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A35246 The Secret history of the four last monarchs of Great-Britain, viz. James I, Charles I, Charles II, James II to which is added an appendix containing the later reign of James the Second, from the time of his abdication of England, to this present Novemb. 1693 : being an account of his transactions in Ireland and France, with a more particular respect to the inhabitants of Great-Britain. R. B., 1632?-1725? 1693 (1693) Wing C7347; ESTC R31345 102,037 180

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where the Keeper for the time being two Bishops two Judges and as many wise Lords and great Officers Sate as thought fit to come the most of whom though unable to render a reason for their Censure did every Wednesday and Friday in Term-time concur like so many Canibals to tear such as refused to Worship the Minion or to yield to the pretended Royal Prerogative Nor did they scape who were any way Satyrical a thing not to be avoided by the Lovers of Truth Corruption being as common as Execution with which it seldom went other than hand in hand The palpable Partiality that descended from the King to the Scots did estate the whole love of the English upon his Son Henry whom they engaged by so much expectation as it may be doubted whether it ever lay in the Power of any Prince meerly hum●ne to bring so much Felicity unto a Nation as they d●d all his Life propose to themselves at the Death of King Iames. The Government of this Young Princes House was with much Discretion Modesty Sobriety and which was looked upon as too great an upbraiding the contrary proceedings of his Father in an high reverence to Piety not Swearing himself nor keeping any that did through which he came to be advanced beyond an ordinary measure in the Affections of the City to whom he was not only plausible in his Carriage but very just in Payments so far as his Credit out-reached the King 's both in the Exchange and the Church in which the Son could not take so much Felicity as the Father did Discontent to find all the worth he imagined in himself wholly lost in the hopes the People had of this young Gentleman from whence Kings may be concluded far more unhappy than ordinary Men for tho' whilst Children are young they may afford them safety yet when arrive at that Age which used to bring comfort to other Parents they produce only Jealousie and Fear For if Deformed Foolish or Vitious they offend the natural Disposition of a Father who cannot but desire his Issue perfect if they prove otherwise and be excellent that of a Prince because his Reign must needs be thought dim and tedious who hath such a Spark to succeed him as this Henry which in all Mens Judgments appeared more illustrious than his old Father Thus are Kings found as remote from Felicity with Children as from safety without And as the last of these Considerations have tempted some to Acknowledge the Issue of Strangers If the positive Assertions of some as well as common Fame does not out-strip Truth King Iames was by Fear led into great and strange Extreams finding his Son Henry not only averse to any Popish Match but saluted by the Puritans as one prefigured in the Apocalyps for Rome's Destruction insinuating as if the Prince was not kindly dealt by ● should quite have omitted this conjecture and left it wholly to the Decision of the great Tribunal was it not certain that his Father did dread him and that the King though he would not deny him any thing he plainly desired yet it appeared rather the result of Fear and outward Complyance than Love and natural Affection This King 's extravagant Anti-Suppers was a Vanity not heard of in Fore-Fathers time or ever practised since and for ought I have read unpractised by the most Luxurious Tyrants The manner of which was to have the Board covered at the first entrance of the Guest with Dishes seven Foot high filled with the choicest Viands Sea or Land could afford and all this once seen and having seasted the Eyes of the invited was in a manner thrown away and fresh set on to the same height An Attendance on the King Eat at one of these Suppers a whole Pye valued at Ten Pounds Sterling being composed of Ambersgreece Musk c. As no other reason seemed to appear in this Kings choice but handsomness so the love the King shewed wa● as amorously conveyed as if he had mistaken their Sex and thought them Ladies which Somers●t and Buckingham did labour to resemble in the Es●eminateness of their Dressings though in wanton Look● and wanton Gestures they exceeded any part of Woman-kind Nor was his Love or what else the World will please to call it carried on with a Discression sufficient to cover a less scandalous Behaviour for the King kissing them after so lascivious a Mode in Publick and upon the Theatre as it were of the World prompted many to imagine things done in the Tiring-House that exceed my Expression no less than they do my Experience Now as to the Poysoning Business of Sir Thomas Overbury on which account King Iames made so many dreadful Imprecations upon himself and Posterity not to spare any that were found Guilty but how he f●iled the Relation will inform The Earl of Montg●mery declining in his Favour with King Iames Mr. R. Carr a very handsome Gentleman and well bred appear'd upon the Stage who chose for his chief Companion Sir Thomas Overbury a Gentleman of excellent Parts but very Proud and Haughty Now was Carr Knighted and Overbury's Pride rose with the others Honours then was the strife between the Two great Statesmen Salisbury and Suffolk who should most indear themselves with this great Favourites Creature Overbury but he with a kind of scorn neglected both their Friendships Northampton finding himself neglected by so mean a Spark as he thought follow'd Balaam's Counsel by sending a Moabitish Woman unto him in which he made use of one Coppinger a Gentleman who had spent a fair Estate and to supply his necessities was turned a kind of Procurer or what the present Town calls a Cock Bawd This Meabitish Woman was a Daughter of the Earl of Suffolk and Wife to the young Earl of Essex This Train took and the first private Meeting was at Coppinger's House This privacy in their stollen Pleasure made Coppinger a Friend to Northampton and Suffolk though but a Servant to Viscount Rochester for so was Carr now made Overbury was that Iohn Baptist that reproved the Lord for that Sin of using the Lady and abusing the young Earl he would often call her Strumpet and her Mother and Brothers Bawds c. Then to satisfie Overbury and blot out the name of Sin his ●ove led him into a more desperate way by a Resolution to Marry another Man's Wife against this then did Overbury exclaim much louder On which a Council was held to concert about the best means to be rid of him The Plot then was he must be sent a Leidger Ambassador into France which by obeying they should be rid of so great an Eye-sore by disobeying he incurred the Displeasure of his Prince ● C●ntempt that he could not expect less than Imprisonment for and by that means be sequ●stred from his Friends And thus far I do believe the Earl of Somerse● for so was he now made was consenting this Stratagem took and Overbury might truly say Video meliora
quae ut reliqua habet omnia Siveritatem non habet obtinere nomen non Potest THE SECRET HISTORY OF King IAMES I. TIme which puts a period to all things under the Sun began now to shea●● the Sword of War that had been long disputing the Controversie which Religion and Policy that Princes mix together had for many Years so fiercely maintained The w●●ring out of that old but glorious and most happy Piece of Soveraignty Queen Elizabeth bating the Spa●ish Violence and ending with the Irish Rebellion and Submission of the great Earl of Tyrone as if the old Genius of Iron-handed War and a new one Crowned with a Palm of Peace had taken Possession of the English Nation Iames the Sixth King of Scotland was Proclaimed King of England For though Princes that find here a Mortal Felicity love not the noise of a Successor in their Life time yet they are willing for the Peace of their People to have one when they can hear no more of it That which this Blessed Queen could not endure from others She was pleased to express her self and bequeath in her last Will as a Legacy to this then happy Na●ion He was Thirty Years of Age when he came to the Crown How dangerous the passage had been from his v●ry Infancy to his middle Age is not only written in may Histories but the untam●d and untractable Spirits of many of that Nation are a sufficient Witness and Record The wise Queen found many petty Titles but none of that Power any other Hand that should have reacht for the Crown might have caught a Cloud of Confusion and those Support●rs and Props that held up Her Greatness loth to submit to Equals made Scaffolds to his Triumphs In the prosecution of w●at I shall remark relating to this King● I shall avoid all unnecessary Severity and observe mo●e Duty and Respect than may possibly be thought due by Posterity to the Person of a Prince that after so exact a Pattern as Queen Elizabeth left him did by debauching Parliaments and so often breaking his Word so far irritate no less than impoverish the Subject as his Son was forced to give Concession to one rend●red indissolvable but by their own Will A mischief never could have befallen England had King Iames left them in the same blessed Serene temper he found them at the Death of the Queen The News of which was brought him first by Cary after Earl of Monmouth who not able to satisfie such a concourse of Doub●s and Questions● as far more resolute Natures than His do o●ten muster up on less occas●ons the King stood as in a maze being more affected through the fear of Opposition than pleased with the present Report till by a lamer Post He was adver●ised of His being joy●ully Proclaimed in London by the Lord Mayor and Aldermen and of the unquestioned Recep●ion His Title in all Places met with no less than that the Hopes of some and Fe●rs of the major part assisted by the prudent Carriage of the Treasurer and ranting Protestations of the Earl of Northumberland that in all Places vapoured he would bring Him in by the Sword had stopped their Mouths that desired he might be obliged to Articles Amongst these truly Noble Heroick and Publick Spirits was Sir Walter Rawleigh the Lord Cobham Sir Iohn Fortescue c. Who were all af●erwards ruined by the King and the Noble Sir Walter most Barbarously c●t o●f This Prince held his Thoughts so intent upon Ease and Pleasure that to a●oid any interruption likely to impede any part of the Felicity he had possessed his imagination with from the Union of these Crowns and to fit an Example for his Neighbours imitation whom he desired to bring into the like Resolution he cast himself as it were blindfold into a Peace with Spain far more destructive to England than a War King Iames throughout his whole Reign contenting himself with the humble thought of being a Terror to his own People not valluing that himself or Nation should make any considerable Figure among Forreign Princes At his first coming he was long detained from Westminster by a Plague looked upon as the greatest till exceeded in that which broke out after his Death taken by the ill boding English for a presage of worse Days than they had already seen The good Government of Queen Elizabeth not being in probability likely to bear the Charges without falling into some destructive commotion of Two such Expensive Princes Succession without having one more popular to intervene After the Peace of too much concernment to his Catholick Majesty to afford him leisure to imagine much less to insert so rugged an Article as the performance of any Promise our King had ●ade ●efore his Reception in case the Papists did not oppose which I have found Registred by many and so high as amounted to a Toleration at least if not an Establishing of Popery he then observed in prudence it could not be conceded by this new King having so many of his Subjects Protestants for one of the Romish Profession and being b●sides no more Zealous than other Princes that make use of a Religion only for a Fence to immure their Persons and Prerogatives but ●steem it a meer accident where reason of State drives on a Bargain without it These neglects of the Kings of Spain and England the first remaining as careless of his Faith as the other did of the performance of his Word put the Roman C●tholicks for the present into so great a Despair● that led them into that damned Conspira●y called the Gun powder Treason the account of which in general is so well known that I need not here ●nlarge only give some hints concerning it which is not common to be met with The French Ambassador then resident at Court affirming to some Persons of Quality his Intimates That the first Intimation of the Powder T●eason came from his Master who received it from the Jesui●s of his Faction to the end he might share in our Ruines The Kingdom of England being in the Pope's own Judgment at that time too great an addition to that of Spain where though it was first coined some say during the days of Queen Elizabeth ● yet the Priests that undertook the promoting of it sought to render it the most beneficial they could to their respective Patrons And here I cannot omit that after this happy Discovery his Majesty sent an Agent on purpose to Cougratulate King Iames's great Preservation A Flattery so palpable as the Pope could not refrain laughing in the Face of Cardinal D' Ossat when he first told it him nor he forbear to inform his King of it as may be found in his Printed Letters it being notorious that at King Iames's first assumption to the Throne of England none sought his Destruction more cordi●lly than the Spaniard till a continued Tract of Experience had fully acquai●ted him with his Temper Nor was our King himself backward in ●omenting
deteriora sequar for he indeed made the worst choice it could not be thought but such an Imployment was much better to him to have accepted than to be confined to a loa●hsome Prison Having him now fast in Prison Herodias by pleasing her Herod must also ask and have his Life for Perscelus ad scele●● tuti●r est via to that end they preferred Emposides to be Servant to Sir Gervase Elway's then Lieutenant of the Tower and a very Wise Religious Gentleman he was so ignorant of the Pl●t as he never Dreamt of any such matter until one day as it should seem Weston being told E●●ays did know wherefore he was preferred unto him to wait on Overbury he a●ked the Lieutenant whether he should now do i● Elways replied What Weston at that being somewhat abashed which Elways quickly apprehended replied No not yet for he did believe there was something known to Weston instantly he hasted away being a little before Dinner and went into his Study and Weston being come he exa●i●ed him the meaning of that Question at last between fair means and threatning perswaded him to con●ess the ●ruth then Elways as he well could laid before Weston the horridness of the Fact the torments of Hell c. At last made him so sensible that he gave the Lieutenant humble thanks for that he had been instrumental in saving his Soul by putting him off from so soul intentions and faithfully promised never to be concerned in so foul at Act and for a long time as faithfully performed The Lieutenant ordered Weston to bring him such things as were sent to give Overbury which he accordingly did the Lieutenant ever gave them to Doggs and Catts some of which died presently others lingred some time During this time the Earl continued sending to visit Overbury wheedling him with an assurance that he did not forget his Release At last the Countess growing impatient sent for Weston reviling him saying he was a Treacherous Villain on which he promised her Fidelity to the future yet the Countess would not trust him alone any more but joined one Franklin to him a greater Villain than himself Some time after these Two Villains had carried Overbury the Tarts they went to his Chamber and found him in great Torment with Contention between strength of Nature and working of the Poyson and they fearing Nature would have gotten the better and that it might come upon the judgment of Physicians that foul Play had been offered him they immediately stifled him between Two Pillows and so ended his miserable Life with the assurance of the Conspirators that he dyed by Poyson none thinking otherwise but the Two Murtherers Now this grand obstacle being removed the Adulterous Marriage must be brought about and for the more easie effecting of it they did without much trouble make the King a Party in this Bawdy business and the Bishops likewise must be principal Actors in bringing this Bawdery to a Marriage of whom Bilson Bishop of Winchester was chief for which the King Knighted his Son The Bishops had many Meetings in which there wanted no Bribes from the Lord and Lady to h●ve this Nullity brought to pass wherein the Discourse would have better befitted the Mouths of Bawds and Ruffians than grave Divines Arch-bishop Abbot opposed and protested against all their Proceedings for which the King held him in disgrace to his Dying day To make up the full measure of Bawdry and to justifie the Nullity a search must be made into the Lady to find whether there had been a Penetration and a Jury of grave Matrons were found fit for that purpose who with their Spectacles ground to lessen not to make the Letter larger after their Inspection into the Premises gave Verdict she was Intacta Virgo which was thought very strange for the World took notice that her way was very common before ever Somerset trod in it besides they two having lived so long in Adultery together The Plot was contrived thus The Lady of Essex pretending Modesty makes humble Suit to the Bawdy Bishops who were all concerned in this Stratagem that she might come Vailed into the Court which they all readily granted One Mrs. Turner was dressed in the Countesses Cloaths and at that time too young to be other than Virgo Intacta Now is the Nullity pronounced and the Marriage with Somerset speedily Solemnized but sweet Meat must have sowr S●wce For not long after Thrumbal Agent at Bruxels had by one Reeve an Apothecaries Prentice in London that was come there on some Occasions gotten hold of this Poysoning Business on which he presently wrote to Secretary Wynwood that he had business of great consequence to discover but would not send i● therefore desired License to come over which after some time the King granted and now had they good Testimony by the Apothecary who revealed Weston Mrs. Turner and Francklin to be the Principal Agents yet it being the time of the King's Progress nothing was done in it till his Return Secretary Wynwood having been affronted and much abused by Somerset in his Secretaryship does now carry himself in a kind of braving way against him being struck in with the Faction of Viller's who was now the risi●g Sun and King Iames's darling Favourites King Iames being returned from his Summers Progress returns to Windsor from thence to Hampton-Court then to White-Hall and sho●tly after to Royston to begin his Winter Journey And now begins the Game to be plaid in which the Earl and Countess of Somerset must be Losers the Lord Chief Justice Coke and Secretary Wynwood the managers against them The day the King went from VVhite-Hall to Theobald's and so to Royston he sent for all the Judges his Lords and Servants encircling him where kneeling down in the midst he spoke to them as followeth My Lords the Iudges It is lately come to my hearing that you have now in Examinati●n a Business of Po●soning Lord in what a most miserable Conditi●n shall this Kingdom be the only famous Nation for Hospitality in the World if our Tables should become such a S●are as none could E●t without da●ger of Life and the Italian Custom be introduced among us Therefore my Lords I Charge you as you will answer it at the great and dreadful day of Iudgment that you will examine it strictly without F●v●●● Affection or Partiality and if you shall spare any that are found Guilty of this Crime God's Curse light on you and your Posterity And if I spare any God's Curse light on Me and my Posterity for ever But how this dreadful Thunder Curse or Imprecation was performed the following account will shew The King goes to Ro●ston accompanied with the Earl of S●merset the next day the Earl being to go to London went to kiss the King's Hand who hanged about his Neck slabberi●g his Cheeks saying When shall I see you again On my Soul I shall neithe● Eat nor Sleep until you come again The Earl told him
People freely to Elect their Representatives In the Year 1634. The Design of Ship-Money was first set on Foot and Attorney General No● being consulted about he pretends out of some Musty Records to find an Ancient President of raising a Tax on the Nation by the Authority of the King alone for setting out a Navy in case of danger which was thereupon put in Execution though no● without great Discontent both among the Clergy and Laiety Discontents in Scotland likewise began to increase and a Book was Printed and Published charging the King with indirect Proceedings and having a tendency to the Rtmish Belief And now to blow up these Scotch Sparks to a Flame C. Richeli● sent over his Chaplain and another Gentleman to heighten their Differences And some time a●ter viz. the latter end of the Year 1653. great Differences arose about Church-Matters in England chiefly occasioned by A. B. Laud's strict enjoyning many new Ceremonies not formerly insisted on and now vehemently opposed by those called Puritans to whom adhered many of the Episcopal Party Several Gentlemen of Quality had refused to pay the Ship-Money and among the rest Esquire Hambden of Bucks upon which the King refers the whole Business to the Twelve Judges in Michdelmas Term 1636. Ten of whom gave their Judgments against Hambden but Hutton and Cook refused it The King 1637. Issuing out a Proclamation in Scotland Commanding the Use of the Liturgy Surplice Altar c. There occasioned great Disorders and Tumults among the Common People who sometime after with the Gen●ry entred into a Solemn League and Covenant to preserve the Religion then profest The Covenant the Scots were resolved to maintain and to that purpose they sent privately for General Lesley and other great Officers from beyond Sea providing themselves likewise with Arms c. After this they Elect Commissioners for the general Assembly whom they cite to move the Arch Bishops and Bishops to appear there as guilty Persons which being refused the People present a Bill of Complaint against them to the Presbitery at Edenburg who accordingly warned them to appear at the next General Assembly At their Meeting the Bishops sent in a Protestation against their Assembly which the Covenanters thought not fit to Read And soon after they abolished Episcopacy and then prepared for a War On which the King prepares an Army against them with which Anno. 1639. He Marches in Person into the North but by the Mediation of some Persons a Trea●ise of Peace was begun but soon broken off The King therefore confiders how to make Provisions for Men and Money and calling a Secret Cabinet Council consisting only of Lau● Strafford and Hamilton it was concluded That for the King●s Supply a Parliament must be Called in England and another in Ireland The Scots fore-seeing the Storm prepared for their own Defence making Treaties in Swede● Denmark Holland and Poland And the Jesuits who are never ●dle endeavoured to Foment In the Year 1640. and the Sixteenth of the Kings Reign a Parliament was Called in which the King pr●sses the●●or a speedy Supply to Suppress what he calls the Violences of the Scots bu● this Parliament not complying with the Kings desire were by the advice of the Iuncto Dissolved having only sate Twenty Two Days Laud by his violent Proceedings against those called Puritans and by his strict enjoyning of old un-observed Ceremonies which by many were thought Popish procured to himself much Hatred from the generality of People That upon May 9. 1640. a Paper was fixt on the Royal Exchange inciting the Prentices to go and Sack his House at Lambeth the Monday a●ter but the Arch-Bishop had notice of their Design and provided accordingly that at the time when they came endeavouring to enter his House they were repulsed The King calls a select Juncto to consult about the Scots where the Earl of Strafford delivered his Mind in such terms as afterwards proved his ruine War against them was resolved on and Money was to be procured one way or other The City was invited to Lend but absolutely re●used Some of the Gentry contributed indifferent freely So that with their assistance the Army was compleated the King himself being Generalissimo marches his Army into the North where was some Action in which the Scots had the better A Treaty is then set on foot and at last concluded the chief Conditions for the calling a Parliament in England who accordingly Met Nov. 3. 1640. And the King in his Speech tells them That the Scotish Troubles were the cause of their Meeting● and therefore requires them to consider of the most expedient means for c●sting them out and desired a Supply from them for maintaining of his Army The Commons began with the Voting down all Monopolies and all such Members as had any benefit by them were voted out of the House They then voted down Ship-Money with the Opinion of the Judges thereupon to be Illegal and a charge of High Treason was ordered to be drawn up against Eight of them and they begun with the Keeper Finch Decemb. 11. Alderman Pennington and some Hundreds of Citizens presented a Petition subscribed by 15000 Hands against Church Discipline and Ceremonies and then the Commons Voted That the Clergy in a Convocation have no power to make Canons or Laws without Parliaments and that the Canons are against the Fundamental Laws of the Realm the King's Prerogative and the Property of the Subject the Right of Parliaments and tend to Fa●tion and Sedition In pursuance hereof a Charge was ordered to be drawn up against Arch-Bishop Laud and others and after voted Guilty of High Treason and sent to the Tower The Sc●ts likewise preferred a Charge against the Arch-Bishop and the Earl of Strafford requiring Justice against them both as the great Incendiaries and Disturbers both of Church and St●te On Monday March 25. 1640. the Earl of S●rafford's Tryal began in Westmin●ter Hall the King Queen and Prince being present and the Commons being there likewise as a Committee at the managing their Accusation the chief of whom was Pym. The Earl made a long defence but the Commons were resolved to prosecute him to Death and to proceed against him by Bill of Attainder which they proceeded to dispatch And upon the 25th of Ap●il they passed the Bill and a few days after the Lords did likewise The Bill being finished and the King willing to save the Earl May 21. makes a Speech to both Houses in the Earl's behalf and so Dismissed them to their great Discontent Which was propagated so far that May 23. we●e 1000. Citizens most of them Armed came thronging to Westminster crying out for Justice against the Earl of Strafford On Sunday following the King consulted the Judges and several Bishops M●nday May 10. The King gives Commission to several Lords to Pass Two Bills● One the Bill of Attainder against Strafford the Other for continuing the Parliament during the Pleasure of Both Houses The next
either ●he Pe●sons whom he had reliev'd came to be accus'd or he to be prosecuted upon this account And by the same Justice it was that Mr. Robert Bailzie of Ierismond was Hanged and Quartered for a Crime of which he had been Impeached and Tryed bef●re the Council and fined Six Thousand Pounds Sterling And all this his Highness did by over-ruling the Lawyers of Scotland by which means he had made the Judges and Jury as malicious against the Protestants and is Revengeful against the Asserters of the Liber●ies of Seotland as himself Such Exorbitancies of Injustice and Arbitrary Power that his Brother could never have e●dured in a Subject had they not been a●●ed all along with his Knowledge and Consent Otherwise had not the King been strangely infatuated to beli●ve that whatever his Brother d●d was for the Advancemen● of that Cause to which he was so well effected himself he could never have been so un-apprehensive of the Danger he was in from a Brother so actually in a Conspiracy against his Life For which Reason he was by the E. of Shaftsbury said to be a Prince n●t to be paralell`d in Hist●ry For certainly b●sides the early Tryal which the King had of his Ambition beyond Sea he h●d a fair warning of the hasty Advances which he made to his Throne in a s●ort time after his Marriage to the Queen For no sooner was it discovered the Queen was unlikely ●o have any Issue by the King but he and his Part● made Proclam●tion of it to the World and that he was the certain Heir He takes his Seat in Parliament as Prince of Wales with his Guards about him He assumes the Princes Lodgings at White-Hall his Guards upon the same place without any intermission between him and the King so that the King was in his Hands and Power every Night All Offices and Preferments are bestowed upon him and at his Disposition not a Bishop made without him After this he changes his Religion to make a Party and such a Party that his Brother must besure to die and be made away` to make room for him And for the undeniable Proof of all this a● length the Plot breaks out headed by the Duke his Interest vnd Design Plain it was that where-ever he came he endeavour'd to remove all Obstacles to his intended Designs out of the way And therefore some there are who attribute the Extremity of the Duke`s rigour towards the Earl of Argyle to the great Authority which the Earl had in some part of the High-Lands and the Awe which he had over the Papi●ts as being Lord Justiciary in those parts and his being able upon any occ●sion to check and bridle the Marq. of Huntly now Duke of Gourdon f●●m attempting the Dist●rbance of the Publick Peace or the prejudice of the Protestants However this is observable That notwitstanding the height of severity which was extended to him there was as much favour shewn the Lord Macdonald whose invading the Shire of Argyle with an Armed Force meerly because he was required by the said Earl as being given him for what he did though when the Council sent a Herald to him to require him to di●band his Forces he caused his Coat to be torn from his Back and sent him back to Edinburgh with all the Marks both of Contempt of themselves and Disgrace to the Publick Officer But his Religion was sufficient to attone at that time for his Treason And now the Duke having a standing Army of Five Thousand Foot and Five Hundred Horse in Scotland at his Devotion as well as in England and the Parliament the main Object of his Hatred and his Fear being dissolved back he returns into England where under the shelter of his Brother`s Authority he began in a short time to exert his Tyrannous Disposition and play the same unjust and Arbitrary Pranks as he had done in Scotland and because it was not seasonable yet to make use of Armed Forces he set his Westminster-Hall Red-Coats like Pioneers before a Marching Army to level the way for Popery and Arbitrary Controul to march in over the ruined Estates and murder'd Bodies of their Opposers The Iudges were his Slaves the Iuries at his be●k nothing could withstand him the Law it self grows lawless and Iefferies ridden pl●ys the Debaushee like himself Justice or something in her likeness Swaggers Hectors Whips Imprisons Fines Draws Hangs and Qu●rters● and Beheads all that come near her under the Duke's displeasure Alderman Pilkington the Late Honourable Lord Mayor for standing up for the Rights and Liberties of the City and for refusing to pack a Jury to take away the Earl of Shaftsbury's Life is Prosecuted upon a Scandalu● Magnatum at the Sui● of the Duke Convicted and Condemned in a Verdict of an Hundred Thousand Pounds And Sir Patience Wa●d for offering to confront the ●uborn'd Witnesses is Indicted of Perjury for which he w●s forced to fly to Vtretcht to avoid the Infamy of the Pillory though in all his Dealings so well known to be a Person of that Justice and Integrity that for all the hopes of the Duke he would not have told an untruth Sir Samuel Bernardiston for two or three treacherously intercepted Letters to his Friends in the Countrey fin'd ten thousand pounds which he was not suffer●d to discharge by Quarterly Payments but the Esta●e seized by the Duke's Sollicitors to the end he might have an opportunity to be the more prodigal in the wake o● it But this hunting after the Lives as well as the Estates of others was more intollerable and that be the prostituted Testimony of sub●rn'd I●ish ● Rogues and Vagabonds and when that would not take the desired Effect by the ●orced Evidence of Persons ensnared and shackled under the Terrors of Death till the drudgery of Swearing was over Men so fond of Life that they bought the uncertain prolongation of a wicked Mortality at the unhollowed price of certain and immortal Infamy And therefore not knowing how to die when they knew not how to live accounted it a more gainful Happiness to quit the Pardon of Heaven's Tribunal for the Broad Seal of England By this means fell the Vertuous Lord Russell a Sacrifice to the Bill of ●xclusion and the Duke's Reveege and yet of that Integri●y to his Country and untainted course of Life of whom never any spoke evil but those that knew no evil in him only because he was one of those who sought to exclude the Duke from the hopes of Tyranny and Oppression the Duke was resolv'd to exclude him from the Earth But then comes the Murther of the Earl of Essex for that it was a most Barbarous and Inhumane Murther committed by Bravo`s and bloody Ruffians set on hired and encouraged by potent Malice and Cruelty the preguant Circumstances no less corroborated by Testimonies wanting only the confirmation of Legal Judicature has been already so clearly made out that there is no place left for a hesitating belief