Officers of the Army were again conjured from Hell a new and unheard-of Generation of Quakers sprung up of whom the Parliament brought before them a considerable Ring-leader that I shall now briefly discourse of James Naylor was the Man who had heretofore served under Lambert and now had the impudence to personate Jesus Christ imitating his Words Looks and Carriage And to so great madness he grew that his Boldness encreasing through the Applauses of some and the Admiration of others he would represent him in all things For mounting a Horses Colt he came riding towards the City of Bristol those of his Sect strewing the Way with Leaves and Boughs of Trees and crying Hosanna Hosanna Blessed is he that cometh in the Name of the Lord. But the Madness stops not here neither for the distracted Fellow affects Divine Honours as if he could raise the Dead heal the Sick and fast after the Example of Christ At length the Parliament tired out with the continued Clamours of Accusers having cited him to appear before them sentence him to be publickly Whipp'd Pilloried and committed to perpetual Imprisonment But the Parliament being dissolved this Monster of Mankind was set at liberty by an Order of the Rump-Parliament when it revived again About that time Cromwell's Life was in danger from one Sundercome a Republican It was said that he was suborned by Alonso de Cardenas formerly Embassadour in England from the King of Spain and then living in Flanders to kill him He had often taken a House fit for committing the Fact but his Hopes always failing him he got him a Blunderbuss that could discharge twelve Bullets at a time resolving with that out of an Arbor upon the side of the Rode where the Way grows narrow at Hammersmith near London to shoot Cromwell as he past in his Coach to Hampton-Court and forthwith mounting a fleet Horse make his Escape on the opposite side But because there was a necessity of having another privy to the Design when the time that he was to go drew near one Toop belonging to the Guards is engaged in the Plot. But one Assassine betrays another Toop Sundercome who that he might be the first that suffered for Treason under this Government by a new Statute is arraigned and condemned for conspiring the Death of the Protector However some few hours before the time of his designed Execution he was found dead in his Bed though his Body appeared found there being no Marks of Violence either inwardly or outwardly to be discovered Of which thing according to the diversity of Humours People might severally judge as they pleased In the mean while the fiercer Fifth-Monarchy-men and Republicans making all the Preparations they could for a sudden Insurrection against the new Monarchy in the Bud are discovered and presently seised amongst other things a Standard being taken bearing a Lion Couchant with this Inscription Quis suscitabit eum Who shall rouse him This Rising then being wholly defeated Lawson a Sea-Commander Colonel Harrison Rich and several Officers of the Army with Danvers and others who could not endure the Regal Authority of Cromwell are clapp'd up in Prison Lambert also when he perceived that all his Hopes of Succession were cut off by an Ordinance of Parliament began to tack about and strike in with the Republicans Which so soon as Cromwell had notice of he presently recalled his Commission and disbanded him appointing Fleetwood to be next to himself in Power for he thought it neither safe nor fit that he should have the Chief Command in the Army who professed himself an open Enemy to the Civil Government Cromwell in the mean time that he might by fair and gentle means draw over more of the Republicans and endear them to himself promoted many of them into the House of Lords that they might seem to share with himself in the Government but such mean Fellows of no Birth nor Merit raised out of the Dregs of the Rabble who were contemptible and ridiculous to the real Lords and Peers could neither give nor receive any Splendour or Nobility Would ye have a List of some of them Let Pride then lead the Dance a most abject Rascal who had served a Brewer and that he might now with greater security cheat the Publick he purchases a Grant for Brewing Beer for the Protector 's Family and for serving the Fleet at Sea Huson was another who not long before cobbled old Shoes in a Stall Berkstead who heretofore sold Needles Bodkins and Thimbles and would have run on an Errand any where for a little Money but who now by Cromwell was preferred to the Honourable Charge of Lieutenant of the Tower of London Cooper who had been a Haberdasher of Small-wares in Southwark Berry a Woodmonger and Whaley a broken Clothier who had removed into Scotland until the breaking out of the Wars I shall name no more of them that I may not turn the Readers Stomach In the mean time he joyns to them for Companions five or six of the Ancient Nobility and gives them place in the House of Lords who nevertheless refuse to herd with the rest and all refrain the House that they might not pollute their Blood by such a Contagion Others called out of the House of Commons to this Other House prefer their own Seats and will not be reckoned amongst those Peers The two Sons and one Son-in-Law of Cromwell are brought into this House For it is to be observed that he had lately married his two younger Daughters the eldest having formerly married to Cleypole the one to Mr. Rich Nephew to the then Earl of Warwick who lived not long after and the other to the Lord Falconberge of whom now we speak Henry Cromwell his younger Son whom he made Deputy of Ireland and Richard the elder of whom since I am to mention him in the Sequel it will be fit I speak a little at present before I leave this House of Lords That Cromwell might remove all suspicion of arrogating to himself and Family the Supreme Authority he sends his eldest Son Richard into the Country to take his Pleasure in Hunting and Hawking Where he a Man of a good Nature courteous and affable far from the Tricks of his Father receiving the Common People hospitably diverting himself with the Gentry and behaving himself civilly to all besides many good Offices that he did at Court and elsewhere not onely gained the Applause of the People but obliged a great many Persons of Note and Quality But at length his Father took him off of these Toys and by degrees inured him to Publick Business ordering him first to sit in the Committee of Trade then in the House of Commons and now at last having called him as we have just now said up to the House of Lords Besides he made him Chancellor of the University of Oxford one of his Privy-Council and a Colonel of the
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
so many dangers under the protection of Almighty God they all safely arrived in the Spey The People were not a little gladded by the Kings Landing in Scotland testifying their Joys with Shouts and Acclamations and Bonefires But the Commissioners that with shew of greater Honour they might conduct him to Edinburrough put back those that in sense of Duty came to salute and honour him and beat off others with Fists and Sticks that more importunately approached He was splendidly entertained by the Magistrates of Aberdeen who for a pledge of their Love presented him with fifteen hundred Marks which he distributed amongst his indigent and almost famished Servants And that occasioned a Proclamation for securing their Money That such as thought fit to bestow any thing for the interest of the King it should only be brought into the publick Treasury The Magistrates of Dundee entertained him likewise magnificently saving that a Member of Montross was to be seen upon a Poll on the top of the Town Hall and that the Estates urged him to sign new Articles Afterwards he came to Edinburrough amidst the reiterated and joyful Acclamations of all the People and is again by the Heralds proclaimed King of Scotland England and Ireland The Kings Majesty is managed according to the pleasure of some Commissioners access is allowed to such as they thought fit all others being kept back His Guard is Commanded by the Lord Lorn Son to the Marquess of Argile by whom all the avenues are observed that no man might envy that splendid custody In the mean time the Presbyterian Ministers talk of nothing but Crimes now inveighing against the Sins of his Father and by and by again against the Idolatry and Heresie of his Mother and the obstinacy of both towards the Reformation the Government and Church of Christ They never rest telling him of Wars Slaughter Bloodshed of his Education and living amongst Bishops Men of no Religion and that in a saucy manner without the least sense of reverence or shame Labouring to make him a new Creature by lessons of Repentance and Humility severe rebukes and admonitions that he might carry his Cross before he put on his Crown and mount by the Valley of Bacha to the Throne of regal Authority And all these things they so absurdly and clownishly set about that their Doctrins and Instructions were more apt to make him nauseate and eternally hate their ways than to gain him to a liking or assent to their Opinions The King one evening walking in the Garden a couple of dapper Covenant Levites making up to him and very severely chid him for profaning the Lords Day by a Walk though he had heard two Sermons and been publickly at Morning and Evening Prayers that day besides other private Meditations that he was much given to The Laity also instead of a Crown of Gold shining with Jewels which they bragg'd they would Crown him with the precious Stones being secretly and by degrees pick'd out of it give him one of Feathers such as Demetrius truly said no man in his senses would stoop and take up from the ground by allowing him his Robes the Name of Majesty and Ensigns of a King with the troubles and difficulties of doing Justice though that also must be administred after their way whilst they invaded and reserved to themselves the substantial Prerogatives of making Laws and Peace and War But these things could not be so kept up from the Regicides though the Parliaments claw'd one another with mutual signs of good-will by Conferences and Messengers at least no Hostility as yet appears but that by their Friends and Emissaries in Holland and Scotland who were well paid for their pains they were informed of the whole series of the pacification And therefore they consult how they might provide before hand against a storm that haug over their heads There was an Army in readiness under the Command of Fairfax but that General was not very prone to enter into a War with the Scots who had not as yet provoked the English by any injuries they suspected him rather to have a kindness for that Nation and to be inwardly displeased at the Murder of the King and subversion of the Government They therefore recal Cromwell out of Ireland to give him the charge of the Scottish War He quickly returning home Crowned with Victories and Success in a triumphant manner entred London amidst a crowd of Attendants Friends Citizens and Members of the Rump-Parliament Guarded by a Troop of Horse and a Regiment of Foot and amongst them Fairfax himself went out two miles to meet him and congratulate his Arrival But when they were come to Tyburn the place of publick Execution where a great croud of spectators were gathered together a certain flatterer pointing with his finger to the Multitude Good God! Sir said he what a number of People come to welcome you home He smiling made answer But how many more do you think would flock together to see me hanged if that should happen There was nothing more unlikely at that time and yet there was a presage in these words which he often repeated and used in discourse The Regicides and he having consulted it is thought fit to ease the Lord Fairfax of the burden and Cromwell is declared Captain General of all the Forces in England Scotland and Ireland who undertakes the War against the Scots having ordered Souldiers and Provisions to be sent towards Berwick The Scots instantly send Letters to the Rump-Parliament Cromwell and Haselrigg Governour of New-Castle wherein they complain that the Rump-Parliament design an Invasion of their Country and that contrary to the Vnion agreed upon betwixt both Nations and the publick Faith mutually given no War being denounced the Cause not published nor their Answers expected without giving them time to repent if they had offended in any thing But that the Scene might be continued The English Officers give an Answer The summ of which that the Genius of these times may the better appear to Posterity I shall here shortly relate And after a Preface it was to this purpose We are blamed for the Murder of the King for which we are bound rather to give God thanks and applaud the Parliament since the King was guilty of more bloodshed than the cruelty of all his Predecessours an obstinate Enemy of Reformation and of all good men who besides taught his Son to follow his footsteps Him the sounder part of the People the timorous and bad Members being secluded justly put to death God Almighty show'd them the who way at first approving it by wonderful successes and continual benedictions What is on the other hand objected that the Treaty the Law of Arms and the League and Covenant are violated by a War made before it be denounced but that Treaty is already abrogated by Hamilton at the Command of his own Parliament unless it be thought that the English
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
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
overthrow of his Fleet and the English redoubling their courage bore in more furiously amongst the Enemies But the Dutch Fleet wanted both strength and courage to continue the Engagement longer and with full sail run for it Now it was no more an Engagement but a Pursuit accompanied with slaughter and the usual calamities of Fugitives for four of the Enemies Ships in the haste and consternation of the flight falling foul of one another were by an English Fire-ship burnt all together Three more of their Ships being afterward in the same manner pestered together were by the next Fire-ship likewise set on fire and burnt Then were many of the Dutch Ships taken and more sunk nor was there any end of destroying and pursuing till it was dark night The Pursuit continued next day with the same vigour and the Dutch fled with the less shame that they had the Duke of York to follow them This was a famous Victory nothing short of the ancient Atchievements of the English five thousand of the Enemies being killed or taken and Opdam Cartener Stillingwolfe and Stamp the chief Commanders of the Dutch Fleet dying in the Engagement There were about eighteen Ships burnt sunk and taken Many of the Enemies swimming in the Sea after the Ships were burnt or sunk his Royal Highness who is merciful in his anger caused them to be taken up having for that purpose ordered out Boats For why should they die who hardly deserved to live It was a greater than joyful Victory to the English the flower of the Honorary Volunteers being slain Just by the Duke fell the Earls of Portland and Fulmouth the Lord Mufcarrey and a Warlike Youth the Son of the Earl of Burlington who joyfully sacrificed their lives to the Honour of their Country and to that Victory wherein they had the Duke of York for a Witness of their Valour and a Bewailer of their Destiny The valiant Earl of Malborough and Rear-Admiral Sanson died also in the Bed of Honour Lawson being wounded in the thigh six weeks after died with Honour and Reputation And though being in a dying condition he could not make use of the Triumphant Victory to which he had largely contributed yet he tasted of the pleasure of it There were not many killed nor slain and onely one Ship lost And thus his Royal Highness brought home the Royal Fleet loaded with Triumph and the Spoils of Victory And whilst the States of the Vnited Provinces were taken up in punishing the cowardise of Commanders King Charles in the mean time conferred Honours upon his deserving Officers and knighted Alan Smith Jordan Meens Tiddeman and Spragg for their brave and good services The Dutch Fleet in the mean time fighting ill having been soundly-beaten De Ruyter in his Piracies abroad had somewhat better fortune After the action at Guiny he attempted other English Islands in America From Barbadoes an Island well fortified and defended he was repulsed with disgrace From thence sailing to New-found-land and having easily mastered it he made prize of all he found there and having cruelly used the Inhabitants plundered them of all and wasted the Island he returned home Upon his return he was immediately from a Pirat advanced to be Admiral being the onely person judged worthy to succeed Opdam in the command of the Navy But for this year the Dutch were sufficiently cowed as no more to fight the Victorious English by Sea Wherefore the Duke of York who liked better to overcome than to spoil his Enemies seeing there was no hopes of any farther Engagement spent the remaining part of the year on shoar But Sandwich being made Admiral of the Royal Fleet set sail again towards the Coast of Holland and offered though in vain a second Engagement but the Enemy could not be overcome till they were found The States in the mean time after their Fleet of War was disabled and beaten off of the Sea were in no small fear and apprehension for their East India Fleet which was upon the way homeward richly laden nor was the eagerness of the English less to catch the Booty But that Fleet having intelligence that Holland was blockt up by the English and thinking it safer to shelter themselves in another Dominion put into Bergen a famous Harbour in Norway Part of the Royal Navy hastened thither and sending five Frigats into the Harbour they attacked the Dutch Ships that lay secure under the protection of the Castle and shore nor did it seem difficult to have taken them had not the English contrary to expectation found another Army to deal with the Danes firing upon them from the Castle The English greedy of the Prey were a little too rash in running themselves into the danger of a double Enemy but their Valour made amends for their boldness A sharp Dispute continued for almost six hours to the vast damage of the Goods on board the shattered and torn Ships and to no small loss on our side especially from the Castle but at length after a proof of great but unseasonable courage to prevent greater loss and slaughter the Fleet retreaâ—ed and seeing they could not enjoy the spoils of the Enemy they had the satisfaction to embezile and sink them as if they had got when the Enemy lost But amidst the Triumphs of War the Joys of the Victorious English were short and interrupted for this was a doleful year through the breaking out of a raging Plague not occasioned by an influx of the Stars nor the French Pox degenerating into a Contagion as some idle men dreamt but as it was more credibly reported by the infected Goods that were brought from Holland into England so that when the Dutch Arms could not beat us their Contagion overcame us After it had by the space of almost one whole year raged in London and swept away infinite numbers of people it spread over many other and far distant Cities and Towns of England Nor could the Contagion be stopt by any humane arts or skill of Physicians before it had carried away above two hundred thousand Souls within less than two years time neither were the days and nights long enough for the dying to expire in nor Church-yards big enough to contain the bodies of the dead though they were heaped together into Graves The King and Court leaving the desolate City removed to Oxford as yet clear from infection and seated in a wholsome Air thither also went the Judges and Courts of Justice The Nobility Gentry and rich Citizens in the mean time avoiding all confluence of people lurked everywhere in Country-houses and Villages The onely persons of great Quality that stayed in London were the Duke of Albemarle and Earl of Craven which was both a comfort and safety to the City in so great a Desolation and Mortality of the Citizens The Plague at length ceasing in London the earnest desires of the Citizens invited back
Royalists whom he spoils of the tenth part of their Goods Withot any distinction He sets Major Generals over Provinces Who had great power given them over suspected persons Especially over Ministers turned out of their Livings who are not permitted so much as to teach little Children At length their Exorbitant Power being suspected to Cromwell himself they are wholly abolished Some Imprisoned for the Royal Cause For a Murder afterward committed are brought to a Tryal and acquitted by a Jury After the same manner Lilburn escaped Death and Stawell thrice The Tyrant objects against the Ancient Custom of a Jury of twelve Men. This wholesom Custom is justied Cromwell assists the Protestants oppressed by the Duke of Savoy An Expedition into the Mediterranean Sea under Blake Who easily agreeing with the Algerines He chastises the Pride of those of Tunis by burning their Ships in the very Harbour Another greater into America The first reason of it The second The third The fourth The fifth Penn Admiral at Sea and Venables General at Land The Spaniard being afraid They arrive first at Barbadoes Afterwards they saile to Hispaniola with a design to proceed to Carthagena after they had taken St. Domingo But they are first overcome by the heat and thirst Then by the Inhabitants And at length by a Plague in Jamaica whither they had betaken themselves The Spaniard declaring War Cromwell assists the French upon these Conditions King CHARLES and the Duke of York being invited go into Flanders Where the Duke serves the Spaniard Manasses Ben Israel a Jew desires liberty for his Nation to live and Trade in England To which Cromwell listens in hopes of gain But having first consulted Divines Of whom some contrary to his expectation are of a contrary Opinion The English Fleet Commanded by Montague and Blake Defeats eight Spanish Ships richly laden whereof two were taken A second Parliament câ—nsisting onely of Coâ—moners wherein Scots and Irish are admitted Suits better with Cromwells Interests Since they would have made him King Alledging these Reasons for it To which he answering They strongly reply The chief Argument Who they were that would have had him take the Title of King And who on the other hand as fiercely opposed it The Cavaliers for several reasons were for the first Advice Cromwell rejecting the Crown which be so earnestly coveted With much ado he obtained from the Parliament the Title of Protector And is solemnly Inaugurated by the Speaker The sink of Hereticks of these times Of whom Naylor had the impudence to give himself out for Jesus Christ Vntil he was Whipt and Imprisoned who deserved a thousand times to be put to Death Sundercome a Republican plots against Cromwell Who being betray'd by another Conspirator is brought to a Tryal and condemned But he prevented the Executioner by a sudden Death The Republicans rising are apprehended Lambert being Disbanded Fleetwood is put in his place Cromwells Lords of the very dregs of the People Some of the Nobility being mingled with them who disdain such companions Falconberge also his Son-in-law and both his own Sons Of whom he sends Richard to lead a Countrey Life Who at length is made Chancellour of the Vniversity of Oxford and one of his Fatherâ—s Privy Council A Parliament of two Houses who agree ill betwixt themselves the Bastard Peers being despised by the Lower-House And therefore that Parliament is dissolved New Designs of the Cavaliers are disappointed by Cromwell they being discovered by secret Spies Many are brought to Trial for their Life Two of the more remarkable are beheaded Four others drawn hanged and quartered Cromwell for greater security levies new Troops of Hâ—rse consisting of Voluntiers Blake with unparallell'd boldness burns the Spanish Fleet in the very Harbour of Sancta Cruce His Death Character and Actions The Dane makes War against the Swede â—ow victorious in Poland The Swede hastning his return invades Denmark revenges himself on the Dane and reduces him to extremity Afterward he demands Assistance from the English and the Dane from the Dutch Cromwell sends thither a Fleet and two Mediators The Dutch likewise assist the Dane having fought the Swedes at Sea The French by the assistance of the English take Montmidy and presently after Mardyke Fort which is given to the English to be defended The Duke of York in vain attempts it Graveling being taken Dunkirk is Besieged For the relief of which Don John of Austria comes The French fight and overcome Shortly after the Governour being shot the Town is takâ—n And given to the Engllsh as a Reward for their Service Cromwel began to be sick first in Mind For the Death of his dearest Daughter And the Republicans that grew daily grew stronger Presently after being taken with a slight Fever Which at length confined him to his Bed Though he was secure of recovering Trusting rashly to his silly Ministers and Flatterers Who feed the Dying-man with vain hopes and mock God himself with their Thanks-givings From Hampton-Court he is brought to London The Disease growing more dangerous He is advised by his Counsellors to name his Successour And so his Son Richard nominated shortly after he died Sept. 3. 1658. The Spleen of all other parts of his Body when opened being most affected Cromwells Character His Birth Childish Enthusiasms And Scurrility His youthful Luxury and Repentance His Penury and Want His Prejudice against the King He advises the Parliamentarians His Military Discipline His Command and Rule His way of Ruling Richard takes into his Hands the Reins of Government Not so much out of his own Ambition as indeed by the Allurements of others Cromwells expensive Funeral And Enterment amongst Royal Ashes The 〈…〉 â—ill 〈◊〉 tâ—rds Richaâ—d â—y endâ—avour 〈◊〉 Fâ—twood and him together by the Ears The Soldiers challenge to themselves extravagant Priviledges A Parliament is called wherein much time is spent in jangling without any fâ—uit Yet they are reconciled The Instrument of Government is sifted They recall Overton from Banishment They accuse Berkstead and Butler of Treason The Commanders of the Army urging their Proposals Richard is wanting to himself And is forsaken of his Friends The Officers publish a Remonstrance And are by the Parliament discharged to keep Consults This made them draw into the Conspiracy the Lâ—eutenancy and Officers of the Militia of Londâ—n Presently they beset Whitehall And Richard being overcone by their Prayers and Threatnings dissolves the Parliament He being sâ—rrounded with these dangers Is perswaded to espouse the Kings Cause â—eetwood diâ—wading him The Officers agan raise the Rump from the Dead And what sort of Men they were And bound to these Articles Send them into the Parliament-house Richard out of fear having resigned up his Authority Stript of all departs out of Whitehall And being made a laughing stock betakes himself again to a Country Life May 3. June 21. August 2. August Sept. 11. June June June April 29. May 1. May 21. June June 26. July 22. August 22. Septemb.