Regicides resolving the worst against Ireland Forbid Trading with the Islands and Plantations and for what end They sooth the Dutch Dorislaus being sent Ambassadour And for what purpose But without success For the Ambassadour is killed by some Scots And that with safety A Petition preserved to the Regicides by the Democratical Party They are committed to Pâ—â—son for it Another from the private Souldiers Is supprest in the Birth A third and smarter Petition from the Officers of the Army Which the Regicides elude By doing much to no purpose Some Trade with us Prohibited by the French With the French by us The Ministers of the Church of England are Persecuted Especially the â—elch The rest are cherished An Expedition into Ireland under the Command of Cromwell The Irish are ranked into several classes The Native Irish The Pope's Nuncio head of the Rebels Some Catholick Nobles Loyal to the King Irish Planters Why they fell off Being before most Loyal The Irish Scots Now fight for the King Coot Monck and Jones stand for the Rump-Parliament Inchiqueen for the King How the Royalists joyned together The arrogance of the Pope's Nuncio was his ruine And the cause of Preston's defeat The Vnion of the Irish in favour of the King Who humbly dedesire the Queen and Prince of Wales to send over the Marquess of Ormond with supplies and Authority The Nuncio frets And being besieged Capitulates for a departure Ormond coming to Kilkenny where a general meeting of the Irish was held they come to Articles of agreement Ouen-Ro-Oneal Jones and some othâ—rs find fault with the Aâ—ticles of Pacification The Lord Deputy also General of the Forces sets about a dâ—fficult work And at length raiseth an Army And marches against Jones Governour of Dublin Which place after a Council of War he first views Jones preparing for a defence sends the superfluous Cavalry to Drogheda Who are forthwith pursued by Inchiqueen And being partly slain and taken and partly made to fly to Drogheda in a short time he took the Town it self And beats Farell upon his return from relieving of Derry Takes Dundalk And other Towns And victoriously returns to the Lord Lieutenant London-Derry straitned by Ards Is relieved by Ouen-Ro-Oneal Who made an Agreement with Coot and Monck to be Confirmed by the Rump-Parliament And yet is ignominiously rejected Dublin is besieged Reynolds and Venables bring relief from England The Lord Lieutenant being informed by Deserters that Cromwel was to Sail to Munster He resolves to send thither Inchiqueen with the greatest part of his Forces And with the rest to block up Dublin and intercept Provisions The Commanders allured with the hâ—pes of Booty obtain first leave to straiten the Besieged by
Aspersion of Cowardise they give Cromwell assurance that they would shortly fight him And march to the right hand and come to a halt He presently following finds a Marish betwixt them From thence he marches to Musselbrough to hinder its being surprised and presently after to Haddington Next day to Dunbar the Scots molesting them in their march Who encamp thereabouts About break of day Lambert first falls in upon the Scots and presently after Cromwell who obtain a great Victory Leslie himself the Messenger of the defeat renders vain the confidence of the Pulpits Edinburrough and Leeth forthwith yield to the Conquerour But the Castle inexpugnable by Scituation and Art holds out Therefore he commands works to be cast up against it From thence he pursues the remnâ—nt of the Army to Sterling but in vain and leaving that place visits the Ministers at Glasgow endeavouring to allure thâ—m to hâ—s side and by Letters tries what he could work upon Ker and Straughan After three days having taken Jedbrough he returns to Edenburrough Monck marches against Robbers Takes Roslan and the strong Castle of Tantallon As Fenwick did Hume Castle almost as strong Cromwell earnestly sets about the reduction of Edinburrough Castle And having therefore in vain essayed Mines he batters it with hâ—s Cannon Till the Governour having in vain desired a conference and liberty to write to the Council of Scotland And his Wife at length being bruised by a Granado-shell Consented to these Articles And delivers up the Castle The Scots consult what is best to be done The King slighted resolves to fly to the Highlanders who were in Arms apart And by whom he was invited And privately flies to the house of the Lord Diddop Montgomery follows him And prevails with his Majesty to return The Prince of Orange dies The Scots at length admit all to the War But not till they took the Covenant Those that resisted were by the King's means united to the rest The Ministers disagree among themselves The Remonstrance subscribed by many Who behaving themselves seditiously Ker is ordered to apprehend Straughan who presently after died Cromwell pursue Ker Who unexpectedly falls upon Lambert But unfortunately A Conspiracy discovered at London For raising an Army in Scotland to invade England All that were found guilty of this are condemned and two suffer * Love he and Gibbons were the two that suffered Another Conspiracy in Norfolk Suffolk and Cambridge-shire But in vain The Welshmen with like success The King is Crowned at Scoon And sets himself wholly to the defeâ—ce of the Kingdom Dissentions are extinguished The Favourers of the Rebel-Parricides are punished The King sets up his standard And having mustered his Army encamps at Torwood The Scots celebrate the Kings-Birth-day Cromwell visits Torwood Not daring to attempt it Overton passes Forth And presently after Lambert Who obtained a Victory over the Scots Garrisons being summoned presently surrender Cromwell takes the town of St. Johnston The King in the mean time marches streight to England By Carlisle Troublesome to no man In the chief Towns he is prâ—claimed King of England c. The Parricides quaking at the news of it Harrison and Lambert wait the motions of the King and in vain oppose him at Warrington Bridge The King easily possesses himself of Worcester He kindly invites the Londoners to his assistance Who unworthily receive his Letters He demands aid of all his Subjects Many Gentlemen come But only two thousand of the Common People Why so few came in Cromwel with a vast Army Besieges Worcester The Earl of Derby with a handful of new raised Men Is defeated by Lilburn Massey is beat out of Upton which the Cromwellians possess themselves of Middleton in the night time Sallies cut upon the Enemy To his loss The King himself marches out to defend Powick-bridge Which the Enemies possess themselves of There is a sharp engagement at Perry-wood where the King behaved himself most valiantly But being over-powered by number He returns into the Town Where in vain encouraging his Men now in disorder he slips out at St. Martins Gate He exhorts the Horse to renew the Fight but they are deaf to all entreaties The Town is taken and the Fort Royal the Soulders that kept it being put to the Sword The number of the slain And Prisoners The King leaving the Scottish Horse betakes himself to By ways And at the perswasion of the Earl of Derby goes towards Boscobel When they came to the House called Whitladies He commits himself to the hiding of the Pendrels Brothers Wilmot being before sent to London Whilst the Nobles essay to overtake Lesly They are dispersed by Lilburn's men Derby and others being taken Lesly and his men became a prey to the Enemy Or what was worse to the Countrey People Massey yielding himself to a noble Lady is Câ—st into the Tower of London From whence he escapes in disguise A full account where the King lurked in England Ashenhurst's Souldiers search the Monastery A Countrey-man's Wife brings Victuals into the Wood for the King to feed upon In the Evening he comes to Richard Pendrell's House From thence intending to go into Wales That Night he goes on Foot towards the Severn Richard Pendrell being his Guide He is frightned by a Miller At Madely he is lodged in a Barn The River being strictly guarded he returns into the Wood from whence he came Early in the Morning he is by Carlos brought into Boscobel-house Having taken refreshment he climbs up upon an Oak In the Night time he is hid in a Priests-hole Pendrell the Miller being asked concerning the King Preserved his Loyalty unviolated Wilmot coming out of a Marle-pit is committed to the care of Whitgrave To visit whom the King mounted on a Millers Beast goes to Mosely Soldiers câ—me to seize Whitgrave And depart The King is again searched after in the Abbey He removes to Bently from thence to go to Bristol as the servant of Jane Lane He sets forth upon his journey accompanied with Lassels and Wilmot At Bromsgrove he falls in discourse with a Smith about himself At Stratford he passes through Soldiers without any hurt Lodges at Cirencester Then at Marsfield and the third day at Norton where he pretends himself sick And is visited by Doctor Gorge In the Buttery he discourses with a bragging fellow about the King He is discovered by the Butler A most faithful man By whose means VVilmot is introduced He sounds VVindham's mind With good success Jane counterfeits Letters as from her dying Father For a pretext of departing late at Night They go to Carew-Castle And next day to Trent where VVindam lived A report of the King's Death Elden freights a Ship at Chayermouth Peters's device whereby he provides lodgings in that place The King goes thither carrying Juliana Conisbey with him as his Bride But losing hopes of a Ship he presently departs Why the Master of the Vessel failed so foully They came to Bridport full of Soldiers Where
The two Houses come to congratulate the King The night-joys of the Citizens A happy revolution of affairs from the Kings Restauration The King appoints a Privy Council and Ministers of State The Duke of York made Admiral The Earl of Clarendon Chancellor The Earl of Southampton Treasurer The D. of Ormond Steward of the K.'s Houshold The E. of Manchester Chamberlain Nicholas and Morrice Secretaries of State Monk Master of the Horse and Duke of Albemarle Bishops restored in the Church Will. Juxon Archbishop of Canterbury An Act of Oblivion is past The Army receives their Pay and is disbanded The Duke of Gloucester dies Sept. 13. The King takes into consideration the Government of England and Ireland Congratulatory Embassies from neighbouring Princes to the King The Kings Murderers brought to tryal Octob. 10. What they were accused of They make an idle base defence And are condemned Harrison hang'd and quarter'd Octob. 3. Carew is hang'd Octob. 15. The death of Cook and Peters Octob. 16. Clements Scot Jones and Scroop executed Octob. 17. Hacker and Axtell hang'd at Tyburn Octob. 19. The punishment of the fugitive Regicides The bones of the deceased raised and buried under Tyburn Jan. 30. 1660 61. Ireton 's Character Of Pride And Bradshaw The Original of Cromwel And his Manners Catalin luxuria primum hinc conflata egestas in nefaria concilia opprimendae Patriae compulêre Flor. l. 4. Tacit. Annab l. 1. p. 4. In vitâ Agricolae Milton Mary Princess of Orange came into England Sept. 23. She died at London Dec. 24. 1661. The Solemnities of the K.'s Coronation Triumphal Arches The First The Second The Third The Fourth The King crowned at Westminster April 23. A new Parl. May 8. The traiterous Solemn League and Covenant is condemned burnt The punishment of Mouson Mildmay and Wallop Jan. 27. 1661 62. The Traytors that came in 1662. Hard. Waller â—eveningham Marten Jam. Temple Wayte Tichburn Lilburn Downs Penningt Smith Garland Geo. Fleetwood Roe Millingt Meyn Peter Temple Harvey Potter Barkstead Okey and Corbet taken Were hanged at Tyburn April 19. Corbet 's Character Okey ' s. And Barkstead ' s. The vanity of the Regicides even to the last And the cause of it The K. Thinkâ— of Marriage He marries Catharine at Portsmouth May 22. Sir Hen. Vane brought to tryal June 2. His Character 1663. Beheaded Jan. 14. 1662 63. Lambert is condemned But obtains Mercy from the King The Duke of Ormond goes Lord Deputy into Ireland July 9. The Ceremonies and Rites of the Church confirmed by Parl. May 29. The licentiousness of Fanaticks The attempt of Vennet the Cooper Flor. Infamous Libels are found Twine the Printer hang'd Feb. 24. 1663 64. Conventicles forbidden by Act of Parl. 1664. Complaints of the injuries of the Dutch What were the injuries of the Dutch They injure And provoke Holmes They falsly accuse him The Parl. is moved at the injuries of the Dutch and address to the King The King demands Reparation by his Embassadour But in vain De Ruyter 's action at Guiny The contumelious sauciness of the Dutch De Wit the Dutch Dictator His Character and Arts. The confidence of the Dutch and why Alan's action The K. visits the Colledge of Physicians of London April 15. 1665. 1665. The Royal Fleet ready to put to Sea about the end of April The chief Commanders And Flag-Officers Volunteers The number of Ships and men in the Royal Fleet. They set saiâ— April 22. The Royal Fleet blocks up the Coast And the Enemy delaying to come out returns back to the English Coast The Dutch Fleet comes out The number Commanders of it They take the English Hamborough Fleet. A Sea-fight June 3. Opdam's ship blown up The Dutch put to flight Dutch Ships burnt The Commanders of the Dutch Fleet killed Volunteers killed in the English Fâ—eet Lawson dies De Ruyter is abroad at Piracy Attempts Barbadoes April 20. Spoils New-found-land Is made Admiral The Earl of Sandwich braves the Dutch The Royal Fleet attacks the Dutch East India Fleet in Bergen A Plague breaks out in London And then rages over England The K. went to Oxford The K. returned to London Feb. 1. 1665 66. War proclaimed in London against the French Feb. 10. 1666. Prince Rupert and the D. of Albemarle Commanders of the Fleet. The Prince is sent against the French Fleet. May 29. In the mean time the Dutch Fleet offers Albemarle an Engagement And they fight June 1. The Fight is renewed June 2. The Royal Fleet thinks of retreating June 3. Prince Rupert opportunely rejoyns the Fleet. The Fight is again renewed June 4. The Dutch Fleet flies The Royal Fleet puts into Harbour June 6. The Dutch dare the Royal Fleet. The Royal Fleet sets out to engage them July 17. And engages the Dutch July 25. The Dutch flie The Royal Fleet blocks up Holland Holmes sails to the Uly And there burn 150 ships The Dutch Fleet sails for France Aug. 16. The Fire of London Sept. 2. The fire is put out Sept. 4. The Fictions of Fanaticks concerning the Fire Liv. l. 5. The Fleets put into Harbour 1667. The K. keeps his Fleet at home And secures the Coasts and Harbours Neighbouring Kings mediate a Peace The Dutch by surprize fall upon the Kings Fleet. June 10. Embassadours meet on both sides And conclude a Peace July 9. The building of London is taken into consideration The Royal Exchange founded Octob. 23. The death of Abraham Couley 1668. All hands are set to work in the rebuilding of London Liv. l. 26. The Monument of the dreadful Fire The Theatre of Oxford founded in the year 1664. is finished 1669. The Lord Roberts Deputy of Ireland Sept. 20. The D. of Ormond made Chancellour of the Vniversity of Oxford The Queen Mother dies in France The death of the Duke of Albemarle Jan. 2. 1669 70. His Birth and Extraction He followed the Wars in his youth Vnder Charles the First he served in the Scottish War In Ireland also 1669 70. He joyns the K. at Oxford Is taken by the Parliament and made prisoner in the Tower of London He takes on with the Parliament And goes to Ireland He marches with Cromwel into Scotland He fights against the Dutch under the Rump-Parliament Is by Cromwel made Governour of Scotland The Solemnity of his Funerals His Courage His Prudence And Modesty Tacit. Hist l. 3. Tacit. Annal. lib. 4. Plin. Panegyr A Catalogue of some Books printed for and to be sold by Abel Swalle DR Comber's Companion to the Temple or Help to Devotion in 4 parts fol. Dr. Allestry's Forty Sermons whereof Twenty one now first published The Works of Mr. Abraham Cowley The Eighth Edition The second part of the Works of Mr. Abraham Cowley being what was written in his younger years The Fifth Edition The Case of Resistance of the Supreme Powers Stated and Resolved by Dr. Sherlock in 8 o Dr. Sherlock's Vindication of the Rights of Ecclesiastical Authority being an Answer to the first part of the Protestant Reconciler 8 o Pet. Dan. Huetii de Interpret Lib. 2 o quarum prior est de Optimo Genere Interpret Alter de Claris Interpret c. in 8 o L. Coelii Lactantii Firmiani Opera quae extant ad fidem MSS. recognita Commenturiis Illustrata à Tho. Spark Oxon è Theat Sheld The Case of Compelling Men to the Sacrament of the Lords Supper considered By the Author of the Charge of Scandal A Sermon preached before the King at White-hall Nov. 23. by Gilb. Ironfide D.D. A Discourse concerning the Object of Religious Worship or a Scripture-proof of the unlawfulness of giving any Religious Worship to any other Being beside the one Supreme God Part 1. A Discourse about the Charge of Novelty upon the Reformed Church of England made by the Papists asking of us this Question Where was our Religion before Luther A Discourse about Tradition shewing what is meant by it and what Tradition is to be Received and what Tradition is to be Rejected The Protestant Resolution of Faith being an Answer to three Questions c. A Discourse concerning a Guide in Matters of Faith A Discourse concerning the Unity of the Catholick Church maintained in the Church of England A Discourse concerning Invocation of Saints A Discourse concerning Auricular Confession as it is prescribed by the Council of Trent and practis'd in the Church of Rome There is now in the Press and will speedily be published Philosophia Vetus Nova ad usum Scholoe accommodata in Regia Burgundia olim pertractata 2 Vol. Duodecim According to the Edition printed at Paris 1684. in 2 vol. 4 o