He replied The Fortune of France By his Voice he was Known and thereupon received into the Town with the Tears and lamentations of his People The rest of his Army strove to save themselves by flight whom the English did not pursue but stood still upon their Guard according to the true Rules of Martial Discipline being unwilling to hazard so glorious a Victory by following them in the Night knowing there were so many of the Enemy escaped as might yet overwhelm their tired Army with multitude King Edward seeing the Field clear of the French came down from the Hill with his Troops entire toward his Victorious Son whom most affectionately imbracing and kissing he said Fair Son God send you good perseverance to such prosperous beginnings you have acquitted your self right Nobly and are well worthy to have a Kingdom intrusted to your Government for your Valour To which the most Noble and Magnanimous Prince replied with silence humbly falling on his Knees at the Feet of his Triumphant Father After this Victory King Edward marched with his Army through France and Besieged Calice In 1355. King Edward was informed that Philip of France being dead King John his Son and Successor had given the Dutchy of Aquitain to Charles the Dauphin his Eldest Son whereupon the King being much incensed conferr'd the same upon his own Son the Prince of Wales commanding him to defend his Right therein with his Sword against his Adversaries He was likewise appointed by Parliament to go into Gascoin with a thousand men at Arms Two Thousand Archers and a great number of Welshmen who accompanied their Prince and soon after with Three Hundred Sail of Ships attended by many of the English Nobility he landed in France and with his Victorious Arms Marched into Aquitain recovering a great number of Cities and Towns and releasing a multitude of Prisoners He then entred Guienne passing over Languedock to Tholouse Narbone and Bruges without opposition and loaden with Plunder return'd to Bourdeux Afterward he made a second Course through Perigort and Limosin into the Bowels of France even to the very Gates of Bruges in Berry the terror of his name preparing his way and then wheeled about designing to return by Remorantine in Blasois which Town he took and so through the Countrey of Tourain Poictou and Xantoign to his Chief City of Bourdeux But King John having raised a very Potent Army followed him in the Rear and about the City of Poictiers he overtook our Invincible Prince where the Armies approached each other the French exceeding the English six to one Two Cardinals sent from Pope Clement as before the former Battel mediated to take up the Quarrel but the French King supposing he had his Enemy now at his mercy would hear of no conditions but that the Prince should deliver him four Hostages and as Vanquished render up himself and his Army to his discretion The Prince was content to restore to him all the places he had taken but without prejudice to his Honour wherein he said he stood accountable to his Father and his Country But King John would not abate any thing of his first demands as judging himself secure of Victory and thereupon was ready to attack the Prince who in this exigency politickly got the advantage of the ground by obtaining the benefit of certain Vines Shrubs and Bushes upon that part where he was like to be assaulted whereby to imbarass and disturb the French Horse whom he saw ready to fall furiously upon him The success answered his expectation for the Enemies Cavalry in their full Career were so intangled and incumbered among their Vines that the Prince's Archers galled and annoyed them at pleasure For the French King to give the Honour of the day to his Horse made use of them only without the aid of his Infantry And they being thus disordered the whole Army was thereby utterly defeated Here if ever the Prince of Wales and his Englishmen gave full proof of their undaunted Courage and Valour never giving over till they had wholly routed all the three French Battalions the least of which exceeded the number of the Prince's Forces King John himself Fighting valiantly and Philip his youngest Son who by his undaunted Prowess so defended his distressed Father that he gained the Sirname of Hardy were both taken Prisoners The most remarkable of the Prince's Commanders for Courage and Conduct were the Earls of Warwick Suffolk Salisbury Oxford and Stafford The Lords Chandois Cobham Spencer Berkley Basset c. and particularly James Lord Audley signaliz'd himself receiving many wounds and was rewarded by the Noble Prince of Wales with the gift of Five Hundred Marks Land a year in England which he instantly divided among his four Esquires who had stood by him in all the fury and brunt of this bloody Battel Whereupon the Prince asked him if he did not accept of his gift He answered That these men had deserved it as well as himself and needed it more With which reply the Prince was so well pleased that he gave him Five Hundred Marks a Year more A rare example where desert in the Subject and reward in the Prince strove to exceed each other He vowed to be foremost in the Fight and made good his word It was the misfortune or rather glory of the French Nobility in these disastrous times that the loss commonly fell very heavy upon them for in this fatal overthrow the French confess that Fifty Two Lords and about One Thousand Seven Hundred Knights Esquires and Gentlemen were slain The chief were the Duke of Athens the High Constable Great Marshal and High Chamberlain of France the Bishop of Chalons thâ— Lords of Landas Pons and Chambly Sir Reginald Charney who that day carried the Consecrated Standard Auriflamb was slain also and of the Common Souldiers about Six Thousand So wonderfully did the great God of Battels fight for the English in those days There escaped from this bloody fight Three of the French King's Sons for he brought them all into the Field Charles the Dauphin Lewis Duke of Anjou and John Duke of Barry The French Prisoners taken were John King of France and Philip his Son the Archbishop of Sens the Earls of Ponthieu Eu Longuevil Vendosme Tankervile Salbruch Nassaw Dampmartin La Roch Vaudemont Estampes c. With many other Lords and Two Thousand Knights Esquires and Gentlemen that bore Coats of Arms. After the Battel a Contention arose who was the Man that took King John Prisoner At length the King himself decided the Controversie by declaring that one Sir Dennis Morbeck of St. Omers had made him Prisoner For which service the Prince of Wales rewarded him with a Thousand Marks This great Battel was fought Sept. 19. 1357. and is thus described by Mr. Thomas May in his Poem on the Life of King Edward III. The first hot charge The valiant Lord renowned Audley gave Who to perform a noble Vow in Deeds Almost the Prowess of a Man
eight and lived fifty nine years and was murthered in the Tower of London in 1472. VII Edward the only Son of King Henry VI. by Queen Margaret Daughter to the King of Sicily was the seventh Prince of Wales of the Royal Blood of England He Married Anne the Daughter of Richard Nevil called the Great Earl of Warwick After his Father's Army was defeated by King Edward IV. at Tauton Field in Yorkshire he with his Mother were sent into France to pray aid from that King This Battel was the bloodiest that ever England saw King Henry's Army consisting in threescore thousand and King Edward's in about forty thousand men of which there fell that day thirty seven thousand seven hundred seventy six Persons no Prisoners being taken but the Earl of Devonshire Afterward the Queen returns from France with some Forces but before her coming King Edward had defeated the Earl of Warwick who with some other Lords had raised a Party for her assistance at Barnet wherein near ten thousand were slain So that when it was too late she landed at Weymouth and from thence went to Bewly Abbey in Hampshire where the Duke of Somerset the Earl of Devonshire and divers other Lords came to her resolving once more to try their Fortune in the Field The Queen was very desirous that her Son Edward Prince of Wales should have returned to France there to have been secure till the success of the next Battel had been tried but the Lords especially the Duke of Somerset would not consent to it so that she was obliged to comply with them though she quickly repented it From Bewly she with the Prince and the Duke of Somerset goes to Bristol designing to mise what men they could in Glocestershire and to march into Wales and join Jasper Earl of Pembroke who was there assembling more Forces K. Edward having intelligence of their Proceedings resolves to prevent their conjunction and follows Queen Margaret so diligently with a great Army that near Tewksbury in Glocestershire he overtakes her Forces who resolutely turn to ingage him The Duke of Somerset led the Van and performed the part of a Valiant Commander but finding his Soldiers through weariness begin to faint and that the Lord Wenlock who commanded the main Battel moved not he rode up to him and upbraiding his treachery with his Pole-ax instantly knockt out his Brains but before he could bring this Party to relieve the Van they were wholly defeated the Earl of Devonshire with above three thousand of the Queens Men being slain the Queen her self John Beufort the Duke of Somerset's Brother the Prior of St. John's Sir Jervas Clifton and divers others were taken Prisoners All whom except the Queen were the next day Beheaded At which time Sir Rich. Crofts presented to King Edward King Henry's Son Edward Prince of Wales To whom King Edward at first seemed indifferent kind but demanding of him how he durst so presumptuously enter into his Realm with Arms The Prince replied though truly yet unseasonably To recover my Father's Kingdom and my Inheritance Thereupon King Edward with his hand thrust him from him or as some say struck him on the Face with his Gauntlet and then presently George Duke of Clarence Thomas Grey Marquess Dorset and the Lord Hastings standing by fell upon him in the place and murthered him Others write that Crook-back'd Richard ran him into the Heart with his Dagger His Body was Buried with other ordinary Corps that were slain in the Church of the Monastery of the Black Friars in Tewksberry VIII Edward eldest Son of King Edward IV. was the eighth Prince of Wales of the English Royal Blood Of whose short Reign and miserable Death there is an account in a Book called England's Monarchs IX Richard only Son of King Richard III. was the ninth Prince of Wales His Mother was Ann the second Daughter of Richard Nevil the Great Earl of Warwick and Widow of Prince Edward Son of King Henry VI. aforementioned who was Married to King Richard though she could not but be sensible that he had been the Author both of her Husband's and Father's Death but womens Affections are Diametrically opposite to common apprehensions and generally governed by Passion and Inconstancy This Prince was born of her at Midleham near Richmond in the County of York At four years old he was created Earl of Salisbury by his Uncle King Edward IV. At ten years old he was created Prince of Wales by his Father King Richard III. but died soon after X. Arthur eldest Son to King Henry VII was the tenth Prince of Wales of the Royal English Families He was born at Winchester in the second year of his Father's Reign When he was about fifteen years old his Father proposed a Marriage for him with the Princess Katherine Daughter to Ferdinando King of Spain which being concluded the Lady was sent by her Father with a gallant Fleet of Ships to England and arrived at Plymouth Soon after the Princess was openly espoused to Prince Arthur they were both clad in white he being fifteen and she eighteen years of age At night they were put together in one Bed where they lay as Man and Wife all that Night When morning appeared the Prince as his Servants about him reported called for Drink which was not usual with him Whereof one of his Bed-Chamber asking him the cause he merrily replied I have been this Night in the midst of Spain which is a hot Country and that makes me so dry Though some write that a grave Matron was laid in Bed between them to hinder actual Consummation The Ladie 's Dowry was two hundred thousand Duckets and her Jointure the third part of the Principality of Wales Cornwal and Chester At this Marriage was great Solemnity and Roval Justings Prince Arthur after his Marriage was sent into Wales to keep his Country in good Order having several prudent and able Counsellors to advise with but within five Months after he died at his Castle at Ludlow and with great solemnity was Buried in the Cathedral of Worcester He was a very ingenious and learned Prince for though he lived not to be sixteen years old yet he was said to have read over all or most of the Latin Fathers besides many others Some attribute the shortness of his Life to his Nativity being born in the eighth month after Conception XI Henry the second Son to King Henry VII was the eleventh Prince of Wales of the Royal English Line He was born at Greenwich in Kent After the Death of his eldest Brother Prince Arthur the Title of Prince of Wales was by his Father's Order not given to him but his own only of Duke of York till the Women could certainly discover whether the Lady Katherine were with Child or not But after six months when nothing appeared he had his Title bestowed upon him and King Henry being loth to part with her great Portion prevailed with his Son Henry though not without some
other half being in the possession of Edward Baliol but at length he was ransomed for ten thousand Marks and restored to his Kingdom IV. The forth Prince of Wales of the English Royal Line was Richard of Bourdeaux so called from the place of his Birth The Black Prince his renowned Father whose Wisdom doubtless was no way short of his Courage knowing how apt they who stand near the Throne are to step into it was so intent to prevent any disorder of that kind that might be feared from the well known ambition of his aspiring Brothers the Eldest of whom Henry Duke of Lancaster afterward King Henry IV. having the Title of King of Castile in the Right of his Wife but without any Kingdom might reasonably be suspected to affect one so much the more his own Right and to take advantage of his Nephew Richard's weakness He therefore made it his dying request to his declining Father to inaugurate his Son whilst he was yet alive that by being committed to the Parliaments care he might have publick security against all private supplantations and without further dispute enjoy all those Prerogatives which either his own Right or his Father's Merit intituled him to Whereupon he was set upon the Throne at Eleven years of Age and in the life time of his Grandfather Edward III. began to Reign by the name of Richard II. with this happiness that at the same time he took upon him to Govern them the Parliament entred into Consultation about the Persons fittest to Govern him And because the safety of the King as well as of the Kingdom consisted in the multitude of Counsellors they designed to add to his Uncle the Duke of Lancaster who was ambitious of being Protector the two other Brothers Edmund Earl of Cambridge and Thomas of Woodstock Duke of Glocester with whom they conjoined several Spiritual and Temporal Lords of known Wisdom and Integrity This so offended the Duke as seeming a reflection on his Ambition not to be trusted solely that he refused the charge and retiring into the Country so play'd the King at his own House that a poor well meaning Fryar thought himself obliged in point of Allegiance to accuse him of an Intention to Usurp the Crown and consequently to destroy the King Neither wanted he matter enough 't is thought to make out that charge but his Innocence being overmatcht by Power and having none to second his accusation the Crime wâ—â— cast upon the Accuser who being friendless wa◠〈◊〉 into Prison and inhumanely murdered by his Keepers who tying one end of a Cord about his Neck and the other to his Privy Members hung him up on a Pin and with the weight of a Stone laid upon his Belly burst his back and so all further proof deceased with him This being known among the People and no punishment inflicted upon the Murtherers derogated very much from the young King's Justice and Honour among his Subjects who not being able to distinguish betwixt the want of Skill and want of Power to punish began thenceforth to Worship the Duke of Lancaster as the Indians do the Devil for fear And as the King's Father Prince Edward never recovered the health which he lost in the last expedition into Spain so his Son never recovered this and other disadvantages put upon him by his ambitious Uncle and particularly that the very first day he took his Grandfather's Seat in Parliament as Heir Apparent to the Crown he taught him to demand a Subsidy purposely to alienate the Peoples Affections from him who were before sufficiently disgusted with the heavy Taxes they had already paid And likewise his ommitting no occasion of propagating Tumults and Factions whereby he at length deprived his Nephew first of his Crown and then of his Life Richard II. was the comeliest Person of all the Kings since the Conquest being Tall well Limb'd and Strong and of so amiable a Countenance that he might well be the Son of such a beautiful Mother As to his Temper of Mind it proceeded more from his Education than his natural Humour for he seemed to have many good Inclinations which might have grown into Habits had they not been perverted by corrupted Flatterers in his Youth He was of a credulous disposition apt to believe and therefore easie to be abused and it was his great weakness that he could not distinguish between a Parasite and and a Friend He seemed to partake both of a French and English Nature being violent at the first apprehension of a thing and calm upon deliberation He never shewed himself so worthy of the Government as when he was Deposed as unworthy to Govern For it appeared that the Royal Dignity was not so pleasing to him as a quiet retired Life which if he might have enjoyed he would never have complained that Fortune had done him wrong He lived thirty three years and reigned twenty and two months and was Murdered at Pomfreh Castle in the place of his Birth V. Henry of Monmouth the Son and Successor of King Henry IV. was the Fifth Prince of Wales of the Royal Blood of England He was bred a Student in Queens College in Oxford and from thence being called to Court the Lord Piercy Earl of Worcester was made his Governour But coming afterward to be at his own disposing whether being by nature valorous and yet not well staid by time and experience or whether incited by ill Companions and imboldened by the opinion of his own Greatness he ran into many Courses so unworthy of a Prince that it was much doubted what he might prove if he should come to be King For it is recorded that he with some other young Lords and Gentlemen lay in wait in disguise for the Receivers of his Father's Revenue whom they robbed of their Money to maintain their riotous Living though sometimes they missed their Prize and were soundly beaten in prosecuting such attempts and when upon his return to Court he had heard the Receivers complain of their great losses he would give them Money to make them part of amends but rewarded those best that had made the stoutest defence and from whom he had received the most blows It happened that one of his Companions was arraigned at the King's Bench Bar in Westminster Hall for Felony of which the Prince being informed he by the advice of the rest came in a great rage to the Bar and attempted to take away the Prisoner by force commanding that his Fetters should be taken off and he set at Liberty All present were much amazed but Sir William Gascoign then Lord Chief Justice mildly desired him to forbear and suffer the Felon to be Tryed by the Laws of the Land and that he might afterward get his Pardon of his Father if there were occasion The Prince grew more inflamed at these words and endeavoured to take him away himself But the Judge charging him upon his Allegiance to withdraw out of the Court the Prince furiously stept up
Edward rejoyced in the excellent Vertues and Actions of his Son and People Charles the French King warned by so many calamities as his Dominions had sustained by the English War and earnestly coveting to recover the Honour of his Nation betook himself to secret practices Never adventuring his own Person in the Field but executing all by his Deputies and Lieutenants especially by the valour and service of Bertram de Glequin Constable of France who from a low estate was raised to this height for his prudent and magnanimous Conduct in War And our truly Noble King without suspicion of craft reposing himself upon the Rules of Vertue and Magnanimity did not reap the stable effects of so great and important victories nor of the Peace so Ceremoniously made that in the World's opinion it could not be broken without the manifest violation upon one side of all Bonds both divine and humane The Prince of Wales by Letters advised his Father not to trust to any fair words or overtures of further Amity made by the French because as he said they entertained Practices underhand in every place against him But his counsel was not hearkned to because he was judged to write out of a restless humour delighting in War though the event shewed that his words were true For now King Charles having by quick payments and other means got home all the Hostages which had been delivered for performance of the Articles of Peace set all his wits on work to abuse the King of England's credulity He courted him with loving Letters and Presents and in the mean time surprized the County of Ponthieu our King 's undeniable inheritance before King Edward heard thereof Who hereupon calls a Parliament declares the breach craves aid and hath it granted And then again claims the Crown of France and sent over his Son John Duke of Lancaster and Humfrey de Bohun Earl of Hereford with a great Army to Calice to invade France Among the States and Towns made over to the English at the Treaty of Bretigni which had revolted to the French was the City of Limosin Thither did the Prince march and sat down with his Army before it And not long after came unto him out of England his two Brethren the Duke of Lancaster and the Earl of Cambridge with a fresh supply of Valiant Captains and Souldiers The City held out to the utmost and was at last taken by storm where no mercy was shewed by the inraged Soldiers but Sword and Fire laid all desolate After this Service the Prince's health failing him more and more he left his Brethren in Aquitain to prosecute the Wars and himself taking Ship came over to his Father in England his eldest Son Edward being dead a little before at Bourdeaux and brought over with him his Wife and his other Son Richard The Prince having left France his Dominions were either taken or fell away faster than they were gotten Gueschlin entred Poictou took Montmorillon Chauvigny Lussack and Moncontour Soon after followed the Country of Aulnis of Xantoyn and the rest of Poictou Then St. Maxent Neel Aulnay Benaon Marant Surgers Fontency and at last they came to Thouras where the most part of the Lords of Poictou that held with the Prince were assembled At this time the King Prince Edward the Duke of Lancaster and all the Great Lords of England set forward for their relief But being driven back by a Tempest and succour not coming Thouras was yielded upon composition In fine all Poictou was lost and then Aquitain all but only Burdeaux and Bayon And not long after Prince Edward died and with him the Fortune of England He was a Prince so full of Virtues as were scarce to be matcht by others He died at Canterbury upon Trinity Sunday June 8. in the forty sixth year of his Age and the forty ninth of his Father's Reign and was buried in Christ's-Church there 1376. Among all the Gallant men of that Age this our Prince was so worthily the first He had a sumptuous Monument erected for him upon which this Epitaph was engraven in Brass in French thus Englished Here lyeth the Noble Prince Monsieur Edward the Eldest Son of the thrice Noble King Edward the third in former time Prince of Aquitain and of Wales Duke of Cornwal and Earl of Chester who died on the Feast of the Trinity which was the eighth of June in the year of Grace 1376. To the Soul of whom God grant mercy Amen After which were added these verses in French thus Translated according to the homely Poetry of those times Who so thou art that passest by Where these Corps entombed lye Understand what I shall say As at this time speak I may Such as thou art sometime was I Such as I am such shalt thou be I little thought on the hour of Death So long as I enjoyed Breath Great Riches here I did possess Whereof I made great Nobleness I had Gold Silver Wardrobes and Great Treasures Horses Houses Land But now a Caitiff Poor am I Deep in the Ground lo here Ilye My beauty great is all quite gone My Flesh is wasted to the Bone My House is narrow now and throng Nothing but Truth comes from my Tongue And if you should see me this Day I do not think but ye would say That I had never been a Man So much altered now I am For God's sake pray to th' Heavenly King That he my Soul to Heaven would bring All they that Pray and make Accord For me unto my God and Lord God place them in his Paradise Wherein no wretched Caitiff lies The Death of this Prince saith an ingenious Historian was a heavy loss to the State being a Prince of whom we never heard ill never received any other note but of goodness and the Noblest performance that Magnanimity and Wisdom could ever shew insomuch as what Praise could be given to Virtue is due to him I shall only add this short Remark That the Captivity of two Kings at the same time namely John King of France and David Bruce King of Scotland demonstrated at once the Glory and Power of King Edward and his magnanimous Son The French King continued Prisoner in England five years enough to have determined the fortune of that great Kingdom and dissolved their Cantoned Government into Parts had it not been a body consisting of so many strong Limbs and so abounding with Spirits that it never fainted notwithstanding all its loss of blood but scorned to yield though King Edward came very near the Heart having wounded them in their most mortal part the Head At length he recovered his liberty by paying three millions of Crowns of Gold whereof six hundred thousand were laid down presently four hundred thousand more the year after and the remainder the next two years following The Scots King could not gain his Freedom in twice the time being the less able to redeem himself for that he was upon the matter half a King the
to him and struck him over the Face Whereat the Judge not at all disturbed rose up and told him That the affront he had offered was not done to him but to the King his Father whom he did there represent And therefore I charge you saith he to desist from proceeding any further in your Lawless designs and I commit you to the King's Bench there to remain during your Father's pleasure for the abuse you have committed and the ill example you have given to those that may hereafter be your own Subjects It was wonderful to see how calm the Prince was in his own cause who had been so violent in that of his Companion for laying aside his Dagger which he had in his hand and with which the People feared he would have killed the Judg he quietly submitted to his Order and went to the King's Bench. At which his Attendants being in a great fury ran instantly with mighty complaints to the King giving him an account of the whole matter King Henry appeared at first a little surprized but recollecting himself he seemed ravished with joy and holding up his hands to Heaven cry'd out O merciful God how much am I bound to thy Infinite goodness that thou hast given me a Judge who is of such Courage as not to be afraid to administer Justice and a Son of such humility that he will submit thereunto However for these and some other Pranks he removed him from being President of the Council and put his younger Brother Lord John in his place This made the Prince so sensible of his Father's anger which some of his Enemies endeavoured to heighten that he thought it necessary to use all means to recover his good opinion which he endeavoured to do by a way as strange as that by which he lost it Of which I shall give an account in the words of the Larl of Ormond who was an Eye and Ear witness of the same During the sickness of the King faith he some ill disposed people endeavoured to raise dissention between him and his Son reproaching the Prince both with the Frolicks of his Youth and for the great concourse of People that continually attended his Court far exceeding those of his Father whereby they insinuated that he designed to usurp the Crown during his Life which raised much jealousie in the King's Mind and greatly alienated his affections from him The Prince had notice thereof by some of his Friends in Court Whereupon he attired himself in a Garment of blew Sattin wrought all with Oylet holes of black Silk at every hole a Needle hanging by which it was sowed and about his Arm he wore a Hound's Collar studded with S S. of Gold Thus strangely apparrell'd with a large Retinue of Young Noblemen he came to his Father at Westminster and his Attendants staying in the Hall by his Order to prevent suspicion he himself with the King's Officers went to wait upon his Father Being admitted into the Presence after due obeysance the Prince desired that he might have Audience of his Majesty in the Privy Chamber Upon which the King caused himself to be carried thither in a Chair where in the Presence of only three or four of his Privy-Council he demanded of the Prince the Cause of his unwonted Habit and Coming The Prince kneeling replied Most honoured Lord and Father I am come to throw my self at your Majestie 's Feet as your most Loyal Subject and Obedient Son to whom nothing is more afflicting than that your Majesty should entertain the least jealousie of my designing any thing against your Royal Dignity or to imagine me so horridly undutiful and ingrateful to a Father who hath always shewed such tender love and affection to me as your Highness hath always done so that I should deserve a thousand deaths if I durst imagine the least harm or damage against your Sacred Person And if it be my bounden duty to hazard my life in your defence against any even the greatest Traytor whatsoever then much more ought I to Sacrifice my self to free your Grace from the fear of any peril or danger from me and upon that account I have this day by confessing my Sins and receiving the Sacrament prepared my self for another World Therefore most Honoured Father I beseech you for God's sake to put an end to my life now lying at your Feet with this Dagger delivering his Dagger to the K. for I had rather be out of the World than continue a day longer in it to give any disturbance to your mind And dear Father in the doing hereof I freely forgive you as I shall do the same before God at the Day of Judgment The King was so moved at these words thaâ— throwing the Dagger away he fell upon his Neck and imbracing him said My dear and truly be loved Son I must confess I had entertained some suspicions but I now find they were altogether causless on your part and since I am now sensible of your fidelity and obedience I do assure you upon my honour I will never hereafter harbour any ill opinion of you whatsoever may be suggested against you And hereupon he was fully restored to the King 's former Grace and Favour The King's weakness of Body increasing daily he oft-times took occasion to give some useful instructions to his Son for the future Governing of his Kingdom to this effect Dear Son I am much concerned for fear that after my decease some difference may arise betwixt you and your Brother Thomas Duke of Clarence whereby great mischiefs may happen to the Kingdom you being both of great Spirits and he of an Usurping Temper which I am sure you will never endure And as often as I think of it I heartily repent me that ever I charged my self with the troubles of a Crown The Prince replied Gracious Soveraign and Father I pray God continue long your Life and Reign to Govern us both but if it please the Almighty that I shall succeed you in the Kingdom I shall honour and love my Brethren above all others so long as they be true and faithful to me their Soveraign Lord. But if any of them shall conspire or rebel against me I do assure you I shall as soon execute justice on them as upon the meanest and most inconsiderable Person in the Nation The King was extreamly pleased with this answer and then proceeded My well beloved Son Thou hast much eased my troubled Mind and I charge thee to do as thou hast said To administer Justice impartially but to be always ready and speedy in relieving the Oppressed And let not Flatterers whose hands are full of Bribes withdraw thy Mind therefrom Delay not to do Justice to day if thou be able lest God should execute Justice upon thee and deprive thee of thine authority Remember that the happiness of thy Soul thy Body and thy Kingdom depends thereupon Yet in some Cases let Justice be tempered with Mercy lest thou be accounted
As to his birth Humfry Lloyd a Welsh Writer affirms that his Mother before Marriage was a Noble Virgin and that his Father for his great knowledge in the Mathematicks and other abstruse Learning was in those ignorant times reputed by the Common People to be a Conjurer and his Son Merlin to be begotten by an Evil Spirit or Male Devil who in the likeness of Men are said to have the Carnal use of Women Many wonderful things are attributed to Merlin as that by his assistance Aurelius Ambrosius erected that stupendous Monument near Salisbury called Stonehenge those vast Stones being brought by Magick Art from Africk into Ireland and from thence to this Plain through the Air. That Vter Pendragon the Brother and Successor of Ambrosius falling in love with the Duke of Cornwall's Wife Merlin by his Necromantick skill made Vter appear to her in the exact form and shape of her Husband Duke Gorlois by which means he enjoyed this fair Lady on whom he begot the renowned King Arthur At the birth of this Vter it is reported a Comet appeared somewhat like the Head of a Dragon whereupon Merlin declared that it presignified the Birth of Vter then new born and from thence he was called Vter Pendragon Others to his honour relate that many of his Predictions were fulfilled as that which runs thus Since Virgin gifts to Maids he gave ' Mongst blessed Saints God will him save This is interpreted to be meant of King John who built several Monasteries for Nuns in divers parts of the Kingdom Another says The sixth shall overthrow the Walls of Ireland and reduce their Countrys into a Kingdom This was thought to be accomplished under King James VI. of Scotland and I. of England who dismantled their Fortresses and Castles which were the Irish Walls and Courts of Justice were set up through all the Land Though the Welsh Proverb contradicts this foreknowledge which says Namyn Dduw nid oes Dewin that is Besides God there is no Diviner Robert Ferrar Bishop of St. David's was made a Martyr in this County He was prefer'd by the Duke of Somerset Lord Protector in the Reign of King Edward VI. a man not unlearned but somewhat indiscreet or rather uncomplying so that he may be said with St. Lawrence to be broyled on both sides being persecuted both by Protestants and Papists Some conceived that his Patron 's fall was his greatest guilt and incouraged his Enemies against him In the Reign of Q. Mary he was sent for and examined about his Faith by Gardiner Bishop of Winchester who told him that the Queen and Parliament had altered Religion and therefore required him to imbrace the same To which he answered That he had taken an Oath never to consent or agree that the Bishop of Rome should have any Jurisdiction in this Realm At which the Bishop of Winchester called him Knave and Forward Fellow and so returned him to Prison again He was afterward examined before Henry Morgan pretended Bishop of St. David's who requiring him to subscribe to several Articles he absolutely refused it or to recent any thing whereupon the sentence of degradation was read against him and he was delivered to the Secular Power by whom he was carried to Carmarthen to be burnt A while before his Execution there came one to visit him who much lamented the painfulness of his death to whom Bishop Ferrar answered If you see me once stir or move in the pains of my burning then never give any credit to the truth of the doctrine which I have formerly taught And he was as good as his word standing so patiently in the midst of the Flames that he never moved holding up the stumps of his Arms till one with a Halbert dasht him on the head whereby he fell down and quietly resigned up his Spirit to God Sir Rice ap Thomas little less than a Prince and called the Flower of the Britains was born in this Shire When the Earl of Richmond afterward King Henry VII landed at Milford Haven with contemptible Forces this Sir Rice with a considerable accession of choice Souldiers joined and marched with him to Bosworth Field where he behaved himself with much Courage and in reward of his good service was made Knight of the Garter He rebuilt Emeline in this County and called it New-castle being one of his Principal Seats and one of the latest Castles in Wales In the fourth of King Henry VIII he conducted 500 Horse to the Siege of Theroene in France Walter Devereux created Earl of Essex by Q. Elizabeth was born in the Town of Carmarthen Being a Martial Man he Articled with the Q. to maintain such a number of Souldiers at his own cost in Ireland and to have the fair Territory of Clandebuy in the Province of Vlster for the Conquering thereof To maintain this Army he sold his fine Inheritance in Essex Over he goes into Ireland with a noble Company of Kindred Friends and Supernumerary Volunteers above the proportion of Souldiers agreed on Sir William Fitz William's Lord Deputy of Ireland doubting he should be Eclipsed by this great Earl solicites the Q. to maintain him in the full power of his Place Hereupon it was ordered that the Earl should have his Commission from this Lord Deputy which with much importunity and long attendance he hardly obtained and that with no higher Title than Governour of Vlster After many attempts not very successfully made in Vlster he was ordered to march to the South of Ireland where he spent much time to little purpose From Munster he was sent back to Vlster where he was forbidden to make use of the Victory he had gotten and soon after his Commission was Vacated and he reduced to be Governour of 300 men He received all these affronts with undaunted constancy Pay days in Ireland came very quick Money out of England very slow his noble Associates began to withdraw common men to mutiny and himself was soon after recalled home He was afterward sent back with the Title of Earl Marshal of Ireland where he fell into a strange Flux not without suspicion of Poyson and died 1576. of his Age 36. His Estate much impaired descended to his Son Robert his body was brought over and buried in Carmarthen His Father and Grandfather died about the same age to which his Son Robert never attained being beheaded by Q. Elizabeth on the Tower Green on Ashwednesday Feb. 25. 1600. Carmarthen-shire hath 28 Rivers and Rivulets is divided into six Hundreds hath six Market Towns 87 Parish Churches and had formerly nine Castles and gives the Title of Marquess to the Lord Osborn eldest Son to the D. of Leeds CARNARVAN-SHIRE hath Merioneth on the South Anglesey divided by the River Menai on the North Denbigh-shire on the East and the Irish Sea on the West from North to South 40 from East to West 20 and in compass 110 miles The Air is sharp and piercing by reason of the high Mountains which may be properly