Exchecquer and Judges of the Law according to their several Dignities Trumpets Gentlemen of the Privy Chamber Knights of the Bath the Knights Marshal the Treasurer of the Chamber the Master of the Jewel House the Knights of the Privy Councel the Comptrollor and the Treasurer of the Kings-Household two Trumpets and Serjeants Trumpets two Pursivants at Arms Barons Eldest Sons Earls Youngest Sons Viscounts Eldest Sons Marquesses Youngest Sons Earls Eldest Sons two Pursivants at Armes Viscounts and Dukes Eldest Sons Marquesses Eldest Sons two Heralds Earls Earl Marshal and Lord Chamberlain of the Houshold Dukes Eldest Sons Serjeants at Armes on both sides the Nobility Clarencieux and Norroy Lord Treasurer Lord Chancellor Lord High-Steward the Duke of Ormond and two persons representing the Dukeâ— of Normandy and Aquitain Gentleman Usher Garter Lord Mayor His Royal Highness the Duke of York alone the Lord High Constable of England which was the Earl of Northumberland the Lord Great Chamberlain of England which was then the Earl Lindsey and the Sword carryed by the Duke of Richmond Equeries and Footmen followed next and about the King himself Gentlemen and Pensioners without them Master of the Horse which was the Duke of Albemarle leading a Spare Horse the Vice-Chamberlain to the King the Captain of the Pensioners the Captain of the Guard the Guard the Kings Life Guard Commanded by the Lord Gerrard the Generals Life Guard by Sir Phillip Howard a Troop of Voluntiers Troop and a Company of Foot by Sir John Robinson The way from the Tower to Aldgate was guarded by the Hamblets from thence to Temple-Bar by the Train-Bands on the one side and by the Livery on the other with the Banners of each Company the Windows were all along laid with Carpets and the best Tapistry Bands of Musick in several places and the Conduits running with Wine In St. Pauls Church-Yard stood the Blewcoat-Boyes of Christ-Church Hospital one whereof in the Name of the rest declared their joy for his Majesties wonderful Preservation and Restauration Humbly beseeching his Gracious Favour and Indulgence according to the example of His Royal Ancestors and his Father of Blessed Memory With which Speech he was well pleased and testified his being so by his rewarding the Boy that spoke it In the Strand and through Westminster the wayes were likewise gravelled and railed and guarded on both sides with the Trained-Bands of that City and the Kings two Regiments of Foot under the Command of Albemarl and Collonel Russel and the Houses adorned with Carpets and Tapestry like those in London When he came through Temple-Bar the Head Bayliffe and High-Constable in Scarlet met and received him with loud Musick and alighting off their Horses and kneeling down the Head Bayliff on behalf of the Dean and Chapter City and Liberty signified their Joyful Reception of His Royal Person into that Liberty Declaring how much their happiness exceeded any other part of the Nations in that their Soveraign Lord and King was come among them and humbly desiring His Majesty to continue his Grace and Favour to them whereby they might still be enabled to do His Majesty service Infinite and Innumerable were the Shouts and Acclamations from all parts as he past along to the no less Joy than amazement of the Spectators And the Pomp of this Solemnity was so great that it is vain to attempt the describing it it being not only unutterable but almost Inconceivable and many outlandish Persons who beheld it admired how it was possible for the English after such horrible confusions to appear in so rich and stately a manner It is incredible to think what costly Robes were worn that day it being scarcely discernable what their Cloaks were made of for the Gold and Silver Laces and Imbroidery that was laid on them besides the inestimable treasures of Diamonds Pearles and other Jewels and the Rich Liveries of their Pages and Footmen some suits whereof were so very rich that they amounted to near 1500 l. In this order he arrived at White-Hall where having retired himself to supper and so to Rest he came the next day which being St. Georges day was to consummate the Coronation from his privy Staires to the Old Pallace where in a Room behind the House of Lords called the Prince's Lodgings he stayed till the Lords and the rest of his Train had Robed and Ranked themselves in Westminster-Hall and so soon as they were ready descended the Stairs that went down into the Hall and placed himself in a Throne in the upper end thereof Then came the Dean and Prebends of Westminster in their Rich Copes each of them having a part of the Regalia and delivered them to the Lord High Constable who delivered them to the Lord Great Chamberlain and being by him set on a Table the King immediately distributed them St. Edwards Staff to the Earl of Sandwich the Spurrs to Pembrâ—ke the Sword called Curtana to Oxford the pointed Sword carryed on the Right Hand of it to Shrewsbury that carryed on the left to Derby and the Sword of State to Manchester the Scepter with the Dove to Albemarle the Orb with the Cross to Buckingham St. Edwards Crown to Ormond and the Pattina and Challice to the Bishops of London and Exeter And having thus bestowed the Regalia he set forward on foot much after the same order which was observed the day before upon blew Cloath spread on the ground from the Hall to his Chair in the Abby supported by the Bishops of Bath and Durham and having his Trayn carried up by the Lords Mandevill Cavendish Ossery and Piercy assisted by the Lord Viscount Mansfield Master of the Robes All the Peers with their Coronets in their hands went up along with him till he was placed in the Chair of State Then the Bishop of London on behalf of the Lord Arch-Bishop of Canterbury told the People he did there present them King Charles the Second the Rightful Inheritor of the Crown of this Realm and demanded of all those that came thither that day to do their Homage Service and Bounden Duty whether they were willing to do the same Whereupon all the Peers in their Parliament Robes and People gave a shout testifying their willingness Then the King rising from his Chair turned himself to the four sides of the Throne and speaking to the People who again with loud Acclamations signified their consent all in one voice After which the Choire sung an Anthem in the interim whereof he went supported by the Bishops of Bath and Durham attended by the Dean of Westminster to the steps before the Communion Table where upon Carpets and Cushions he offered a Pall and a piece of Gold and then removing to the right hand kneelled down during a short Collect then the Sermon began being Preacht by the Bishop of Worcester which ended the Bishop of London on behalf of the Lord Arch-Bishop of Canterbury ask't Him If He would be pleased to take the Oath that was wont to be taken
Titus Britannicus AN ESSAY OF HISTORY ROYAL IN THE Life Reign OF HIS Late SACRED MAJESTY CHARLES II. Of Ever Blessed and Immortal Memory By AVRELIAN COOK Gent. Ut ameris Amabilis esto Ovid. Majora Veris Monstra vix capiunt Fidem Senec. LONDON Printed for James Partridg Stationer to His Royal Highness George Hereditary Prince of Denmark at the Post-Office by Charing-Cross 1685. To the most NOBLE HONOURABLE REVEREND WILLIAM Lord Arch-Bishop of Canterbury FRANCIS Lord Guilford C. S. LAWRENCE Earl of Rochester P. GEORGE Marquess of Halifax C. P. S. JAMES Duke of Ormond S. R. D. CHRISTOPHER Duke of Albemarle HENRY Duke of New-Castle HENRY Duke of Beaufort CHARLES Marquess of Winchester ROBERT Earl of Lindsey S. A. C. HENRY Earl of Arlington C. R. D. AUBERY Earl of Oxford THEOPHILUS Earl of Huntington JOHN Earl of Bridgwater HENRY Earl of Peterborough PHILIP Earl of Chesterfield Robert Earl of Sunderland HENRY Earl of Clarendon JOHN Earl of Bath WILLIAM Earl of Craven ROBERT Earl of Ailesbury JOHN Earl of Radnor DANIEL Earl of Nottingham HENRY Earl of Middleton THOMAS Vicount Falconberg HENRY Lord Bishop of London GEORGE Lord Dartmouth SIDNEY Lord Godolphin Sir JOHN ERNLY Sir THOMAS CHICHELEY Sir GEORGE JEFFERIES and Sir LEOLINE JENKINS The Lords of His late Majesties Privy-Council My LORDS IT was a Custom much us'd by the Ancient Writers among the Greeks and Romans to Dedicate their Books to their most particular Friends and sometimes to Intitle and call them by their Friends Names In our Age wherein we either do or shou'd imitate Antiquity in all commendable things This laudable Custom is either wholly laid aside or practis'd by so few that they almost escape Observance If indeed this Method of Dedicating Books was chang'd into a better I should have no reason to complain but rather to applaud the happy Genius of our Times for outshining the brightest days of Antiquity But most assuredly we can find no causes for such Triumphs The Dedications now made in England and France which two Countries in this Age we may Parallel with the foremention'd Greece and Italy upon the Score of Excellence in Wit with respect to the rest of Europe Our Dedications I say are so full of nauseous and fulsom Flatteries and Most of 'em so generally made up of about a dozen long Words variously turn'd and dispers'd that for my part I wonder how any Man can proceed any further in a Book of such small hopes but must needs lay it down and chuse rather to go to Bounding-Stones with Augustus Nay this crying Sin of the Nation is come to that pass that even our Poets who were made and fram'd on purpose in such a Make as only to lash Vice with the severest Satyr are yet most abominably guilty of this crime When an excellent Comedy has appear'd on the Stage for some time and perhaps done the Work of an Hundred Homilies in visiting and reclaiming Mankind from their evil ways it comes forth in Print and all is spoil'd again by a wicked Dedication in the beginning which propagatâ—â— Atheism so that no man can believe the Poet is honest and speaks his mind in the Play while he talks so lewdly and contradictorily in the Dedication It was not so in Ben. Johnson's days What I have said of Epistles Dedicatory in general may partly seem to hook my self into the crowd of these numerous Transgressors while I inscribe this Book to your Great Names But several Things I have to alledg for my self First tho this Piece be not presented to any private Friend of its Author in Emulation of the Ancients yet as far as possibly I have followed their Sacred Rules and Canons in a Work of this publick Nature For it is the Life of one of the Greatest and Wisest Princes that â—ver Sway'd the English or any other Scepter And to whom cou'd I better devote His Life than to His Greatest and Wisest Friends for such He always call'd His best Servants Ye are concern'd MY LORDS in every Page of this Book and can witness what is here related to be true No part of His Life but wherein some of you have had a share In His Education His Exile His Sufferings His Victories His Triumphs And while I write his Life in some measure I write Yours For such is the fate of Celsitude and honour that Great Men in some sense do frequently Dye before Sixty three And to be sure when a Prince falls he does not fall alone but several Others have their Lives interchangeably writ with his Besides MY LORDS being unable to find any Object nearer to him than Your selves except his Majesty whom God long preserve and the Family Royal I lay under an indispensable necessity of imploring your Lordships Patronage For such is my Veneration to the Blood of my Prince that by no means can I be perswaded to think the ensuing Papers fit for his most Sacred and Princely Eye or worthy a Royal Protection and I am resolv'd to be as Innocent as I can and not offend One Prince after having committed Treason against the Fame of another However MY LORDS tho this be not a Piece fit for a Kings Cabinet yet I hope this Image of our late Sovereigns Life will not be refus'd by Your Lordships since we love the Pictures of those Persons we admire let 'em be never so unfinisht let them be drawn by what hand soever The other Thing which I propos'd to my self in this Address was the avoiding Flattery tho it may seem a very unnecessary Caution since he that looks up to such a Thick-set Conglobation and as it were Galaxy of heavenly Virtues must easily infer that they are too high for Flattery and too bright to have any lustre added to them With all the Tragical forces of Eloquence I might here expatiate on the Topicks of Grand Descent of Titles and honours of Policy and Government of Arms and Learning of the Tent and the Closet But it is not my design to manage these common Subjects And I beg leave of your Lordships to say That in the front of a Book consecrated to the fame of CHARLES the II d I think I shou'd do an Injury to him if I endeavour'd professedly to write any other Panegyrick but his tho at the same time I must needs include Your Lordships Praises And herein I have determin'd to take a View of the King himself and not of his Deeds that Province I leave to his history and to set his personal Virtues and not additional Actions before your Eyes for a bad man may do a praise-worthy thing but a good man himself can only be praised Many Kings themselves do either hear or read their own Commendations and take care to see their own Glory setled before they dye But such kind of Annals usually is as mortal as their Subject and as soon turns to Ashes No His late Majesties Praise shall not be Mercenary The World after his Death shall
Rights which none but such Monsters as themselves would unjustly detain from so great and so good a Prince Wherefore being deeply sensible of their danger they prepare for War but whether it should be Offensive or Defensive was yet a question among them But at last considering that if there must be a War it had ever been a Maxim among the greatest Politicians that it was most prudent to make the Enemies Country the Seat of it They resolved upon an Offensive War hoping that Scotland would quickly be weary of maintaining two Armies since it had so much ado to keep one And that since they were informed their Levies went on flowly they thought that their Forces which were already on Foot might easily go and surprize them before they lookt for them or were half ready to entertain them In order whereunto Cromwel being called out of Ireland was in great state made Captain General of all their Forces raised or to be raised in England Scotland and Ireland The Lord Fairfax who had in him some sparks of Loyalty waving at once that Employment and his own Commission not as some imagine to avoid the hazard of that Expedition for he was one that never turned his back upon danger but because he was unwilling any longer to be subservient to those base and vile Designs which he now began to abhor Whilst these preparations were making in England the King removed from the Hague to Diep in Normandy and from thence to Scheveling from whence after a dangerous Storm and narrow escape of some English Vessels which lay in wait for him he arrived safe at the Spey in the North of Scotland which the Parliament being informed of they sent some Lords to receive and attend him from thence to Edinburgh where he is received by the Parliament and Committee of Estates and Kirk with infinite expressions of Fidelity and Affection the common people like so many Echoes to their Superiors and the whole City sounding nothing but Vive le Roy. But Cromwel being advanced with his Army into Scotland and having been successful in some smaller Encounters and given them a total overthrow at Dunbar they found themselves in a sad and perplexed condition having not only the Enemy raging in the bowels of that Kingdom but being extreamly divided also amongst themselves wherefore they now thought it high time to unite among themselves In order whereunto a general meeting was appointed at St. Johnstons which should consist of King Lords and Commons and the Assembly of the Ministers in which Assembly several Lords formerly in favour with the Kirk were admitted to Commands in the Army and a Liberty to sit in Parliament as Hamilton Lauderdale and others And Major General Massey formerly Governour of Glocester for the Parliament but afterward reconciled to the King was admitted to a Command in the Army And as the perfection of all the Kings Coronation was there resolved upon so that now their wounds began to heal and their breaches to be made up again and it was generally hoped that these Clouds of Division being blown over a serene Sky would immediately follow and the Sun of Prosperity shine on their future proceedings The Parliament of Scotland in pursuance of those resolutions at St. Johnstons having dissolved themselves in order to the Kings Coronation it was performed on the first of January at Schone in as Solemn and Splendid manner as the exigency of the time could bear his Majesty with a great Train of his Nobles and others went first to the Kirk where a Sermon was Preacht by a Scotch Minister whose name was Duglass upon those words then they brought out the Kings Son and put upon him the Crown and gave him the Testimony and made him King and Jehojadah and his Son Anointed him saying God save the King 2 Chron. 23 11. Joined to these words and Jehojadah made a Covenant between all the People and between the King that they should be the Lords People v. 16. Which Sermon being ended he was conducted from his Chair of State which was placed in the Kirk to that erected for his Coronation by the Lord High Constable and the Earl Marshal where being placed he was Proclaimed King by Herald King at Arms and then clad with a Robe of State by the Lord Chamberlain and the Lord Steward After which sitting he consented to the National Covenant the Solemn League Covenant Directory and the Catechisms and promised upon his Royal word to perform them so far as he understood them to be agreeable to the Word of God in his own Family in his Kingdom of Scotland and in all his other Dominions as soon as it should please God to restore him thereunto Which being done the Coronation Oath was next read which was Enacted in the first Parliament of King James and is as follows That His Majesty shall maintain that Religion Discipline and Worship that is most agreeable to the Word of God to the best Patrons of Reformation and is against all Heresy Schism Idolatry Superstition and Prophaneness that he should govern the Kingdom by Law and Equity and that he should maintain the just Rights of the Crown and Priviledges of the People After the reading of which Oath he declared with an audible Voice that he did promise in the name of the great God who Lives for ever that he would to the uttermost of his Power endeavour to do the things contained in that Oath Which done Herald King at Arms went to the four corners of the Stage and demanded of the People four times whether they were willing that Charles the Second Son and Heir of Charles the First should be King over them to which the People answered Long live King Charles God Save the King Then the Marquess of Argile Presented him with the Royal Scepter the Earl of Eglington put on the Spurs the Lord High Constable set the Crown upon his Head and the Earl Marshal having unsheathed the Sword put it into his hand to defend the Faith withal which having held a while he delivered it to the Earl of Glencarn to be carried before him Then the Nobility Gentry and Commons of the Kingdom did as in the presence of the Great God that Lives for ever swear Allegiance Fealty and Obedience to him as to their Liege and Soveraign Lord and the whole Ceremony was concluded by an Exhortation of the Minister to his Majesty to the Nobility to the Clergy and to the Commons the sum and substance whereof was in reference to the Covenant which they then lookt upon as the Center from which every Line both of Soveraignty and the Subjects Duty was to be drawn in their respective Circumstances And for a power to perform what he then exhorted them to the assistance of God is invoked by prayer who being Alpha and Omega they made him the first with whom they began and the last with whom they finished So soon as the Crown was set upon his Head he made a
no sooner got out on one side but the Enemy prest in on the other to look for him and had certainly pursued and overtaken him had they not been stop'd by the Royal spoil which was left behind to the same purpose that Hippodame left behind her the Golden Apples to tempt the Pursuer to stay the gathering them up and thereby save herself And the Valour of some that still kept the Royal Fort to reduce whom Cromwell commanded out some Cheshire Forces who most of them perished in the attempt that County having never before lost so many lives in such an unworthy Service but having at last made himself Master of it the Defendants were all put to the Sword whereupon the remainder of the Soldiery craved Quarter and had it reaâ—ily granted them the Rebels being as weary of killing as the Royalists were of being killed From this unfortunate Battel not above 300 Horse and scarce any of the Infantry escaped who were most of them either slain or taken near 100 Prisoners of Quality of which the chief were Duke Hamilton the Earls of Shrewsbury Darby Cleveland Laâ—derdale Rothes Carnwath Killy and many more the number of the Prisoners in the whole being said to be 10000 together with whom was taken the King's Standard Coach and Horses Collar of SS's and Star-Cloth Major General Massey who escaped the Battel not knowing where to shelter himself being grievously wounded was forced to surrender himself a Prisoner likewise to the Countess of Stamford being secured by the Lord Grey of Groby her Son by whom he was after the recovery of his Wounds sent up to London from whence not long after he made his escape The news of this Victory extreamly rejoyced the Juncto but the joy for their Victory was some what allayed by the King's escape Before he was got as far as Barbone's Bridg which was not above half a Mile from Worcester he made several stands facing about and desiring the Duke of Buckingham the Lord Wilmot and other of his Commanders that they might rally with those few Forces that were yet left him and once more try the fortune of War But being come to the Bridg a serious Consultation was held about it when perceiving many of the Troopers throwing off their Arms and shifting for themselves their opinion was that the day was so irrecoverably lost that his only business now was to endeavour the saving of himself from those ravenous Wolves and Regicides whereupon he resolved by the advice of his Council to March back again for Scotland and in order thereunto the Duke of Buckingham demanded of the Lord Talbot who was of that Country if he could not Conduct them in their way Northward who thereupon answered that he had in his Troop one Walker formerly a Scout-Master in those Parts that knew the way very well who being accordingly called to be their Guide he performed that duty well enough for some Miles but coming to Kinven Heath not far from Kiderminster he was at a loss and knew not which way to go Whereupon the King made a stand and consulted with the Lords whither he might with most safety March to take some hours rest being almost quite worn out and spent The Earl of Darby told him that in his flight from Wiggan to Worcester he had met with a perfect honest Man and a great conveniency of concealment at Boscobel House whereupon he resolved to repair thither and Mr. Charles Gifford who very well knew the way was appointed to conduct him thither When they came near Stunbrigde it was debated by them whether they should march through the Town or not and being concluded in the affirmative they resolved that those about the King's Person should speak nothing but French thereby the better to prevent the Discovery of his being there Lesley having with the Scotch Horse in the close of the Evening taken a more direct way Northward by New-Port he was now left attended only by Buckingham Darby Lauderdale Talbot Wilmot and a few other Gentlemen being in all not above sixty Horse At a House about a Mile beyond Stunbridge he refresh'd himself a little with some small Beer and a crust of Bread the House affording no better Provision and as he rode forward he discoursed with Colonel Roscarrock about the conveniency of Boscobel House and the means of security which he and the Earl of Darby had found there Gifford humbly proposing to carry him first to White-Ladies a House about half a Mile beyond Boscobel belonging to one Fitz-Herbert where he might repose himself a while and then take such farther resolution as he and his Council should think fit which was accordingly resolved on And being come thither and knocking at the Door George Penderill the youngest Brother of five who were all severally instrumental in Conducting and Preserving his Majesty hearing some body knock at the Gate so early opened the Window and seeing there Mr. Gifford and Francis Yates who was his Brother-in-law he ask'd his Brother what news he brought from Worcester he replied the King was defeated and the Enemy in pursuit of him and therefore bid him make haste and let them in But before he could get down the King with most of the Lords had entred the House and got into the Hall whither the King's Horse was likewise brought And having that night rode from Worcester thither which was about twenty six Miles he was extream hungry and very much tired with his long and hasty March whereupon Gifford presently sent for Richard Penderill who lived near hand at Hobbal-Grange and William Penderill from Boscobel Richard came first who was immediately sent back to bring a sute of his Cloaths for the King and by that time he came with them William was come likewise and both carried in to the King by the Earl of Darby who told William that was the King pointing to him and that he must have a care of him and preserve him as he had done him Gifford laying the same charge on his Brother which was exactly obeyed by both The King was advised whil'st the two Brothers were sent for to rub his Hands and Face with the Soot of the Chimney the better to disguise him and some persons likewise disorderly cut off his locks of hair and having taken off his blue Ribbond Buff-Coat and other Princely Ornaments and distributed what Gold he had in his Pockets amongst his Servants put on a course Canvas Shirt which was borrowed of one Martyn which done he was to take upon him the Name and Employment of a Woodman and having after the Company was dismiss'd a Bill brought him he and Richard went out into the Wood William went home and Humphry and George went out to scout the better to discover if any of the Parliament Forces approach'd that way And it was not above an hour that the King had been in the Wood before a Troop of the Enemies Horse came to White-ladies inquiring for the King But being
Rebels whereupon the Lords with their followers faced about and repelled them But when they were got a little beyond Newport some of Lilburn's Regiment meeting them in the Front and other Rebels from Worcester pursuing them in the Rear themselves and Horses being very much beaten out and tired Darby Lauderdale Gifford and some others were taken and carried Prisoners first to Whit-Church and then to an Inn in Banbury from whence Gifford found means to escape But Darby was conveyed to Westchester and there tryed by a pretended Court Marshal held by a Commission from Cromwel grounded on an execrable Rump Act which traiterously pretended to prohibit all correspondence with Charles Stuart under penalty of High-Treason loss of Life and Estate by which he was condemned to lose his Life notwithstanding his just Plea that he had Quarter granted him by Captain Edge who took him Prisoner and was shortly after Executed at Bolton in Lancashire in a most Barbarous and unhuman manner Lauderdale and others were conveyed first to the Tower and afterward to Windsor Castle where they continued divers years But whilst the Rebels were plundering those Noble Persons whom they had taken Prisoners the Duke with Leviston Blague Darcey May and others forsook the Road and betaking themselves to a by-way got into Cessardine Woods not far from Newport where they received some refreshment at a little obscure House and afterward by two honest Labourers whom they met withal in an adjoyning Wood and to whom they communicated the misery and distress which the fortune of War had reduced them to were directed to places of safety The Duke in imitation of his Royal Master quitting his Horse and delivering his George which was given him by the Queen Mother to Mr. May who having preserved it in several eminent dangers restored it to him again in Holland and changing habit with one of the Workmen he was in that disguise conveyed to the House of one Mr. Haley at Bistrop in Nottinghamshire Leviston and the rest all quitted their Horses likewise and severally shifted for themselves The King being safely Landed in Normandy he went forthwith to Diepe where he provided himself with such necessaries as might serve him until he came to his Mother in the French Court who so soon as they heard of his safe arrival sent several Persons of Quality to meet him with great Pomp as became his Person who received him with much gladness and very much rejoyced at his safety conveying him to Paris in the Duke of Orleans his own Coach where he found such a welcom as his Person and Worth deserved and as great as that Court could express for the safety of their best Allie and by his Mother and the two Dukes with as great a joy as became them upon the receiving of him whom they once thought had been lost and perished These Complements being once over he pursued his interest in Holland by the mediation of his Sister the Princess of Orange and his Aunt the Queen of Bohemia indeavouring to prevail with them according to their former promises to undertake a War against the English Parliament which they accordingly did but being not able to cope with the Valour of the English nor prevail against that success which seemed to be entailed to the Rump in all their undertakings they were unsuccessful therein and it contributed very little toward the promoting of his designs The King being once again excluded out of all his Dominions they quickly after reduced Corn-Castle in the Isle of Guernsey the Isle of Man and all other places both in England Scotland and Ireland which stood out for him Which was no sooner done but there happened a strange alteration in the Scene of affairs in England for Cromwel whose ambition was now ripe knowing that he could not expect a fairer opportunity to Usurp that supreme Power which he had so long been aspiring too in regard every one began now to grow weary of the base actions of the Rump whose dilatory proceedings and apparent intentions of perpetuating themselves rendred them hateful to all Mankind he entred into their House attended by some of his principal Officers where having delivered divers reasons why he thought that Parliament ought to be Dissolved and a period put to its sitting He commanded them notwithstanding they were his Masters and from whom he derived his Commission immediately to depart which was done accordingly for how unwilling soever they were to obey yet it was now out of their Power to dispute his Authority so that those who had murthered one King and refused to restore a second were turned out of door and deprived of all Authority and Power by their own Servant Whereat the whole Nation rejoyced and scarce a Man grieved for their Dissolution but themselves every one believing that though the Nation might not peradventure be bettered by that change yet it was almost impossible it should be worse but however Cromwel fearing that some might be discontented with his Proceedings Published a large and specious Declaration shewing his Reasons for his Dissolving of them But his design being only to make himself great he did not intend to give relief by taking away the tyranny but by changing of it only and therefore instead of that Juncto which he pulled down set up another of his own arbitrary election who knowing before-hand what they had to do after having sate a while resigned up their power to him who resolving to make the best of that resignation pretended that the whole Supream Power and Authority of the three Kingdoms both Civil and Military was thereby in course devolved upon him and thereupon calling a Councel of Officers to consult about setling the Government they resolved after several debates to have a Common-wealth in a single person and that person should be Oliver Cromwel by the name and style of Lord Protector c. He at first seemingly refused the Dignity altho' it was the only thing he aimed at but being press'd by the Officers of the Army he consented to accept of it and was install'd with great pomp in the Chancery-Court at Westminster-hall and shortly after concluded a Peace with the Dutch He was afterward importuned by his Parliament to exchange his Title of Lord Protector for that of King which he refused and chose rather to continue the old The King when he came into France found that Court very much embroil'd on the account of some mis-understandings between the Prince of Conde and other Princes of the Blood and the Cardinal Mazarine which he undertook to compose urging his own danger to the King and advising him to beware how he provok'd his Subjects and urging the King's power to the Princes of the Blood whereby he unhappily drew upon himself the jealousies of both parties being suspected by the Cardinal to be for the Princes and by them to take part with him against their interest which they were the more induced to believe because he withdrew the
thing which would tend to his or the Kingdoms benefit on the 10th of July dissolved it by Proclamation and declared his Resolution to call a new one which should sit on the 17th of the following October In the mean while Sir George Wakeman with Marshall Rumley and Corker three Benedictine Monks were tryed before the Lord Chief Justice Scroggs for High Treason relating to the Plot But the Evidence of Oates and Bedlow beginning now to be less credited than formerly and the ferment of peoples fury being somewhat abated the Jury brought them in Not Guilty and Wakeman was thereupon discharged from his Imprisonment as the other Three had likewise been had they not in their Defence upon their Trials acknowledged themselves to be Priests Wakeman's being thus acquitted startled the Mobille who expected all that were accused of that Plot should have been condemned of course without respect to the Truth or Falshood of the Accusation And the Faction endeavoured to improve their dissatisfaction into Rage and Sedition by several scurrilous Libels wherein they accuse Scroggs of perverting Justice and taking a Bribe of several thousand Guinneas from the Spanish Embassador to save Wakeman's Life from which Aspersions he sufficiently cleared himself in a Speech which he made in the Kings-Bench-Court on the first day of the ensuing Michaelmas-Term During this interval of Parliament the King was violently taken ill of an Ague at Windsor insomuch that his Life was thought to be in some danger Whereupon the Duke as well to demonstrate his Affection to his Brother as to prevent the danger which as things then stood might peradventure have happen'd to him in case the King should have died in his absence came Post from Flanders to Windsor But Heaven designing to lengthen out his Life till he had reduced the great Affairs of the Nation to a better Settlement and could leave his Succession more safe and secure it pleased God that he recovered his Health soon after to the great Joy of all the whole Nation And the City to express the pleasure they took therein sent the Lord Mayor and the Court of Aldermen with a Train of thirty Coaches and about a hundred Horse to Congratulate him upon his Recovery and when he returned soon after to White-Hall many Bonefires were made throughout the whole City attended with great Acclamations of Joy and Expressions of Loyalty Whilst he lay Sick at Windsor the Duke of Monmouth who had been by the Kings favour raised to as high a Station as a Subject was well capable of being then Lord General of all His Majesties Land Forces Master of the Horse and Captain of the Kings Life-Guards not content with the Honours already heaped upon him but aspiring as was thought altho without all Reason in regard of his Illegitimacy to the Crown it self endeavoured to prevail with some great Men at Court to take part with his Interest which being made known to the King by the Earl of Oxford who having for his eminent Loyalty a considerable party of Horse under his Command commonly called the Lord of Oxfords Troop was importuned by Sir Thomas Armstrong as was reported either in direct terms or so as his meaning might easily be understood to declare himself for Monmouth in case the King should dye He conceived a just Indignation against him for that bold and audacious Attempt and discovered his incensed Majesty by taking away his Commission of Lord General and soon after of his remaining places of Captain of the Life-Guard Master of the Horse Governor of Hull c. And to prevent Peoples being deluded by his Chimeâ—ical Fictions publisht a Declaration wherein having first taken notice of the great Industry and Malice wherewith men of seditious and restless Spirits spread abroad a most false and scandalous Report of a Marriage or Contract of Marriage at least between Mrs. Walters who was that Dukes Mother and him designing thereby to fill the minds of his loving Subjects with doubts and fears and divide them if possible into Parties by bringing into question the clear and undoubted Right of his true and lawful Heirs and Successors to the Crown he did to obviate the fatal consequences so dangerous and malicious a report might have in future times upon the Peace of his Kingdoms assure them That having found a former Rumor that there was a writing yet extant and lately produced before several Persons whereby that Marriage or Contracâ— at least would appear was not only revived again but improved also witâ— new Additions by insinuating thaâ— several Lords and others were yet living who were pretended to bâ—â— present at the Marriage hâ— had notwithstanding he knew fuâ—â— well it was impossible there should bâ— any truth in this Report since noâ—â— thing in the World could be morâ— false and groundless than the pretencâ— of such a Marriage or Contract bâ—â—tween him and the said Mrs. Walterâ— alias Barlow called before him anâ— caused to be Interogated in Council such Lords and other Persons as the common rumour surmised to have been present at the pretended Marriage or to know something of it or of the said writing And that tho it then appeared to all his Council upon their hearing the said Persons severally Interrogated and their denial to have been ever present at any such Marriage or to know any thing of it or of any such writing that the raising and spreading that Report which was so inconsistent with it self was the effect of deep malice in some few and of loose and idle discourse in others yet he thought it requisite for the satisfying all in general to publish a Declaration he had made in the January was Twelvemonth written with his own Hand in the following words There being a false and malicious Report industriously spread abroad by some who are neither Friends to me or the Duke of Monmouth as if I should have been either Contracted or Married to his Mother and tho I am confident that this idle Story cannot have any effect in this Age yet I thought it my Duty in relation to the true Succession of this Crown and that future Ages may not have any pretence to give disturbance upon that Score or any other of this nature to declare as I do here Declare in the Presence of Almighty God That I never was Married nor gave any Contract to any Woman whatsoever but to my Wife Queen Katharine to whom I am now Married In Witness whereof he had set his Hand at White-Hall the 6th of January 1678-79 In the Presence of the Archbishop of Canterbury and the two Secretaries Coventry and Williamson And assured them that to strengthen that Declaration he had in the March following made a more publick and solemn Declaration to the same purpose in his Privy Council written likewise with his own Hand and had caused a true Transcript thereof to be entred into the Council Book which for the better Confirmation he Signed with his own hand and caused the Lords
it on certain factious persons unknown to them which they desire Mr. Withins Steward of that Court to represent in their Names to the King which he accordingly did and received the Honour of Knighthood as a Reward of his Loyalty After which several such like addresses were directed from many of the Counties and that from Norfolk had a farther acknowledgment of their humble thanks to the King for calling home the Duke And the Lord Shandois having been elected by the Turky Company to go Embassador to Constantinople and desiring the Kings approbation the King 〈◊〉 him that having been concerned in promoting petitions which were â—â—rogatory to his Prerogative and tended to sedition he could not think him fit for his Favour whereupon he humbly acknowledged his fault to the King in Council protesting â—â—at he had been misled and drawn into it by being perswaded it was for his Mâ—jesties Service but being now better informed he abhorred and disowned all such Practices and humbly begging his Pardon he as freely obtained it Upon the 18th of May so great a Storm of Hail fell in London and the adjacent parts that the like had not been seen in many Years before the Stones being of an extraordinary bigness and very hard till they had lain a while many of them being as large as Pullets Eggs. One which I saw measured was somewhat more than Nine Inches about several Rooks in the Temple Garden being beaten down and killed with them and the Glass of many Sky-lights battered and broken to pieces And now the Parliament which had been several times this Summer prorogued met on the 21st of October according to â—he King's Declaration to them at their meeting in April to whom he declared in a Speech to both Houses That he had during that long prorogation made Alliances with Holland and Spain and desired money of them for the relieving Tangier the defence whereof had very much exhausted his Treasure and advising them not to meddle with the Succession of the Crown but proceed to the discovery of the Plot and the Trial of the Lords The Commons having chosen Mr. Williams a Barrester of Grays Inn and Recorder of Chester for their Speaker to convince the World that the King had not without Reason deferred their sitting so long and that neither he nor the Nation would have been losers if they had not sate then fell to purging their house expelling Sir Robert Can a Burgess for Bristol for having said there was no other Plot but a Presbyterian one and Sir Francis Withins for having declared himself an Abhorrer of the late tumultuous Petitions for the Parliaments sitting The former was committed by them to the Tower and both ordered to receive their Censure on their knees from the Speaker Several other Members were likewise declared guilty of the same Offence with Sir Francis Withins And not content with punishing their own Members they take notice of others who were without their Walls amongst whom Sir George Jeffries Recorder of London one of the King's Serjeants at Law and Chief Justice of Chester became the Object of their displeasure and was Voted a Betrayer of the Subjects Rights and an Address was made to the King to remove him from all publick Affairs and Impeachments Voted and drawn up against Sir Francis North Chief Justice of the Common-Pleas Sir William Scrogs Chief Justice of the Kings-Bench Sir Thomas Jones one of the puisny Judges of that Court and Sir Richard Weston one of the Barons of the Exchequer for several pretended misdemeanors that of Sir Francis North being the advising and drawing up of the Proclamation against Petitions But not contenting themselves to deal with Subjects they proceeded next to a matter of a far greater concern For on the 11th of November notwithstanding the King's desire at their opening That they would not meddle with the Succession a Bill past in the House of Commons intituled An Act for securing the Protestant Religion by disabling James Duke of York from inheriting the Imperial Crown of England and Ireland and the Territories thereunto belonging which notwithstanding all the opposition made against it by the unbiassed and Judicious Loyalists who tho their Reasons were strongest yet their number were fewest was carried up to the Peers by the Lord Russel attended by almost all the Commons who gave a Hum at the delivery of it The Lords having ordered it upon their departure to be read put it to the Vote whether it should be read a second time which being carried in the Affirmative by Two Voices only after the second reading it was debated till Eleven a Clock at night the King being present all the while and then thrown out of the House by a Majority of about Thirty Voices in which number were all the Bishops then present to shew how careful the Prelacy is to promote Monarchy Soon after the Parliament proceeded to the Trial of William Lord Viscount Stafford which began in Westminster-Hall on Tuesday the 30th of November and the Impeachment and Evidence upon the same were managed by a Committee of the Commons and the Witnesses against him were Oates Turberville and Dugdale The Lord Chancellor Finch was created Lord High Steward for the solemnity of his Trial which lasted a whole week and being found Guilty by the Majority of Four and Twenty Voices he received Sentence on the 17th of December and on the 29th of that Month was beheaded on Tower-Hill protesting his Innocency with his last breath as all those had done who died for the Plot before him Some were so bold as to question the King's power to dispence with the Rigor of the Sentence and the unhappy Lord Russel was said to be one of them During these publick Transactions a large and prodigious flame of Light appeared in the West The Star from which the Blaze proceeded was but small and when first discovered seemed to be not much above the Horizon but every night after appeared somewhat higher in the beginning of the night and consequently set later its lustre and magnitude decreasing by degrees Whether this finger of the Almighty so visibly seen in the Heavens portended good or bad Events to the World in general or England in particular is a matter too mysterious for me to unfold and therefore shall I leave it till made more plain by the Effects which will be the best Commentatary thereon The King finding the Commons taken up with other business without taking the least care of providing him Money for the supplying his pressing wants and the relieving Tangier then besieged by the Emperor of Morocco recommended the matter more seriously to them in his Speech on the 15th of December But all the Answer he could obtain from them was an Address complaining of several pretended Grievances and refusing all supplies of Money for the Relief of Tangier or any other use unless he would pass a Bill for the Exclusion of the Duke and to enable all Protestants to associate
themselves for the security of the Protestant Religion which Address he answered by a message to the Commons wherein he let them know That he had received their Address with all the disposition they could wish to comply with their reasonable desires but upon perusal of it he was sorry to see their thoughts so fixt on the Bill of Exclusion as to determine all other Remedies for the suppressing of it to be ineffectual telling them That he was confirmed in his Opinion against the Bill by the Judgment of the Lords in their rejecting it advising them to consider of all other means for preservation of the Protestant Religion to which they should have no Reason to doubt his concurrence and urging them again to make some speedy provision for the preservation of Tangier Upon the consideration of which Speech they were so far from complying with his reasonable desires that they Resolved as the Opinion of the House That there was no security for the Protestant Religion the King's Life or the well Constituted and Established Government of this Kingdom without the Bill of Exclusion and that to rely upon any other Remedy were insufficient and dangerous That till such a Bill was past they could give the King no supply without danger to his Person hazard to the Protestant Religion and unfaithfulness to those by whom they were trusted And that all persons who advised him in that Message to insist upon an Opinion against the Exclusion-Bill had given him pernicious Counsel and were promoters of Popery and Enemies both to him and the Kingdom naming Hallifax Worcester Clarendon Feversham and Laurence Hide Esq against whom they Voted an Address to the King to remove them from all Offices of honour and profit and from his Councils and presence forever Voting moreover That whosoever shall Lend or cause to be Lent by way of Advance any Money upon the branches of the King's Revenue arising by Custom Excise or Hearth-Money should be adjudged to hinder the sitting of Parliaments and should be responsible for the same But their presumption running so high the King resolved by a Prorogation to give them time to cool themselves which he did on the Monday following being the 10th of July when he past Two Bills one about Irish Cattel and the other for burying in Woollen the latter whereof proved very advantageous to the Nation by the advance of Wool which is accounted the most staple Commodity of this Kingdom The Commons by some means or other were informed of the King's design of proroguing them and therefore so soon as they were set that morning the very first thing they did was to thunder out their Threatning Votes That whosoever advised the King to prorogue that Parliament to any other purpose than in order to the passing the Bill of Exclusion should be lookt upon as a Betrayer of the King the Protestant Religion and the Kingdom of England a promoter of the French Interest and a Pensioner to France And in a Common-Council assembled bout Two or Three days after in London a Petition was ordered to be drawn up and presented to the King wherein they set forth That the Parliaâ—â—â—t having convicted One of the Poâ—ish Lords and being about to convict the other Four and having impeacht the Chief Justice and being about to impeach other Judges and all in order to the preservation of his Life c. they were much surprised to see it prorogued in the height of their business and that their only hope was its being done with a design to bring such Affairs about again as were necessary to the setling the Nation Praying that they might therefore sit at the day appointed and so continue till they had effected the great Affairs before them But before the 20th of January arrived to which they had been prorogued the King declared them dissolved by Proclamation and intimated his pleasure to call another to sit on the 24th of March at Oxford After which a Petition was delivered him by Essex and some others of the popular Lords for the altering his Resolution for the Parliaments sitting at Oxford upon pretence That neither himself nor they could be in safety there but would be daily exposed to the Swords of the Papists and their Adherents whereby their Liberty of Speech would be destroyed and the Validity of their Acts and Proceedings left disputable Urging likewise the straitness of the place which they affirmed was altogether unfit for the entertaining such a concourse of persons as now followed every Parliament And that the Witnesses which were to give Evidence upon the Commons Impeachment were unable to bear the charges of that Journey and unwilling to trust themselves under the protection of a Parliament which was it self under the power of Guards and Soldiers praying it might therefore sit at Westminster The Parliament which met at Oxford was for the most part made up oâ— Old Members which were chosen again for the same places for which they had served before And contrary to the ancient custom of their Treating thâ— Country the Country now in many places Treated them or at least every man bore his own charges Abouâ— Eight days before their sitting the King having appointed certain Companies of Foot and several Troops of Horse to keep Guard in the Mews during his absence removed to Oxford where he was received and presented by the Mayor and Body of that City at the East-Gate and from thence attended with great Acclamations and all other demonstrations of Joy and was the next day waited on and complemented by the body of the University who presented him with a large Oxford-Bible and the Queen with the Cuts belonging to the History and Antiquity of the Vniversity both richly bound Most of the Members as well Commons as Lords went thither attended with a numerous Train of Friends At the opening of the Sessions the King told them That the unwarrantable proceedings of the last House of Commons was the only Reason why he had dissolved them And that â—s he would never use Arbitrary Government himself so he was Resolved never to suffer it in others That whosoever should calmly consider the proceedings in the last Parliament might perhaps wonder at his patience so long rather than that he grew weary at last That it was as much his interest and care as theirs to preserve the Liberty of the Subject since the Crown could not be safe when that was in danger And that neither Liberty nor Property could long subsist when the just Prerogatives of the Crown were invaded or the Honour of the Government brought low and into disreputation Assuring them That he had called them so soon to shew that the Irregularities of Parliaments should never make him out of love with them And that he thought the just care they ought to have of Religion should not be so managed and improved into unnecessary Fears as to be made a pretence for changing the Foundation of the Government and therefore hoped