was it long that the Protector bore up after his Brothers Fall the great care he took to build his * From his Tittle call'd Somerset-house House being no less fatal to him then the little care he had to support his Family whiles the Stones of those Churches Chappels and other Religious Houses that he demolish'd for it made the cry out of the Walls so loud that himself was not able to indure the noise the People ecchoing to the defamation and charging him with the guilt of Sacriledge so furiously that he was forced to quit the place and retire with the King to Windsor leaving his Enemies in possession of the strength of the City as well as the affections of the Citizens who by the reputation of their power rather then the power of their repute prevail'd with the King as easily to give him up to publick Justice as he was before prevail'd with to give up his Brother it being no small temptation to the young King to forsake him when he forsook himself so far as to submit to the acknowledgement of that Guilt he was not conscious of The Lawyers charged him with removing Westminster-hall to Somerset-house The Souldiers with detaining their Pay and betraying their Garrisons The States-men with ingrossing all Power and indeavouring to alter the Fundamental Laws and the ancient Religion But he himself charg'd himself with all these Crimes when he humbled himself so far as to ask the Kings pardon publickly which his Adversaries were content he should have having first strip'd him of his Protectorship Treasurership Marshalship and Two thousand pound a year Land of Inheritance But that which made his Fate yet harder was that after having acquitted himself from all Treason against his Prince he should come at last to be condemn'd as a Traytor against his Fellow-Subject whilst the Innocent King labouring to preserve him became the principal Instrument of his Destruction who by reconciling him to his great Adversaries made the Enmity so much the more incompatible who at the same time he gave the Duke his Liberty gave the Earl of Warwick and his Friends the Complement of some new Titles which adding to their Greatness he reasonably judg'd might take from their Envy The Earl himself he created Duke of Northumberland and Lord High Admiral of England and to oblige him yet more married up his eldest Son the Lord Dudley to his own Cosin the second Daughter of the Duke of Somerset whom he gave to him for the more honour with his own hand and made Sir Robert Dudley his fourth and his beloved Son the same that was after made by Queen Elizabeth Earl of Leicester one of the Gentlemen of his Bedchamber And to gratifie the whole Faction he made the Marquiss of Dorset Duke of Suffolk the Lord St. John Earl of Wilts and afterwards Marquiss of Winchester Sir John Russel who was Northamberland's Confident he created Earl of Bedford Sir William Paget another of his Tools he made Lord Paget This the good natur'd King did out of sincere Affection to his Uncle in hopes to reconcile him so thoroughly to Northumberland so that there might be no more room left for Envy or Suspect betwixt them But as there is an invisible Erinnis that attends all Great men to do the drudgery of their Ambition in serving their Revenge and observing the Dictates of their power and pride so it was demonstrable by the most unfortunate issue of this so well intended purpose that by the same way the King hoped to please both he pleas'd neither Somerset thinking he had done too much Northumberland thinking that he had done too little who having drunk so deep a Draught of Honour grew hot and dry and like one fall'n into a State-Dropsie swell'd so fast that Somerset perceiving the Feaver that was upon him resolv'd to let him blood with his own hand And coming one day to his Chamber under the colour of a Visit privately arm'd and well attended with Seconds that waited him in an outward Chamber found him naked in his Bed and supposing he had him wholly in his power began to expostulate his wrongs with him before he would give him the fatal stroke whereby t'other perceiving his intent and being arm'd with a Weapon that Somerset had not a ready fence for an Eloquent Tongue he acquitted himself so well and string'd upon him with so many indearing protestations as kept the point of his Revenge down till it was too late to make any Thrust at him Whereby Northumberland got an advantage he never hop'd for to frame a second Accusation against him so much more effectual then the former by how much he brought him under the forfeiture of Felony as being guilty of imagining to kill a Privy Counsellor for which he was the more worthily condemn'd to lose his Head in that he so unworthily lost his Resolution at the very instant of time when he was to vindicate his too much abus'd Patience thereby betraying those of his Friends that came to second him into the scandal of a Crime which had it succeeded would have pass'd for a magnanimous piece of Justice in cutting off one whom however he was content to spare Providence it seems was not reserving him to die a more ignoble death and by a worse hand The sorrow for his ignominious fall as it much affected the Consumptive King his Nephew who was now left as a Lamb in the keeping of the Wolf the Duke of Northumberland having got as high in Power as Title by ruining the Family of the Seymours so his end which was not long after put an end to the Reformation and made way for the Dudley's to aspire with incredible Ambition and not without hope of setling the Succession of the Crown in themselves For the Duke finding that the King languish'd under a Hectical Distemper and having better assurance then perhaps any one else could from his Son that alwayes attended in his Bedchamber that it was impossible for him to hold out long for Reasons best known to him he cast about how to introduce the far fetch'd Title of his other Son who had married the Lady Jane Gray eldest Daughter to the Duke of Suffolk by the Lady Frances one of the Daughters and Heirs of Charles Brandon by his Wife Mary Queen of France the second Daughter of Henry the Seventh And however this seem'd to be a very remote pretention yet making way to other great Families to come in by the same Line in case her Issue fail'd as to the Earl of Cumberland who had married the other Daughter of Charles Brandon and to the Earl of Darby that had married a Daughter of that Daughter and to the Earl of Pembroke that had married the Lady Jane's second Sister it was back'd with so many well-wishers that it was become not only terrible to the Kingdom but to the King himself However there were two Objections lay in the way the one the preference that ought to be
others all men of good Families and of as good Education one would have thought it a soberer and deeper design then it proved to be Some think their intention was to have seiz'd on the Persons of the King and Queen and their Children and so to have made Conditions with him for the Kingdom in general and perhaps for themselves in particular being perswaded by some cunning Casuist amongst them That it could be no Treason being enter'd into before the King was Crown'd and Anointed And in case they could not bring the King to their terms 't was said they resolv'd to set up the Title of the Lady Arabella as the next presumptive Heir to the Crown being sole Daughter of Charles Earl of Lenox younger Brother to the Kings Grandfather whom the King when her Father dyed put besides that Title as by Custom of Scotland he might being a Donation during his Minority to give it to his Cosin Esme Lord Aubigny the Heir Male of the Lord John the other younger Brother Now that which gave colour to this unreasonable Conjecture of setting up this Lady was the particular respect Sir Walter Rawleigh profest to her but if his enmity to Spain had not been a more unpardonable sin then his amity with her the Charge Count Gundamore brought against him could not have been so much more pressing upon him then the Attorney Generals upon his Fellows to make his much Merit no less criminal then their much Guilt and which was more unlucky to render him a greater Sufferer by the Kings Mercy then divers of them were by his Justice who having freed him after Condemnation was prevail'd with by the Spaniard to condemn him after that freedom contrary to the opinion of divers learned Gown-men who held that his Majesties Pardon lay inclusively in that Commission he gave him afterward upon his setting out to Sea it being incongruous that he should have had the disposing of the lives of others who was not clearly Master of his own But herein those that were his particular Friends and Relations were not more surpriz'd then all the World beside For as they expected to have been indebted to his Sword for bringing home more Gold then would have paid the price of his forfeited Head so every Body eâ—se hoped to have been no less indebted to his Pen for finishing that most excellent Piece of his The History of the Old World which ended as untimely as himself by attempting a Discovery of The new One Now as this Plot seems to have been as dark as the place it self where it was first hatch'd so it was made yet darker by the wisdom of the King who kept the Cause unknown to the intent it might have no Seconds However some have concluded from the appointment of that Conference of Divines which hapned not long after at Hampton-Court that whatever Reasons of State topt the Plot Religion lay at the bottom of it which being at all times a sure foundation for any treasonable practices was at this time so much more seasonably pretended by how much the King being as yet a stranger and unsetled not knowing whom to suspect much less whom to trust would necessarily be dâ—stracted with various apprehensions and not think himself secure in the Glory of being Defender of the Kingdom till he appeared to be The True Defender of the Faith here in England as well as Defender of the True Faith for so run his Title in Scotland Neither were they deceiv'd that took this measure of his Zeal or Fears it being well known that he was as ambitious to shew the first as other Princes were careful to conceal the last Witness the pleasure he took in wrestling as I said before with Pope Pius the Fourth not as Jacob wrestled with the Angel to obtain his Blessing but as he contested with Esau to shew how little he regarded his Cursing After which he entred the List to grapple with that more dreadful Monster the Presbyter who professing to hate the pomp of Superstition disdain'd to give Obedience to any kind of Order in the Church being like the Chymara which the * Vid. Ovid. Metam lib. 6. Poets feign'd to have breath'd out fire having the head and breast of a Lyon a bold voracious Creature but very dull with the belly of a Goat and therefore much followed by the Female Sex and the tail of a Dragon to sting the Consciences of those that follow him and make them spiritually mad Betwixt him and the Pope finding Religion to be placed as his own Arms were betwixt the Lyon and the Unicorn who trampled under their feet his Beati Pacifici with as much scorn as they have since Diâ—u Mon Droit He thereupon deferr'd the matter no longer but calling before him the ablest of those that took upon them to oppose the Monarchy of the Church he resolv'd to preside himself in the Controversie betwixt them and the Bishops He that was the Prolocutor of the Non-conformists hapning to be a man worthy a better imployment then that Religious Drudgery they had ingaged him in was so modest notwithstanding it was his business to oppose all Formality as to offer nothing that was altogether void of Form beginning with a General Discourse of the Necessity of a thorow Reformation he brought the Desires of his dissatisfied Brethren under four Heads beseeching his Majesty that there might be 1. An establishment of true Doctrine in the Church as if that receiv'd from Christ and his Apostles had not been as yet sufficiently clear'd 2. That there might be a settlement of true and faithful Pastors meaning men of known simplicity and plainness and if not Fishermen as were the Apostles yet of any other Trade or Occupation 3. That there might be a sincere Administration in point of Government meaning that the Presbyter might he joyn'd in Commission with the Bishop as Calves-head and Bacon are better meat together then either of them alone that by his letting in as many at the back door as the Bishop did at the fore door great might be the multitude of Preachers 4. That the Book of Common Prayer might be fitted to a more increase of Piety by lengthening the Prayers which as one of the Fraternity and doubtless a Taylor objected were like short shreds or ends of threds that were too quickly wrought off and spiritualizing them with some less intelligible Phrases to prevent praying by rote These Proposals of his being inforced by a not unlearned Discourse however more like an Orator then a Divine he concluded with sundry Objections 1. Against Confirmation as being altogether needless and unnecessary because it added nothing as he said to the Validity and Sufficiency of the Sacrament To which Answer was given That the Church held it no essential part of the Sacrament but judg'd it a thing most reasonabâ—e that Children who at their Baptism had made Profession of their Faith by others should so soon as they came to years of
derive themselves from a Monster by the Fathers side and from a Gipsy on the Mothers side But the name of Scot bearing the same signification with Gayothel we may more reasonably conclude it was first given them by the Saxons either for the reason aforesaid as the word (m) Scot illud dictum quod ex diversis rebus in unum Acervum aggregatum est Camb. ex M. Westm Scot like the word Alman with them signifi'd a Body aggregated out of many Particulars into one or else by contraction of the word Attacot for the High landers making their way into the Borders of the Low-lands inhabited by the Picts who were the ancient Britains beat out by the Romans the Picts thereupon remov'd into the West and left the East part of the Country intire to them who sithence which was near about Aurelian's time or a little after made themselves known to the Romans by the Name before mentioned of Attacots The Picts and they made War upon each other for a long time mov'd by want as other Nations by wantonness for the great Commodity they fought for was Bread the want whereof brought them to accord a Cessation of Arms every Season during Seed-time but the Corn being in ground they fought on till Harvest following after which every Victor was known by his Garland of several sorts of Grain as the Roman Conquerors by theirs of several sorts of Boughs But when the Roman Empire began to decline both of them united in one hope of recovering that part of the Isle which is since call'd England And after the Romans totally quit it they press'd so hard upon Vortigern the then Titular King that he was forc'd the Romans having deny'd him further assistance to call in the Saxons to his aid who finding them then call'd by the Name of Attacots after their usual manner of abbreviation they term'd them Scots The first of all their Kings at least the first worthy that Title that broke over the great Clausura or Mound then call'd the * By the Romans nam'd the Picts-Wall Wiath was one Fergus Sirnam'd the Fierce a Prince descended from the ancient Kings of Ireland for I take the first Fergus and his One hundred thirty seven Successors to be at too great a distance to have their height truly taken who not induring that his Territories should be bounded when his Ambition could not that broke in like a Land-flood and over-run all the adjacent Countries making his Name so terrible that the Romans themselves imputing that to his Fortune which any other Nation would have ascrib'd to his Fortitude made an honourable retreat and left the poor Britains to defend themselves who doubtless had been over-run by him had not the Picts emulous of his Glory interrupted his Successes by whose vicinity both he and his Successors were so much streightned that they could not much inlarge their Territories till the Reign of Keneth the First a wise Prince who reducing that Kingdom under him not so much by Puissance as Policy made that the middle which was before but the bounds of his Dominions deserving therefore to be esteem'd tanquam alter Conditor About Sixty years after him another of the same Name tenth in descent from him rais'd the Throne a step higher having got as great a Conquest over the People as the other did over the Picts by turning the Optimacy into a direct Monarchy for he made the Succession Hereditary that till then was but Elective The fittest and ablest saith Buchanan being till that time prefer'd before the nearest or noblest since which time the eldest Son of the King of Scots hath been alwayes stil'd the Prince of Scots This King however gain'd not so much upon the Nobility in point of Majesty but that they gain'd much more upon his Successors in point of Power so that their Superiority was scarce so distinguishable for a long time from a bare Precedency but that they might rather be call'd Regnantes than Reges so long as the Thanage lasted who being a kind of Palatines exercis'd an absolute Power over their particuâ—ar Tenants and Vassals cum Jure Furci Thus they continued as it were under their good behaviour absolute Princes but bounded with many Restrictions till the time of James the Fourth whose Predecessors having clear'd their Title from all Incumbrances by Competitors leaving him sole Heir of the Peoples Affections as well as of his Predecessors Glory he married the Lady Margaret eldest Daughter and at length Heir to our Henry the Seventh by which Match their Thistle being ingrafted into our Rose mended both its colour and smell And their Kings that had been a kind of Homagers to ours from the beginning almost of their Monarchy became as it were manumitted by the expectation of their Title Paramount and by the possibility of being Lords of the Imperial Crown of this Realm The primier Seizen of which happiness after the death of Queen Elizabeth without Issue was in James the Sixth who Sirnam'd himself the Peaceable to let the World know he came not in by Conquest but Consent having this honour above all that were before him and probably beyond what any shall have that come after him his way was made before him not by any humane power but by Divine Providence long since reveal'd by a written Prophesie ingraved though not understood in that fatal Stone which is plac'd within the Regal Chair where the Kings of Scots anciently and ours since have been crown'd brought by them out of Ireland in the first place and by our King Edward the First translated hither afterwards whose words now they are fulfill'd seem plain enough Ni fallat fatum Scoti quocunque locatum Invenient Lapidem regnare tenentur ibidem This by the Ancients was call'd Saxum Jacobi as for that as Tradition had deliver'd it they believ'd this to be the Stone on which the Patriarch Jacob rested his Head But we of later times have found it to be Saxum Jacobi with relation to him who was to take up his rest here who being by a Decree from Heaven declared Head of this Nation may not improperly be call'd our Patriarch Jacob the first King of that People that ever was crown'd in this Kingdom by whom the Scots may be said to Reign here according to another Prophesie as ancient as the former recorded by Higden in his Polichronicon and evidently fulfilled at his coming in when he transplanted so many of his Country-men into our fat Soil that they grew up like Weeds to that degree of rankness as in the Age folâ—owing to choke the best Flowers in our Garden and taking advantage of us when we were drunk with Prosperity brought us like drunken men to quarrel one with another for what since we came to our selves we cannot find or are at least asham'd to tell having by the corrupted Principles we first received from them ingaged our selves in so groundless a War that after Ages will not believe