Young 4. CATHARINE Dyed almost as soon as Born 5. HENRIETTA Born at Exeter on the sixteenth of June 1644. and at the surrendry of that Town brought to St. James's whence she was afterwards by her Governess the Lady Dalkeith conveyed into France to the Queen her Mother by whom she was Educated in the Roman Religion About the Age of Sixteen Years she came with the Queen-Mother into England whence after six Months stay returning into France she was Married to Philip Duke of Anjou only Brother to the present French King by whom she had Issue two Daughters the Elder whereof is Queen of Spain the Younger being deceased She was a Princess of incomparable Beauty and Gallantry of Spirit and Dyed suddenly at Paris in June 1670. being Six and Twenty Years of Age. Of the Duke of York HIS present Majesty of Great Britain having no Issue by his Queen and having by his Royal Declaration which he has caused to be Registred in Chancery and which not any good Subject nor indeed not any rational Man can choose but believe solemnly protested That he was never Married to any other Woman The first Prince of the Blood and Apparent or according to the new-coyn'd Distinction Presumptive Heir of the Crown is His Royal Highness JAMES Duke of York and Albany Earl of Vlster Knight of the most noble Order of the Garter third Son of CHARLES the Ist and and sole surviving Brother of our sacred Soveraign CHARLES the IId He was Born at Somerset-House in the Strand on the fourteenth of October 1633. was immediately at the Court-Gates proclaimed Duke of York On the four twentieth of the same Month he was Baptized having for God-fathers the King of Denmark represented by the Earl of Arundel and the Duke of Orleans by Prince Harcourt and for God-mother the Queen of Bohemia whose Substitute was the Dutchess of Buckingham He was in his Infancy committed to the Government of the Lady Hatton but when he grew up had for Governor Henry Lord Jermin now Earl of Saint Albans and for Preceptor Dr Broughton of Brazen-Nose Colledge in Oxford In February 1641. He was by the King his Father sent for from London to Greenwich that he might accompany him thence to York Having been by special Command called Duke of York from his Birth he was on the seven twentieth of January 1643. having the Year before received the Order of the Garter so Created by Letters Patents at Oxford but without the Solemnities usual in such Cases the Iniquity of those Times not admitting thereof After the Surrendry of Oxford to the Rebels in the Year 1646. His Royal Highness was conveyed thence to London and at St. Jameses committed with his Brother the Duke of Glocester and his Sisters the Princesses Elizabeth and Henrietta to the Tuition Care of the Earl of Northumberland and his Lady Here he continued unto the three and twentieth of April 1648. when having with Colonel Bampfield sent over purposely on that Design by the Queen his Mother contrived an escape after he had received the usual Visit of his Guardian the Earl of Northumberland he lingred out the remainder of the Evening that he might avoid the suspicion of his Attendants in the Chamber of his Brother the Duke of Glocester and at a fit Opportunity retiring into the Garden by the help of a Key which he had borrowed of the Gardiner he quickly got to the place where he was expected by the Colonel by whom being disguised in the Habit of a Girle he was conveyed to Dort whence he went immediately to his Sister the Princess of Orange and thence soon after to his Royal Mother then at Paris Thence he came to the Prince of Wales his Brother then endeavouring with part of the Navy which had submitted to him to rescue his Royal Father out of the Traitorous hands of the villanous Rebels by whom he was kept Prisoner in the Isle of Wight But that Design being disappointed his Royal Highness returned to the Court of France where he continued till he was about twenty Years of Age when going into the Campagne he performed under that great Commander the Mareschal de Turenne such eminent Services for the French King against the Spanish Forces in the Netherlands that before the Age of one twenty he was made Lieutenant-General of the whole Army and was by Turenne himself then lying desperately Sick recommended to his most Christian Majesty for the fittest person he could nominate to be General of his Army as being so Noble Valorous and fortunate a Commander that his Affairs could not in all humane probability but prove Successful under his Conduct Notwithstanding which upon a Treaty between the French King and the English Usurper Cromwel he was in the Year 1655. tho not without some Complements and Apologies for his Dismission advertized to depart with all his Retinue out of the French Dominions by a prefixed time Which he accordingly did having been first visited by the Mareschal de Turenne and divers other French Grandees as also by the Duke of Modena then in France about some important Affairs His Royal Highness then having taken His leave of the King and Court of France and being attended by the Earl of St. Albans and several other English Lords took His Journey towards Bruges in Flanders the Residence at that time of the King His Brother who having upon foresight of the Event of the Treaty prudently withdrawn himself out of France was by Don John of Austria Governour of the Low-Countries for the King of Spain solemnly invited into those parts The Duke in his way touchd at Bruxels where he was magnificently entertained by Don John to whom he proffered his service in the wars against the French King then leagued with the English Rebels against Spain Which being with many thanks accepted his Magnanimity and Dexterity in Martial Affairs wan him so much esteem that a little before his Majesties happy return he was offered in the Name of the Spanish King the high Dignity of Admiral of Castile In the year 1660 He returned with the King his Brother into England of which being Lord High Admiral and in the year 1665 in the War against the United Nether-Lands commanding in Person the whole Royal Navy he with unmatchable Valor and extraordinary Hazard of his Princely Person which was besprinkled with the Blood of those that fell by his side obtained after a sharp dispute on the Seas between England and Holland a signal Victory over the whole Dutch Fleet sinking many of their ships blowing up their Admiral Opdam and by sacking of Scheveling making Amsterdam it self to tremble For which great services so sensible was the Parliament how much the English Nation was indebted to him that as a small acknowledgment of his Merit and a grateful testimony of their Affections they made him a Present of an hundred thousand pounds In September 1666 the City of London labouring under a terrible Fire whether
and forced to fly into the Isle of Man where he died Anno. 819. TRAWST the Daughter of Elise by her Husband Sitsylht had Issue Lhewelyn who married Angharad the Daughter and Heir of Meredyth King of Southwales This Lhewelyn in the Year 1015. raised a great Power against Aedan the Son of Blegored who had usurped the Kingdom of Northwales whom with his four Sons having slain he took to himself the Name and Authority of King of Wales 1. Gruffyth who in the year 1037. having slain in battle Jago King of Northwales assumed the Kingdom to himself A Daughter not named married to Fleance Son of Bancho a Scotch Nobleman cruelly murthered by Mackbeth King of Scotland whose Fury Fleance escaping fled into Wales where being kindly received by King Gruffyth he privately married his Daughter whereat the King who by his Daughters being with Child had found out the Marriage was so highly offended that he caused Fleance to be kild and his Daughter imprisoned who was soon after delivered of a Son which was named Walter who going into Scotland grew into such Favor with King Malcolm the IIId that he was by him made Lord High Steward of Scotland receiving the Kings Revenues of the whole Realm by the faithful Discharge of which Office he merited for for himself and Posterity the Surname of Stuart 2. Rees slain at a place called Bulendune in the year 1053. 2. Conan slain with his Brother Lhewelyn in the year 1021. This was the Rise and Original of the Royal Family of the Stuarts which has now for above three hundred years been in possession of the Crown of Scotland and about fourscore the sole Monarchs of Great Britain But tho this Descent be of the Younger House as coming from Elise second Son of Anarawd the first King of Northwales yet that his present Majesty of Great Britain is by Right of Primogeniture the next and undoubted Heir to Cadwalladar will manifestly appear by the following Table representing The Progeny Of Cadwalladar continued from Edwal Voel the eldest Son of Anarawd to our present Dread Soveraign King CHARLES the IId now swaying the Scepter of Great Britain EDWAL VOEL King of Northwales and Sovereign of all Wales eldest Son of Anarawd first King of Northwales and Grandson of Roderick Mawr King of Wales had Issue 1. Meyric who was deprived of his Inheritance first by his Cosen Howel Dha the eldest Son of Cadelh first King of Southwales afterwards by his own Brethren Jevaf and Jago In the year 973. he had his Eyes put out by his Nephew Howel the Son of Jevaf and soon after died in Prison leaving behinde him two Sons 2. Jevaf who with his Brother Jago after the Death of Howel Dha usurped the Kingdom of Northwales being the Right of their eldest Brother Meyric About the year 967. he was Imprisoned by his Brother Jago and in the year 973. set at liberty by his Son Howel who chased Jago out of the Land and took the Kingdom to himself 3. Jago who together with his Brother Jevaf in the year 948. after the Death of Howel Dha usurped the Kingdom of Northwales which of right belonged to their elder Brother Meyric MEYRIC the Son of Edwal Voel had Issue 1. Jonaval who in the year 985. was slain by Cadwalhon the Son of Jevaf and left no Issue 2. Edwal who in the year 992. recovered his Grandfathers Inheritance and after six years was slain by Swayn King of Denmark Jago who being under Age at his Fathers Death was deprived of his Inheritance by Aedan the Son of Blegored slain in the year 1015. by Lhewelyn the Son of Sitsylht who being in the year 1021. kild by Howel and Meredyth the Sons of Edwyn Jago recovered his Kingdom but was in the year 1037. slain by Gruffyth the Son of Lhewelyn Conan who being by Gruffyth ap Lhewelyn driven out of his Inheritance fled into Ireland where he married the Daugher of Alfred King of Develyn Gruffyth who in the year 1078. bringing a great Army of Irishmen and Scots into Wales and joyning with Rees ap Theodor the Heir of Southwales recovered his Grandfathers Kingdom He is the last to whom the Welâ—… Historians give the Name of King GRVFFYTH Son of Conan had Issue Owen Gwyneth Prince of Northwales and Soveraign of all VVales He died in the year 1169. leaving behind him a numerous Issue 1. Jorwerth Drwyndwn deprived of Inheritance by his younger Brother David Lhewelyn Prince of Northwales and Soveraign of all VVales for his Heroick Acts surnamed the Great who in the year 1237. being weakned by a Palsy and vexed with the Rebellion of his Base Son Gruffyth sent Ambassadours to Henry the IIId King of England submitting himself to his Protection condescending to hold his Principality of him and promising upon all Occasions to assist him to the uttermost of his Power He died in the year 1240. 2. David who usurping the Right of his eldest Brother succeeded his Father in the Principality which he held till the year 1194. when he lost it to his Nephew Lhewelyn the right Heir LHEWELYN the Son of Jorwerth by his Wife Jone Daughter to John King of England had Issue David Soveraign Prince of VVales who submitted himself and his Principality to his Uncle Henry the IIId King of England doing him Homage and Fealty for the same He died in the year 1246. without Issue Gladys Dhu a Daughter married to Ralph Lord Mortimer of Wigmor by whom she had Issue Roger Mortimer Lord of VVigmor who ought to have succeeded his Uncle David in the Principality of VVales but the VVelsh Nobility out of their Aversion to the English not regarding his Right did their Homage to Lhewelyn and Owen Goch Sons of Gruffyth Bastard-brother to the last Prince who divided the Principality between them till that Lhewelyn in the year 1254. having taken his Brother Owen Prisoner in battel enjoyed alone the whole Principality But in the year l282 Lhewelyn being slain by one Adam Francton an Englishman all VVales was by Edward the Ist brought in Subjection to the Crown of England and has so continued ever since The Eldest Son of Roger Mortimer by his Wife Maud Daughter of VVilliam de Bruse Lord of Brecknock was Edmund Mortimer Lord of VVigmor EDMVND MORTIMER Lord of VVigmor had Issue Roger Mortimer Lord of VVigmor who married Jone Daughter and Heir of Sir Peter Genivil was created Earl of March by King Edward the IIId and afterwards attainted Edmund Mortimer Lord of VVigmor married Elianor Widow of VVilliam de Bohun Earl of Northampton one of the Daughters and Heirs of Bartholomew Badelsmer Lord of Leeds in Kent Roger Mortimer Lord of VVigmor restored by King Edward the IIId to the Earldom of March and all his Grandfathers Inheritance Honors and Possessions the Attainder being repealed Edmund Mortimer Earl of March and Lord of VVigmor married Philippa Daughter and sole Heir of Leonell Duke of Clarence in whose Right he was Earl of Vlster He died
occasioned by the supine negligence of the Baker and his servants in whose house it began or by an Hellish combination of malicious Persons there having been executed the April before eight Fanatical Plotters who confest at Tyburn that they had so contrived that Fatal Scene that it could not miscarry their Prediction as to the Fire tho not as to the rest of their intended Tragedy proving true to a day he exposed his Person to a thousand Dangers to rescue it from Destruction breaking open Pipes and Conduits for Water reaching Buckets as nimbly as any of the common people clearing the Streets of the Crouds that hindred the people from carrying away their goods appointing his servants and Guards to conduct them to secure places and in fine for several nights and days with unwearied industry appearing in all parts giving necessary orders to prevent the farther spreading of the Conflagration In requital of which his never to be forgotten Pains and diligence for the suppressing of those Flames some ungrateful and audacious Villains have impudently dared to calumniate him as the Author of that dreadful Fire than which Hell it self cannot forge a falser or blacker Lye In the year 1672 he again in a second War against the Vnited Netherlands commanded the whole English Fleet behaving himself with such gallantry that notwithstanding the many notable disadvantages of wind and tide being at Anchor when set upon and the succeeding Mist he after a long and fierce encounter put the Dutch to flight though with exceeding great peril of his Life having in the heat or the engagement when Refitting would have lost the benefit of his Orders and Action changed Ships oftner than great Generals at Land have done their Horses Insomuch that De Ruiter himself acknowledged His Royal Highness to exceed all the Admirals in Christendom as much by His Bravery as by His Birth In the Year 1678. after the discovery of the Popish Plot some Sons of Belial that they might more freely vent their malice against the Royal Family impudently and falsly calumniated his Royal Highness not only as having publickly profest the Romish Religion which yet is so palpable an Untruth that it needs no Confutation but also though in direct contradiction to the depositions of Oates and Bedlow the chief discoverers the last whereof even at his death acquitted him as the Author of the Plot which yet he was so earnest to have sifted to the Bottom that as the Earl of Danby in his Printed Case tells us It had never been brought upon the Stage but for the Dukes Importunity Yet were these Surmises how ridiculous and groundless soever so cunningly by seditious Boutefeus insinuated into the belief of the giddy Multitude that his Majesty at whom these envenomed Arrows tho seemingly shot at his Brother were directly aimed thought it convenient Because he would not leave the most malicious men room to say he had not removed all Causes which could be pretended to influence him towards Popish Counsels and that he might thereby discern whether Protestant Religion and the Peace of the Kingdom were as truly aimed at by others as they were really intended by himself to deprive himself of the Conversation of his Royal Highness by commanding him to depart the Kingdom To which Command the Duke paying an entire submission and obedience on the third of March 1679. took leave of his Majesty and after a short visit to his Daughter the Princess of Orange in Holland retired with his Family to Bruxels in Flanders Thence his Royal Highness having about the latter end of August following received the unwelcome News that the King his Brother was seized with a fit of sickness hastned over to Windsor to visit him protesting that altho his Loyalty and Fraternal Affection had obliged him to perform this Duty he was ready upon his Majesties first Command not only to return into Flanders but to go to the farthest part of the Earth On the Seventeenth of September He came with His Majesty by the infinite mercy of Heaven recovered from His sickness to London and on the Twenty-eighth of the same Month departed again for Flanders whence returning about the middle of October He took his journey by order of the King on the first of November for Scotland where by his prudent Conduct being by His Majesty constituted High Commissioner of that Kingdom He quieted the dangerous Commotions raised therein by certain furious and factious Zealots and restored it to full peace and Tranquillity Coming into England about the latter end of March 1682 He was by His Majesty then at Newmarket received with the greatest Testimonies of affection imaginable Returning again about the middle of May by Sea towards Scotland to fetch thence his Dutches He was by the singular Providence of Almighty GOD delivered from eminent danger of drowning The Glocester a Third Rate Fregate whereon he was imbarkt by the negligence of the Pilot striking on the sands and sinking under Him His Plate and whatever else was abord being lost several Persons of Quality who accompanied him and of his Servants and Seamen about two hundred Persons whose unparalleld affection and generous Loyalty when there was no hope of safety for themselves with shouts of joy gave thanks to Heaven for the preservation of His Royal Highness being swallowed up by the Waves So sensible were all the Loyal Engglish of the great damage that would have befallen these Kingdoms by the loss of so Heroick a Prince that several parts of this Nation have in their Addresses to the King since the return of their Royal Highnesses not only congratulated the happy deliverance of his only Brother but have also humbly supplicated their Soveraign that he would no more permit him who is next after his sacred Majesty their chief hope and comfort to be separated from his Royal Presence His Royal Highness had for His first VVife ANN eldest Daughter to Edward Late Earl of Clarendon and Lord High Chancellor of England She Dyed at St. Jameses on the one and Thiriteth of April 1671. having made him Father of a numerous Issue whereof are living 1. MARY Born the Thirtieth of April 1662 whose God-Father was Prince Rupert and God-Mothers the Dutchesses of Buckingham and Ormond On the fourth of November 1677. She was by Dr. Henry Compton Bishop of London and Brother to James late Earl of Northampton married to William of Nassaw Prince of Orange 2. ANNE born in February 1664 whose God-Father was Dr. Gilbert Sheldon late Lord Arch-Bishop of Canterbury her God-Mothers being her Sister the young Lady Mary and the Dutches of Monmouth In November 1673 His Royal Highness was by Dr. Nathanael Crew Bishop of Durham and Son to John Lord Crew secondly married to JOSEPHA-MARIA d'Este Daughter of Alphonso the IIId late and Sister to Francis present Duke of Modena her Mother being Laura Martinozza the present Dutchess Dowager By her he hath had several Children of which is living one only Daughter named CHARLOTTA
at Cork in Ireland Anno 1381. EDMVND MORTIMER Earl of March had Issue Roger Mortimer Earl of March and Vlster Lord of Wigmor Trym Clare and Connaght who married Elianor Eldest Daughter and one of the Heirs of Thomas Holland Earl of Kent 1. Roger Mortimer died without Issue 2. Edmund Mortimer died without Issue 3. Anne Mortimer married to Richard Plantagenet Earl of Cambridge by whom she had Issue Richard Plantagenet Duke of York Earl of Cambridge March and Vlster Edward the IVth King of England and France and Lord of Ireland 1. Edward the Vth. King of England and France and Lord of Ireland murthered in the Tower left no Issue 2. Richard Plantagenet Duke of York murthered with his Brother King Edward left no Issue 3. Elizabeth eldest Daughter to Edward the IVth married to Henry the VIIth King of England and France and Lord of Ireland ELIZABETH eldest Daughter to King Edward the IVth by her Husband King Henry the VIIth had Issue 1. Arthur Prince of VVales died before his Father and left no Issue 2 Henry the VIIIth King of England France and Ireland Defender of the Faith 1. Edward the VIth King of England France and Ireladd died without Issue 2. Mary Q. of England France and Ireland died without Issue 3. Elizabeth Queen of England France and Ireland died without Issue 3. Margaret eldest Daughter to Henry the VIIth married to James the IVth King of Scotland by whom she had Issue James the Vth. King of Scotland Mary Queen of Scotland who was by her Subjects infected with Calvinism of which it is truly observed that it never entred into any Country but by Rebellion expelled her Kingdom and forced to fly for shelter into England where so implacable is Presbyterian Malice they never left persecuting her till they had brought her after eighteen years Imprisonment to end her dayes upon a Scaffold By her Husband Henry Lord Darnley Son to Mathew Stuart Earl of Lenox she had Issue James the VIth King of Scotland who after the Decease of Elizabeth Queen of England as next Heir enjoyed the Crown of this Realm whereof he was no sooner possest but he reassumed the Title of Great Britain 1. Henry Prince of Wales died before his Father and left no Issue 2. CHARLES the Ist King of Great Britain France and Ireland Defender of the Faith a Prince of incomparable Vertues and Endowments who was on the 30th of January 1648. barbarously and inhumanly murthered before the Gates of his own Royal Palace by a traitorous Crew of villanous Phanaticks so secure in their own Thoughts of having thereby extirpated Monarchy out of this Island that they insolently set up on the Royal Exchange in the place where his Statue which they maliciously decollated had been erected amongst those of his Predecessors this Inscription Exit Tyrannus Regum ultimus 1. CHARLES the IId by the Grace of God King of Great Britain France and Ireland Defender of the Faith now reigning Whō GOD long preserve 2. The Illustrious Prince James Duke of York and Albany 3. Mary Mother to the present Prince of Orange 4. Henrietta Mother to the present Queen of Spain 3. Elizaheth married to Frederick Prince Palatine of the Rhine by whom she had a numerous Issue CHAP. X. Of the present Government of Great Britain in general OF Monarchies some are Hereditary the Crown descending either only to the Heirs Male as has long been practiced in France or to the next of Blood without Distinction of Sex as in Great Britain and Spain Others are Elective where upon the Death of every Prince another is chosen to succeed without any respect to the Heirs of the Predecessor as is used in Poland Of Hereditary Monarchies some are dependent holden of earthly Potentates to whom the Princes are obliged to do Homage for the same as is the Kingdom of Naples holden at this day of the Pope by the King of Spain Others are independent whose Princes acknowledge no Superior upon Earth but hold only of GOD and by their Sword Of this latter sort is the Empire of Great Britain being an Hereditary Monarchy consisting of two Provinces or Kingdoms governed by one Supreme Absolute Independent Undeposable and Unaccountable Head according to the known Laws and Customs of each Kingdom It is a Free Monarchy challenging above many other Europaean Kingdoms an Exemption from all Subjection to the Emperor or Laws of the Empi to which as the Northern Part of the Island or Kingdom of Scotland was never subject so the Southern part since called the Kingdom of England being abandoned by the Romans who had by force obtained the Dominion thereof the Right of Government by all manner of Laws reverted to the ancient Inhabitants to the last of whose Kings viz. Cadwalladar our present Sovereign is as appears by the precedent Genealogy by Lineal and Legitimate Descent the true and unquestionable Heir And as it is exempt from all forreign Jurisdiction and Dominion so likewise is it free from all Interregnum and many other Domestick Mischiefs whereunto Elective Kingdoms are ordinarily subject It is a Monarchy wherein the Grace and Bounty of its Princes rendring the subordinate Concurrence of the three Estates necessary to the making and repealing of all Statutes or Acts of Parliament in either Realm have afforded so much to the Industry Liberty and Happiness of the Subject and made the Yoak of Government so easy and its Burden so light that were it not for those malevolent and Fanatical Spirits which by sowing Jealousies amongst the People and raising Animosities in their Minds against their Prince endeavor to deprive us of the benefit of our Parliaments by rendring their Meetings unpracticable our Condition might well be envied by all other Nations of the Universe CHAP. XI Of the Monarch of Great Britain and therein of his Name Title Arms Dominions and Strength Of his Person Office Prerogative Soveraignty Divinity and Respect TO the Monarch of Great Britain is given in English which is the Language most generally spoken through his whole Dominions the Name King which hath its Original from the Saxon Word Koning and intimateth that Power and Knowledge wherewith every Soveraign should especially be invested The Modern Title used by the Monarch in all Treaties with forreign Princes and in all publick Affairs relating to his whole Dominions and stamped upon his Coin is By the Grace of GOD King of Great Britain France and Ireland Defender of the Faith but in all Writs and other publick Instruments referring to the particular Concerns of either Kingdom of England or Scotland the two Kingdoms are distinctly named that Kingdom having the Precedency in such Instrument which is therein particularly concerned To the King alone belongs Dei Gratiâ taken simply and in the strictest sense as holding his Regal Dignity by the Favour of none but GOD the Archbishops and Bishops to whom that Title is also sometimes given must understand Dei Gratiâ Regis For tho their Character and
named Lucius whence the Title of Primogenitus Ecclesiae rightfully belongs to the King of Great Britain but given to the Church the first Christian Emperor even the famous Constantin here born of there-nowned British Lady St Helena by whose Example and Encouragement the Faith was generally received throughout the whole Empire The Independency and Absoluteness of his Authority holding of none but GOD and having in his own Dominions neither Superiour nor Equal The Eminence of his Royal Dignity State and Titles his Realm not having been only stiled an Empire and his Crown Imperial but this Island both in antient and later Times having been regarded as another World whereof the Monarch is sole Lord and Emperor The Martial Exploits and Achievements of his Ancestors abroad amongst whom is the first Christian Worthy and first Founder of Martial Knighthood the famous King Arthur in whose Heroick Acts there is Truth enough all that is thought fabulous being rejected to render him renowned to all posterity The Gallantry and and Stoutness of his People arising from their Freedom the Plentifulness of their Country and Generality of their Wealth His long-lined Royal Extraction wherein His Majesty now Reigning excels all the Monarchs of the Christian if not of the whole World The Hospitality and Magnificence of his Court than which no Court in Christendom is served with more punctual Attendance and State The Diversity of Nations and differing maternal Tongues subject to his Command The admirable Laws and Constitutions of his Government The Greatness of his Power by Sea and Land both Offensive and Defensive These and many other his Prerogatives considered We may well be permitted to affirm that besides the Preeminence he may challenge by his just Right to the Crown of France the Monarch of Great Brittain except the Precedency which he as all other Christan Princes acknowledges to the Emperor if he go not before yet at least ought not to come behind any King whatsoever CHAP. XII Of Succession to the Crown of Great Britain THE Monarch of Great Brittain has Right to the Imperial Crown of this Island by Inheritance according to the Laws of GOD and Nature and the fundamental Constitutions of the Realms of England and Scotland which both agree in this That upon the Death of the King the next of Kindred tho born out of the Dominions of Great Britain or born of Parents not Subjects of Great Britain is immediately King before any Proclamation Coronation Publication or Consent of Peers or People The Rule of Inheritance given by GOD himself to the People of Israel is this If a man dy and have no Son then he shall cause his Inheritance to pass unto his Daughter And if he have no Daughter then ye shall give his Inheritance unto his Brethren Agreeably to which Rule the Crown of Great Britain descends as an inalienable Heritage from the Father to the eldest Son and his Heirs for want of Sons to the Eldest Daughter and her Heirs for want of Daughters to the Brother and his Heirs and for want of Brethren to the Sister and her Heirs And so unalterable is this Course of Descent that no Act no Crime no Attainder of Treason can bar the next of Blood from being King in the instant of Time his Predecessor does not so much dye as by a State Metempsychosis transmit his Life his Breath or his Soul into the Nostrils the Body of his Successor For Hereditary Monarchy being as it has been clearly demonstrated an immediate Ordinance of GOD founded in the Prime Laws of Nature and the Laws of GOD and Nature being as all Christians acknowledge absolutely immutable it is a Madness to think that any Act of Parliament can change this unchangeable Law or with the least Color of Justice alter the Right of Succession This was well known to all our ancient Parliaments that were neither over-awed by any prevailing Faction seduced by designing Intreaguers nor yet vainly flattered themselves with an Omnipotent Power to create and annihilate Kings In one of which the States of the Realm unanimously answered King Edward the IIId asking their Advice in matters relating to the Crown That they could not consent to any thing in Parliament that tended to the Disherison of the King and his Heirs or the Crown whereunto they were sworn From whence Sir Edward Cook concludes That it is a Law and Custom of Parliament that no King can alien the Crown from the right Heir tho by consent of the Lords and Commons And elsewhere affirming King Johns Resignation of the Crown to the Pope to have been utterly void he alledges this Reason Because the Royal Dignity is an Inherent inseparable to the Royal Blood of the King descendable to the next of Blood to the King and cannot be transferd to another And altho by the Treasons and Conspiracies of ambitious disloyal and designing Persons the Crown has now and then been transferred from one Family to another yet does it appear in Story that since the time of the Norman Conquest the right Heir was never yet kept out beyond the second Descent And to the Honor of English Parliaments we can aver that never any Usurper tho armed with Power laid claim to the Crown in Parliament but by pretending to be of the Right Line nor did ever the Parliament allow of such Pretence if false but when awed by Fear and a vast Army And whenever the Terror of such armed violence being removed the true Heir was enabled to claim his Right the Parliament notwithstanding all such pretended Acts readily submitted themselves to their legitimate Prince as being bound thereunto by the Laws of GOD and Nature Thus altho Henry Duke of Lancaster backt by an Army of fourty or fifty thousand men under Pretence of a feigned Title from Edmund Crouch-back forced his Natural Soveraign King Richard the IId first to resign and afterwards to be deposed from his Crown which waving his former pretended Title he caused to be entailed upon himself his four Sons and the Heirs of their Bodies by Act of Parliament whereby he thought to have secured it to his Posterity for ever Yet notwithstanding these cautious Provisions seconded by the Valor and prodigious Success of that noble Prince Henry the Vth. when in the year 1460. this Entail was alledged against Richard Duke of York laying claim in Parliament to the Crowns of England and France as being the next Heir to Lionel Duke of â—larence elder Brother to John of Gaunt of whom the House Lancaster was descended the Duke of York unanswerably replied That if King Henry the IVth might have obtained the said Crowns of England and France by Title of Inheritance Descent or Succession he neither needed nor would have desired or made them to be granted to him in such wise as they be by that Act Which said he taketh no place neither is of any force or effect against him that is right Inheritor of the said Crowns as accordeth with the Laws
of GOD and all Natural Laws Which Answer of the Duke of York and h s Claim to the Crown was by the same Parliament expresly recognized and declared to be Good True Just Lawful and Sufficient And when in the same year Edward Earl of March eldest Son to the said Duke of York upon the death of his Father took possession of the Crown by the Name of King Edward the IVth his Title was in full Parliament by all acknowledged in these Words Knowing also certainly and without doubt and ambiguity that by GODs Law and the Law of Nature He viz. the said King Edward and none other is and ought to be true R ghtwise and Natural Liege and Soveraign Lord And that he was in right from the Death of the said Noble and Fam us Prinee his Father very just King of the same Realm of England And so little Respect was given to the aforementioned Act of Entail that it was not so much as repealed being esteemed from the very beginning null and void in it self Nor indeed were any Acts of Henry the IVth Vth. or VIth stiled Kings in Deed and not of Right deemed to be in force but such as were expresly confirmed by Edward the IVth in the same manner as his Sacred Majesty now reigning confirmed the judicial Proceedings of the late Usurpation As little Success had that Monster of Nature Richard Duke of Glocester who being by the Interest of several factious Lords chosen Protector to his Nephew the young King Edward the Vth having by that means gotten into his hands the military Force of the Nation pretending that the Children of his Brother King Edward the IVth were illegitimate laid claim to the Crown which he not only entailed by Act of Parliament upon himself and his Issue but the better to secure it in his Line caused the Innocent young King and his only Brother the Duke of York to be barbarously murthered in the Tower yet did he within three years lose both his Crown and Life to Henry Earl of Richmond on whom and his Heirs it was again by Act of Parliament entailed which yet would little have availed him or his Posterity had he not prudently acording to his promise by which several of the Nobility were induced to assist him married Elizabeth eldest Daughter of King Edward the IVth and immediate Heiress of the Crown whereby happily turning his Usurpation into a lawful Sovereignty he secured himself in the Throne But that his Issue by any other Lady could not have had better Success against the Princely House of York than Adonijah had against Salomon may more than probably be presumed if we shall consider what Fate attended the many mad Acts made by Henry the VIIIth about the Succession This haughty Prince whose capricious Humor none of his Parliaments durst gainsay having after above twenty years Cohabitation divorced his Queen a chast and vertuous Lady did in the twenty fifth year of his Reign disinherit by Act of Parliament the Lady Mary his Daughter by her settling the Crown by special Words for want of Issue Male on his Issue Female by the Lady Anne Bullen To the observation of which Act the whole Nation was obliged by an Oath imposed the year following the Refusal of which Oath was adjudged Misprision of Treason And yet in the twenty eighth year of his Reign he bastardized and made illegitimate to all intents and purposes as he had done formerly the Issue of Queen Katherine the Issue betwixt him and the Lady Anne Bullen barring them to claim challenge or demand any Inheritance as Lawful Heir or Heirs to him by Lineal Descent making it Treason for any one notwithstanding their former Oath by Words Writing Printing or any other exterior Act directly or indirectly to call any of the Children born under the unlawful Marriages of Katharine and Anne Bullen legitimate and enacting that in case he had no Issue by Jane his then Queen he might dispose of the Crown to whatsoever person or persons he pleased the whole Nation being bound to the observance of this Law by the Sanctimony of an Oath the refusal whereof was made High Treason After all this in the thirty fifth year of his Reign he by another Act entailed the Crown on himself Prince Edward and the Princesses Mary and Elizabeth without repealing the former Acts or taking the least notice of their being so signally bastardized and for default of Heirs of their Bodies on such person or persons as he should nominate by his Letters Patents under his Great Seal or by his last Will in writing signed by his most Gracious Hand the whole Nation being again sworn to observe his pleasure herein Consequently whereunto he by such his last Will and Testament solemnly bequeathed the Crown upon failure of his own Issue to the House of Suffolk being the Issue of his younger Sister Mary excluding by that means from the Throne as much as in him and his Act of Parliament lay the Issue of his Elder Sister whose Royal Blood he affirmed the cold Air of Scotland to have frozen up in the North. Yet when after the Death of his three Children reigning successively these disinheriting Statutes the last whereof was confirmed by Act of Parliament in the first year of Queen Elizabeth in whose thirteenth year there passed also an Act That it should be Treason during her Life and a Praemunire afterwards to assert that the Imperial Crown of England could not be disposed of by Act of Parliament came to the Test they had not the Honor to be repealed but were held null and void from the beginning as being notoriously repugnant to the Laws both of GOD and Nature and the common Customs and Constitutions of the Realm And the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons assembled in Parliament notwithstanding all these unrepealed Acts having confest the Inestimable and unspeakable Blessings accrewing from the Vnion of England and Scotland under one Imperial Crown in the Person of King James lineally rightfully and lawfully descended of the most Excellent Lady Margaret Eldest Daughter of the most renowned King Henry the VIIth and the high and noble Princess Queen Elizabeth his Wife eldest Daughter of King Edward the IVth proceeded to the Recognition of his Title in these Words We being bounden thereunto both by the Laws of GOD and Man do recognize and acknowledge that immediately upon the Dissolution and Decease of Elizabeth late Queen of England the Imperial Crown of the Realm of England and all the Kingdoms Dominions and Rights belonging to the same did by inherent Birthright and lawful and undoubted Succession descend and come to your most Excellent Majesty as being lineally justly and lawfully next and sole Heir of the Blood Royal of this Realm And that by the Goodness of GOD Almighty and lawful Right of Descent Your Majesty is under one Imperial Crown of the Realms and Kingdoms of England Scotland France and Ireland the most potent and mighty
from my Lord Mordant of the disappointment of much of the design he went to Bulloign and thence to Reuen whither Dr. Allestry bringing him News of Sir Georges being in Arms he went thence by Caen to St. Maloes where being in preparation of a Vessel to transport him into England he received the fatal Tidings of Booths Defeat Thence his Majesty went to Fontarabia to be present at the Treaty of Peace managed upon the Borders between France and Spain by the two chief Ministers of those two Kings where he was with all imaginable respect entertained by Don Lewis de Haro Plenipotentiary for his Catholick Majesty from whom he received large Promises of Assistance both with men and money and a Present of twenty thousand Crowns for defraying the Expences of his Journey There receiving Advice from the Lord Mordant of the Disorders in England he returned through France toward Bruxels staying by the way some few dayes with his Royal Mother at Paris Restauration In the year 1660. Perceiving a general Inclination in his Subjects to receive him he providently upon Advice sent him by General Monk the late Duke of Albemarl removed from Bruxels to Breda within the Dominions of the Vnited Netherlands whence he sent Letters bearing date the fourteenth of April to the Lords to the Speaker of the House of Commons to the Generals Monk and Mountague and to the City of London together with a gracious Declaration for the composing and quieting the minds of his Subjects These were on the first of May read in Parliament and on the eighth he was with great Solemnity proclaimed in the Cities of London and Westminster The Tenor of the Proclamation agreed upon by the Lords and Commons clearly expressing the Hereditariness of this Monarchy and consequently the unalterableness of the Succession is as followeth Altho it can no way be doubted but that His Majesties Right and Title to his Crown and Kingdoms is and was every way compleated by the Death of his most Royal Father of Glorious Memory without the Ceremony or Solemnity of a Proclamation Yet since Proclamations in such cases have alwayes been used to the end that all good Subjects might upon this occasion testify their Duty and Respect And since the armed Violence and other the Calamities of many years last past have hitherto deprived Vs of any such Opportunity wherein we might express our Loyalty and Allegiance to his Majesty We therefore the Lords and Commons now assembled in Parliament together with the Lord Mayor Aldermen and Common Councel of the City of London and other Freemen of this Kingdom now present do according to Our Duty and Allegiance heartily joyfully and unanimously acknowledge and proclaim That upon the Decease of Our late Soveraign Lord King CHARLES the Imperial Crown of the Realm of England and of all the Kingdoms Dominions and Rights belonging to the same did by inherent Birthright and lawful and undoubted Succession descend and come to his Most Excellent Majesty CHARLES the Second as being lineally justly and lawfully next Heir of the Royal Blood of this Realm and that by the Goodness and Providence of Almighty GOD He is of England Scotland France and Ireland the most Potent Mighty and Vndoubted King And thereunto we most humbly and faithfully do submit and oblige Our Selves our Heirs and Posterities May the twenty third his Majesty after a magnificent entertainment at the Hague by the States of Holland and an humble Invitation of English Commissioners sent by the Lords and Commons then assembled at Westminster embarkt at Scheveling and with a gallant Fleet and gentle Gale of Wind landed at Dover on the twenty fifth and on the twenty ninth being his Birth day his Majesty then just thirty years of Age entred into London accompanied with his two Brothers attended by most of the Nobility and Gentry of the three Kingdoms and received with the most Universal Joy Acclamations and Magnificence that could possibly be exprest This wonderful Restauration of his Majesty after so many years Dispossession his irreconcileable Enemies who were fully possest of the Government being supported by an Army of thirty thousand experienced and victorious Souldiers in Eng and all fostered up in an Aversion to Monarchy besides the trained Militia of the Nation amounting to a far greater number and wholly consisting of chosen men of the like Principles attempted and effected without Blood Blows Bargain or Obligation to any forreign Prince or Potentate by the Generosity and Prudence of that Noble Captain George late Duke of Albemarl whose Courage and Conduct this present Age cannot but admire and our Posterity will with difficulty believe was so signal a Dispensation of Divine Providence which not only raised up that Noble Instrumont but darted likewise on a sudden into the Hearts of the People a Desire of their Soveraign which like Lightning running over his Kingdoms made them burn with eagerness for his return that the Great Turk hearing thereof openly declared that if he were to change his Religion he would adore and worship the GOD of the King of Great Brtain Coronation On the two and twentieth of April 1661. His Majesty according to the ancient Custom of his Royal Predecessors made a glorious and splendid Cavalcade from the Tower to Westminster where the next day being the Festival of St. Geopge he was Crowned with great Ceremony by Dr. William Juxon then Archbishop of Canterbury to whom that Office belonged in right of his See the Coronation-Sermon being preached by Dr. George Morley then Bishop of Worcester now of Winchester On the eighth of May following began a Parliament at Westminster as remarkable for their Loyalty and Zealous Affection to the Service of their Soveraign as that of 1640. is notorious for Disloyalty and Sedition In this Parliament were condemned as illegal and destructive to the Government all those Factious and Antimonarchical Doctrins first broached by the Rebels of the late times to justify their audacious Impieties and now again revived no doubt for the same purpose by the scurrilous Pamphletiers of this our Age who by their more than Jesuitical Equivocations eluding the plain and express Words of an Oath purposely framed to countermine and prevent such seditious Opinions and Practices which as they formerly have so may again be made use of to involve us in Confusion and Misery endeavor as much as in them lies to render all Profession and Promises of Allegiance and Fidelity made by Subjects to their Prince invalid and of none effect Marryage On the twenty eighth of the same Month His Majesty declared to his Parliament his Intention to marry the Infanta of Portugal who accordingly in May 1662. being landed at Portsmouth was there espoused unto him by Dr. Gilbert Sheldon then Bishop of London lately Archbishop of Canterbury CHAP. XIV Of the Present Queen of Great Britain Her Name Genealogy Birth Marriage Portion Jointure and Arms. THE present Queen of Great Britain is Donna CATHARINA Infanta
MARIA born the fifteenth of August 1682. and Baptized the day following by Dr. Henry Compton Lord Bishop of London her Godfather being the Duke of Ormond and her Godmothers the Countesses of Arundel and Clarendon Though the ambitious and designing Adversaries of His Royal Highness imploy their utmost Artifice to cloud and conceal from the eyes of the People his many admirable endowments and Princely qualities yet cannot they with any color of Truth deny him to be a most Glorious and Honourable Prince not only of a most high Spirit and invincible Courage but also a Commander of great experience both at Land and Sea where he has not only several times exposed his Life for the safety and honour of this Nation but also where-ever he appeared carried victory along with him which in his absence was not found He is of a quick apprehension and sound judgment sedulous and diligent in Business wary in Counsel speedy in execution and in his resolutions constant and inflexible He is a kind Brother a dutiful Subject an obliging Husband a tender Father a firm Friend and an excellent Master In his Word and Promises strictly Faithful and in payment of his Debts punctually just He is brave and generous liberal but not profuse manages his own fortune discreetly and yet keeps the best Court and Equipage of any Subject in Christendom He is affable and courteous to all and however the inveterate malice of his restless and factious Enemies may have possessd some credulous Persons to the contrary of no persecuting or vindicative Spirit nor hath any thing in his whole Conduct to be excepted against much less dreaded He is in a word what the French call un honneste homme A Person endowed with all the good Qualities that make a man truly valuable and seems born to retrieve the sinking glory of the English Nation Of the Prince of Orange AFter the Duke of York his Issue the next Heir to the Crown of Great Britain is William Frederick Henry of Nassaw Prince of Orange and Stadtholder of the united Provinces only Issue of the Princess Royal Mary Eldest Daughter of our late martyred Soveraign King Charles the I st and Wedded on the second of May 1641. to William of Nassaw only Son of Henry Prince of Orange then Commander in chief of all the Forces of the States General both by Land and Sea He was born at the Hague on the fourteenth of November 1650 being nine days after his Fathers decease He had for his Godfathers the Lords States General of Holland Zealand and the Cities of Delft Leyden and Amsterdam and for Godmothers the Queen of Bohemia and the old Princess of Orange His Governess was the English Lady Stanhope then Wife to the Heer Van Hemvliet Being eight years of Age he was sent to the University at Leyden On the fourth of November 1677. being then near Seven and Twenty years of Age he espoused the Lady Mary eldest Daughter to His Royal Highness James Duke of York His Revenue is about threescore Thousand Pounds Sterling per Annum besides Military advantages enjoyed by his Father and Ancestors amounting to about thirty thousand Pounds Sterling per Annum more He is a Prince of great valour and courage in whom the High and Princely Qualities of his Ancestors have always appeared and a great Lover of Souldiers Of the Queen of Spain THe next Heir after the forementioned to the Imperial Crown of Great Britain is Her most Serene Majesty the present Queen Consort of Spain Daughter of the Princess Henrietta youngest Sister to His present Sacred Majesty of Great Britain by the most illustrous Prince Philip now Duke of Orleans only Brother to the most Christian King Lewis the XIVth now reigning She was born in the year 1663. and was in December 1679 Married to Charles the IId King of Spain Of the Prince Elector Palatine THere being left alive no more of the Off-spring of King Charles the I st the next Heirs to the Imperial Crown of these Realms are the Issue and Descendents of Elizabeth late Queen of Bohemia only Sister to the said King who was on the fourteenth of February 1612 married to Frederick the Vth. Prince Elector Palatine of the Rhine afterwards stiled King of Bohemia Of these the first is Charles the present Prince Elector Palatine of the Rhine commonly called the Palsgrave from the High-Dutch Psaltzgraffe Palatii Comes Grandson to the said Queen by her eldest Son Charles Lodowick Prince Elector Palatine of the Rhine lately deceased His Mother was the Lady Charlotte Daughter to William the Vth. Landgrave of Hesse and to Elizabeth Emilia of Hanaw He was born on the one and thirtieth of March 1651. and has lately married the Sister of Christiern the Vth. present King of Denmark This Prince hath a Sister named Louise born in May 1652 and now married to the Duke of Orleans only Brother to the present French King Of Prince Rupert NExt unto the Prince Elector Palatine and his Sister is the illustrious Prince Rupert Duke of Bavaria and Cumberland Count Palatine of the Rhine Earl of Holderness and Knight of the most noble Order of the Garter born at Prague on the seventeenth of December 1619 not long before that very unfortunate Battel there fought whereby not only all Bohemia was lost but the Palatine Family was for almost thirty years outed of all their possessions in Germany till that in the year 1648 by the Famous Treaty at Munster Charles Lodowick eldest Brother to this Prince had the Lower Palatinate restored to him for which he was constrained to quit all his right to the Vpper Palatinate and to accept of an eighth Electorship at a juncture of time when his Uncle Charles the I st King of Great Britain had he not been embroiled at home by an horrid Rebellion had been the most considerable of all other at this Treaty and the Prince Elector his Nephew would have had the greatest advantages there Prince Rupert at the age of thirteen years marched with the then Prince of Orange to the Siege of Rhineberg At the Age of eighteen he commanded a Regiment of Horse in the German Wars and being at the Battel of Lemgou in the year 1638 taken by the Imperialists under the command of Count Hatzfield he continued a Prisoner above three years About the beginning of September 1642 he came into England with his Brother Prince Maurice to offer his service to the King his Uncle against a factious Party of the two Houses then rebelling against him and being within a fortnight after his arrival put in command over a small Party of those Forces which the King had at that time gathered together marched with them into divers parts of Warwickshire Nottinghamshire Leicestershire Worcestershire and Cheshire his Forces still increasing as he marched Being about the middle of October following made General of the Horse to the King he soon after fought and defeated Colonel Sandys neer Worcester on the