being the day before that unhappy accident that he was taking care to provide some materialls in a businesse which concerned the Church of which he was resolved to speake in the House of Peers on the Wednesday following Some say that this Dissolution was precipitated upon some intelligence that the House of Commons meant that day to vote against the Warre with Scotland then which there could be nothing more destructive to the Kings affaires And it was probable enough that it was so meant For first the Remonstrance of the State of the Kingdome doth declare no lesse where it is said that the People were like to close with the King in satisfying his desire of Money but that withall they were like to blast their malicious designe against Scotland they being very much indisposed to give any countenance to that Warre And Secondly we finde that House to be highly magnified â—…in a Scotish Pamphlet called the Intentions of the Army for their pious zeale in crossing the intended Warre and denying any countenance and assistance towards it But whatsoever the truth is most sure I am that it was secretly muttered about the Court the night before that Hamilton had prevailed with the King to dissolve the Parliament who playing as he used to do with both hands at once did with the one pull back the Commons by his party there from all compliâ—…nce with the King and with the other thrust the King forwards to dissolve that meeting that by this meanes the Kings affaires being more embroyled then they were before he might confirme the Scots and confound the English and thereby raise himselfe to the point he aimed at A sad and unfortunate day it was and the newes so unpleasing unto the Author of these papers whosoever he be that being brought him by a friend whilst he was writing some dispatches it so astonished him though he had heard some inkling of it the night before that sodainly the pen fell out of his hand and long it was before he could recollect his spirits to returne an answer Having thus said I should proceed from the dissolving of the Parliament to the continuing of the Convocation but I must first remove a block which lieth in my way our Author telleth us that This Archbishops Predecessour Penultime was Dr. Whitgift Whereas indeed it was not Dr. Whitgift but Dr. Bancroft who was the penultimate and last Predecessour saving one unto the Archbishop Dr. Bancroft coming in between Whit. gift and Abbot as any who have looked into these affairs cannot choose but know This Convention was not more unhappily dissolved than another was continued That is as a witty Gcntleman said well a new Synod made of an old Convocation The witty Gentleman here meant was Sir Edward Deering who pleased himself exceedingly in one of his witty Speeches but made withall good sport to most knowing men in descantinâ—… on a Synod and a Convocation the one being a Greek word the other originally Latine but both of the same sense and signification A Provinciall Synod being no other then a Convocation of the Clergy of the Provinces of Yorkâ—… or Canterbury and the Convocation of the Clergy of both Provinces together being nothing else but a National Synod So that it was the same Synod and the same Convocation call it which you will as before it was and not a new Synod made of an old Convocation as the witty Gentleman would have it A Gentleman he was more witty then wise but more proud then either one of sufficient Learning to adorne a Gentleman but very ill imployed in disgracing the Clergy considering that the most worthy of his Ancestors was of that Profession and himselfe allyed unto it by some mixt relations But see how ill this Gentleman sped with his too much wit being the first that threw Dirt into the Face of the Archbishop and preferred the first Information which was brought against him he after flew so high in his commendations in the Preface to his Book of Speeches that neither Heylyn whom the Scotish Pamphleters in their Laudencium Autocatachrisis call his Gracâ—…s Herald nor Pocklington nor Dowe nor any of his own Chaplains in any of their Speeches of him or addresses to him ever went so farrâ—… Having propounded to the House in that witty Speech which he made against the Canons and Convocation that every one that had a hand in making those Canons should come unto the Barre of the House of Commons with a Candle in one hand and a Book in the other and there give fire to his own Canons he was so far from seeing it done that on the contrary he saw within a little more then a twelve month after the Collection of his witty Speeches condemned by that House unto the fire and burnt in severall places by the Publick Hang-man And finally having in another of his witty Speeches defamed the Cathedralls of this Kingdome and that too with so foule a mouth as if he had licked up all the filth of foregoing Libels to vomit it at once upon them he made it his earnest suit not long after to be Dean of Canterbury which being denied him by the King in a great discontent he returned to the Parliament though he hought good to put some other glosse upon it in his Declaration But of this witty Gentleman we said enough Proceed we now unto our Author who telleth us of this new-made Synod that By a new Commission from the King it was impowered to sit still No such matter verily the new Commission which he speaks of gave them no such power The Writ by which they 〈◊〉 first called and made to be a Convocation gave them power to siâ—… and by that Writ they were to sit as a Convocation till by another Writ proceeding from the like Authority thâ—…y were dissolved and licensed to returne to their severall homes The Commission subsequent to that gave them power to Act to Propose Deliberate and conclude upon such Canons and Constitutions as they conceived conducible to the Peace of the Church And such a Commission they had granted at their first assembling But being there was a clause in that Commission that it should last no longer then during the Session of that Parliament and that the King thought good to continue the Convocation till they had finished all those matters which they had in treaty his Majesty gave order for a new Commission to be issued out of the same tenour with the former but to expire upon the signification of his Majesties pleasure I have been told that it was some time before some of the Members of the lower House of Convocation could be satisfied in the difference between the Writ the Commisston though one of the company had fully opened and explained the same unto them which being made known to the Archbishop and by him to the King it was proposed to the Lord Finch Lord Keeper of the Great Seale the Earle of Manchester
there inhumed c. Our Author tells us in the end of his Preface what an espâ—…ciall care he hath of his Temporalities as his owne word is in assigning unto every action it s own proper time and yet he fails us here in the first beginning For neither was the body of that King interr'd on the 4th of May nor the Letters of procuration kept undelivered till the 8th as he after teâ—…ls us nor the Marriage celebrated after the Funerall of the King as is there declared though possibly in the intention of King Charles for the reasons there delivered it had been so resolved on at the first designation of those Royall pomps For upon Sunday May the 1st the Marriage was celebrated at the Church Nastre Dame in Paris on Tuesday May the 3d the news thereof came unto the Court and was welcomed the same night with Bells and Bone-fires in all parts of London on Saturday May the 7th was King James interred and on Sunday morning May the 8th there came an Order from the Lords of the Council to the Preachers appointed for St. Pauls Crosse as I have heard him say more than once or twice requiring him that in his Prayer before the Sermon he should not pray for the Queen by the name of Henrietta Maria but by the name of Queen Mary ouely And yet it is true too which he after telleth us that is to say That the Marriage was celebrated in Paris on the 11th of May. But then he is to understand that this was on the 11th of May in the French Accompt which following the Gregorian Calender anticipates ten daies in every Month that being the 11th day of the Moneth to them in the new Style or stylo novo as they phrase it which is the first day of the Moneth in the old Style and Accompt of England He sent Letters of Prolucution to the Duke of Chevereux If it be asked why the King when he was onely Prince of Wales should look no lower for a Proxy than the King of Spaine and being now the mighty Monarch of Great Britaine should pitch upon so mean a Prince as the Duke of Chevereux it may be answered that the Duke of Chevereux was a Prince of the house of Guise from which his Majesty was extracted Mary of Loraine Daughter to Claud of Loraine the first Duke of Guise being Wife to James the fift of Scotland Grandmother unto James the sixt and consequently great Grandmother to King Charles himself From Canterbury his Majesty took Coach for Whitehall where the third after his arrivall c. If our Author meaneth by this that his Majesty went in Coach but some part of the way onely he should then have said so but if he mean that he went so all the way to Whitehall he is very much out their Majesties passing in Coach no further than Gravesend and from thence in theâ—…r Royall Barge by water unto his Palace at Whitehall accompanied or met by all the Barges Boats and Wherries which could be found upon the Thames the Author of these Observations beholding from Tower-wharfe that magnificent passage For as man is without a female Consort so is a King without his supreme Councell a halfe formed sterill thing Our Author in these words and the rest that follow maintains a Paradox most dangerous to supreme Authority in making Parliaments so necessary to all Acts of State as if that Kings or they that have the Supreme power could doe nothing lawfully but what they doe with their assistance and by their consent which were it so a Parliament must be Co-ordinate to Kings or such as have the power of Kings not subordinate to them Nor need the Members write themselves by the name of His Majesties most loyall and most humble Subjâ—…cts but by the name of Partners and Associates in the Royall power which doctrine of what ill consequence it may be in Monarchical Government I leave Counsellors of State to consider of His speech being ended the King vailed his Crown a thing rare in any of his Predecessouâ—…s Our Chroniclers tell us of King James that at his first coming to the Crown of England he used to go often to the Tower to see the Lyon the reputed King of Beasts baited sometimes by Dogs and sometimes by Horses which I could never reade without some râ—…gret the baiting of the King of Beasts seeming to me an ill presage of those many baitings which he a King of Men sound afterwards at the haâ—…s of his Subjects And Mr. Prin tells us of K. Charles that on the day of his Coronation he was cloathed in white contrary to the custome of his Predecessours who were on that day clad in purple White is we know the colour of the saints who are represented to us in White robes by S. John in the Revelation And Purple is we know the Imperiall and Regall colour so proper hereto sore unto Kings and Emperours that many of the Constantinoplitan Emperours were called Porphirogeniti because at their first comming into the world they were wrapt in purple And this I look upon as an ill presage that the King laying aside his Purple the Robe of Majesty should cloathe himselfe in White the Robe of Innocence as if thereby it were fore-signified that he should devest himselfe of that Regall Majesty which might and would have kept him safe from affront and scorn to relie wholly on the innocence of a vertuous life which did expose him finally to calamitous ruine But as all ill presages none like that which our Authour speaks of I mean the veiling of his Crown to this his first Parliament which I consider of the Introduction to those many veilings of the Crown in all the Parliaments that followed For first he vailed his Crown to this in leaving Mountague in their hands and his Bond uncancelled as you tell us after Fol. 12. notwithstanding that he was his sworn Chaplain and domestick Servant and that too in a businesse of such a nature as former Parliaments used not to take cognizince of he vailed his Crown unto the next when he permitted them as you tell us Fol. 25. to search his Signet Office and to examine the Letters of his Secretaries of State leaving him nothing free from their discovery a thing not formerly practised he vailed his Crown unto the third first in the way of preparation to it releasing all the Gentlemen whom he had imprisoned for their refusall of the Loane many of which being elected Members of the following Parliament brought with them both a power and will to avenge themselves by the restraint of His Prerogative within narrower bounds next in the prosecution of it when hearing that the Parliament had granted him some Subsidies not a man dissenting he could not restraine himselfe from weeping which tendernesse of his was made good use of to his no small dammage adding withall and bidding his Secretarie tell them as our Authour tells us Fol.
mâ—…st needs paâ—…se for currant I cannot see by the best light of my poor understanding but that Brabournes Book may be embraced with our best affections and that obscure and ignorant School-Master as our Author calls him must be cryed up for the most Orthodox Divine which this Age hath bred And was after styled Duke of Yorke Our Author here accommodates his style to the present times when the Weekly Pamphlets give that Prince no other Title than the Titulary Duke of Yorke the pretended Duke of Yorke the Duke of Yorke so styled as our Author here It is true indeed the second Son of England is not born to the Dukedome of Yorkâ—… as the first is unto the Titles and Revenues of the Dukedome of Cornewall but receives that Title by Creation and though the King did cause this second Son to be styled onely Duke of Yorke when he was in his cradle yet afterwards He created and made him such by Letters Patents under the Great Seal of England in due form of Lâ—… The four Innes of Court presenting both their Majesties at Whitehall with a gallant Masque as a symbole of their joynt affections The Innes of Court used formerly to divide themselves in the like solemnities Lincolns Inne joyning with one of the Temples and Graies Inne with the other bâ—…t now they all united upon this occasion One William Prynne an Utter Barrester of Lincolns Inne had writ a Book somewhat above a year before called Histrio Mastix intended purposely against Stage Playes but intermixed with many bâ—…tter and sharp Invectives against the solemn Musick used in the Cathedrals and Royal Chappels against the magnificence of the Court in Masques and Dancings against the Hospitality of the English Gâ—…ntry in the Weeks of Christmas and indeed what not In which were also many passages scandalous and dishonourable to the King and Queen and such as seemed dangerous also to their sacred Persons For which an Information being brought against him in the Starre-Chamber by Master Noye then Atturney-Generall and the Cause ready to be sentenced it seemed good unto the Gentlemen of the four Innes of Court to present their Majesties with a Masque thereby to let their 〈◊〉 and the People see how little Prynne his infection had took hold upon them A pompous and magnificent shew it seemed as it passed the Streets but made more glorious by a long traine of Christian Captives who having been many yeares inslâ—…ved in the chains of bondage were sent for a present to the King by the Hâ—…riffe or Emperour of Morocko in testimony of the assistance received from him in the taking of Salla and destroying that known nest of Pyrates effected specially by the benefit and advantage of his Majesties Ships An action of so great honour to the English Nation of such security to trade and of such consequence for setlâ—…ng of a free commerce in those parts of Christendom that I wonder why our Author takes no notice of it The Kings Dominion in the Narrow Seas was actually usurped by the Holland Fishers and the right it selfe in good earnest disputed by a late tract of Learned Grotius called Mare Liberum Our Author might have added here that this discourse of Grotius was encountred not long after by a learned Tract of Mr. Seldens which hâ—… entituled Mare Clausum In which he did not onely assert the Soveraignty or Dominion of the British Seas to the Crown of England but cleerly proved by constant and continuall practise that the Kings of England used to levie money from the Subjects without help of Parliament for the providing of ships and other necessaries to maintain that Soveraignty which did of right belong unto them This he brings down unto the time of K. Hen. 2d and might have brought it neerer to his own times had he been so pleased and thereby paved a plain way to the payment of Ship-money but then he must have thwarted the proceedings of the House of Commons in the last Parliament wherein he was so great a stickler voting down under a kinde of Anathema the Kings pretensions of right to all help from the subject either in Tonage or Poundage or any other wayes whatsoever the Parliament not co-operating and contributing toward it For that he might have done thus we shall easily see by that which followeth in our Author viz. Away goes the subtile Engineer and at length frem old Records progs and bolts out an antient Precedent of raising a Tax upon the whole Kingdom for setting forth a Navy in case of danger Our Author speaks this of Mr. Noye the Atturney Generall whom he calls aftâ—…rwards a most indefatigable Plodder and Searcher of old Records and therefore was not now to be put to progging a very poor expression for so brave a man to finde out any thing which mâ—…ght serve to advance this businesse For the truth is that a year or more before the coming out of the Writs for ship-money he shewed the Author of these Observations at his house neer Brentford a great wooden Box wherein were nothing else but Prâ—…ts out of all Records for levying a Navall aide upon the Subjects by the sole authority of the Kiâ—…g whensoever the preservation and safety of the Kingdome did require it of them And I remember well that he shewed me in many of those Papers that in the same years in which the Kings had received subsidies in the way of Parliament they levyed this Naval aide by their own sole power and he gave me this Reason for them both For saith he when the King wanted any money either to support his own expences or for the enlarging of his Dominions in Forreign Conquests or otherwise to advance his honour in the eye of the world good reason he should be beholding for it to the love of his people but when the Kingdome was in danger and that the safety of the Subject was concerned in the businesse he might and then did raise such summes of Money as he thought expedient for the preventing of the danger and providing for the publick safety of himselfe and his And I remember too that â—…se Precedents were written in little bits â—…nd shreads of paper few of them bigger then ones hand many not so big which when he had transcribed in the course of his studies he put into the coffin of a Pye as he pleased to tell me which had been sent him from his Mother and kept them there untill the mouldinesse and corruptiblenesse of that wheaten Coffer had perished many of his papers No need of progging or bolting to a man so furnished But more of this Attorney we shall heare anon In the meane time our Author telleth us that The King presently issued out Writs to all the Counties within the Realm c. enjoyning every County for defence of the Kingdome to provide Ships of so many Tunne c. Our Author is deceived in this as in many things else For in the
Protestant It is true the Covenanters called it the Bishops warre and gave it out that it was raised onely to maintaine the Hirarchy but there was little or no truth in their mouthes the while for the truth is that though Liturgy and Episcopacy were made the occasions yet they were noâ—… the causes of this Warre Religion being but the vizard to disguise that businesse which Covetousnesse Sacriledge and Rapine had the greatest hand in The Reader therefore is to know that the King being engaged in a Warre with Spaine and yet deserted by those men who engaged him in it was faine to have recourse to such other waies of assistance as were offâ—… to him And amongst others he was minded of a purpose which his Father had of revoking all such grants of Abbey-Lands the Lands of Bâ—…shopricks and Chapters and other Religious Corporations which having been vested in the Crown by Act of Parl. were by that Kings Protectors in the time of his minority conferred on many of the Nobility and Gentry to make them sure unto the side or else by a strong hand of power â—…xtorted from him Being resolved upon this course he intends a Parliament in that Kiâ—…gdome appoints the Eâ—…rl of Niddisdâ—…ale to preside therein and arms hâ—…m with Instructions for 〈◊〉 of an Act of Revocation accordâ—…gly who bâ—…ing on hâ—…s way as farre as Barwick was there informed that all was in a Tumult at Edenbobrough that a rich Coach which he had sent before to Dalkeith was cut in pieces the poor Horses killed the people seeming onely sorry that they could not doâ—… the like to the Earle himselfe Things being brought unto this stand and the Parlâ—…ament put off with a sine die the King was put to a necessity of some second Councels amongst which none seemed so plausible and expedient to him as that of Mr. Archibald Achison then Procuâ—…ator or sollicitor generall in that kingdome who having first told the King that such as were estated in the lands in question had served themselves so well by the bare naming of an Act of Revocation as to possesse the people whom they found apt to be inflâ—…med on such suggestions that the true intendment of that Act was to revoke all former Acts for suppressing of Popâ—…ry and setling the reformed Religion in the Kirk of Scotland and therefore that it would be very unsafe for his Majesty to proceed that way Next he advised that instead of such a general Revocation as that Act imported he should implead them one by one beginning first with those whom he thought least able to stand out or else most willing to conform to his Mâ—…jesties pleasure assuring him that having the Lawes upon his side the Courts of Justice must and would pasâ—…e judgement for him The King resolved upon this course sends home the Gentleman not onely with thâ—…nkes and Knighthood which he had most worthily deserved but with instructions and power to proceed therein and he proceeded in it so effectually to the Kings advantage that some of the impleaded parties being lost in the suite and the rest seeing that though they could raise the people against the King they could not â—…aise them against the Lawes it was thought the best and safest way to compound the businesse Hereupon in the yeare 1631. Commissioners are sent to the Court of England and amongst others the Learned and right Noble Lord of Marcheston from whose mouth I had this whole relation who after a long treaty with the King did agree at last that all such as held hereditary Sheriffdomes or had the power of life and death over such as lived within their jurisdiction should quit those royalties to the King that they should make unto their Tenants in their severall Lands some permanent Estates either for three lives or one and twenty yeares or somâ—… such like Terme that so the Tenants might be incouraged to build and plant and improve the Patrimony of that Kingdome that they should double the yearly rents which were reserved unto the Crown by their former grants and finally that these conditions being performed on their parts the King should settle their Estates by Act of Parliament Home went the Commissioners with joy for their good successe expecting to be entertained with Bells and Bonefires but they found the contrary the proud Scots being resolved rather to put all to hazard than quit that power and Tyranny which they had over their poor vassalls by which name after the manner of the French they called their Tenants And hereunto they were encouâ—…aged under-hand by a party in England who feared that by this agreement the King would be so absolute in those Northern Regions that no aide could be hoped from thence when the necessity of their designes might most require it Just as the Castilions were displeased with the conquest of Portugall by King Philip the second because thereby they had no place left to retire unto when either the Kings displeasure or their disobedience should make their owne Countrey too hot for them From hence proceeded that ill bloud which the King found amongst them when he went for that unlucky Crowne from hence proceeded the seditious Libell of the Lord Ballmerino which our Author speakes of the greatest part of whose Estate was in Abby-Lands From hence proceeded all the practises of the great ones on that busie Faction principled onely for the â—…uine and destruction of Monarchies and finally from hence proceeded the designe of making use of discontented and seditioâ—…s spirits under colour of the Canons and Common-Prayer Book to embroyle that Kingdome that so they might both keep their Lands and not lose their Power the Kings Ministers all this while looking mildely on or acting onely by such influences as they had from Hamilton without either care or course taken to prevent those mischiefes which afterwards ensued upon it But from the Ground proceed we to the Prosecution of the Warre intended concerning which our Author telleth us that The King had amast together considederable power whereof the Earle of Arundel had the chiâ—…fe conduct And so he had as to the command of all the Forces which went by Land the Earl of Essex being Lieutenant Generall of the Foot the E. of Holland of the Horse But then there were some other forces embarqued in a considerable part of the Royall Navy with plenty of Coine and Ammunition which were put under the command of Hamilton the King still going on in his fatall over sights who anchoring with his Fleet in the Frith of Edenborough and laâ—…ding some of his spent men in a little Ifland to give them breath and some refreshments received a visit from his Mother a most rigid Covenanter The Scots upon the shore saying with no small laughter that they knew the Son of so good a Mother could not doe them hurt And so it proved for having loytered thereabouts to no purpose till he heard that the Treaty for the Pacification was begun
opinion of most knowing men that this Cardinal had a very great hand in animating the Scots to such a height of disobedience as we finde them in And this may evidently appeare first by a passage in our Author Fol. 176. in which we finde from the intelligence of Andreas ab Habernefield that the Cardinall sent his Chaplaine and Almoner Mâ—… Thomas Chamberlain a Scot by Nation to assist the confederates in advancing the businesse and to attempt all waies for exasperating the first heat with order not to depart from them till things succeeding as he wished he might returne with good newes Secondly from the Letter writ by the Lord Loudon and the rest of the â—…ovenanters to the French King first published in his Majesties lesser Declaration against the Scots and since exemplified in our Author Fol. 168. of which Letter they could hope for no good effect but as the Cardinall should make way and provide meanes for it Thirdly by the report of a Gentleman from whose mouth I have it who being took Prisoner and brought unto the Scotish Camp immediatly after the fight neer Nuborne found there the Cardinalls Sâ—…cretary in close consultation with the heads of the Covenanters which after his restoring to liberty by the Treaty at Rippon he declared to the King and offered to make it good upon his Oath Fourthly by the impossibility which the Cardinall found in his designes of driving the Spaniard out of Flanders and the rest of the Netherlands unlesse the King was so disturbed and embroyled at home that he could not help them it being heretofore the great master-piece of the Kings of England to keep the Scale even between France and Spaine that neither of them being too strong for the other the affaires of Christendome might be poized in the evener ballance Fiftly by the free accesse and secret conferences which Hamiltons Chaplain had with Con the Popes agent here during such time as Chamberlain the Cardinalls Chaplain laboured to promote the businessâ—… Sixthly Adde hereunto the great displeasure which the Cardinall had conceived against the King for invading the Isle of Rhe and attempting the relief of Rochell and we shall finde what little reason the King had to be perswaded to any beliefe in Cardinall Richelieu though the Embassador might use all his eloquence to perswade him to it And had this presumptuous attempt of the Hollanders met with a King or in times of another temper it would not it 's like have been so silently connived at Most truly spoken this action of the Hollanders being one of the greatest and unsufferablest affronts which ever was puâ—… by any Nation on a King of England I have been told that complaint being made of King James of the barbarous Butchery at Amboyna he fell into a terrible rage throwing his Hat into the fire and then stamping on it and using all the signes of outragious Passion but when Time Sleep had taken off the edge of his Fury he told the Merchants who attended his answer That it was then no time to quarrell with the Hollanders of whom he hoped to make some use for restoring the Palsgrave to his lawfull Patrimony King Charles might make the same answer on this new occasion he had his head and his hands too so full of the Scots that he had no time to quarrell with the Hollanders though certainly if he had then presently turned his Fleet upon the Hollanders wherein no question but the Spaniard would have sided with him he had not onely rectified his honour in the eye of the world but might thereby have taught the Scots a better lessen of Obedience then he had brought them to by the great preparations which he made against them But this I look on in the Hollanders as one of the Consequents or effâ—…cts of the Scottish darings for if the Scots who were his Subjects durst be so bold as to baffle with him why might not they presume a little on his patience who were his confederates and Allies in husbanding an advantage of so great a concernment and having vailed his Crown to the Scots and English why might he not vaile it to them his good friends and neighbours At this close and secret Councell December 5. it was agreed that his Majesty should call a Parliament to assemble April the 13th This secret Councell did consist of no more then three that is the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and who must needs be at the end of every businesse the Marquesse of Hamilton By these it was agreed that the King should be moved to call a Parliament the intimation of it to be presently made but the Parliament it selfe not to be assembled till the middle of April In giving which long intervall it was chiefly aimed at that by the reputation of a Parliament so neer approaching the King might be in credit to take up Money wherewith to put himselfe into a posture of Warre in case the Parliament should faile him but then the inconvenience was as great on the other side that intervall of four Moneths time giving the discontented party opportunity to unite themselves to practice on the Shires and Burroughs to elect such members as they should recommend unto them and finally not onely to consult but to conclude on such particulars which they intended to insist on when they were assembled And though it be extreame ridiculous for me to shoot my Fooles-bable in so great a businesse in which such wise men did concurre yet give me leave to speak those thoughts which I had of that advice from the first beginning reckoning it alwaies both unsafe and unseasonable as the times then were I looked upon it as unsafe in regard that the last Parliament being dissolved in so strange a rupture the Closets of some Members searched many of them Imprisoned and some Fâ—…ned it was not to be hoped but that they would come thither with revengefull thoughts and should a breach happen between them and the King and the Parliament be dissolved upon it as it after was the breach would be irreparable as indeed it proved I looked upon it as unseasonable also in regard that Parliaments had been so long discontinued and the people lived so happily without them that very few took thought who should see the next and 〈◊〉 that the neighbouring Kings and States beheld the King with greater veneration then they had done â—…ormerly as one that could stand on his own leggs and had scrued up himselfe to so great power both by Sea and Land without such discontents and brabbles as his Parliaments gave him But whatsoever it was in it selfe either safe or seasonable I am sure it proved neither to the men who advâ—…sed the calling of it unlesse it were to Hamilton onely of which more hereafter Yet the King was willing to allow them all the faire dealing he in honour could hoping to gaine upon them by the sweetnesse of his carriage but
an affront to the Fundamentals of Government but on what reason as he doth not tell us so for my part I am not able to conceive It is indeed an affront to Government noâ—… to submit or yeild obedience unto civill Establishments when made and legally established but it is no affront not to give consent to any such establishments while they are in treaty for then the liberty of assenting or dissenting of yea or nay would be taken away from every Member in the Houses of Parliament and every man must give consâ—…nt to every Bill which is offered to him Besides there were but few of the Convocation whose consent was likely to be asked when any change of Church-Government should be set on foot so that their dissenting or assenting was not much materiall but as by their readinesse of consenting to such Innovations in the publicke Government they might encourage others to proceed against it Here then is no affront to Government much lesse to the Fundamentals of it the Oâ—…th not binding any man not to yeild obedience but not to give consent to such alteration no more than it is now at this present time for many a well-minded man to live quietly and peaceably under the present Government of the Civil State who never gave consent to the present change But so I trow it was not in the solemn Covenant in which it was not thought enough to binde men to submit to such alterations as were then contriving but actually to indevour the â—…xtirpation of the whole Prelaciâ—… that is to say the Government of the Church by Archbishops Bishops Dâ—…ans Deans and Chapters Arcâ—…deacons and all other Officers which depend upon them Nor was this â—…quired of the Clergiâ—… onely which had before taken an Oath of Canonicall obedience to their severall and respâ—…ctive Bishops but even of the Bishops Deans Archdâ—…acons and Members of Capitular bodies who having took a former Oath for the preservation of the Lands and Priviledges of their severall Churchâ—… must by this Covenant be bound to indeavour their own extirpation and the subversion of those Churches and consequently every one of them must be a Fâ—…lo de se as our Lawyers phrase it Our Author hath not done with the Oath for he findes fault nâ—…xt That the Juror therein declares he swears willingly to which he was to be constrained under the highest penalties This is a grievous crime indeed but such if any crime it be as the high Court of Parliament hath been guilty of in drawing up the Oath of Allegiance in the third yeare of King James In which the party is to sweâ—…re that he â—…akes that recognition not only heartily and truly but also Willingly 〈◊〉 and yet the â—…aking of that Oâ—…th is imposed on all the Subjâ—…cts under severall Penalties if any of them should refuse it A crime it is in both or neither and therefore our Author hath proceeded with great partiality in faulting that as ill done in the Convocation which passed with so great judgment and authority in the Court of Parliamenâ—… Our Author having done with the Oath goes back to the Canon about Socinianisme which he excepts against because As the Scots condemned the Arminian Tenets without defining what those Tenets were so did these the Socinians not declaring wherein they were culpable I am loth to think our Author to be a Socinian though his advocating for them in such manner may invite me to it for otherwise the Case he putteth is extremely different The Arminian Tenets were but few reduced to five and not increased in the long agitation of those weighty Controversies and so might easily have been reckoned and defined when the Scots condemned them But Soâ—…inianisme is a complication as the Canon calls it of so many Herâ—…sies that the bare specification and recitall of them which must be made by searching into their Books and Papers might have taken up the greatest part of the time which the Convocation had to spend in all other businesses It was as much as they could doe to condemne it under that generall Notion to interdict the bringing in printing and studying such Books as contained those Heresies And finally to lay such a brand upon it as men might know how much these Tenets were abhorred by the Church of England And yet for all this great care they had little thanks not onely ouâ—… Author being displâ—…ased with their proceedings but the rise growth and danger of Socinianisme was not long after charged on the Archbishop and divers eminent Members of that Convocation by one Mr. Cheynell and that too in a printed Pamphlet written to that purpose Anno 1643. So hard a thing it is to keep a good conscience and to please all parties From this our Author passeth to the Benevolence which the Clergie granted to the King in that Convocâ—…tion being of Four shillings in the Pound to be payd yearly for six years next following Which was beheld saith he as an act of very high presumption and an usurpation upon the prâ—…minence of Parliament no Convocation having power to grant any Subsidies oâ—… aid without confirmation from the Lay-Senate With ignorance enough in them that beheld it so or looked upon it as an Act of very high presumption The English Clergie being the greatest slaves which the Sunne ever shined on if they could not give away their own without leave from others But whereas our Author puts it down for a Rule in Government That no Convocation hath power to grant any Subsidies or aide without confirmation from the Parliament I must let him and all that shall reade him know that never was any rule more false nor more weakly grounded The Clergie in Convocation having as much power to give away the money of the Clergy by whom they are chose to that employment as the Commons in Parliament have to give the money of the Cities Towns and Counties for which they serve For in the choosing of the Clerks for the Convocation there is an Instrument drawn up and sealed by the Clergie in which they binde themselves to the Archdeacon or Archdeacons of their severall Diocesses upon the pain of forfeiting all their lands and goods se ratum gratum acceptum habere quicquid dicti procuratores sui dixerint fecerint vel constituerint that is to say to allow stand to and perform whatsoever their said Clerks or Proctors shall say doâ—… or condescend unto on their behalfe Greater authority than this as the Commons have not so why the Clergie in the Convocation should not make use of this authority as they see occasion I can finde no reason Nor is it a speculative authority onely and not reducible unto practice and authority which was then in force but not then in use as our Author hath distinguished in another place but very safely praecedented in Quâ—…en Elizabeths timâ—… For in the year 1585 if I remember it right as I think I doe the Convocation having
made Baron of that place by His Majesties favour On the other side the Lord Lieutenant deriving his descent from the Nevils Earles of Westmor land whose Honorary Seate that was procured himself to be created Baron of Rabie in those Letters Patents by which he was invested with the Earldome of Strafford This gave the beginning to that fire which consumed the Earle but not till it had been much increased on another occasion There was a thrifty designe in Court to save the King the charges of a publick table and to that end it was advised that Sir Henry Vane then Treasurer of the Houshold should be made one of the principall Secretaryes in the place of Sir John Cooke then weak with age but so that he should still hold the Treasurership in the way of Commendam Scarce was Vane warm in his new Office when the Earle of Strafford interposed alleaging to the King that he had no other Correspondent in the Court for the businesses of Ireland but Mr. Secretary Cooke and that if he should be displaced His Majesties affairs in that Kingdome might extremely suffer On this a sudden stop was made and Cooke restored continuing in his former Office till the Queen openly appeared in behalf of Vane who so prevailed that Vane was setled in the place and Cooke dismissed into the Countrey as no longer serviceable which fewell being added to the former fire made it flame so high that nothing but death or blood could quench it Insomuch as it was thought by many understanding men that Sir Henry Vane did purposely misreport the Kings Message to the former Parliament for abrogating the Ship-money in hatred to the Earle of Strafford who had undertook to manage that Parliament to the Kings advantage and that seeing him to continue still both in power and favour he fell upon that speeding project which our Author hath related in that which followeth in the story that by such a cunning piece of malice he might rather seem to offer him up as a sacrifice to the publick justice than to his own particular hatred Ah ult io magis publicè vindictae quam privato odio dato videatur as in the like case the Historian hath it For the Câ—…ons were resalved that day should set a totall period to the Earles defence and next to speed their Bill 〈◊〉 Aâ—…tainder The Commons had now spent a Moneth in prosecuting their Acousation against the Earle of Strafford and seeing how little they had gained in order to the point they aimed at resolved to steer their course by another winde For finding that their proofs amounted not to a Legall evidence and that nothing but legall evidence could prevail in a way of Judicature they called the Legislative power to their assistance according unto which both Lords and Commons might proceed by the light of their own consciences without any further proof or testimony And so it is affirmed expresly by Mr. St. John then Sollicitor Generall in his Speech made at a Conference in a Committee of both Houses of Parliament April the 29. 1641. where it is said That although single testimony might be sufficient to satisfie private consciences yet how farre it would have been satisfactory in a judiciall way where Forms of Law are more to be stood upon was not so clear whereas in this way of Bill private satisfaction to each mans conscience is sufficient although no evidence had been given in at all Thus they resolved it in this Case but knowing of what dangerous consequence it might be hereafter to the lives and fortunes of the Subjects a Clause was added to the Bill that iâ—… should not be drawn into example for the time to come which because it may seem somewhat strange to them that know it not I will here adde so much of the said Bill as concerns this point In which said Bill the heads of the Accusation being reckoned up it followeth thus viz Be it therefore enacted by the Kings most excellent Majestie and by the Lords and Commons in this present Parliament assembled and by the authority of the same that the said Earle of Strafford for the heynous crimes and offences aforesaid stand and be adjudged and attainted of high Treason and shall suffer such pain of death and incurre such forfeitures of his Goods and Chattells Lands Tenements and Hereditaments of any Estate of Free-hold or Inheritance in the said Kingdomes of England and Ireland which the said Earle or any other to his use or in trust for him have or had the day of the first sitting of this present Parliament or at any time since Provided that no Judge or Judges Justice or Justices whatsoever shall adjudge or interpret any act or thing to be Treason nor hear or determine any Treason nor in any other manner then he or they should or ought to have done before the making of this Act and as if this Act had never been made Thus have we Treason and no Treason in the selfe-same action that being judged Treason in this one man which never was to be judged Treason in any other But whatsoever it was it was conceived that many of the Lords began to shew themselves more forwards to comply with the Commons then they had done formerly Whereof the King having notice he thought it high time for him to interpose c. and calling both Houses together May the first said c. This coming of his Majesty and the Speech then made as it relished so ill with the two Houses that few of them attended on the solemnitâ—…es of the next day on which the Kings eldest Daughter was married to the Prince of Orange so gave it no contentment to the Eâ—…rle himselfe whose death it rather 〈◊〉 and made sure worke of then it could any waâ—…es conduce to his preservation That passage in the Kings Speech in which he signified that the misdemeanours of the Earle were so great and many that he was not fit to serve in the place of a Constable wrought more impression on the Spirits of that Noble Gentleman then any kinde of death whatsoever it were which his Enemies could inflict upon him though with great modesty he did no otherwise expresse it in a letter sent unto the King then that he could have wished his Majesty had spared his Declaration on Saturday last But the Earles friends were as much unsatisfied in the Kings coming at that time as in that passage of his Speech giving it out that the King was put upon it by some of his bosome-Enemies which were in neerest trust about him on purpose to set him at greater odds with the House of Commons and consequently with the people whom they represented by drawing on himselfe the envy of that businesse howsoever it happened That if the Earle should be attainted notwithstanding by the Votes of the Lords it woâ—…ld be looked upon as a thing done against his will and no thanks to him but if he were acquitted by
but all disguised like the Soldiers of the Duke of Britain in an English habit his book contained so vast a medly as if it had been framed at Babell before the scattered company were united into Tongues and Languages The History of a King of England intended for the use and b◅nefit of the English Nation ought to be given us in such words as either are originally of an English stock or by continuall usage and long tract of time are become naturall and familiar to an English ◅are and not in such new minted termes and those too of a forreign and outlandish Race as are not to be understood without help of Dictionaries It is true indeed that when there is necessity of using either termes of Law or Logicall notions or any other words of Art whatsoever they be an Author is to keep himselfe to such termes and words as are transmitted to us by the Learned in their severall Faculties But to affect new Notions and indeed new Nothings when there is no necessity to incite us to it hath something in it which deserveth ◅ more strict enquirie It is observed of th◅ Romanists by Docter Fulke and other◅ of our Divines that when they could n◅ longer keep their followers from having the Scriptures laid before them in the English tongue they so indeavoured to dim the light thereof by a dark Translation that seeing they might see but not understand and to that end did thrust into it many obscure words both Greek and Latin which neither by long use were known nor by continuall custome made familiar to an English Reader Of which sort you may take these few as a taste of th◅ rest That is to say Acquisi◅ion Advent Adulterate Agnition Archisynagogue A◅imos Comm◅ssations Condign Contristate Depositum Didrachme Dominicall day Donaries Evacnated from Christ Euro Aquilo Epinanited Holocaust Hosts Neophite Paraclete Parasceve Pasch Praefinition Presence Prevaricator Proposition Loaves Repropitiate Resuscitate Sabbatis◅ Super-edified Sancta-Sanctorū Victims words utterly unknown to any English Reader unlesse well grounded and instructed in the Learned Languages and consequently their whole Translation uselesse to most sorts of men I cannot say that the Author of the History which we have in hand was under any such neces◅ity of writing as the R◅mists were or that it did affect obscurity on any such design as the Rhemists did but I may very warrantably and justly say that in the Coining of new words not to be understood by a common Reader he hath not onely out-vied the Rhemists but infi◅tely exceeded all that have gone before him A vein of writing which two the great Masters of the Greek and Roman Eloquence had no knowledge of who used such words in their addresses to the people as were illius temporis auribus accommodata as it is in Tacitus accommodate and fitted to the times they lived in and easily intelligible unto all that heard them Loquendum est cum vulgo was the antient rule And certainly to speak so as to be understood by the meanest hearer to write so as to be comprehended by the vulgar Reader is such a principle of Prudence as well becometh the practice of the greatest Clerks But it is with this our Author as with many others who think they can never speak elegantly nor write significantly except they do◅ it in a language of their owne devising as if they were ashamed o◅ their Mother-tongue or thought it no◅ sufficiently curious to expresse their fancies By meanes whereof more Frenc◅ and Latin words have gained ground up on us since the middle of the Reign o◅ Queen Elizabeth then were admitted by our Ancestors whether we look upon them as the British or Saxon race not onely since the Norman but the Roman Conquest a folly handsomely derided in an old blunt Epigram where the spruce Gallant thus bespeakes his Page or Laquay Diminutive and my defective slave Reach my Corps coverture immediatly 'T is my complacency that rest to have 'T insconse my person from Frigiditie The boy beliv'd all Welch his Master speke Till railed English Rogue go fetch my Cloak I had not given my selfe the trouble of this Observation but to meet the humour of some men who if pretenders to French or Latin tongues pretend to an authority also of creating words and giving us new formes of speaking which neither King nor Keiser hath the power to doe Moneyes and Coines are forthwith currant and universally admitted as soon as they receive the stamp of Supream Authority But it is not in the power of Kings or Parliaments to ordaine new words without the liking and consent of the common people Forrein Commodities not Customed are not safely sold and Forreine words till licensed and approved by custome are not fitly used And therefore it was well said by an able Grammarian to a great Emperor of Rome Homines donare civitate potes verba item non potes that is to say that he might naturalize whole Nations by giving them the priviledges of a Roman Citizen but that it was not in his power to doe so with words and make them Free as one might say of the Latin tongue In this case Custome and Consent and the generall usage are the greatest Princes and he that doth proceed without their authority hath no authority at all to proceed upon It being no othsrwise with new Words then with new Fashions in Apparell which are at first ridiculous or at least unsightly till by continuall wearing they become more ordinary And so it is resolved by Horace in his Book De Arte Poetica Multa renascenter quae nnnc cecidere cadentque Quae nunc sunt in honore vocabula si volet usus Quem penes arbitrium est vis norma loquendi In English thus Many old words shall be resum'd and some Now in great honour shall as vile become If use so please to which alone belongs The power to regulat◅ and di◅ect our tongues But lest our Author should affirm with Cremulius Cordus in the story Adeo factorum innocens sum ut verba m◅a arguantur that we are faine to cav◅l with him for his words for want of greater matter to except against I shall forbear the prosecution of this Argument till the close of all and passe to such materiall points as shall come before me To whom the Prince returned answer that he would impower the Earl of Bristol to give his Master all satisfaction in that particular that is to say for so you must be understood in the words foregoing that he would make a Pr◅xie to the Earl of Bristol to celebrate in his name the Marriage with the Lady Infanta But there was no such Proxie made to the Earle of Bristol that being a power and trust thought worthy of the Catholick King and Don Charles his Brother as appeareth plainly by the publick Instrument made to that effect bearing date August the 8 Anno 1623. which being sealed by the Prince in due
forme of Law it was indeed committed to the custody of the Earle of Bristoll by him to be delivered to the King of Spaine and Don Charles his Brother or to either of them as soon as the Dispensation should be brought from Rome and this was all the Power which the Eâ—…rle of Bristol had which yet he had no power to execute as it after proved The Loyall hearted English could not distinguish between the Spanish match and Charles his ruine That some of the Loyall hearted English were of that opinion I shall easily grant but they had other Opinions also which did Bias with them especially one opinion that the near Alliancâ—… with that Crown would arme the King with power to suppresse that Fâ—…ction which began then to be dreadfull to him and have since been the ruine of Charles and his whole Posterity But other English hearts there are of no lesse Loyalty and of as great affection to the Royal Family and as great Zealots of the true Protestant Religion here by Law established who think otherwise of it and that the ruine of Prince Charles might by this match have been prevented The Spaniard for the most part found a more steady friend then the wavering French What else there was which might confirme them on the Post-fact in this perswasion I shall reserve unto my selfe But you proceed and tell us after Folio 5. That England ever found the Spaniard a worse Friend then an Enemy For this I thinke you have no reason the amity and correspondence between the Nations having continued firme and most invâ—…olate for many Ages and never broke if not of late but by the English or on their occasions First by the Invasion of Spaiâ—…e by the â—…lack Prince in the time of Don Pedro of Castile and the War carried thither not long after by the Duke of Lancaster nâ—…xt on the breach made with Charles the fift by King Henry the Eighth in pursuance of the injury donâ—… unto him in casting off Queen Katharine that great Emperours Aunt and finally by Queen Elizabeth supporting the revolting Netherlands against Philip the second their naturall and most lawfull Prince If on this last and greatest provocation the Spaniard took up armes against us he had all the reason in the world for his justification Who perâ—…iving upon the whole summe that the slie Spaniard practised to make an after-game of the Palatinate King James was not to be told that now I meane upon the Prince's returne from Spaine there being no such thing as the restoring of the Palatinate to the Prince Elector iâ—… all the Articles of the Treaty which werâ—… sworne between them That was reserveâ—… as an after-game but yet intended to bâ—… played by the Spanish Court to the mosâ—… honour and advantage of the Engliâ—… Nation thereby to gaine the better welcome to the Royall Bride when she camâ—… amongst us For thus I finde it in a Letter from the Earle of Bristol dated thâ—… 28. of October not long after the Prince'â—… coming home For the businesse of the Palatinate as 〈◊〉 will appears by the joynt disppatch which Siâ—… Walter Aston and my selfe wrote of thâ—… 23. of November that we were assured not by the Conde of Olivares onely in this Kings name but severally by all the Councellors that a setled resolution was taken in Councill on the 16. of November that this King should procure his Majesties intire satisfaction and hereof the Cardinall Caâ—…ala and divers other Councellors that profâ—…ssed theâ—…selves particularly affected to the King and Prince's service came to give Sir Walter Aston and my selfe the Pâ—…rabein The Conde of Olivares intreated 〈◊〉 both in this Kings name to assure his Majesty thereof upon our honours and upon our lives if need were And thus much was to have been delivered unto us in writing before we would have passed to the Disposories as will plainly appeare by this above mentioned dispatch of the 23. of November Besides the Princesse had now made this businesse her owne and had therein most earnestly moved the King her Brother written unto the Conde of Olivares and had set her heart upon the making of her selfe gracefull and welcom to the King and Kingdome by overcoâ—…ing this businesse These are the words of Bristol's Letter and these give me no small assurance of the integrity and good meaning of the Court of Spaine as â—…o that particular Which being met and the businesse propounded it was entertained with an unanimous consent and a motion made that an Ambassador should be sent over to negotiate the Treaty I somewhat doubt of your intelligence in this relation the Marriage of the Prince containing such a Branch of the Royall prerogative as King James was not likely to communicate with his Houses of Parliament For when he was Petitioned by both Houses not long before that for the avoiding of some dangers which did seem to threaten the whole Kingdome he would Marry the Prince to a Lady of the Protestant Religion he entertained the motion with no small disdaine and checkt them in his answer for intrenching on his just Prerogative And though King Charles acquainted the two Houses of Parliament with his intent of Marrying the Princesse Mary to the Heire of Orange yet we must look upon him at that time as encumbred with the greatest difficulties that ever any Prince lay under one that had wholly lost himselfe on their Love and Courtesie and therefore was to hold fair with thâ—…m in the greatest matters And yet he did not bend thus low nor communicate the affaire unto them till the Articles of the Marriage were in a manner concluded as appeareth plainly by his Majesties Speech in the House of Lords Fol. 213. But when it was required of him as a Duty not an Act of Grace in the fift of the nineteen Propositions which were sent to Yerke that none of his Children should be Married without their consent though he was then in such a necessitous condition as few Princes ever were reduced to yet would he by no meanes sâ—…sfie their demands therein In the style of the Court he went for Great Britains Solomon It cannot be denied but that he was an Universall Scholar as you tell us afterwards the greatest Scholar without doubt for so great a King that these last Ages of the world have presented to us but that he was Great Britains Solomon that is to say either the wisest Man or the wisest King of the British Nations I am not Courtier enough to defend or say It is true indeed that he much pleased himsâ—…lfe with boasting of his Kings craft as he used to call it but as Imbold a French Captain was wont to say that he could never see where that great wit of the Florentines lay which was so much talked of in the world so I have heard many wise men say that they could never finde what that King-craft was It being no hard matter to prove that in all
which being minted in the Tower was no small benefit to the King by the Coynage of it and no lesse benefit to the City and the Kingdome generally in regard the greatest part thereof was stil kept amongst us in lieu of such manufactures and native commodities of this Land as were returned into Flanders for the use of that Army And yet this was not all the service which they did this Summer The French and Hollanders had â—…tred this year into a Confederacy to rout the King of Spaine out of all the Netherlands in which it was agreed amongst other things that the French should invest Dunkirk and the other parts of Flanders with their Forces by Land whilst the Hollanders did besiege them with a Fleet at Sea that so all passages into the Countrey being thus locked up they might the more easily subdue all the Inland parts And in all probability the designe had took effâ—…ct in this very year the King of Spaine noâ—… being able to bring 8000 men into the field and leave his Garrisons provided the people of the other side being so practisâ—…d on by the Holland Faction that few or none of them would Arm to repulse those Enemies But first the formidable appearance of the English Fleet which 〈◊〉 the Hollanders before Dunkirk and then the insolencies of the French at Diest and Tillemont did so incourage and iâ—…flame the hearts of the people that the Armies both of the French and Hollanders returned back again without doing any thing more than the wasting of the Countrey And was not this think we a considerable piece of service also Lastly I am to tell our Author that it was not the Earle of Northumberland as he tells us some lines before but the Earle of Lyndsey which did command the Fleet this Summer Anno 1635. The Earle of Northumberland not being in Commission for this service till the year next following when all the Counties of the Realm were engaged in the charge So as the Kings discretion was called in to part the fray by the committing the Staffe of that Office into the hands of William Juxton Lord Bishop of London March the 6th who though he was none of the greatest scholars yet was withall none of the worst Bishops Our Author still fails in his intelligence both of men and matter For first the occasion of giving the Office of Lord Treasurer to the Bishop of London was not to part a fray between the Archbishop and the Lord Cottington who never came to such immoderate heats as our Author speaks of but upon very good considerations and reasons of State â—…or whereas most of the Lord Treasurers of these latter times had rather served themselves by that Office than the King in it and raising themselves to the Estates and Titles of Earles but leaving the two Kings more incumbred with debts and wants than any of their Predecessors had been known to be it was thought fit to put the Staffe of that Officâ—… into the hands of a Church-man who having no Family to raise no Wife and Chilâ—…ren to provide for might better managâ—… the Incomes of the Treasury to the Kings advantage than they had been formerly and who more fit for that employment among all the Clergie than the Bâ—…shop of London a man of so well tempered a disposition as gave exceeding great content both to Prince and people and being a dear friend of the Archbishops who had served the whole year as Commissioner in that Publick trust was sure to be instructed by him in all particulars which concerned the managing thereof But whereas our Author tells us of him that he was none of the greatest scholars I would faine learn in what particular parts either of Divine or Humane Learning our Author reckons him defective or when our Author sate so long in the Examiners Office as to bring the poor Bishop unto this discovery I know the man and I know also his abilities as well in Publick Exercises as Private Conferences to be as farre above the censure of our Aristarchus as he conceives himself to be above such an ignorant and obscure School-Master as Theophilus Brabaurne It is true he sets him off with some commendation of a calm and moderate spirit and so doth the Lord Faulkland too in a bitter Speech of his against the Bishops Anno 1641 where he saith of him That in an unexpected place and power he expressed an equall moderation and humility being neither ambitious before nor proud after either of the Crozier or white Staffe But there are some whom Tacitus calls Pessimum inimicorum genus the worst kinde of Enemies who under colour of commending expose a man to all the disadvantages of contempt or danger The Communion Table which formerly stood in the midst of the Church or Chancel he enjoyned to be placed at the East end upon a graduated advance of ground with the ends inverted and a wooden traverse of â—…ailes before it Of placing the Communiou Table with the ends inverted we are told before Anno 1628 and if it were then introduced and so farre in practise that notice could be taken of it by the Committee for Religion no reason it should now be charged on the Archbishop as an Act of his But granting it to be his Act not to repeat any thing of that which was said before in justification of those Bishops who were there said to have done the like we doubt not but he had sufficient authority for what he did in the transposing of the Table to the Eastern wall The King by the advice of his Metropolitan hath a power by the Statute 1 Eliz. c. 2. on the hapning of any irreverence to be used by the Ceremonies or Rites of the Church by misusing the Orders appointed in this Book namely the Book of Common Prayers to ordain and publish such further Rites and Ceremonies as may be most for the advancement of Gods glory the edifying of his Church and the due reverence of Christs holy Mysteries and Sacraments And certainly there had been so much irreverence done to the Communion Table standing unfenced as then it did in the middle of the Chancell not onely by scribling and sitting on it as before was noted but also by Dogs pissing against it as of common course and sometimes snatching away the Bread which was provided for the use of the blessed Sacrament that it was more than time to transpose the Communion Table to a place more eminent and to fence it also with a raile to keep it from the like prophanation for the time to come Nor did the Archbishop by so doing outrun authority the King having given authority and 〈◊〉 to it a year before the Metropoliticall Visitation which our Author speaks of The Deane and Chapter of S. Pauls as being Ordinaries of the place had transposed the Communion Table in Saint Gregoryes to the upper end of the Chancel and caused it to be placed Altar-wise which being disliked
according to the Lawes of that Kingdome assoon as justice could have layed hold on them He had undoubtedly prevented all further dangers The drawing of some blood in the Body politick by the punishment of Mâ—…lefactors being like letting blood in the Body-naturall which in some strong distempers doth preserve the whole Oâ—… finally if the Tumult had been grown so high and so strongly backed that justice could not safely be done upon them had the King then but sent a Squadron of the Royall Navy which He had at Sea to block up their Haven He had soon brought the Edinbourghers unto His Devotion and consequently kept all the rest of that Kingdome in a safe obedience But the Edinbourghers knew well enough whom they had to deal with what friends they had about the King and what a party they had got in the Lords of His Councell which governed the affairs of that Kingdome and they knew very well none better by the unpunishing of the Londoners for the Tumult in the death of Lamb that the King had rather patience enough to bear such indignities than resolution to revenge them So that the King at last was come to that misery which a good Author speaks of Cum vel excidenda sit natura vel minuenda dignitas That he must either outgoe His nature or forgoe His authority The King nothing pleased with these affronts yet studious to compose these surges of discontent sent the Marquesse of Hamilton down in the quality of an high Commissioner c. We are now come to the rest of the oversights committed in the conduct of this weighty businesse whereof the first was that having neglected to suppresse the Sedition at the very first appearance of it to strangle that monster in the cradle he had let a whole year passâ—… without doing any thing but sending one Proclamation after another which being publickly encountred with contrary Protestations did but increase their insolencies his own disgraces the party in the mean time being so well formed that Poâ—…-guns and such Paper-pellets were able to doe no good upon them The second was that when it had been fitter for the preservation of his authority to send a Lord Generall in the head of an Army for the reducing of that Kingdome by force of Armes He rather chose to send an high Commissioner to them to sweeten the distempers and compose the differences which could not be but by yeilding more on his side then he was like by any faire imparlance to obtain from that Thirdly that when he was resoâ—…ved on an high Commâ—…ssioner he must pitch on Hamilton for the man whom he had such reason to distrust as before was hinted but that the old Maxime of the Lenoxian Family of being deceived rather than distrustfull was so prevalent with him And this he did against the opinion and advice of many of the Lords of that Kingdome that is to say the Earle of Sterling principall Secretary of State the Bishops of Rosse and Breken privie Counsellors both Sir Robert Spoteswood Lord President of the Colledge of Justice and Sir John Hay Clerke-Register or Master of the Rolls as we call him here These having secret intimation that Hamilton was designed for this great Employment came in Post to London indeavouring to perswade the King to change his purpose and commending Huntley for that service who being a man of greatest power in the North of Scotland and utterly averse from the Covenanters and the rest of that Faction was thought by them the fittest man for that undertaking But the King fatally carried on to his own destruction would not hearken to it and hereunto the Duke of Lenox did contribute some weak assistance who being wrought on by the Scots of Hamiltons Faction chose rather that the old Enemy of his House should be trusted with the managing of that great affaire than that a Countrey Lord as the Courtiers of that Nation called him should carry the honour from them both June the sixâ—… his Commission was read and accepted him And well it might it was the fish for which he had so long been angling For having lost the Scotish Army raised for the aide of the King of Sweden without doing any thing and no occasion being offered to advance another he fell upon more secret and subtile practises to effect his ends First drawing all the Scots which were about the Court of England to be his Dependants and rest at his devotion wholly and next by getting himselfe a strong partie in that Kingdome whose affections he had means enough to restraine and alienate from the King and then to binde them to himself insomuch as it was thought by the wisest men of both Nations that the first Tumult at Edinborough was set on by some of his Instruments and that the Combustions which ensued were secretly fomented by them also And this was made the more probable by his carriage in that great trust of the high Commissioner thus procured for him drawing the King from one condescention to another in behalf of the Covenanters till he had little more to give but the Crown it self For fiâ—…st he drew him to suspend and after to suppresse the Book of Common Prayers and therewithall the Canons made not long before for the use of that Church next the five Articles of Perth procured with so much difficulty by King James and confirmed in Parliament must be also abrogated and then the Covenant it self with some little alterations in it must be authorized and generally imposed upon all that Kingdome And finally the calling of an Assembly must be yeilded to in which he was right well assured that none but Covenanters should have voices that not Lord Bishops only should be censured and excommunicated but the Episcopacie it self abolished and all the Regular and Loyall Clergie brought to utter ruine By all which Acts I cannot say of grace but of condescension the Marquesse got as much in grosse as His Majesty lost in the retaile making himself so strong a partie in that Kingdome that the King stood but for a Cipher in the calculation All being done from that time forwards especially when the first shewes of a Warre were over as Hamilton either did contrive or direct the businesse For the Covenanters having got all this thought not this enough unlesse they put themselves in Armes to make good their purchases and having therein got the first start of the King the King could doe no lesse than provide for himself and to Arm Accordingly In order whereunto our Author telleth us that Because it was the Bishops warre he thought it requisite they should contribute largely toward the preservation of their own Hierarchy I am sorry to see this passage have our Authors penne whom I should willingly have accompted for a true Son of the Church of England were it not for this some other passages of this nature which savour more of the Covenanter then the English
did most depend for this businesse was the Bishop of Lincolne of worse affections than the other in regard that when the Bishop was under the Star-chamber suit the Lieutenant then Lord Deputie of Ireland put off his going thither for a Term or two of purpose as it was conceived to have a fling at him before he went This struck so deep in the Bishops stomack that he would not think â—…imself in safety where the Earle had any thing to doe and so was like to help him forwards to the other world Nor speak I this but on some good ground For when the Bishop being then Prisoner in the Tower had made means by the Queen to be admitted to a reconciliation with His Majesty offering both his Bishoprick and Deanery of Westminster in confidence that the King would so provide for him that he should not go much lesse than he was the King upou the Queens desire sent the Earle of Dorsâ—…t from whose mouth I have it to accept the Bâ—…shops offer on the one side and on the other side to promise him in his Majesties name the next good Bishoprick that should fall in Ireland which Proposition being made the Bishop absolutely refused to hearken to it telling the E. of Dorset that he had made a shift by the power and mediation of his friends to hold out against his enemies here for 7 yeares together but if they should send him into Ireland he should there fall into the hands of a man who once in seven months would finde out some old Statute or other to cut off his head Think you the King was not likely to be well informed in His conscience when men so interessed were designed unto the managing and preparing of it and so it proved in the event For our Author telleth us that on the morrow after being Munday May the 10th in the morning His Majesty signed a Commission to the Earle of Arundel c. for the passing of the two Bills one for Continuation of the Parliament during the pleasure of the two Houses the other for the Attainder against the Earle of Strafford And these two Bills he signed as I have been told with one pen full of Inke by one of which he waâ—… sufficiently punished for his consenting to the other By his consenting to the Bill of Attainder he did not onely cut off his right hand with his left as was affiâ—…med of Valentinian the Emperour when he caused Aetius to be slain but found such a remorse of conscience still attending on him that it never left him till his death Aâ—…d by consenting to the other He put such an irrevocable power into the hands of his enemies as was mâ—…de use of afterwards not onely to His own destruction but to the disherison of His Children and the undoing of all those who adhered unto Him who drew Him to the first we are told by our Author and who perswaded Him to the last may be now enquâ—…red Some charge it on the Queen who being terrified with the Tumults perswade the King to yield unto it as the onely expedient for appeasing the people some attribute it to the Lord Say then Master of the Wards and one of His Majesties privie Councell who as it is reported when the King asked him if a Continuance for seven years might not serve the turn made answer That he hoped they should dispatch all businesses in so many moneths and that if His Majestie passed the Bill it should be so farre from making the Parliament perpetuall that he was canfident they would desire to be dissolved before three years end Most lay the blame of it as of all things else on the Marquesse of Hamilton who by cutting out so much work for the King in England was sure to carry on his designes in Scotland without interruption and I have heard from credible persons that he did bragge much of this service when he was in that Kingdome 〈◊〉 frequently that he had got a perpetuall Parliament for the English and would procure the like for the Scots too before he had done so hard a thing it is to say by what private perswasions and secret practises He was drawn to that which proved so prejudiciall to Him that it made Hâ—…m presently grow lesse in the eyes of His people insomuch that a Night before the passing of this Act a Paper was set up near the Gates of Whitehall importing that on the Morrow next there was to be Acted in the House of Peers a famous Tragie-Comedie called A King and no King But as for the publick outward motives which were used to induce Him to and of the great power He had parted with by this Condescension you may hear Himself thus speaking in His Declaration of the 12th of August Upon information saith He that credit could not be obtained for so much money as was requifite for the relief of our Army and people in the Northern parts for preventing the eminent danger the Kingdome was in and for supply of Our present and urgent occasions for fear the Parliament might be dissolved before justice should be done upon Delinquents publick grievances be redressed a firm peace between the two Nations of England and Scotland concluded and before provision should be made for the repayment of such moneys as should be so raised though We know what power We parted from and trusted Our Houses with by so doing and what might be the consequence of such a trust if unfaithfully managed We neglected all such suspitions which all men now see deserved not to be slighted and We willingly and immediately passed that Act for the Continuance of this Parliament being resolved it should not be Our fault if all those particulars were not speedily provided for which seemed then to be the grounds of their desire May the 11. he wrote to the Lords this Letter the bearer whereof was no meaner person then the Prince of Wales In tâ—…Letter which our Author passeth â—…o sleightly over there are many things which gave great occasion of discourse to discerning men 1. That the King having sped so ill by his last addresse unto the Parliament on the first of May should put himselfe upon the hazard of another repulse 2. That he should send this Letter of which he could not rationally expect a contenting answer by the hands of the Prince as if he would accustome him from his very childhood to the Refusalls of his Subjects 3. That he should descend so much beneath himselfe as to be a Supplicant to his People and yet be in such a diffiâ—…ence with them as not to move his owne desires but by the mediation of his Peers 4. That he should put himselfe to such a hopelesse trouble as to write to them for the altering or anulling of a sentence passed but the day before which they had gained with so much danger and so many artifices or to desire the Respit of two or three dayes for the condemned Gentleman
Enterprise upon the Dukes default I bâ—…lieve not so For though Sir Robert were Vice-Admirall and had the subordinate power to the Duke of Buckingham in all things which concerned that Office yet in the present Enterprise he had not any thing at all to pretend unto the Lord Admirall himselfe not acting in occasionall services or great employments at the Sea in regard of his Office but as he is impowred by special Commission from the King which he may grant to any other as He sees cause for it A thing so obvious in the course of our English stories that I need bring no examples of it to confirm this truth And the first thing resolved upon was His solemne Initiation into Regality and setting the Crown upon His head As solâ—…mne as the King esteemed it yet our Authour as it seems thinks more poorly of it For he not onely censureth it for a vanity though a serious vanity but thinks that Kâ—…ngs are idle in it though idle to some better purpose than in 〈◊〉 and Dances Are not all Christian Kâ—…ngs wiâ—…h whom the Rites of Coronation are accounted sacred much concerned in this and the Scriptures more are not the Ceremonies of Anointing and Crowning Kings of great antiquâ—…ty in all Nations throughout the World directed by the holy Spirit in the Book of God exempl fiâ—…d in Saul David Solomon but most particularly in the inauguration of Jehoash the 2 of Kings 11. 12. where it is said that Jehojada the high Priest brought forth the Kings son and put the Crown upon him and gave him the testimonies and they made him King and anointed him and clapt their hands and said GOD SAVE THE KING Was this a Pageant think we of tâ—…e high Priests making to delight the Souldiery or a solemnity and ceremony of Gods own appointing to distinguish his Vicegerents from inferiour persons and strike a veneration towards them in all sorts of men whether Priests or people He that shall look upon the Coronation of our Saviour the placing of the Crown upon his head and putting the Scepter into his hands and bowing of the knee before him with this acclamation Haile King of the Jewes will therein finde a pattern for the Inauguration of a Christian King In which there is not any thing of a serious vanity as our Authour calls it but a grave pious and religious conformity to the Investiture and Coronation of their supreme Lord. I could enlarge upon this subjâ—…ct but that I think better of our Authour than some of our Historians doe of Henry Duke of Buckingham of whom it is observed that at the Coronation of King Richard the third he cast many a squint eye upon the Crown as if he thought it might be set on a fitter head But our Authour passeth from the Coronation to the following Parliament In order whereunto he tellâ—… us that The Lord Keeper Williams was displaced and his place was disposed of to Sir Thomas Coventrie Our Authour is here out again in his Temporalities the Lord Keeper Williams not being displaced betwixt the Coronation and the following Parliament but some months before For the Great Seale was taken from him in October three moneths and more before the day of the Coronation Sir Thomas Coventrie sitting in 〈◊〉 as Lord Keeper both in the Michaelmas Term at Reading and in the Candlemas Term at Westminster The like mistake he gives us in his Temporalities touching Bâ—…shop Land whom he makes Bishop of Bathe and Wells at the time of his afflâ—…cting in the Coronation whereas indeed he was at that time Bishop of St. Davids onely and not translated to the Bishoprick of Bathe and Wells till September following And that I may not trouble my self with the like observation at another time though there be many more of this nature to be troubled with I shall crave leave to step forth to Fol. 96. where it is said That the Articles of Lambeth were so well approved of by King James as he first sent them fiâ—…st to the Synod of Dort as the Doctrine of our Church where they were asserted by the suffrage of our British Divines and after that commended them to the Convocation held in Ireland to be asserted amongst the Articles of Religion established Anno 1615. and accordingly they were This is a very strange Hysteron Proteron setting the cart before the horse as we use to say For certainly the Articles of Lambeth being made part of the Confession of the Church of Ireland Anno 1615. as indeed they were could not before that time be sent to the Assembly or Synod at Dort which was not held till three years after Anno 1618. And this I take to be from what more than a superannuating as to call it in his Temporalities though he be confident in his Preface that he stands secure not onely from substantiall falshoods but even from circumstantiall also in assigning all both things and actions their proper times How ill this confidence is grounded we have seen in part and shall see more hereof hereafter as occasion serveth Who loved the Bishop if Fame belies her not better than was fit I think our Authour with more prudence might have spared this Note especially having Fame onely for the ground thereof which is so infamousâ—…n â—…n Historian as a learned Gentleman hath well noted that no wise man would build on the credit of it If Fames and Libels should once passe for Hâ—…storicall truths few Kings or Favorites or Ministers of great affairs or indeed who else would goe with honour to their graves or live with glory in the mouthes of the next Posterities Wilson a creature and dependent of the Earle of Warwicke whom you accuse elsewhere of partiality in the businesse of the Earl of Essex leaves the like stain upon his Lady but out of zeale to the good cause indevoureth to acquit the Bâ—…shop from the guilt thereof by saying that he was Eunuchus ab utero an Eunuch from his Mothers wombe which all that knew that Prelate most extremely laughed at And what had he for his authority but Famâ—… and Libels purposely scattered and divulged amongst the people to disgrace that Family by the malitious Contrivers of the Publique ruine The honour of Ladies in the generall is a tender point not easily repaired if wronged and therefore to be left untouched or most gently handled For which cause possibly S. 〈◊〉 adviseth that we give honour to the Woman as the weaker vessell and weaker vessels if once crackt by ungentle handling are either utterly broken or not easily mended And for this Lady in particular whom these two Authours tosse on the breath of Fame I never heard but that she was a person of great parts and honour and one that never did ill offices to any man during the time of her great power and favour both with King and Queen So that we may affirme of her as the Historian doth of Livia that great Emperours Wife Potentiam
ejus nemo sensit nisi aut levatione periculi aut accessione dignitatis that no body ever found her power but either in lessening his deserved punishments or adding some respects to him for his well-deservings Nor seemed the question in the sense of many which was the Traytour but which was the most That is to say whether the Duke of Buckingham or the Earle of Bristol were the greater Traytour though it appeareth not for any thing which our Authour tells us that any treason was proved against either of them For had the Duke proved his Charge of Treason against the Earle he had both power and opportunity enough to have wrought his ruine or had the Earle proved the like Charge against the Duke the Commons needed not have troubled themselves with a new Impeachment containing nothing but Encroachments on the Royall favour and some miscarriages which at another time and in another man would have been connived at Our Author gives us a sull Copie of the Earles Charge against the Duke but of the Dukes Charge against the Earle whether out of Partiality or want of Information he affords us nothing I shall therefore adde so much in the way of supplement as to subjoyn three or four of the principall Articles of the Charge against him leaving them here as they were left in the House of Peers without any further prosecution than the Narrative onely It was then charged upon the Earle 1. That having certified King James by several Letters out of Spain that the Treaty of the Match was in a very good forwardnesse the Prince at his arrivall there found it nothing so there being little done in relation to it 2. That in the time of his negotiation by Letters unto his late Majesty and otherwise he counselled and perswaded the said Kings Majesty to set at liberty the Jesuits and Priests of the Romish Religion and to grant and allow unto the Papists and Professours of the same a free toleration and silencing the Laws made and studing in force against them 3. That at the Princes coming into Spain the said Earle of Bristol cunningly falsly and traiterously moved and perswaded the Prince being then in the power of a forreign King of the Romish Religion to change his Religion and used many dangerous and subtile insinuations to that effect 4. That in pursuance of the said trayterous designe he used these words unto the Prince That the State of England did never any great thing but when they were under the obedience of the Pope of Rome and that it was impossible they should doe anything of note otherwise 5. That a Proposition being made by the King of Spaine touching the Palatinate which was That the eldest Son of the Prince Palatine should marry with the Emperours Daughter but must be bred up in the Emperours Court the said Earle delivered his opinion That he thought it unreasonable And when the danger was presented in regard of the alteration of the young Princes Religion which must needs follow thereupon the said Earle answered That without some great action the peace of Christendome would never be had Comparing these with those that were charged upon the Duke it will appeare that they both concurred in one designe which was to â—…ender each oâ—…her suspected in matter of Loyalty Religion though by so doing they made good sport to all their Enemies and the world to boot Many good men as our Authour calls them being passing jocund at the contest But it was resolved by the Judges that by their Restraint i. e. the Restraint of Sir Dudley Diggs and Sir John Eliot no reason being given to the House for it the whole House was Arrested The Judges were wise men and would not strive against the stream as the saying is for otherwise I can see no reason of their resolute precedents to the contrary there are many in the times foregoing of which I shall instance in two onely and those two in a Parliament held in the 35 year of the so much celebrated Reigne of Queen Elizabeth The first is this Mr. Peter Wentworth and Sir Henry Bromely delivered a Petition to the Lord Keeper desiring the Lords of the Upper House to be Suppliants with them of the Lower House unto Her Majesty for entailing of the succession of the Crown whereof a Bill was ready drawn by them Her Majesty was highly displeased herewith as contrary to Her former strait command and charged the Councell to call the parties before them Sir Thomas Henage being then Vice-Chamberlaine and one of the Lords of the Privie Councell sent for them and after speech with them commanded them to foâ—…ar the Parliament and not to go out of their severall lodgings After they were called before the Lord Treasurer the Lord Buckhurst and Sir Thomas Henage Mr. Wentworth was committed by them to the Tower Sir Henry Bromely with Master Richard Stevens to whom Sir Henry Bromely had imparted the matter were sent to the Fleet as also Mr. Welch the other Knight for Worcestershire In the same Parliament one Mr. Morrice Attorney of the Dutchy of Lancaster who is to be my second instance moved against the hard courses of the Bâ—…shops Ordinaries and other Ecclesiâ—…sticall Judges in their Courts used towards sundry learned and godly Ministers and Preachers and spake against subseription and oathes and offered a Bill to be read against Imprisonment for refusall of such Oathes which comming to the Queens knowledge and Mr. Coke afterwards Sir Edward Coke then Speaker of the House of Commons being sent for and admonished not to admit of that or any such Bills if they should be offered the said Mr. Morrice as I have been credibly informed was taken out of the House by Sergeant at the Armes but howsoever sure I am that he was committed unto Prison for the said Attempt And when it was moved in the House by one Mr. Wroth that they might be humble Suitors to Her Majesty that she would be pleased to set at liberty those Members of the House that were restrained To this it was answered by all the Privy Counsellours which were then Members of the House that Her Majesty had committed them for causes best known to Her selfe and to presse Her Highnesse with this suit would but hinder them whose good is sought That the House must not call the Queen to accompt for what shâ—… doth of her Royall Authority That the causes for which they were restrained may be high and dangerous That Her Majesty lâ—…h no such questions neither doth it become the House to search into such mattâ—…rs Whereupon the House desisted from interposing any further in their behaâ—…f And thus we see that no fewer than five Members that is to say Wentworth Welch Bromely Stevens and Mâ—…rrice â—…ut off at one time from the House of Commons without any remedy or any Declâ—…ration of the Judges that any such Arrest as is here pretended was layd upon the House by their Imprisonment So