that our History may appear to be all of a piece and void of Breaks as much as may be Walter therefore had a Son named Alane who as they say follow'd Godfrey of Bullogn into the Holy Land in the Year 1099. Alexander was his Son who begat Walter Stuart he had Issue Alexander whose Son was John the Father of Walter Stuart that marry'd the Daughter of King Robert Bruce and begat on her Robert Stuart call'd in the Scotch Chronology Robert the second King of Scotland but he was the first Stuart that was advanced to the Throne of that Kingdom But before we can fairly come to give you an exact Account hereof it will be necessary to premise a short Scheme of the Contests between the said Baliol and Bruce because somewhat interwoven with the Affair of this Family Upon the disastrous death of Alexander the Third who broke his Neck as he was gallopping his Horse at Kingcorn over the West-clift of the place near the Sea-side and left no Issue but had only a Grand-child by his Daughter in Norway very young and who died soon after Scotland fell under an Interregnum for the space of six Years and nine Months as Buchanan computes it for so long it was between the Death of Alexander and the declaring of John Baliol King of Scotland and in the mean time you may be sure there wanted not Pretensions to the Crown and the case briefly was thus William King of Scotland had a Brother named David Earl of Huntington and great Uncle to this Alexander the III. which David had three Daughters Margaret marry'd to Allan Lord of Gallaway Isabel to Robert Bruce Lord Annadale and Cleveland and Adda to Henry Hastings Earl of Huntington now Allane begat on his Wife Margaret a Daughter named Dornadilla marry'd in process of time to John Baliol after King of Scotland and two other Daughters Bruce by his Wife Isabel had Robert Bruce Earl of Carrick as having married the Inheritrix thereof but as for Huntington he laid no manner of Claim Now the question was whether Baliol in right of the eldest Daughter or Robert Bruce being descended of the second but a Male should have the Crown he being in the same Degree and of the more worthy Sex The Controversie was tossed up and down by the Governors and Nobles of the Kingdom for a long time but at last upon serious deliberation it was agreed to refer the whole matter to the decision of Edward the I. King of England which he was not a little glad of For resolving to fish in these troubled Waters he stirs up eight Competitors more that he might further puzzle the Cause and at length with twenty four Councellors half Scots half English and a great many Lawyers so handled the Business that after a great many cunning delays he secretly tampers with Bruce who was then conceiv'd to have the better Right of the Business that if he would acknowledge to hold the Crown of him he would adjudge it in favour of him But he generously answering That he valued a Crown at a less rate than for the wearing of the same to put his Country under a Foreign Yoke Edward turns about and makes the same motion to Baliol who did not stick to accept of it Baliol having thus gotten a Crown as unhappily kept it for he was no sooner invested with it and done Homage to King Edward according to Agreement but the Aberthenys having slain Mackduff Earl of Fife he not only pardon'd them the Fact but gave them a piece of Land that was in Controversie between them Whereupon Mucduff's Brother being enraged makes a Complaint of him to King Edward who sent for him used him so that he made him rise from his Seat at Parliament and go to the Bar and answer for himself He hereupon was so enraged at this manner of Usage that when King Edward sent to him for Assistance against the French he absolutely refused it and proceeded so far as to renounce his Homage to him This incensed King Edward to the quick and so with an armed Power he hastens to Berwick where he routed the Scots took and kill'd to the number of Seven Thousand of them among them most of the Nobility of Fife and Lowthian and some time after gave them also a great Overthrow at Dunbar which occasion'd the immediate surrender of the Castle of the said place into his Hands After this he marches to Montross where Baliol was brought to resign up both himself and his Crown to King Edward all the Scotch Nobility at the same time doing him Homage The Consequence whereof was that Baliol was sent Prisoner to London and from thence after a Years detention into France But while Edward was possess'd of all Scotland one William Wallace arose who tho' but a private Man bestirred himself in the publick Calamity of his Country and gave the English several notable Foyls This brought King Edward into Scotland again with an Army and falling upon Wallace routs him who was overcome with Emulation and Envy from his Countrymen as well as power from the Enemy upon which he laid by his Command and never acted after but by slight Incursions but the English Army after this being beaten at Roslin Edward comes in again and takes Sterling and makes them all render him Homage Robert Bruce Son to the foresaid Bruce that contested with Baliol for the Crown was in King Edward's Court and him the King had often promised to put in possession of the Crown But Bruce finding at last that all his promises were illusory and nothing but smoak he enters into a Confederacy with John Cummin sirnamed the Red how he might get the Kingdom but being basely betray'd by him to King Edward he had much ado to make his escape and when he was got into Scotland the first thing he did was to stab Cummin at Drumâ—reis and then got himself Crown'd King at Scone Never did any Man come with greater disadvantage to the possession of a Crown or underwent greater Hardships for the sake of it He was beaten over and over by King Edward's Troops forced to flee to the Highlands with one Companion or two and to lurk in the Mountains in great misery as if he had been rather a Beast of prey than a rational Creature And while he was in this miserable State it is storied of him by Fourdon That being in a Morning lying down on his Bed in a little Cottage whither he was glad to retire and make the same his Pallace he espies a Spider striving to climb up into her Web which she had spun to the roof of the House but failing of her purpose the first time she attempts it the second and third time and so on to the sixth and last wherein she accomplishes it and gets in the King who as well as his Companion had all the while view'd the Action said Now let 's get up and hasten to the Lowlands to try our Fortunes
once more we have attempted it in five rencounters already and fail'd but in the sixth we shall prevail and so having gather'd some Force together he advanced towards Sterling where he gave Edward the II. who was then King of England such a Defeat as Scotland never gave the like to our Nation and so continued War with various Fortune with Edward the III. till at last Age and Leprosie brought him to his Grave But some time before his Death he got the Crown settled upon his Son David then a Child and for want of his having Issue upon Robert Stuart his Sister's Son and this by Act of Parliament and the Nobles sware to it accordingly His Son David of between eight and nine Years old inherited that which he had with so much Difficulty and Danger obtain'd and wisdom kept He was in his Minority govern'd by Thomas Randolf Earl of Murrey whose severity in punishing was no less dreaded than his Valour had been honoured but he soon after dying of Poyson and Edward Baliol the Son of John coming with a Fleet and being strengthned with the assistance of the English and some Robbers the Governor the Earl of Mar was put to the Rout so that Baliol makes himself King and David was glad to retire into France Amidst these Parties Edward the III. backing of Baliol Scotland was pitifully torn and the Bruces in a manner extinguished till Robert Stuart afterward King of Scotland with the Men of Argyle and his own Friends and Family began to renew the claim and brought the Matter into a War again which was carry'd on by Andrew Murray the Governor and afterward by himself so that David after nine Years Exile adventured to return where making frequent Incursions he did at length in the fourth year after his Return march into England and in the Bishoprick of Durham was routed and fled to an obscure Bridge shewed by the Inhabitants to this day where he was taken Prisoner by John Copeland and continued so for the space of eleven Years Soon after his Releasment and Return home he calls a Parliament wherein he enacted several Laws for the punishment of such as had fled from him at the Battle of Durham and more particularly levelling at Robert Stuart as being one of them who had been the Cause of that great Overthrow He got that Act passed in his Father's time whereby the Crown was appointed for want of Issue of his Body lawfully begotten to descend to the said Robert Stuart to be repeal'd and John Southerland Son to Jane his youngest Sister made Heir apparent in his stead and the Nobility swore to the observance of the said Law This made the Earl of Southerland so confident of the matter that he gave almost all his Lands away among his Friends and Acquaintance But alas he was wretchedly mistaken for his Son being afterwards one of those sent as Hostages into England for the security of the payment of King David's Ransom he died there of the Plague and Robert Stuart attain'd the King's Favour again and succeeded as Heir to the Crown being the first of the Name of the Stuarts that ever sway'd a Scepter But things did not go on so smoothly with Robert Stuart upon the Death of Southerland his Competitor first and of King David afterward but that he met with another Rub in his way from William Earl of Dowglas who when the Lords were assembled at Lithguo about the Succession came thither with a great Power and urged he ought to be preferr'd before Stuart as being descended from the Baliols and Cummins But finding at length that his own Friends and particularly the Earls of March and Murray his Brethren with the Lord Erskein who all three were in great power as being Governors one of Dunbritton another of Sterling and the third of Edinburg opposed him he thought it most advisable to desist from his Claim And so Robert Stuart was Crown'd at Scone on Lady-day in the Year 1370. being the 47th Year of his Age. But that Dowglas might be a little soothed up under his present Disappointment and kept from disturbing the common Tranquillity the King bestows Euphemia his eldest Daughter in Marriage upon him Whether it were thro' an advanced Age or Sloth we find he did but little since his Accession to the Crown but his Lieutenants and the English were perpetually in action during the course of his Reign which was according to Buchanan nineteen Years and four and twenty Days And tho' it's true we do not find his Death to have been violent or any ways accelerated by Grief of Heart but natural in an old age having lived seventy-four Years yet surely he laid the Foundation for the many Parricides Fratricides and other dreadful Calamities that befel his Posterity in a very great measure by preferring his Illegitimate Children by Elizabeth Moor his Concubine before those he had lawfully begotten on Euphemia Ross his Wife And the Case was briefly thus At the time of his attaining the Crown the foresaid Euphemia Daughter to Hugh Earl of Ross was his lawful Wife by whom he had two Sons Walter afterward created Earl of Atholl and David Earl of Strathern but before he was married he kept one Elizabeth Mure for so the Scotch write the Name as his Concubine and had by her three Sons John Earl of Carrick Robert Earl of Mentâ—ith and Fife and Alexander Earl of Buchan with several Daughters Now Queen Euphemia departed this Life three Years after her Husband became King who forthwith marry'd Elizabeth Mure his old Paramour either to legitimate the Children he had by her which it seems was the manner in those days or else for old acquaintance her Husband Gifford for you must know he had got her matched to cover her shame dying about the same time as the Queen had done This step drew on another and there was no stoping now but the Children formerly begotten on this Woman in Adultery must have the Crown entailed upon them by Parliament in prejudice to the other two who by any thing that appears in History were finer Gentlemen and fitter as they had a juster Claim to govern then either of these I know the Lord Viscount Tarbert in a late Pamphlet has taken upon him to vindicate the Legitimacy of Moor's Children against all the Authority of the Scotch Historians who lived at or near those times and ever since who could not be ignorant of so material a thing as this and to this end he Cites several Records It 's not my business to answer his allegations but I am sure the Records would never have named John that afterwards succeeded Tanquam haeres if he had been true and undoubted Heir And so I leave any one to judge if the Records do not thereby make much more against his Legitimacy than it does for it But right or wrong the Sluts Will must be gratified and so John succeeds his Father in the Scottish Kingdom but not by the
the very Practice of Richard the III toward Henry Stafford Duke of Buckingham and therefore in order to put his projected Design in execution he invites him together with his Son Fleance to a supper which he had prepared for them They suspecting no Treachery in the matter made no scruple to come and feasted merrily and when all was over prepared to return to their own Lodgings but they were on their way thither without the Pallace-Gates to prevent the suspition of the King 's having any Hand in it assaulted by several Russians whom he had hired for that purpose who slew the Father outright But the Son thro' the favour of the dark Night happily escaped and being sensible of the danger he was in if he stay'd in Scotland from the Jealousie and Malice of Mackbeth who he was now fully satisfied had contrived the Murder of his Father tho' the other endeavour'd all he could to suppress it and make appear it was only a matter of chance he fled into Wales He had not been there long but that he grew into great Favour and Esteem with Trahern Prince of that part of the Country call'd Northwales but into far greater Intimacy and even to an unlawful Familiarity with his Daughter so as that she was got with Child by him which at length coming to the Ears of her Father he was so enraged with the Dishonour done to his Family by this Fugitive and so sensibly touch'd with his Violation of the Rules of Hospitality that nothing less would satisfie him than his Blood and so he slew him The Daughter he also severely used who was at last brought to Bed of a Son whom they named Walter who tho' but meanly Educated by his Grandfather's Commandment did notwithstanding prove to be a Person of high Resolution and expert in Business This Walter having on a time happen'd to fall out with one of his Companions occasion'd chiefly by the other 's reproaching of him with his illegitimacy and calling him Bastard he became so enraged thereat that he flew upon him and slew him outright But bethinking himself immediately of what he had done with the great danger he was in if he stay'd any longer in the Country he resolv'd to flee and make the best of his way for Scotland his Father 's native Country where he had not long arrived but he happen'd into the Company of some English Gentlemen come thither to attend Queen Margaret Wife to Milcolm King of Scotland and Sister to Edgar Atheline Kinsman and right Heir to Edward the Confessor and behaved himself so orderly and with such a winning Conversation that he became highly esteem'd of them This by degrees made way for him to attain the King's favour who entertain'd so good an Opinion of him that when in some time after Tumults and some popular Disorders had happen'd in the parts about Galloway and the adjacent Islands he thought fit to entrust him with the Care of that Affair and Walter was so successful in his Enterprize that he quickly suppress'd the Disorders slew the Captain and Ringleaders of those Commotions and reduced that part of the Country into a very good Decorum and Order I do not find the King ever restor'd him to the Inheritance of his Grandfather Bancho and the Thaneship of Lochquaber but however it was he was so far satisfied with his Conduct and so fully sensible of the Service he had done him that he bestowed a new Dignity upon him which was that of Steward of Scotland This was an English term and the English frequenting that Kingdom so much at that time by reason of their Concourse to and Attendance upon Queen Margaret together with some other concurring Accidents might be the occasion of the Introduction of it It was no doubt a considerable power he was entrusted with by virtue of this new Office but I do not think it much different as to the nature of it but only in respect to its extent from that of Thane which Term and Office annext to it because so often mention'd already and may perhaps more hereafter I shall endeavour a little to explicate and I hope the Reader will think it no impertinent Digression Thane therefore is derived by some from the old Saxon word Thegn which cometh of Thenian i. e. Ministrare alicui and made to signifie sometime a Nobleman sometime a Freeman another while a Magistrate and sometime an Officer or Minister thus Mr. Lambert in his Exposition of Saxon Words interprets it Vavasour's Explication of it is much to the same purpose but Skene de verborum Significatione saith that it is the name of a Dignity and appears to be equal with the Son of an Earl and that Thanus was a Freeholder holding his Lands of the King hence Thanagium Regis signified a certain part of the King 's or property whereof the Rule and Government appertainâ—d to him who therefore is called Thane he is opinion it is originally a Dutch word deduced from Teiner a Servant and Teinâ—â— to serve and therefore may signifie a Servant as an Vnderthane does an inferiour Thane or Subject he further adds that when a Person was accused of Theft but not in the Fang that is as we say with the manner of it there being no sufficient proof brought against him he was oblig'd to purge himself by the Oath of seven and twenty Men and of three Thanes and so much shall suffice concerning the name and office of Thane To return therefore to our designed story you are first to note by way of Recapitulation the bloody Foundation that has been laid here Bancho the Grandfather conspiring with Mackbeth to imbrue his Hands in the innocent Blood of Duncane his lawful and rightful Prince and that not long done when the same fate attended himself and that by the contrivance of his own bloody Associate as a just reward of his Treason Fleance the Son upon this forced to flee his native Country there ungratefully defiling that Prince his Daughter who cherished him in his Bosom but now as a Monster of Ingratitude he rid his Country and the Earth of him at the same time by a violent and tragical Death and lastly Walter the Grandson but base born was forced to the same shift as his Father before him tho' with a better Fate the one being under a necessity to forsake his native soil to avoid being barbarously as well as injuriously murder'd by a jealous-headed Tyrant but the other to shun the Justice of his Country that cried out for Vengeance against him for shedding of Blood Walter being vested in the high Office aforesaid left his Title and Dignity for a sirname to his Family ever after and from hence forward we find but little mention either of him or his Posterity till the contest between the Bruce's and Baliol's about the Crown of Scotland which was above Two Hundred Years after We shall therefore only endeavour to give you the Genealogy down to the said time
for Spectacle did not inordinately break forth into any bitter Words but only said with a calm Temper If the faults were true which have been laid to their Charge the King had done nothing but what is Right and Just unto them As this King's Reign was usher'd in with the foresaid Troubles it continued to be in a ferment upon other Accounts and particularly for the great Pension raised for his Ransom and for raising of other Moneys which tho' the Revenues were exhausted was interpreted Covetousness in him But in the thirteenth and last Year of his Reign a sharp Rencounter happening between Henry Percy and William Dowglas Earl of Angus at a place call'd Piperden in the Kingdom of Scotland James thinking himself injured hereby by the English as the Scotch Historians write but Hall and Graston charge him home with Ungratitude herein raises a great Army and lays Siege to the Castle of Roxborough but when as the Scotch write he had almost brought his Work to Perfection and that the besieged began to capitulate about surrendring of the place the Queen in all haste came to the Camp and acquainted him there was a horrid Conspiracy framed against his Life and conjured him to use all the Precautions imaginable to secure himself The King was surprized with the Message he forthwith raised the Siege and returned home to provide for his better safety tho' all avail'd little But that you may have a clearer Idea of the whole Matter we must a little look back and tell you again that Robert II. had three Sons by his Concubine whom he afterward married and so settled the Crown upon them to the Exclusion of his two legitimate Sons by his Queen Euphemia Ross who were Walter Earl of Athol and David Earl of Strathern Now these two tho' they found themselves injured by such a Preference of an illegitimate Race before them Yet being inferiour both in Years and Wealth they dissembled their Resentment for the present The Death also of the Earl of Strathern weakned their Hands who left one only Daughter behind him who was given in Marriage to Patrick Graham a noble Youth and a most potent and illustrious Family as any in that Age on whom he begat Melisse Graham whose Parents did not long survive And the Child not many Years after being then a Stripling was sent into England among those who were Hostages till the Money for the Kings Ransom were discharg'd and paid But Atholl tho' he were every ways inferior to the opposite Faction yet ever made it his Business to take off his Kindred and did not lay aside his Hopes of recovering the Crown and because he was not capable of doing any thing by open force he craftily sowed Discord among them and so plied the Matter that as has been already in some measure set forth a very numerous Family were reduced to a few for the most part by his Council For many were of Opinion that it it was by his Contrivance that David Duke of Rothsay King Robert's Son was cut off neither had James escap'd his Snares unless he had spent the greatest part of his Life in England far from his reach He would have encouraged the Earl of Fife to seise upon the Kingdom taxing his Brother with Slothfulness and fit to be taken off and when the King having now no Children to succeed him for James was then a Prisoner in England and obnoxious to the Pleasure of his Brother had suddenly died of Grief there was only the Governor now and his Children that impeded his Hopes But when Robert the Governor was dead and his Son John kill'd at the Battle of Vernole in France he re-assumed his former Thoughts with greater Vigour and strain'd all his Wits to compass the same first by getting of King James released and then contriving Duke Mordo's and his Children's Death and since it was almost inconsistent that all these should subsist and be safe together he foresaw that which soever fell of them he was one degree nearer to the Crown Therefore when James was at last return'd to his Country he set all his Engines on work to hasten Mordo's death finds out fit tools to bear Testimony against him and set himself as Judge upon him and his Children and when they also were cut off there was only King James and a young Son of six Years old that stood in the way and when he by a conjuration of the Nobility were once removed the Earl did not doubt but himself who was the only surviving Person of the Royal Stem should be advanced to the Throne Atholl therefore I say being night and day agitated with such Considerations did however keep all his Designs close and secret and thro' a counterfeit Zeal for the King's Welfare made it his Business to cut off his Relations and Friends and more especially to advance his own Estate by the Misfortune and Crimes of other Men and so to lessen his Adversaries In the mean time King James to further his own Misfortune deprived Melisse Graham who we have said was one of the Hostages in England of the Earldom of Strathern alledging it was bestowed on his Grandfather of the maternal side and his Masculine Line and for want of such Issue to revert to the Crown The Misfortune of the young Man induced many to commiserate his Case but made Robert his Guardian almost stark mad and so being more impatient of the Injury offer'd to his Kinsman stuck not to accuse the King openly of unjustice and being cited to appear to make his defence but did not a Sentence of Banishment pass'd against him This did but enrage him more and more and his whole Business seem'd to be to engage others who had been injur'd in their own Persons or Friends to entertain the same Sentiments of the King in respect to his Avarice and Cruelty as he had done but it had been well if he had rested here You have heard before how the King was advertised of a Conspiracy against him at Roxborough and how the King to obviate the same retired home and took up his Lodgings in the Convent of the Dominicans at Perth and what Designs Walter Earl of Atholl had been hatching from time to time Now this Walter the King's Uncle tho' he were Principall Author and Contriver of the Conspiracy yet he did his utmost endeavour to put off all manner of Suspition of it from himself therefore he privily sends for and discourses with Robert Graham afore-mentioned who as being an active bold rash Man and an hater of the King upon account of his own Imprisonment and â—anishment and the Injury done to his Nephew by divesting of him of the Earldom of Strathern he thought to be a Person most fit for his purpose and with him he engaged his own Grandson Robert Stuart a stout hardy Youth who readily engaged in the Work He instructs them what they were to do assured them of his favour when the Fact was perpetrated
Man as the Chancellor and without delay raises Forces and Besieges him in Edenburg Castle He perceiving the danger had no other way left but to send to the Earl of Dowglass for his Assistance Dowglass disdains them both and would not be concerned The Chancellor seeing this agrees with the Governor and he was still to keep the Castle and his Chancellorship Not long after died Dowglass and was succeeded by his Son William who kept a greater port and retinue than his Father But things could not hold long in this State for the Chancellor disdaining that the Governor should take the whole Administration upon him leaves him and the King at Sterling where he then was and repairs to Edenburg and there imploys all his Wits how he might recover the King from the Governor and after he had well thought of it he rides one morning with four and twenty Men in his Company to the Park of Sterling where he knew the King was a Hunting and that the Governor was absent at Perth He found the King with a very small retinue and saluted him very dutifully and finding him in some surprize at the Company he exhorted him in a few words as the time would permit to be of good cheer and fear nothing that they were come to deliver him from his Captivity that he might be no longer under the Government of another but take the Administration into his own hands and much to the same purpose All which the King received with a pleasant aspect either because the motion pleased him as desirous to Rule or to dissemble the fear he had of the Chancellor and so went with him to Edenburg The Governor upon his return was horribly surprized at the News but being now unable to remedy the matter by the means of friends he and the Chancellor came to an Accommodation again and the result was that the Governor should still continue in his Office and the King remain in the keeping of the Chancellor as at first So that the freedom before tendred to him and with which he seem'd to be well pleas'd was now but a meer illusion being as much a Captive as ever And if the King was no better for this Agreement It proved fatal to the Earl of Dowglass Both Governor and Chancellor dreading his power now conbine together to ruine him and to that End a Parliament must be called where several Complaints were made against Dowglass and his followers But they two perswade the Parliament to send for the Earl in a friendly manner and not as a delinquent to take his place in that Assembly And by the Governors contrivance Honourable Letters were directed to him in the Name of them all full of soothing expressions intimating his own Person was so far from being in any danger by such his attendance in Parliament that if any of his Friends or Family had chanced to be guilty of any disorders all should be frankly remitted This bait took the young Gentleman and so with his Brother David and an handsom retinue sets forward for Edenburg the Chancellor the better to cloak the Treachery rode out many miles from Edenburg to meet him Caressed and Entertained him splendidly on the way at the Castle of Creichton and to blind him the more there in the most friendly and tender manner in the World began to advise the Earl in what concerned his Duty towards his Prince and the Honour and Glory of his Family and this showed him on to Edenburg tho' things could not be carried on so coverlly between the Governor and Chancellor in the management of this intrigue but that some of the Earls Friends began to smell a Rat and advised him not to go to Edenburg But finding him quite averse to Counsel and void of all suspicion they urged him to send his Brother David back to the End he might not hazard the whole Family under the fortune of one stroke as his Father had before admonished him upon his Death-Bed But all in vain and so to Edenburg Castle they came where the Governor meets him and Carressed him highly and because he should now think his Entertainment every ways suitable to the semblance made of it all along he was set to Dine at the King's Table but latet Angus in herba the Earl before he hâ—d well half Din'd was strangely surprized with the sight of a Bulls Head set before him which in those Days was a certain sign of Death whereat being about to rise from the Table he and his Brother David were immediately seized by Armed men set there for that purpose carried into the Court yard and there forthwith beheaded It was said the King in whose presence this was done and who now was entring into years of Maturity and Discretion lamented his Death bitterly for which the Chancellor severely rebuked him but however it was in this case it 's most certain he afterwards most barbarously murdered one of this Earls Successors with his own hands as you 'l see by and by This Earl of Dowglass was Succeeded in his Estate and Honours by his Unkle James Dowglass Baron of Abercorn who is Succeeded by his Son William who to prevent the division of the Inheritance Married the only Sister of the last William Beheaded who was Stiled the fair Maid of Gallaway This Earl flourishing in Estate and Honours and finding the King take the Administration of the Government upon himself came to Sterling and in a short time grew into high Favour with him insomuch that through his perswasion the Chancellor and Governor were not only discharged from their Offices but put out of the Council and their Friends banished the Court and themselves Summoned to appear before the King and upon default proclaimed Rebels so that now the Tables are quite turn'd Dowglass Rules all and the King suffers minority under him in his Just Age as he really did under the others during his nonage himself and his Kindred and Friends possessing all places of profit and Preferment in the Kingdom But the Earl having I know not what crochet in his brain must needs go into Italy and a Noble retinue he had with him but leaves his Estate during his absence to be managed by his Brother the Earl of Ormond His back was no sooner turned but his Enemies set all their Engines on work to put him out of the Kings Favour and good Esteem and prevailed so far upon him as to put out an unreasonable Summons requiring the Earl to appear within forty Days or else he should be put to the Horn and so his Lands were seized on to the Kings hands The Earl being advertised hereof returns with all speed and was again received into Favour But happening to go into England without leave this incensed the King highly against him yet upon submission was again reconciled But there was nothing could reconcile him and the Chancellor Creichton envy brought them to make attempts upon each other's life and at last the Earl
the King of England who was a valiant Prince and of an high stomach and appeared for the time to have an upright meaning his occasions pressing him thereto And that having but one only Daughter and being himself grown fat and corpulent there were but small hopes of his having any more Children and that therefore it was his undoubted interest to hold a good correspondence with him being his Sisters Son nearest of Blood and ablest to maintain and unite the whole Island of Britain That the detention of King James I. in England was a far different case and desired him to consider what bad success the King his Father had in making War against the K. of England his Brother That that was but too manifestly felt by all the Subjects and that little better was to be looked for if a new and unnecessary War were begun by his refusing to be at the intended meeting at York This Speech was sufficient to convince him had not his Stars inclined him otherwise as his true interest to conform himself to the Will of his Uncle King Henry However for the present he was mightily pleased with it and seemed resolved to follow thâ— Treasurers advice And at his first meeting with the Prelates who â—arried then a very great sway in the Country he could not contain himself any longer when they came to him hoping to find their Plots put in excution But after many sharp words and expostulations that they should advise him to use such cruelty upon so many Noble Men and Barons to the endangering of his own repose he said Wherefore gave my Predecessors so many Lands and Rents to the Kirk was it to maintain Hawks Dogs and Whores for a Company of Idle Priests The K. of England Burns the K. of Denmark Beheads you I shall stick you with this Whinyard And thereupon whips out his Dagger which made them all scour out of his presence with trembling hearts the King declaring himself resolved to keep his promise aforesaid with his Unkle esteeming it now both his Honour and Interest so to do This procedure of the King struck a terrible damp upon the Prelates Spirits who found themselves now in a very desperate state However not to be wanting to themselves and cause they began again to re-assume some Courage and enter upon Consultation how to gain the King back again to their bow and knowing that money was a bait that seldom failed and would be very likely to catch him they make an offer in the first place to pay him yearly out of the Rents of the Church the sum of Fifty Thousand Crowns for the maintenance of some Regular Troops besides the ordinary Subjects which obeyed his Proclamation in case the King of England made War upon Scotland upon the King's failure to keep the appointment at York Yet they concluded that unless the matter was proposed and favourably interpreted to the King by such as had his Ear that would not do the business Wherefore they made very liberal Gifts unto the K. Familiar Servants with an Additional promise to Oliver Sinclar that they would procure him to be advanced to great Honours and made General of the whole Army against England in case King Henry intended to make War against their Nation which they affirmed he neither would nor durst do having already so many Irons in the fire Having laid this project they proceed to put it in Execution and so communicated the same to the Minions of the Court which was cheerfully agreed to by them who by their vile flattery obtained the greatest favour But the chief bait they laid for the King and wrought their Ends by was by alluring of pretty Women to him each striving to be the first that should advertise him whose Daughter such an one was and how she might be obtained But the Treasurers presence whom they feared and knew to be a man of Resolution very much obstructed their Designs wherefore a convenient opportunity was to be attended for in his absence from Court which happened not long after For the King had given the Ward and Marriage of Kelley in the County of Angus to his second Son and he went thither to take possession thereof Thereupon they fall to work make their proposals to the King which were stoutly backed by Oliver Sinclar and such of the Clergy as had best acquaintance at Court and especially at the time when they gratifyed his Lust with mens Wifes and Maidens as before noted and with all this oyling they found him at last pretty plyable and this induced them to lay hold of the opportunity to ruin the Treasurer whom they suspected to be the only Remora of their whole Design And therefore they lay before him how that he was turned Heretick and had always a new Testament in English in his Pocket and besides that through his Majesties favour he was grown so high and so proud that there was no enduring of him but withal so extream covetous that he was the unfitest man alive for that Office and overbold for procuring of the King the Ward of Kelley for his second Son which was worth Twenty Thousand Pounds But to this the King Answered That he looked upon his Treasurer to be a plain honest Gentleman that he loved him so well at that he would give him again the said Ward and Marriage for a Word of his Mouth The Prior of Pittenweem a cunning Fox replies Sir the Heiress of Kelley is a jolly fair Lass and I dare venture my life that if your Majesty will send for her presently he will refuse to send her But the King affirmed still the contrary till at last they procured him to send actually for the young woman and the Prelates and their faction contrived it so that the said Prior of Pittenweem should carry the Letter and Conduct the young woman back to the King But when he came the Treasurer who knew him to be his deadly Enemy refused to deliver her Alledging the said Prior to have been all his days a vile Whore-master having deflowred several Virgins and so thought him unfit for such a charge This was what the Prior wanted and so very Joyfully he returns with the Answer to the King to whom together with his wicked associates he handled the matter with that finess and industry that he rendered the Treasurer very obnoxious to him and far as that he granted a Warrant to commit him into Custody within Edenburg Castle which they forgot not to do as soon as ever he came to Court But the Treasurer suspecting some eviâ— practises against him during his absence thought no way so proper and effectuall for his security as to get with all diligence into the Kings presence which notwithstanding all their Conspiracies he effected and found him at Supper But when he came there the King looked down and would neither speak to him nor know him whereat he was not a little concerned However he would not put the matter up
during the others Life and some time after an interview between both Queens was appointed to be at York but some accidents fell out that prevented it and though the Queen of Scots was afterwards detained in England for so many years together the causes whereof we are now a going to shew you yet they never saw one another all their days and because the Story of David Rizzio has so great a Connection with the Misfortunes of this Queen it will be necessary in this place to give you the Particulars of it This David Rizzio was born at Turin in Savoy his Father an honest poor Man that got a mean livelihood for himself and his Family by Teaching the Elements of Musick and having no other Patrimony to leave his Children he made them all of both Sexes skillful Musicians David was one of the number who being in the Prime of his Youth and having an excellent Voice was by his Skill in Musick raised up to the hopes of a better Fortune he went first to Nice where the Duke of Savoy then kept his Court but meeting with no entertainment there conformable to his hopes and contriving every way how to relieve him in his Penury he light upon one Morretius who by the Dukes Command was then preparing to go for the Kingdom of Scotland whom he followed thither but Morretius being himself a Man of no great Fortune and looking upon his Service as useless and unnecessary David resolved to stay in Scotland and try his Fortune there especially because he understood the Queen delighted in Musick and was not ignorant of the Rudiments thereof her self whereupon to make way into her Presence he first dealt with her Musicians of whom many were French to admit him to be one of their Society which they did and having plaid his part once or twice was liked very well whereupon he was introduced to be one of their Set or Company and he so complied with the Queen's Humour that what by flattering of her and what by undermining of others he grew into high Favour with her and into the extream Hatred of his Fellows neither did he Content himself with this favourable blast of Fortune but he held his equals in Contempt and by sundry Accusations wormed them out of their places and began to Treat about Matters of State and at last was made Secretary and by that means had private Converse with the Queen apart from others The sudden advance of this Man from a low and almost beggerly State to such Power Wealth and Grandeur afforded matter of Discourse to the People his Fortune was far above his Virtue and his Arrogance and Contempt of his Equals and Contention with Superiours did far exceed his Fortune and this Vanity and Madness of the Man was much augmented by the flattery of the Nobility who sought his Friendship Courted him and admired his Judgment walked before his Lodgings observing his Egress and Regress but the Earl of Murray alone the Queen 's base Brother but a Man of Virtue and Sobriety and such as had no Dissimulation in his Heart was so far from fawning on David that he gave him many a soure look which troubled the Queen as much as David himself Now about this time did Matthew Steward Earl of Lennox get leave of the Queen to return to Scotland with his Son Henry Lord Darnley a young Nobleman of an high Lineage and most goodly Personage being Cousin German to the Queen who received him very Courteously and delighting daily in his Society did at last resolve to Marry him David therefore to make his Party good against Murray applies himself with great Adulation to this young Gentleman who was to be the Queen's Husband so that he came to be so familiar with him as to be admitted to his Chamber and Bed side and to secret Conference with him where he perswaded him out of his unwary Credulity and forwardness to compass his desires that he was the chief occasion to make the Queen cast her Eye upon him besides he cast in Seeds of Discord between him and Murray every day as knowing that if he were removed he should pass the remainder of his Life without Affront or Disturbance and there being now much talk abroad not only of the Queen's Marriage with Darnley and his secret Recourse to her but also of the too great familiarity between her and David Rizzio Murray by his down-right dealing with her upon these accounts got nothing but her Hatred and so leaves the Court that he might not be thought the Author of what was acted there but the Queen finding that Murray was highly favoured of the People was so incensed against him that she hastened his long before designed end and the manner to accomplish it was thus Murray was to be sent for to Perth where the Queen was with a few Attendants there Darnley was to Discourse him and in the Conference they all knew he would speak his Mind freely and then a Quarrel would arise upon which David Rizzio was to give the first blow and then the rest were to wound him to Death Murray was made acquainted with this Conspiracy by his Friends at Court yet come what would he resolved to go but as he was on his Journey being again advertised of the design by Patrick Ruuen he turned aside to his Mother's House near Loch-Levin and being troubled with a Lask excused himself and staid there Thither some of his Friends came to visit him whereupon a Report was presently spread about that he staid there to intercept the Queen and Darnley in their return to Edenburgâ— upon this Horsemen were sent out but they discover'd no Men in Arms or sign of any force yet the Queen made such haste and was so fearful in this Journey as if some great danger had been at hand This hopeful Plot was the Preludium to the unhappy Marriage that soon after succeeded to which end a great part of the Nobility were called together at Sterlin that so the Queen might countenance her Will and Pâ—easure with some pretence of publick Consent most of those they sent for were such as they knew would easily give their Assent or else that durst not oppose 〈◊〉 many of those so Congregated assented to the motion provided always â—â—at no alteration should be made in the 〈◊〉 established Religion As for Murray he was not averse from the Marriage for he was the first Adviser that the young man should be called out of England but he foresaw what Tumult it would occasion if it were Celebrated without the Queen of England's Consent besides he promised to procure her Consent that so all things might go on favourably but perceiving there would be no freedom of Debate in that Convention he chose rather to be absent than to declare his Opinion which might prove destructive to himself and no way advantageous to the Commonwealth The Vulgar also were very free in their Debates about the freedom or not freedom of
Morning his Carriages must go through the City on the Sabbath-day before with a great deal of clutter and noise in the time of Divine Worship which coming to the Ears of the Lord Mayor he commanded them to be stopped and this carried the Affairs of the Carriages with a great deal of violence into the Court and having represented the business to the King with as much asperity as Men in Authority crossed in their Humors could express the same it put the King into a great Rage Swearing He thought there was no more Kings in England but himself but after he was a little calmed he sent a Warrant to the Lord Mayor commanding him to let them pass which he obeyed with this Answer While it was in my power I did my Duty but that being taken away by a higher Power It 's my Duty to obey which the King upon second Thoughts took so well that he thanked him for it And now the Troubles of his Daughter and Son-in-law by assuming the Crown of Bohemia come on apace which ended not only in the loss of that Crown but even of his own Patrimony the Palatinate and together with the Match with Spain for his Son Prince Charles perplex'd the remainder of his Reign and wrought him continual trouble having spent more Treasure upon Embassies when the former then would have raised and maintained a sufficient Army to recover his Son-in-law's Patrimony owning in his Speech to the Parliament Jan. 20. and the Eighteenth year of his Reign that my Lord Doncaster's Journey upon that account had cost him Three thousand five hundred Pounds but he was very modest and minced the matter being indeed ashamed to tell the whole Summ which amounted to a far greater proportion and may be guessed at by the following Relation When he Landed at Rotterdam his Expences the first Morning before he went to the Hague in the Inn where he lay came to above Two hundred Pounds now this splendid and expensive Living coming to be known by the Inn keeper of the Peacock at Dort c. hoping he would make that place in his way to Germany made great preparations for him of his own head without any other Order but my Lord taking his way by Vtrecht the Inn-keeper followed him complaining heavily how he was baulked in his expectations and what Charge he had been at to provide for his Lordship which at length coming to the Lord's Ear he commanded his Steward to give him Thirty Pounds and never tasted of his Fare and it was credibly assured by some of his Retinue that his very Carriage could cost no less than Threescore Pounds a day for he had abundance of young Nobles and others in his company so that upon a modest computation of the whole expence of his Journey it could amount to no less than Fifty or Threescore thousand Pounds while he was at the Hague some advised old Maurice Prince of Orange our King William's Great Unkle to Feast him Yes Yes said the Prince Bid him come when the Steward had notice hereof how the Prince took no farther notice of the matter he attended the Prince and told him there would be great preparations expected for the Ambassadors Ordinary Meals were Feasts and he had a very numerous and splendid Train of Nobles and Gentry that did accompany him Well said the Prince Prepare me a Dinner such as I used to have and let me see the Bill of Fare when the Steward brought the Bill the Prince liked it very well but the Steward said Sir This is but your ordinary Diet now you should have something exttaordinary because this is an Extraordinary Ambassador the Prince thinking what the Steward said to be something reasonable and finding but one Pig set down in the Bill commanded him to put down another Pig and that was all the additions he would make for knowing the Ambassador to be a Scotch Man and that they generally hate Swines flesh it seems he thought nothing a fitter Entertainment for him than a couple of Pigs but the King 's mincing of these matters his many Carresses Huffs and Protestations would not do with the Parliament for there was such a multiplication of Grievances and infringments of the Peoples Liberty and such a backwardness from the Court for the redress of them that at length they were dissolved in displeasure and this set every Man's Tongue loose upon him that tho' the King loved Hunting above all other exercises and had many good Hunters about him yet all these and the strength of a Proclamation to forbid talking of State Affairs could not refrain them from mouthing it out that Great Brittain was become less than little England that they had lost strength by changing Sexes and that he was no King but a Fidlers Son otherwise he would not have suffered so many disorders at home and so much dishonour abroad and the story of David Riccius saith Wilson written by Buchanan the King 's own Tutor had been like to die in every Englishman's Opinion if it had not had a new impression by these miscarriages These Domestick Troubles together with the many delays and dissatisfactions he received from Spain and Rome about the Spanish Match begot him so much trouble and vexation of Spirit that pressing upon his Natural Temper it wrought some Fits of Melancholy in him which those about him with facetious Mirth would strive to mitigate and having exhausted their store or not making use of such as were more pregnant Buckingham and his Mother instead of Mirth fell upon Prophaneness thinking thereby to please him and perhaps says Wilson they were only mistaken in the unseasonableness of the time being not then suitable to the Humour for they caused Mrs. Aspernham a young Gentlewoman of the Kindred to dress a Pig like a Child and the old Countess like a Midwife brought it into the King in a rich Mantle And then Turpin who had Married one of theâ— Kindred whose Name was renowned for a Bishop in the Romances of the Emperor Charlemaigne was drest like a Bishop in a Sattin Gown Lawn Sleeves and other Pontifical Ornaments who with the Common-Prayer Book began the Words of Baptism one attending with a silver Bason of Water for the Service The King hearing the Ceremony of Baptism read and the squeeking noise of the Brute Animal which he most abhorred turned about to see what Pageant it was and finding Turpin's Face which he very well knew drest like a Bishop and Buckingham whose Face â—he most of all loved stand for God-Father he cried out Away for shame what Blasphemy is this and turning aside with a frown turned all the sport and jollity they expected to a cold damp of Spirit Neither did the Prince's going into Spain any ways mend the matter but made it every way worse and worse for in stead of Consummating he and Buckingham quite broke off the Match which King James had so much set his rest upon but what was worst of all
the Duke did so wind himself into the Affections of the Prince that he governed the Son now as Despotically as ever he had done the Father and this had another Misfortune attending of it that the rising Sun was now Worshipped and the old King neglected which yet he had not power to redress and which no doubt hastned his Fate as we are now just ready to relate unto you The King who was the most impatient of all Men to be told of his Faults was so out of love with Parliaments for that very Reason that by his Good-Will he would never have called another but Dire necessity which has no Law brought him once more to it and so a Parliament was Summoned to meet on the Twelfth of February Anno 1623. but that same morning as a kind of Presage of his own Destiny the King missed the Duke of Richmond's Attendance who being a constant observer of him at all times the King did now as it were want one of his Limbs to support the Grandeur of His Majesty at such a Solemnity and calling for him with great Earnestness he dispatched a Messenger to his Lodgings in all haste where the King's Command and the Messengers importunity made the Dutchess his Wife somewhat unwillingly go to his Bed-side when drawing the Curtain she found him Dead in his Bed the sad News whereof was carried with that violence to the King that he would not Adorn himself that day to Ride in Pomp to the Parliament House but put it off till the nineteenth of February Dedicating some part of that time to the memory of his dead Servant The Parliament sate at the time appointed and upon Buckingham's fine Narration about the Spanish Match advised the King to break off the Treaty with Spain which the King himself seemed forward to promote being now got quite into the Prince and Duke's Toll and sets a Treaty of Marriage on Foot with France But before the entire Consummation of the same as the Duke of Richmond was the long so now the Marquess of Hamilton was the short forerunner of the King's Death both which 't was believed were forwarded by the same hand The Marquess Died with very presumptuous Symptoms of being Poisoned his Head and Body swelling to an excessive bigness and the Body being all over full of great Blisters with variety of Colours the Hairs of his Head Eye-brows and Beard came off with a touch and brought the Skin with them great Clamour there was about it in the Court so that Doctors were sent for to view the Body but the matter was hudled up and little said of it only Doctor Eglisham a Scotch Man was something bitter against the Duke as if he had been Author of it 'T is certain That the Marquess's unwillingness that his Son should Marry the Earl of Denbigh's Daughter the Duke's Niece made a difference between them with some other concurring Accidents which however did not in this King's time break out into a Reflection upon the Duke being bound up close more as it was thought by his Power than his Innocence Not long after this the King going to his last Hunting Journey to wit the last of the year as well as of his Life he fell sick of a Tertian Ague which if we believe the Proverb is not dangerous in the Spring and had a few Fits of it having this Ague upon him the Countess of Buckingham who Trafficked much with Mountebanks and whose Fame had no good savour tampered with him in the absence of the Doctors and the Duke her Son when in the Judgment of the Physicians the Ague was in the decline did apply Plaisters to the King's Wrists and Belly and did also deliver several quantities of Drink to him and told him they were approved Medecines though some of the King's Physicians did disallow thereof and refused to to meddle further with the King till the said Plaisters were removed which the King much complained off and was glad to have it pulled off tho' with part of the Skin along with it It 's certain the King found himself much worse after the said application and that an high Fever Droughts Raving Fainting and an intermittent Pulse followed thereupon and 't is manifest he was himself suspicious of foul play upon him for when one of his faithful Servants saw him in one of his Fits and to comfort him said Courage Sir this is but a small Fit the next will be none at all He answer'd Ah 't is not the Ague that afflicts me but the Black Plaister and Powder given me and laid to my Stomach by Buckingham And he would often say to Montgomery whom he trusted above all Men in the time of his Sickness For God's sake look I have fair Play When he was near the point of Death as Buckingham entred the King's Chamber one of his honest Servants said to him Ah my Lord you have undone us all his poor Servants altho' you are so well provided for you need not care With which words the Duke was so stung for where there is Guilt it will quickly appear that he kickt at him who caught his Foot and made his Head first come to the ground where presently rising he ran to the King's Bed-side and cryed Justice Sir I am abus'd by your Servant and wrongfully accus'd At which the poor King Mournfully fix'd his Eyes upon him as if he would have said Not wrongfully yet without Speech or Sence But before his Departure he called for the Prince his Son who rising out of his Bed something before day and presenting himself before him the King rouzed up his Spirits and raised himself up as if he meant to speak to him but Nature being exhausted he had not strength to express his Intentions but soon after Expired being upon Sunday Morning the 27th of March 1625. at Theobalds in the Eight and fiftieth year of his Age and the Two and twentieth of his Reign compleat there being more than a Presumption that he run the same Destiny with his Ancestors whose Deaths were Violent as well by Father as Mother's side which we have more particularly noted for Henry Stuart Lord Darnley his own Father was Strangled and carry'd out of his House and set under a Tree and then his House Blown up with Gunpowder his Grandfather Matthew Stuart Earl of Lenox was Shot at Sterlin of which Wound he some days after died and his Great Grandfather John Stuart Earl of Lenox was slain near Linlithgow in a Conflict he had with the Hamiltonians and the Douglasses about the Enlargement of James the Fifth The Duke 't is true did afterward endeavour to Purge himself from the foremention'd Application by alleadging he had receiv'd both the Drink and Plaister from Doctor Remington at Dunmore in Essex who had often Cured Agues and such Distempers with the same yet they were Arguments of a complicated kind and not to be easily unfolded considering that whatsoever he receiv'd from the Doctor in the
to the abrogating of which by the enormous power of the Sword because he could by no means be induced he was brought thither to undergo a Martyrdom for his People Then he prayed and being minded by the Bishop to satisfie the Spectators as to his Religion he said that he had deposited the Testimony of his Faith with that holy Man meaning the Bishop That his Life and Profession had been well known and that now he died in the Christian Faith according to the Profession of the Church of England as the same was left him by his Father of Blessed Memory And then turning about to the Officers and professing the hopes he had of his Salvation he began to prepare for the Circumstances of Death The Bishop put on his Night-cap and uncloathed him to his Sky-coloured Sattin Wastcoat he delivered his George to the Bishop's hands and charged him to remember to give the same to the Prince and having prayed again he stooped down to the Block and had his Head severed from his Body at one Blow about Two of the Clock in the Afternoon the day aforesaid in the year 1648. dying the same death as to kind as his Grandmother Mary Queen of Scots had done sixty two years and eight days before at Fothringham Castle in Northamptonshire and I think was no whit inferior to her in the misfortunes of his Life And to note a few his three Favourites to wit Buckingham Laud and Strafford undergoing a violent death and the two latter falling by the Axe as forerunners of his own destiny And as to his own Personal errors when Bristol was cowardly surrendred by Fines had he then marched to London as he might have done very well all had been his own but loytering to no purpose at Gloucester he was soon after well banged by the Earl of Essex When he had worsted Essex in Cornwall he neglected the like opportunity of getting to London Guilty he was of the same oversight in not commanding the Duke of Newcastle to march Southwards toward the Metropolis of England before the Scots entred the English Borders and in not doing the like himself after he had taken Leicester for there was nothing then that could have hindred him to become Master of the City The same ill success he had as to his Treaties about being restored And in short he was generally unfortunate in the World in the esteem not only of his Enemies but in some sort of his Friends too for as the later were n'er pleased with his breach of Faith so the former would say he could never be fast enough bound and the Blood that some years before dropt upon his Statue at Greenwich and the falling off of the Silver Head of his Cane at his Trial were interpreted as dismal presages of his disastrous fate His Head and Trunk after the Execution were immediately put into a Coffin and conveyed to the Lodgings in Whitehall and there Embowelled and from thence conveyed to St. James House and Coffined in Lead About some fortnight after the Duke of Lennox Marquess of Hartford Earl of Southampton and Bishop of London got leave to bury the Body which they conducted to the Chappel at Windsor and Interred it there in the Vault of Henry the Eight with this Inscription only upon his Coffin Charles King of England And herein he was more unhappy than his Grandmother Mary for whereas her Corpse were some years after her death taken up by her Son King James and Reposited with all the Funeral Pomp that could be in the Chappel of King Henry the Seventh her Great Grand Father This King's Remains notwithstanding the Commons had Voted in 1669 the Sum of 50000 l. for the Charge of taking it up a Solemn Funeral had of it and a Monument for it yet lay neglected as if it had been blasted by fate King Charles the Second his Son they said forbidding of it A Physician that made inspection into the dissection of the Body related that nature had designed him above the most of mortal men for a long life but Providence ordered it otherwise for he was cut off in the Forty ninth year of his Age being his Climacterical and twenty fourth of his Reign leaving six Children behind him three Sons Charles Prince of Wales James Duke of York and Henry Duke of Gloucester whereof the two Elder were Exiles and three Daughters Mary Princess of Orange Elizabeth a Virgin who not long survived him and Henrietta Maria born at Exeter Charles his Eldest Son who was then at the Hague when he heard of his Father's disastrous fate assumed the Title of King of England c. tho an Exile and without any Kingdom to command He was born at St. James's May 30. 1630. it was said a Star appeared over the place where he had been born in broad day which in those times was interpreted to prognosticate his happiness but the Ecclipse of the Sun which happened presently after was no less a presage of his future Calamities There was little remarkable in him or concerning him till the year 1639 when the unhappy disaster of breaking his Arm befell him and that not long after he was afflicted with a violent Feaver accompanied with a little of the Jaundice but having at length recovered his perfect health and the fatal differences begun long before but now daily increasing between the King his Father and the People he accompanied him into the North of England where he was a Spectator of that dismall Cloud which tho small at its first gathering yet was pregnant with that dreadful storm which in a short time spread it self over him his Father and three Nations For going to take possession of Hull as they thought they were by Sir John Hotham denied Entrance and forced to wait several hours at the Gate all in vain From this time forward the War increasing between the King and Parliament he was first spectator of that successless Battle to his Father's Arms at Edgehill staid some time after at Oxford From thence returning to the Field and the King's forces in the West under the command of the Lord Hopton of which the Prince was nominally General being routed by General Fairfax he was necessitated to retire to the Isle of Scilly and from thence betook himself into France To whom his Father now depriv'd of Command himself sent a Commission of Generalissimo of those few Royalists that survived the late unhappy overthrows and this brought him to the Isle of Guernsey where he possest himself of some Vessels that lay there and having joyned them to those he had brought with him out of France he sailed from thence into the Downs where he seized several rich Merchant-Ships and expected some Land-forces from Holland raised by the Prince of Orange for his Service But alas he was as unfortunate now in his Warlike attempts as his Father had been before and was still in his Treaties of Peace for Poyer and Langhorn who made a