That if the King would enter into an actual War with the French King they would stand by him with their Lives and Fortunes So that finding the French King still went on with his Conquests King Charles delayed not to send several Regiments to the Aid of thâ— Confederates in Flanders and laid a Prohibition on Frâ—â—ch Goods Hereat the French King being somewhat Startled hoping to break the Measures of England made Proposals of Peace to the Dutch and they Understanding that the Parliament had taken up a Resolution to give no more Money till Satisfaction was first had and their Fears and Jealousies removed and not thinking for this Cause fit to rely on England since the Misunderstandings rendred it no longer it self did clap up a Peace in a very short time and the rest of the Confederates followed their Example However before the Peace could be Ratified the French took several Towns and at last Besieged Mons this made the King Command the Duke of Monmouth and Earl of Ossory to joyn the English Forces under their Command with the Prince of Orange who so bravely Behaved themselves that they forced the Duke of Luxemburg's Camp and raised the Siege with the Slaughter of some Thousands of French and had done greater things if all Hostilities had not thereupon been stopped Things being thus settled Abroad greater Disturbances threatned at Home for about this time a wicked design was discovered to take away the King's Life and involve the whole Nation in Blood and Ruin which was carried on for a considerable time by the Papists The first Discoverer was Titus Oats but his Evidence was little Credited till such time as Sir Edmundbury Godfrey who had taken Oats's Depositions was found Murthered at Primrose-Hill with a Sword run through his Body tho' by a visible Mark about his Neck it appeared he had been Strangled So that this giving a sufficient Ground of Belief Oats's Evidence being also further Corroborated by Letters found in the Custody of Edw. Coleman Secretary to the Duke of York the Parliament proceeded strictly to Enquire into the matter so that the Commons often sat from Morning till Night to Consult how to Prevent the Danger and make a thorow Discovery and having Voted and entred into their Journal That it was their Opinions that there had been and was an Execrable and Hellish Design carried on by the Papists for Assassinating the King Subverting of the Government and Destroying the Protestant Religion A Proclamation was â—ssued out for Banishing Papists and reputed Papists ten Miles from the City of London and Westminster and all Roman-Catholicks were turned out of the Guards and the Parliament Addressed the King That the Duke of York might be removed from his Presence and Counsels But the last was not Granted And now divers Persons being taken up and Imprisoned on the account of this Plot one Staly a Goldsmith's Son in Convent-Garden was first Executed for saying He would kill the King then Edw. Coleman the Duke of York's Secretary then Ireland Pickering Grove Whitebread â—enwick Gawen Langhurn and others as Concerned in the Plot and Green Berry and Hill being accused by Prance and Bedlow for the Murther of Sir Edmund-bury Godfrey were Tryed at the King 's Bench-bar Condemned and Executed And then the Commons called the Lord Treasurer to an Account who had been accused by Mr. Mountague sometimes the King's Embassador at the French Court for holding a private Correspondence with France but he relying on the King's Pardon the Business â—nded in a long Imprisonment in the Tower after much stir had been made about it And the King in Hopes the better to please the Commons and satisfie the Nation in General new modell'd his Council making it to consist of 30 Persons Fifteen of them to be Certain and the rest to be Elective at pleasure ten out of the Nobility and five Commoners besides a Lord-President a Secretary of Scotland and such of the Princes of the Blood-Royal as should be at Court with which the next Day he acquainted the Parliament and of this Council the Earl of Shaftsbury was made President But notwirhâ—â—anding this Alteration in the Council it had not the desired effect which the King intended for the Parliament were still solicitous in searching to the bottom of the Popish Plot and the more effectually to do it voted That the Duke of York's being a Papist and the hopes of his coming as such to the Crown have given the greatest countenance and encouragement to the designs of the Papists c. And therefore ordered a Bill of Exclusion of the Duke of York from the Sucession of the Crown to be brought in But the King and the Dukes party were for offering Expedients for securing the Protestant Religion tho' the Duke should come a Papist to the Crown But this would not content the Commons And there arising some heats between the Lords and Commons about the Bishops Voting in Capital Cases the King thinking he could expect but little from them Prorogued them to a more convenient season but in a little time after dissolved them and called another which he hoped to find more to his purpose But during the interval of the Parliament Sir George Wakeman was tryed for the Popish Plot and acquitted before the Lord Chief Justice Scroges whose carriage was so different in this Tryal from what it had been in those before that he was shrewdly suspected to have some very feeling Reasons for it For after this Tryal Scrogs was more violent against Oats and the Whigs than he had been before against the Papists And now there was set on foot a new Popish Plot to sham the old one and put a Plot upon the Presbyterians which was called The Meal-Tub Plot the Papers relating to it being found under Madam Celiers Meal-tub the design whereof was To leave Papers and Libels of dangerous things against the Government in the Houses of the most Eminent persons active in the Discovery of the Popish Plot by them called Presbyterians and then to inform the Government that such persons where these papers were left were dangerous persons to the King and Goverment upon which their Houses being search'd and these papers found there it should have been sufficient evidence to condemn them The Tryal how this would do was first made upon Colonel Mansfel a worthy Gentelman who was Prosecuted for it but the examination of it being left to Sir William Jones the Attorney-General his Report was That Mansfel was innocent and Dangerfield at that time the Papists Tool and who had left the Papers in Mansfels Lodgings was guilty Upon which Dangerfield was committed to Prison where he mad ae thorow discovery of this cursed intreague and Sir Wil. Jones was turn'd out of his place for his honest Report And indeed from this time forward the Duke of York and his Creatures ruled all things under the King so that now the whole Design of the Government seem'd to be to sham
after many Countermarches the Army the King had raised and that of the Lords met near Northampton where the King was Overthrown and taken Prisoner 2000 of his Men were Slain and of Note Humphery Duke of Buckingham John Earl of Shrewsbury Thomas Lord Egremont and John Viscount Beamont whereupon the Queen with the Young Prince and Duke of Sommerset fled into Scotland and were kindly received the King was conveyed to the Tower and the Lord Seales attempting to pass the River in disguise was discovered by the Wherryman who cut off his Head and left his Body on the Sands and Thomas Thorp the Second Baron of the Exchequer shaving his Crown and putting himself in the Habit of a Monk was taken flying to the Queen and being brought to the Earl of Warwick he committed him to the Tower where he remained a long time after The Duke of York informed of this Victory hasted from Ireland and procured a Parliament to be Assembled in the Kings Name at London where placing himself in the Throne he declared his Right to the Crown viz. That he was Son and Heir of Ann Daughter to Roger Mortimer Earl of March who was Son and Heir to Philippa sole Daughter and Heiress to Lionel Duke of Clarence Elder Brother to John Duke of Lancaster Great Grandfather to the present Henry the Sixth and then proceeded to lay before them the Mischiefs and Losses that had befallen the Kingdom by misplacing the Succession by reason God was Angry with them for so doing and to prevent many more he desired it might be restored in the Direct Line When the Lords and Commons had deliberated upon this weighty Affair the contrary Party more out of fear than conscience goodwill or affection agreed with the Duke's Faction and it was Enacted That King Henry during his Natural Life should retain the Name and Honour of a King and that the Duke of York should be Proclaimed Heir apparent to the Crown and be Protector of the Kings Person and of the Realm and should have the present possession of the Crown delivered to him if at any time King Henry his Friends Allies or Favorites on his behalf attempted to infringe this Act which was Agreed to and Confirmed by their Oaths The Duke of York by this means being got near to what he aimed at required the Queen the Dukes of Sommerset and Exeter the Earl of Devonshire the Lords Clifford Ross and others immediatly to repair from the North whither they were fled and confer with the King but instead of so doing being much displeased with the Proceedings of the Parliament they Levied an Army and with it advanced towards London The Duke of York had soon notice of it and Marched with all speed to oppose them leaving the King in the custody of the Duke of Norfolk and Earl of Warwick and the two Armies met near Wakefield Where the Duke being too weak was perswaded to stay for the arrival of Edward Earl of March his Son who was advancing from the borders of Wales with an Army to Joyn him but being carried headlong by his forward Destiny which designed him not to be a King though he wanted but one step to the Throne he forthwith gave the onset but within an Hours space almost three Thousand of his Companions were Slain together with himself and his Youngest Son the Earl of Rutland not exceeding 12 Years who kneeling on his Knees desired Mercy but was cruelly Stabbed to the Heart by the Lord Clifford who horribly Swore By that Act he would be Revenged for his Fathers Death So that upon this the rest of the Army Fled The Duke of York's Head being cut off by those that found him dead in the Field was presented to the Queen who caused a Paper Crown to be set on it in derision and placed it on the Walls of the City of York Beheading the Earl of Salisbury and others of his Favorites who were taken Prisoners and placing their Heads with his to bear him company The Queen supposing now her fears were over by the slaughter of her Capital Enemies Advanced towards London overthrowing the Earl of Warwick and such Forces as he had gathered to oppose her by which means King Henry was set at Liberty and Joyfully received by her But then News came that the Earl of March who hearing of his Fathers death had taken on him the Title of Duke of York had Overthrown the Earls of Pembrook Ormond and Wiltshire Beheaded Owen Tuther the King's Father-in-Law who had Married his Mother the Queen Dowager and divers others whose Heads he placed in the Room of his Fathers and other Heads of his Friends which the Queen had caused to be set on the Walls of York This suddain Turn of Fortune made the Queen draw out her Army and hasten towards him having raised an Army of 60000 Men and near a Town called Towton the New Duke of York and Earl of Warwick met her with near 50000 so that a cruel and bloody Battel ensued wherein on both sides about 36000 were slain among whom were the Earls of Northumberland Westmorland the Lords Dacres Wells Clifford c. The Dukes of Sommerset and Exeter saved themselves by flight but the Earl of Devonshire with sundry others of Note were made Prisoners Upon this great Overthrow for it fell on the Kings-side who was always Unfortunate in the Field he with the Queen and Prince fled into Scotland where they were favourably received and in lieu of their kind Entertainment delivered Berwick to the Scots which they much desired and attempted often times to gain tho' beaten off with great loss so that the Duke of York being every where Received as King may be said here to put an end to Henry's Reign tho' he Lived much longer when he had Reigned 38 Years 6 Months and 3 Days and was after Stabbed in the Tower by Richard Duke of Glocester King Edward the Fourths Brother Anno 1471 in the 49th Year of his Age as will appear more largely in the Reign of that King His Body was first Buried in the Abby of Chertsey in Surry then by King Henry the Seventh at Winchester after removed none can tell where as not being found in History In this Kings Reign from the beginning of April to Allhallontide fell such abundance of Rain that the Corn and Hay Harvest were utterly spoiled which occasioned a dearth among Men and Cattle Anno 1435 the Thames was so Frozen that no homeward-bound Ships could enter it and Games and Pastimes were Exercised on the Ice Anno 1438 all the Lions in the Tower of London dyed and in the 23d Year of the King on Candlemas Eve terrible Thunders and Lightnings happened by which the Church of Baldock in Hartfordshire and that of Walden in Essex were greatly shattered and St. Paul's Steeple in London set on Fire WARWICK SHIRE Anno Dom. 1459 the Useful and Noble Science of Printing was found out by a Soldier at Magunce in Germany and
different success But at length the Earl perceiving fresh supplies continually press on his weary Soldiers thinking by his Example to give them new Courage he dismounted and with his Sword in his Hand pressed into the Front of his Enemies making miserable slaughter But breaking in too far and not being timely succoured he was slain together with the Marquess his Brother who threw himself into the opening Jaws of Death in hopes to bring the Earl off These great Commanders slain the Army grew faint and giving way by degrees at length fell into a total rout about 10000 being slain and of King Edward's Part of Note only Sir Humphry Bourcher Son to the Lord Barns and the dead Bodies of the Earl and Marquess being brought to St. Paul's were exposed to view three Days and then Honourably Interred among their Ancestors in the Priory of Bissam Queen Margaret having notice of this Defeat fled with her Son to the Abbey of Bewley in Hampshire whither divers Lords resorted to her and agreed to raise new Forces and try the fortune of another Field which they did and were Overthrown at Tewxbury about 3000 being slain and of Note the Duke of Sommerset Sir John Lewkner Sir John Delves c. The Prisoners of Note were the Queen and Prince the Prior of St. John's Sir Jervis Cliffton Sir Thomas Tristram and Twelve others of Note all but the two first being Beheaded the next day and soon after Prince Edward being presented to the King by Sir Richard Crofts who took him Prisoner was piteously Murthered in his sight by the Dukes of Clarence Gloucester and others on the signal given by the King in striking him on the Mouth with his Gantlet nor was it long after that Innocent King Henry was Murthered in the Tower by the same Duke of Gloucester who struck a Dagger to his Heart his Body being afterward exposed to view in St. Paul's three days that the People might be sure he was Dead however these Proceedings caused the King much hatred among the People when somewhat to satisfie them he consented to Ransome the Queen to pay which the poor Prince her Father sold his Titles to Jerusalem Naples and Sicily and returning home she Lived a Melancholy and Disconsolate Life which lasted not long ere she dyed of Grief particularly for the Death of the Prince her Son whom she dearly Loved King Edward by Bloodshed being rid of his greatest opposers took sollace in Pleasures being very Lustful and was rarely without two or three Concubins tho' his Queen was Young and Beautiful and among them Jane Shoar Wife to Mathew Shoar a Goldsmith in Grace-church-street was most pleasing to him though in the end it brought her to shame and misery But to pass this over The King being now as I may term it Established in the Throne the Duke of Burgundy vehemently incited him to War on France and recover it as his Antient Right and Inheritance upon which condition himself promised to do great matters towards assisting him The King was not slow in listening to it for many reasons urged by his Council as The French having frequently assisted his Enemies c. Yet Money being wanting it seemed difficult But to surmount this he resolved without a Parliament to ask it of his Subjects as a Free Gift which many indeed complied with tho' with an ill will But one thing in this is Remarkable The King to oblige them to bring in more freely if not for Love yet for fear of after-claps on Penal Laws seeing many that were Rich had engaged their Persons or Purses in the War against him he sat sundry Hours in a Day to receive it himself when among others a Rich yet Nigardly old Widow brought Twenty Pounds this so highly pleased him That he not only returned her thanks but told her For her kindness she should Kiss a King and having performed it once the Old Woman pull'd out another Bag crying Vdsbodikins if Kings Sell their Kisses so Cheap give me tother Touch on the Lips and here is another Twenty Pound for you The King smiled at this took her at her word and thought his Kisses well Sold. With this Benevolence of his Subjects and his own Treasure he Transported a fair Army over Sea but found the Duke of Burgundy altogether unprovided even of the promised Necessaries for the support of the English who Lying without the Towns on the cold Ground soon began to murmur however to employ them he Marched with the Duke towards St. Quintins which was secretly promised to be delivered to him by Lewis of Luxemburg great Unkle to King Edward's Queen but on their approaching its Walls the Cannon not only plaid fiercely on them but the Garison made great Sallies so that finding no good to be done they were constrained to draw off and soon after the Duke without taking leave went to raise Forces leaving only word That he would come again with an Army as soon as he was able These Proceedings made the King begin to repent he had come over upon his account and the French King making large offers to obtain a Peace it was after some debate Agreed to without the Dukes consent viz. 1. In consideration the French King Paid Edward 65000 Crowns towards his Charge and 50000l per Annum for his Life 2. That in one Year he should send for the Lady Elizabeth King Edward 's Eldest Daughter and Marry her to the Dauphin allowing them for Nine Years space Annually 50000 Crowns and then the Peaceable possession of the Dutchy of Guyan and in consideration of this Hostages should be left till the English had quitted France and were returned home This being Agreed on tho' the Marriage was never performed the Duke of Burgundy hastened to the Kings Camp and in a blustering and storming manner greatly inveighed against what he had done and was as sharply Answered by him whereupon he rod away in much discontent and the French King came to an Enterview with King Edward highly Feasting him and his whole Army giving Money to the Officers and Soldiers and commanding all his Subjects to use them with much Bounty and Civility which done King Edward Marched to Callice and there passed over to England and then the Lord Howard and Sir John Cheney the Hostages were sent after him with great Rewards The Duke of Burgundy however continued the War and was thrice Overthrown in one Year and in the last at Nancy he was slain King Edward being now at leasure to look if therâ— were after so many slaughters any that could lay â— Claim to his Crown or Interrupt by such a pretence the Peace of him or his Heirs for by this time he had two Sons and five Daughters he at last thought on Henry Earl of Richmond who remained with the Duke of Brittany he being of the Royal Blood and near of Allyance to the Crown To get this Prince into his hands he Bribed Peter Landois the Dukes Treasurer with great Sums
Richard Symond a Priest set up a Pupil of his whom he had cunningly Instructed to claim the Crown by the Name of Edward Plantagenet Eldest Son to the Duke of Clarence tho' it afterward appeared his true Name was Lambert Symnel His Age agreed with that of the Prince he represented who was then a Prisoner and in likness he resembled him and his carriage was extreamly Genteil and Taking so that many flocked to him who were desirous of change as well of the Nobles and Gentry as Commons but not finding here a sufficient Strength he failed to Ireland where Sir Thomas Garendine the Lord Chancelor espoused his Quarrel and drew many to take part with him and to him the Dutchess Dowager a mortal Enemy to King Henry sent supplies of Money Men and Arms and by her Encouragement many English espoused his Interest so that he became very Formidable This constrained King Henry to bring the true Edward out of the Tower and carry him through the Streets of London to satisfy the People of the Imposture where the Nobility were required to be present and to confer with him But this did little for the others Army encreasing The King raised Forces to repel him and a Battel was joyned near Stoke in Lincolnshire which was maintained with great resolution but the Irish who compossed the greater part of Symnel's Army being destitute of Warlike Weapons tho' they fought valiantly were routed whereupon the rest gave way And in this Battel the Earl of Lincoln the Lord Lovel Sir Thomas Garendine Marian Swart and Sir Thomas Browghton were Slain Symnell was taken Prisoner and after a publick Confession who he was made Scullion in the Kings Kitchen and after that his Faulconer Peace now being settled the Queen was Crowned and Thomas Bourcher Arch-Bishop of Canterbury being dead Bishop Morton was preferred to that Archiepiscopal See and made Lord Chancelor of England soon after which preferment he was dignified with the Hat and Habit of a Cardinal by Pope Alexander the Sixth Whilst these things Passed a Quarrel arose between Charles the French King and Francis Duke of Britany whereupon the latter too weak to oppose his powerful Enemy required Aid of King Henry but he having in his necessities been befriended by them both rather laboured to make an Accomodation yet underhand the King winking at it many English went over to the Duke's Assistance but were mostly slain in a fatal Overthrow the French gave near the City of Nantz with their chief Leader the Lord Woodvile This made King Henry openly assist the Duke with Men and Money to furnish which he raised by Parliament a Tax of the Tenth Penny on all Moveable Goods which caused a Rebellion in the North where the Earl of Northumberland enforcing the Kings Orders for the strict Levying it was Murthered by the Rout but Thomas Earl of Surry going against them with an Army they dispersed and fled yet several of the Ringleaders were taken and Executed in sundry places During the War in Britany That Duke dyed and the Estates Marrying his Daughter and Heiress to the French King tho' she had before been contracted to Maximillian the Emperour a Peace ensued and the Lady Margaret Daughter to the Emperour whom the French King had taken as his Wife was returned with disgrace which occasioned a War between them and Henry being on both sides solicited for Aid he for many waighty Reasons adhered to the Emperour and Transported an Army under the Command of his Unkle Jasper Duke of Bedford and John Earl of Oxford but the Emperour not being forward in his promised Preparation the King passed into France and laid Siege to Bullen which made the French King for fear of Britany of which by his Marriage he was become Soveraign Prince sue for Peace which was concluded between him and King Henry during their Lives The French King for defraying his Charges paying 186200 l. and a Yearly Pension of 25000 Crowns which was Paid during King Henry's Life whereupon he returned with his Army Not long after this the Dutchess Dowager of Burgundy set up another Imposture who though his true Name was Perkin Warbeck was to pass for Richard Plantagenet the second Son of Edward the Fourth and the better to further her design she used such Policy in England that she gained many of the best Rank who were well affected to the House of York to favour him King Henry however to Countermine her Stratagem bent to work him Mischief secretly caused divers of his Friends seemingly to fly to this nâ—â— pretended Duke and offer him their Service their Estates the mean while the better to colour the matter being seized in England And by this means he gained private Intelligence of all the Proceedings and an Account of the Names of such as being in England held correspondency with him which brought many into Trouble and some to Execution And finding the Emperour disgusted at the Peace he had made with France secretly encouraged this design he removed the English Mart from the Low Countries to Callice which proved greatly prejudicial to the Flemings especially upon a Prohibition of Flemish Wares being brought into England which made the Emperour publish the like Prohibition to hinder the Importation of English Goods in any part of his Territories which causing a decay of Trade incited the meaner sort of Handicrafts in London to commit divers Outrages on the Persons and Goods of the Flemings that Inhabited among them but about 80 of the Ringleaders being Taken were Imprisoned till by the Kings Pardon they were Released and the Flemings Banished Sir Robert Clifton whom the King by Promises and Gifts had won to his Favour about this time came over and the better to Apprehend such as he should Accuse without Blows he appointed to meet him in the Tower where among his Great Courtiers he singled out Stanley who had been Instrumental in setting the Crown on the Kings Head and was now his Lord Chamberlain who was nevertheless committed to Prison and the main Evidence on his Tryal being That he had said That if he was sure this Perkin was the True Duke of York he would not draw his Sword against him he was thereupon Sentenced and all his great Services could not attone to save his Life for he was very soon after Beheaded Yet with this the Storm blew not over for the Native Irish declaring for Perkin tho' the King sent an Army thither under Sir Edward Poinings yet he could do little good there they being too nimble for him in their Woods Bogs and Mountains and not being assisted by the Nobles and Gentry as he expected the fault was charged by him on the Earl of Killdare whom he brought over Prisoner but that Lord so well acquitted himself that he was soon set at Liberty and sent back again with Honour and Rewards and Perkin putting to Sea Landed in Kent but he was beaten off and a great many of his Men slain and such as were
Fortune However the Lord Grey Deputy of Ireland lost his Head for winking as it was alledged against him at the Irish entering within the English Pale and not timely Repelling them Sir Edmund Knevet of Norfolk having been Arraigned before the Green Cloth for Striking one Mr. Clear of Norfolk within the Tennis Court of the King's House and being found Guilty he had Judgment to lose his Right Hand and to forfeit all his Lands and Goods and all things being prepared for the Execution of this Sentence and Sir Edmund brought in the Chief Justice declared his Offence which he Confessed and humbly submitted himself to the King's Mercy only he desired the King would spare his Right Hand and take his Left For said he if my Right Hand be spared I may Live to do the King good Services Of which Submission and Saying when the King was informed he ordered he should lose neither of his Hands and Pardoned him also as to his Lands and Goods The Scots had lain still a long while but now began under James the Fifth their Young King to make great Disturbances but after some Bickerings and much Spoil in either Country they were Overthrown and the Earls of Cassels and Glencarn the Lords Maxwell Fleming Sommervel Oliphant Gray and Car were made Prisoners and many Slain The News of this Overthrow so perplexed King James That falling into a deep Grief and Melancholly he Dyed a week after leaving only a Daughter to Succeed him who was then but newly Born and Christened Mary Upon notice of whose Birth when he lay Sick he burst out in this Prophetical Saying It came with a Lass meaning the Crown and it will go with a Lass Soon after the King of Scots Death the Lords that were Prisoners in England to curry favour for their Liberty proposed a Match between Prince Edward Henry's Son and their Young Queen which was kindly accepted The Match being proposed to the Parliament of Scotland they seemed highly to approve it ratifying a Writing under the Hands and Seals of the Nobility as also with their Oaths yet the French Faction so prevailed that it came to nothing But King Henry enraged to be thus abused sent a powerful Army into Scotland which spoiled the Country taking several Towns and great Plunder nor was the King flow to pass over to France where laying Siege to Bullen he had it yielded to him and having Fortified it returned into England to raise Money for a Supply of the War which tho' the Emperour without his consent had made a Peace with France he resolved vigorously to prosecute and because Richard Read an Alderman refused Sir Thomas Wryothsltey the Chancellor the Supply he demanded of him he was compelled in Person to Serve the King in his Wars against the Scots by whom he was taken Prisoner and paid a large Ransom And soon after the French were worsted by Sea and Land and the Scots Routed who Invaded England and followed into their Country Whereupon Peace ensued between England and France Soon after the King cavelling with the Duke of Norfolk and his Son the Earl of Surry for bearing in their Escutchion certain Arms appropriated to the King and Prince only tho' they had been born by his Ancestors time out of mind unquestioned being Indicted for High Treason they were both Condemned The Son was Beheaded and the Father escaped by the King's Death which soon ensued viz. on Tuesday the 28th of January Anno Dom. 1546 in the 56th Year of his Age when he had Reigned 37 Years 9 Months and 6 Days He was Buryed with much pomp and Funeral solemnity in the Chappel at Windsor In this King's time happened a great Famin viz. 1527 upon the falling of a violent Raine November December and January and from the 12th of April every day till the 3d of June Anno 1545 William Foxley Potmaker to the Mint Slept in the Tower of London not being by any meanâ— to be Waked 14 Days and 15 Nights and when he waked it seemed to him but as one Night The Number of Religious Houses Suppressed were Monasteries 313 Priories 290 Friaries 122 Nunneries 142 Colledges 152 Hospitals 129 and their Inhabitants turned out to wander in the Fields after long Ease and Luxury Remarks on Yorkshire in its three Ridings THis is the largest Shire in England and not inferiour to some of the biggest Provinces in France It is divided into three Parts or Ridings viz. The North East and West Ridings It produces store of Horses large Cattle Sheep and in many places very good Corn and Pastures great quantities of Woollen Cloth and very Subtil People It is Bounded with the Bishoprick of Duâ—ham the German Ocian Lincolnshire Derbyshire Lancashire and Westmoreland It contains 26 Hundreds 563 Parishes 57 Marker Towns 36 Rivers of which the Humber is the chief 1 City which is an Archiepiscopal See viz. York 14 Castles 62 Bridges 4 Chases â— Forrests and 72 Parks It sends Members to Parliament 30 viz. Alborough 2 Beverly 2 Borrough-Bridge 2 Hildon 2 Hull 2 Knarseborough 2 Malton 2 North-Alerton 2 Pomfret 2 Richmond 2 Rippon 2 Scarborough 2 Thrisk 2 York City 2 and 2 Knights of the Shire YORK SHIRE By I Seller This Shire affoards store of Iron Pit-Coal and Sea-Coal at Whitby are Stones of a Serpentine figure near Burrough Bridge are 4 Piramidal Stones supposed some Roman Monument on Rosemary Topping are Stones found like Sea Wincles and Cockles at Giglesworth are 3 Springs one of which constantly Ebbs and Flows four times an Hour in the North are Ting-tong Wells said to be three Miles in the Earth and near Knarsborough the Well Dripa whose Water distills from a Rock that hangs over it The Castles of note are those of Sheffield Coningsborough Tickil Sandal Harwood Knasborough Cawood Scarborough Kilton Skelton c. On Wakefield Bridge stands a Chappel Founded by Edward the Fourth in memory of the Battel fought there near Flamborough-Head are Waters called Vipsies which flow out of the Springs every other Year and fall violently into the Sea The Seats of the Nobility are Sheffeild-Mannor belonging to the Duke of Norfolk Bishops-Hill and Hemsey Castle to the late Duke of Buckingham Slingsby Castle to the Honourable Family of New-castle Snap to the Earl of Exceter Markin-field to the Earl of Bridgwater Mulgrave Castle to the Earl of Mulgrave Shipton Castle to the Earl of Thanet Nawort Castle to the Earl of Carlisle Wharlton Castle and Javoux Abby to the Earl of Ailesbury Lounsborough Bolton and Braden Tower to the Earl of Burlington Hall and Wimbledon to the Duke of Leeds Thorn-Hill to the Earl of Macclesfield Hackforth Anderly Le Miers to the Earl of Holderness Newborough Abby Coxwold Hall Oulston Hall Aldwark and Murton to the Lord Faulconberg Wressel Castle to the Duke of Richmond Easby Hall to the Lord Eure Baron of Witton Wheldrake to the Lord Howard of Escrick Holm in Spadingmore and Dalton to the Lord Lexinton Wilton Castle to the
by a Shepherd was Buried together with his Body at a place in Suffolk bearing from thence the Name of St. Edmunds-Bury he being soon after Cannonized a Saint and Martyr And with him ceased the East Angle Government there being no mention made of any more Kings that Governed it as a distinct Kingdom About the number of Years he Reigned Authors disagree and therefore I pass them over as uncertain and proceed to the last of the Seven Kingdoms viz. That of the West Saxons 7. The West Saxon Kingdom described with the Succession of its Kings and what things worthy of History happened during their respective Reigns Also by what means they at last Obtained the Sole Monarchy of England c. The Kingdom of the West Saxons contained the spacious and fertil Counties of Cornwal Devonshire Dorcetshire Somersetshire Wiltshire Hampshire and Barkshire Bounded on the North with Monmouthshire Gloucestershire Oxfordshire and Bristol-Channel on the East with Sussex Surry and part of Buckinghamshire on the South with the British-Ocean and part of the Channel on the West with the Ocean These Counties abound in plenty of Corn Wooll Tinn Fruits Cattle and profitable Manufactures having many Excellent Harbours opening advantageously to the Sea so that growing by such means Rich and Powerful they failed not at length to bring under the other Kingdoms Uniting them in a Sole Monarchy under Egbert their Seventeenth King as in the Series of this History will appear Cherdick a Valiant Captain of the Low Country Germans first laboured to form these Counties into a Kingdom but before he could do it he had Six Years Wars with the Britains in which he Fought a great Battel with Aurelius Ambrosius their King and was put to the Rout but upon his Death which happened Two Years after by Poison as has been related Vter-Pendragon Brother to Aurelius being Crowned King of the Britains he borrowed Forces of Hengist who were sent under the Leading of Ebusa and Octa his two Sons but these Forces were as the former overthrown by Vter-Pendragon and Hengists Sons were taken Prisoness but whilst the Victor neglected the Tents of Mars for the softer Alcove of Venus viz. To sport with the fair Igren Wife to the Duke of Cornwal on whom he got the Renouned Prince Arthur who Succeeded him as King over the Britains the Noble Captives Escaped and again advancing their Standard in the Field were Slain with most of their followers These bad beginnings so startled Cherdrick that he found little hopes to keep the footing he had gained but more Forces coming unexpectedly to his Aid he resolved to try another Battel with the Britains which was Fought near Salisbury wherein Fortune turning her Wheel about he put the British Army to the Foil killing Natauleon one of their great Captains and made so great a slaughter of his Enemies that for a time he had no Interruption in settling his Affairs but after the Death of Vter-Pendragon who Died of Poison put into a Well whereof he used to Drink every Morning King Arthur gave great disturbances to him in the settlement of his new acquired Kingdom much Blood being shed between them in divers Battels yet beginning his Reign Anno Dom. 501 he continued it Thirty Three Years Kenrick the Second King of the West Saxons began his Reign Anno Dom. 534. He was Son to Cherdick and a Mortal Enemy to the Britains In his Fathers time he Commanded a part of the Army and Fought several Battels and now coming to the Crown he raised all his Forces and gave the Britains two great Overthrows viz. One at Shrewsbury and the other at Banbury in Oxfordshire He Reigned Twenty Six Years Chewlin the Third King of the West Saxons began his Reign Anno Dom. 560. He Warred upon Ethelbert King of Kent and defeated his Army at Wimbledon slaying two of his chief Commanders and this is held to be the first Battel fought between Saxons and Saxons in England a little before which it remarkably happened at Feversham in Kent That a Tame Wolfe having brought forth Seven Male Young-ones they lived Quietly together till grown up and then never left Fighting till all but one were Destroyed as it afterward befell the Saxon Heptarchy This King gave a great Overthrow to the Britains at Bedford and Surprized Four of their Towns viz. Liganbury Ailsbury Bensington and Evisham He Fought another Battel with them at Deorham and Slew three of their Dukes viz. Farmnagill Coinmagill and Candigan Taking the Cities of Glocester Bath and Cirencester But not long after Encountering them at Wodensbridge his Army was defeated and Cuth his Eldest Son Slain for here a party of Saxons assisted the Britains under the Command of Cearlick his Nephew who had fled to them upon hard usage and fear of being made away by his unnatural Uncle He Reigned Thirty Three Years Cearlick the Fourth King of the West Savons gained the Kingdom by the Overthrow of his Uncle Chewlin which he gave him at Waines-Ditch in Wiltshire Anno Dom. 593 after which he found much trouble ere he could be settled in the Government but the Britains standing his Friends he continued his Reign Six Years Chelwolf began his Reign Anno Dom. 598 but scarce was he settled in the Throne ere the Britains Invaded his Territories making great Spoil but finding they were too weak to withstand him alone in process of time they drew the Scots and Picts to their assistance so that many bloody Battels were fought with various success In which Wars he Dyed in the 14th Year of his Reign leaving his Kingdom in much distress and perplexity He was the 5th King of the West Saxons Kingills the Sixth King of the West Saxons began his Reign Anno Dom. 612. He had great Wars with the Britains and in a pitched Battel at Beandune he put Cudwan their King to the Rout Slaying above a Thousand of his Subjects and having concluded a Peace with Penda King of the Mercians he grievously Oppressed them so that for a long time they were confined to the Mountains and Fastnesses in the Country now called Wales However after he was Converted to the Christian Faith by Berinus he abated much of his Severity making Dorchester a Bishops See and placing that Religious Man in it He was the First Christian King of the West Saxons and Reigned Thirty One Years Kenwald the Seventh King of the West Saxons made great Wars upon the Britains Overthrowing King Cadwallo at a place called Pennum with incredible slaughter but growing Proud on the success and Quarreling with Penda King of Mercia whose Sister he had Married and in Contempt of him turned her away he was by him driven out of his Kingdom But upon Submitting and being Baptized by Bishop Felix he was restored to his Kingdom and thereby obliged by Penda to receive his Wife into Favour He began his Reign Anno Dom. 643 and Reigned Thirty One Years Eskwin the Eighth King of the West Saxons began his Reign
of the Young-Men and Maids about the Reign of Queen Mary the First and is equall'd for Height and Beauty by few in the Nation In short 't is a Town of good Trade and very famous for its Ale which is accounted the best and strongest in the Kingdom Ripton the Antient Ripandunum is a pleasant place here Ethelbald the ninth King of the Mercians slain at Egelwald was by his Subjects Interred and from hence Burdred the last King of Mercia was expelled by the Danes together with his Queen Ethelwith At Melburn John D' Bourbon taken at the Battel of Agincourt in France by our Henry the 5th was kept Prisoner Little Derby was an Antient Collony of the Romans as appears by their Coins and Medals digged up there at sundry times The Seats of the Noblemen are Palsover Castle the Antient seat of the Duke of Newcastle Haddon the seat of the Earl of Rutland Hadwick and Chatsworth the seats of the Duke of Devonshire Berthy the seat of the Earl of Chesterfield Sherley the seat of the Lord Ferrers Sutton c. The Reign of Edmund Ninth Sole Monarch of England EDmund Brother to Ethelstan began his Reign Anno. Dom. 940. He was Crowned at Kingston upon Thames but scarce settled in the Throne before the Danes perswading the People of Northumberland and other Northern Counties to joyn with them advanced against him with a puissant Army to whom he gave a great Overthrow near Northampton and had various success against them in divers other Battels He caused the Eyes of the two Sons of Dunmail to be put out for theirs and their Fathers Rebellion against him and then to quiet his People made many good Laws to restrain Rapin and other Injuries that for want of such boundaries between Princes and Subjects they had sustained in many of the former Reigns and upon these Laws Magna Charta or the Great Charter of England seems very much to be grounded Anlafe the Dane retaining some footing in the Northern parts of England and Southern Sheirs of Scotland Laboured to perswade Indulph King of Scots to break the League he had made with Ethelstan urging that Edmund who now Reigned was a supine Person no ways fit to bear the weight of Government and therefore they might easily gaine their designes in subduing the Kingdom but Indulph would by no means be tempted to break his Oath Whereupon the Dane thinking to do it without his Aid sent for more Forces who Landing in the Humber Elgarine Governor of Northumberland either through fear or hopes of Advancement declared he was descended of Danish Blood and breaking the Trust King Edmund had reposed in him he Joyned such Forces as he could raise with Anlafe whereupon the King sent to Indulph for Aid according to the Articles of Treaty to assist each other in case of Invasion and with all expedition he sent him 10000 well apointed Soldiers with which and his own Forces he fell upon the Danes and Routed them at the first onset making a terrible slaughter in the pursuit In this Battle as the King had commanded the Treacherous Earl Elgarine was taken alive though he would willingly have dyed on the Swords of those that secured him when being adjuged a Traytor to his Country he was drawn in peices by the strength of Horses And after this great Victory he settled the Northern Counties that had been much harrassed and weakened by the Enemy and upon his return granted large Priviledges to St. Edmunds-Bury in Suffolk rebuilding many ruined places And now the Irish Invading the Western Coasts with many small Vessels were beaten off divers of them slaughtered and most of their Ships Burnt Greater things were in projection to be done by this King had not an untimely Death prevented him for one day seeing a Gentleman that served him and for whom by reason of his Faithfullness he had a singular esteem hard pressed by a Ruffiain in single Combate and at the point to be slain he unadvisedly rushed in to his Rescue and receiving the points of their Swords in his Body whilst he thought to seize them with his Hands he dyed of the Wounds when he had Reigned Six Years and was Interred at Glastenbury being the Ninth sole Monarch of England Anno Dom. 946. He was fifth son to King Edward At his death he left his Brother Edred or Eldred Protector of the Realm commiting to his care Edwye and Edgar his two Sons who were in their Minority Remarks on Devonshire c. DEvonshire by reason of the advantage of the Sea and its many spacious Havens is not only of great account in it self but to its Neighbouring Counties It produces many rich Manufactories and contains divers stately Towns It has in it rich veins of Tin store of Cattle Corn fat Pastures Containing the City of Exon a Bishops See 394 Parishes 33 Hundreds 37 Market Towns and 23 Rivers small and great It sends Members to Parliament 26 viz. Exeter Plymouth Plimpton Totness Oakhampton Honiton Barnstaple Tavistock Ashburton Tiverton Beralston 2 Each and 2 more out of these three Towns Clifton Dartmouth and Hardness and 2 Knights of the Shire in all 26. It is Bounded with Somersetshire Cornwal the Irish Sea and Channel Exeter the only City of this County is of great Antiquity for the Castle called Rugemont was once the Palace of the West Saxon Kings and afterward of the Earls of Cornwal and the Walls and Cathedral were Builded by King Ethelstane and is situate on the River Ex. Torbay in this County some few Miles from the North East of Dartmouth is singularly remarkable for the Descent made here on the 5th of November 1688 by the then Prince of Orange but his now present Majesty King William the Third whom God long preserve with his Forces from Holland to save this Nation from Popery and Slavery which had then bid fair for it but upon his Landing vanish'd like Mists before the Morning Sun Plymouth seated on the River Plym is renowned by being the birth-place of that great Sea Captain Sr. Francis DEVON SHIRE Drake Tinmouth was the place where the Danes Landed when they first Invaded the Western Parts and suffered much by the French in the Year 1690 Crediton was a Bishops See till it was removed to Exeter by Edward the Confessor Hubblestone was the burying-place of Hubba the Dane Brother to Hungar slain in Battel not far from thence In the Parish of Comb-Martin it is Recorded That William Wimondham Refined out of Oar digged there 270 Pound weight of Silver afterward Coined for Elinor Dutches of Bar. The Seats of the Nobility are pleasantly situate in this County viz. Potheridge and Wenbury seats of the Late Duke of Albemarle Chudleigh the seat of the Lord Clifford Baron of Chudleigh and the Lord Bishop of the Diocess his Palace at Exeter The Reign of Edred c. Tenth Sole Monarch of England EDred or Eldred as is said being left Protector of the Realms and Persons of Edwye and Edgar
Eglesine Abbot of St Austines had as secretly as they could made them Weapons and lay in Ambush for him which he no sooner entered but every one cut down a Bough to shelter him from present discovery burst out of the Woods on either side the straight he was passing and surrounded his small Train but whilst the King was in suspence what this unusual thing might signifie they all at once threw down their Boughs and stood ready prepared with their Bows Arrows and such other Weapons as they had for the Encounter whereupon the Arch Bishop advancing towards the Conquerer said Behold most noble King the Commons of Kent Assembled to demand a Confirmation of their Antient Rights Laws and Liberties the which if you will Grant them they are willing to Submit and become your Obedient Subjects otherwise in defence of them they are resolved to venture their dearest Blood and presently to give you Battel This unexpected Adventure startled the King that notwithstanding his great Courage a surprising fear seemed visible in his Countenance so that pausing a while he thought it more prudent to yield to Necessity than hazard after so much expence of Blood and Treasure his Life and Kingdom on an uncertain Chance and Nicety Whereupon he signed their demands presented in Writing and gave them a Solemn Promise to Confirm it to them in a Legal manner whereupon they threw down their Arms and Shouted for Joy so that from his Reign to this day that County Enjoys the Priviledges they held in Edward the Confessors time exempted from other Counties as also those in preceding Reigns After this perceiving the Spirits of the English were not so easily brought under as he supposed and hearing that Swain King of Denmark was preparing for an Invasion at the Instigation of Goodwin and Edmund two of King Harrolds Sons he began to relax in his severity and to make fair with the City of London Granted them this short Charter viz. I William King Greet William Bishop and Godfrey Porters and all the Burgesses within London French and English and I Grant you that I Will that you Maintain and Enjoy all your Laws as you did in the days of King Edward meaning the Confessor and I will that each Child be his Fathers Heir and further I will that no Man Wrong you and so God keep you However the Danes Landed a strong Army in the North where they were Joyned by many English in hopes thereby to regain their Liberties but the King hasting thither drove them to their Ships with great slaughter and to revenge him on those that had joyned with them he wasted the Country from York to Durham so that for Nine Years the Ground lay waste which occasioning a Famine numbers of People Dyed After this he Summoned a Convocation of the Clergy charging them with many faults and failures in their Functions and Duty towards him for which he Deposed and Deprived divers Learned and Godly Men of their Dignities Living and Substance The two former he bestowed on such as bid most for them and the latter he kept to Maintain his Wars in Normandy where Troubles were arisen in his Absence the French labouring to recover it as part of their Antient Territories But scarce had he Expelled them ere hasty News recalled him viz. The Earls Edwin and Morcar had set up Edgar Etheling and raised great Forces which were so Formidable to the Conquerer by reason the English were generally enclined to favour the Young Prince than he found himself constrained to end the Difference by fair means and to make the common sort more ready to embrace it he Swore to keep Inviolable the Antient Laws of the Land particularly those of Edward the Confessor but not long after he took from the Abby of St. Albans all the Lands between Barnet and London-Stone And to Strengthen himself he made a League with Malcolm King of Scots who had often publickly or underhand made Incursions or raised Commotions in the Northern parts of the Kingdom And the Bounds of the Country were ascertained by rearing a Stone Cross called by the Scots Stain Moor in Westmorland but by the English Roy Cross or Kings Cross and soon after the King Sailed again for Normandy and quelled the Rebellious Normans that were joyned with the French against him and so returned with Victory but his Treasure being Exhausted he to recruit it Sold to Walcher Bishop of Durham the Earldom of Northumberland but he Enjoyed it not long for Oppressing the People to raise the Money he had disbursed they rose in a Tumultuous manner and slew him Anno 1075 and the ensuing Year a Frost continued without Intermission from the 12th of November to the 15th of April so that the Wild Fowl were most destroyed and many Cattle perished for want of Food A Blazing Star soon after appeared whereupon great contentions ensued in Normandy for Robert the Kings Son having Ingratiated himself into the Favour of the People raised great Forces and in a set Battel Wounded his Father in the Arm threw him from his Horse and took it as his Prize gaining an intire Victory in which many of the English Nobles lost their Lives Whereupon the King finding his Army much weakened was constrained to return for England and finding the City of London did not much favour him after this Defeat to lay a curb and awe on them he rebuilt the Tower of London drawing a Ditch about it to the largness as it continues to this day it being before but of inconsiderable Strength viz. Anno Dom. 1078 and so a Peace in a short time being concluded between him and his Son Robert the latter being allowed the nominal Title of Duke of Normandy and entirely to possess it as a Soveraign Prince after his Fathers Death he came into England and was made General against the Scots who breaking the League wasted the Northern Countries as far as the place then called Moonkchester to whom he gave an entire Defeat and in memory of the Victory erected a strong Castle of Stone Naming it New-Castle from which the Town so called on Tine took its Name Not long after this such mighty Rains happened and continued for so long a time that divers Hills were so softened into a Quagmire that they sunk down and overthrew many Cots and some Villages making as it were a Level St. Paul's Church was likewise set on Fire in June following supposed to be done by Lightning and a great part of it consumed but soon Rebuilded by the Liberal Contributions of the Clergy and Laity He held a Synod in London where some Bishopricks were Translated from one place to another as Selwy to Chichester Credington to Exeter Shirbourn to Salisbury Dorchester unto Lincoln and there being a Contention between the two Arch Bishops of Canterbury and York for Primacy he undertook to determine the difference appointing Lanfrank Arch Bishop of Canterbury Primate of all England and Thomas Arch Bishop of York only
the Sword valiantly fighting in the Field than again to be guilty of such Meanness The King who was not unacquainted with his humour rightly guessed at what was intended and therefore followed him with an Army and much Treasure and after many Battels overpowering his small number he was taken brought Prisoner to England and closely confined when endeavouring to make his Escape the King to whome in William Rufus his Reign he had done many good offices ungratfully caused his Eyes to be put out with Burning Glasses yet in this Captivity he lived about the space of 20 Years and then as is said the King sending him a Suit of his Old Cloaths he took the Indignity so impatiently that resolving to live no longer in that Misery and Disgrace some Historians have it that he voluntarily Starved himself others that he Beat out his Braines against the Stones of the Prison-Wall however certain it is that in his confinement Dyed the Valliant well Accomplished and much Lamented Robert Eighth Duke of Normandy a Prince in whom all Heroick Virtues shined The King seeming now to be rid of all his Fears began to consider the Clergy by his concessions were grown exceeding Rich and Ingrossed many Temporalities so that resolving to come in with them for a share of what they had Accumulated by his Bounty he laid Taxes on some and reassumed his power of Creating Bishops which so highly disgusted Arch Bishop Anselm That he not only bitterly inveighed against his Proceedings contrary to his former Promises but absolutely refused to Consecrate such Bishops as the King Appointed However to curry favour with the King Gerald Arch Bishop of York performed that Ceremony and Anselm soon after being Banished fled to Rome and made grievous complaints to Pope Paschal the Second of the wrongs as he pretended that had been done him and upon the Popes Intercession about two Years after he had License to return and at a Synod of the Clergy holden in London by the Popes Authority it was Enacted That from thence forth no Temporal Person should give Investiture to any Bishop by the Cross and Ring yet three Years after Arch Bishop Anselm Dying The Temporalities of the See of Canterbury were Seized into the Kings hands who converted them to his use for the space of five Years the See being so long kept vacant he aledging to the Bishops that sued to him to Nominate an Arch Bishop That he only kept it for a worthy Person that might justly deserve it Anno Dom. 1108 The King erected the Bishoprick of Ely appointing the Diocess to extend through the County of Cambridge and Isle of Ely and Endowed it with some of his own Lands in those parts by which means he made fair weather with the Pope because by this addition he had strengthened his Interest the more in England and the Clergy seemed satisfied in part for their Damages sustained But now a Storm threatned in Normandy for the King having gotten quiet Possession after his Brothers Death Lewis Le Gross King of France fearing a further Incroachment on his Territories if the King of England wanting Interuption had liberty to grow Powerful he procured Foulk Earl of Anjou on a weak pretence to seiz on the Country of Mayne and then animated Baldwin Earl of Flanders to Proclaim War for the King of England's with-houlding a Yearly Pension of 300 Marks which the Conquerer had settled on Baldwin fifth Earl of Flanders and had been pay'd by William Rufus to his Son and Nephew because the Earl had assisted the Conquerer with considerable Forces upon his Invading Elngand All these made strong preparations to Invade Normandy But the News soon roused the King from his Bed of Ease and filled him with Princely Resolutions whereupon he passed the Seas with an Army of Nobles Gentry and common Souldiers when losing no time he set upon the Earl of Anjou and his Associates giving him an entire Overthrow so that he was enforced to save himself by shameful Flight leaving the Prime Nobility and Gentry of his Army dead on the Plaines or Prisoners of War with 4000 of lesser note And near unto the Town of Nice which was Surprized and holden by the King of France he Encountered the other Confederates so that a very cruel Fight beginning between them it continued Nine Hours and was on both sides fought with such Eagerness and Heroick Resolution that tho' the King won the Victory and kept the Field whilst his Parties sent after them had a long chace of the flying Enemy he truly confessed He Fought not then for Victory but for his Life Not long after these Victories Overtures of Peace were made and the King fearing some practices against him in England might raise a Rebellion if he should be long entangled in War Abroad he thâ— more readily harkened to them and a Peace was concluded upon a Marriage between William the Kings Eldest Son and the Daughter of the Duke of Anjou but in their return for England staying somewhat behind the King and to make Merry and take leave of their Friends in their Riotous Treatments the Marriners got such plenty of Wine that being for the most part made Drunk coming with full Sail in hopes to overtake the King they run upon the Shallows where the Ship beating along by the violence of the Wind and Waves Foundered yet the Prince with his fair Bride and many others got into the Long-Boat and put off but Mary Countess of Perch his Sister crying from the Sinking Deck pitiously to him To take her in and not let her Perish in the Waters he Rowed back again thinking to do it but then many Lives being at the point to be lost and in that great Extremity â—very one valuing his own Life equal with his Princes neither Words nor Swords could keep so many from leaping in as sunk the Boat so that they together with Richard the Kings Younger Son Lucia his Neice and her Husband the Earle of Chester were swallowed up by the merciless Waves only three or four Sailors escaping on Planks to Shoar as sad Relators of the Tragical News which filled the Court with Mourning and the whole Nation with an Universal heaviness However the King bore it with Prudence and much Princely Fortitude knowing his Grief could not Retrieve his great loss nor had he any long time after his Landing to weigh the mishap ere Wars loud Alarms summoned him to the Field for in his absence the Welsh impatient of the English Yoak had strengthened themselves in Confedracy with some Irish Adventurers and now broke into open Rebellion not as formerly abiding in the Mountains and Fastnesses but relying on a foolish Prophecy That in that Year they should recover their Antient Territories and have a King of their Nation Reign over the whole Island they boldly advanced and unadvisedly gave him Battel in the Plains where they were Overthrown and most of them Slain or taken Prisoners the King inciting the Sword
Francis Lord Lovel and others were Slain with 4000 Common Soldiers and Symnel taken Prisoner June 16 Anno Dom. 1487. At Mansfield was Born the first Earl Mansfield in Germany now a famous Family in the Empire said to be one of King Arthurs Round Table Knights Blythe is a pleasant Town situate on the River Idle Besides these of Note and Antiquity are Hoverham Retford Worksop and Southwell In this County is the much noted Forrest of Shirwood where Robin Hood held his chief Residence and in it are bred a great many of those Hares called the Laner In this County they digg a soft Stone which Burnt makes a Plaister for Flooring their upper-Rooms which dry'd is harder than Plaister of Paris About Worksop grows store of Liquorice The County contains many Parks full of Deer The Rivers Meers and Ponds are stored with Fish and at the Season there is plenty of Wild-Fowl The Seats of the Nobility are Worksop belonging to the Duke of Norfolk Welbeck Abby and Notingham Castle to the late Earl of Newcastle Holm Pierepont to the Duke of Northumberland Rufford to the Marques of Hallifax Houghton and Chare-House to the Earl of Clare Shelford to the Earl of Chesterfield Bestwood to the Earl of Burford Newsted Abby Bulvel Park and Linby to the Lord Rochdale Averham and Killham to the Lord Lexington besides divers pleasant Seats of the Gentry c. The Reign of King RICHARD the First RICHARD the Eldest Son living of Henry the Second was in Normanay at the time his Father Dyed there and could not come over so soon as was expected by reason that Country remained unsettled by Intestine Wars and some Factions the French had made at a great Expence to keep it so which required necessarily his presence However he sent over speedy orders for the Releasment of Queen Elianor his Mother who had endured a long and hard Imprisonment by the strict command of King Henry who would not forgive her at his Death because she had Poisoned Rosamond his fair and much beloved Concubine and after her Releasment she was by King Richard appointed Regent of England till his Return And then by reason her own Experience had informed her what hardships those endured who Languished under Confinement she caused to be set at Liberty all such as were in Prison for ordinary Offences or small Debts The latter she Paid that the Subjects should be no Loosers by her commiseration and Administred the Government Prudently with much Moderation Integrity and Justice The King at length coming over with a splendid Train of Nobility was received with great Joy of the People and puting an end to the Queen Dowager's Regency was Crowned by Baldwin Arch Bishop of Canterbury and Swore to keep several Articles administered to him by the Nobles to the Ease and great Advantage of his Subjects freeing all that were in Prison for Offences against the Crown and such others as without injustice done to his Subjects he could acquit and in the whole course of his Government so provided that Mercy with Justice might extend to all and finding his Brother John of a Turbulent Spirit he heaped many Honours and Promotions on him thereby to satisfie him and alay his thirst of aspiring viz. He Created him Earl of Lancaster and gave him the Counties of Notingham Devon and Cornwal Married him to the sole Daughter and Heiress of the Earl of Glocester by which means he obtained the Lordship of that County But these great Favours and Donations answered not the Kings expectations for when he had showered on him such Bounties he found him by his practices reaching at the Crown as much relying on a Faction at home and the promises of the French to assist him when need required it It being a Policy of theirs to divert King Richard whom all Historians allow to be a Valiant and Warlike Prince from Warring on France in Reparation of the many Injuries his Subjects in Normandy had Sustained by the Inroads they had frequently made However the King mildly reproving his Brother and shewing him his Ingratitude to nurture such Designs also the Guilt and Danger he would incur he made many Excuses and Protestations he had no such Designs as had been suggested of him and they were both his and the Kings Enemies who had spread those reports to set them at variance These and his renewed Protestations of Loyalty and Obedience resolving to live quiet and contribute all he could to the Advantage of the Commonweal prevailed with the King to accept of his Submission and have a good opinion of his Fidelity and the King as an Expiation for the Offences himself had committed against Henry his Father making a Vow to accompany the other Christian Princes for the Recovery of the Holy Land from the Turks and other Infidels who grievously Oppressed the Asian Christians he the more easily winked at what he had plainly seen so that a Reconcilement being made the Kings thoughts were wholly taken up with his intended Expedition but having Lavished away the vast Treasure his Father left in large Donations he found Money was wanting to furnish him out with such an Army and Equipage as might stand with his Honour He had been Solicited besides his own Inclinations by the Pope to this Undertaking with many promised Blessings as others had been if by their Arms they Regained the Holy City Jerusalem from the Infidels yet to raise Money he refused to Levy any Taxes on his Subjects but Sold his Castles of Barwick and Roxborough to the King of Scots for 10000 Pounds the Lordship and Earldom of Durham to Hugh then Bishop of the See for 16000 Pounds as also Honours Lordships Mannors Priviledges Royalties and Crown-Lands upon other Grants and Tenures to divers of his Subjects for much Money so that having as he supposed a sufficient Treasure he prepared things in a readiness but contrary to his expectation it falling short he borrowed Sums of such as he had formerly Liberally bestowed his Bounties on protesting that for the performing so great and Honourable a service he was not unwilling to Sell his City of London if he could find any body of Ability to Purchase it rather than by Taxes he would Oppress his Subjects In this Undertaking at the Instance and earnest Incitement of the Pope were also Engaged Frederick the Emperer Philip the Second Sirnamed Augustus King of France Leopold Arch Duke of Austria and many other Princes so that a gallant Army was prepared and great store of Treasure With these King Richard entered into an Agreement that their General Rendezvous should be in the Island of Sicily the following Spring and That such Wealth and Booty as God and good Fortune should put into their Possession should be equally divided between them and their Forces and thus every thing being in a readiness King Richard appointed William Langchamp Bishop of Ely Regent in his Absence and soon after the better to Establish the Bishops Authority among the
the main design of his Preparations having private notice that his Brother John was practicing against him and fearing whilst he was warring abroad he might lose his Kingdom at home he resolved to make such Conditions with the Turkish Sultan as might be best for the Settlement and Peace of the Christians in Syria But the crafty Infidel being very sensible of the weak condition the Christian Army was in would not hearken to any other Terms than to have all the Towns that were taken Ptolomais Excepted surrendered and upon that condition they should be suffered to have a quiet Enjoyment of their Effects and to Trade in the Country and so having made this Agreement and Sold the Island of Cyprus for a Sum of Money to Hugh of Lusingham the last Christian King of Jerusalem though at that time but in Name which Title he confered on King Richard and it lasted to many of our Kings afterward who were stiled Kings of Jerusalem he Embarked in divers Vessels with his Queen who had accompanied him in that dangerous Voyage and Sailed for England but the Ship he was in being separated from the rest of the Fleet in a Storm was driven on the Coast of Histria lying between Aquileia and Venice where he was Ship-Wrack'd and saving his Life by Swimming was made Prisoner and presented to the Duke of Austria in whose Territories he Landed but the Queen who was in another Ship and the rest of the Fleet came safe to England The King by misfortune thus made a Prisoner to his Enemy whom he had disgusted by throwing down his Standard as is said was Sold by him for 40000 Pounds to the Emperer Frederick who set his Ransom at 100000 Pounds Fourscore Thousand of which was raised in England but Duke Leopold was constrained to Pay the other Twenty Thousand Pounds before he could be released from the Popes Curse pronounced against him for making a Prince his Prisoner who for the honour of the Christian Name had Warred Victoriously in the Holy Land So that after almost a Years Imprisonment the King was set at Liberty of which Lewis the French King had no sooner notice but be sent John the Kings Brother word The Devil was got loose again However he did not immediately return to England but went to Normandy and with the Terror of his coming frighted the French out of many strong holds they had taken in his absence then raising a puissant Army he entered France wasting all before him with Fire and Sword reducing to his Subjection all such places as had been taken and made the Rebellious Norman Peers who had engaged in the French Faction prostrate themselves before him whose humble Submission he accepted and accordingly Pardoned them on promises of future Obedience and Fidelity Let me now speak of something that happened Remarkable in England during the Kings absence I told you he had left the Bishop of Ely Regent This Man being of mean Parentage his Grandfather a Plowman and himself the Son of a Cowheard soon forgot his Original as such mostly do who are raised from a low Estate to high Promotion and grew so Insolently Proud that he would not Ride abroad without a Guard of 500 Men to attend him his Table was exceeding Expensive on the Publick Cost and his Insolencies over all sorts as well the Clergy as Laiety was so great that he soon procured himself a Universal Hatred yet a while he Proudly spread his Peacocks Train being Served at his Table and every where Waited on by the Sons of Noblemen to whom he gave in Marriage with some Portion and Preferment divers of his Rustick Kindred thinking thereby to strengthen his Interest but this proved to him a broken Reed for finding he was generally hated by the Nobles and Commons to shun the storm that threatened him with some violent End he sewed up many Jewels and some Gold in the Garments of a Pedlar Woman and Disguised in that Habit resolved to leave the Land carrying under his Arm a piece of Country Cloath which he offering to sale at Dover was Discovered and Seized suffering much outrage from the Common People and being sent to London the Lords Committed him to the Tower where he remained till the Kings return who not only released him but restored him to his Bishoprick yet having seen the folly of his Pride he grew more Humble and shortly after Travelling to Rome Dyed by the way unlamented by all that had known his former carriage The Queen-Mother in the Kings absence perceiving her Son John's aspiring who had a hand in bringing the Bishop of Ely into Disgrace and Outing him made a strong Party of her Friends as soon as she heard King Richard was a Prisoner compelling the Nobles and such others as were in Offices and Trusts to Swear to be True to him and Conserve the Realm to his use and behoof and John hearing he was Released and in Normandy hasted to excuse himself submitting to his Grace and Mercy voluntarily surrendering all the Forts and Castles he had Seized into his hands saying What â—e had done he was provoked to do by the Extraordinary Pride and Insolent Behaviour of the Bishop of Ely who unworthily had disordered the Government of the Realm and particularly for the Outrages he had committed on the Person of Jeffery Arch Bishop of York the Kings Brother Yet by the Peers he was Condemned in the Forfeiture of his Goods Estate and Honours but not long after received them again and was restored to the Kings Favour and came with him to England where the King at his Landing was Joyfully received by Hubert Arch Bishop of Canterbury and most of the Nobles causing himself a second time to be Crowned and the Coronation Solemnity was performed at Winchester Then he made a new Broad-Seal by which device he got much Money out of his Subjects who were obliged to have their Patents Royal Grants for Offices and other Evidences new Sealed the former being declared null and void And yet this not sufficing to put the Kingdom in a good Settlement pay his Soldiers Arrears and repay the Money that had been taken upon trust for his Ransom the Treasuries of Religious Houses were ransacked and a Parliament being called he was allowed to reassume into his hands such Mannors Lordships Lands and Offices as had been disposed of at his setting out to the Holy War for Ready Money so that the Purchasers were enforced to content themselves with the Profits they had Received in lieve of the Money they had Paid After this as the King was at Dinner in his Palace of Westminster News came to him that the French had Besieged Nerville in Normandy upon which in a great Passion he Swore He would never turn his back till he had got thither with his Army and to save his Oath a place by order was immediatly broken in the Wall through which he passed the breach heing left open above a hundred Years afterward in Remembrance
compel him to more easie Terms but not to be behind hand with them he passed to Callis with an Army taking the Black Prince along with him and so wasted the Countries with Fire and Sword taking many strong Towns and Castles that they became humble Suitors to him for a Peace and submitted to his Terms so that after a short Treaty Articles were Agreed on viz. That the French King for his Ransom should Pay King Edward 500000l and not Aid any King of Scots in any War or Rebellion against England and That King Edward should not take part with the Flemings against France That the Kings of England should be ever quit of their Homage for Territories holden in France and That in Consideration these were performed King Edward in the behalf of himself and Successors Kings of England should renounce and leave the Name and Title to the Kingdom of France and so Hostages being delivered the French King after he had remained more than Four Years a Prisoner was set at Liberty and soon after he came with the Kings of Cyprus and Scots to visit King Edward and pay his respects for the Royal Treatment he had during his Imprisonment but falling Sick at the Savoy he Dyed and his Body was conveyed to St. Dennis in France And now Fortune seemed to turn against King Edward that had hitherto ever been Favourable to him for Peter the King of Castile being driven out of his Kingdom by Henry his Bastard Brother came to the Prince of Wales who then lived at Burdeaux with his Family Imploring his Assistance to Restore him which he did Overthrowing a Spanish and French Army that had joyned the Revolted Castilians with great Slaughter yet he was no sooner retired ere King Peter was again driven out and being taken in his Flight was by the Usurper put to Death but leaving two Daughters the Eldest Married John of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster and the Younger Thomas of Woodstock King Edwards Sons who laid Claim to the Kingdom of Castile in their Right yet an unlucky Accident crossed all for the Black Prince to Pay his Souldiers Leavying a Tax on the English Subjects beyond the Seas they not only refused to pay it but looking on it to be an Innovation and Oppression they perswaded Charles the new French King to break the League his Father had made and generally Revolting delivered up most of the Cities Towns and Castles into his hands and he growing Proud of his Success sent a huge Navy into the Narrow Seas which was defeated and beaten home by the English and hereupon the King sent the Duke of Lancaster with an Army to Callais from whence he Marched to joyn the Prince at Burdeaux beating the French Kings Army by the way and forced his Passage and soon after another Army was sent to St. Omers under the Leading of Sr. Robert Knowls which took the strong Towns of Vanes and Ruily but there grow-a difference between him and the Lord Fitz-Walter The French King took the advantage of it and fell on the English Army near Paris slaying 1000 and putting the rest to flight and immediatly sent an Army into Cuyan where the Prince being weakly assisted most of the Towns were Lost To Remedy this evil the King called a Parliament wherein the Temporality granted him a large Subsidy but the Clergy complaining of Poverty gave him only fair words and promises of future Aid which made him in his Anger turn them out of all Offices and Places of Trust in Temporal matters And the English Navy going to Relieve Rochel under the Conduct of the Earl of Pembrook was worsted by Henry the Usurping King of Castile who kept the Narrow Seas for the French King the Earl was Taken and divers others whereupon Rochel and many strong Towns Yielded This made John Duke of Britanie fear the French Greatness and offer King Edward his Assistance so that another Army was sent under the Leading of the Duke of Lancaster which greatly Endamaged the French but coming to Burdeaux he found the Prince his Brother exceeding Sick who resigning the Government of King Edwards Territories to his Conduct came for England and tho' Treaties were set on foot by the Mediation of Pope Gregory the Eleventh yet such were the insolent demands of the French that they came to nothing Whereupon the King called a Parliament who refused to Grant him any Aid unless the Lord Latimer and other evil Counsellors were Removed which being done they Liberally supplied his wants But the Black Prince Dying the 8th of June Anno 1376 in the 40th Year of his Age and Buried at Canterbury the King in his Old Age being over perswaded Restored those Officers that had been turned out to the high discontent of his People and having Created Richard Son to the Black Prince Prince of Wales Earl of Chester and Duke of Cornwal and committed the Regency of the Kingdom in his Minority to the Duke of Lancaster He Dyed on the 12th of June Anno 1377 in the 51st Year of his Reign and about the 65th of his Age and lies Buried at Westminster being the One and Thirtieth Sole Monarch of England In this Kings Reign John Wicklif the First English Reformer of Popish Errors and Superstitions Preached openly and soon after Nicholas Lyryan and Doctor Ockham so that People began to Search the Scriptures and protest against the Abominations of Rome Anno 1339 an Inundation of Water broke down part of the Wall of Newcastle and Drowned 120 People a Serpent at Chiping-Norton in Oxfordshire was found with two Heads and Faces like a Woman the one dressed in the New Attire and the other in the Old by a resemblance of Scales and Pleats having Wings like a Batt and Fiends and Devils and strange Apparitions were seen by Men and spake to them as they Travelled in solitary places and such a Plague happened that 50000 Persons Dyed in London Anno 1366 Peter Pence was ordered no more to be paid to the See of Rome and Dr. Orum Preaching before Pope Vrban at Rome condemned the Papacy and writ an Epistle from Lucifer to the Clergy thanking them for sending so many Souls to Hell c. Remarks on Staffordshire c. STaffordshire is commodiously Situate pleasantly accomodated with Meadows Enclosures Hills Valleys Woods and Champian Grounds abounds in Cattle Corn Butter Cheese Wooll and some Minerals It is incompassed with Cheshire Derbyshire Leicestershire Warwickshire and Shropshire It contains 5 Hundreds and in these are 1 City 130 Parishes 12 Market Towns 5 Castles 13 Rivers 19 Bridges 1 Chase 1 Forrest and 38 Parks It sends Members to Parliamenn 10 viz. Litchfield City 2 Newcastle Underline 2 Stafford 2 Tamworth 2 and 2 Knights of the Shire Stafford the County Town Antiently Bitheny from Berteline a Holy Hermit It was Founded by King Edward the Elder and made a Corporation by King John Tamworth is Memorable for the Mercian Kings keeping their Courts there Litchfield is an Episcopal See
Parishes and 8 Market Towns 6 Castles 8 Rivers over which are 15 Bridges 2 Forrests and 10 Parks It sends Members to Parliament 4 viz. Appleby 2 and 2 Knights of the Shire In this County is the famous Forrest of Marlerstrange and the Castle of Howgil It s chief Towns are Appleby Kendale Kirby Burg or Brough under Stainmore This last is undoubtedly the Ruine of an eminent Place antiently called Verterl where a Roman Commander kept his Station with a Band of Directors Amble-side or Amboglana not far from Winander Meer in which a Fish called a Charr is found and in no other Water is the Ruins of some famous City of the Romans which may be gathered from Paved Ways leading to it and the Roman Coins that have been often Digged up there WESTMORLAND COUNTY The Seats of the Nobility are Beltham-Hall belonging to the Earl of Derby Appleby-Castle Brough-Castle and Pendragon-Castle to the Earl of Thanet and some very sightly Houses belonging to the Gentry The Reign of King EDWARD the Fifth KING Edward the Fourth being Dead and leaving the Crown to Edward his Son being about Twelve Years of Age who kept his Court at Ludlow in the Marches of Wales the better to Ingratiate himself with the Welsh and continue them firm to the English Interest That Prince upon notice of his Fathers Death prepared for his Journey to London in order to be Crowned being then under the tuition of Anthony Earl Rivers the Queens Brother but whilst great preparations were making in order to his Reception Richard Duke of Gloucester was contriving how he might defraud his Nephew and place the Crown on his own Head drawing into his Confederacy Edward Duke of Buckingham Richard Lord Hastings and others And having laid the Project in the next place they proceeded to remove all Obstructions and hearing that the Lords of the Queens Blood intended to bring the King up with an Armed Power the Duke of Gloucester wrote dissembling Letters to the Queen putting her in mind of the Friendship the deceased King her Husband had made between those of his own Blood and hers on his Death-bed Intreating her she would not give any cause of distrust in that matter and desired she would Write to the Lords to dismiss those Forces for saving Charges and quieting the Peoples minds who might draw conjectures from it that there was Misunderstandings among the Nobles tending to another Civil War That as for himself he Protested and Swore That his humble Duty to his Soveraign his unfeigned Love to her her Children and Kinsfolks had incited him thus seriously to Counsel and Advise her and them in so weighty a matter as might be for the good of them all with much more to the same purpose which prevailed with her to believe it Sincere that she Writ to her Brother and Son who were principally the Young Kings Conductors to dismiss their Armed Attendants and come to London by easie Journies with a small Number of his select Friends This however they had some scruple to do before Gloucester wrote to them very obliging Letters protesting an Eternal friendship and kindness So in an unlucky hour contrary to the minds of many with them and of the Young King himself the Guards was sent every Man to his Habitation and with a slender Train they kept on their Journey The Duke of Gloucester having gained this main Point delayed not to hasten his meeting the King taking with him the Duke of Buckingham and a strong Guard and by this time the Earl Rivers had brought the King to Stoney-Stratford but because that little Town could not accommodate his Train the Earl took up his Quarters at Northampton about ten Miles from thence where unlooked-for the Dukes of Buckingham and Gloucester came into their Inn and courteously saluted them but the Scene was soon changed for they were no sooner in their Beds but the two Dukes seized on the Keys of the Inn causing the Ways between the two Towns to be stopped and strongly Guarded pretending for excuse that no Man before them should in the Morning pay his humble Duty to the King Earl Rivers having notice of this perceived he was over-reached and insnared by Gloucester's Policy and resolving to make the best of it dissembling his fears came to the two Dukes and demanded in a forced Jocose way Why they had so done But in stead of giving any satisfactory Answer they fell into a needless Quarrel with him and causing him to be Arrested and put under strict Ward hastned early the next Morning to Stoney-Stratford and in a submissive manner presented their humble Duty to the King who received them with much kindness and affection as being ignorant of what had passed But this Scene was likewise changed upon their Arresting the Lord Richard Grey the Kings half Brother and Sir Thomas Vaughan in his presence of which usage when he complained they told him all should be well and what they did was for the best protesting abundance of Love and Loyalty However they sent the Lords and Knights to Pomfret Castle in the North under a strong Guard out of which they came not Alive Then they removed from the King all his Officers and placed Creatures of their own about him giving out that those of the Queens Blood intended to destroy all the Kings nearest Relations and to Rule both Him and the Kingdom at their pleasure The Queen who lay at Westminster hearing this unexpected News greatly grieved that she had been over-reached by Gloucester's cunning to Write to the Lords to dismiss their Strength and fearing the worst retired with her Son Richard Duke of York and her five Daughters into the Sanctuary In the mean while they brought the much discontented King to London where he was received by the Lord Mayor and 500 Citizens in their Formalities In whose presence Gloucester plaid his part so cunningly that not only they but the Nobility were won to believe him sincere and thereupon he was appointed Protector of the Kings Person and Kingdom Which Trust he most passionately desired to further his main Design which now he questioned not to bring about if he could get the Duke of York into his possession and in order to it calling a Council of Nobles and Prelates he laid before them how disgraceful it was that the Queen in her perversness should keep an Innocent Prince in Sanctuary which was looked on as a place suitable to protect the Guilty that it would cause them to be spoke evil of abroad and therefore desired them to advise how they might get him out of her hands to solace and sport in the company of the King his Brother who was Melancholy for his absence and passionately desired to see him This and much more to the same effect made them think the Dukes words Reasonable and thereupon agree to send such as had greatest Interest with the Queen to perswade her to deliver him of whom the Arch Bishop of Canterbury was
to be Spokesman who laid many Reasons before her of the Necessity at that juncture which required her consent But with Sighs and Tears she Replied That the Duke being Sickly and Weak none was more fit than his own Mother to look to him that Brothers when together rarely so well agreed as with those that were not so near a kin But the main is said she my Lord it is dangerous that these Princes as Affairs stand should be together since asunder they are each others safety And if the one of them do well the other cannot be in Peril or Danger and there is nothing more hazardous than to keep them in one place since the Life of the one separate is maintained in the Body of the other But for all these Reasons perceiving he would be forced from her if she consented not willingly to deliver him after many tender Kisses and falling Tears praying Almighty God to preserve and defend him from all dangers she delivered him bitterly Weeping to the Arch Bishop saying That before the High Majesty of Heaven she should require that poor Innocent Infant at his Hands The Protector who with many Nobles waited in the Star-Chamber was over-joyed when he saw the Arch-Bishop return with what he so passionately desired and taking the Young Duke in his Arms he kissed him and said Welcom my Lord with all my Heart Protesting so great a love to him that most believed it real Thus having gotten the Prize he aimed at the better to secure it he conveyed both him and the King in great State through the City of London to the Tower in order as he pretended to the Coronation when things were setled tho' indeed there was nothing out of frame but what himself had disordered where having placed them under such as he confided in he began more openly to tamper with the Duke of Buckingham whom he knew was Popular and Powerful offering to Marry his Son to his Daughter and give him the Earldom of Hartford which the Duke claimed in King Edward's time as his Right but could not obtain if he would to the utmost endeavour to place the Crown on his Head and by this means he won him entirely to his Interest tho' it afterward proved to his destruction For Gloucester being made King performed nothing of his promise The next thing he had to do was to gaine the Lord Hastings who had been in high favour with Edward the Fourth and was now Lord Chamberlain to the Young King but fearing to disclose his mind openly to him for great Rewards he procured one Catesby a Favourite of Hastings secretly with dark discourse to sound him This Man tho' he had been maintained by that Lord and had his Fortunes raised to what he was by him proved so Treacherous that having done what he could and finding that Lord no ways inclinable to favour Gloucester's design he not only told him of it but encouraged him to remove him out of the World if he intended to compass his desires Which being Resolved on he called a Grand Council of Lords at the Tower to consider of suitable preparations for the Coronation and when they had sat a considerable time he came in and took his Chair Jesting with some of them after he had excused his too long stay requesting of Doctor Morton Bishop of Ely some Strawberries that grew in his Garden at Holbourn which he immediatly sent for and took it as a favour that the Protector was so kind to him as to put it in his power to oblige him in any thing for there had been formerly no good understanding between them Then making excuse for a short Absence he desired them to proceed in the method proposed when about an hour after coming in he took his Chair frowning biting his â—ip and rubbing his Fist which tokens oâ— displeasure strangely amazed them so that they kept a profound silence which the Protector perceiving demanded what punishment they deserved who had wickedly procured his destruction he being Unkle and Protector of the King This amused them more than before but knowing themselves Innocent of any such intention the Lord Hastings who by reason of the antient Friendship that had been between them thinking he might make bold Replied My Lord such as have so transgressed deserve the severest Punishment the Law can inflict To which the other Lords Assented Then said he that Sorceress meaning the Queen and Shoars Wife having Conspired by Witchcraft to destroy me So drawing up his Sleeve he shewed his Arm which had been wasted from his Infancy as they all knew as a Testimony of what he had said biding them behold how their Charms had begun already to take effect on him Hereupon the Lord Hastings who had taken Jane Shoar to his Bed upon the Death of King Edward thinking to excuse her said My Lord if they have done so they deserve punishment Thou Traytor Replyed the Protector Servest thou me with Iffs and And 's I tell thee they have done it and that I will make good upon thy Body And so striking his Fist upon the Table the Room was presently filled with Armed Men one of which struck at the Lord Standley and as nimble as he was to sink under the Table grievously Wounded him in the Head and himself Arrested the Lord Hastings biding him make hast to shrive himself For by St. Paul which was his usual Oath he would neither Eat nor Drink till his Head was off And accordingly he was Beheaded on a Log on the Green within the Tower and the same day by the Protectors order the Lords and Sir Thomas Vaughan were Beheaded at Pomfret to whose Death this Lord had consented as appears by his own Story to one Hastings a Priest whom he met on Tower-Hill as he was going to the Council viz. That he should soon hear that Snare they had laid for him in Edward the Fourths time which caused him much trouble would now take themselves One thing more is remarkable The Lord Stanley the Night preceding Dreamed That he and Hastings were Wounded by a Boar that the Blood run about his Ears and seeing the Protector had the White Boar for his Cognizance he truly Interpreted it desiring he would accompany him in Flying ere they could be missed out of his reach but he made slight of it desiring the Messenger to tell his Lord That Dreams were Fables and Fancies yet at his Death he repented he had not taken this warning as sent from Heaven The Protector having Imprisoned the Lord Stanley Arch-Bishop of York Cardinal Bishop of Ely and several others put himself and the Duke of Buckingham into old Armour as if first come to hand in some great danger and sending for the Lord Mayor and many of the chief Citizens movingly told them That himself and the Duke of Buckingham were by Conspiracy of Hastings and his Accomplices to have been Murthered at the Council Table had he not by force prevented it desiring them
to make that report to their Neighbours and that this was all that had occasioned the Disturbance and Execution in the Tower Nor had Hastings been dead above two Hours ere a large Proclamation with the Broad Seal to it was read in divers parts of the City by a Herauld at Arms so that it was plain to the People that this matter was not suddain but premeditated These Advances coming near the Throne the Citizens were Assembled at Guild-Hall and the matter openly proposed to them by the Duke of Buckingham who used many Arguments to induce their consent to the Proclaiming Richard Duke of Gloucester King and lay aside King Edwards Line but they appeared little inclinable to it However Dr. Shaw Brother to the Lord Mayor in a Sermon at St. Paul's Magnified him as a Prince of the greatest Magnanimity and Virtue imaginable labouring to Bastardize Edward the Fourth and all the other Sons of Richard Duke of York except this Richard who he said was his own Picture and the true imitator of his Valour and Virtues Which was taken for such a piece of Dissimulation and Flattery that he being afterwards very evilly spoken of he was ashamed ever after to appear in a Pulpit This weighty matter being now brought to a home push the Duke of Buckingham to finish the work he had begun carried divers Citizens of the meaner sort to Baynards Castle where the Protector kept his Court where he made them seem to impose the Crown on him with threats if he refused it to place it on the Head of some Nobleman not of the Family of the Plantagenets for they would not have any of Edward the Fourth's Line to Rule over them This and much more to the like purpose the Duke spoke for them which with a faint shout of God save King Richard made him with great unwillingness as appeared to them accept what he had so hard laboured for and passionately desired And thus an end was put to Edward the Fifth's Reign if I may so terme it two Months and thirteen Days after his Fathers Death and was afterward together with his Brother Murthered in the Tower as will appear in the next Reign The Reign of King RICHARD the Third RIchard Plantagenet Third Son to Richard Duke of York having by Pollicy and Stratagem crouded himself into the Throne he called a Parliament wherein by the power of a leading Faction he was confirmed King The Crown Entailed on him and his Heirs his only Son Prince Edward being made Heir apparent But against his Coronation fearing some Insurrection on the meeting of so great a concourse as that solemnity required he sent for 5000 Soldiers out of the North under the Leading of Robert Risdale and after it he set at Liberty the Arch-Bishop of York and the Lord Stanley but continued Bishop Morton yet at the humble supplication of the University of Oxford he was delivered to the Duke of Buckingham who sent him to his Castle of Brecnock in Wales as a Prisoner at large for he had his Liberty of the Parks and Grounds lying about it King Richard knowing his Title to be bad laboured by Favours and Interest to strengthen it He Created his Son about Ten Years of Age Prince of Wales and John Howard a Man of great Experience in feats of Arms Duke of Norfolk and Sir Thomas Howard his Eldest Son Earl of Surry The Lord William Barkley was Advanced to the Earldom of Notingham and Francis Lord Lovel his great Crony and Favourite was made Viscount Lovel And thus as he immagined having settled his Estate securely at Home he sent Ambassadors to Lewis the French King to conclude a Peace with him thereby to prevent Storms from Abroad But that Prince so far detested his proceedings with his Nephews That he would not admit his Ambassadors to his Presence nor own him for a King This much perplexed him and as is thought put him upon the Project of Murthering the Young Innocent Princes as supposing by what had passed at the French Court he could never be Reputed and truly Honoured as a King whilst they Lived and that their Murther might not be imputed to him he purposely took a Progress to visit the City of Gloucester from whence he sometimes took his Title and from thence sent his Letters to Sir Robert Brakenbury Lieutenant of the Tower whom he had raised from a Low Degree to a considerable Fortune expressly Commanding him to make away the two Princes But either fear of after-claps or his abhorrence of so villanous a Deed made him absolutely refuse it Upon notice whereof Richard stormed and appeared much perplexed in Mind retiring himself for some Hours to consider how it might be done and then remembering there was one Sir James Terril a retainer to the Tower whom he knew to be very Indigent and Necessitous this Man he doubted not to prevail on for the Execution of his wicked purpose and therefore sent him a supply of Money with large promises of preferment if he Executed his pleasure and withal his Commands to the Lieutenant to deliver him the Keys of the Tower This wicked wretch not weighing the Guilt closed with the Golden offers and had the Keys delivered to him tho' not without regret by Sir Robert Brakenbury and the same Evening he hired two desperate Ruffians viz. John Dighton and Miles Forrest to Smother the Princes in their Beds which they as wickedly performed by claping Pillows on their Faces and lying on them with all their force till by their no longer strugling they found they had bereaved them of Life This cruel Murther being committed the next thing was to consider how to dispose of their Bodies which after some consults about it they Buried under the Stairs from whence they were removed and Buried none knows where Thus King Edward the Fourth's Male Issue became extinct which some looked on as a Judgment for his consenting to the Murther of Pious King Henry and Innocent Prince Edward his Son However it alleviates not the Guilt of those that dipt their hands in this Blood for all that were concerned in it came to untimely ends so just and severe is God in punishing Murther even in this Life for rarely wee find his vengance stays till the shedders of Innocent Blood drop into a timely Grave This being rumoured abroad tho' many things were urged by his creatures to excuse the Kings knowledge of it and Terril was secretly commanded to fly beyond the Seas But in Henry the Seventh's time returning was Executed for Treason yet the People as well Nobles as Commons detested him for it The Queen grew Frantick for some time and much ado they had to prevent her laying violent hands on herself but being brought to her Sences with Tears and bitter Excecrations against her wicked Brother-in-Law she passed a Melancholy Life for many Months King Richard after this was troubled with fears and frightful Dreams of Devils and Spirits haling and tormenting him that he is
into three Ranks 1. Poor by Impotency 2. The Poor by Casualty 3. The Thriftless Poor And soon after this the King fell Sick of a Languishing Disease which began with a Hectick Feaver and by degrees inclined to a Consumption When Northumberland who had gotten the power into his hands was Plotting how if the King Dyed he might get the Crown into his Family and at last concluded to lay his Project with the Duke of Suffolk which was That his Youngest Son Dudley Lord Gilford should Marry the Duke of Suffolk's Eldest Daughter the Lady Jane who was of the Blood Royal and that they would prevail with the King to Disinherit his two Sisters and by his Will appoint her Queen if the Dutchess of Suffolk would be so contented whose Right was before her Daughter And indeed this Northumberland prevailed with the Languishing King to do under a specious pretence of securing the Reformed Religion on which to serve his ends he laid a mighty stress tho' himself was not much concern'd for any as will appear in the next Reign Upon this account divers Marriages were contracted and the Nuptials celebrated viz. The Pious and Virtuous Lady Jane Eldest Daughter to the Duke of Suffolk in a fatal hour was Married to the Lord Guilford Dudley Fourth Son to the Earl of Northumberland for all his other Sons were Matched before Catharine another Daughter of the Earl of Suffolk's was Married to the Earl of Pembrooks eldest Son and Mary a third Daughter some what deformed to Caies the Kings Master Porter and the Duke of Northumberland gave Catharine his youngest Daughter to the Lord Hastings Son to the Earl of Huntington Whilst these things were doing the Kings Sickness much encreased for Northumberland had displaced his Physitians and put him into the hands of a Woman to cure who it is thought hastened him to his Grave for no sooner had they procured him by his Will which was read in the hearing of the Counselors Judges c. And confirmed by their Assents to Disinherit Mary and Elizabeth his Sisters whose Interest as Northumberland said was so closely Joyned that if the Crown fell to either of them it must first come to the Lady Mary who was a professed Papist and not by any entreaties to be brought over to the Reformed Religion and by his said Will to appoint the Lady Jane his Successor but plain Symptoms of Death appeared And not above Three Hours before he Dyed thinking no body had been near he thus Piously Prayed Lord God deliver me out of this Miserable and Wretched Life Take me amongst thy Chosen howbeit not my will but thy will be done Lord I Commit my Spirit to Thee O Lord thou knowest how Happy it were for me to be with thee yet for thy Chosens sake if it be thy will send me Life and Health that I may truly Serve thee O my Lord Bless thy People and save thine Inheritance O Lord God save thy Chosen People of England O my Lord God defend this Realm from Popery and maintain thy True Religion that I and my People may Praise thy Holy Name Amen About three hours afterward he said I faint Lord have mercy upon me and receive my Spirit and so yielded up the Ghost The Conjectures how this Sickness came upon the King were various among the People some that it was caused by his smelling to an Impoisoned Nosegay presented him for a New-Years-Gift others That Northumberland's Woman purposely destroyed him and such indeed was then that Dukes power that though the King's Physitians shook their Heads as much grieved yet they durst not utter their Minds He was a Prince exceeding Pious and Learned to a Miracle considering his Years in Latin Greek French Italian Spanish Musick Logick c. He Dyed the 6th of July Anno Dom. 1553 in the 7th Year of his Reign and the 16th of his Age having Reigned 6 Years 5 Months and 8 Days and was Buried without any great Solemnity at Westminster In this Kings Reign one George Paris a German was Burnt in Smithfield for Arianisme in denying the Divinity of our Saviour Three Whales and divers Dolphins were taken in the Thames and on the Coast A Woman at Middleton near Oxford brought forth a Monstrous Child with two Heads and two Bodies joyned together of the Female Sex and all other Members proportionable the Bodies being as it were Head and Tail one Head at one end and the other at t'other it Lived 14 Days and was killed at last by Cold in being too often exposed naked to satisfy Peoples curiosity A great blow of Gunpowder was given in a House near the Tower which killed Fifteen Gunpowder-Makers shattered divers Houses and wounded many Persons in them Remarks on the Principallity of Wales THE Principallity of Wales does strictly contain but Twelve Counties and is commonly Divided into North-Wales and South-Wales North-Wales Contains Flimshire Merionethshire Anglesey Montgomeryshire Carnarvanshire Denbeighshire South-Wales Contains Cardiganshire Glamorganshire Pembrookshire Brecknockshire Caermarthenshire Radnorshire Of each of which I shall give you a brief Account Alphabetically 1. ANGLESETY Island called Mam Cimbiae or The Mother of Wales for its Fertility Rich Pastures breeding store of Cattle c. It is divided from Carnarvanshire by the Water or River Mennay the rest incompassed with the Irish Sea It contains 6 Hundreds 74 Parishes 2 Market Towns 4 Rivers 8 Bridges and 2 Chases It sends Members to Parliament 2 viz. Beaumaris 1 and a Knight of the Shire This Town was Built by King Edward the First and stands advantageous for a Passage to Ireland Newborough is a place of Antiquity and once a Court of the British Princes The chief Rivers are Llinnon Guynt Keveny Alow and Brant THE PRINCIPALITY OF WALES By John Seller 3. CARDIGANSHIRE lies on its West part commodious to the Irish Sea and the rest Bounded by Caermardenshire Pembrookshire Brecknockshire Radnorshire Montgomery and Monmouthshire It is very Hilly tho' well Watered with Rivers and has in divers places large Mears and Pools It containes 5 Hundreds 64 Parishes 4 Market Towns and has a Bishop belonging to it It s principal River is Tivy which Waters its South Borders and branches into the County and in it are 13 Bridges and 1 Park It sends Members to Parliament 2 viz. Cardegan 1 and 1 Knight of the Shire Cardigan the Shire Town was Walled about and Fortified with a Castle by Gilbert D' Clare who was Lord of the whole County by the Gift of King Henry the First 4. CARNARVANSHIRE has in it divers Meers and Pools some branching Rivers and a sprinkling of Hills It affords some Corn store of Pasture and a considerable quantity of Cattle It is Bounded on the West by the Irish Sea and the Isle of Anglesey and the South has the Sea flowing to it as likewise the North so that what remaines to the Land-ward is Bounded by Denbighshire and Merionethshire It contains 7 Hundreds 68 Parishes 6 Market Towns 17 Rivers
Popish Priest and by their Declaration Invited all the Roman Catholicks to joyn them and at Durham Toâ—e in pieces all the English Bibles and Common Prayer Books they could find in the Churches but being Proclâ—imed Traytors upon the approach of the Queens Forces they Fled with a small company into Scotland from whence the Earl of Westmoreland fled into the Low Countries and there Lived in a poor condition till he Dyed and divers being taken were Executed Soon after this a Rebellion broke forth in Cumberland but the Rebells were routed and dispersed by the Lord Hunsâ—on and another in Ireland but quieted by the Lord Deputy And one Felton by the Popes Command fâ—stned in the Night time a Bull Declaratory to the Bishop of Londons Palace Gate wherein he Absolved all the Queens Subjects from their Oath of Allegiance but Felton being taken Confessing Justifying the Fact he was Condemned and Executed near the place where he fixed the Bull it being at that time hung about his Neck And the Duke of Norfolk having been Imprisoned for designing a Marriage with the Que n of Scots and endeavouring her Escape upon his humble Submission and a Writing â—igned wherein he promised never to think of the Marriage or any thing derogatory to Queen Elizabeth's Authority he was discharged And a great many of the English for sundry crimes being fled into Scotland upon refusal of delivering them up the Earl of Sussex and the Lord Scroop entered that Kingdom with an Army and compelled the Scots of the Queens party to abstain from Hostility and utterly forsake the English Rebells And a Rebellion being raised in Ireland by the Earl of Thumond and his adherents the Earl fled into France for fear of being delivered to the Lord Deputy by his Friends but upon his humble submission was restored to his Estate and Dignity and the Duke of Norfolk being again Imprisoned was brought to his Tryal for High Treason and was thereupon Condemned and lost his Head and soon after Dr. John Storey a great Persecutor in Queen Mary's Reign who was decoyed on Board an English Ship under pretence of seazing Prohibited Goods as being made the Duke of Alva's chief Searcher being Tryed for Treason was found Guilty and Executed at Tyburn And Matthew Stewart Earl of Lenox the Young King of Scotland's Grand-Father and Regent of Scotland being surprized by the contrary Faction was Murthered and the Earl of Marr chosen Regent who Dyed within 13 Months after And divers about this time suffered for conspiring the Queens Death And a League was concluded with France and soon after at the celebration of the Marriage between the King of Navar and the Lady Margaret the French Kings Sister happened the cruel Massacre at Paris and by the French King's command the Protestants were Massacred in all the Provinces of that Kingdom to the Number of 300000 among them fell the Admiral Chastillion and divers other Nobles yet God delay'd not to Revenge their Innocent Blood for the King Dyed a while after with Blood issuing from all his Vents The Duke of Guise who had contrived at one blow to cut off all the Protestants in France was Murthered in his Palace by the Succeeding King's command and most of the rest that had contrived this Tragedy came to untimely Ends. The Earl of Northumberland who since his Rebellion had sheltered in Scotland was by the Earl of Morton delivered to the Lord Hunsdon for a Sum of Money and soon after Beheaded at York And Walter Devereux Earl of Essex whom the Queen held in high favour being sent with Forces into Ireland to depress the Rebellion and being envied by some Great Men at Court in his Absence they made Parties against him Charging many Miscarriages in his Conduct so that the Queen was constrained to call him home with a command to resign up his Authority in Vlster but the Earl of Leicester being Jealous of his presence at Court as imagining he was not indifferent to the Queen soon procured him to be sent back again with the empty Title of Marshal of Ireland which he took so much to Heart that in a short time he Dyed The Prince of Orange Heading the Flemings and they supplicating the Queen for Aid after mature deliberation with her Council and the States of the Low Countries putting Cautionary Towns into her Hands for Security she sent over Forces and permitted as many Voluntiers as would to go and Casimire Son to the Elector Palatine at the Queens charge brought in a considerable Number of Horse and Foot These Forces were unexpectedly Attacked by Don John of Austria and the Prince of Parma with a Numerous Army of the Spaniards best Forces but so fiercely Encountered that after an obstinate Fight they were forced to retreat leaving some Thousands Slain which Victory was attributed to the Valour of the English and Scots The Duke of Alanzon the French Kings Younger Brother now made earnest Suit to the Queen and tho' by the means of one Simier a French Courtier he so far insinuated into the Queens favour as to be admitted to come over Incognito and hold a private Conference with her yet by reason of his Youth and some other Obstacles this Treaty of Marriage as well as the rest had done came to nothing yet the Earl of Leicester for enveighing against it so far as to reflect on the Queen was for a time confined to Greenwich-Castle and the Queen being on the Thames in her Barge a young Fellow fired a Piece which Shot one of the Rowers through the Arm for which being Sentenced to be Hanged the Queen then understanding it was done Accidentally and not out of any Design against her Pardoned him And the Queen having procured of the Grand Signior a liberty of free Trade in all his Dominions a Company of Turkey Merchants was first set up The Pope having bestowed Ireland on the King of Spain a Rebellion was raised there but the Lord Grey being made Deputy the Irish Spanish and Itallians were totally routed and put to the Sword Captain Francis Drake a Native of Plymouth in Devonshire adventuring to America with a few Ships Discovered divers Coasts before unknown and is reputed to Sail about the World because he shot the Gulf of Magelan returning brought home great Riches and after being Knighted he made several advantagious Voyages with greater Force and became such a Terror to the Spaniards in those parts that they started to hear him Named Also Hawkins Forbusher and others pursuing that Voyage not only greatly endamaged the Spaniard but greatly enriched England with Gold and Silver so that the Queen having called in the bad Money the Land soon abounded with plenty of her own Coin The Earl of Desmond being routed in Ireland was after a great Search made for him found and slain by a common Soldier which gave much quiet to that Kingdom And now the Papists using secret Practices against the Queen among other Expedients to prevent the
King from medling in the Affairs of the Palatinate and the design of this Marriage was his chief aime to restore it whereupon he gave orders to the Earl of Bristol his Ambassador positively to declare to the King of Spain That unless that was restored to the Elector the Treaty should proceed no further and that being refused the Prince grew cold in his Love and so all was dashed upon his thoughts with a Match with the Youngest Daughter of Henry the Fourth of France whom he had seen in his passage that way to Spain and to whom after his Fathers death he was Married Upon this the King called another Parliament and missing the Duke of Richmond his old Friend and sending to his Lodging he was found dead in his Bed without any Wound or sign of force upon him which put the King into such grief and consternation that he would not go to the House in his Robes and so put them off for some Days longer This Parliament greatly inveighed against the Duke of Buckingham for perswading the Prince to take such a hazardous Journey out of the Land and advised the King since so many Delays and Tricks had been put upon the Honour of the Nation to break the Treaty with Spain protesting to assist him for the regaining the Palatinate with their Lives and Fortunes c. They insisting on a Religious War that might be Aiding to the afflicted Protestants in Germany and France but the King however seemed more to encline to Peace as appeared by his Letters and Speeches on this occasion for fearing that when the War was begun he should not find wherewithal to maintain it and therefore thanking them for their proffers and advice he told them he would consider better of it however the Treaty with Spain was utterly dissolved This and some forwardness for War so fretted the Spanish Ambassador that whether out of Truth and Knowledge as he pretended or Malice only cannot be determined he sent to the King to let him know that Buckingham had some dangerous Design against him tending to his destruction and that it would be the safest to confine him to some Country-House for his Life however tho' it was generally thought to proceed from spight because the Duke set himself against the Spanish Interest it put the King into such fears being now grown Old that all the Duke's protestations could not a long time remove them nor till the Duke's Friends gave upon Oath their knowledge of the Duke 's sincere intentions and that this was contrived with the Ambassador by the Advice of a Jesuite and this Parliament the Earl of Middlesex by Buckingham's procurement was Questioned but there came no great matter of it for the Parliament knowing it was done by the Duke's means upon his Questioning for the Money excessively spent in Spain they had no great mind to back him in it Whilst these things passed a melancholy Account came from the East-Indies where the English had five several Factories two at Hitto and Lerico and two at Latro and Cambello in the Island of Seran but the Principal of them was at Amboyna which is the chief Place in all the East-Indies where Nutmegs Mace Cinnamon Cloves and other Spices grow and from these Factories the English supplied not only England and all Europe with Spice but Persia Japan and other Countries in the East-Indies This made the Dutch to Envy the English and therefore resolved to dispossess them of the Spice-Trade which is the best in all the East-Indies The English in all these Islands were better beloved than the Dutch and had built a Fortress in Amboyna for the safety of their Trade but the Dutch having two hundred Soldiers on that Island forced this Fortress from the English and then pretending a Plot between the English and the Natives of Amboyna for the Recovering of the said Fort from the Dutch to the English the Dutch by horrid Torments burning them under the Soles of their Feet and under their Armpits and pouring Water down their Throats when stretched on a Rack till they were ready to burst and by other barbarous ways Massacred the English there and seized upon the English Factories to the value of Four Hundred Thousand Pounds making the rest of the English that had escaped their Massacre Slaves and sent them into other Islands which the Dutch had possessed themselves of This was in the Year 1622 when but three Years before the Dutch had concluded a Treaty of Trade between the English and Dutch in the East-Indies This News extreamly troubled the East-India Company who humbly petitioned the King to demand satisfaction of the States General But the King cared not for War and tho' the Dutch refused to make any satisfaction for this Unheard-of Villany the King only told the Dutch Ambassador That he never heard nor read of a more Cruel and Impious Act than that of Amboyna yet said he I do forgive them and I hope God will but my Sons Son shall revenge this Blood and punish this horrid Massacre And so left the Dutch in the quiet Possession of what they had so basely gotten from the English without offering to draw his Sword against them Which perhaps occasion'd his being pictur'd with his Sword in his Scabbard and two Men pulling at it but could not get it out And now the King having permitted the Count Mansfield General for the Elector Palatine to raise some Forces here he soon after fell sick of a Tertian Fever a little before his Death he called for the Prince and rowsed himself as desirous to speak to him but being too weak sunk down in his Bed again and Dyed at Theobalds on the 27th of March 1625. when he had Reigned over all Britain 22 Years and three Days being the Twenty Third of his Reign and Fifty Ninth of his Age. He was buried at Westminster He was of a Stature inclining to tallness being somewhat higher than Ordinary his Body very well compacted his Hair of an Aubourn Colour and of a Pleasing Countenance and towards his latter End somewhat fat and burly He had the repute of a Wise Prince but his Reign did not shew it He indeed Writ several Books against the Jesuite's King-Killing Doctrin but that shewed his Fear more than his Learning and that he was therein acted by a Principle of Self-Preservation For the Gunpowder-Plot in England and the Assassination of Henry the Fourth by Ravilliac in France were enough to make him afraid of the Jesuites He was wholly ruled in all things by his Favourites to whom he was excessively bountiful and thereby squandered away the Treasure of the Nation At his coming to the Crown he found the Exchequer Rich but at his Death which was a great Unhappiness to his Son he left it very poor and well he might giving so profusely as he did to his Flatterers and Favorites It is reported of him That having given Sir Robert Carr Twenty Thousand Pounds the Lord Treasurer
King and Parliament in England continuing to increase many that feared the sad Events left the Land others retired to lead private Lives Mary the King 's Eldest Daughter being Married to the Prince of Orange by Approbation of Parliament the Queen went over with her and the King caused all Popish Priests to be banish'd the Kingdom and the Penal Statutes to be put in Execution against Papists Yet the Parliament proceeded to Tax the King about harkning to the Change of Religion and that he had given cause to the Rebellion in Ireland casting many Reflections on the Queen which constrained him to publish his Declaration to wipe off these Imputations but this doing little good he retired with Prince Charles his Son the Palsgrave of the Rhine the Duke of Richmond and others to York Summoning the Nobles Knights of the Garter and all such as held Tenure of the Crown by Lands or Service But the Parliament strictly forbid it Yet many went and among them several Members of Parliament The King seeing no good by fair means to be done he Commanded all the Yorkshire Men to meet him at Howard-Moor near York where there appeared about 60000 and with about 20000 he returned to York Commanding the rest to return to their Respective Homes In the mean while the Parliament was borrowing Money of the Londoners on the Publick Faith and raising 10000 Foot and 2000 Horse they sent them towards York of which the King had no sooner Notice but with a slender Force he repaired to Hull and demanded enterance but Sir John Hotham the Governour appearing on the Walls fell on his Knees and entreated his Majesty not to desire that of him which he could not Grant by reason of the Trust imposed in him by the Parliament whereupon he was proclaimed Traytor and the King sent to the Parliament to complain of this Affront and require a Treaty tending to a Reconciliation promising to repair to them if they would leave London and make choice of some other fitting place but they refused it Whereupon he Proclaimed all those Guilty of Treason that assisted them either with Money or Supplies and threatned to deprive the Londoners of their Charter if they offended herein Then he Fortified Newark and Barwick and sought to gain Hull by Force but failed in the Attempt And the Parliament having proclaimed the Earl of Essex their General the King repaired to Notingham and there set up his Standard and gathered a considerable Army so that now to the great Trouble of most People War was prepared for on both sides with much Vigor and Resolution in which many Gallant Men lost their Lives And Prince Charles seeing his Father's Affairs in a desperate Condition Sailed for the Scillys from whence he was Invited by the Parliament to return for London but not thinking it safe he went to the Hague and continued with his Sister the Princess of Orange till he heard the sad News of his Father's Death In the mean while Prince Rupert and Prince Maurice the King's Nephews Sons to his Sister the Queen of Bohemia came over and were Graced with Commands in the Army After several Skirmishes and the taking some Towns on both sides the two Armies drew near each other and the King perceiving himself Strong upon the Earl of Worcester's coming in with a considerable Force of Welch resolved to out-march Essex and reach London and to that end got a days March before him but Scorning to be pursu'd by a Subject he changed his Measures Faced about and both Parties Facing between Keinton and Edge-hill in Warwickshire on the 23d of Octob. 1642 a sharp Battel was Fought between them in which on both sides were slain between 5 and 6000 Men and the Slaughter had been much greater had not Night come on and parted them After this the King took in the Town and Castle of Banbury and some other places The Parliament to strengthen their Army Voted That all Apprentices that would List should be Free from their Masters and afterward received into Service again whereupon they gained considerable Recruits Then solemnly invited the Scots to their Assistance which the King by his Letters to the Privy-Council of Scotland laboured to prevent but in vain Yet several of the Lords and Commons presented a Petition to him at Cole-brook and had answer He would expect them at Windsor Castle and desired them to hasten the Treaty But this they did to gain time till Essex was Recruited which made the King hasten to Secure Brainford where happened a sharp Encounter tho' at last he forced his way but upon Essex's hastening with his Regular Forces and the London-Militia he retired for fear of being hemmed in to Oxford and because this happened in a time of Treaty the Parliament Voted to have no Accommodation yet after allowed it if he would leave his Army and come to them But this was Rejected and the War waxed fierce so that with various Success Towns were taken and Parties routed on both sides by turns whilst the Counties of Norfolk Suffolk Essex Hartford Cambridge Isle of Ely and the City of Norwich were Authorized by the Parliament to Associate under the Lord Gray of Wark And the Queen arriving with Officers Ammunition and Money from Holland was received at York by the Earls of New castle and Cumberland And these Disturbances at Home gave the Irish an Opportunity to Rebel again at the Instigation of the Pope who to that Purpose sent two Letters one to Owen O Neal and the other to all the Arch-bishops Bishops Nobles and People of the Kingdom Commanding those who had already appeared in the Quarrel and Exhorting others to take Arms wickedly approving the Massacre and bestowing on them his Benediction with plenary Pardons and Absolutions for whatever they should act so that much Blood was again shed which caused by the Mediation of those that were Peaceably inclin'd several new Treaties to be set on Foot between the King and Parliament but they came to nothing being still crossed by those that hoped for Advantages by the Distractions of the times And the Lord Brook besieging Litchfield-Close was there Slain but his Soldiers took it and the Earl of Chester Prisoner And now they proceeded to draw up Articles of high Treason against the Queen some of which were That she pawned the Crown-Jewels in Holland That she endeavoured to raise a Party in Scotland against the Parliament and that she was in the Head of a Popish Army in England This was carried to the Lords by Pym who seemed at first to be Surprized but after agreed to it About this time Robert Yeomans and George Boucher were Hang'd at Bristol on pretence they designed to betray the City to the King and on the like pretence Mr. Tomkins and Mr. Challonor were Executed on the Account of London And during these Heats Arch-bishop Laud was Attainted of High-Treason and lost his Head And the Queen meeting the King at Edge-hill went with him to
strong into the Bay after the Fight was over veer'd suddenly about to the West and brought out all our Ships safe to Seâ— This News was so grateful to Oliver that he sent Blake a Jewel of 500 l. with Gratuities to the rest of the Officers After this Cromwel called another Parliament which would fain have had him taken the Title of King upon him but he declining it he was by the Parliament solemnly invested in th Protectorial Dignity in Westminster-Hall But the Royalists yet gave him some farther Disturbance by their Endeavours to restore the King tho' they were unhappily betray'd and several of them Executed among whom were Sir Henry Slingsby and Dr. Hewet with several others of less Note In pursuance of the Peace formerly concluded with France the English and French Forces laid Siege to Dunkirk which the Spaniards endeavouring to relieve were totally routed and Dunkirk soon after taken and put into the possession of the English And now on the fatal third of September in the Year 1658. Oliver Cromwel Dyed in the Sixty-third Year of his Age and the Fifth of his Protector-ship He was Born in Huntington and was the Son of a second Brother of Sir Oliver Cromwel of Huntington-shire his Mother was the Daughter of Sir Richard Stewart of the Isle of Ely and his Wife was Elizabeth the Daughter of Sir James Bourchier By whom he had Issue three Sons of which one Died â—oung and four Daughters By his Reputation in Arms he was Courted or Feared by most of the Princes of Europe he was a Man of singular Courage and Resolution attended with very great Success and kept his Army under him in so exact and strict a Discipline that they seem'd rather a Body of well-govern'd Citizens than an Army of Soldiers Swearing Drunkenness and Profaneness the common Vices of other Camps were not to be found in his His desire of Glory excited him to make attempts in other Countries by which a great Renown accrued to our Nation in all parts of the World In short had he not been a Vsurper he might have been compar'd with the best of our Princes but his Usurpation and the indirect means he used to obtain his Power spoil'd all his Good Qualities After his Death his Son Richard was Proclaimed Protector but he enjoy'd his Power but a short time the Army calling again the Rump Parliament which strait-way put an end to his Protector-ship and now the Stone began to rowl it stayed not there for Sir George â—oth having raised some Forces for the King in Cheshire and being subdued by Lambert Lambert turned the Rump out again and set up a Committee of Safety in Order to the setting up himself to prevent which General Monk in Scotland declares for the Rump and comes with his Army into England to restore them and having effected that brought in again those Members that had been Secluded by the Army before the Tryal of the late King These Members being restored issued out Writs for the Calling of a New Parliament to meet the 25th of April following and so dissolved themselves The King who had Notice of all these Proceedings with drew himself out of the Spanish Territories and went to Breda from whence at the opening of Parliament he sent over a Declaration promising Liberty of Conscience Pardon to all Offenders and Satisfaction to all Interests Upon the reading whereof the Parliament unanimously Voted That a Message be sent to his Majesty to thank him for his Gacious Declaration and to desire him to return to his Kingdom which he did upon the 29th of May following being received with the Universal Joy and Acclamations of his People Soon after which several of those that had sate in the High Court of Justice for the Tryal of his Father were themselves Tryed and Executed Of which Number were Thomas Harrison Hugh Peters Daniel Axtell John Cook Thomas Scot Gregory Clemont John Jones John Carew and Adrian Scroop who Suffered some at Charing-Cross and some at Tyburn The Bishops were also now restored to their Diocesses and the Common-Prayer Ordered again to be Read in Churches But now an over-cast of Sorrow happened for the Virtuous Princess Mary Princess of Orange coming over to see her Brother now settled in his Throne fell Sick of the Small-Pox and Dyed And in January after the King's Return one Venner a Wine-Cooper with divers other Desperate Persons fell upon the City of London being opposed many on both sides were Slain and the rest being taken or dispersed Venner with eleven more were Tryed Condemned and Executed in divers places of the City And on the 30th of January the Carcasses of Cromwel Bradshaw and Ireton were taken out of their Graves conveyed to Tyburn and Hanged up for several Hours then their Bodies buried under the Gallows and their Heads set on Westminster-Hall And soon after the Duke of Gloucester the King 's youngest Brother a Prince of great Hopes and a firm Protestant Dyed and on the 23d of April 1661 being St. George's Day the King was Crowned at Westminster with much Solemnity and Splendor having the Day before made a magnificent Cavalcade from the Tower of London to White-Hall The Army hereupon was Disbanded and the Parliament in Ireland Dissolved every thing appearing in a tendency to a lasting Settlement by a good Understanding between Prince and People For the Parliament that had been Assembled being Dissolved and another called the Peers were restored to their Antient Priviledges and the Militia declared to be Vested in the King as his right The like was also declared by the Parliament of Scotland who resigned the solemn League and Covenant and passed an Act for the Attainder of the Marquess of Argyle upon divers Crimes laid to his Charge whereupon being brought to his Tryal and Condemned he lost his Head much Lamented by the greater part of that Kingdom About this time a Convocation in England was assembled to adjust and settle matters of Religion and soon after the solemn League and Covenant which the KING had taken in Scotland was burnt by the common Hang-man in London and Westminster and then all over the Nation and a pretended Act for the Tryal of King Charles the first used in the same manner in Westminster-Hall The French and Spanish Ambassadors being at Court upon Notice of the arrival of the Broh Ambassador extraordinary from Sweeden with their Coaches went to receive him at his publick Entry on Tower-hill and contending for precedency a sharp Encounter happened some were killed and divers Wounded The Spaniard obtaining the better by the help of some English who for good Rewards tho' the King expresly by his Proclamation forbid any of his Subjects to intermeddle dressed themselves in Spanish Habits which Encounter had not the King interceeded as Mediator had at that time in all Likelihood created a War between the two Nations as being highly Resented at either Court. James Duke of Ormond being made Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and
another Parliament called there that long harassed Kingdom was brought to a good Settlement And now a Match being Negotiated in the Court of Portugal between the King and Donna Catharina Infanta of that Kingdom her Dowry was settled and in Lieu thereof the English had Tangier which became afterwards a great Charge to the Nation without any Profit So that the Earl of Peterborough having taken Possession of that place on the Continent of Africa for the King the Lady came over Royally attended and the King going to Portsmouth was there Married to her with much Pomp by the Bishop of London and afterwards came to White-Hall and was Joyfully received Sir Henry Vane and John Lambert being Tryed and found Guilty of Treason for things done before the Restoration being excepted out of the Act of Indemnity the former was Beheaded but the latter Reprieved and kept in Prison till he Died and Archibald Johnson Lord Warrestone being taken beyond the Sea and brought over was Sentenced as a Traytor by the Parliament of Scotland and Executed on a Gibbit at Edenborough 22 Foot high A Conspiracy being timely Discovered in Ireland divers were Imprisoned and some Executed which altogether dashed their further Intentions and kept the Kingdom in Quiet a considerable time And in the North of England another much about the same time being discovered one Gibbons and Baker were Tryed found Guilty and Executed whereupon the rest Dispersed The Commons in Parliament having Voted the King a Supply of 2500000 l great Naval Preparations were made which caused our Neighbours the Dutch to fear a Storm and therefore they thought it convenient to provide for their Safety and indeed a Misunderstanding happening between both Nations an Order of Council was made giving Letters of Reprisal against them and about 112 Sail were taken by our Frigats Men of War c. most of them being adjudged Lawful Prizes and hereupon the King set out his Declaration touching his Proceedings for Reparation from the Subjects of the States Whilst these things were doing a Dutchman under the Disguise of a Sweed coming from Guinea publickly reported De Ruytter the Dutch Commander had Destroyed all the English in the Factories on that Coast which for a time caused much Consternation among the Merchants trading thither but it proving False he was Sentenced and Whipt through London However the Parliament being Prorogued War was Proclaimed on the 2d of March 1664 and a General Fast succeeded for a Blessing on the King's Forces to be employed against them and De Ruyter attempting with his Fleet to Plunder the English Plantation of Barbadoes in the West-Indies was beaten off but whilst many Encounters happened at Sea a worse Calamity befell at Land for by reason of the great Heat in the Spring and but little cool breathing Winds to purge and purify the Air about the beginning of May 1665 a Plague began fearfully to Rage so that in London that Year 97306 Persons of all Degrees dyed and of these were accounted 68596 of the Plague However the War was carryed on with great Vigour and on the 3d of June the Duke of York being Admiral of the English Navy the two Fleets engaged and after a long and obstinate Fight which continued many Hours bloody and doubtful the Dutch gave way and such as got off stood to their own Coast The English having taken burnt sunk and shattered about thirty of their Ships and slain and taken Prisoners about 8000 tho' not without Loss considerable on our own part which was chiefly occasioned by most of the great Ships crouding about the Admiral to screen him from the Fury of the Enemy and prevent his being laid on Board by Fire-ships Those English of Note who lost their Lives in this Engagement were the Earls of Falmouth Portland Marlborough and the Lord Muskery Sir John Lawson dyed of his Wounds soon after and 2063 Dutch Prisoners were brought to Colchester whereof 13 were Commanders Hereupon a publick Thanksgiving was performed for this Victory the King likewise Conferred the Honour of Knighthood on such Sea-Commanders as had eminently Signalized their Courage and Conduct in the Action The Plague still continuing to Rage a Fast was Proclaimed solemnly to be held every first Wednesday in the Month till it should cease and Fires were continued in the Streets of London and Westminster for three Days and Nights to purify the Air whilst the King c made his progress through the greater part of England the two Houses of Parliament attending him at Christ-Church in Oxford and upon his laying before them them the necessity of a supply to maintaine the charges of the War the Commons Voted him 1250000 l. And Michaelmas Term by Proclamation was Adjournd from Westminster to that City But the Plague abating the Parliament and Courts of Judicature returned to Westminster as did the King and Queen The French King envying the growing greatness of the English more than any love he had for the Dutch as it afterward plainly appeared Joyned with them and was soon answered in the same Language at the Instigation of others The Fleets being abroad Prince Rupert and the Duke of Albermarle then Joynt-Admirals of the English the latter with a Squadron of fifty Ships the former being to the Westward with the rest engaged 80 of the Dutch on the Coast of Flanders and maintained the Fight two Days when on the third Prince Rupert coming in the Fight continued very Bloody till the Evening with much Loss on both sides and then the Dutch stood away to their own Coast In this Fight the Royal Prince was stranded on the Galloper and burnt by the Dutch Sir George Ascough who Commanded her being taken Prisoner and carryed into Holland About six or seven Weeks after there happened another Sea-Fight and the English chased the Dutch to their own Coasts and on the 7th of August Sir Robert Holms burnt divers Dutch Merchants Ships in the Fly and the Town of Baudaris upon the Island of Scheling and four French Men of War salling in with our Fleet mistaking it in Foggy-weather for the Dutch one of them of 54 Guns was taken On the Second of September 1666 being Sunday began the dreadful Fire of London at one Faringdons a Baker's House in Pudding-Lane the back-side of Fish-street-hill It continued Burning until Wednesday Night following and that time destroyed the greatest part of the City But the best Account of it being Engraven on the North-side of the Monument Erected in the perpetual Remembrance thereof take as followeth In the Year of Christ 1666 the second Day of September Eastward from hence at the Distance of Two hundred and two foot the heighth of this Column a terrible Fire broke out about Midnight which driven on by a high Wind not only wasted the adjacent Parts but also very remote Places with incredible noise and fury It consumed eighty nine Churches the City-Gates Guildhall many publick Structures Hospitals Schools Libraries a vast Number of stately
Edifices Thirteen thousand two hundred Dwelling-houses four hundred Streets Of the six and twenty Wards it utterly destroy'd fifteen and left eight other shattered and half burnt The Ruins of the City were four hundred thirty six Acres from the Tower by the Thames side to the Temple-Church and the North-East Gate along the City-Wall to Holbourn-Bridge To the Estates and Fortunes of the Citizens it was merciless but to their Lives very favourable that it might in all things resemble the last Conflagration of the World The Destruction was sudden for in a small space of time the same City was seen most flourishing and reduced to nothing Three days after when this fatal Fire had baffled all humane Counsels and Indeavours in the Opinion of all it stopt as it were by a Command from Heaven and was on every side extinguished This Dreadful Fire was both begun and carried on by Papists as appeared by Hubert's own Confession who was Executed at Tyburn for the same and also by several Depositions given in to the Parliament Whereupon the following Inscription was Engraven round about the Pedestal of the Monument viz. Which Inscription being Razed out in K. James's Reign was set up again since the late Revolution And now large Supplies were Voted the King by the Parliament and War declared against Denmark and a ship of 52 Guns belonging to that Crown taken on the Coast of Scotland whilst Capt. Robinson took and destroyed three Dutch Men of War near the Texâ—l A Rebellion breaking out in Scotland Forces were sent thither which put 1500 of the Rebels to Rout and some of the Ring-Leaders being taken were Executed which put an end to that Disturbance and an Act passed for the speedy Re-building the City of London The Dutch attempting Burnt-Island in Scotland were beaten off but their whole Fleet coming to an Anchor in the Gun-fleet and finding us altogether unprepared several of their Frigats entered Chatham and the Thames River and burnt several Ships tho' with the Loss of two of their own But Sir John Harman with 16 Sail engaged 30 French Men of War near Martinego and burnt and Sunk the greater part of them Whereupon at a Treaty held at Breda all sides grown weary of War a Peace was Concluded with France Denmark and the States General which was Solemnly Proclaimed and soon after with Spain And upon the Address of the Commons the Laws were put in Execution against Recusants and Assemblies of Nonconformists with much Heats for a considerable time In the beginning of 1668 Great Tumults happened in the Suburbs of London by an Insurrection of Apprentices and ill Persons joyning with them so that much mischief was done under pretence of pulling down Bawdy-Hâ—â—ses upon which eight were Condemned for High-Treason and four of them Executed The Duke of Albemarâ—â— dying the King undertook the Charge of his Funeral which was very Magnificent being Interred in Westminster-Abbey And the same Year Dyed Mary the Queeâ— Moâ—â—er of England at Columbâ— in France and 〈◊〉 Dutchess of Orleance the King's Sister coming over to Vâ—sit him after a short stay she upon her Return dyed at Sâ— Clâ—â—s in â—rance There being now Peace near Home the King resolve to Chastize the Algerines for their Insolency and in Oâ—der to it sent Sir Thomas Allen with a strong Squadron of Men of War who took and sunk divers of their Ships and compelled them to renew the Peace they had lately broken and to deliver up a great Number of the English Captives And much about the same time Coll. Blood with other Accomplices Gagg'd the Keeper of the Jewel-House in the Tower took away the Crown and had carried it off had not speedy pursuit been made and being Imprisoned for this whilst the People were expecting what Punishment would be inflicted on him for so unpresidented a Crime the King freely pardoned him And now Orders were given out upon view for the Repairing and better Fortifying all the Sea-ports for the King very much resenting some new Affronts put upon him by the States-General of the United Netherlands a second War began to Threaten but Money being wanting which is the main Engine and Sinews of War the Exchequer was shut up which caused a general Murmurring and much Loss to many People To palliate this the King declared That nothing could have moved him to it but only the looking upon his Government under the Threatning of the States-General and other Neighbouring Princes without his appearing in the same Posture but seeing the Necessity was inevitable It was needful that some extraordinary Course should be taken till Money could be otherways procured After this the King published a Declaration of Indulgence to such as Dissented from the Established Religion And now the War being fully resolved on Sir Robert Holms who was cruising with five Frigats about the Isle of Wight fell in with the Dutch Smyrna-Fleet and other Ships coming from the Streights under the Convoy of six Men of War between whom there happened a smart Engagement upon their refusing to strike and lower their Flags which continued till Night and 〈◊〉 the next Morning renewed and five rich Dutch Merchant-men were taken and their Rear-Admiral for want of more Assistance sunk and the rest got home This first blow given War was Declared the French King joyning with us in it being Obliged by the Treaty to send a Squadron of his best Ships which was Commanded by the Count d' Estreeâ— as were the English by the Duke of York and standing over to the Coast of Holland a fierce Engagement soon happened with much Effusion of Blood on both sides for either part being Emulous of Honour fought with extraordinary Eagerness till at last the Dutch stood away to their own Coast and the English after them as near as they could for the Shallows but under the shelter of a Fogg they got into their Harbours In this Fight the English lost the Noble Earl of Sandwich and the Royal James and long they had not lain on the Flemish Coast but the Dutch Recruited and came out again but after two other Engagements with much Loss on either side a Peace was concluded and the King hereupon became Mediator for the like Accommodation between the Crowns of France and Spain labouring by his Embassadors to compose the Differences between them Commanding at the same time his Subjects not to enter into the Service of any Foreign Prince without his Leave The Parliament now sitting gave the King 584900 l. for the speedy Building thirty Ships of War whereupon he resolved to enter into an Allyance with some Princes abroad that they might be able to put a stop to the Torrent of the French King's Conquests in Flanders And to render the Union stricter he Married the Lady Mary his Neice and eldest Daughter to his brother to the Prince of Orange and proceeded to raise Forces so that in a short time he had a considerable Army on Foot and the Parliament promised
away upon the Lemon-Sands and many Worthy Gentlemen were Lost in her but the Duke by the assistance of a Yacht come to help them got off just as the Ship was sinking being reserv'd by Divine Providence as a further Scourge to these Nations About this time also two Famous Embassadors came into England from Princes never known to have sent Embassadors here before the one from the Emperor of Fez and Morocco whose Business was to establish a Peace in relation to Tangier and the other was from the King of Bantam in the East-Indies who presented the King with several Diamonds and other things of great Value And now the World began to see the Cause of the City Charter's being taken away for the Duke of York and his Party that now ruled all things at their own Pleasure were resolved to take off all those Gentlemen that were most Zealous for the Protestant Religion and that in Parliament had been most forward for the Bill of Exclusion And this was to be done by Pretence of a Plot to take away the Life of the King and the Duke and alter the Government and this was pretended to be executed at the Rye-House in Hartfor-shire as the King should come back from New-market and was said to be prevented by a Fire happening at New-Market which caused the King to come away sooner than he intended and so before the Conspirators were ready This Plot was Sworn by one Keeling who had been conversant among the Dissenters For this pretended Plot the Earl of Essex the Lord Russel Lord Howard of Escrick Collonel Sidney and Mr. Hambden of Buckingham-shire were taken up and several others of less Note among whom were Walcot Rouse and Hone which were first Tryed and found Guilty and soon after Executed at Tyburn Walcot declared himself Innocent of any design against the King or his knowledge of any Plot some Words he Confessed had been spoken in his Company by those that were Witnesses against him and which he did not discover Praying God to forgive those who had Causlesly brought him to that undeserved Death Rouse spake much to the same Purpose that he had heard Words about the Feasibleness of seizing the Tower but knew of no such Design But these were but Prologues to the more fatal Tragedies that were after to be acted For the Lord Russel was next brought to his Tryal where the Lord Howard of Escrick and Coll. Rumsey were the principal Witnesses against him the Lord Howard told a story of a Counsel of Six for carrying on the Design consisting of himself Coll. Sidney Mr. Hambden the Lord Russel the Earl of Essex and the Duke of Monmouth and Rumsey gave an Account of a Declaration taken out of Ferguson's Bosom and read at Shepheards The Lord Russel answer'd every Particular and declared his own Inoocency but while he wâ—â— at his Tryal there was News brought that the Earl of Essex in the Tower struck with the Horrour of a Guilty Conscience had cut his own Throat and this was improv'd by the King's Counsel as an Argument of the Lord Russel's Guilt as it is believ'd the Plot had been laid before-hand and accordingly the Jury brought him in Guilty and he was thereupon Condemned and soon after Beheaded in Lincolns-Inn-Fields whose excellent Speech and Behaviour at his Death declaring his Innocency to the very last made very few of the Numerous Spectators unless it were those of the Duke of York's Faction go away with dry Eyes This Noble Lord was the eldest surviving Son of William Earl of Bedford and was a Person of great Honour and Integrity and Zeal for the Protestant Religion which what ever was pretended was his true Crime he being the Person that carried up the Hill of Exclusion to the House of Lords and saying in the House of Commons when Popery began to be Rampant If I can't Live a Protestant I am resolv'd to Dye one The Proceedings against him appear'd so Unjust and his Innocency so clear that the Parliament since this last Revolution took off the Attainder against him and his present Majesty has since his coming in Created his Noble Fathâ—r Duke of Bedford as some Compensation for the loss of so Incomparable a Son as the very Words of the Patent has it Having told you how the News of the Earl of Essex's having cut his Throat in the Tower it will be convenient to give some Brief Account of it That Noble Lord was taken out of his own House at Caisho-Berry near Watford and Committed to the Tower upon this Plot where he sent for his own Servants to attend him and his own Cook to dress his Meat being Jealous perhaps of Sir Tho. Overburies Fate and also sent for his own Wine for his Drinking and hearing that the Lord Russel was to be Try'd that Day order'd one of his Servants to go and take Notes of the Lord Russel's Tryal and bring to him but so it was that that Morning that the Lord Russel was Tryed the King and the Duke went to the Tower where they had not been for several Years before whilst they were there the Duke was for some time absent from the King and soon after he was come to the King again there was News brought to his Majesty whilst he was in the Tower with his Brother that the Earl of Essex had cut his own Throat The King was extreamly Surpriz'd at the News and immediately gave Order to the Lord Allington the Constable of the Tower that his Lodgings should be shut up and no one suffered to go in till the Coroners Inquest had sate upon the Body But notwithstanding this Order of the King 's by the Direction of Some Body else the Body was stript and wash'd and so was the Room also before the Coroners Inquest came and his Cloathes taken away which when the Coroners Inquest desir'd might be brought to them that they might see them were told They were to sit upon the Body and not upon the Cloaths and so were deny'd the sight of them And when they were about adjourning till the next Day before they gave in their Verdict they were told they must give it in presently and not stir till they had done it because the King stay'd for it And so they were hurried into a Verdict of the Earl's being Felo-de-se And when from some Information of a Rasor thrown out of the Window of the Earl's Closet and some other Concurrent Circumstances one Mr. Lawrence Braddon went about to Discover that the Earl was Murder'd and did not Kill himself he was prosecuted for it with the greatest Violence imaginable as if the Discovery of the Earl's Murther had been the Arraignment of the Government After this the Honourable Algernoon Sidney was also Try'd as one of the Council of Six and for Writing and Publishing a Libel tho' it was only found in Writing in his own Closet and not prov'd to be his own Writing neither but by the Similitude of Hands which
Writing had it been prov'd his was only an Answer to Sir Robert Filmer's Treatise of Absolute Monarchy which had been the Design not only of this but of the two preceding Reigns yet this Evidence such as it was was sufficient with such Juries as then were pack'd for their Purpose to find the Collonel Guilty notwithstanding the Learned Defence he made for himself So that he was Condemned and Beheaded dying with a Greatness of Mind worthy of himself The Duke of Monmouth who was also one of the Lord Howard's Council of Six had for some time absconded but now upon his Submission to his Father and his Unkle was admitted to Court but being urg'd to make a fuller Discovery and Confession of the Plot which he affirm'd he knew nothing of he fell again into his Unkle's Displeasure and consequently into his Father's and so was Banished from the Royal Presence Several others who were said to be concerned in this Plot fled beyond Seas and were Out-lawed for not appearing here in Court among whom was one Holloway a Bristol-Merchant who was taken at Nevis in the West-Indies and brought over hither He was wrought upon by some of the Duke's Creatures to make a Confession and he should have his Pardon and when he had own'd enough to Hang himself he was offered the Benefit of a Tryal which he refused and flung himself upon the King's Mercy and so was Executed And not long after Sir Thomas Armstrong Master of Horse to the Duke of Monmouth who upon the Proclamation put out for apprehending him had fled into Holland was taken out of Leyden by Surprize and brought to London and Committed to Newgate and it being Term-time was soon after carried to Westminster where that infamous Wretch Sir George Jefferies being at that time Lord Chief Justice order'd him to be Executed the Friday following he being already Out-lawed But Sir Thomas boldly Demanded the benefit of the Law which was on his side for by a Statute of the 6th of Edw. 6. it was Enacted That if any Person Out-law'd for Treason being beyond the Sea shall within one Year after such Out-lawry render himself to the chief Justice of England he should Reverse his Out-lawry and take a Tryal which Sir Thomas then desir'd it being his Case But the Cheif Justice over-rul'd it and would not admit of his Plea nor let him have Counsel to Argue it But gave a Rule of Court for his Execution the Friday following the Impudent Chief Justice charging Richardson in a Jeering manner to see that Sir Thomas had the full benefit of the Law then And accordingly he was drawn up on a Sledge to Tyburn and there Executed Denying his Knowledge of any Plot whatsoever against the King But Sir Thomas's Death was Voted Murther by the Parliament since this happy Revolution The pretence of this Plot gave them a specious Ground to Persecute the Dissenters the Goals throughout England being at this time filled with them and Multitudes Cited to and Excommunicated by the Spiritual Courts for Nonconformity Executing upon them all the Vengeance that was possible Some being punish'd as Rioters some for Treasonable Words and some upon Actions of Scandalum Magnatum and Fined Exorbitantly beyond all Law or Reason of which last Sir Thomas Pilkington and Dr. Oats were Severe instances each being Fined 100000 l. to the Duke But a little before this time the Vertuous Lady Anne youngest Daughter to the Duke was Married to Prince George the King of Denmark's Brother the Match being generally liked by the People he being a Protestant Prince And the Hamborough Company in Gratitude for Favours receiv'd from the King in Relation to their Charter erected his Statue of grey Marble in the midst of the Royal-Exchange in the Habit of a Roman Caesar This was the State of the Nation when upon Monday the second of February 1684 5 the King was taken with an Apoplectick Fit which if it carried him not out of the World then 't is certain it did the Friday following Dying in the 54th Year of his Age having Reigned 36 Years and some few Days He was a Prince that very much indulg'd himself in taking his Pleasure and was very unlike his Father in this That he was a great Lover of Women and kept variety of them as the Dutchess of Cleaveland Nell Gwynn and the Dutchess of Portsmouth the last of which was made use of by his Brother to make the King do whatever he had a mind to have done for so much was the King taken with her French Charms that he could deny her nothing And therefore advancing of Favourites was done by her Mediation and even Parliaments themselves Prorogu'd or Dissolv'd if she had a Mind to have it so He was not a Prince Bloody or Cruel in his own Nature yet by the Ascendant his Brother had over him many worthy Persons lost their Lives in his Reign He was a Prince of very good Natural Parts had they not been Vitiated by giving himself up so much to the satisfaction of his Lusts His making War with the Dutch and joyning with France against them weaken'd the Protestant Interest and has made the French so Formidable to Europe And having carry'd on his Brother's Designs in Masquerade as long as he thought Convenient he dyed of a sudden but whether Naturally or by some Foul Play I will not determine tho' the latter was much Suspected However the Nation had a real Kindness for him and the News of his Death fill'd all Eyes with Tears and all Hearts with Sadness except those of the Papists and some Tories that were worse than they But this proceeded chiefly from the Fears and dismal Apprehensions the People had of the ensuing Reign In the Eleventh Year of this Kings Reign a Prodigious Whale came up to Greenwich and run it self on shore there soon after which Oliver Cromwel then Protector died In his 17th Year 3 Blazing Stars appeared of different shapes and colours which were look'd on to be the Denuntiators of ensuing Judgements In his 18th Year was a great Plague in London of which died far more than ever did in any Plague before and in the next Year the greatest part of the City of London was Consumed by Fire In the 33d Year of his Reign on the 18th of May 1680 a great storm of Hail fell in London and the parts adjacent the Hail-stones being of an extraordinary bigness some of them nine inches about and generally as big as Pullets Eggs with the figures of Stars and other curious works upon them being also very hard Several Rooks in the Temple-garden being kill'd by them and many Sky-lights in London broken to pieces by their violent failing upon them Soon after which a Prodigious Blazing-Star appeared in the West for several Weeks together In the 37th Year of his Reign there was a great Frost that continued from the beginning of December to the end of February in which time the Thames was frozen
been only Tools in so doing to the Papists and had carried on their Wâ—â—k for them and now that their Eyes began to be 〈◊〉 and tâ—â—â— they would be so no more they would fain have made Tâ—â—s of the Dissenters to pull down the Church of England by aggravating the ill Usage they had receiv'd from them so many Years And that now was their time to call them to an Account and be even with them for it and several of the Dissenters who were very Honest tho' mistaken Men were by these specious Pretences drawn in to joyn with them The King was so fond or his Declaration for Liberty of Conscience that he Publishes it a second time with an Injunction to have it read in all Parish-Churches and the Bishops of the respective Diocesses were to see it done But the Arch-bishop of Canterbury and several of the Bishops looking upon this as a thing contrary to Law not only refused to do it but humbly Petitioned the King to hear the Reasons why they could not comply with that Order But this was looked upon by Jefferies then Lord-Chancellor Father Peters then made one of the Privy-Council and others of the Popish Faction as a Crime next to High-Treason and therefore for their Contempt they were Committed to the Tower It was now more than a Year that had passed since the King's Declaration for Indulgence came forth and the Prince and Princeâ— of Orange having been privately sounded how they stood affected to the Test and Penal Laws they being the next Heirs to the Crown their Opinion seemed to be That the Papists should by Law have Liberty for the private Exercise of their Religion without Disturbance but that by no means the Tests should be taken off to let them in to have a share in the Government This it was that touch'd the Papists to the quick for they saw that the King was well stricken in Years and upon his Death which they knew not how soon might happen a Protestant Princess was the next Heir who would soon pull down all that Babel which they had been Building and therefore some other Provision must be made for another Popish Successor And nothing could do this so well as a young Prince of Wales during whose Minority if the Kiâ—â— should Die they might Govern themselves 〈…〉 Popery as in the days of Old This being resolv'd on the old Dâ—tchess of Modena makes hee Offering to the Lady of Loretto of whom she Implores That the Queen of England may have a Son for a Daughter would signify nothing to be Heir of the Crown of England By Vertue of these Prayers and the Queen's going down to the Bath and drinking the Waters there she was said to be Impregnated and nothing was now to be heard among the Popish Faction but drinking the Young Prince's Health even before he was Born for that it would be a Son there was no body question'd as taking it for Granted that was the Design And all things were carried on by the Faction in order to it's Birth The Princess Ann of Denmark being not very well was advis'd by her Physicians to go down to the Bath for the Recovery of her Health And the Arch bishop of Canterbury and several others of the Bishops being in the Tower and the Bishop of London suspended from his Office and other concurring Circumstances being ready it was now look'd upon to be a good time for the Queen to cry out which was accordingly so well manag'd that on Sunday the 11th of June 1688 a young Prince of Wales was said to be born Which was publish'd with so much Joy both throughout England Scotland and Ireland and by their Embassadors in all Foreign Courts that they abundantly over-acted it The great Point of a Popish Heir being thus secur'd the Popish Faction begun to go on with a high Hand turning out Dr. Hough whom the Fellows of Magdalen Colledge in Oxford had chosen for their President and all the Fellows too because they would not accept of a Papist whom the King would have impos'd upon 'em by a Mandamus in Sidney Colledge in Cambridge Father Francis was put in and in Vniversity-Colledge in Oxford Obadiah Walker the Principal declar'd himself a Papist The Head of Christ-Church put in by the King waâ— also of â—â—e same Profession Nor was any Preferment to 〈…〉 unless he were a Roman-Catholick In Scotland the â—ing had issued out a Proclamation for Tolleration in Religion recommending his Roman-Catholick Subjects particularly to the Protection of the Government there and tells them he expects his Will should be Obey'd absolutely and without Reserve But in Ireland the King would allow no Liberty of Conscience to the Protestants for they were turn'd out of all Offices and Places whatsoever And the Earl of Clarendon recalled from his Lieutenancy and Talbot who had already reformed the Army there and made it perfectly Popish was for that good Service made Earl of Tyrconnel and Deputy of Ireland Sir Charles Porter also the Lord Chancellor was turned out and one Alexander Fitton a Papist who had been fetch'd out of Goal in England and made a Knight is now made Lord-Chancellor in his place I have before told you of the Committing of the Seven Bishops to the Tower which were the Arch-bishop of Canterbury the Bishop of Bath and Wells the Bishop of Bristol the Bishop of Peterborough the Bishop of Chichester the Bishop of St. Asaph â—nd the Bishop of Ely and of the Birth of the pretended Prince of Wales while they were there the Bishops having by their Habeas Corpus been set at Liberty were Tryed for a high Misdemeanour in Trinity-Term following and notwithstanding the new Modelling of the Judges and that one of then Judge All'bone was a known Papist yet Mr. Justice Powel to his lasting Honour did both Learnedly and Zealously defend their Cause so that the Jury acquitted them The publick Rejoycing that was made for the acquittal of the Bishops was not Confined to the Cities of London and Westminster but upon the News thereof being brought to Hounsloe-Heath where the Army lay the King being at that time treated by the Earl of Feversham in his Tent it was received with a general Shout throughout the whole Army the King not knowing the Reason of that Shout was very much Startled at it and sent the Earl of Feversham out to enquire the Cause who upon his Return told the King ' Tâ—â—â— nothing 〈◊〉 the Soldiers Joy for the acquittal of the Bishops To whom the King reply'd with some Discomposure And call you that Nothing This being indeed enough to let him see how vain a Design he had undertaken to set up Popery by a Protestant Army The King was now busie in modelling all the Corporations in England that send Burgesses to Parliament to get a Parliament fitted to his own Turn in order to take off the Penal Laws and Tests no other obstacle now lying in his way when on a sudden he
was allarmed with the News of the great Preparations making by the Dutch both by Sea and Land Upon which account the King sends to his Envoy at the Hague to put in a Memorial to the States General to know the Reason The French King also who was concern'd at it orders his Ambassador there to deliver in a Memorial upon that occasion wherein he tells the States There are such Bonds of Friendship and Alliance between his Master and the King of Great Brittain as will oblige him the French King not only to assist the King of Great Brittain but to look on the first Act of Hostility committed against him the King of Great Brittain to be a Manifest Rupture of the Peace and a Breach with his Crown This left no longer any doubt in the mind of the Prince of Orange and the States General of the private League between England and France Which was a sufficient Ground for the Prince of Orange to rescue these Kingdoms to which in Right of his Princess he was the next Heir from Popery and Arbitrary Power For he saw plainly that the Supposititions Prince was Introduc'd to wrong him and his Princess of their Right to the Succession and to subject these Kingdoms to Popery and Slavery and by consequence all Europe besides The Dutch took no notice of the French King 's Memorial but gave King James's Envoy this Answer that they had Arm'd in Imitation of his Britanick Majesty and the other Princes and that they had thereby given no just occasion of Offence in Arming when all other Princes where in motion and that they were long since convinced of the Alliance that the King his Master had treated with France and what had been mention'd to them by Monsier de Count d' Avaux in his Memorial After this Answer King James expected no good from the Dutch and lookt upon them as if they had already declar'd War against him And now the Eyes of all England were turned to Holland and expected Deliverance from thence without which they saw themselves Ruined nor did his Royal Highness the Prince of Orange deceive them but Landed with an Army of about 14000 Men at Torbay near Exeter on the Fifth day of November 1688. A day deservedly Famous in England for two eminent Deliverances from Popery Soon after his Landing he went to Exceter where he was received by the People with Shouts and Acclamations of Joy as their Deliverer as indeed he was After some little stay there he came forwards towards the South but King James to oppose him sent down his Army to Salisbury whither he also went himself but part of the Army going over to the Prince the King was so Staâ—tled at it that he thought not himself there out of Danger and so return'd to London again and as the Prince came forward he was in all places look'd upon as a Blessing sent from Heaven to rescue 'em from Popery and Slavery In the mean time King James to prevent if it were possible the impending and growing danger Restores all the Fellows of Magdalen Colledge and puts out his Proclamation for vacating all New Charters and restoring of old ones and Particularly the Charter of London was carried in great Pomp to Guild-Hall by Jefferies and given the Citizens again But for all these good things there was no body now thank'd him as being the Effects of his Fear and not of his good will The Prince's coming nearer and nearer to London the Nobility and Gentry at every Place Flocking to him and Congratulating him King James first sends away his Queen and pretended Prince to France and in a little time after withdraws himself from White-Hall and goes to Feversham where attempting to go a-board he was seiezed and rifled by the Country People and after his being known he came back to London again and was well receiv'd but the Prince being then at Windsor and designing the next Day for London King James by a Message was desir'd to with-draw himself to Ham near Kingston to avoid those Inconveniences that might Ensue But the King rather chose to go to Rochester having the Princes Guards with him to secure him from the Insults of the People there he staid two or three Days and then Privately Embark'd himself for France where he soon after ariv'd King James being thus gone away upon the Prince's coming to London he was desir'd by the Nobility and Gentry to take the Government upon him thereby to suppress the Disorders of the common People which was then very Great but by the Prince's Order soon brought to be quiet The Mass-Houses were every vvhere pull'd down and the Priests and Jesuits with the whole Popish Crew put to the Scamper Jefferies being dropt by his Master was shifting for himself but taken by the Mobb in a Seaman's Habit was carried before the Lord-Mayor and from thence sent to the Tower attended by strong Guards to keep him from being torn in Pieces by the incensed Mobb who follow'd him with Threats Curses and Execrations where sometime after he drank himself to Death and so sav'd the Hang-man a Labour The Prince of Orange having the Government put into his Hands Summons such Gentlemen as were Members of King Charles's last three Parliaments to meet at Westminster to consult what was fit to be done for the Nation which they accordingly did and desir'd the Prince that Writs might be issued out for the calling a Convention of the Estates in the Nature of a Parliament to meet in January following Which being done the Convention met at the time appointed and entering into several Debates about the present States of Affairs they came to this Result That King James by privately withdrawing himself out of his Kingdoms had Abdicated the Throne whereby it was become Vacant And so ended the Four Years Reign of King James the Second An Account of what Remarkably Occur'd since the Reign of King WILLIAM the III. and Queen MARY the II. to the Year 1606. KING James as has been mentioned having Left the Land and that in Parliament being taking for an Abdication and the Throne declared Vacant William and Mary Prince and Princess of Orange were Proclaimed King and Queen of England France and Ireland c. before White-Hall and in the City of London with the Joy of the whole Nation on the 13th of Feb. 1688 and with Convenient speed they were Proclaimed with the like satisfaction in all the Principal Places of their Dominions and the King returned the Parliament a Gracious answer to their Declaration expressing himself highly satisfied with what they had done promising to the utmost his Care and Protection for the Preservation of the Established Religion Laws and Liberties and that he should always be ready to Concur with them in any thing that should be for the Good of the Kingdom and to do all that in him lay to advance the Glory and Welfare of it and thereupon he proceeded to quiet disorders in all
were Kill'd and about 300 of lesser Note on our Part The Enemy lost 3000 and were pursued 4 Miles and upon this Defeat Drogheda Surrendred and K. James with part of his broken Army hasted to Dublin and from thence he went to Waterford where soon after he took Ship and Sailed for France and the King of England coming to Dublin was received with all imaginable Demonstrations of Joy and a great many Protestants who had been Imprisoned were set at Liberty the Papists disarmed and the Affairs in those Parts settled and many places that stood out Surrendred The Brass and Copper Money K. James had Coined as passable in that Kingdom was called in or set at the Value of the Metal only Sheriffs appointed and the Face of Justice restored Whilst these things were doing beyond the Seas an Engagement happened between the English and French off Beachy viz. on June 30. in which the Dutch Squadron being forward to gain the Weather-Gage of the Enemy received great Loss many of them being Burnt or so shattered that after the Fight they fell into the Hands of the Enemy the English red Squadron not coming up as was expected for which Miscarriage our Admiral the Earl of Torrington was Tryed but acquitted and after the Fight the French insulted our Coasts burning Tingmouth a Viâ—â—age of Fishers Cots and doing some other Damage after which they retired to their own Coast and one Godfrey Cross an Inn-keeper in Kent for going on Board the Enemy and giving Intelligence was afterward Try'd Condemned and Executed near St. Thomas's Waterings in the Kentish-road from London And this Year the King besieged Lymerick in Ireland but by reason of the Strength of the Place advancing of the Season and great Rains that over-flowed the River Shannon on which it is seated having in vain summoned it he drew off and returned to England But our Fleet standing to that Coast and the Earl of Marlborough on board it with considerable Land-Forces and joyned upon Landing by part of the Army already there they took Cork and Kinsale with little Loss at the Siege of the first the Noble Duke of Grafton amongst others pressing too forwards on the Works was Slain by a small Shot A Plot was soon after Discovered to have set the City of Dublin on Fire and in that Hurry to have fallen on the King ' Forces in Garison there and by a miserable Slaughter to have Surprized it but some Letters intimating the Intention being found by the Care of the Lord Sidney and Conningsby whom the King had appointed Lords-Justices the Mischief was prevented by securing Suspected Persons And now the Parliament of England waited on the King with their humble Addresses of Thanks for the great Things he had done for these Kingdoms and to Congratulate his happy Return and Success and the King was not slow by Marks of Honour and Promotion to Gratify those that had well-behaved themselves in the Service and among others Coll. Cuts was Created Baron of Gowran in the Kingdom of Ireland he also appointed his Privy Council there and all other Officers of State Judges and Magistrates restored such as had been outed and appointed some new Bishops causing a Regulation of the Clergy in General The Winter thus passing on the King prepared to pass the Seas to be at the Congress of Princes and Embassadors appointed at the Hague to Concert the Measures for carrying on the War against France and after he had passed several Acts and Prorogu'd the Parliament he Embarq'd with a splendid Train of Nobility and with great Difficulty by reason of the Ice it being January Landed near Maesland-sluys and being Complemented by the Deputies of the States passed to the Hague where the States General and Council of State with other Colledges made their Complements to him as also the Foreign Ministers and to make his Reception the more Magnificent three Triumphal Arches were Erected one by the States-General and two by the Magistrates with sundry Motto's and Devices Expressing the great things he had done and what more Glorious were Promised from his Heroick Virtues too many here to Enumerate and in the Evening the Cannon Illuminations Fire-works and shouts of the People spoke more loudly the Welcome of a Prince that has so well deserved of that Nation And at his first appearing in the Assembly of the States-General taking his Place at the upper-end of the Table he with many Obliging Expressions declared his Affections and good Inclinations to them in a most Elegant Speech which being deliberated on the Heer Van Wickers President of the Assembly in the name of the rest made a suitable Answer and the Duke of Brandenburg and other Princes being met a League and strict Amity was agreed on for restoring the Peace and Tranquility of Europe in reducing by Arms the Grand Disturber of it to Reason and a Restitution of what he had wrongfully either by Surprize or Vioolence taken from the Confederates for which War had been Proclaimed by them Whilst the King was thus busy beyond the Seas some ill-affected Persons were Designing at home to betray our Strengths into the Hands of the Common Enemy by giving account of the Ports Shipping and what else might facilitate an Invasion and on this account the Lord Preston John Ashton and Edmund Elâ—ot were seized in a Smack as they were passing out of the River of Thames by Captain Billop and Papers of Dangerous Consequence found with which they were designed for France for which the two first being Tryed and found Guilty of High-Treason Ashton was Executed The King having appointed the Baron D' Ginkle chief Commander of his Forces in Ireland having received Supplies and Stores from England he besieged Ballymore which surrendred upon Discretion And having Garisoned it the Army marched and set down before Athlone where they had put up French Colours to make him believe the Garison mostly consisted of that Nation However a Breach being made and succeeded by a vigorous Attack the Base Town was soon won and the other followed the same Fate in a short time tho' their whole Army lay behind it and the Soldiers furiously entring a great many were put to the Sword This was no sooner Repaired and Garisoned but the Army pursued the Retreating Enemy and in a long-Contested Battel at Aghrim gave them a total Rout so that they never considerably appeared in the Field after it St. Ruth the French General was slain with a Cannon-shot at the beginning of the Fight and all their Cannon Baggage Ammunition and Plunder of the Camp fell to the share of our Men. And being Refreshed they marched to Galloway which place after a considerable Battery was Surrendred on Articles and the Garison marched to Lymerick which was the next place besieged but holding out Obstinately and having in it a numerous Garison it was thought fit after a considerable Siege to grant advantagious Articles and as many as would had leave to depart the Kingdom And
with this Town all Ireland was reduced for those few places that held out Surrendred mostly of their own accord And the Lieutenant General having settled the Affairs there and returning to England was by his Majesty Created Earl of Athlone and highly Treated by the City of London c. Whilst this time was taken up in Reducing Ireland the Confederates imployed their Arms to recover the Towns the French had taken in Flanders c. And the Duke of Brandenburg was successful in taking Keyserwart Mentz and Bon places of considerable Strength and Prince Waldeck fought the Mareschal D' Humiers at Forg Village where the English under the Command of the Lord Marlborough did Wonders in stopping of the Torrent of the Enemy who suppos'd to have Surprized the Confederate Camp killing a great many of them and making them Retreat But the French ravaging the Palatinate cording to their wonted Barbarity they burnt Newstadt Frankendale Petersham Lambesham Wachenheim Darmstein and afterward Spires Worms Heidleberg were partly burnt and demolished which hastened the King to head the Army in Flanders And by this time the Duke of Savoy took Carmagnole and gave free Liberty to the Vaudois to Live quietly under his Protection The King by divers Marches and Encampments endeavouring to draw the French to a Battel possessed himself of Beaumont in the sight of their Army Commanded by the Duke of Luxemburg and demolished the Fortifications but with the loss of 400 men they took Montmelian but were beat out by the Cannon of the Castle which they in vain for some time had assaulted and Prince Lewis of Baden Commanding the Emperors Forces gave the Turks a great overthrow in Hungary Killing about 23000 men and taking the greater part of their Cannon and Baggage A Person hired by the Duke of Luxemburg to blow up the King's Bombs and fire the Ammunition Waggons being apprehended and Confessing the Attempt which only fir'd three Bombs had his right Hand cut off then being half Strangled was burnt And as the King was standing under a Tree to view the Enemy a singular hand of Providence appeared in his Preservation for he had no sâ—onâ—r stepped aside to give some Orders but a shot from a Cannon rent the Tree in the Place where a Minute before he had stood And now the French Court which had so often aimed at his precious Life and found it difficult to be attempted in a fair Field practised with divers Villains to compass the King's Destruction by Treachery to which end the Sieur Grandvalle had received several Sums of Money for encouragement of the Marquess of Barbesieux the French King's Secretary and brought two others viz. Dumont and Leafdale into the Conspiracy and often they designed to shoot him as he Rode out to view the Troops and the Duke of Luxemburg had Orders to send a party of Horse to fetch them off when this wicked Deed should be done but God prevented it by a timely Discovery for Grandvalle being Apprehended and Tryed by a Court-Marshal was on plain Proof and his own Confession found guilty of Treason and being Drawn Hang'd and Quartered his Head and Quarters were set up on Poles without the Camp And now our Fleet under the Command of Admiral Russel being sooner abroad than the French expected so that on the 19th of May 1692 the Admiral got sight of the Enemy about six Leagues from Cape Barfleur who not thinking us so strong bore down upon him having the Weather-Gage the Wind at South-west and about Eleven in the Morning Tourville the French Admiral engaged ours who bore upon him with the Red Squadron and the Fight continued hot till about three in the Afternoon when the French being greatly Shattered stood away with all the Sail they could make to their own Coast and being closely pursued the Blew Squadron engaged them again about six that Afternoon which continued till ten at Night when they made a retreating Fight wherein some of their Ships blew up and others sunk and Vice-Admiral Delaval getting in under Cape de Wick with Light Frigats Fire-ships and Armed Boats in spite of the Fire the Enemy made from their Ships run them on Ground Capt. Heath laid the Royal Sun of France on board with his Fire-Ship being a French Admiral of 104 Guns and burnt her Capt. Green burnt the Conquerant of 102 Guns and another of 80 was burnt by the boats in which a great many sick and wounded men Perished And Admiral Russel sending Sr George Rook into La Hogue with light Frigats Fireships and Armed boats he burnt 6 that Night and 6 more the next morning 3 of them being Three-Deck-ships carrying from 60 to 70 Guns and one of 56 Guns was overset and lost and others were destroyed in other parts so that about 21 of their biggest Men of War were burnt and of Crafts Frigats and Transport-ships 30 and this without the loss of one Ship on our part and this was also done in the sight of their Land-Army drawn down on the Coast of Normandy to assist K. James in his then Intended Invasion of England And of note on our side were only Kill'd Rear-Admiral Carter and Coll. Hastings of the Marine Regiment This Victory as it much amazed the French caused great Rejoycing in England yet to repair the Disgrace the Duke of Luxemburg besieged Namur to whose Relief the King prepared to March his Army but in the mean while it Capitulated and Surrendred yet the Castle and new Fort held out a great while longer so that they Lost above 5000 men in the Siege and the King having often dared the French to Battel in open Field they as often declining it by Counter-marches and strong Encampments he agreed to Attack them in their Camp at Enghein tho' by the narrowness of the ways the Passage to it was extream difficult This was vigorously attempted and carryed on by the English and Danes with such Courage and Bravery that the French at first were beaten from Post to Post and we were at the point of forcing an entrance into their Camp had they been timely succoured by other Parties that were appointed to sustain them but did not so that from the Hedges Out-works and Cannon advantagiously planteâ— on the Hills over-powering our Men after a hot Dispute they found a necessity of retreating leaving many Gallant Commanders dead behind them tho' the Enemy had little cause to boast their whole Army narrowly escaping an intire Defeat and their number of Men and great Officers killed wounded and taken Prisoners much exceeding ours for 10 or 12 of the old Regiments suffered extreamly so that they owned to lose 500 Officers and about 5000 private Soldiers And soon after the Prince D'Erichment fell on a French Party sent out of Namur of 300 Foot and 200 Dragoons totally routing them and taking 400 Prisoners among which were 30 Officers which were carryed to Huy and in this Encounter the Marquess De Hâ—câ—uincourt was slain and the Duke