agree to a Pacification which being once signed he fell immediately to the Execution of every Article on his side forthwith disbanding a brave Army Govern'd by Colonels and other Officers of approved Valour and Experience mingled with the choicest of the English Gentry who stood as much upon his Honour as upon their own and were not a little concerned that having with great charge engaged themselves in this Expedition they should be suddenly dismiss'd not only without the Honour they aim'd at but without any acknowledgement of their Love and Loyalty Whereas had he retired only to a farther distance he had done as much as the Capitulation required and in all reasonable probability secur'd himself from the further stratagems of that Perfidious People and crush'd those practices at home which afterwards undermin'd his Peace and distroyed his Glories On the other-side the Ink was scarce dry which had written and sign'd the Articles of Accommodation before the Scotch had broken them almost in every particular for the Covenanters not only entred a Protestation against the Declaration agreed to but kept most of their Forces on foot in several Bodies and all their Officers in pay The Fortification of Leith was not demolish'd Their meetings Treatings and Consultations upon matters of State Ecclesiastical and Civil were continued contrary to all Law and Acts of Parliament Subscriptions to their Assembly at Glasco were enforc'd upon all the King's Subjects contrary to his Proclamation whilst all such persons as took Arms for the King are branded with the aspersion of Incendiaries and Traytors to God and their Country So likewise when their Assembly came to sit at Edinburgh they acted with more heats and Arbitrary insults than at Glasco and the Parliament which followed them stroke at all the Rights and Prerogatives of the Crown were resolved to casheer one of the Three and that formerly the first Estate of the Kingdom together with that of the Lords of the Articles A constitution of above 300 years standing and many other such intolerable insolencies and indignities as were never before put upon Crown'd heads and none but Covenanters could have done it now more especially considering those unparalelled condescentions which the King with too great kindness and confidence in his own Countrymen so distructively yeilded to What Ludlow adds further besides the falseness of the relation is so impudent a piece of villany as one would think he desir'd to out do if possible those his Dear Brethren he is so forward to Excuse in order whereunto by a pretty turn of Commonwealth artifice he transferrs one of the basest of those many Tricks the Covenanters so perfidiously put upon his Majesty and lays it at his Door the Story as he makes it stands thus Upon his the Kings return to London under colour that many false Copies of the said Articles were publish'd and dispers'd by the Scotts to the great dishonour of the King the said Agreement was disown'd and ordered to be burnt by the hands of the Hangman p. 8. Now the design of this is to insinuate especially amongst those of the Factious who not only believe but put their trust in Lyes that they were the really true Articles burnt under colour of being False as likewise that the King intended thereby to disown the Agreement whereas the Articles of Pacification were not any ways concern'd herein as the Title which the Scotts gave that Pamphlet expresly declare viz. Some conditions of his Majesties Treaty with the Subjects of Scotland before the Nobility of England are here set down for a remembrance This paper consisted of Eight points pretended to be drawn out of Notes taken upon several Discourses with the King about the manner of his Declaration and was dispersed not only in Scotland but England to confirm their own Party and draw off more from their Loyalty and Allegiance One of these were put into the Earl of Pembrooke's hands who delivered it to the K. and upon a full Examination of the matter before the Council the English Lords who were privy to the whole transaction being present it was judged very highly scandalous to his Majesty's Person Honour and Government full of Gross mistakes perverting His Majesty's Declaration and of pernicious consequence to the Peace of the Kingdom for which the Proclamation was published All which several of the Lords Commissioners at the Treaty of Pacification particularly the Earl of Holland too much their friend then afterwards avowed at Berwick to the faces of those Scotch Lords who were believed the divulgers the Lords of the Council of Scotland being there likewise present upon the full consideration of which premises the whole Board unanimously petitioned his Majesty that this false and scandalous Paper might be publickly burnt by the Hangman And here I appeal to any Reader who hath not totally abdicated all integrity whether these two relations are not as irreconcileable as Light and Darkness as likewise whether any but one of that infernal brood could so vilainously transfer an express matter of fact which when detected the Covenanters themselves blushed at for when the King charged their Commissioners at London with so base a forgery Lowdon and the rest of them reply'd They had no Instructions to answer for that and those at home had better have said nothing than make so lame an excuse as that verbal grants made by the King might be supposed to contract the signed Articles Nay those grants too were of their own forging or perverting Ludlow having thus expressed his base endeavours to bring them off here 't is much he did not go forward and give his helping hand in justifying that Letter several of the Covenant Grandees did send to the King of France the Original whereof coming to his Majesty's own hands subscribed amongst others by Lowdon then Commissioner at London he was committed to the Tower which made the whole Covenanting pack open lowder than ever both as to a general justification of the thing considering they were threatned to be punished for their Rebellion and for Lowdon in particular he ought to have been return'd they said and uncloathed of his Commission ere his Majesty could question him as if the Law of Nations which indeed secures the Ministers of Foreign Princes and requires an appeal to their own Masters upon any affront or other misdemeanor should oblige a Sovereign Prince not to question and commit his own Subjects upon fresh discovery of more palpable Treasons though in Commission from his fellow Rebels yet nothing would satisfie them but setting him at perfect liberty and so sent home to be try'd in a legal way by the ordinary Iudicatures of the Land where the King might expect just such an Issue as of a Thief at the Old Baily from the Award of a Iury out of Newgate however in this also his Majesty humor'd their Insolencies and discharg'd Lowdon not without some private assurance of Secret Service which was perform'd vpse Covenanter But this was
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
care taken of them as 't is beyond expression to relate how miserably they suffered for want of Victuals Stores Clothes Pay indeed whatever was requisite to their subsistence as Men or accommodation as Soldiers The Parliament being so wholly intent upon their English Rebellion could spare no time nor charge to prosecute that just War upon which scandalous neglect all Parties concerned more especially the Commanders and Soldiers earnestly begg'd leave of the King that they might be remov'd and engag'd against any Enemy whatsoever but Hunger And this amongst other inducements was the chief of that Cessation Ludlow inveighs so bitterly against p. 65. as likewise that the Earl of Leicester staid so long and did not go at last for he was always hastned by the K. and every thing restor'd more than he had occasion for or was really design'd thither But he meeting with many complaints from thence and observing how difficult it was to get a Supply by his Solicitation here and how much worse when gone thither upon that account did not stir What Ludlow further saith as to the Cessation that the King agreed to it contrary to his Engagement with both Houses not to treat with the Rebels unless they concurred p. 65. is of no validity that agreement was before the English were in actual Rebellion and his Majesty thought such compliance might prevent it but falling out otherwise 't is a pretty Supposition that when a Prince hath two Nations in Rebellion he must ask the one whether he shall treat with the other 'T is also absolutely false that this Cessation in Ireland induced the Parliament to treat with their Friends in Scotland to march to their assistance into England 't was the Prospect thereof induced the King to the Cessation which he was always advised of that notwithstanding the Condescentions he had yielded to and Protestations made by them they design'd only to take breath and would be ready at the first clinking of the English Money and if they had pretended no more there might have been something said as they were men of Fortune by way of Apology that having not repented their Rebellion the Lucre thereof might oblige their continuance but to continue the making Religion their property to Rebel against their King for imposing the English Liturgy or somewhat like it and now invade his Kingdom to impose their cursed Covenant is such a procedure as none but their own Country can give an instance of At Uxbridge Treaty the Irish concern was one main head wherein the Parliament as indeed in all other matters were so refractory and haughty as to exclude the King from being any ways concerned either in the management of War or Peace he must not so much as nominate his Deputy or one single Officer which therefore coming to an end without effect his Majesty had all the reason in the world to press that Cessation into a Peace wherein the Duke of Ormond and several of his Friends there were imploy'd as likewise Commissioners from them treating at Oxon but what with the Nuncio's Insolence and Bigottry of the Ecclesiasticks all came to nothing whereas would that Priest-ridden Nation have understood their own Interest and acted for their safety they might have expiated somewhat for their former bloodshed whereof many of their own Party were very much asham'd obtain'd a reasonable Liberty of Conscience with other immunities and prevented that utter desolation they were afterwards so justly brought into On the contrary they shuffled at such an idle rate play'd the Bogtrotters in Politicks too imposing upon every necessity they saw his Majesty really or likely to be under and so shuffled off and on till they lost him and in him themselves to a most deplorable condition as bloody Savages as they were And if there yet wants a farther confirmation of this our Martyr's Integrity and Detestation as to the premisses take this farther account Dr. Nalson in the Preface to his Collections mentions a Letter still to be seen in the Paper Office intercepted by a Party of the Parliament Army very much a propo it was from the Lord Digby by the Kings order to the Irish Catholicks as they must be termed or no treating with them wherein he lets them know how prejudicial their standing off had been to his Affairs and most prophetically foretells that Destruction the prosperous Rebels here wou'd bring home to their own doors Declaring withal that were the condition of his Affairs much more desperate than it is he would never redeem them by any concessions of so much wrong to his Honour and Conscience and yet his Affairs were now at a very low Ebb this being written soon after the Fatal blow at Naseby The Dr. relates farther that he found this Letter had been before the Committee which perus'd such as might most expose the King by being Printed and Indors'd with Rushworth's own hand that faithful Collector of whatever tends to Treason and Mischief Quere as to the Printing this Letter and a little after needless to be Printed 'T is much they did not order it to the Fire since 't is an irrefragable Testimony of the most unbyassed Sincerity any but the King of Kings could propound to walk by and this will stifle the last Effort of our Author 's rancorous spite in reference to the Irish Affairs who tells us the Earl of Glamorgan was impowred by private Instructions to promise the Liberty of the Romish Religion with diverse other advantages to the Irish Rebels c. P. 163. the Earl of Glamorgan was a zealous Romanist and had put himself very forward to be tampering in that Affair but still the Marquiss of Ormond was Supream in that Government and finding him to exceed his Commission confined him as Guilty of High-Treason and whatever he writ to his Lady had not all things gone to confusion would never have been able to justifie his proceedings nor Ludlow that vile suggestion that the Officers and Soldiers in Dublin obliged the Marquess of Ormond to treat with the Parliament Commissioners for putting that City into their hands P. 164. I know not what flam stories Sir Francis Willoughby might think to gratify Ludlow withall when he was Paramount in Ireland but cannot believe it was in his power to deliver that Castle without the Marquess's consent To be sure the whole matter was adjusted between the King and him some time before things came to the Extremity for we find in Doctor Burlace this intimation of his Majesty's pleasure That if it were possible for the Marquess to keep Dublin and the other Garrisons under the same intire Obedience to his Majesty they were then in it would be acceptable to his Majesty But if there were or should be a necessity of giving them up to any other Power he should rather put them into the hands of the English than the Irish which was accordingly done An Evidence even to Demonstration that though the King treated with the Irish and might
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
was his to their care an exact Moral of what the Wolves propounded that if the Sheep would put away their Dogs they would be very careful of their Preservation and though the Proposal did not take yet the Design was carryed on and the Nation most abominably worryed the just Judgment of Heaven giving way to the cursed credulity of an infatuated People who could take none but Wolves for their Protectors As I have already declar'd to be no further concern'd in this dismal Scene of Blood and Slaughter than the Memory and Honour of our Royal Martyr is concern'd so I must further add that whatever Relations our Author makes as to any particular Battle or other considerable war-like Action is so Lame Partial and False as the Diurnals of those times which nevertheless ly'd most abominably on each side may pass for Authentick History in comparison with him But then for his own dear Self as to the Defence of Warder Castle and other little Atchievements in Willshire and elsewhere in which too generally his rashness brought him by the Lee the account he gives is so vain and fulsome trivial and tedious that 't is hard to resolve whether he makes the greater Discovery of his Pride or Folly to be sure they are both very transcendent The Vindicator of Ol. Cr. exposes him very briskly for those many impertinent Panigyricks upon himself and will have it a plain Demonstration of the Narrowness of his Soul and the Lowness of his Genius and I fancy he might have added the Insolency of his Temper To confirm what I said of a lame and partial Account of Things his Relation of that first Battle at Edge-Hill is a full Testimony where this Man of Iron owns himself at a loss from his Troop at the beginning and tells little but his own wanderings up and down to find them Yet by all means the Victory must be theirs and there was a great Defect somewhere the Fight was not renew'd next Day whereas such as were in it had enough the Day before and he intimates as much by saying that Prince Rupert taking advantage of the Disorder our own Horse had put the Foot into press'd upon them with such Fury that he put them to Flight And then adds If the time which he spent in pursuing them too far and plundering the Waggons had been employ'd in taking such Advantages as offer'd themselves in the Place where the Fight was it might have prov'd more serviceable to the carrying on the Enemies Designs p. 50. Which is very modestly express'd because to the King's prejudice otherwise he might have said had not the Prince been guilty of that gross oversight Neglect or Rashness for 't was all in one that Day had in great Probability put an end to the Dispute the Army had never return'd to their Masters at Westminster nor our Author any occasion to trouble the World with the impertinency of his Memoirs for to speak-freely yet nothing but Truth the Princes indescretions of that Kind his great Courage and little Conduct in whatsoever Battles he engag'd in conduc'd more to the discomfiture of the King 's just Cause than all the Rebel Forces or whatever other Arm of Flesh appear'd against him as may be further on observ'd However that their Advantage was not considerable appears from what he further adds that the Army return'd to London not like Men that had obtained a Victory but as if they had been beaten p. 52. which is a shrewd Circumstance that they were so and to that he joyns another every way as considerable upon the King 's advance with part of his Army to Maydenhead or there abouts for it was really Colebrook and those seven Miles were a considerable Addition to his approach the Parliament sent to him to assure him their earnest Desire to prevent the effusion of more Blood and to procure a right understanding between his Majesty and them A certain Omen they were not much transporteed with the Victory this being the first last time they began a Motion for Peace He goes on The King profess'd in his Answer to desire nothing more upon which they thought themselves secure whereas the next Day he took the Advantage of a Mist and March'd within half a Mile of Brandford before discover'd c. p. 53. and beat off what Forces were there though he tells us they made a brave Defence This coming by way of surprise he calls Treachery and all the Round-heads about Town made a loud Clamor upon the King's forfeiture of his Royal Word whereas upon enquiry all the Trick and Treachery was on their side for as they propounded no Cessation of Arms in their Petition so the King had News brought that Essex was drawing his Forces and Ordinance out of London towards him so that without seizing Brandford their Forces at Windsor Kingston and Acton might have hemm'd him in and his Army depriv'd both of Moveing or Subsisting So that after a tedious Paper Scuffle upon the Matter the Parliament were forc'd to own That they gave direction to the Earl of Essex to draw the Army out of London and that part of it was at Brandford whilst the Committee was with the King and conscious to themselves of a just exception cautiously add That they sent a Messenger to know whether his Majesty intended forbearance of Hostility but he found them in fight and could not pass Brandford So that having kept up the Ferment among their City Gulls by the foremention'd Slander which our impudent Author calls the treacherous Design of the late Expedition they again sent Propositions to Oxford being the same in effect with those delivered at York but they found no better Reception than the others had done p. 56. Neither did they expect otherwise or indeed desire considering the insolency of their Demands which the King tells them in his Answer Had he not given up all the Faculties of his Soul to an earnest endeavour of Peace and Reconciliation c. he could not but resent their heavy Charges and not suffer the Reproaches cast upon him The whole procedure of that Treaty may be seen in Whitlock's Memoirs who treats the King like a Gentleman and speaks Truth where himself was concern'd for neither of which this our Brute hath the least Regard nay seems wilfully to defy both I must not here omit what that scribling Fellow K. Ch. No Saint nor Martyr alledges That he took a most Bloody and Treacherous Advantage of the Parliament's Army near Colebrook whilst he was under Treaty at Uxbridge with them p. 4. whereas the Treaty at Uxbridge was more than Two Years after Would the present Age be content with such licentious Impudence to Characterise and expose them in the next In this Year 43 our Governor of Warder Castle before he falls upon his great Charge and weighty Atchievements there gives a cursory Relation of what pass'd in other Parts In the Spring he saith our Army was Master of the Field The