Numerus Infaustus A SHORT VIEW Of the Unfortunate Reigns OF WILLIAM the Second HENRY the Second EDWARD the Second RICHARD the Second CHARLES the Second JAMES the Second sine Caede Sanguine pauci Descendunt Reges siceâ Morte Tyrrani London Printed for Ric. Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in St. Pauls Church yard 1689. LICENSED June 25. 89. J. Frasier TO THE READER MEeting accidentally the other Day with a Passage in Heylins Geography which he sets down in these words p. 225. I will present you with a fatal Observation of the Letter H. as I find it thus versed in Albions England Not superstitiously I speak but H this Letter still Hath been observed ominous to Englands good or ill c. A sudden Conceit darted into my Thoughts from the Remembrance of former Reading that such Kings of England as were the Second of any Name proved very unfortunate Princes both to themselves and to their People Whereupon I consulted the English Chronicles and out of them I have drawn a summary Narration of the Lives and Reigns of Six Kings For the Matter of Fact I have faithfully adher'd to the History and yet I have not transcribed their Method Style or Language The Writing of this was an Entertainment for afew of my idle Hours and perhaps the Reader may be pleased to divert himself for a few Minutes in the Perusal Numerus Infaustus THE LIFE and REIGN OF WILLIAM the Second Nick-Named RVFVS THE First William gain'd England by Conquest and bequeath'd it to the Second by Will. By his Invasion he usurped the Right of his Cosin Edgar and by his Legacy he infringed that of his Heir He put out Harold the unlawful Possessor of the Kingdom and put by Robert his Lawful Successor William the Second of that Name of fewer years than his Brother but of greater Interest in the Inclinations of his Father with hasty Steps ascended the Throne entring the Royal Palace at the wrong Door He indear'd himself to the one by the resemblance of Humours and the roughness of his Temper and over-reach'd the other by the Credulity and Easiness of his Disposition Giving no more deference to the Obligation of Promises than to the Right of Primogeniture His Vows to God his Word to his Brother and his Ingagements to his Subjects were all plighted with a like sincerity and with the same Integrity observ'd and maintain'd He was positive and sturdy and that pass'd for Valour He was crafty and politick and that was reported for Wisdom He was accounted Religious when he pursued his own Temporal Advantages and was reputed prophane when he invaded the priviledges of the Church He was immeasurably covetous only in Order to the being unreasonably profuse and under the pretence of Religion he committed the greatest Acts of Enormity and Impiety His incontinency was not taken notice of because he could not transgress the Vow of Matrimony and tho' in speculations and Disputes he seem'd concern'd for Religion yet by his Actions he appear'd to be a practical Atheist The course of his Life was turbulent and uneasie and the manner of his Death violent and untimely He was no sooner mounted on the Throne but troubles arose to discompose his quiet Robert his Eldest Brother highly resenting this great Injury to be justled out of his Seat by the partiality of his Father and the Incroachment of his Brother began to think of some timely Expedients for the Recovery of his Right and being assisted in his pretensions by several of the Nobility in England as Odo Bishop of Bayeux and Earl of Kent Roger Montgomery Earl of Shrewsbury Hugh de-Grandemenil Robert Moubray Earl of Northumberland William Bishop of Durham and divers others of the Clergy and Nobility who raised great forces and possessed themselves of many considerable places the King was constrain'd to compound for his Peace by an assurance of three Thousand Marks per Annum to his Brother during Life and the Reversion of the Crown of England after his decease and by a Solemn promise to restore to the people their Ancient Laws and to indulge them the Liberty of hunting in his Forests By these condescensions he dissipated the present Storm that impended over his Head and gain'd some short Respite from his growing Troubles This Tempest was hardly allay'd in the South but fresh Clouds began to gather in the North. Malcolin King of the Scots thinking it a fit Opportunity to purvey for himself and inlarge his Borders when his Neighbour was imbroyl'd with intestine Commotions makes a sudden and furious incursion into Northumberland over-runs the Country burns and destroys all before him and returns home loaden with the spoils of the Inhabitants without the least hinderance or opposition And tho it was not long before King William was sufficiently revenged on his Invader whom he reduced to the necessity of paying the Ancient Homage due to the Crown and to give assurance of his future fidelity by New stipulations yet such an enterprise could not be accomplished without a vast expence of Treasure and a great loss of Men. The King who was very prodigal of his promises but slow and penurious in the performance neglected the payment of the Composition made with his Brother Robert whereupon he makes his Application to the King of France who presently furnish'd him with considerable supplies by which Assistance he assaulted and took several Towns in Normandy and by his success obliged King William again to raise a powerful Army and to transport them into that Country where tho by his crafty Address he avoided the Effusion of Blood and the consumption of his Forces yet he wasted his Treasure and purchased a Truce with the King of France by the mediation of Mony. And now all things were calm and quiet but not long so the Skie began to be overcast with gloomy exhalations and troubles arose upon an occasion as unusual as unnecessary Malcolin King of the Scots was a generous and magnanimous Prince and being at Peace and full Amity with his Neighbours he undertook the Toyl of a Journy as far as Gloucester to pay a Royal Visit to his Ally and Friend the King of England Who either out of a Humour Pique or Pride would not vouchsafe so much as to see him which Barbarous return to the Civility of the affronted King did so exasperate him that he posted back to his own Country made ready a powerful Army with all Expedition and again infested Northumberland Ravaging thro' the Country without Comptrol and enriching his Followers by the Ruin and desolation of harmless and unconcerned people And tho' in the prosecution of this design he lost his Life and the Life of Edward his Eldest Son and his whole Army intirely Routed and Defeated being drawn into an Ambuscade by Robert Moubray the Kings Lieutenant yet King VVilliam suffer'd a great diminution of his Honour and Fame by so unhospitable a Refusal of a common Respect to his equal in Degree
of God and Nature imploring to be excused from being made Instruments to countenance and publish the monstrous Assertion of an absolute and dispensing Power they were committed to the Tower Indicted of Misdemeanor compell'd to plead try'd by a Jury and fairly acquitted upon their Trial to the shame and confusion of their Prosecutors and to the unexpressible joy and satisfaction of the whole Nation The King hoping to establish that by a Law which he could not bring to pass by his will and power propos'd the calling of a Parliament whom that he might form to the Standard set out by the Popish Cabal he condescended to such mean shifts and such indirect practices by forestalling Mens Judgments and preingaging them against the Liberty and indifferency of their Votes and turning Men out of their Imployments who would not abjure the natural Freedom of their Reason that in mere Decency and Respect I forbear to inlarge upon it Neither will I any more than make mention of the Intrigue about the Birth of the Prince of Wales Great pains have been taken to offer convincing proofs to the World of the Legitimacy of that Child whereas there is nothing so hard to be proved as a Business of that Nature And the suspition of an Imposture has made such an Impression on common belief that an Act of Parliament in Favour of the Birth would hardly reconcile the people to a Submission The bloody Executions in the West of England upon the unhappy Abettors of the Duke of Monmouth exasperated Multitudes of People into Discontent and Mutiny but when it was reported that the King had given the Lives of so many wretched men by whole sale to his Servitors to be retail'd by them for Lucre and Profit the whole Nation was affected with that unexampled Barbarity and became seasoned with a secret Aversion to his Government The furious Drivers of the Jesuitical Plots began too late to be sensible of their mistaken Policy they had stretached the Prerogative so high that is began to crack they had by their damnable Counsel hurried the unfortunate King to the Brink of Ruin The Skie began to thicken with Clouds and Thunder was heard a far off Wherefore they began with all hast to tack about to unravel that work which with so many hands and such indefatigable industry they had been knitting Suddenly and unexpectedly a Proclamation issued to summon a Parliament with Exclusion of the Roman Catholicks soon after the Charter of London and all other Corporations was restored The Suspension of the Bishop of London taken off The Vice-Chancellor and others of Cambridg and the President and Fellows of Magdalen-Colledge in Oxford reinstated in their Places The monstrous Commission for Ecclesiastical Affairs dissolved a Proclamation set out carrying the Face of a general pardon but Squinting at and Indemnity to Papists All men were fill'd with wonder at such a hudled and surprising Alteration that the great Ministers of State should so poorly truckle to the Satisfaction of the People that the King should send for the Bishops and court them from whom a little before he would not endure the Address of an humble Petition But the Riddle was soon unfolded and the wonder was turned into an Exultation of Joy at the miraculous Revolution of Affairs The Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Prime Gentry of England sadly resenting the Invasion on their Religion Liberties and Properties observing the arbitary and despotical proceedings in Scotland beholding Ireland wholly given up to Popery and Slavery and their own Ancient Laws and establish'd Religion subverted by him who had so often and so solemnly promised the maintenance and Protection of them they began to consult of some proper and effectual means to divert the impending mischiefs and to assure the restitution of their ravish'd Freedom To this end they made application to the most illustrious Prince of Orange the Champion and Protector of the Protestant Religion imploring his Aid to rescue them from Oppression and Slavery and to save their Liberties now expiring and at the last Gap. He with a Bravery and Generosity not to be matched in any History descended to their Relief and postponing all his own Interests and Advantages with the hazard of his person and the consumption of a vast Treasure landed in England not with a mighty Army least it should look like an Invasion neither with too small a Party least he should seem pusht on by a Necessity or ingaged in a desperate undertaking The King had a great Army on Foot which was quickly increased by a considerable Addition And with appearance of great Resolution and confidence of Success he marcht from London But he soon found by a fatal Experience that the Hands of his Subjects were directed by their hearts in which having forfeited his possession he was to expect no Service or Assistance from them On the contrary the Lords and Gentlemen from all parts of the Kingdom flock'd in with their Arms and Horses to joyn their Deliverer and many Trops and Regiments of the Kings Army deserted him not enduring to be mingled among Papists or be obliged to fight against Protestants The King in this Perplexity was wholly irresolute what course to take at last he posted to London where missing his Popish Favorites whom Fear of Punishment and the Terror of an evil Conscience had utterly dissipated he did not think it fit to trust his best and truest Subjects but secretly withdrew himself in a Disguise and being by a strange Accident discoverd he was reconducted to London from whence at his own desire he was attended to Rochester but not being able to live without the Ministration of Priests and Jesuits he slipt away to the Sea side and saild for France voluntarily and without constraint abdicating the Government leaving the Throne vacant and the Body of his People without a head Here ended the Reign of James the Second too violent to last long A Prince who when he was a Subject had the Reputation of being a valiant Leader afirm Friend and an immovable Observer of his word and Promise But the Assumption of a Crown the Flatteries of a bigoted Queen the desperate Counsels of a Popish and Atheistical Cabal with a blind Perswasion of meriting Heaven by the Adventure of all he had upon Earth hath exposed him to Censure and represented him under a contrary Character Perhaps he is absolved from the guilt of his personal vices by his Confessor and he shall be acquitted of the Remembrance of them by me I have so great a Reverence for those of his nearest Blood that I shall not by the Blots of my Pen imprint a Stain on his Memory or diffuse the Tincture on his Posterity The Conclusion Thus you have a breif Epitome of the unfortunate Reigns of Six of the English Monarchs Of Which the First Broke his Neck The next Broke his Heart And every one of them Broke his Vows to God and his Promises to his Subjects The
who unanimously press the King to apply a Remedy to their Greivances in the Rere of which they urge the Banishment of Gaveston The King seing no safety in expostulation consents to their Demands and the several Articles like those of the Council of Trent are injoyn'd under an Anathema and pain of Excommunication Hereupon Gaveston was sent into Ireland but as the Chief Goovernour not as an Exile where after he â—ad stay'd a while and acted things much conducing to his Reputation King Edward not able to endure his absence or indeed to live without him remanded him home and married him to the Sister of the Earl of Glocester but Gaveston was incorrigible his Power exceeded all Limits and his expences all possibility of supply the Kings Revenue was wasted the Queens maintenance retrenched and all diverted to the accommodating the Luxury of the Favorite The Lords began to ferment in a new Discontentment and repairing to the King positively told him if he did not immediately remove Gaveston out of the Court and Kingdom they would rise in Arms against him as a perjur'd King. But he after he had strugled a while between Love and Fear condescended to his pertual Banishment making his return a capital Offence and so to be proceeded against if ever found in the Kingdom Gaveston once more is dispatcht out of England and goes to France where finding no safe Abode he past into Flanders and there meeting with no secure shelter he secretly returns to England relying on the immovable Favor of the King and the interest of the Duke of Gloucester The bewitched King received him with transports of joy and slipping out of the sight of the Lords and all other Observers betook himself to York carrying his beloved Minion with him The Lords hearing of it make after him and choosing the great and potent Earl of Lancaster for their General sent a Message to the King to deliver Gaveston into their Hands or at least to send him peremptorily out of the Kingdom But being abused by evil Counsel and disregarding the Message from the Lords he marcht from place to place seeking a sure refuge for his dear Favourite refusing to stay with the Queen who with tears beg'd his company and lodg'd him in Scarborough-Castle which being furiously assaulted by the Confederate Lords Gaveston thought it best to render himself desiring only the favour to be allow'd once to see the King's face and the King reciprocally ask'd the same Gaveston was sent under a Convoy toward Wallingford but being intercepted by the way and forced from his Guard by the Earl of Warwick after long deliberation his Head was struck off at a place call'd Blacklow In the mean time the King of Scots taking notice in how unready a posture Affaires were in England how the King remitted all case of the Government to Gaveston and that he gave himself up to Luxury and Licentiousness in a short time and with little or no opposition reduced almost all Scotland to his obedience and encouraged by that success He entred England burnt and took several Towns and being encounter'd with a splendid Army raised by King Edward more resembling a Court than a Camp and consisting of a hundred thousand men he with an Army hardly amounting to thirty thousand utterly overthrew and defeated them This misfortune was follow'd by the loss of almost all Ireland and the treacherous Rendition of Berwick which yet King Edward was in a fair way to recover had not the Earl of Lancaster discover'd his immoderate kindness to Hugh Spencer the younger whom he had substituted and embraced in the room of Gaveston and thereupon withdrew his forces from his assistance These Crosses were accompanied with the loss of Northumberland whereof all the Towns were taken or burnt by the Scots and an incredible number of Prisoners and Cattel carried into Scotland King Edward in vain attempting to seek a Reprizal and at last forced to pass over all hopes of satisfaction by the conclusion of a Truce The unhappy King postponing the affections of his Subjects to the fond love of a Darling advanced Hugh Spencer to the highest pitch of Honour and Favour committed all Affairs to his sole Administration he in perfect imitation of his Predecessor servilely complying with the Kings Humours and arrogantly insulting over the Lords They to remove this insupportable Nusance continue in Arms confederate together and send a peremptory Message to the King requiring the confirmation and execution of the Articles formerly granted otherwise threatning to constrain him by force of Arms and accordingly assembled a mighty body about Dunstable where the King then lay but by the interposition of the Prelates an Accommodation was made and all things agreed to their mutual satisfaction Soon after a Parliament was call'd wherein the King complain'd that the Lords had taken up Arms had murthered Pierce Gaveston and done him many other Affronts they on the other side justifie their Proceedings as not undertaken against but for the Preservation of his Person and the punishment of the publick Enemies of the Kingdom but the Queen with the Prelates and the Duke of Gloucester found an Expedient to qualifie these heats the Lords became humble Suitors to the King for his Grace and Pardon and he receives them kindly as dutiful and loyal Subjects But this Reconcilement not being founded in sincerity was but of a short duration The two Spencers Father and Son became intolerable in their Covetousness Oppression and Arbitrary disposal of all Affairs wherefore the Earl of Lancaster with divers other Lords entred into a new Confederacy binding themselves by Oath to live and die together in the maintenance of the Rights of the Kingdom and to procure the expulsion of the two Spencers In pursuance hereof they gather a great Army march to London and insist stoutly on their former demands to which once more the King is induced to condescend by the mediation of the Queen and the Prelates and by publick Proclamation the Spencers are banished but in a short time after the Edict was revoked they recall'd and restored to their former place and authority The wind â—â—gan now to change and by a strange caprichio of fortune the King got the Ascendent over the mutinous Lords conquered them in Battel slew many of them in the Field and put many to death by the Sword of Justice but so soon as the heat of Revenge was a little qualify'd repented of his proceeding Hitherto the miserable King received only slight wounds in the extreme parts of his Body now he received a stab at the Heart The Queen enraged to see her Husbands love diverted upon upstart Favorites and disdaining to be a Pensioner to their pleasure found a plausible Excuse to repair into France where to be revenged on her Husband for his neglect of her she continued in too scandalous a familiarity with the Lord Mortimer The King being advertised of it commanded her to return and she delaying to come he
proclaimed her and the Prince who was at that time also in France Enemies to the Kingdom banish'd them and their Adherents and strongly guarded the Seas with three Fleets to intercept their passage The Queen by the help of Foreign Friends got together a considerable Army and landed near Harwich and was presently reinforced by the conjunction of the Earl Marshal the Earl of Lancaster the Earl of Leicester and many other Lords and Bishops The King was astonish'd at the News being utterly irresolute what course to take He had no Counsellors about him but the Spencers London was not to be trusted his Army was wavering the people from all Counties flocking in to the Queen In this perplexity he secretly withdraws from the Court attended by the two Spencers and a very few others and being disappointed of his Retreat to the Isle of Lundy He hides himself in the Abby of Nethe where within a short time he was taken his Followers all apprehended and the two Spencers publickly and ignominiously executed and himself committed to the custody of the Earl of Leicester After Christmas a Parliament was call'd wherein it was agreed to Depose the King and set up his Son who refusing to take the Crown unless his Father would freely resign it the poor King as tamely surrender'd the Scepter as he had before unworthily weilded it and having formally renounced and abdicated the Government and the Speaker of the Parliament renounced all Allegiance to him in the Name of the whole Kingdom he was taken from the Earl of Leicester from whom his Enemies thought he had too kind usage and being hurried from place to place and wearied with all manner of severity and indignity wasted by starving tormented by noisome stinks and attempted by Poyson he was at last barbarously and inhumanely stifled to death between two Pillows The Murder being disavow'd by the Queen the Executioners of it fled and died miserably THE LIFE and REIGN OF RICHARD the Second IF Magnanimity Valour Piety Gentleness Liberty and other Heroick and Princely Qualities were communicable by Generation if vertue could be intayl'd If the gifts of the mind descended by Inheritance or were demisable hy Will or inseparably annex'd to the Body no man could ever have a juster Pretension to Glory and Fame than Richard the Second the only Son of that incomparable Hero Edward the black Prince and grand Son of that most illustrious and victorious Edward the Third But Children do not always resemble the Features of the Father to the great shame and scandal of the Mother Wit and Vigor are seated in the Brain and Children are not begotten by the Head. Richard was a Child at the death of his Father and never acted like a man during his own Life A Crown was too heavy a Load for his tender Brows and the Reflection of its Brightness daizled his Eyes The Transactions of State during his Minority are not to be the Subject of my Recital since the Event of all Affairs that were prosperous is to be imputed to the Conduct of his Guardians and where any Accidents interrupted his Prosperity it ought not to be attributed to his misfortune I shall therefore pass over such Occurrences as are recounted by Historians during his pupillage and begin my Remarks at that Period when he assumed the Regal Government And first he deposed the Lord Scroop from his Chancellor-Ship because he refused to seal some extravagant grants made by the King and receiving the Seal from his Hands he kept it for a certain Time and with it seal'd such Grants and Writings as he thought fit at his own absolute will and pleasure His Army sent against France commanded by the Bishop of Norwich was not very prosperous but laying Seige to Ypres as they past through Flanders were forced by the Power of a French Army coming to their Relief to raise the Seige and retreat And tho the Bishop advised the King to lay hold on that Opportunity to try the Fortune of a Battle with the French and he pretended over Night to be in a mighty hast and Eagerness to ingage in that enterprise yet in the Morning the Humor was off and consulting his own ease and safety he appointed the Duke of Lancaster to go on that Inployment who spinning out the Time with dilatory Preparations till the Bishop was return'd the Project was disappointed the undertaking came to Nothing and the Dispute was ended in a short lived Truce Neither did the Expedition into Scotland tend to the Honour of the King or Advantage of the Kingdom for the Scots having made Incursions into England taken and burnt divers Towns upon the Borders and enriched themselves by a general depredation of the Country The Duke of Lancaster with the Earl of Buckingham was dispatcht with a mighty Army to repress them but having entred Scotland and not being able by any Art or Stratagem to provoke the Scots to Battel they returned without obtaining any further Satisfaction then a suitable Revenge in burning and destroying many Towns there And tho a truce was made with the Scots yet without any Regard to the Stipulation they again entred the Borders and took Berwick But now the unfortunate King began to form Plots against his own honour and Quiet for being incensed against the Duke of Lancaster whether upon real or upon imaginary Provocations a design was laid to have that great man Arrested and arraign'd of Treason before Sir Robert Tresilian chief Justice tho by the Law of the Land his Tryal ought to have been by his Peers and it is easie to imagin what would have been the Issue of such irregular Proceedings but the Duke having timely intimation of the mischief and contrivance against him withdrew himself opportunely to his Castle of Pomfret where he stood upon his guard till by the laborious travel and powerful intercession of the Kings Mother tho by reason of her Corpulency she was most un-fit for such an Imployment the King was pacified and reconciled to the Duke The Scots still meditating Revenge and the French King still ready to foment the quarrel prepared for a fresh Invasion of England and receiving auxiliary Ayds of great Number and strength from the French once more entred the English Borders King Richard receiving Advertisement of it with great Speed rais'd a mighty Army and marching in Person at the Head of them entered Scotland burnt Edingburgh proceeding without Control but could by no means draw the Scots to Battle they in the mean Time to divert the Kings progress made a descent into Cumberland and Besieged Carlisle to the relief of which the King approaching with so formidable an Army obliged the Scots to retreat into their own Country and upon their Recess the King returned into England bringing with him neither Honour nor Advantage by so fruitless an Expedition After these things and some other passages not so directly appertaining to the History of his Life King Richard began to hasten his own