the End of the World We are next to enquire how this Fag End of a Parliament behav'd it self having got the Power into their Hands or rather were the Substitutes the Properties of the Army for that is their truest Character And here to let the Nation see their Business should not be done by Halves they began with these Resolves 1. That the People under God are the Original of all just Power 2. That the Commons of England assembled in Parliament being chosen by and representing the People have the supream Authority of this Nation 3. That whatsoever is enacted and declared for Law by the Commons hath the Force of a Law 4. That all the People of this Nation are included thereby although the Consent of the King and House of Peers be not had thereto 5. That to raise Arms against the People's Representatives is high Treason 6. That the King himself took Arms against the Parliament and upon that account is guilty of the Blood shed through the Civil War and that he ought to expiate the Crime with his own Blood Whose Tryal they fell to immediately and with an unparallel Impudence founded their Dominion in the Blood of the Lord 's Anointed and their Liege Sovereign whereas granting their Position of the People's Right to be true as it is abominably false there was not the tenth Part of the Commons at the making that cursed Ordinance nor would one in a thousand of the People have assented thereunto and this the Lady Fairfax told them at the Tryal from an adjoyning Scaffold Had that Tool her Husband shewn the like Courage it might have turn'd to Account but Men that have a long time habituated themselves in Mischief God seldom permits to be Instruments of any Good To be sure as this cursed Fact rendred the Rump most infamous to all Degrees thoroughout the Nation so the Grandees of the Army after they had traiterously serv'd their turn paid them as little Respect and thought they were too contemptible a Body to manage so great a Trust to which purpose the Agitators as soon as they had first purg'd the House declared it was requisite to have a more equal Representative and accordingly printed a Model which they called The Agreement of the People and so continued frequently harping upon the same String and pressing to have it taken into Consideration which forc'd them upon what our Author declares Page 313. And now the Parliament being desirous to let the People see that they design'd not to perpetuate themselves after they should be able to make a compleat Settlement of Affairs and provide for the Security of the Nation c. Resolv'd that the House would upon every Wednesday Morning turn themselves into a grand Committee to debate concerning the Manner of assembling and Power of future successive Parliaments the Number of Persons to serve for each County that the Nation might be more equally represented c. And thus they continued two or three Years and would have till Doomsday according to their own Vote since they resolv'd not to rise till a compleat Settlement of Affairs and the Nation 's Security provided for But Cromwell was resolv'd they should not stay till then yet having a different Design from all his Fellow Rebels kept them in till that was ripe in Order whereunto Ireland must be first brought into perfect Subjection And then the Scotch gave him an Opportunity of retaliating their many Outrages Invasions and such like Covenant Kindnesses which he did to purpose And having gain'd the Crowning Victory as he term'd it at Worcester thought it then a fit Time to pull off his Vizard and send that Pack of Rascals as he call'd them at a Nobleman's Table a Grazing the Account whereof as our Author gives it from the 447th Pag. forward is very pleasant and shews that though they were every one profoundly practised in those Hellish Arts of Treachery and Dissimulation yet Cromwell infinitely outdid them all They were but petty Devils in Comparison with him that true Lucifer incarnate But what our Author saith of their being supported by the Affections of the People Pag. 459 because acting for their Interest is so gross so palpable a Lye as sure he could not believe his Memoirs should be printed till every Man then living was dead Next the Restauration I never knew any thing more grateful the whole Kingdom thorough than their Dismission it was the only popular Act wherein Cromwell oblig'd all Parties and made his Usurpation more tolerable by ridding us of the most contemptible Set of Men that ever sat at the Helm of any Government But 't is the common Cant of our Commonwealth Coxcombs and 't is us'd as much by our Author as any of them to give that Handful of Fools and Knaves which adher'd to them the Title of the Godly Party and all the good People of England Well now they are gone and had six Years time to fret and bite their Nails for we may guess at their Regret by the Spite and Revenge they were guilty of when got again in play which they could never do as long as Cromwell trod the Stage but when he was carried off the Army resolv'd to revenge his tricking them upon Richard who succeeded him and could think of no better Tools to effect that Work than by setting their old Iournymen the Rump about it in order whereunto they plac'd them in the Workhouse and set them to the Business which they soon dispatch'd although they had much ado to find a Number sufficient for however our Author pretends he gave Dr. Owen a List of 160 which had sate since the Year 48 they were forc'd to send for Munson and Harry Martyn out of the Goal to make up a Quorum of 40. from which time forward to their final Expiration there can be nothing more comical in any History Romance or Play than the several Transactions Caballings and Intrigues amongst them as related all along by our Author what Iealousies and Distrusts they had of one another what Plots and Counterplots Turnings out and in Quarrels Treaties and Patchings up wherein our Author tells us what pains he took and with what Moderation he proceeded to little purpose God be prais'd One thing more especially they could never get over and that was a settled well fix'd Form of Government The Army were resolv'd upon a standing Senate of their own Body I presume to over-awe the civil Representatives The Rump on the other hand thought themselves so much their Masters as to vote the Speaker General and order that all even the most supream Officers should have no Commissions but from him whereupon what passed between Sir Arthur Haslerig and Lambert pag. 677 may be thought worth relating Lambert complain'd how that Act left them at Mercy only said Sir Arthur at the Mercy of the Parliament who are your good Friends I know not reply'd the other why they should not be at our Mercy as well as we
of the Irish Rebels arrived in England filling all places with the sad complaints of their Cruelties whereupon the Parliament earnestly press'd the King to proclaim them Rebels but could not obtain it to be done till many weeks and then but forty of those Proclamations were Printed and not above half of them Published which was the more observ'd and resented by reason of the different treatment the Scotch had met with who no sooner appear'd in a much better cause but they were forthwith declared Rebels in every Parish Church within the Kingdom p. 19. A very plausible story but for want of one thing and that is Truth whereof it hath not the least Syllable For first the Parliament never press'd the King for a Proclamation Secondly the Fourty Proclamations printed were not for this Kingdom but Ireland So that Thirdly there could be no ground of resentment upon the Scotch account but by such pick-thank fellows as Ludlow and his Party In short the matter of Fact stands exactly thus The Parliament as they were very inquisitive to catch at every thing which might give them an advantage against the Court having underhand information that a Warrant was sent to the Printer for the foremention'd Proclamations to be forthwith provided open'd very loud upon it Why so few Why no sooner c. The Printer was summon'd the Warrant produc'd and a mighty bustle made as generally the cry is greatest where the least Wool In the midst of which heats the Secretary of State gave this account of the matter that the Proclamations were printed at the Request of the Lords Iustices and Privy-Council in Ireland who desir'd to have twenty sign'd by his Majesty's own hand and no more who nevertheless order'd forty and sent them accordingly I do not remember the cause was given to the Parliament why so sign'd But 't is probable to invalidate that forg'd Commission whereto they had fix'd the Kings Broad-Seal granted to a private person upon a Title of Land Otherwise there had been Proclamations several from the first day the Rebellion broke out in Ireland the only place where requisite But why not in England as well as against the Scotch as our Author insinuates whereto I reply First the Scotch had seiz'd upon at leastwise assum'd the Administration of the whole Civil Power so that no Proclamation could come out against them there Secondly they had too many abettors in England who encourag'd them to begin and were resolv'd to follow the first opportunity So that thirdly the Proclamation must come from hence or not at all and was equally requisite against both What he adds farther of the Scotch being the much better Cause is only the private opinion of a fellow Rebel they were both so bad as upon an impartial scanning it would puzzle their Infernal Patron to tell which was worst Having had the confidence to averr two such impudent falshoods as aforementioned 't is strange how he comes to mince the matter so much as to the third and tell us the Rebels in Ireland pretended a Commission from the K. for what they did and his Abstract the Defence gives indeed a Copy therefore but withal goes no farther than that it was said to be given by the King to his Catholick Subjects in Ireland p. 14. Whereas there was no one Slander more confidently thrown abroad than that and continued longer nay I have met with several Fanaticks within these few years who still take it for an undoubted truth and what they have so long entertain'd nothing but the final Iudgment can make them renounce Once for all therefore to silence this Infamous Calumny we must know the Commonalty of the Native Irish having liv'd a long time in Peace and Amity with the English were not without some Reverence to that Government and so could not in plain and direct terms be easily led into an avowed Rebellion against their King whereupon their leaders Phelim Oneil c. were forced to perswade them that they took up Arms for the King and the Defence of his Lawful Prerogative against the Puritanical Parliament in England who had invaded it in many parts and that what they did was by his Majesty's Approbation and Authority And to gain the greater Credit to that Fiction they produc'd a Commission whereto the Broad-Seal taken from a private grant was affix'd as aforesaid which made it no difficult matter to perswade rude and unexperienced people to believe it real all which in a short time was clearly detected as well by several Irish Rebels taken Prisoners as English Protestants who escap'd their fury particularly Dr. Maxwell a Reverend Scotch Divine against which Nation they were not so Savagely cruel as the English in his Examination and Deposition upon Oath at Dublin which was sent too into England declar'd That he whilst their Prisoner expostulated with them for abusing the King in so gross a manner To whom they reply'd That in all Wars Rumors and Lyes serv'd many times to as good purpose as Arms and that they wou'd not disclaim any advantage But to silence for ever that horrid Scandal of his Majesty's Commission we have an unexceptionable Evidence and Proof which will not only clear him but render our Author Ludlow were there nothing else against him a much worse Man than the bloody'st Wretch in the whole Irish Rebellion In the Year 52 our English Regicides having very nigh compleated their Conquest Erected what they termed an High-Court of Iustice in Ireland to hear and determine all Murthers and Massacres of any Protestant English or other Person or Persons whatsoever within that Nation where amongst many others the Iustice and Mercy of Heaven had reserv'd Sir Phelim Oneil to receive his deserved Doom at whose Arraignment Sentence and Execution another Reverend Divine one Dr. Ker since Dean of Ardagh by God's great good Providence was present and makes a full Deposition thereof As where the Court was kept what Iudges sat what Witnesses sworn the many Murthers and Robberies prov'd c. After which he comes to this material Evidence as to the present matter That one of the Iudges whose name he had forgot Examined Sir Phelim about a Commission he should have had from Charles Stewart as the Iudge thought fit to term late King for levying the said War he was charg'd with Sir Phelim made Answer he never had any such Commission whereupon it was prov'd in Court by the Testimony of one Ioseph Traverse and others that Sir Phelim had such a Commission and did in the beginning of the Rebellion shew the same unto the said Ioseph and several others then in Court. Upon which Sir Phelim confess'd that when he surpriz'd the Castle of Charlemont and the Lord Caulfield that he ordered one Mr. Harrison a Witness there and another Gentleman to cut off the Kings Broad-Seal from a Patent of the said Lords they then found in Charlemont and affixt it to a Commission Sir Phelim had ordered to
Spirits unguarded spoil'd of any other restraint than that All-Seeing Eye which hath too little influence upon the rest of Mankind On the other side their declining Fortune constantly runs into extreams or if they go to the Grave in Peace their Ashes are certainly Arraign'd for whatever the Importunity of Dependents Distraction of Counsels Exigency of Affairs or Iniquity of the Times forc'd them upon And herein no History affords a more deplorable Instance than that of our Royal and Blessed Martyr who having run a Course of the most inhuman Treatments ever offered to Crown'd Head since that of Thorns was worn and then universally acquitted not only by the Grand Inquest of the Nation but by all others who had the least Sense of Honour Truth or Virtue in their Souls hath now of late been Murther'd afresh his Memory so despitefully Assaulted and the many Old Calumnies and Reproaches so maliciously Reviv'd as if there had been nothing done or said in his Vindication Could they alledge any thing de Novo it might give a fresh Gloss to their Bafled Cause but their Malice did so fully disgorge it self at first as they can only New Chew the same Coleworts take down and Vomit up again those Villanous Defamations which have been as often answer'd as urg'd and perhaps had not been urg'd again did they not hope the Licentiousness of the Age which God forbid would bear them out and enable them to crush any one who should dare to reply He who to the best of my Observation first brake the Ice upon this unworthy Subject was one Roger Coke Esq in Two Volumes which he calls Detections of the four last Reigns a Title of great sound and cannot but raise an Expectation in every inquisitive Reader of some great Discoveries some deep Mysteries of State or Mischievous Intrigues the World hath not hitherto been acquainted with Whereas I defie any of his Abettors for he is gone to his proper Place to produce one single Passage which hath not been alledg'd and reply'd to before and as often reply'd to as alledg'd An Abridgment of all the Libels and all the Lyes since the coming in of King Iames the first had been a more agreeable Title for though Rushworth's Collections and the Life of Lord Keeper Williams are mostly cited by him Authors too too partial yet there is not one Roguy Pamphlet from Sr. A. W.'s Court of King Iames to Milton's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I speak in reference to the first Volume only which hath not afforded Materials for this ill-natur'd Malicious Work neither could any one expect otherwise who knew the Man and his Conversation being of an haughty positive Humour with all the other ill Qualities of his Grandfather the great Lord Chief Iustice Coke and perhaps too by Natural descent without any of the good Indeed he seem'd to be the Caput Mortuum of that high Spirit so dull and insipid as Spight it self could not raise him for 't is thought he wrote those bitter Invectives against the Royal Family to be reveng'd on King Iames the first for deposing his Grandfather although 't is well known his Arbitrary and Insolent deportment in that great Trust made it absolutely necessary but engaging in the popular Cause afterward that expiated for all In short the Whole of all what he calls a History is of as loose a Contexture as our Capitation Stuff and of as Course a Composition scare giving a good Word to any Person or any Party He declares a suspition of offending the Commonwealth's Men and yet obliges them with one continued Libel against Monarchy whereunto he was too well qualified by the predominancy of a Swelling Spleen and Overflowing Gall with other unhappy Circumstances both as to Temper and Condition so that had they not been thus Vented 't is to be feared he might with Iudas have burst asunder Yet this Uncouth Piece because False and foul Mouth'd took to Admiration among the several Factions insomuch as in two Years time no less than three Impressions were wrought off indeed they had not been gratified with any thing of that kind for several Years before and such perverse Dispositions like Men in Fevers will greedily swallow whatever allays the present Drought of their Minds tho' it promotes the Distemper and hastens their Ruin And upon this account is there such Care taken of a fresh supply so that an Undesigning Integrity cannot but be concern'd for the next Age which generally gives the best account of that which preceded how it will be able to Cull out the Truth from those Numberless Volumes of Lyes and Forgeries which every Commonwealth Bigot and Mercenary Pen is free to impose upon the World According to what I mention'd of a fresh Supply some Months since these Memoirs of Ludlow came forth and are altogether as much in Vogue as the Detections were at first tho' as to the Libelling part upon our Royal Martyr it discovers nothing but the same inveterate Spight and repeated Untruths set forth in another Method and different Appearance wherein that Spirit of Calumny and Delusion which possesses every Individual throughout their several Tribes knowing how much they delight in variety does most readily gratify them finding it the readiest means to secure their complyance in the grossest Impositions and falsest Slanders Whilst I am Writing this there are two Pamphlets more come to my Hand in comparison whereof the Two former may pass for Candid Modest Writers Their Titles are A Defence of the Parliament of 1640. and the People of England against King Charles I. And King Charles I. no such Saint or Martyr as commonly Reputed both which without doubt were design'd for the last Effort of Fanatick Effrontie and thought to give as fatal a stroke to the Martyr's Reputation as the Ax did to his Life and if the rudest Language that ever was Pen'd and the impudentest Lies that ever were Told could be any ways Effectual thereunto their work is throughly done for there is not one Sentence in both these Libels but must come under both those Characters Milton had Wit and Stile to flourish off his malicious Reproaches but here is such Billinsgate stuff as never burthen'd the Press till our Salamanca Graduate led the Van and if he wrote as is commonly reported by a Club these doubtless came from the same Fraternity Their Stile their Sense and Good Manners exactly accord and so do their Temper and Complection all of the same Metal true Monumental Brass and 't is great pity they are not every one severally Erected without any Pedestals to support them However I will not so positively place it here as to exclude their Counterpart that Club of Calves-Heads at the other end of Town 'T is in the mean while an unhappy Consideration and never thought consistent with any well ordered Government that every impudent profligate Wretch should assume a Liberty of Arraigning at Pleasure all Orders and Degrees of Men both Living and Dead even
to the Sacred Ashes of the best Man and most abused Prince that ever sat upon a Throne May not the Great God who Iudgeth right upon defect of all Earthly Powers in doing Iustice to injur'd Innocence and oppressed Virtue be hereby provok'd to Arise and Defend his own Cause Remember the Rebukes his Servants have whereby their Enemies take occasion to blaspheme his Name and slander the Footsteps of his Anointed A JUST DEFENCE OF THE Royal Martyr CHARLES I. PART I. CHAP. I. The Commonwealth Party could never agree upon any one Model OUR Author begins his Memoirs with the Ruin of his Cause the Roasting of the Rump which doubtless was a great disappointment very much to his prejudice and therefore in reference to his own dear Self we will grant he had Reason to complain That having seen our Cause betray'd and the most solemn Promises that could be made to the Asserters of it openly Violated I departed from my Native Country c. Now because this Cause of his is so much magnified throughout both his Volumes as the only Means of securing the Liberty Safety and publick Interest of the People whereas the Office of a King was Burdensom and Dangerous the House of Peers useless upon which account both ought to be Abolished and the Government settled in the way of a Common-wealth the two first Votes they made after their Execrable Parricide it will I hope be thought no improper digression to examin the Rise of this excellent Model how it came first in Power How it behav'd it self whilst so and what became of it in the end In order whereunto we must know that the Violent and Numerous Faction in that fatal long Parliament of Forty were all of one piece so long as the King was able to bear up and most implacable against all such Loyal Faithful Members as adher'd unto him some of which they turn'd out of the House and forc'd many others to withdraw as well for the security of their Persons as in Obedience to their Consciences which oblig'd them to stand by their injur'd Prince so that in Ianuary 43 the King assembled at Oxon a greater Number of Lords and Commons then sat at Westminster although the latter supply'd themselves with a sort of Cattle call'd Recruiters from such Corporations and Burroughs as were within their Quarters where they might be sure of confiding Men who would not fail to carry on the Work as they had begun But divine Vengeance designing further to scourge us with our own Rod though it gave Success to their rebellious Arms yet withal so divided them amongst themselves as they that expected most had least of the Spoil whilst the Bear and the Wolf the Presbyterian and Independent contended one cunning Fox ran off with the Prey for as soon as the Royal Cause was vanquish'd those two Iunto's fell into implacable Enmities in the House and because the Independent was smallest in Number they supply'd that Defect by the Army which had been so modell'd by Cromwell as to be all of their own Leven and undertook their Quarrel so effectually as to bring a Charge against eleven of the most leading Members on the other Side who thereupon were forc'd to absent themselves some of them for their better Security beyond the Seas But this Purge would not do there must be a stronger Dose to remove the tough Presbyterian Humour which was accordingly prescrib'd for the other Iunto finding themselves still out-voted ran away to the Army and carry'd their Speaker with them making a sad Complaint that their elder Brethren of the other Faction were obstinate and refractory and would not let them have their Wills in going thorough-stitch to the Ruin of King and Kingdom at leastwise would not let it go their own Way and therefore begg'd their Assistance in the Accomplishment of so good a Work whereupon they strait-way march'd up to Westminster fill'd both the Palace Yards with Soldiers and set double Files through the Hall up to the Doors of both Houses looking scornfully upon the Members which had sat in the Absence of their Speaker and threatned to pull them forth by the Ears if they did not give speedy Satisfaction so that at present they carried all before them However the Army or rather their Managers Cromwell and Ireton seem'd herein to mis-time their Design the whole Nation was allarm'd at these extravagant Proceedings that the King should be so barbarously confin'd the Parliament forc'd now they seem'd somewhat dispos'd to an Accommodation and all things controll'd by the Arbitrary Licentiousness of a Military Rabble even to a Vote of no more Addresses to the King Which first proceeded from their Motion without Doors to their Creatures within this made several Counties petition and then rise in Arms some who had been Commanders for the Parliament in Wales endeavoured to retrieve their Country from those Mischiefs their Mistakes had brought upon it And Scotland actually declaring against their Brethren's Abuse of the King provided an Army to invade them This made our Men of the Sword postpone for the present their State-Reformation and fall to their proper Calling Fairfax undertook such loyal Gentlemen and Parties in Kent and Essex as had engag'd to free their Country from an Army of Mamaluks and shut them up in Colchester whilst Cromwell's veterane Forces found a ready Conquest of the Welsh and the Scotch under such ill Conduct as if they came on purpose to acquaint him how easie it was for a Man of Resolution and good Management to subdue and enslave their Nation In the mean time whilst this kind of second War was on foot the whole Kingdom besides those concern'd in the foremention'd Engagements began to reflect what a miserable Condition they had brought themselves into The City petition the Parliament for a personal Treaty with the King they accordingly vote in their secluded Members repeal that of no Addresses and agree to a Treaty at the Isle of Wight which nevertheless met with so many Obstacles and Delays from the adverse Iunto as the Army had finish'd their Business before the Treaty could be brought to a Conclusion and were so incens'd thereat as they came up in a Rage to London took Quarters at and about Whitehall fell the second Time to reform the House whereof they actually seiz'd and committed 41 Members denyed Entrance to above 160 more besides about 40 or 50 who voluntarily withdrew to avoid their Violence so that the whole was now reduc'd to between 40 or 50 such profligate Wretches both as to Life and Principle that they would stick at no Villany the Bashaws their Masters thought fit to put upon them And this is the true Origin of what is commonly call'd the Rump of the long Parliament the End whereof is so much condol'd by our Author although it might as properly have been call'd the Excrement to be sure their Actions will make our Nation stink in the Nostrils of all good Men to
generally been all the World over and in all Ages where a Kingdom was look'd upon no otherwise than a larger Family from whence at first they all came and the Master thereof as the Pater Patriae the common Father of the Country and when otherwise the Children have been oftner to blame than the Parent though when the Breach was once made nothing could be more natural than for both Sides to run into Extreams Farther yet we should consider all earthly Powers and every Individual under them are subordinate to the Almighty Sovereign of the Universe who in a secret and wonderful manner arbitrates and controuls all humane Undertakings according to the infinite Wisdom of his own unsearchable Will and when provok'd to high Displeasure by some enormous National Crimes hath been then observ'd more especially to interpose and give a People over to such cursed Infatuations as to violate all Rules of common Discretion as well as Duty and precipitate their own Ruin whereof farther on we may have too sad Occasion to make Application And however towards the End of the last Century and Beginning of this several Parts of Europe were mad upon this Republican Humour and many amongst us are so foolish as still to continue the Freak yet I have sometimes thought with my self from the few Instances we have in History of this kind of Government and them them that were mostly founded upon the Ruin of Monarchies continued all the Time of their being in perpetual Disorders and Convulsions of State till at last they resolv'd into a Monarchy again This I say hath made me think that they all took their Beginning from the foremention'd Displeasure of the Almighty for inverting that Oeconomy wherein he had plac'd the World and maugre all their Conceits and Oppositions would have it so continue For the Great King of Heaven is jealous both of his Honour and Prerogative and when a few fancyful Novellists will dare to set up the Right of their Sovereign Lords the People in Opposition to his Ordinances and eternal Establishments the Decision may be easily foreseen if with Reverence duly attended his infinite Wisdom and Patience so wonderfully operating and in so secret a manner upon their hard and impenitent Hearts as to make themselves the Instruments of his Wrath and Vengeance And from the same Power and secret Will it is that the Parties themselves are so little sensible of the Iudgment as to maintain their Opinion with more Earnestness than ever and so may continue without Controul for having withal the Command of Legions no wise Philosopher will dare to dispute his best against them However God is not mocked and so they will find at last But then secondly If we consider this in Hypothesi and bring it home to our own Case we shall find a very black Account for after all their Noise and Clamors the little Finger of this Upstart Commonwealth prov'd heavier to the whole Nation than the Loyns of the most rigid Monarch that ever sate upon the Throne Nay 't is farther certain by most dear bought Experience that there was more Arbitrary Power and illegal Commitments exorbitant Taxes Rapine and Plunder Sequestrations and Sacrilege with whatever else could be most Unjust and Tyrannical voted and put in practice during the twenty Years Usurpation of the several Iunto's than by all the Crowned Heads ay and their Favorites too to take off all Allegations of that kind since the Conquest I might add since the Creation did our Histories reach so far 'T is modestly express'd by our Author that notwithstanding their other Helps the Charge at Sea and Land was so great as they were forc'd to lay a Land-Tax of 120000 l. per Mensem Which notwithstanding if we may believe him the People pay'd very freely Now let us examin a little what these other Helps were They had seiz'd not only upon all the Crown but Church-Lands and dispos'd of them at Pleasure They had the free Contributions of the City Dames and all others well affected as far as their Quarters extended even to the poor Country Wenches Bodkins and Thymbles They had the Sequestration of all the Loyal Nobility and Gentry whose Estates they dispos'd of amongst themselves to several 1000 l. per Annum They had rais'd the Customs much higher than ever they were in the King's Time And in humble Imitation of their Brethren the Dutch retrench'd the Excesses of Good Fellowship by an Excise which the Nation was never acquainted withal before and now must never be without Besides 25 th Parts Decimations with numberless other Ways of squeezing the People who notwithstanding must think all too little for that happy Liberty this Free State had brought them into One thing farther I must observe in Reference to the Land-Tax that as it was collected according to the Lunary or as the Term then went Military Months so they would not rest there but were so good at Multiplication as to repeat that Monthly Assessment sixteen or seventeen times in a Year Whereas the Sum which two or three of these Months amounted to was as much as was ever given to or expected by any King before and would have made Charles I. the happyest Prince and continued us the easiest People under Heaven Can we be pityed to have it brought to more Millions than that made 100000 ls and a Necessity of continuing the same So fatal a thing it is not to take the Man's Advice but instead of that Fear to God and Honour to the King which he recommends be medling with such as are given to change the most troublesome Generation of Men any Nation was ever plagu'd withal for whatever Improvements our Royal Societies may make as to Natural Knowledg Oso's in Politicks or Religion are most intollerable their Chymical Heads will never forbear trying Experiments till both evaporate in Smoak and Confusion Had Sir T.'s Alphonso the Wise liv'd in these mutable Times to those four Old Things he gave so great a Preference there doubtless had been added a fifth and that is Old Government CHAP. III. King James and Charles I. design'd nothing of Arbitrary Power IN Confirmation of what I said That Arbitrary Power is the Grand Topick of the Faction Our Author Ludlow begins his spiteful Charge there Those who make any Enquiry into King Iames's Reign will find that tho his Inclinations were strongly bent to render himself Absolute yet he chose rather to carry on that Design by Fraud than Violence But King Charles having taken a nearer View of Despotick Government in his Iourny to France and Spain tempted with the glittering Shew and imaginary Pleasures of that empty Pageantry Immediately after his Ascent to the Throne pull'd off the Mask and openly discovered his Intentions to make the Crown absolute and Independent pag. 1 2. Audacter Calumniari goes a great way in any bad Cause To be sure this Calumny hath been so frequently urg'd so constantly inculcated as several worthy Gentlemen otherwise
Answer and pass'd it with a Droit fait come il est desire and this with Bells and Bonfires one would think should have silenc'd all former Disgusts and they gon on with a ready Supply and mutual Confidence on either Side whereas the next News we hear is a Remonstrance of all the common-Fame Stories Malice or Mischief could suggest and as herein the Duke of Buks led the Van so the whole contain'd only such old Cavils as were easily weathered being very trivial or very false But when the King found there was a second Remonstrance on the Anvil as to Tunnage and Poundage that he had superseded all Right thereto by granting their Petition of Right this struck him in so sensible a Part as he resolv'd to break thorough that Royal Patience which had been so long provok'd and put an End to that Session sometime sooner than he intended with this Declaration That since he was truly inform'd a second Remonstrance was preparing to take away Tunnage and Poundage one of the chief Supports of his Crown alledging he had given away his Right thereto by his Answer to their Petition which as it was very prejudicial to him so it discover'd that the House of Commons began already to make false Constructions of what he had granted already in that Petition which lest it should be worse interpreted in the Country he made this Declaration concerning the true Intent thereof That the Profession of both Houses in the Time of hammering that Petition was no way to trench upon his Prerogative saying they had neither Intention nor Power to hurt it wherefore it must needs be conceiv'd that he granted no New but confirm'd the Ancient Liberties of his Subjects concluding with this Command that they should all take notice of what he had there said to be the true Intent and Meaning of what he had granted in their Petition but more particularly the Iudges for to you only saith he under me belongs the Interpretation of Laws for none of the Houses of Parliament either Ioint or Separate what new Doctrine soever may be raised have any Power either to make or declare a Law without my Consent Thus did his Majesty freely Remonstrate unto them with Ten Thousand times more Sense and Truth than all their Harangues and Popular Allegations For at this distance of time when we may more Calmly judge of such Hot Debates it cannot but be thought more Gentile and Reasonable for the House to have confirm'd by Bill the Tunnage and Poundage in return for the Petition of Right than from a cross-grain'd Pretence to further the Breach making it the chief Subject of Debate next Session and cause of a Fatal a Final Separation During the Recess the Duke of Bucks was taken off by a wretched Hand in a most Babarous manner which 't was thought would have abated the Edge of their furious Prosecution As likewise Two or Three of the best parted Men amongst those Fiery Tempers began to Cool sensible as in Charity we are oblig'd to think what Confusions the Heats they had maintained must produce in the End and in due time came over to his Majesty's Service but as the former had little effect so the other was thought to exasperate their great Spirits that some few should run away with the Game which they had jointly assisted in Hunting down whereas 't is probable they design'd a proportionable Division amongst them all as it afterwards happen'd though then they fell out most cursedly about their several Shares We are now come to the last Session of this last Parliament who fell immediately to their wonted Work Grievances whereof Tunnage and Poundage was the Capital in the Prosecution of which they were resolv'd to Trounce all such Persons as had been imploy'd to Manage or Collect the same whereupon the King sent for them to the Banquetting House and declar'd that as he never look'd upon those Duties as Appertaining to his Hereditary Prerogative so he expected they should pass the Bill as had been always Customary in the time of his Ancestors which his Necessities had oblig'd him to Collect as They always did before the Bill was pass'd and this very Parliament had profess'd they wanted only Time not Will to grant them yet neither this nor a Message afterward could prevail with them to take the Matter into Consideration nay saith Mr. Rushworth the House was troubled to have the Bill impos'd upon them which ought naturally to arise from themselves a mighty Punctilio that But in short they would have the King own all the Right to be in them and then refus'd the Grant Whereas it had been all along rather Matter of Form than any thing else and for four Successions immediately Precedent pass'd without the least Dispute But when Men are resolv'd to Quarrel they will take occasion at the wagging of every Straw To be sure whoever stood by the King in defence of his Prerogative and just Right must expect the Extremity of their Rage and Fury to which purpose they began with Weston the New Lord Treasurer who was ten times worse than Buckingham Neal Bishop of Winton Laud of London and so doubtless would have gone the whole Court thorough but that the King perceiving they would neither Act with Temper nor attend to Reason stopt the Violence of their Curreer by a Dissolution How they behav'd themselves thereupon our Author Ludlow mentions Locking up the Door of the House of Commons and compelling the Speaker to keep the Chair till such Protestations were Voted as they thought fit and by this he would have it observ'd how highly the Pulse of the Nation beat for Liberty he might have more properly said Rebellion for that they were venturing at Pell-Mell and had not the King prevented it would have Acted 40. in 28. But let it be call'd what they please doubtless never any Assembly of grave and great Men as these ought to be suppos'd to be sure ought to have been carried themselves in such a Riotous Disobliging and Disobedient manner with such high Provocations and Indignities to that Sovereign Power by which they sat and whose undoubted Right it was not only to Dissolve but punish them too so that notwithstanding our Author seems much displeas'd whoever reads the manner of proceeding against them both in Star-Chamber and King's-Bench as Recorded by Rushworth though scandalously partial on that side must acknowledge it a Regular Course and that never any Men had fairer Play or came off more easily considering the Nature of their Crimes and Obstinacy of their Deportment But with him that Text of despising Dominions and speaking Evil of Dignities is not Canonical they could not have been good Patriots in his Sense had they not aspers'd his Majesty's Person and Government fomented Iealousies amongst his People with false and scandalous Reproaches upon all his faithful Subjects and Servants Neither was this Proceedure of the Kings however severely censur'd without a Precedent even in the happy times
for the People and make the best Tenures why not for the Prince Nay 't is farther apparent that in most of those Reigns there were several Alterations and Additions too as Circumstances of Trade varied or Reason of State required Queen Elizabeth more especially took her Liberty therein at pleasure without Regret or Complaint from Merchant or Member particularly the Venetians having Tax'd a Charge upon our English Cloath She to be even with them rais'd that upon Corinth's which continued all her Life without dispute and when a Pragmatical Fellow stood it out with King Iames it was adjudg'd due by the Barons of the Exchequer But the debate here was perfect Spite and Contradiction otherwise no Man of Sense of Honour would have made a Breach between Prince and People in refusing to confirm what his Predecessors had enjoy'd some hundred Years before Especially considering the Charge and Care the King was then at above any of his Ancestors in reference to Naval Preparations whereto the Customs were all along assign'd I have seen an Account of the Navy Royal as it stood in Queen Elizabeth's Time presented by Sir Walter Rawleigh to Prince Henry consisting of Twenty four Sail the best of which did not reach one of our Fourth or Fifth Rates as now built 'T is true he tells him it might be advanc'd to what Number she pleas'd by pressing Merchants Ships of equal or greater Force And so it continued without any considerable Improvement all Iames's Time till the Earl of Nottingham Lord Admiral overgrown with Age importun'd the King for a Discharge as he own'd both to Lords and Commons wherein he was comply'd with and succeeded by the Duke of Buckingham who apply'd himself thereto with so much Diligence and Circumspection as at the same time his neglect was so severely complain'd of in the House of Commons we had an Hundred Sail in one Fleet gon against the Spaniard with another Squadron join'd the Dutch to block up Dunkirk and a third to guard the Channel which was likewise continually improv'd so far as the King's Purse could reach under the many Exigenties he then lay and would the Parliament have perform'd their Parts might have then clear'd the Ocean of all Opposition whatsoever which they were so far from as to make an attempt of withdrawing the Customs the only support he had to this great Defence and Undertaking Yet notwithstanding their perverse Disposition 't is a Question whether we had not the Ballance upon our Neighbours more then than now and as able to maintain the Sovereignty of the Seas Though it shall be acknowledg'd our Strength at present may be five perhaps ten times greater with a proportionable Charge and Opposition too which is worst of all In the mean while we may from hence perceive what a creditable Evidence Common-fame is for as the Clamour then ran which our several Sets of Pamphletteers and Libellers would have us still believe one would have imagin'd we had not been able to fight a Fleet of Dutch Fisher-Busses or that our Admiral knew or car'd whether there had been two such places as Chatham or Portsmouth such strong Prejudices can Men of ill design Fool the People into Neither was the Conduct of other Affairs so much to be run down as their Pettishness did Suggest when amongst other things they would enquire how the Reputation and Interest of our Nation came to decline so much from what it was in Ages past which if they had considered the Man's Caution they would have omitted for their own Reputation sake Say not thou what is the Cause that the former Days were better than these For thou dost not enquire wisely concerning this And I am confident every ordinary Reader will judge there was more Malice than Wisdom in the Matter before us when told their Charge was chiefly Level'd at those Storms which Dissipated our Fleets both upon the Spanish and Flemish Coasts On the contrary could there be a more Sober or Christian Answer than what the King reply'd That 't was God's Pleasure to send stormy Weather and his Will must be done Though 't is confess'd they might have gon out at a more Seasonable time of the Year had they furnish'd him with a seasonable Supply but it became now their usual Practice to charge him with their own Defects Yet notwithstanding that and the Miscarriage at the Isle of Rhe where nevertheless a great deal of English Bravery was shewn so little were they degenerated from their Ancestors the French were so much Allarm'd at our entring into a War and Assisting the Rochellers as they proffer'd the Duke of Rohan and the Protestant Party any Terms to join with them against the English and it was their ill Conduct and Positiveness not to excuse something of Treachery amongst them which made the first Attempts for their Relief miscarry as shall be made appear in due Time and Place as likewise how glad the French were of a Peace on Honourable Terms on our Side tho they knew too well the Perverseness of our great Senate But to look back upon former Times even those so happy Days of Queen Elizabeth they were not attended with constant Success the great Sir Francis Drake did not always answer Expectation in his Returns out of the West-Indies and as great a Sea Captain as he was Frozen to Death in Search of the North-East-Passage with several such like Instances which might be given as to those Affairs So likewise for Land-Service Leicester's Conduct in the Low Countries was neither to his Mistresses nor their Satisfaction and that popular Favourite Essex miscarried most Scandalously in his Second Expedition against Spain and how fatal his Irish Management was is known to all At some of these indeed the Queen was concern'd but had any of her Parliaments meddled therewith they would have soon discovered how much she had of Henry the VIII's Spirit Neither ought it to seem strange if after that continued Peace God and King Iames had so long bless'd us withall we should be somewhat at a Loss entring afresh into War since that we have gain'd more Experience and paid sufficiently for our Learning both in Blood and Treasure and which is worse still cannot give over when we would And whilst we are upon this Head of Grievances there is a Commission to several Lords of the Privy Counsel must by no means be past by For though it was only in general Terms To enter into Consultation of all the best and speediest Ways and Means ye can for raising of Monys for the most important Occasion aforesaid which without extreamest hazard to us our Dominions and People and to our Friends and Allies can admit of no long delay c. Yet Rushworth and from him Roger Coke and from them both the Defence c. will have it to raise Monys by way of Excise in which Sense likewise this present Parliament would have it go and made a Bussle accordingly sending
Sir Edward Coke to Harangue the Lords upon the same Subject whose first and chief Exception was that 't was ordered after their Summons a sufficient Proof there could be no ill Design by it although it might likewise be considered that the Parliament was not so free to grant the King Supplies as he to Summons them and further yet that there were several Projects propounded to the King which he would never rashly close with but refer to the Consideration of his Counsel no mean Instance of his Prudence and Goodness too above what we deserv'd to recommend such as their Wisdoms and best Iudgments should find to be most convenient in a Case of this inevitable Necessity For those be the express Words in the Commission And hereto agrees what the Lord Keeper reported to the House of Lords That their Lordships had reason to be satisfied with what was truly and rightly told them by the Lords of the Council that this Commission was no more but a Warrant of Advice which his Majesty knew to be agreeable to the Time and the manifold Occasions then in Hand but now having a Supply from the Loves of his People he esteems the Commission useless and therefore though he knows no Cause why any Iealousies should have risen thereby yet at their Desires he is content it be cancelled and hath commanded me c. Yet I know this Reply will not pass tho upon his Majesty's Royal Word unless we can take off that potent Allegation of 30000 l. remitted over to Sir William Balfour and Dalbeir in Holland to raise a Thousand German Horse to enforce the Payment of this Excise and aw the Parliament soon to be Assembled as most of the Libellers expresly declare That such a Sum was remitted to raise Horse is certainly true but to be imploy'd here at home to the Ends aformention'd as certainly false to the making good whereof I must observe that the Low-Countries were at that time not only the School but Shop of War which furnish'd all the rest of Europe even the Spaniards themselves for a good Market with Arms Ammunition and whatever else was requisite to that Bloody Trade Neither was any thing more usual in Queen Elizabeth's Time than to take such English Forces as had been exercis'd and flesh'd in their Service when upon any great Expedition against Spain or elsewhere and supply them with new rais'd Men to maintain their Garrisons According to this Method the Lord Wimbleton was supply'd about two Years before in his Expedition against Spain And these 1000 Horse were doubtless design'd upon some Enterprise in defence of Rochel or otherwise to Annoy the French which upon new Councils and perhaps a Prospect of Peace for about that time it began to be secretly Agitated was laid aside To be sure had his Majesty design'd any thing of force upon this Nation he made choice of very improper Instruments in those two Commanders who notwithstanding their great Obligations to the King when the War brake out in 41. took Imployments under the Parliament because they had most Mony I presume and did them cursed Service The Defence saith Dalbeir was a Papist to reflect upon the King doubtless without considering what he did afterwards for his Parliament of 40. He was a German and had serv'd under Count Mansfield so that 't was more likely he was Lutheran or Calvinist But of what concern is that Man's Religion who Acts without a Principle of Gratitude or Common Honesty And therefore to attend the Fate of this unworthy Person a little farther when he had wrought Iourny-Work for the Parliament as long as the War lasted he was laid aside which regretting as a Souldier of Fortune ought to do engag'd upon the King's Account with the Duke of Bucks Lord Holland c. in that Design at Kingston which miscarrying they were persued to St. Neots in Huntingtonshire where some escap'd some were taken but Dalbeir was cut in pieces by his Brethren the Parliamentarians because he had been of their Side If Balfour did not come to the same End 't was pity for he was a true Covenanting Scot betray'd the King in the great Trust of the Tower committed to him and from thenceforward sided with the Parliament I had not been so Prolix in my Account of these two Men but to shew that had there been any such Design as an Excise and these German Horse to enforce the same 't is impossible but the two chief Commanders must have been privy thereto and would have consequently divulg'd it to their Patrons the Parliament indearing themselves more thereby than all their other Bloody Services I must beg leave to make this one Observation farther That it had been altogether as impossible for one Thousand Horse to enforce a General Excise as double the Number of the foremention'd Irish to Massacre the whole Nation Yet they had a more impertinent Maggot in 41 that there were Forces kept in Grots and Caves under Ground that should in the Night break out into the City and cut all their Throats And what was more prodigious and though ridiculous yet saith my Author had not a few Believers in London That there were Designs by Gun-Powder to blow up the Thames and choak them with the Water in their Beds May it not be here a necessary Quere Whether the Invention or Credulity be more Astonishing CHAP. V. No reason to complain of Favourites and evil Counsellors FAvourites and evil Counsellors were another of their Common-place Complaints with how little Reason or Truth is next to be made appear The Lord Bacon in his Essay of Friendship observes as a strange thing The high rate great Kings and Monarchs have set thereon and that not only the Weak and Passionate but the Wisest and most Politick that ever Reign'd whereof he gives several Instances To be sure at this time most Courts in Christendom had particular Favourites who notwithstanding the great Figure they made were really Participes Curarum as the foremention'd Lord judiciously terms them Drudges of State Screens of popular Odium and Discontent as in most if not in all Places they were made to find And hereunto amongst the rest King Iames seem'd very much dispos'd as appear'd by one or two in Scotland And in process of time his Inclination continued the same Bend here whereof one Car a Scotchman his Page was the first Instance who having a comely well built Outside the King hop'd he might be as well furnish'd within and accordingly took much pains in the Improvement of his Mind directed him in his Studies and all other things requisite to the Accomplishments of such a Person as he wish'd and hop'd he might prove All which is an extraordinary Instance of a good Master and a good Nature too And yet to make him appear a better Prince when he found all he had done was in vain that this new Creature of his was a Blockhead Insolent Ill-natur'd wretchedly Penurious and intollerably
Covetous he withdrew his Favour by degrees as any Wise Man would have done unwilling to expose himself for an ill-plac'd Affection But when the Business of Overbury was discovered he detested it with the utmost Indignation of a good Christian a just Prince and ordered a Prosecution according to the Baseness of the Fact though after several Partisans had suffered the importunity of Relations and Country-Men first got a Repreive and at length a Pardon for him and his Eve the Temptress though it was many Years before the last was obtained and not many Months before the King's Death which 't is pity he did at all considering the solemn Protestations he had made that all concern'd in that Matter should suffer but what will not Importunity do especially coming from his own Country-Men This Court-Meteor being thus sunk down and disappearing the English Nobility about the King began to reflect upon the ill Influences it had and what worse its longer aboad in that Horison might have produc'd Hereupon they thought it their concern to take more care for the future and not suffer a second Foreign Page of as little Wit Good Nature or Manners to be Topt upon or rather over them in order whereunto they resolv'd to manage Matters so as an English Man might be Topt upon the King about which they had several Consults and several young Gentlemen of the Privy Chamber and other Places in their Eye but amongst all the rest George Villyers both for Person and Parts seem'd most promising him therefore having fix'd upon such Court intrigues were carry'd on as the King made choice of the Person they design'd And this is the true Origin of that great Man's Rise whatever impertinent Relations Roger Coke makes of his Mother decking him up and setting of him in the King's Eye when Ignoramus was Acted at Cambridge with many other as groundless and false Conjectures To be sure he no sooner appear'd upon the Publick Stage of Business and Address but the Expectation of all concern'd in his Advancement was not only answer'd but exceeded neither could they any where have made a better Choice among the Nobility there were scarce any to be found who would undertake such a Fatigue of Business or had Parts to go thorough with it and though there were some in a lower Sphere of more Reading and greater Experience yet few that equall'd him in Strength of Natural Parts dayly improv'd by consulting the most Knowing and Judicious in all the several Affairs which came before him whereby he brought things to a better Issue than could be expected from the most cry'd up Wisdom accompanied with a self-sufficient peremptoriness So that whatever Odiums he lay under as no Man ever lay under greater and indeed who could bear up against Common-Fame and a House of Commons yet more impartial Iudgments which consider'd things as they really were became surpris'd at so young a Man's falling to Business with so great Application his judicious Choice of fit Persons to every concern he engag'd them in and as Honourable Rewards upon their well Performance I have already mention'd his manage and improvement of the Navy as likewise how express his Replies were to their several Articles without any thing of a Rejoynder on the other side tho' he provok'd them thereto for 't is absolutely false that the King dissolv'd the Parliament on that Account as shall hereafter appear Neither was there more of Truth in that other Charge his inriching himself by the Crown which of all Imputations saith the Disparity was the most unskilful and worst laid some few of those Lands Engross'd by Somerset before were assign'd him by his first Master and that was all Yet Roger Coke opens most violently upon this Account and with an odd kind of Arithmetick will consider what he received by his many great Places without taking notice it was all Expended in the same Service To be sure one of our Historians saith he died 60000 l. in Debt and whoever Audited his Estate then considering he married an Heir General of the House of Rutland who was a very great Fortune will find that Sir Edward Coke and several of that Robe since have left greater Revenues than this Duke did of his own Acquiring The foremention'd Roger Coke tells another idle Story which I shall mention here tho it reflects chiefly upon the Good King which was that Spiteful Fellow 's greatest Satisfaction viz. How he design'd first a Sumptuous Funeral for this Duke his Favourite from which the Lord Treasurer Weston put him off by saying a Monument would be more lasting and less cost And when the King afterwards press'd for the Monument the Wary Treasurer diverted him from that by representing how ill it would hear in the World should the Duke's be Erected before there was one for his Father This Faithful Roger relates as a great Secret which he had from a Learned Gentleman well acquainted with the Transactions of those Times whereas it was a Common-fame Story every where whispered by the Faction and so secret that Mr. Hamond Le Strange was impos'd upon to put it into his History and is reply'd to be Sir William Saunderson for that mistake who must know better being all that time the Duke's Domestick and assures us he was Sumptuously intomb'd at Westminster which his Executors paid for and it cost not the King a Penny nor the stately Monument Erected over his Grave This Passage tho somewhat out of Course I could not but here insert as an exact Specimen of Fanatick Sincerity what Secrets they Detect and Truths relate Well now we have done with Favorites for Buckingham being fatally cut off the King made no one Person his Confident but equally consulted the Ablest and best Principled Men he could find thoroughout the Kingdom who were equally Maligned and Persecuted to Death by a Virulent Party because they studied the peace and welfare of the Nation were for every thing to run in its proper Channel the Laws duly Administred to the People and the King's Occasions Honourably supply'd without Suggesting Fears and Hunting after Grievances the Mormo's of disaffected and designing Spirits For sometime in King Iame's Reign there was a cursed Distinction started of a Court and Country Party which kept the House divided most implacably in that and this following Reign of Charles the I. for I shall descend no further and several honest well-meaning Gentlemen like so many Barnabas's were led away by the Dissimulation of such as promoted it whereas in all well-settled Times the King was look'd upon as the Common Father of the Country and had constantly a select Number of Understanding Men knowing the World and well practis'd in Business to sit in Council and assist him in keeping things Right or bringing them so when wrong But then Enacting of Laws Raising of Mony and several other Ardua Regni are to be consulted of and consented to in Parliament where the foremention'd Privy
Royal Authority that the Causes for which they were restrain'd might be high and Dangerous that her Majesty lik'd not such Questions neither did it become the House to deal in such Matters Upon which saith my Author the House desisted from interposing any farther in their behalf but left them wholly to the Queen by whom Wentworth was continued Prisoner some Years after 'T is probable indeed the others viz. Bromly Welch Stephens might be discharg'd sooner Thus did this Wise Princess hold the Reins of Government with so streight a Hand as whenever she found it biting the Bit and attempting to take head a suddain Check put a stop to the design'd Curreere Whereas King Iames was no sooner mounted but he left them strangely Loose and in effect gave them up his first Parliament where Roger Coke tells us the Commons in their Apology to him took notice of the Queen's Restraining their Debates as to several Matters and pray'd it might be no precedent for the future but that their Debates in Parliament might be free which the King however charg'd by the foremention'd Roger with Rehoboam's Stiffness so far comply'd with or was negligent in as that designing Faction got ground upon him every Day to his own and all his Ministers great Uneasiness with his Son's and Kingdoms ruin And this the foremention'd Letter too prophetically foretold that prevailing in one thing would but encourage them to attempt another till they had pull'd out all the Feathers of his Royalty and from impeaching his Ministers call him to an account for any thing he undertakes which doth not prosperously succeed For thus at last he himself was the Evil Counsellor and charg'd with all those Villanies and Mischiefs these Sons of Violence had brought upon the Nation CHAP. VI. Innovations in Religion never design'd BUt our pretended Patriots could not thoroughly have express'd their care unless they had made it the concern of God as well as the King for which Reason Religion must be taken in and every thing call'd an Innovation which tended to support the Church or conduc'd in any respect to Decency and Order in the Externals of Divine Worship And this Clamor of Redressing Religious Grievances altho by degrees it threw all open and brought in upon us an universal Deluge of Licentiousness Prophaneness Enthusiasm Atheism and what not yet the Factions are so impudent as to continue the Charge and with that false Mother care not how the Church be torn or cut in pieces so they may have their spiteful Wills Thus Ludlow will have it that the Clergy's influence upon the King was alwaies greater than could consist with the peace and happiness of England p. 2 d. whereas it was never happier than then and nothing but a regular Establishment in the Church could continue it so as the King knew very well which made him so earnest to Support it and the other Party knew it too which made them so earnest to pull it down Roger Coke likewise inveighs as much against the Arminian Bishops and Clergy of this King's Reign as his Grandfather when Attorny General did against Sir Walter Rawleigh Who is said by Osborn and the Tryal speaks as much to have Bawl'd him out of his Life And so in the same Manner the little Pamphletteers like Country Curs bark for Company Ye take too much upon you was that General and grand Charge Corah and his Accomplices brought against Moses and Aaron the Prince of the People and Priest of God And notwithstanding the Almighty's Vengeance so signally appear'd in that Quarrel as to send them all quick into Hell yet the Terror thereof hath not been able to affright such Children of Disobedience from Repeating their Provocations The Gates of Hell are continually Opening upon the Church and though never able to prevail against the whole may have sometimes Permission to chastise a part and do whatever else God in his Secret purposes hath resolv'd upon to which Unsearchable Will alone it must be referr'd That the Anointed of the Lord the great Defender of our Faith who best understood and best practis'd the Christian Religion of any Prince since the Prince of Peace was taken in their Nets and as the other Crucified so this by such like wicked Hands most barbarously slain And if the same Sovereign Disposer in this his great Displeasure proceeds farther to remove our Candlestick declare he hath no pleasure in us neither will accept an offering at our Hands we must notwithstanding acknowledge he is Righteous in all his Ways and Holy in all his Works For unto very nigh these Circumstances the many Sub and Super-Reformers have reduc'd what under the Auspicious care of its Royal Defender was the Glory of the whole Earth That therefore it may be known there was such a thing as the Church of England and as I said in a most flourishing Condition till these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 many Physitians or Quacks rather would be shewing their Skill I shall take leave to make a Retrospect and represent upon what bottom she was first fix'd at the Reformation what false Brethren they were who interrupted and disturb'd this Establishment and likewise by what Arts and Degrees they engag'd I may say bewitch'd the People to assist them in such Confusions as were at length brought upon her Though the Reformation of our English Church was founded and carried on upon those infallible Truths the Primitive Times and Antient Fathers had practis'd from Scripture without any regard to Foreign Proceedings or if any rather Luther and Melancthon than Calvin and Beza had the Preference yet the two latter would be frequently putting their Sickle into our Harvest and partly by Corresponding but more especially by conversing with several Exiles both Clergy and Lay retired into those Parts during Queen Mary's Persecution gain'd too many Admirers who returning home upon Queen Elizabeth's coming to the Crown cry'd up the Geneva Model as the very Pattern which the Lord had shown from that Mount and according to which the whole Reformation must be carried on or no Blessing from him would attend it It would be here too tedious to relate what Arts they us'd and what Interests they made in Country City and Court As they began to think of setting up their darling Discipline and that in so insolent a manner as to declare That if the Government would not assist therein they must do it whether the Queen and State will or no insinuating how many Thousands their Party consisted of and threatned if not comply'd with such Courses as should make all their Hearts to ake Queen Elizabeth had too great a Value for her own well weighed Estalishments to have them Superseded by every Factious Caprice and thereupon resolv'd firmly against them And nothing but that steady Resolution of hers could preserve both Church and State from being even then ruin'd For these pretended Children of Light had so much of this World were so wise in their
his Glory therein is too gross a conception for any considering man to entertain who according to the perfection of the Divine Attributes must apprehend God to be infinite in Goodness and Mercy as well as Iustice and Power On the contrary such harsh and severe Notions of the Sacred Majesty of Heaven as if he delighted in nothing more than to Tyrannize over and Trample upon the Slaves of his Creation cannot but debase men's Spirits to the like proceedings make them in the Apostle's phrase without Natural Affection void of any thing that is Generous Great or Good and consequently Mete unto others what they falsly suppose to be the Almighty's Measures unto all Mankind To be sure it was at this time the manner of their proceedings with all true Sons of our Church whom they never let alone till Reprobated as to this life God be praised their Malice could not reach any thing which concern'd the next But setting aside these rigid Determinations which The Examination of Tilenus before the Tryers pleasantly yet withall solidly exposes under the borrowed names of Dr. Dubitan's Frybabe Irresistible c. the other Branches of that Controversy about Fate Freewill c. in all the ordnary concerns of humane life began long since amongst the Philosophers the Stoicks on the one hand the Epicureans and Libertines on the other wherein likewise most of the rest were concern'd tho' with more Temper Deliberation and Judgment It was likewise an old Humorist amongst them who first started that Notion of All things being Necessitated from the concurrence of precedent Causes much improv'd by as great an Humorist amongst us and to much worse purpose since the former understood nothing of the Reveal'd Knowledge this other design'd thereby to Subvert Christian Religion in the mean while was kept free from these Debates for several Centuries till the Manachees turn'd Stoicks and the Pelagians Libertines wherein St. Austin became ingag'd and had them taken up by his Followers tho' they spred no farther than the Melancholly Cells of Monks and Schoolmen for the next Thousand years and were rather a Diversion for the few Brisk Wits of those ignorant dull Times than look'd upon as any ways relating to the Articles of Christian Doctrine That Imposition was first brought upon the Church by the Council of Trent and however their many Innovations of that kind were declaim'd against by most Protestants yet the Synod of Dort was no less Dogmatical in Imposing their Five Articles which their humble Imitators our Lay Assembly now and our Mix'd Assembly of Clergy Lay afterwards would have enforc'd with as much Earnestness as the Being of a God or necessity of a Redeemer Give me leave farther to observe that in the calm and more deliberate Times of Q. Elizabeth when Archbishop Whitgift had Assembled a few Bishops and other Divines and fram'd those commonly call'd the Nine Articles at Lambeth of too nigh Affinity with the foremention'd points in order to Silence some Disputes at Cambridge which had gone out too far thereupon Her Majesty was so concern'd at it as had it not been for the Reverend Esteem she had of that Excellent Prelate they would have been all Attainted of a Premunire Notwithstanding she commanded him speedily to recall and suppress those Articles which was perform'd with so much Care and Diligence that a Copy of them was not to be found a long time after and this the Three Bishops in their foremention'd Letter urg'd as a precedent and with great reason but then was then and now was now when the Humour ran as much for pulling down as before to support and advance whatever tended to God's Glory or the Publick Good I must here likewise beg my Reader 's pardon if he thinks me too prolix and hope upon second thoughts it may be acknowledg'd requisite to represent what little No-things they would catch at what Sound Doctrines they would pervert and misrepresent to Defame and bring an Odium upon such persons as otherwise might pull off their Vizard and Detect the Mischiefs they had in design for all the Law and all the Reason was on the King's side which they could not otherwise stifle than by such groundless Cavils against every Faithful and Loyal Subject who had Sense and Courage to stand up for him and the Laws in Opposition to their dangerous Innovations and Seditious practices But all the Fat would be in the Fire should I pass by Sibthorpe and Manwaring whose Indiscretions all good men pitied none justify'd Although Abbot's pettishness stretch'd the former Sense further than was consistent with the Charity of a Metropolitan or Candour of a Privy Counsellor For the other nothing could be greater than what the King declared thereupon He that will preach other than he can prove let him suffer I give them no thanks to give me my due And really 't is to my Admiration considering how good a Man the King was and how Kind a Father to the Church with the Violent Heats on the other side there were only these Two ran into the contrary Extream had Time-serving been as much in fashion then as I have known it since there had been several hundreds to each of them It was likewise thought then and since that the Commons having done the King no Right as to their own Members Clem. Coke and Dr. Turner they should have been less severe against Dr. Manwaring at leastwise upon his Humble Submission and Acknowledgment have mov'd the Lords to remit the rest of his Sentence which defect the King supply'd sometime after and let them know by that Tacit Intimation how Mercy rejoyceth against Iudgment and what they may expect that do the contrary But what the Defence saith that soon after the Parliament was dissolv'd he was punished with a Fat Bishoprick is far from Truth unless he can bring seven years into that narrow compass which on other accounts passes for the Life of a Man To be sure upon his Advance to that Dignity he approv'd himself every way worthy of it Three things more especially I find he was much resolv'd upon First The Redemption of Captives Secondly The Conversion of Recusants Thirdly The Undeceiving of Seduced Sectaries Which shows him to be of a Publick as well as Loyal Spirit And one would think might attone for two or three Expressions which as they were out of his Profession so ought to have been more cautiously consider'd but I have found this their constant course all along every little slip upon the King's account shall be Aggravated to the Extreamest Degree whilst the most violent Libels against him his Ministers and Government must have so many Grains of Allowance as the Authors may be brought off with Reputation and Rewards As it happen'd afterward in the Case of Pryn Burton Bastwick Leighton Lilburne and who not That dar'd to fly in the face of Majesty and Abuse all that Adher'd to Church and Crown although to my certain information Pryn did in
the Sequel acknowledge that when he lost his Ears they might in Law and Iustice have taken away his life In the mean while what a Vexation must it be to a Good and Wise King that when he had call'd a Parliament to Assist him according to the National Constitution in a War undertaken by their inducement they diverted themselves in debating such School Points as belong'd properly to our Universities Exercise as afterwards they fell upon some Innocent Ceremonies which had been all along practis'd in the Catholick Church and enjoyn'd by ours ever since the Reformation Dangerous Innovations these Was ever so great a Cry made about so little Wooll CHAP. VII No Design of Introducing Popery THE Growth of Popery and Countenance shown to Papists was another pestilent Allegation and did never the less Mischief tho' false and groundless for First it is not true that the little Favour now shown them was solely upon account of the Matches in Treaty with Spain and France nor Secondly had it been Unusual with Q. Elizabeth to discharge Priests after some short time of Confinement For those violent Bigots were as numerous and busy in her Reign Compass'd Sea and Land to gain Proselytes and prevail'd upon too many weak and unstable Minds to become so However 't was a known Maxim of hers That no Man's Conscience should be forc'd or punished unless it did overflow into Overt and express Acts and become matter of Faction in which Causes the Sovereign Prince ought to punish the Practice though coloured with the pretence of Conscience and Religion A larger account whereof may be seen in that Eminent Letter of Secretary Walsingham to Monsieur Critoy and what distinction there was ever made between such as were Papists in Conscience and those in Faction and Singularity who set their Wits continually a-work to disturb the Publick Peace and undermine the Government Besides there was at this time and had been several years before most violent Oppositions and Quarrels between the Regulars and Seculars here in England more especially the Iesuits whom the foremention'd Secretary calls Seditious Priests of a New Erection whereas many of the former had taken the Oath of Allegiance and some written to Iustify it desiring only to live according to the Rites of the Roman Church without any regard to the Court that so magnify'd Idol of the Popes Universal Supremacy and All-disposing Usurpation Now by fomenting these Differences and shewing some kindness to the more Moderate Party Archbishop Bancroft more especially however branded by the Faction for a Papist and some other Ministers of State got so clear an insight into all their Iesuitical Intriegues as to out-do them at their own Weapon and render their many designs Abortive And his Successor Abbot herein was forc'd to take the same Measures 't is pity he did not so in every thing else for when in Charles's second Parliament some busy Overdoes gave Information to the House and upon search discovered that there were several Priests in the Prison call'd the Clink who liv'd with great Ease and Liberty had the Free Exercise of their Religion with Altars Pictures and other Trinkets the fore-mention'd Archbishop writ to the Attorney General on their behalf and told him Upon more curious enquiry that Information would be found to come Originally from the Iesuits for they do nothing but put Tricks upon those poor Men who do live more miserable lives than if they were in the Inquisition By taking the Oath of Allegiance and writing in defence of it they have so displeas'd the Pope that if by any cunning they could catch them they are sure to be burnt or strangled for it and once there was a Plot to have taken Preston as he passed the Thames and to have Ship'd him into a bigger Vessel and so have transported him to Flanders there to have made a Martyr of him In respect of these things K. James always gave his protection to Preston and Warrington as may be easily shew'd Canon is an old man well affected to the Cause but medleth not with any Factions or Seditions c. So vast a difference there is between taking things at a general View upon the first rebound of vulgar report and enquiring more narrowly into the secret Transactions the Reasons of State upon which the Wellfare of all Governments and consequently of every private Individual depends And since we are upon Reason of State that will come in here upon a more unhappy consideration as to this Affair the Protestant Interest especially in France was at a much lower Ebb than formerly they had engag'd we are not here to resolve how justly in those several pretences the Princes of the Blood set up and so upheld a mutual Interest whereas now the former being worn out or reconcil'd it was an Impar Congressus on the Hugonot's side to maintain by the Sword those Concessions it had formerly procur'd them or otherwise prevent those many Artifices both the Court of France and Rome were daily improving to their Ruin insomuch as the then K. Lewis XIII was known publickly to declare That as his two Predecessors Henry III. Fear'd them Henry IV. Lov'd them so he did neither And though the Spanist Match made the Cry yet upon this consideration more especially it was that in Iames's time upon mature deliberation in Council the Execution of some Penal Statutes which had already pass'd in Sentence upon several Popish Recusants was suspended for that the Protestants in France Germany and elsewhere lay under very bad Circumstances and had no other Intercessor for their Liberty c. but the King of England who was importun'd on the other side to show the like favour to those of the Romish Persuasion in his Dominions Nay some English Iesuits at Paris printed a Book representing how hardly their party were us'd here instigating that King to the utmost Severity by way of Retaliation so that had they and the Parliament been comply'd with what a havock would have been made all Europe over of Papists here and Protestants every where alse There is a Letter in the Cabala from Lord Keeper Williams to the Viscount Anan a Scotch Peer I presume upon this Subject which fully clears the King and justifies the proceedure by true Reason of State The Malice of the Faction gave out indeed that the Favour look'd forward and amounted even to a Tolleration which the Keeper styles a dull but withall a Devilish Misconstruction Yet the same prejudices were not only continu'd but improv'd against K. Charles by reason he Married a Daughter of France who was not wanting saith Ludlow on her part to press him upon all occasions to pursue the design of enlarging his Power not omitting to solicite him also to mould the Church of England to a nearer compliance with the See of Rome Pag. 2. For the former as he had no such design before so 't is as little probable she should press him now or
free exercise of their Religion and the abolition of such Laws as render the Catholicks uncapable of any Office Place Commodity or Profit to the extraordinary decay of their Estates Education and Learning From whence it is clear That tho' the design was laid before yet as to the Conduct and Management thereof they exactly copyed their Neighbours the Scots and the Devil could not furnish them with any other Precedent more proper for their Design The King likewise was proportionably abus'd in his Concessions and Favours for the leading men in this Rebellion having appear'd against the great Earl of Strafford and been countenanc'd by our violent Factions here in their Complaints of Grievance and Heavy Impositions the Lords Iustices who were then in the Supream Power must be order'd to caress the Gentlemen and comply in whatever insolent demands they should insist upon by which means some of the Popish Lawyers Members of that House of Commons the better to carry on that Rebellion they had in design were so impudent as to lay down these Maxims and vouch them for Law 1. That any one being killed in Rebellion tho' found by matter of Record would give the King no forfeiture of Estate 2. That tho' many thousands stood up in Arms working all manner of Destruction yet if they profess not to rise against the King that it was no Rebellion 3. That if a man were Outlaw'd for Treason and his Land rested in the Crown or given away by the King his Heir might come afterwards be admitted to reverse the Outlawry and recover his Ancestor's Estate These and many such like Rebel Tenents were publish'd that Session after the Murder of the Earl of Strafford an abundant confirmation how requisite his strict Hand was for such a loose People which to astonishment the Government did not see or would not take notice of till the Knife was at their Throats and many thousands of them cut although they must have all a-long observ'd how uneasie the Irish had been under their Conquest tho' better govern'd perhaps than had it been in their own hands how strangely influenc'd by their Priests and bigotted upon that account so that they might alledge the same pretence of Religion and Property with their Neighbours and have just the same reason to Rebell that is none at all But that which surpriseth me most is that these People should have liberty to sit in Parliament Comptrol and Vote against whatever Sanctions had been or were farther to be enacted in order to keep them the better in subjection the freedom of their Consciences might surely have been thought enough but the Freedom of Governing too must bring all to confusion as it here happen'd to a horrid degree But 't is not my Province to take notice of this or any of their other Rebellions farther than the Reputation and Memory of our Royal Sufferer is concern'd whose treatment as to these Irish Affairs was more barbarous and inhumane than all the rest as well from the Forgeries on their side to inveigle and abuse the People as the villainous spreading of them here where it requir'd some time to procure a right Information We must know therefore That when the Faction here had actually drawn their Sword against their Sovereign amongst many other Calumnies and Detractions laid to his charge in the several Declarations and Answers they sent abroad there were few without some secret Reflections as if the Rebellion in Ireland began by his Knowledge and Connivance from which intimations their impudent Agents and Emissaries the allow'd Scriblers and News Prints the Pest of that and all other Ages where permitted would have those many Massacres and Murders laid at his Door which the Good Man's Heart more unfeignedly lamented than all the Members of both Houses Nevertheless as His Majesty himself foretold concerning the many Iealousies rais'd and Scandals cast upon him by his Enemies his Reputation like the Sun after Owls and Batts have had their Freedom in the Night and darker times brake forth and recover'd it self to such a degree of Splendor as those Feral Birds griev'd to behold and were unable to bear for as no good man believ'd any of those Calumnies at first so the next return or two of Post or Ship they were blown away with the same Wind which brought them hither and the Faction forc'd to rack their Wits for a fresh reproach wherewith the Devil never fail'd to supply them But that after several years of happy Sunshine another Sett of those nasty Birds should appear again hooping and howling the same notorious falsehoods to a Generation which was not then born and too little considering the mischiefs then wrought looks very ominous and God grant it doth not bode a greater darkness than any we then lay under The first reproach which this false and feather Bird Ludlow howls forth against the King is That whilst in Scotland he had News of the Irish Rebellion how the Papists throughout the Kingdom were in Arms c. and then closeth the Relation with this Villainous hearsay The News of this Rebellion as I have heard from persons of undoubted Credit was not displeasing to the King though it was attended with the Massacre of many thousands of the Protestants there p. 17. Though we are not to take his word for the Credit of the persons who related this yet we may take our measures from his relation that they were equally to be credited with himself that is not all for all this is gratis dictum without the least Authority any thing of a reason or so much as probable conjecture for so hellish an Aspersion Whereas there is express matter of Fact even to demonstration that never any thing more sensibly affected him in that upon the first notice thereof he sent Sir Iames Stewart to the Lords of the Privy-Council at Dublin with Instructions what he thought most proper to be done and furnish'd them with all that Money his present stores could supply He mov'd also the Parliament in Scotland to a speedy help but they desir'd to be excus'd till the States of England were consulted who if they thought fit to use any of their men propositions should be made in order thereunto designing to make a Market to themselves of their Neighbour Nations miseries wherein notwithstanding many of their own Countrymen were concerned At the same time likewise he sent Post to the Parliament of England where several Resolves were taken and Votes made but little effectually done till the King's Return To speak truly had Ludlow's reflection been made upon them there had been much more Credit for it since they laid hold of all advantages thereby not only to slander and abuse his Majesty but to help themselves forward in that Rebellion they were just ripe for acting as will by and by be made appear With the same Owl-light Credit he proceeds and tells us About this time great numbers of English Protestants flying from the Bloody hands
have reaped great Advantages thereby would they have acted with reason or consulted his Honour with the Common Interest of all the Three Kingdoms together which Good man was his grand aim But to have any design of Promoting their Superstition or otherwise give them the least advantage upon the true Establishments in Church and State was as far from him as from the Commonwealth Party not to abuse and belye him upon that account and indeed all others whatsoever And thus ended all Transactions between the King and that unhappy People but the next year when things came to extremity and directly tended to his Murder the Marquess of Ormond was invited over by them to assume the Lieutenancy and a strict Union entred into between him and the Catholick Commissioners as they termed themselves and all Partys seem'd abundantly satisfy'd in the choice of a Person who had shown himself Superiour to all those Calumnies they had formerly aspersed him with However so many different Humours Passions and Interests could not long stick together the Provisions for next Campagne were not answerable to promise and when they came to Action the Ecclesiasticks and their Bigotted Party return'd to their Old vomit would neither lead nor drive but at the same Priest-ridden trot as formerly so that quarrelling at those disappointments themselves were the Cause of and fomenting the Divisions they ought to have cemented Cromwell in the mean while coming over with an Army of Veteran well Disciplin'd Rebels their whole Island became the most dismal Scene of War Pestilence and Famine as we find any where Recorded the numbers being unaccountable which perished by those three Arrows of Divine Vengeance others either by Stealth or Composition got into Foreign parts whilst the remainder were shut up in one Corner of the Kingdom and had all their Estates divided amongst the Conquerors And thus ended this Popish Rebellion which as it was begun in imitation of the Scotch Covenant so was it prosecuted with the like Insolent and Unreasonable Demands and with somewhat a severer draught of the Almighty's Displeasure although nothing but an Impenitent Heart could make either of them forbear to acknowledge how Righteous God is in all his ways CHAP. III. Of the English Rebellion THE two former Prospects have been dismal enough and could not but move both Indignation and Pity as to the Aggressors and Suffering Parties had the Scene lain at the farthest Distance but being either in our Neighbourhood or on our Borders and we at the sole Charge of buying the Scotch home and buoying up the Protestant Interest against the Irish one would think should have caution'd us to keep together amongst our selves and take Care to prevent any further Annoyance from such troublesom Neighbours But to continue nay aggravate the Freak fall together by the Ears one with another when they were both fallen upon us was so abominably Stupid as the whole observing Part of the World became amas'd and Posterity 't is probable would have given no Credit thereto were we not like to confirm it by continuing in the same Mixture of Fools and Mad-men to the Consummation of all things For Confirmation whereof I cannot but observe that the Scots acted like themselves and having so solemn an Invitation from us could not forbear according to the Common Policy of the World to set forward from their own Wilderness to our Canaan The Irish likewise had strong Prejudices both as a conquer'd Nation and from the unhappy Influence of their Romish Emissaries upon whose Sleeves they had not only pinn'd their Faith but Obedience to the Civil Power so that had their Defection been confin'd within any Bounds of Humanity some Grains of Allowance might have been given them After all therefore the most Astonishing surprise lies on our Side in that we were not only forward to foment them but so barbarously Stupid as to Sheath the Sword in one anothers Bowels without any imaginable Cause but what the Historian assigns in all such Cases Nimis Felicitas The Scene then hence forward must be at home where will appear several Acts full of nothing but Misery and Confusion a sad Completion both of the Prophets Charge and Curse there being no Truth nor Mercy nor Knowledge of God in the Land but by Swearing and Lying and Killing and Stealing Blood touched Blood to the Effusion of that Royal Blood which I fear will be never expiated till the last Conflagration to be sure some others though very considerable have done little towards it That Observation of Amm. Marcellin could never be more Applicable than here Manum injicientibus fatis hebetantur sensus hominum obtunduntur Fate so strongly overrul'd all our Deliberations dazled the Sight of our Judgments and Counsels so such a Degree there was no Thought left for the most Natural Principle to all Mankind Self-Preservation and that whether we consider his Majesty's too many and great Compliances on the one hand or the Faction's Impudence on the other whose Demands continually improv'd with his Concessions crying as the Wise Man tells the Horsleeches two Daughters incessantly do Give Give nec missura cutem nisi plena cruoris without giving over till the Nation fainted and they burst asunder with it's Blood And this Ludlow owns that the King not willing to languish in Expectation sent to the House that they would at once make their full Demands and prepare a Bill c. But they perceiving the Design for he must never be without one though they good Creatures were as undesigning as the Devil return'd for Answer That they could not suddenly resolve upon so weighty a Work but would do it with all possible speed pa. 16. which time never came nor was thought of after Indeed their Thoughts were quite otherwise imploy'd to widen the Wound and render it incurable in order whereunto their first Attempt was to Stab the King through the Sides of his Ministers not only remove from him but Sacrifice all such worthy Patriots as had Courage and Abilities to detect and oppose their pernicious Enterprises Thus Ludlow tells us they impeach'd the Lord Keeper Finch Earl of Starfford and Arch-Bishop of Canterbury of High Treason in endeavouring to subvert the Laws and erect an Arbitrary and Tyrannical Power p. 12. the former very prudently made his escape the only means of avoiding that impertuous Hurricane which Innocence it self could not otherwise have stem'd The other two fell the Objects of their implacable Rage and being the Persons against whom next the King himself our Author revives his Calumnies with the greatest Obloquy I shall presume to give a short Account of the Procedure against them so Arbitrary and Illegal as it seem'd to be carried on not only without any regard to Iustice but even Humanity it self The Earl whom they first fell upon as he could not have a greater so deserv'd no less Character than what his Majesty gave him of a Person whose great Abilities might make a
Prince rather afraid than asham'd to employ him in the greatest Affairs of State which he first discover'd in the House of Commons was very happily brought into Court where through several Stages of eminent Trusts and Council he arriv'd at the highest Command our Crown hath to dispose of that in Ireland which he manag'd and improv'd in so prodigious a manner as all Men of Sense and Business were astonish'd in their Acknowledgments thereof And this sufficiently appear'd at his Tryal for though 't is true there were several Articles of a very high Nature brought against him yet none prov'd And herein Ludlow discovers his Commonwealth Ingenuity to tell us he was accus'd of Governing Ireland in an Arbitrary Manner of retaining the Revenue of the Crown without giving an Account of promoting and encouraging the Romish Religion c. p. 14. whereunto though English and Irish Puritans and Papists his open Enemies and false Friends were encourag'd to give Evidence they could make nothing of it nor of that High Charge which our Author mentioning more than once would have instar omnium how he advis'd the King That since the Parliament had deny'd him such Supplies as he demanded he was at Liberty to raise them by such means as he thought fit and that he had an Irish Army should assist him to that end All which had but one single Witness to prove it Sir H. Vane who hesitated very much and though at last would have had the Irish Army imploy'd in England all Circumstances speak otherwise the very Council sitting upon the Scotch Affairs and every Member thereof averring the contrary the Earl of Northumberland more especially that he had heard the Earl of Strafford often say that that Power was to be us'd Candide et Caste and that the Kingdom could not be Happy but by a good Agreement between the King and his People in Parliament So that after a great deal of Art and Eloquence by the best parted bad Men Westminster-Hall ever sent into the House of Commons with Father Pym c. this Great Person so clearly bafled all their Allegations and Evidences as they were forc'd to turn the Tables pursue another Method and Vote him guilty by Bill of Attainder which not only precluded all further Arguments according to the Regular Course of Iustice but made themselves Accusers Parties and Iudges throughout the whole Procedure both as to Matter of Fact and Law an odd and unusual Course for they say it had been discontinu'd from Henry VIII's Time whose grough Humour too often made use of this when he could not otherwise gain his Point that is his Will But when laid in his Cold Tomb that Men might freely speak their Minds next the Barbarous Treatment of his Queens this is the foulest Blot upon his Memory And as he then made his Parliament the Properties in this ungrateful ay and unjust Procedure so the Parliament here were as hot and violent in forcing it upon the King and that with so great Precipitancy as the Bill was read thrice in one Day and consequently pass'd with an earnest Request when carried up to the Lords of the like quick Dispatch But they were more Deliberate as well upon his as their own Account which made the Commons fall to their then a la mode Course of Rabble and Tumults 5 or 6000 whereof assembled at Westminster crying for Justice and Execution with many other intollerable Insolencies as shall be by and by related upon which Account many of the Lords dar'd not to appear at the House and of those few that did being 45 it was carried but by 7 Votes 19 giving their not Content to the 26 that gave their Content to the passing this Fatal Bill And this brought the King into that inextricable Perplexity being to use his own incomparable Words perswaded by those that wish'd him well to choose rather what seemed safe than just preferring the outward Peace of my Kingdom with Men before that inward exactness of Conscience before God and this made a continu'd Remorse in his Soul for ever after incessantly complaining of that bad exchange to wound a Man 's own Conscience thereby to salve State-Sores to calm the Storms of popular Discontents by stirring up a Tempest in a Man 's own Bosom whereas in all likelyhood I could never have suffer'd with my People greater Calamities yet with greater Comfort had I vindicated Strafford's Innocency and not gratify'd some Mens unthankful importuning so cruel a Favour In fine the whole Chapter is so great in its self as we find nothing so sincerely to express the true Remorse of a Penitent Soul since David pen'd the 51 Psalm and withall gives so high and just a Character of this great Man as no People which us'd them both so Barbarously ought ever to be bless'd with such a Prince or Minister Yet one thing I must further observe from his Majesty how that after-Act vacating the Authority of the Precedent for future Imitation sufficiently tells the World that some Remorse touched even his most implacable Enemies as knowing he had very hard Measure and such as they would be very loth should be repeated to themselves The return likewise that virulent Faction made to his Majesty when he had oblig'd them with so much Regret to himself is worth taking Notice which was only this hath he given us Strafford then he can deny us nothing And accordingly at the same time this cursed Bill was past there past another to make that cursed Parliament perpetual whereupon I find this Remark that as the one was for the Earl's present Execution so the other prov'd in the Event for the Kings One thing more and I have done when the Nation came to its Wits again in the Year 60 An Act was pass'd for reversing the Attainder of this great Worthy wherein are enumerated the several unjust and irregular Practiecs for obtaining that Bill as well from Lords as King together with the Illegality and untruth of the Charge it self 'T is pity there had not been a Clause likewise that whosoever should dare to Libel and belye his but more especially his Master 's Sacred Memory or indeed any others who unjustly Suffer'd in that just Cause should forfeit their Ears at last if not have their Breath stop'd at Tyburn what a company of Spill-Paper Rascals would this have freed the Press or the World of But since 't is thought fit to permit them we must be Content with discovering thereby their sordid Temper and base Principles and accordingly discriminate them from such vertuous Understanding Souls as will not be afraid of any euil Tidings but have the Righteous in everlasting Remembrance Arch-Bishop Laud shall be here likewise consider'd for tho they did not take away his Life till about three Years after yet was he forc'd to Linger it out all that time in an unjust Confinement kept on purpose as one would think to serve another turn with the Scots For as they would
pessima If Parliaments should at any time be misguided by the Practice of a malignant Party nothing can be so dangerous because the highest Remedy being corrupted there is no sure Redress left And their knowing this and acting so vigorously to prevent those Miseries designed thereby was the Causa latens that their Blood was so much thirsted after and when spilt sadly accomplish'd what the Poet declar'd in one of their Elegies The State in Strafford dy'd the Church in Laud. For they being gone all the rest of the Kings Ministers thought it time to beg a Discharge and provide for themselves since the most unspotted Integrity could not be Proof against the Stat pro ratione of an Ordinance much less a Bill of Attainder Dr. Nalson in his Collections gives us a piece of a Manuscript left by the late Earl of Manchester the sometimes fatal Kimbolton which tells us what tricks and juglings were used amongst them to excuse such as had been exclaim'd against as most Obnoxious by resigning their Places to some leading Men of the Faction as Cottington Master of the Wards to Say and Seal c. So likewise for Monopolies which Ludlow tells us they declar'd against and expell'd the Authors out of the House p. 11. they were generally transferr'd by Bill to more deserving on their side as the Letter Office to the Earl of Warwik for three Lives and Sir Henry Mildmay was continu'd in the House though a notorious Promoter of the Monopoly of Gold and Silver Thread as also Mr. Laurence Whitaker and other Commissioners in Matters of like Nature or worse for to incourage those already come amongst them and bring in others they laid down this Politick Maxim That what disservice any one had done formerly his present Actions bringing Benefit to their Common-wealth he ought not now to be question'd He goes on to tell you how they proceeded to take away the Star-chamber High-commission Court Court of Honour with some others p. 13. The former of these was the antientest Court in England but being a support of the Prerogative must down and the other because of the Church I have already mention'd how much better it had been to have corrected the Abuses and for the present shall only observe that had they been ten times greater than they were it was no redress to take them away and substitute an ordinance of the House in room thereof yet that it was come to at so impudent an Arbitrary rate as no King of England or indeed in Europe ever assumed half that Power he that is most exclaim'd at now upon that account doth nothing like it the Grand Seignior was the only precedent they could propound As to the High Commission I shall only add that Mr. Hobbs in a little Pamphlet he writ since the Restauration of Heresy endeavours to vindicate his Leviathan from that Charge by Reason the High Commission at the restless Clamours of the Presbyterians was then abolish'd the only Court wherein such Points could be consider'd he did not think of a Convocation neither is it much thought of by others but doubtless all the Heresies Factions Schisms which have so miserably torn both Church and State arose from the suppressing that Court For that other the Court of Honour Gentlemen formerly had as much regard for their Bearing as any other property and would be as much concern'd if invaded but going about to Dethrone the sole Fountain of Honour their King 't was their Curse rather than Choice to lay all things in Common the Lord and Lacquey Gentleman and Groom upon the same Level which soon after they found more experimentally true than ever was expected and might have justly taken up the Prophet's Lamentation Servants have got the Dominion over us and there is none to deliver us out of their Hand What I most condole is that we lost the Thing as well as the Court true Honor fell to so low an Ebb as it hath very seldom stowd since should I say as much of Truth Iustice and Common Honesty 't were easier to inveigh against than disprove me Upon a summary View of these through-paic'd Reformers whole Proceedings who our Author tells us were resolv'd to correct the Abuses introduc'd the preoedent Years I cannot but reflect upon a Simile which occur'd the other Day in a Republican Pamphlet to the best of my Memory one of those about A Standing Army where that Truth could not pass without the Alloy of several Falshoods in reference to this and some other Reigns however the Metaphor is very proper comparing Government to a Watch or any such like piece of Clock-work where a disorder in any one Wheel obstructs the regular Course if not the whole Motion But then what can we say when not only several Wheels are taken out but the Spring it 's self is set aside every conceited Commonwealth Man and Clumsy-fisted Clown having liberty to tamper with and thumb it at Pleasure yet this impartially speaking hath been our Condition most an end ever since These rude Artists fell to work For what Hudebrass saith of Religion is altogether as true of Government One would think it was intended For nothing else butto be mended Were it not for shame of the Quibble I would add they design'd perhaps to make a Pendulum of it by which means it hath hung tottering ever since What he next entertains us withal is a Protestation agreed upon by the Lords and Commons to maintain the Power and Priviledges of Parliaments the Right and Liberty of the People c. p. 13. taking no notice of the precedent part to Defend the Protestant Religion express'd in the Doctrine of the Church of England c. and according to the Duty of Allegiance Maintain and Defend his Majesty's Royal Person Honour and Estate all which Ludlow omits and it was very ingenuously done for he knew it never intended In the mean while they acted above board as to the Discipline of the Church whereof they took no notice designing forthwith to set it aside for this Protestation was but a Prologue to the Scotch Covenant notwithstanding several Good Men both Clergy and Lay were driven by the Strength of that Popular Current to Subscribe it at a most unthinking rate What comes next is one of the best improv'd Lies in the whole Libel of a treacherous Design set on foot not without the King's Participation as appear'd under the King 's own Hand to bring up the English Army and by Force to Dissolve the Parliament the Plunder of London being promis'd to the Officers and Soldiers as a reward for that Service this was confess'd by the Lord Goring Mr. Percy and others The Scots Army was also try'd c. p. 15. This is his Story Let us now see Truth The chief Officers in the English Army were a Set of Worthy Loyal Gentlemen both of Sense and Honour and consequently could not but take notice how partial the Commons were to the Scots
Army in prejudice to theirs which caus'd Commissary Wilmot who with some others was a Member of the House to tell them upon a Paper the Scots had presented to get Mony design'd for our Army that if Papers could procure Money he doubted not but the English Officers would soon do the same Neither were their Resentments less upon the King 's than their own account that after so many complyances and too great condescention they should still press forward to the overturning of all whereupon they entred into a confederacy obliging themselves by an Oath of secrecy to Petition the King and Parliament upon these Four Heads For Money for the Army not to Disband before the Scots To preserve Bishops Votes and Functions To settle the King's Revenue Which being shown to and approv'd by the King he sign'd all which appears both from Mr. Percy 's letter to the Earl of Northumberland his Brother that they resolved to act nothing which should infringe the Subjects Liberty or be prejudicial to the Laws As likewise from the foremention'd Manuscript of the Earl of Manchester which gives the same account And could Ludlow or any of his Partisans imagin there should be no Men of Courage and Resolution left in the Nation or that having Swords by their Sides they should keep their Hands in their Pockets and see Votes and Ordinances do more mischief than all the Gunpowder of a seven Years Campain and since the Parliament were resolv'd upon a War 't is Pity these Gentlemen parted with their Forces Had they come up and cut Ten or Twenty the lowdest Throats in the House it might have sav'd the effusion of a great deal more and much better Blood and preserv'd both King and Kingdom from Ruin To shew farther that the Parliament was always in danger the King continually plotting against them they never against him our Author tells us how a great number of loose debauch'd Fellows repair'd to Whitehall where a constant Table was provided and many Gentlemen of the Inns of Court tamper'd with to assist him in his Design and how briskly he took up one for speaking against the Fellows at Westminster who upon this fright desir'd leave to provide themselves a Guard and that the Militia might be at their disposing p. 21. To turn a Story or frame a Lie so as to make it serve their own turns hath been all along observ'd the peculiar Talent of our Commonwealth Men and of the whole Party Ludlow had most right to the Whetstone That the Fellow should be so impudent to charge the King with raising Tumults or threatning Force when all the World knows it was the chief Engine the Parliament had to carry on all their mischievous Enterprises and when any thing stuck with him or the Lords a Rabble of 5 or 6000 were immediately summon'd out of the City to affright and threaten all that would not comply according to their Desire and in their passage by Whitehall did the same to the King till their Insolencies grew so intolerable as he was forc'd to leave that and Parliament at once for which they had the confidence to charge him and yet would take no care he might be secure with them and this occasion'd what Ludlow relates Several Gentlemen about Town more especially at the Inns of Court were asham'd to see Majesty so scandalously affronted proffer'd their service for the security of Whitehall his Majesty and Family which was kindly accepted and some little Entertainment made for them from whence this vile Fellow rais'd his great Story And since he hath given me this just provocation it will be here very proper to give some small account of those many violences from the insults and tumults of the Rabble how necessary the Faction found them and thereupon what Encouragement they had The Bill of Attainder against the Earl of Strafford went on very slowly in the House of Lords and 't is probable but for the Menaces of the Mob had never pass'd whereof 5 or 6000 came up to Westminster fill'd the Palace-Yard posted themselves at all the Entrances to the Parliament House and stopped every Coach crying Iustice and Execution which upon a Sign given was repeated with such an hideous Noise as to create Amazement in the greatest Constancy Such Lords as they knew were averse to Humour them they threatned most severely and had the Impudence to add if they had not the Leiutenant's Life they would have the King 's whereof his Majesty complained by Message to the Lords they to the Commons and there it stuck For sometime after when they trudg'd away to cry no Bishops as Hudibras hath it and the Lords complained in a Conference with the Commons of their horrible Insolency Mr. Pim their chief Setter cry'd God forbid we should proceed to dishearten People from obtaining their just Rights and the rest of that cursed Cabal secretly whisper'd they must not discourage their Friends this being a time to make use of them which vile Abettings made them so Impudent as to threaten White-hall too and declare as they pass'd by there should be no Porters Lodg but they would come to speak to the King without Control and at their own discretion And when presently after there was another descent of the same Rout and some Opposition made upon their Attempt upon White-hall Gate till the Sheriffs of London and Middelsex with what Guard they could draw together seiz'd and committed some of them the Commons immediately posted up Mr. Hollis to the Lords complaining 't was a Violation of the Liberty of the Subject and an affront to the Parliament and so the Good Boys must be discharg'd 'T were too tedious to relate the several Insults of this kind both King and Lords were forc'd to put up the Commons underhand giving them all Encouragement imaginable and had their Setters in the City to be ready on the first Intimation whereof Dr. Cornelius Burges a Lecturing Beautifeu was chief seconded by a Lay Brother one Ven the Captain Tom of those Times the Dr. as he led up these Doughty Champions was wont to look back and cry These are my Ban-dogs I can set them on and I can take them off again by which means saith my Author four parts in five of the Lords and two parts in three of the Commons were frighted out of the House to leave the Faction absolute Masters thereof All these before unheard of Affronts to Majesty and Government our faithful Recorder of Memoirs takes no Notice of but a few honest Loyal Gentlemen asham'd to see such abominable Insults and therefore coming to defend if occasion serv'd their abused ay and threatned Prince must pass for a Plot upon the Parliament and they forsooth must have a Guard With like veracity he relates the Kingston Plot too where the Lord Digby with Colonel Lunsford in a Coach and Six and three or four Footmen attending pass'd for a Body of 500 Horse with many such like extravagant Rumors
rais'd on purpose that their Worships might be thought to stand in need of a Guard whereas if such a thing was wanting it must be to Guard the King and Government from them In that Divine Pourtraicture of his Majesty's Solitudes and Sufferings there are two Chapters one upon the many Iealousies rais'd and Scandals cast upon the King to stir up the People against him The other upon the Insolencies of the Tumults in both which he doth so passionately set forth how abominably he and his Subjects were abus'd by their Lyes and Slanders as would Convince ay and Convert too any Reprobate whatsoever but a Republican As to the Tumults how just and reasonable is that Resentment of his I confess saith he when I found such a Deafness that no Declaration from the Bishops who were first foully insolenc'd and assaulted nor yet from Lords and Gentlemen of Honour nor yet from my self could take Place for the due Repression of these Tumults and securing not only our Freedom in Parliament but our very Persons in the Streets I thought my self not bound by my Presence to provoke them to higher Boldness and Contempts I hoped also by my withdrawing to give time both to the Ebbing of their tumultuous Fury and others regaining some degrees of modesty and sober Sense But his hopes were altogether frustrated they persever'd at the same Rebel rate till as he foretold the Just Avenger of all Disorders made those Men and that City see their Sin in the Glass of their Punishment which soon after happen'd in the same way they had offended But never was this Meteor Mob so high in Meridian Altitude as when the five Members were accus'd it was indeed the sole Support of that cursed Cause without which the King had curs'd them all to the Scaffold and so sent them to their proper Place where all Rebellions are first laid and in the end Punish'd Here then let us see how Ludlow palliates this Business which being clear Matter of Fact he had no way to flourish off but with his continu'd Impudence in reflecting upon the King whose violent Ways not succeeding he fell upon other Measures in appearance more moderate c. p. 20. and to colour his Proceedings with a Form of Law sent Sir Edward Herbert his Attorny General to accuse of High Treason in the name of his Majesty Mr. William Stroud c. and Lord Kimbolton accquainting them that he intended to proceed against them according to Law and then gives us the Articles which are foul enough yet not exact to the Original no where calling them Traytors as that justly doth But whatever he further saith as to the House of Commons is altogether a Chymera of his own there were no Foot-steps of it in all the Procedure His Words are these Upon this the House made answer to the Attorny General that they were the proper Judges of their own Members That upon his producing the Articles if they found Cause they would leave them to be Proceeded against according to Law but commanded him at his Peril not to proceed further against them or any other Member without their Consent After which they published a Declaration to the same purpose c. p. 24. upon which Relation of our Author give me leave to make these few Remarks as first This Charge of the General 's was given in to the House of Lords as a Court of Iudicature whereupon they fell to Debate 1 st Whether this Accusation of the Attorny General 's be a regular Proceeding 2dly Whether there were any such Proceedings ever before in this House 3dly Whether an Accusation of High Treason may be brought against a Peer of Parliament With some others and yet this blundering Fellow supposes all this to be done in the House of Commons and frames an Answer accordingly but any thing will pass with the Fanaticks from a confiding Brother who perhaps too will like it the better for being Preposterous and False 2 dly Supposing that to be their Answer as it was indeed the Sense of all their Votes Speeches and Declarations what Law made them Judges of their own Members From the beginning it was not so Nor 3 dly That a Member could not be proceeded against without their leave we have been told that formerly no Priviledges could secure any Member from Justice for Murder Felony and Treason but now having made Prerogative a Cypher they might add as many as they pleas'd to Multiply what they thought fit to call their Rights although in order thereunto methinks they should have repeal'd that scurvy Proverb of Asking ones Fellow whether he be a Thief 4 thly Had the Gentlemen accus'd been really Innocent they need not have made such a Noise and Pudder nothing could have been a greater Baffle to his Majesty than such an unjust Charge the contrary is therefore to me Demonstration 5 thly The Commons indeed when the King was gon fell upon the Attorny General and had him Interrogated at the Lord's Bar by a Committe of theirs whereto his Answer not being Satisfactory they made some angry Resolves but I cannot any where find he was sent to Prison for his Proceedings in that Matter as Ludlow saith Well the King finding the Lords afraid to burn their Fingers by questioning these Idols the Rabble so ador'd took another Course sent one Mr. Francis a Serjeant at Arms to the House of Commons to demand of them and Arrest of High Treason the five Members which was done as order'd and their Names declar'd whereupon four Members were order'd to attend his Majesty and acquaint him that the Message was a matter of great Consequence and the House would take it into Consideration with as much speed as the greatness of the Business will permit But notwithstanding their fair Words instead of complying herein Sir William Fleming and another Gentleman who by Warrant from the King had seal'd up the Studies and Trunks of the five Members were apprehended by Mr. Speaker's Warrant as Delinquents and Order'd to remain in the Serjeant's Custody till further Order so that it seems they could Commit though the King must not Neither of these Courses taking effect his Majesty resolv'd upon a Third which was to go to the House and demand them himself which he did with all the Tenderness and Regard imaginable for whatever Ludlow saith of 3 or 4 Hundred and amongst them several Desperados entertain'd at White-hall the whole number did not consist of above one the Gentlemen Pensioners in Course with other Lords and Gentlemen then in Attendance or about Court who were commanded to move no further than the Stairs nor offer any Violence though provok'd himself with the Elector Palatine only entring in where he found the Birds flown and the whole House as soon as he was withdrawn flew after them into the City with a grievous Complaint to their Protectors the Rabble that they could not speak and act Treason at Pleasure without being question'd by his Majesty
of his he declares How in all those Propositions little or nothing could be observ'd of any Laws dis-joynted which ought to be restor'd of any Right invaded of any Justice obstructed of any Compensations to be made of any impartial Reformation to be granted to all or any of which Reason Religion and true Policy or any other Humane Motives might induce him But the main Matters propounded in which is either great Novelty or Difficulty relate to what were formerly look'd upon as Factions in the State or Schisms in the Church and so punishable by the Laws though now they have the Confidence by vulgar Clamors and Assistance to demand not only Toleration of themselves in their Vanity Novelty and Confusion but also Abolition of the Laws against them and a total Extirpation of that Government whose Rights they have a mind to invade Thus solidly did his Majesty refel the little Rebel Flourishes of the Westminster Iunto and therefore no wonder they were deliver'd to the King without Success they knew before-hand he had more Honor and Conscience than to grant them otherwise would not have caus'd them to be presented and if he thought as Ludlow would perswade us he did as good terms as these might be obtain'd if reduc'd to the last Extremity he had great Reason so to do for doubtless no one breathing did then so much as dream of or imagin that execrable Act their continu'd draughts of Blood did in the end prompt them unto In which unnatural Broils of State Parricide and Domestick Fury as I shall concern my self no further than this base Fellow and his Comrades reflect upon the Memory of our Royal Martyr So I cannot but observe his Design hath been all along hitherto to manage his Lyes with so much Art and Cunning as to make the King according to the Procedure of their horrid High Court of Iustice the first Agressor and Promoter of the War The Parliament were as Innocent as an Assembly of so many Devils and desir'd only to do with him and his Kingdoms his Queeu Children and his Friends as they pleas'd which his Stubbornness refusing the Charge their Insolencies had assum'd to themselves resolv'd to force him as they really did which yet he Ludlow would have turn'd upon them What I shall first mention tho' there are several such like Hints before is p. 16. The King having laid his Designs in Ireland as will afterward appear was not without great Difficulty prevail'd upon by the Parliament to consent to the Disbanding those eight Thousand Irish Papist that had been rais'd there by the Earl of Strafford How far that Army was from being Irish Papists will appear from this that all the Irish Grandees of that Perswasion agreed with the Faction in our two Houses here to promote the Disbanding that Army which had it been kept on Foot the Rebellion could not have Succeeded there nor consequently here The next Instance I shall give is p. 22. The King 's violent Ways not succeeding he fell upon other Measures in appearance more moderate c. What violent Ways were these Why those few Inns of Court and other Gentlemen who proffer'd their Attendance to secure him from the Insolency of the Tumults which this bad Man for whom no bad Name is bad enough takes no Notice of though got up to that prodigious hight as the King could not think those and all his other Friends able to secure him at White-Hall In like manner upon his Majesty's demanding the Five Members p. 25. The Parliament-sensible of this Violation of their Priviledges and fearing they might be further intrenched upon c. a strong Violation that to demand Traytors to Iustice but 't was their Interest to oppose it otherwise they might have all follow'd For having related after their many other Usurpations how well the Parliament approv'd Sir Iohn Hotham's Conduct declaring he had done well in denying the King admittance into Hull 't is added next Paragraph p. 29. The Parliament began now to provide for the securing of all Places whereas there was not a Place of any Importance they had not secur'd before even to York it self in which by his Majesty 's too great Passiveness they had a Committee to observe and beard all his Undertakings And this brings me to the last Instance of this modest Man's Veracity p. 38. The King having set up his Standard at Nottingham the 24th of August 1642 for he tells us to a Day and 't is well he doth The Parliament thought themselves oblig'd to make some Preparations to defend themselves whereas in the Paragraph immediately precedent he declar'd how the Fire began to break out in the West what success the Earl of Bedford had there upon the Parliament Account and how the Governour of Portsmouth declaring for the King that was besieg'd and reduc'd by their Forces And for a fuller Testimony of this let us compute the time of raising these Forces Essex under pretence of a Guard to the Parliament had been levying Men all that Spring on the tenth of Iune the Order past both Houses for the Citizens to bring in their Plate to carry on the War which they did most zealously on the 9th of September Essex march'd out of London in a great deal of Pomp having all his Masters attending him 16000 strong very little more than a Fortnight after the King set up his Standard where there did not appear the fourth part of the foremention'd Number But the Parliament had got that common artifice of all bad Men to cry Whore first as the Proverb expresses it inflame the Peoples Minds with Dangers and Designs that the King intended to levy War against them whereas 't was design'd against the King who most solemnly declar'd from York how far his Desires and Thoughts were from it and had this attested by more than forty Lords then with him how they saw no t any colour of Preparations or Counsels that might reasonably beget the Belief of any such Design and were fully perswaded his Majesty had no such intention But when he understood what preparations they were making at London and indeed every where else that Hotham had deny'd him Hull and Essex was coming to take him from his Evil Counsellors then he thought himself oblig'd to make some preparations for himself that I may turn Ludlow's impudent Falshood into Truth But suppose the King had begun sooner as 't is great pity he did not exerted the just right of his Prerogative and sovereign Power against the many encroachments they daily made and unknown Priviledges they constantly assum'd all the Laws of God and Man would have born him out therein For most Men of Sense long before the Sword was drawn clearly discover'd nothing would satisfy them but a total Subversion of the whole Government An honest Gentleman expostulating with Mr. Hambden upon the King 's many Concessions what they could expect further he reply'd they expected he should commit himself and all that
King making it his Business to be on the defensive till the Queen should arrive with an Army to his assistance p. 58. and when her Army was come with other Necssaries of War the King was in the hopefullest Condition of the whole Four Years for so long the contest was in dispute and had there not been Neglect Treachery or both amongst his Councils either of State or War he had unnestled the Rebels at London and put a final End to any further Blood-shed but what in due course of Law such Villanies deser'vd In relating how the Earl of Essex took Reading it must not be omitted that Sir Arthur Ashton a Papist was Governour therof to which I shall add that Sir Arthur had been brought up a Soldier in Foreign Wars a Person of good Experience who as soon as he found we were running into his Bloody Profession proffer'd his Service to the King more than once who as often reply'd that the Faction had brought such a Slander upon him in reference to those of his Perswasion it would much prejudice his Cause to imploy him at length he came to the King and shewed him a Letter wherein Essex profferd him a Command in the Parliament Army and told his Majesty plainly that he was a Soldier of Fortune and that if he could not be entertained on the one side he would betake himself to the other and by this Means he became Governour of Reading for the Parliament as they had several Papists in their Service so 't was nothing but a vile Interest made them reject the rest force them into the King's Quarters that they might have the benefit of their Estates and the King the Odium of their Company In the mean while I would gladly know whether a Loyal Papist be not a better Man ay and Christian too than a Rebel Protestant to be sure Ludlow and his Gang agreed with them in the most exploded and pernicious Doctrine was ever laid to their Charge and what but few of them and that very clandestinely have maintain'd viz. that of Deposing and Murdering Kings for which Reason I look upon him as a baser Man than Fryar Iacob or Ravillac and the whole set of Regicides the most abominable Assembly that ever met since the Scribes and Pharisees preferr'd Barabbas to be sure they brought upon the Reformation the greatest Reproach Hell its self could suggest and yet for ought I see not only the Reproach but the Practice is like to continue Though Essex was Master of the Field in Spring the King had the Command all Summer his Forces making so great a Progress in the West as to take Exeter Bristol and many other considerable places give a total defeat to Sir Will. Waller at Devizes and so clear'd all those Parts from any Enemy in a Body as indeed they had none at London hereupon it was debated in several Councils of War and private Cabals whether was best to march directly thither or to stay and take Glocester first the only place of any considerable Strength which remain'd to the Enemy in those Parts the general Vogue went for the March and very considerable Reasons urg'd for it both Essex's and Waller's Armies were crumbled away the City of London in Mutiny an Insurrection in Kent for the King the Lords voting a Treaty and the Commons in dismal Frights On the other side it was urg'd how ill it would look to leave such a place behind them that 't was ill situated and not well fortified or provided with Men so that a few Days would certainly make the King Master thereof long before the Enemy could get a Recruit much less March so far to relieve it Of this Perswasion was Prince Rupert and most of the Sword-men which made some suspect they fear'd the War would be done too soon and were the more confirm'd therein for that the Siege was carryed on at such a slow rate so that after a whole Month of precious time lost and Essex appearing unexpectedly with a considerable Army they were forc'd to raise the Siege I have been told a Passage much credited by honest Gentlemen in those times that a little before the King made that fatal halt a certain Peer finding Essex very pensive in the Lords Lobby ask'd him how Affairs went He reply'd very ill and they must be all ruin'd unless the King could be induc'd to lie down before Glocester which he hop'd by one Engine to bring about what or who that Engine was the World is yet to learn but that there were too many such about his Majesty appear'd in most undertakings he engag'd in Neither was the Battle upon their Retreat at Newberry so advantagiously manag'd as it might have been for the Royal Army having happily got Possession of the Town and consequently stood in their way to London should have been wholly upon the Defensive so plac'd their Artillery and lin'd the Hedges that the difficulty should have been on the Enemy's side to force their Passage which they must either have done or starv'd for to my certain information in the Village where they were oblig'd to stop two Miles West of the Town they had neither Bread nor Drink not somuch as Water it having been a dry Season the Ponds were little else than Puddle the Springs low and the few Wells so soon drain'd as several Officers did proffer a handful of Money for a Pint of clear Water so that it must be right down Grinning Honour as Hudibras terms it which put the Cavaliers upon attacquing them in their thick Hedges or otherwise coming within reach of their Cannon which let alone they must have try'd to Eat yet at this rate Things were carryed till having lost a great many Noble and Brave Gentlemen and their Ammunition almost Spent they withdrew into the Town and set the Enemy a free return more than they expected or to be sure deserv'd Our Author ends this Year with bringing in the Scots and relates how prettily Sir Henry Vane trick'd them In removing the last and greatest difficulty about some doubtful Words in the Covenant which was to be taken by both Nations concerning the Preservation of the King's Person and reducing the Doctrine and Discipline of both Churches to the Pattern of the best Reformed For which Sir H. found an expedient by adding to the first Clause In preservation of the Laws of the Land and Liberty of the Subject And to the second According to the Word of God p. 79 and by this Evasion look'd upon themselves as oblig'd by neither but left free to Murther their King and use the Covenant as it deserv'd He saith likewise that for their the Scots Encouragement the Lords and Commons sentenc'd and caus'd Execution upon William Laud Arch-Bishop of Canterbury their Capital Enemy Which nevertheless was not till that time Twelve-month however done it was and perhaps thought a very Christian act by such as had nothing thereof And here to put his Murthers together we are
and Conscience the two last were not kept for he was pressed to settle Religion as they desir'd wherewith his Conscience was not satisfy'd Next his Subjects had not free access to him but Proclamations were issued out forbidding them to come to him neither was the Ceremony due to him as King suffer'd to be paid him at his entry to New-Castle And lastly his Servants were not suffer'd to wait on him And his Majesty attested Montrevil if those Conditions were not made to him who confidently affirm'd it in all their Presence and that he had the Authentick Assurances in French The Commissioners retired to think of an Answer but when they return'd they desired his Majesty would put Montrevil to it to declare what those Assurances were and who gave them but this was not done Next they said they would not treat with the King in his Presence nor admit the Interposition of any Foreign Agent between them and their Native Prince And the Commissioners of the Army resolv'd that no suspected Person should be suffer'd to wait on the King with which his Majesty was highly displeas'd and for some Days would not eat in Publick but only in his Chamber This last Passage I have from an unexceptionable Authority whose Affection to his Native Country could give Place to nothing but Truth and therefore he seems to palliate the Matter a little on their behalf that Montrevil did not declare what the Assurances were nor who gave them which yet seems not to be his Fault for that they fully resolv'd against his Presence and Interposition for the future in any such like Affairs And upon the same account he declares further on it did not appear what Grounds Montrevil had for giving the King those Assurances and must be very slight and only from single Persons not any Iunto or Iudicatory Such a secret Transaction could not be done with all the Formalities of a Solemn Treaty yet doubtless Montrevil had his Assurances from Levens with most of the other General Officers and Scotch Commissioners then before Newark which was a considerable Iunto and I humbly conceive Iudicatories have little to do in concerns of that Nature But it had been all one though never so exactly drawn up and would have been as little observ'd as the first Pacification or last promise of never drawing Sword against him more But my particular Business is to trace Ludlow who tells us The Commissioners of Parliament joyning with those who were before with the King endeavour'd to perswade him to agree to the Propositions of the Parliament but he disliking several Things in them and most of all the abolition of Episcopacy to which Interest he continu'd obstinately stedfast refused his consent upon private Encouragement from some of the Scots and English to expect more easy Terms or to be received without any at all p. 183 The Encouragement he mentions is only a Flam of his own the Scots kept too strict a Guard upon him to have any but his Enemies to converse with nay which is worse they oblig'd him to discharge all his Friends then in Arms not only here in England but Montross in Scotland and Ormond in Ireland Neither was the Abolition of Episcopacy the main Obstacle although it was hard when he alone by himself had so shamefully bafled their great Champion Henderson upon that Subject to be so violently press'd from a Truth they could so little disprove But setting aside this Fellow's Spite who would needs make this the chief obstacle the King in his brisk Answer to the whole body of their Propositions from Newcastle August 1. 46. tells them They were such as did import the greatest Alterations in Government both in Church and Kingdom yet these were positively sent for his Majesty's Concurrence without allowing the Commissioners to give Reasons for their Demands or the hearing the King's Reasons against them which occasion'd his smart Reply upon their saying They had no Power to treat that saving the Honour of the Business an honest Trumpeter might have done as much To these Propositions Ludlow tells us the Scots Commissioners especially Lord Lowdon press'd the King very earnestly to comply telling him that though they were higher in some Particulars than they could wish yet if he continu'd to reject them he must not expect to be received in Scotland whither they must return and deliver him up to the Parliament in England But whatever they or the English said made no impression c. p. 184. The Truth of it is after all the Scotch Rodomantades Lowdon's in particular how much it was against the Laws of Nature Nations and Hospitality to Deliver and betray those that had fled to any for Succour their Brethren at Westminster knew how much there was of Iudas amongst them and having reduc'd their demand of a Million to 400000 l. agreed upon the Payment of one Moyety and the Publick Faith for the other to have the King Deliver'd to them who good Man laments that his Price should be so much above his Saviours And to clear himself from the base Reflections they made upon his Steady well grounded Resolves he declares what they call Obstinacy I know God accounts honest Constancy from which Reason and Religion as well as Honour forbid me to recede For you must know the Scots whilst in their Hands not only permitted but encourag'd the most Rigid of their Kirkmen to bait him at an impudent Rate as well from the Pulpit as otherwise as positively denouncing him damn'd for refusing the Covenant as 't is to be fear'd might fall to their lot for forcing it In the next Paragraph p. 186. Ludlow Commenceth a Quarrel with all the World both at Home and abroad for upon the French Embassador's coming over to endeavour a Reconciliation between King and Parliament he tells you how it was rejected they resolving to determin it themselves without the interposition of any an infallible sign of a just Cause where no body but themselves must Iudge having experienc'd that most of the Neighbouring States especially the Monarchical were at the bottom their Enemies That they were not their Friends was certain but that they should be so little their Enemies was a great Shame that so many Crown'd Heads should stand by and see a Brother Monarch Dethron'd and Murther'd at so barbarous a rate was a Sign that which is call'd Antient Honour was at a very low Ebb and the Sacro-Sancta Mrjestas left destitute of all Appeal but to the King of Kings who for ought we know may be still making Inquisition for that Blood this Son of Belial so much thirsted after and never at rest till poured forth and therefore henceforward 't is his sole Business to enveigh against all that would not go along with him and his Crew in that horrid Perpetration first he falls upon the Parliament for their frequent Overtures of Peace made to the King though he had not a Sword left wherewith to oppose them p. 187.
Distractions and Perplexities this Excellent Prince labour'd under it could not but be some Satisfaction to see such visible Retaliations since there was not a Member of the Covenant Class but might take up Adonibezek's Acknowledgment As we have done so the Lord hath requited us The manner of Ioyce's carrying off the King hath not one Syllable of Truth as to the Circumstances thereof in Ludlow's Relation He saith Ioyce had an Order in writing to take the King out of the Hands of the Commissioners of Parliament p. 191 whereas upon the King 's demanding a sight of his Instructions that saith the impudent Fellow you shall see presently and drawing up the best part of his Party into the inner Court as near as he could to the King say'd these Sir are my Instructions whereto his Majesty Smilingly reply'd Your Instructions are in fair Characters and Legible without Spelling Neither is it true that the King would have retracted his Promise to Ioyce upon the Commissioner's Perswasion it was by his Inducement the Guards were taken off their Lodgings and when Ioyce press'd the King to go along with him no Prejudice being intended but rather his Satisfaction upon the King's saying he would not stir unless the Commissioners went with him the other reply'd that for his Part he was indifferent Neither did the King take Horse but went in a Coach with the Earls Pembrook Denbeigh and Lord Mountague who as the rest of their Fellows were very Shagreen upon this Force his Majesty being observ'd the Merryest in the Company And when Colonel Brown and Mr. Crew return'd to the Parliament is not certain to be sure they did not go from Holmby but attended the King to Hinchingbrook tho an Express was sent from the first Notice of Ioyce's Approach The whole Passage of this Force with several others very considerable from hence forward to his Majesty's Murder is most faithfully related in the Athenae Oxon. as the Author had them from Sir Thomas Herbert a constant and sometimes sole Attendant upon the King in all those his Solitudes and Sufferings In all probability it was with no little regret to our Author before he saw whether it tended that the Army paid so great a Deference to the King suffer'd his Officers to continue and publickly own'd the Design Colonel Francis Russel and others attending the King became soon converted by the Splendor of his Majesty c. p. 193. And some Pages before 177. he inveighs bitterly against Colonel Brown the Wood-monger for that having been as great a Rebel as himself indeed much more Considerable and Mischievous he no sooner came into the King's Conversation but became a Convert which Ludlow would have the effect of a low and abject Original and Education whereas there cannot be a greater Instance of a generous Temper to acknowledge his Mistakes and beg his Majesty's Pardon when there was nothing but Obloquy and Persecution from the prevailing Power which he met withal sufficiently and was as forward to return when occasion serv'd being one of the Bloodyest Butchers of the Parliament's Friends p. 178. Indeed upon the Restauration he was very forward in apprehending and condemning the Regicides and it was by an unlucky Chance this Fellow escap'd his Hands The Devils knowing themselves under Sentence of Eternal Reprobation are never better pleas'd than to have engag'd a Man so far as to lay aside all Thoughts of Pardon of Reconciliation with God and really I never met with a Person more truly Proselyted to Hell upon that and indeed all other Concerns than our Author as having not only abandoned all Thoughts of Peace and Mercy in himself but an implacable Spite against such as were any ways inclin'd thereto on the contrary wherever his Majesty met any of such ingenuous Christian Dispositions he certainly Convinc'd them of their Mistakes and brought them over to his Party There are too many Instances of this Kind and too well known to be here set down That of Mr. Vines in Dr. Perenchief's Life is very Considerable because as rigid a Presbyterian as the rest who declar'd he had been deluded into unworthy Thoughts of the King but was now convinc'd to an exceeding Reverence of him and hoped so of others c. There was one Dell an Army Chaplain counterpart to Hugh Peters and tho less a Buffoon yet as much a Rogue they jointly giving out when their Villanies were ripe that the King was but as a dead Dog This unworthy Wretch said once in my hearing that whilst in the Army it was told him the King express'd a desire to see Dell but said the Fellow I would not come at him because we found he had a cunning way of getting into Men and making them think well of him and his Cause This indeed I find from several Particulars that the Prejudices of such Ulcerous Minds kept them off upon a false Surmise that the King could Pardon and Forgive no more than they upon which String I observe Ludlow often harping especially upon his Observation of the Army's respect in this Juncture whom he seems to laugh at for not considering how easy it would be for him to break through all his Promises and Engagements upon pretence of being under a Force p. 193. 'T is true they had violated the solemnest Oaths and Tyes imaginable in putting a Force upon him whereas he good Man was so Religious to his bare Promises as in the end it cost him his Life What he further relates of Transactions between the King and Army is as we are told from a Manuscript written by Sir Iohn Barkly and left in the Hands of a Merchant at Geneva That Sir Iohn since Lord Iohn Barkly was attending upon the King at this Time is certain and we will grant 't is his Manuscript to be sure none of our Authors being of a more polite Stile pen'd like a Man of Sense and Business so that wherever brought in it looks like a piece of New Cloth to make bold with the Parable put to an Old Garment and renders his thred-bare Stuff an abominably patch'd Business From these Papers he would have us believe that the Grandees of the Army Cromwel Ireton c. were once in so good a Mood as to design the Restauration of his Majesty whose ill Conduct in not following Sir Iohn's Directions and caressing them as expected spoil'd all And this ought to be taken into Consideration because I have met some honest Gentlemen too forward in giving Credit thereto and the Commonwealth's Men run away with it as infallible notwithstanding the quite contrary appears from Ludlow's own Relation who perhaps too hath perverted several of Sir Iohn's Expressions to the King's Prejudice for there is nothing so base and false he would not be guilty of upon that Account as when he is reported to break away from them and say Well I shall see them glad e're long to accept of more equal Terms p. 203 and that p. 205. you cannot
he believ'd or would have it thought there was any thing of Democracy in the Iudges Regency it is a gross Mistake indeed when the Monarchy was interrupted upon the Death of Ioshua we find no Successor appointed by him as Moses had done nor fix'd upon by the People and 't is probable every Tribe became a State Provincial in their several Allotments for the Text saith The People served the Lord all the days of Joshua and of the Elders that out-liv'd Joshua who had seen all the great Works the Lord did for Israel Judg. 2. 7 8. But when all that Generation were gather'd to their Fathers there arose another Generation which knew not the Lord nor the Works he had done but followed other Gods of the People that were round about them and bowed themselves unto them and provoked the Lord to Anger and here indeed I take them to be a true Commonwealth a Free-State with a General Toleration every one doing what was right in his own Eyes But this admired Liberty pleas'd none but themselves nor themselves long neither for the Text further adds the Anger of the Lord was hot against Israel and he delivered them into the Hands of the Spoilers that spoiled them c. vers 14. till sensible of their Folly and Ingratitude upon their humble Address unto the Lord he raised up Iudges and was with the Iudges and dilivered them out of the Hand of the Enemy all the days of the Iudges vers 18. Yet to see how steady all popular Resolves are the next Verse declares when the Iudge was dead they return'd and corrupted themselves more than their Fore-fathers in following other Gods c. they ceased not from their own doings and their stubborn ways vers 19. Whereupon I shall take leave to make this general Observation That when God designs to curse a People into Misery and Ruin he leaves them to their own evil and foolish Ways which will never be redress'd without true Repentance and a return to such Establishments as are agreeable to his Will And therefore Thirdly 't is an abominable Mistake to urge that Text in Samuel as an Argument against all Monarchy in general whereas the Charge God brings against them the People of Israel was their rude and undutiful Deportment their Mutinous manner of demanding a King and the reason they gave for it that they might be like other Nations which he had taken all possible care they should not be and most strictly enjoyn'd them not to imitate any of their Practices and this is clear for that as their Government had been always Monarchical when under God's Hand so he foresaw and consequently caution'd them against such popular tumultuary Heats Deut. 17. 14 c. when thou art come unto the Land which the Lord thy God giveth thee c. and shalt say I will set a King over me like as all the Nations which are about me Thou shalt in any wise set him a King over thee whom the Lord thy God shall Chuse God was well content that they should have a King but reserv'd the Election to himself he would have no transferring of Rights no mutual Contracts but chuse his own Representative He proceeds to his other Topick That it was no ways conducing to the Interest of the Nation viz. Monarchy was endeavour'd to be prov'd by the infinite Mischiefs and Oppressions we have suffer'd under it 'T is the modestest Expression in his whole Book to say it was endeavour'd to be prov'd since it hath been already made appear that the little Finger of these Commonwealth-Iobbers prov'd heavier to the whole Nation than all the Monarchs which ever sat upon the Throne So likewise further on he tells us The Question in dispute between the King's Party and us being as I apprehend it whether the King should Govern like a God by his own Will c. or the People be govern'd by Laws made by themselves c. p. 267 If he will apprehend things wrong it cannot be help'd for neither the King nor his Party ever intended the People should be otherwise Govern'd than by their own Laws 't was what they stood up for and endeavour'd to preserve according to all antient Establishments but God thought not fit to give them a present Success that the People might experimentally find the Madness and Folly of their Innovations Mr. Thomas Farnaby who had been the famous School-Master of those Times was committed by an Order of the House in 41. for saying he believ'd we should find it better to live under one King than 500 how Legal that Commitment was is easily resolv'd yet went they on in the same Arbitrary Course for five or six Years together Committing whomsoever they dislik'd or so much as suspected to dislike them Did not these Men govern by their own Wills Yes surely though more like Devils than God Neither yet did it rest here the 500 were reduc'd to a Rump of less than 50. and they over-aw'd by a Military Rabble of more than twice 15 Thousand Were not the Good People of England excellently represented now Their Laws and Liberty in a hopeful Condition And their Purses free when the Soldiers commanded them And this is the next Diabolical Intrigue our Author very frankly declares they design'd to enterprise for however the several Iuntos had hitherto jointly concurr'd nay even contended who should make the greatest Invasions not only upon the Peoples but there Prince's Liberty yet now hath become divided within its self a major part of the House being not willing to concurr with the Army in Murdering that Person whom they had nevertheless both agreed to Un-King and this as Ludlow tells us occasion'd another Meeting between some Members and Officers of the Army wherein it was resolv'd to purge the House once more of all such Members as should attempt to frustrate what these Sons of Belial were resolv'd to go through with p. 266 and to justify himself herein he brings another Text of Scripture whether with more Impudence or Folly let the Reader judge that Blood defileth the Land and cannot be cleansed but by the Blood of him that shed it Numb 35. 33. I have already observ'd if the Wolf may be Judge no Sheep shall be Innocent and as these Beasts of Prey began the Chace and worried all that would not go with or dar'd to oppose them till their Blood was shed like Water round about the Land so that Royal Effusion in the end must doubtless have brought such a Stain upon it as we may justly fear will never be washed out whereof several worthy Loyal Patriots in the Parliament 60. were so Religiously sensible as they propounded that not only the rest of the Regicides should have receiv'd their due Reward but that for every one of the King's Party who suffer'd by their pretended Forms of Iustice there should have been a Retaliation upon the same Number of such as had been most forward in those base and unjust
be drawn up And Mr. Harrison did in the face of the Court confess that by Phelim's order he stitch'd the Silk Cord or Label of the Seal with Silk of the colour of the said Label and so fix'd the said Label and Seal to the Commission whereupon Sir Edward Bolton and Judge Donelan urging Sir Phelim why he would so deceive the people he answered that no man could blame him to use all means whatsoever which might promote the Cause he had so far engag'd in 'T is farther depos'd by the said Dr. that on the second day of his Tryal some of the Iudges told him that if he could produce any material proof that he had such a Commission from Charles Stewart to declare and prove it before Sentence should pass upon him and he should be restor'd to his Estate and Liberty But Sir Phelim Answered that he could prove no such thing Nevertheless they gave him time to consider of it till the next day which was the third and last day of his Tryal upon which day Sir Phelim being brought into the Court and urg'd again he declar'd he never could prove any such thing as a Commission from the King And added there were several Outrages committed by Officers and others his aiders and abettors in the management of that War contrary to his intentions and which now press'd his Conscience very much and that he could not in Conscience add to them the unjust Calumny of the King though he had been frequently solicited thereunto by fair promises and great rewards while in Prison And proceeding further in this discourse he was stopt and had Sentence of Death pronounced against him The Dr. farther declares that he was present and very near Sir Phelim when he was upon the Ladder at his Execution and that one Marshall Peake and another Marshall before Sir Phelim was cast came riding towards the Place in great haste and called aloud Stop a little and having passed through the throng of Spectators and Guards one of them whisper'd a pretty while with Sir Phelim whereto he answer'd in the hearing of several hundreds of People of whom my self was one I thank the Lieutenant General for his intended mercy but I declare Good People before God and his Holy Angels and all of you that hear me that I never had any Commission from the King for what I have done in Levying or Prosecution of this War and do heartily beg your Prayers all good Catholicks and Christians that God may be merciful unto me and forgive me my Sins More of his Speech I could not hear which continued not long the Guards beating off those that stood near the Place of Execution Thus far this worthy Gentleman who ought I know may be yet alive for the Deposition was made in 81. And the party declared himself upon all occasions ready to justify it and had it been then thought such Books as Ludlow's Memoirs should have ever dared to peep forth much less be publickly sold there would have been more care taken to anticipate those antiquated Cavils they have now the impudence to revive Upon which account it was that I declar'd Ludlow a worse Man than Sir Phelim the Bloodiest Wretch in that whole Pack because first 't is demonstratively clear he was the Person who sent the Marshall to Sir Phelim upon the Ladder ready to be thrown off with proffer of Mercy if he would fix the Commission on the King there being no other Lieutenant General then in Ireland but himself and therefore highly probable in the Second place that 't was by his inducement the Iudges were so earnest upon the same account and Thirdly that the fair promises and great Rewards in Prison were shot out of the same Bow and levell'd by the same General 's rancorous spite at the Martyr's Reputation But then having so full a Conviction as neither Liberty nor Life could prevail upon the Unfortunate Man to add that to the too many other Guilts already upon his Conscience for Ludlow to continue the Calumny and as far as his Credit will pass leaves it upon Record to Posterity is such an Argument of an Impenitent Heart and Reprobate Mind as I look upon Sir Phelim's condition to be much more Iustifiable He lay under a sad remorse for the Innocent Blood spilt with several other Acts of Injustice and Cruelty begged God's Pardon and Good Mens Prayers whereas our Lieutenant General seem'd to die as he liv'd By those Remains his Admirers have curs'd the World withall may be presum'd to leave it with like Regret as the Apostate Angels did their Regions of Bliss amongst whom without the least breach of Charity I cannot but suppose him Belching out his Blasphemies against God as he did here on Earth against his Anointed Yet 't is to be fear'd these concessions of his Majesty turn'd no less to his own prejudice for the Parliament having rais'd the Crisis to its full heighth and resolving very immethodically as well as unjustly to open the vein of War imploy'd both the Men and Money rais'd for Ireland against the King nay the very Benevolence begg'd for the relief of those poor distress'd Protestants was borrowed to pay their Soldiers and a Question whether ever repaid though the Kings Soldiers having seiz'd upon some Provisions sent by the Parliament towards Chester as but design'd for Ireland they were presently upon complaint restor'd Ludlow continues That the King acquainted the Parliament that when an Army was rais'd he would go in Person to reduce them p. 19. which they would not consent to for other reasons than what he assigns tho' that of putting him at the head of an Army might be one he would certainly have put a speedy end to the War which had spoil'd all their Villainous designs at home and therefore they would not so much as trust any of those Officers which had serv'd him in the two Scotch Expeditions though known the best in the Kingdom The Scotch on the other side were caress'd to the highest degree and had whatever money or other terms they demanded though to serve the Ulster Plantation of their own Countrymen several strong-holds Towns and Castles were put into their hands with unusual Circumstances of Power even to an Independency upon the Lord Lieutenant and whole English Government and when his Majesty did but desire them to reconsider their own Proposition and reflect how much it might trench upon the English Interest they furiously voted that whosoever advis'd his Majesty to that delay was an Enemy to the Kingdom and a Promoter of the Rebellion in Ireland Whatever Ludlow farther urges how the Parliament neglected no opportunity to carry on that necessary Work and besides the Forces of Scotland dispatch'd several Regiments from England thither who were bless'd with wonderfull success against the Rebels p. 20. 'T is true some Regiments were sent and brave men they were and great things they did but not so many as design'd or requisite and so little