Selected quad for the lemma: prince_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) |
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A41181
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A letter to a person of honour concerning the black box
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Ferguson, Robert, d. 1714.
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1680
(1680)
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Wing F749; ESTC R29821
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9,320
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10
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Parliament to revenge his Death upon the Papists 'T is true the King would not be prevailed upon by any Importunities though frequently made by the D. at the Board on Wednesday last to order a Councel-Table Declaration in favour of Yorks right to Succeed in case His Majesty should dye before him yet the business would appear to be so far gone and all things so disposed already in prospect of what they in end that they cannot without hazarding their whole concernements recall thâ—mselves from the purpose of murdering him Yea the Kings not gratifying the Dake in his so often repeated suit will now serve only to possess them with apprehensions of jealousie and make them accelerate rather than delay the wickedness 'T is possible they may foresee that it will be accompanied with greater hazards than it would have been could they have compassed that Business But they are gone past reteat and must either perish by the Sword of Iustice or seek to protect themselves by destroying the King And though this failure give them greater apprehensions that they must seek their safety by recourse to force than there would have been cause for had the Duke obtained such a Declaration yet men in their circumstances and where there is no Medium will choose rather to venture the being slain in the field than hang'd on a Gibbet or to have their Heads cut off upon a Block Ninethly As I know not who dare proclaim the D. of Y. should the K depart this life before him seeing the House of Commons in a Bill twice read and past have made it not only Capital but Treasonable to do it So if my Information do not greatly deceive me The D. of M. before he was taken rom his Mother in Holland and carried to Paris went for and was acknowledged as Prince of Wales And consequently to undermine this Title if in the issue he should prove so is not less than Trea on by the Statute And your Honour knows that though the King 's Affirmative might be of some significancy towards the Declaration of his Legittimacy and corroberation of his Right to the Imperial Crown yet his Negative imports just nothing when confronted with positive Evidence to the contrary Lastly Whereas the Partisans and Parasites of the D. of Y. would have it judged too great a reproach upon the King that ever he should be thought to have married a person of so low a quality as Madam Walters they do but in that discover at once their small acquaintance with History and either their want of memory or ingenuity in what concerns his R H. Your Lordship doth very well know that Edw. 4. though actually in the Throne and withal a Magnanimous and Victorious Prince yet he Married an ordinary Gentlewoman and she not only one of his own Subjects but the Relict of a former Husband and the Widow of an Enemy to his Crown and Family Whereas the King when supposed to have married the D. of M's Mother was actually in Exile the utmost of his Possessions lying in some saint hopes which his Right to the English Throne administred unto him And as it is not improbable but that he found it necessary to marry rather than by taking another course to alienate the minds of those further from him whose love it was his Interest to recover So the deplorableness of his condition at that time gave him small incouragement to demand in Marriage any that was the Daughter of a neighbouring King or Monarch Nor is it difficult to conceive how far the Wit Beauty and Air of such a Lady as Madam Walters was might prevail upon and entangle a young Prince both naturally Amorous and always an admirer of such Qualifications Nay My Lord though the D of Y. hath been twice Married and when in much better circumstances than the King then was yet he hath no great cause of beating himself upon the Antiquity or Greatness of the Families into which he hath Matched For I 'm sure neither of his Dutchesses derived their Descent from so eminent a Pedigree or of that Figure in Heraldry as the D. of M's Mother proceeded from They are great Strangers in England who do not know that her Father was a Gentleman of an old Brittish Linage and stood possessed of a much airer Estate than the late Lord Chancellor Hide was ever born unto And though I will cast no Reflection upon his Acquisitions yet this may be affirmed with modesty That he was more indebted to the favour of his Prince for them than any extraordinary meirit in himself or recommendation by the Dignity and Services of his Ancestors And one would think the returns he made unto his Majesty in more than a thousand Instances should not render the King very fond of transmitting the Crown to his Off-sâ—pring My Lord having endeavoured to obey you in one of your Commands I shall in the next place apply my self to the consideration of your second And to ease your Lordship of all unnecessary and superfluous trouble I shall not entertain with any long Character of Sir Gilbert Gerrard as presuming that that Gentleman is fully known unto you All I shall therefore say concerning him is That he is still the same and of the same Principles he was when he suffered so much for the King in the late Times That is He is a Loyal Subject a good Protestant and a true English man one who will Obey his Prince as far as Conscience Law and Honour will allow him but will sacrifice none of these neither upon Mercinary terms nâ—r to avoid impendent dangers And as it were happy for the King were all his Subjects of that Figure so it would greatly redound to the Honour of the Church of England to have all her Members of that Complexion and Temper Nor ought his being put out of the Commission of the Peace be construed as any Reflection upon him seeing he hath so many worthy and deserving Persons in all the Counties of England sharers with him in the same Fortune What the occasion of that treatment was your Lordship fully understands tho you were no way interested in the Affair and it is to be hoped that the King may in Time discover the pernitiousness of those Counsels which both prevented his hearkening to the humble Entreaties of many of his People and have influenced him to disoblige a great number of his best Subjects â—'m sure both his Majesty and the Kingdom do already sensibly suffer by it while the Gentlemen themselves are only discharged from a burthen There may possibly be some mean souls who covet being in the Commission to obtain a respect in their Country or to make a gain by their Office and Employment but Sir Gâ—lbert with those other Gentlemen who are in the same predicament with him are persons who in their greatest privacies can command a deference from all about them and whom God hath blessed both with Estates and Minds which exalt them above