RAWLEIGH Redivivus OR THE Life Death OF THE Right Honourable ANTHONY Late EARL of SHAFTSBURY Humbly Dedicated to the Protesting Lords By Philanax Misopappas Virtuti Pompeij quae potest Par Oratio inveniri Cicero LONDON Printed for Thomas Malthus at the Sun in the Poultrey 1683. TO THE Most Illustrious and High-born Prince James Duke of Monmouth And to the Right Honourable Anthony Earl of Kent Theophilus Earl of Huntington William Earl of Bedford James Earl of Salisbury Gilbert Earl of Clare Thomas Earl of Stamford Robert Earl of Sunderland Arthur Earl of Essex Charles Earl of Macklesfield Charles Viscount Mordant Philip Lord Wharton William Lord Pagett Ford Lord Grey of Wark John Lord Lovelace Henry Lord Herbert of Cherbury Charles Lord Cornwallis Thomas Lord Crew Who enter'd their Protestation against the Lords rejecting the Impeachment of Edward Fitz-Harris and generously asserted the Commons Right to Impeach any Subject whatsoever Great Sirs THe following Tract humbly offered to your Lordships and for which the Author implores your Patronage is a brief but yet true and impartial History of the Life and Policies the Rise and Fortunes Troubles and Exit of the late Earl of Shaftsbury whose great Actions constant Loyalty and successful Councils certainly are worthy the transmitting to Posterity for whose sake as well as the vindicating his Name and Honour from the bold and confident although ridiculous and groundless Calumnies wherewith the Roman Achitophels have maliciously aspersed him I have endeavour'd to Decipher him and draw his Image according to the best of my skill although infinitely below his Deserts which justly merit the being pourtray'd by a more skilful hand and one whose extraordinary acquirements and admirable proficiency in Politicks renders capable of representing his Lordships wonderful Parts and Abilities in the most apt and lively Touches Especially in regard the malice of 〈…〉 hath somewhat 〈◊〉 his best Feature and unâ—â—â—fully sullyed the most Beautiful and Loyalest of his Actions My Lds. It was the extraordinary Endowments wherewith this Earl was inrich'd that drew upon him so much Envy and swell'd his Adversaries to such an heighth of Malice and Fury fearing lest he might prove their Rival and acquire a greater Interest in the Favour of his Soveraign then they were willing he should Or else it was his imitation of the magnanimous Roman who being Commanded by the Emperor to forbear coming to the Senate and threaten'd with Imprisonment if he presumed to appear in that Assembly boldly answer'd You may do as you will but I must do as I ought Nor had ever any Man larger Experience then his Lordship of the truth and reality of what the famous Sir Walter Raleigh so long since wisely observed That he who follows Truth too near at the Heels may have his Teeth struch out thereby and that he who goes after her oft loseth her sight and himself too Most Noble Patriots I acknowledge that it is no small persecution of your Illustrious Greatness to be thus troubled with the impertinent Address of one so much below you And am very sensible that the Generosity and good Nature of persons who like your selves shine with Glory and Splendor in a superiour Orb frequently draw upon them unnecessary and needless Dedications And therefore I should not have been guilty of presuming to six your Honourable Names to any trifle of mine had not the nature of the thing laid a kind of necessity upon me and furnished me with an unanswerable Argument and sufficient Apology for so doing May it please your Lordships You are all under the same Circumstances and you have like him adventur'd to stem the Stream and dared to be Virtuous when to be wicked and debauch'd is in Fashion And have presumed to be Loyal under the disadvantage of exposing your selves thereby to the malice and rage of a sort of Men who with an Hellish Industry have long endeavour'd to Metamorphise your very Virtues into Vices and Transubstantiate your Loyalty into a Crime You have with a firm resolution and undaunted courage opposed in the very face of danger the ambitious and growing designs of a bloody and malicious Crew who have Burned our City Assassinated our Magistrates Forged Shame Blots and invented Meal-Tub Conspiracies to ruine our Nobility and Gentry And if Divine Goodness had not protected us and disappointed them would have murther'd our Soveraign Massacred our Persons Extirpated our Religion Plunder'd our Houses seized our Estates trampled upon our Laws inslaved our Wives and Children and subjected our Posterity to a Bondage infinitely worse then that of Egypt And whatsoever is Sacred and Dear to us as English Men or Christians must have been sacrific'd to their Revenge for the satiating whereof and to give vent to their fury they would have turn'd the Paradise of the World into an Acheldama And moreover my Lords his Enemies are your Enemies his Reproaches are all directed at and centre in You. You were all to be involved in the same Guilt and made Parties in the same pretended Conspiracy And You were by an imaginary Power derived from that Infallible Fop the Pope all condemned to the same Fate in the secret Consults and private Cabals of Rome as appears by the Scheme found in the Meal-Tub and afterwards more fully discovered by Mr. Dangerfield Nor is it unworthy Your consideration that the time when that cursed Conspiracy was hatching and some Circumstances in the management thereof renders it not altogether improbable that it derived its Original from and was ingaged in upon the success of a certain Story upon the account whereof the greatest of You stands at this day strip'd of all Your Honorary Places But that which further encourag'd me to make this Address to Your Lordships was Your being his intimate Acquaintance and constant Companions his familiar Friends and only Associates with whom he maintained an exact Correspondence and almost daily conversed withal whereby You must necessarily be better acquainted with and have a clearer prospect of the Principles and Temper Designs and Inclinations of his Lordship than any of his detractors can possibly pretend to since many of them never had any personal knowledge of and much less intimate Acquaintance with him and most of them never saw him in their Lives Nor have many of his Accusers notwithstanding their formal and confident charging him with Treason ever born a Part or made a Figure large enough in the World to procure them admittance to his Person or imbolden them to appear in his presence or so much as exchange two words with him in their whole Lives You know his Loyal Behaviour towards and constant cleaving to the Interest of his Soveraign and are surviving Testimonies of the extraordinary Reverence and profound Veneration wherewith he always made mention of His Majesty whensoever you had occasion to speak of him in Your publick or private Discourses nor can You have forgotten his frequent lamenting his own unhappiness in being so strangely mis-represented
and make no haste into the Boat they called to him to come away Gentlemen said he I intreat you to excuse my going with you for I now call to mind some extraordinary business which obliges me to stay in Town But his company was too pleasant to be so easily relinquish'd wherefore one of them stepping out of the Boat endeavoured by his importunity to alter his resolution and perswade him to go with them according to his first intention but being not able to prevail he protested he would carry him into the Boat if he would not go willingly so that being unwilling to disoblige them he adventur'd to go although with much reluctancy As they were shooting the Bridge it being low Water the force of the Ebb carried their Boat with such violence against a Loyter that was just gone through before them that she sunk but several Boats presently making towards them they were all sav'd however their design for Bowling at Greenwich was spoiled for that day Having spent some considerable time in the Inns of Court his Relations began to think of disposing of him in Marriage and a suitable Match was enquired after that might answer the largeness of his Fortune At length a Marriage is agreed by the consent of both Families between him and Margaret Daughter to Thomas Lord Coventry sometime Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England whose agreeable Conversation render'd his Life the more pleasant and delightful He had no Issue by this Wife His second Wife was the Lady Frances Daughter to the Earl of Exeter by whom he had Issue his only Son and Heir Anthony Lord Ashly now Earl of Shaftesbury who married the virtuous and ingenious Lady the Lady Dorothy Daughter to John Earl of Rutland by whom he hath Issue two Sons Anthony a Youth of about Twelve years of Age extreamly like his Grandfather both for Person and Parts for which reason he was so dear to him that his Life seemed to be bound up in this Grandsons as Jacobs was said to be in his Son Benjamin's His last Wife was Margaret Daughter to William Lord Spencer a most accomplished and Virtuous Lady whose exemplary Piety is so extraordinary that she may very well be proposed as a pattern for other Noble Personages to imitate her constant custom being to rise by Five of the Clock in the Morning and she usually spends two or three hours there in her private Devotions No sooner did the Fame of his great Abilities reach the Royal Ear but his late Majesty cast a favourable Eye upon him employing him in several eminent Services which he performed with an exact Loyalty to the satisfaction of his Majesty from whose Interest he never departed otherwise then as Hushai from King David when the Tribes of Israel revolted from him in order to the using his Interest for the Service of his Prince and endeavour by his Wisdom and Counsel so to order and influence the Councils and Designs of the Conspirators that they might be the less hurtful to his Soveraign and tend to the overthrow of themselves And it is admirable to contemplate with what dexterous Skill and exquisite Policy he so managed all their Councils as to make them run directly towards and naturally tend to swell the Royal Stream which immediately upon their Ebb flowed so suddenly and swiftly that like a swelling Sea it easily overflowed all those Banks which were cast up to impede its Flux and by its irresistable force bore down all before it until at last it terminated in the full Tide of his Majesties Restoration Like the Generous Hushai never resting until he saw his Ejected Soveraign like the glorious Sun newly escaped from a total Eclipse return to the possession of his Crown and Kingdom His Majesty having December 5. 1639. upon the advice of the Earl of Strafford and Marquess of Hamilton and Doctor Land Archbishop of Canterbury declared his resolution for the calling a Parliament After 11 years interval he was by the unanimous consent of the Inhabitants of the Borough of Tewkesbury in Gloucester-shire chosen to serve as Burgess for that Town Sir Edward Alford being chosen for the other On Monday April 13. 1640. this Parliament opened and were acquainted by his Majesty That he thought never any King had greater cause to call his People together nor more weighty Affairs to confer with them about then himself the particulars whereof he referred to the Lord Keeper By whom they were recommended to the Parliament in an elegant Speech The Parliament sate in debate of those things recommended to them till the fifth of May when his Majesty concluding they were too slow in giving those Supplies he demanded Dissolved them publishing a Declaration thereupon containing an account of his Reasons for that Dissolution This was the fourth Parliament which had been Dissolved by his Majesty In the beginning of our unhappy Troubles he raised a Regiment for the Service of his Majesty and was by him upon the Rupture with the Parliament made Governour of Waymouth being at the same time High Sheriff of the County of Dorset And when he saw that the War would unavoidably break out he summoned by virtue of his Pesse Contitatus the whole County from sixteen years old to meet at Dorchester which is the County Town thereby to engage them to stand by his Majesty But before that day appointed for their Meeting his Majesty sent down Colonel William Ashburnham with a Commission to be Governour of the County of Dorset whereupon he repaired presently to Dorchester and shewed his Commission to the High Sheriff At which time the Sheriff acquainted the Colonel with what he had done in reference to his Majesties Interest by summoning the County wherewith the Colonel was very well pleased But Sir Anthony concluding that the Colonel's being sent to command as Governour of the County notwithstanding his being Governour of Weymouth and high Sheriff of Dorset-shire proceeded from some secret suspition which his Majesty had conceiv'd of his Fidelity perhaps occasioned by the malicious whisperings of some about the King who grew Jealous of him lest the greatness of his Parts should in time have raised him higher in his Majesties Favour and good Opinion then would have consisted with their Interest took Horse the next Morning and went to his own House about 20 Miles from thence the next day he went to his Brothers and from thence to London The day being come for the Counties Meeting they flocked in vast numbers to Dorchester there being scarce a Man in the whole County wanting whereupon the Colonel being informed that the High Sheriff was not in Town went up to the Guild-Hall being accompanied with several of the chief of the Town and told the People That he was glad to see so great an appearance and that they yielded so ready Obedience to the Summons of their Sheriff who was at that time absent telling them that the occasioning of Summoning of them was to engage them to
A place that requires such a Man as our great Masters Wisdom hath found for it from whose Natural temper we may expect Courage Quickness and Resolution from whose Education Wisdom and Experience and from whose Extraction that Noble and Illustrious House of the Cliffords an Heroick Mind a large Soul and an unshaken Fidelity to the Crown My Lord it 's a great Honour much beyond even the place it self that you are chosen to it by this King who without Flattery I may say is as great a Master in the knowledge of Men and Things as this or any other Age hath produced And let me say farther It is not only your Honour that you are chosen by Him but it is your Safety too that you have him to serve with whom no subtile Insinuations of any near him nor the aspiring Interest of a Favourite shall ever prevail against those that serve him well Nor can his Servants fear to be sacrificed to the Malice Fury or Mistake of a more swelling Popular greatness a Prince under whom the unfortunate fall gently a Prince in a word that best of all Mankind deserves that Title Deliciae humani generis My Lord I will not hold you long for you have a Journey to go after you have taken your Oath and your place in this Court you are according to ancient Custom to visit all the Offices in the upper and lower Exchequer and therefore let me end with this Wish or rather Prophesie That you may exceed all your Predecessors the Abilities and Fidelity of the Renowned Lord Burleigh the Sagacity Quickness and great dispatch of his Son the Lord Salisbury and the Uprightness Integrity and Wisdom of that great Man that went last before you the Earl of Southampton And as the E. endeavors were incessant to serve his Soveraign so he was no less solicituos to serve the Publick good endeavoring to make the Courts of Judicature as much as possible answer the Ends for which they were designed viz. The ease of the Subject labouring to have the Kings Prerogative and the Subjects Property so interwoven that they might always be inseparable as appears by that excellent Speech made by him in the Exchequer January 24. 1673. at Serjeant Thurlands taking the Oath in order to be made a Baron as followeth Mr. Serjeant Thurland THe King of his Grace and Favour hath made choice of you to be one of the Barons of the Exchequer he designed to place you in a Court of more profit though not of more Dignity but your own modesty hath chosen this Court where you thought you could serve the King best and I could not choose but mention it here to your Honour it being the greatest Instance of a good Man That he had rather be found serviceable than rich His Majesty hath had large proof of your former Service besides he takes you upon the Credit of that Recommendation that hath justly the best place with him I mean his Royal Brothers Some few things it is fit I should here mention to you and leave with you as Admonitions or rather Remembrances In the first place you are to maintain the Kings Prerogative and let not the Kings Prerogative and the Law be two things with you for the Kings Prerogative is Law and the principal of it Therefore in maintaining that you maintain the Law The Government of England is so excellently interwoven that every part of the Prerogative hath a broad mixture of the Interest of the Subject the ease and safety of the People being inseparable from the greatness and security of the Crown In the next place let me advise you that you acquaint your self with the Revenue as also the ancient Records Precedents and Practices of this Court for want of which knowledge I have seen this Court a most excellent Common Pleas when at the same time I could not say so much for it as an Exchequer In the Third place Let me recommend to you so to manage the Kings Justice and the Revenue as the King may have most profit and the Subjects least Vexation Raking for old Debts the number of Informations Projects upon Concealments I could not find in the Eleven years Exprerience I have had in this Court ever to advantage the Crown but such proceedings have for the most part delivered up the Kings good Subjects into the hands of the worst of Men. There is another thing I have observed in this Court which I shall mind you of which is when the Court hearkens too much to the Clerks and Officers of it and are too apt to send out Process when the Money may be raised by other ways more easie to the People I do not say that the Kings Duty should be lost or that the strictest course should not be taken rather then that be for when you consider how much the Officers of this Court and the Under-sheriffs get by Process upon small Sums more then the Kings Duty comes to and upon what sort of People this falls viz. The Farmer Husbandman and Clothier in the Country that is generally the Collector Constable and Tyshingman and so disturbs the Industrious part of the Nation you will think it fit to make that the last way when no other will serve Give me leave also to mind you of one thing more it is in your Oath That the Kings Needs ye shill speed before all others that is the business of the Revenue of the Crown you are to dispatch before all other and not turn your Court into a Court of Common-Pleas and let that justle out what you were constituted for In the last place Let me conclude with what concerns all my Lords the Judges as well as you let me recommend to you the Port and Way of Living suitable to the Dignity of your Place and what the King allows you There is not any thing that gains more Reputation and Respect to the Government then that doth and let me tell you Magistrates as well as Merchants are supported by their Reputation To his successful Counsel do both King and Kingdom owe the happy Conduct of Affairs for many years together the events of his Advices always agreeing with and answering the Ends for which they were at first proposed so that the King seldom fail'd of any thing that was carried on by his direction for which reason his wise Administration and management of Things had as it were incorporated him into the very Heart of his Prince So that all Men began now to conclude That this great Man whose constant Loyalty had render'd him so dear to His Majesty was too firmly fix'd and rooted in the Royal Favour than ever to be removed or alienated therefrom since he did as most Men imagin'd sit so high and withal so safely that he was above the reach of Envy or the possibility of being undermined by any subtle and false Insinuations or sacrific'd to the malice of any aspiring Favourite Yet Fortune who is always fickle and constant in
thrown down or some such like ominous accident had happened and with abundance of earnestness renewed the motion for calling the Duke to the Bar but there were too many Lords between for that motion to succeed and advice was brought every moment from the House of Commons that the things was yet in agitation among them which gave his Lordship an opportunity to appear with extraordinary vigour in defence of the Duke's Person and his Proposal so that the Earl seem'd more properly another Principle than the Duke's Second Whereupon the Lord Chancellor therefore undertook on the contrary to make the Prorogation look very formidable laying the best colour upon it and the worst upon his Opponants Thus for five or six hours it grew to be a fixed Debate many arguing it on both sides in a regular method until they received the welcome News that the Commons were risen without doing any thing whereupon the greater number called for the Question and had it in the affirmative that the Debate should be laid aside And thus being flasht but not satisfied with their Victory they fell desperately upon them who had affirmed the dissolution the same night and the next day voted his Lordship with the Duke of Buckingham the Earl of Salisbury and the Lord Wharton to be commited to the Tower under the Notion of Contempt during his Majesties and the Houses pleasures The Contempt for which they were committed was their refusing to recant their Opinions and ask pardon of the King and the House of Lords notwithstanding the liberty and freedom of Speech which His Majesty verbally and of course allows them at the opening of every Parliament The Warrant for the committing his Lordship together with the Earl of Salisbury and the Lord Wharton ran Thus ORdered by the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in Parliament Assembled That the Constable of his Majesties Tower of London his Deputies shall reserve the Bodies of James Earl of Salisbury Anthony Earl of Shaftsbury and Philip Lord Wharton Members of this House and keep them in safe Custody within the said Tower during his Majesties Pleasure and the Pleasure of this House for their high Contempts committed against this House And this shall be your sufficient Warrant on that behalf J. Brown Cler. Par. To the Constable of the Tower THE four Lords continued in the Tower so long that the Parliament was several times Adjourned during their Confinement which his Lordship bore with abundance of patience and incredible chearfulness considering the many weaknesses and infirmities of Body he then laboured under They expected to have been Released at least of course by Prorogation but Adjournments was so much in use at that time that it made them despair of being releived that way wherefore finding no end of their Captivity they looked upon the procuring their Liberty to deserve as much care as others took to retain them in durance to which end they each of them chose the method he judged most proper The Duke of Buckingham the Earl of Salisbury and the Lord Wharton upon their application to His Majesty by a Petition were enlarged But Shaftsbury could not come off so for having made his Addresses to His Majesty in an humble Petition to be restored to his Liberty and the Favour of his Majesty he found the Royal Earl deaf to his Sute and no relief to be obtained that way Whereupon his Lordship applied himself to the Court of Kings-Bench the constant Residence of His Majesties Justice whether he was brought Wednesday Jan. 27. 1677. upon the Return of an Alias Habeas Corpus directed to the Constable of the Tower and there being some dispute about the sufficiency of the Return his Council prays to have the Return filled and Friday appointed to debate the sufficiency of it which being granted the Earl was re-manded back again unto the Tower On Friday morning his Lordship was brought up again and then the Case was strongly and learnedly argued on both sides and after the discussing the Point about the sufficiency of the Return then Mr. Williams Mr. Wallop and Mr. Smith who were Council for his Lordship gave divers weighty Reasons in the Earls behalf that the Court might and ought to relieve him The Attorney and Solicitor Generals argued the contrary shewing divers Causes why that Court could not relieve a person committed by Parliament So soon as they had done the Earl stood up and in an Elegant Speech spake for himself and directing him self to the Court delivered himself to this Effect MY LORDS I Did not intend to have spoken one word in this business but something hath been objected and laid to my charge by the Kings Council Mr. Attorney and Mr. Solicitor that inforces me to say something for your better satisfaction They have told you that my Council in their Arguments said That this Court was greater than the House of Peers which I dare to appeal to your Lordships and the whole Court that it was never spoken by them I am sure it was not spoken by any direction of mine What is done by my Council and by me is That this Court is the most proper place to resort unto in those Cases where the Liberty of the Subject is concerned The Lords House is the Supream Court of Judicature in the Kingdom but yet there is a Jurisdiction which the Lords House do not meddle with The Kings Council mentioned as a wonder that a Member of the Lords House should come hither and thereby diminish the Jurisdiction of that Court I acknowledg them to be superiour to this or any Court in England To whom all Appeals and Writs of Error are brought and yet there is a Jurisdiction that they do not challenge and which is not natural to them or proper for them They claim not to meddle in Original Cases and so I might mention in other things And I do not think it a kindness to any Power or Body of Men to give them a Power or Jurisdiction which is not natural or proper to their Constitutions I do not think it would be any kindness to the Lords to make them absolute and above the Law for so I humbly conceive this must do if it be adjudged that they by a general Warrant or without any particular Cause assigned do commit me or any man to a perpetual and indefinite Imprisonment And my Lords I am not so inconsiderable a person but what you do in my Case must be Law for every man in England Mr. Attorney is pleased to say I am a Member of the Lords House and to lay wait on the word Member It 's true I am one of them and no man hath a greater reverence and esteem for the Lords than my self But I hope my being a Peer or a Member of either House shall not lose my priviledg of being an English-man or make me to have the less Title to Magna Charta or the other Laws of English Liberty My Opinion is not with one of my
the most dexterous and probable means of putting the Design in execution and secure the payment of the 500 l. All things being thus agreed on the Lord P s took him by the hand and wished him good success And to render him the more pliable and active in this designed Tragady he was sent first to the Lord Castlemain then to Sharp the Priest and last of all to Jack Gadbury the Fortune-Teller by all whom he was severely scoulded for not complying with the Popish Lords in their command to kill the King insolently upbraiding him with horrid ingratitude in refusing to perform that for which he was taken out of Prison and maintained in so much splendour ever since Hoping that this chiding might raise in him a magnanimous Resolution to regain the Credit he had lost by that refusal by a Resolute perpetrating the Murther of his Lordship Dangerfield being thus prepared on the Sunday following Regaut came to Mrs. Celliers and having first dined together he gave him general directions how to accomplish the Murder demanding how he would order the Mony to be paid when he had performed the enterprise telling him that if he pleased it should be brought in Guinneys and lest with Mrs. Cellier for him but he disliking the way desired That when Regaut heard that the Lord Shaftsbury was Dead and should receive a Note from him that then he would immediately pay the Mony for his use which he promised should be done accordingly But ordered him to attend on Sharp and some others for more particular instructions how to Act this Tragedy He attended upon them several times before they could resolve what method he should take However to prevent his flaging he was commanded by the Conspirators to repair to Knowles the Priest to confess and receive the Sacrament which he did at Knowles's Lodging at a Coffe-House in White-fryars from whom he received some directions how to proceed in the Murther but Dangerfield telling him that they were silly and impractable Knowles sent him to the Lady Abergaveny telling him that she was a Witty Lady and had some Correspondence with the Lord Shaftsbury and therefore was the more capable of advising him Wherefore he presently repared to her Lodgings at the House of Mr. Grissin in great Lincolns-Inn Fields where he found easie admittance into her Ladyships Chamber upon sending in word that he came from Knowles So soon as he entered he acquainted her who he was and the business he waited upon her Ladyship about Sir said she I have received a very good Character of you and therefore think my self obliged to return you thanks for the extraordinary diligence wherewith you have managed our business hitherto and I hope you will proceed with the like care until you have finished what you have so well begun As for the taking the Earl of Shaftsbury out of the way it 's a thing of no difficulty it being altogether as easie to kill him as to kill a Bird on a Tree Pray Madam which way shall I do it with so much 〈◊〉 and ease said Dangerfield why several waies replyed the Lady it may be done but I would have you pretend to Cure the Gout and my Lord being troubled with that Distemper I will recommend you to him under that pretence whereby you will easily gain admittance which having obtained you must watch your opportunity to dispatch him From thence Dangerfield went to P s's House and acquainted the Countess where he had been and the several waies which had been proposed by Knowles and others for the Murthering the Earl of Shaftsbury but more especially the Ladys Project as being the more likely way to succeed To which the Countess replyed It was but a silly contrivance yet peradventure it might do However she gave him no order to proceed thereon as yet But resolving if possible to make sure work they obliged him to charge his Lordship with Treason by making him one of the Protestant Peers whom they intended to charge with a Conspiracy against the Kings Crown and Life that so if they failed of Murthering him with their hands they might however destroy him with their breath To which purpose his name was inrolled in that List which was found in the Meal-Tub and gave the first light into their Plot which was more fully discovered by Dangerfield's miscarrying in the chief part of their Conspiracy Viz. placing the Treasonable Papers in Collonel Manse's Chamber whereby all was spoiled for that time And Dangerfield being to wait on His Majesty to give him an account of this pretended Plot the Countess of P s gave him directions to lay all the Burthen he could upon the Presbyterians in general but more especially upon His Grace the Duke of Monmouth the Earl of Shaftsbury Lord Grey of Wark Lord Howard of Escrick the Duke of Buckingham and some others And that he should explain to His Majesty the meaning of the Contents of the several Papers he had presented to the Duke who was the person that introduced him to His Majesty to make this pretended discovery and how the Presbyterians were resolved to use their utmost endeavours for the reducing the present Government and setting up a Common-wealth once more and setling His Grace the Duke of Monmouth therein a likely business and that the Earl of Shaftsbury and other persons of Honour were issuing out Commissions for that purpose and had promised some to several persons And having hereby secured this Design indifferently well as they thought and being now come to a Resolution in what method Dangerfield should attempt his Lordships Life they commanded him to repair to Sharp and confess and receive it being their common custom to make them receive the Sacrament and Introduction to the horridest Villanies and the crafty Priest having first palliated the Murther by urging the necessity of it and the extraordinary advantage that would thereby redound to their Cause and Party and so covered the Crime with a Mantle of Religion that he made it appear meritorious He then proceeded with abundance of Formality and Jesuitical Zeal to Conjure him by all that was good or sacred that he should with all possible speed stab his Lordship so soon as he should receive order from the Popish Lords so to do He promised he would and so the impudent Ecclesiastical Villian dismissed him with abundance of costly benedictions and hearty wishes for the happy success of his enterprizes And a Letter coming for the Lords in the Tower which commanded him to go that very night and put their Resolution of stabing his Lordship in Execution he received instructions not to enter into any discourse with him when he had him alone but after a little Apology for his coming to his Lordship without being sent or introduced by any other person and desiring to know whither if it should sall out to be in his power to serve him he should obtain so much favour of his Lordship as to find his service acceptable
being Landed at Pool in Dorsetshire the Gentlemen of the County to shew the extraordinary respect they had to his Lordship and although they were not invited yet they got together and went in a body to meet the Corps and accompany'd it to his ancient Seat at Wimbourn St. Giles's where he was decently and honourably Interred and will have a stately Monument erected over him He made his Countess Sir William Cooper c. Executors of his Will wherein he gave very liberally to his Grand-Son the Lord Ashley and Intailed the whole Estate upon him after the death of his Son the present Earl of Shaftsbury And as he had formerly been the making of several of his Servants and others by his Liberality so he was no less bountiful at his Death having left very considerable Legacies to his Servants especially those who were with him in Holland besides several Gifts to pious and charitable uses And having thus traced this Nobleman from the Cradle through all the Labyrinths and Vicissitudes of his Life to the Hour of his Death and from thence to his Envied Grave I shall conclude this Tract with his Character a Character so extraordinary and rare that it will certainly deserve and therefore justly command the Admiration of all men But I will fist incert the Elegy and Character of Sir Walter Rawleigh wherewith the Author of his Life concludes his History thereof GReat Heart who taught thee so to die Death yielding thee the Victory Where took'st thou leave of life If here How could'st thou be so far from fear But sure thou diest and quit'st the state of Flesh and Blood before that fate Else what a Miracle was wrought To triumph both in flesh and thought I saw in every stander by Pale Death Life only in thine Eye The Legacy thou gav'st us then We 'll sue for when thou diest agen Farwel Truth shall this Story say We died Thou only livest that day Thus died that Knight who was Spain's Scourge and Terrour and Gondamor's Triumph whom the whole Nation pitied and several Princes interceded for Queen Elizabeths Favourite and her Successors Sacrifice a Person of so much Worth and so great Interest that King James would not execute him without an Apology One of such incomparable Policy that he was too hard for Essex was the Envy of Leicester and Cicill's Rival who grew jealous of his excellent Parts and was afraid of being supplanted by him His Head was wished on the Secretarie's Shoulders and his Life valued by some at an higher Rate than the Infanta of Spain though a Lady incomparably excelling in both the Gifts of Mind and Body Authors are perplex'd under what Tophick to place him whether of Statesman Sea-man Souldier Chymist or Chronologer for in all these he did excell he could make every thing he read or heard his own and his own he could easily improve to the greatest Advantage He seemed to be Born to that onely which he went about so dexterous was he in all his Undertakings in Court Camp by Sea by Land with Sword and with Pen. The Earls person was somewhat small but very comely God and Nature having distributed in the framing thereof an exact agreeableness and an equal proportion to every Part and Member But as the smallest Cabinets usually inclose the Richest Jewels so his little Body inclosed a great and vastly Capatious Soul the Virtues and Perfections whereof as far transcended the generallity of the offspring of Adam as Gold exceeds Silver or Diamonds transcends Pebles in value He had a couragious and undaunted Mind a deep Judgment and a quick and ready Apprehension he was Religious towards God Loyal to his Prince True to his Country Faithful to his Friends Charitable to his Enemies Liberal to the Poor Chaste in his Affections and made the keeping of his Solemn Contracts in Marriage Sacred and Inviolable and the preserving his Chaste Soul free from Polution a considerable part of his Religion He was Courteous and Affable in his Carriage towards all Men Sociable and Free in his Converse yet so wonderfully reserved as to any of his great Designs and Projects that he never revealed his Intentitions to the nearest Relations or the most intimate Friends which made him so extraordinary usefull to His Majesty in the late Times and rendered him capable of ordering and disposing all publick Actions and Councils so that they naturally tended towards his Restoration 'T was his close and reserv'd temper that rendered the penetrating into his Sentiments and Intentions a work so intricate and perplexing that the greatest diligence of the many Spies who had their Eyes constantly fix'd upon and perpetually watched and pried into his Actions were not able to effect it and made it a Task too hard and difficult even for Cromwel himself to perform It was that which rendered those who undertook it unable to prove him Guilty of a Plot wherein he was really engaged and was a principal promoter and contriver thereof Viz. The rising of Sir George Booth And this close and reserved temper strongly argues his Innocency in the late charge of Treason for can any Man in his right Senses imagine that the Earl who had till now been so reserved and private in all his Designs even to near Relations noble Personages and familiar Friends should all on a suddain relinquish his constant and avowed Practice and transform himself into a perfect Changeling by freely discovering that he designed no less than Rebelling against his Soveraign The levying Men the forming of an Army and deposing the King and thereby put himself into the Power and expose his Life and Honour to the mercy of Six or Eight needy and mercinary Fellows That he should do so will appear very improbable if we reflect upon the temper of the Earl and the condition of the Men who pretended to such a familiarity with him and insight into his Designs unless we can suppose that the longer he lived the more foolish he grew or that the more experience he had of the endeavours of the Papists to effect his Ruine by fixing the Guilt of Treason upon him the more careful he would be to furnish them with Witnesses to prove and make good their Charge He was such a Proficient in Wisdom and Policy that he seem'd like a Second Solomon and so clear an understanding of the Mysteries both of Law and Divinity that he could easily and with great readiness resolve the most difficulty Queries and discuss the greatest Mysteries and Critical Nicities thereof Which made Dr. Ward Bishop of Sailsbury who held an intimate Correspondence with him delight in his Converse and value his acquaintance at a high rate And so did Sir Matthew Hailes Lord Chief Justice of the Kings-Bench and many more both Lawyers and Divines who had the happiness to be acquainted with him And occasioned His Majesty as it is said upon the being informed of his desiding a very difficult Case when he was Chancellor to affirm as
industry noise and clamour served to no other purpose than the exposing there own folly and wickedness and the making His Loyalty and Justice shine with the more brightness and splendour and the giving him a fresh provocation as well as future opportunity to pry more narrowly into and with the greater vigour oppose their Machivilian Designs against His Soveraign the Protestant Religion the interest of Brittain and thereby sadly frustrate their BVDDING HOPS Nor was it long before their pregnant and groaning Designs gave him an occasion to demonstrate his Zeal therein for about April or May 1675. an odd kind of a Bill was unexpectedly offered one Morning in the House of Lords whereby all such as enjoyed any beneficial Offices or Imployments Ecclesiastical Civil or Military to which was added Privy-Councellor Justices of the Peace and Members of Parliament were under a penalty to take the Oath and make the Declaration and Abhorrence ensuing I A. B. Do Declare That it is not lawful upon any pretence whatsoever to take up Arms against the King And that I do abhor that Trayterous position of taking Arms by His Authority against His Person or those that are Commission'd by Him in pursuance of such Commission And I do Swear That I will not at any time endeavour any alteration of Government either in Church or State So help me God The same Oath was brought in the House of Commons in the Plague Year at Oxford and great endeavours used to have it imposed upon the Nation but was strenuously opposed by the very same persons that now introduced it into the House of Lords and by their assistance thrown out as a pernicious thing tending to the general infecting the Vitals of the Kingdom And although it then passed in a particular Bill commonly known by the Name of the Five Mile Act because it only concerned the Nonconformist Preachers yet even in that it was mightily opposed by that faithful Friend to the Crown the late Earl of Southampton whose sentiments and judgment in an Affair of that Nature might certainly have been accounted the Platform and Standard of Prudence and Loyalty This Oath they said was but a little thing being only a moderate security to the Church and Crown Yet their so stifly defending it when opposed by His Lordship and others together with their fierce and united endeavours to have it pass the House made all thinking men suspect that there was some extraordinary Design wrapt up in it and therefore contended for by them not as a triffle but a thing of that weight that the whole stress of Affairs depended thereon And indeed the Word Commission as it was there to be taken was of an extraordinary Extent and Latitude for if it should have been for taking away Estate or Life by force or if the perion Commissionated were under never so many disabilities by Acts of Parliament yet the taking that Oath would have removed all those Incapacities or his Commission would have ended the despute So that it came at last to be one of the greatest Contest perhaps that ever happened in Parliament wherein his Lordship and divers other Illustrous Peers being assured of their own Loyalty and Merit stood up against the Oath and pleaded for the Antient English Liberties with the same Pious Vertue and Heroick Courage and Resolution wherewith their Noble Ancestors had formerly defended the great 〈◊〉 of England only they deserved far greater Commendation and Honour in regard they grapled with far greater difficulties and had not so fair a Field to engage in but fought it out under all the disadvantages imaginable being overlaid by numbers and the noise of the House like the wind baring hard upon them nor being so few could they as their Adversaries withdraw to refresh themselves in a whole days engagement yet never was there a fuller demonstration How dull a thing humane loquence is and how small and inconsiderable The most towering and insulting greatness when bright Truth discovers all things in their proper colours and dementions and like the Sun shoots its enlightning Rayes through all their fallacies The Dispute lasted many days with much eagerness on both sides and was so warmly opposed that the Parliament was Prorogued before the Lords came to any Resolution about it but in the next Sessions they ordered it to be burnt It might be injurious to the rest of the Noble Lords who took part with him therein to attribute the whole success to him yet the Promoters accused him of having first opposed it and that he and the Duke of Buckingham stirred up and influenced the rest And therefore the Popish Party who it 's probable hop'd to have reaped the greatest advantage by that Oath banded against him with as much fierceness as ever and although they had failed of Murthering his Person yet resolved to accomplish the ruine of his Reputation influencing several Protestants as well Clergy as Laiety to lend their helping hand to this great Work The former were to bespatter him in their Pulpits as if they were Conjuring down the Devil instead of commending the Blessed Jesus in the Tenders of the Gospel The other were to bespatter him with their Pens thereby to procure him the hatred of the Vulgar who commonly take up things upon Trust and believe every thing they read to be true and because they could procure no better they employed Needham a mercenary Wretch who had with an audacious impudence and unparalell'd virulency Writ against two Kings Viz. Our present Soveraign and His Royal Father and therefore the more fit for such an undertaking His first Essay was in a Libellous Pamphlet called Advice to the Men of Shaftsbury wherein he falsely charged him with many fictitious Crimes and imaginary Designs against the Government And thus having prepared the way to his ruine as they imagined they hoped to accomplish by it an accident which happened quickly after in the ensuing Parliament which met February 15th 1676. after 15 months Prorogation upon this occasion As soon as the King had finished his Speech the Commons withdrew and the Lords had taken their Respective Seats The Duke of Buckingham who usually says what he thinks stood up and argued with great strength of reason that according to the Laws and Constitution of Parliaments that unpresidented Prorogation was null and the Parliament consequently Dissolved offering moreover to maintain it to all the Judges and desiring as hath been usual in such Cases That they might give their Opinions but a certain Lord fancying himself a better Judg of that weighty Point in Law moved that the Duke of Buckingham might be called to the Bar whereupon his Lordship stood up and opposed it as an extravagant motion and ascertain'd the validity of Buckingham's Proposals with all the Cicilian height of Courage and Reason Whereupon another Lord of no less consideration than the former who had called the Duke to the Bar stood up in as great pet as if the Salt had been
cannot long continue in the English hands if some better care be not taken of it This is in your Power and there is not bing there but is under your Laws Therefore I beg that this Kingdom at least may be taken into consideration together with the State of England for I am sure there can be no safety here if these Doors are not shut up and made sure But His Majesty had another kind of esteem for his Lordship for not long after the making of this Speech having Dissolv'd His Privy Council and chosen a new one he was pleased to constitute the Earl President thereof a Place so considerable for Honour and Trust that it hath not been enjoyed by any Subject for many years and was improv'd by him as much to the advantage of His Majesty and the Protestant Interest as possible And when the Bill for excluding the Duke of York had passed the House of Commons as the only expedient they could find out to suppress the Designs of the Papists and prevent their ever introducing the Popish Religion into England they sent it up to the House of Lords where his Lordship was one of those Honourable Lords who Voted for its passing that House in order to its being offered to His Majesty for His Royal Assent The Grand Jury returned for the Hundred of Osalstone in the County of Middlesex in June the 2d 1680. finding the Constables defective in not presenting the Papists as they ought it was ordered they should make further presentments by the 16th of that Instant upon which day they met again to receive them when likewise a Bill against D. Y. for not coming to Church was brought before them together with the following Reasons for his being indicted subscribed by the persons undernam'd First Because the 25th Car. 2d when an Act was made to throw Popish Recusants out of all Offices and Places of Trust the Duke did then lay down several great Offices and Places as Lord High Admiral of England Generalissimo of all His Majesties Forces both by Land and Sea Governour of the Cinque Ports and divers others thereby to avoid the punishmant of that Law against Papists Secondly 30. Car. 2d when an Act was made to disable Papists to sit in either House of Parliament there was a Proviso incerted in that Act That it should not extend to D. Y. on purpose to save his right of sitting in the Lords House though he refused to take those Oaths which the Protestant Peers ought to do Thirdly That His Majesty in His Speech March 6th the 31st year of his Reign doth give for a Reason to the Parliament why he sent His Brother out of England Viz. Because he would leave no Man Room to say that he had not remov'd all Causes which might influence him to Popish Councils Fourthly That there hath been divers Letters read in both Houses of Parliament and at the secret Committee of both Houses from several Cardinals and others at Rome and also from other Popish Bishops and Agents of the Pope in other Forreign Parts which do apparently shew the great Correspondencies between him and the Pope and how the Pope could not choose but weep for joy at the reading of some of his Letters and what great satisfaction it was to the Pope to hear that he was advanced to the Catholick Religion as likewise that the Pope hath granted him Briefs sent him Beads and ample Indulgencies with much more to this purpose Fifthly The whole House of Commons hath Declared him to be a Papist in their Votes Sunday April 6th 1679. wherein they resolv'd nemine contradicente that the Duke of York's being a Papist and his hopes of coming such to the Crown had given the greatest countenance and encouragement to the present Conspiracy and Designs of the Papists against the King and the Protestant Religion Sixthly That besides all this Proof and much more to this purpose it is most notorious and evident he hath for many years absented from Protestant Churches during Religious Worship These are the Reasons why we believe him to be a Papist this was subscribed and delivered by his Lordship together with the Earl of Huntington and the Lords Grey of Wark Russel Cavendish Brandon and Wharton as also by Sir William Cowper Barronet Sir Gilbert Gerrard Barronet Sir Edward Hungerford Knight of the Bath Sir Scroop How Thomas Thinn Esq William Forrester Esq and John Trenchard Esq But whilst the Jury were in debate of the Matter they were sent for up by the Court of Kings-Bench and dismist so that nothing was done upon it more than the Juries having receieved the presentment Wherefore on Wednesday July the Thirtieth the former Lords Knights and Gentlemen with the addition of the Lord Clare Sir John Cope Barronet Sir Rowland Gwynne and Mr. Wandsford presented the same to a second Grand Jury who were discharged as the former But whilst his Lordship was thus vigorously prosecuting the Popish Plot in the face of danger the Papists were as vigilent in contriving his ruine though with somewhat more secrecy and silence resolving to seize the Prey before they gave the least Alarm or Notice of their intention as appear'd by their close Caballistical Designs carryed on against this Earl and all the rest of the Protestant Nobility and Gentry in England wherein Mr. Dangerfield was a considerable Agent having been for that purpose fetcht out of Newgate by the Papists who hoping to reap a vast advantage by having him to manage their Affairs willingly disburst a large sum to discharge his Debts The first sangunary work they imployed him in was to attempt the Murther of his Lordship promising him 500 pounds for so acceptable a service as they apprehended it to be he inquired the Reason why they thirsted after his Life and how there might be any probable way proposed whereby it might be accomplished to which it was answered That as to the first they should be glad to have him out of the way because if they were rid of him as they were of Sir Edmondbury Godfrey it would be no difficult thing to bear down all the rest of their Opposers As to the second They affirmed it to be as easie as desirable since said the Lord P s my Man Wood was at Thannet House two nights since upon pretence of an Errand but his business was to view the House and observe what conveniences there were to make his escape after the fact was done assuring him that Wood found the thing so feasable that after he came back he declar'd himself sorry that he was not provided to have done it then And to encourage him to undertake this sanguinary enterprise with the more chearfulness he gave him Ten Guinneys in hand as an assurance that the full reward should be paid so soon as the fatal stroak should be given Promising moreover that Mr. Regaut a Virginia Merchant of Mrs. Celliers acquaintance should come to him on Sunday following to instruct him in