which the Scots signifie by the name of Stuart or Steward He so faithfully discharged the trust reposed in him without the least reproach or wasting of the Kings Moneys that the sirname of Stuart was imposed on him and given also to his posterity This was the original of the Illustrious Family of Stuart From this Walter descended that Robert Steward who was after in right of his wife King of Scotland since which time there have been successively nine Soveraigns of that name in Scotand Margaret eldest daughter of King Henry the seventh and Elizabeth his Queen was twice married in Scotland first to King Iames the fourth then to Archibald Douglas Earl of Angis her son by the King was King Iames the fifth our King Iames his mothers father her daughter by the Earl was Margaret Countess of Lennox our King Iames his fathers mother David Bruse King of Scotland being dead without issue of his body Robert Steward his sisters son by the generall consent of all the Estates was crowned King of Scotland in the year of our Lord 1370. This family hath ever since born the Crown of Scotland even unto this day King Iames united both the Kingdomes of England and Scotland and testified this conjunction in the Money that was coined both silver and gold with these words Quae Deus conjuxit nemo separet and also Tueatur unita Deus The twenty shillings pieces had this Inscription Faciam eos in gentem unam other golden Coines had these words Henricus rosas regna Iacobus He was born in the Palace of Edinborough on the nineteenth of Iuly anno 1566 and solemnly crowned King of the Scots on the same day of the Moneth anno 1567 and joyfully received to the Crown of England on the fourteenth of March 1602. He had a great dexterity in discovering an imposture and a marvellous sagacity to discuss natural things He detected the forgery of Richard Haydock a Physitian pretending to preach at night in his sleep who acknowledged his forgery to the King It was his custome to discourse during Meals with one or more Divines concerning some point of controversie in Philosophy There was a Conference or Disputation at Hampton Court before him Some of our Divines taxe Dr. Barlow Dean of Chester for a partial Penman of that Conference See Mr. Ley his Discourse of Disputat concerning matters of Religion c. 4. p. 46. Besides the relieving by Pensions all the poorer sort he hath honoured more Martial men than all the Kings of England have done for this hundred years Had his Apothegmes or wise speeches and also Queen Elizabeths been collected by a skilfull hand I suppose they would have been very usefull to the publick There is one that hath written a Book in Latine of Favourites where I think my Lord Car the Earle of Somerset the Duke of Buckingham are reckoned for the English Favourites the later of which was in great favour both with the Father and Son King Iames and King Charles Vossius in his Preface to his Book de Arte Grammatica if I forget not much commends King Iames. Isaac Causabone that famous Schollar was much respected and encouraged by him He was both a wise and learned Prince of disposition merciful and gracious a great seeker of peace according to that Motto which he ever used Beati pacifici In the stile of the Court he went for Great Britains Solomon nor is it any excursion beyond the precincts of verity to say that neither Britain nor any other Kingdome whatsoever could ever since Solomons dayes glory in a King for recondite learning and abstruse knowledge so near a match to Solomon as he Mr. Rushworths Historicall Collections 23. Iacobi p. 161. He was compared to Solomon in severall respects by Bishop Williams in his Funerall Sermon on 1 King 11. 41 42 43. Archbishop Spotswood saith he was the Solomon of this age admired for his knowledge of all manner of learning Hist. of Scotland l. 7. His Works shew his great learning especially his Basilicon Doron or Kingly gift It cannot be said how well it was accepted in England and what admiration it raised in all mens hearts of him and of his piety and wisdome Certain it is that all the Discourses which came forth that time for maintaining his right to the Crown of England prevailed nothing so much as did that Treatise Spotsw Hist. of the Church of Scotland l. 6. Iustinians Institutes Caesars Commentaries 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are prized for their Authors as well as matter He had such a promptness in exprâ—ssing his mind that his extemporall sâ—eeches were little inferiour to his premeditated writings His invention was as quick as his first thoughts and his words as ready as his invention I' advouois franchement de n' avoir Iamais veu Prince dont la sincerité la prudence l' equaunimité meritast plus de gloire de louanges Que l' ayant tonsiours trouné d' un courage urayement Royal tout genereux d' un esprit plus intelligent plus vif plus penetrant plus judicieux que nul de son Conseil I' avois aussi tonsiours passionnement desiré de terminer conclurre avec luy les affaires non avec eux Memoires de Mounsier de Rosny Duc de Sully Tom. 2. p. 141. He was a good Poet. A very good Horseman He had such a fashion in riding that it could not so properly be said he rid as that his Horse carried him for he made but little use of his bridle and would say a Horse never stumbled but when he was reined He was a great lover of quiet and much given to hunting and to his Book and wholly fixt in Warring by writings with the Church Bentivoglio his History of Flanders part 3. l. 8. See his Relation of the united Provinces of Flanders c. 3. In his apparrell and civill garb he seemed naturally to affect a majestick carelesness in his pecuniary dispensations to his favourites he was excessive liberall King Iames being invited in a hunting journey to dine with Sir Thomas I. of Barkshire turning short at the corner of a Common happened near to a Countryman sitting by the heels in the stocks who cryed Hosanna unto his Majesty which invited him to ask the reason of his restraint Sir Thomas said It was for stealing a Goose from the Common The fellow replyed I beseech your Majesty be judge who is the greater thief I for stealing Geese from the Common or his Worship for robbing the Common from the Geese By my sale Sir said the King to Sir Thomas I 'le not dine to day on your dishes till you restore the Common for the poor to feed their flocks Which was forthwith granted to them and the witty fellow set free He spake broad in the Scottish tone and dialect Sir Kenelme Digby in his Discourse touching
establish his Monarchy over England he endeavoured by all means to reconcile the English to him 1. By advancing some of the English Nobility to places of honour and trust 2. By granting to the English equall rights and priviledges with his Danes in consessu in consilio in praelio and advancing them both alike 3. By favouring and inriching the English Clergy and Church-men and manifesting extraordinary piety devotion bounty in repairing building endowing Monasteries and Churches throughout the Realm 4. By easing them of his Danish Forces 5. By ratifying all their former good old fundamentall Laws rights liberties priviledges which they used enjoyed under their Saxon Kings by enacting other good wholsome Laws repealing all unjust Laws and redressing all exactions and grievances A company of flatterers which extolled his greatness and power to be unmatchable he caused to place him in a chair where the Sea ebbs and flowes at South-hampton that by the disobedience of the Tide that would not stop at his command but presumed to dash his royall garments they might learn how low man is at the highest and not to applaud his fortune but fear his fall He acknowledged God alone to be King of this great Element because the Sea is his and he made it The flatterers of Alexander the great made him believe that he was the son of Iupiter but being one day sore hurt and seeing the blood gush out of his wounds What think you of this said he unto them Is not this blood of a lively red hew and meerly humane He was the greatest Prince of power that ever before him raigned over the English people England Denmarke Norway some adde also part of Sweden together with Scotland were wholly subject unto him Filiam suam Imperatori Romano cum ineffabilibus divitiis maritavit Hunting hist. l. 6. In a Parliament at Oxford he made good Laws whereof these were some that concern Religion First For the celebration of divine service it was ordained that all Ceremonies tending to the increase of reverence and devotion should be used as need required Secondly That upon the Sabbath day all publick Fairs Markets Synods Huntings and all secular actions should be forborn unless some urgent necessity should require it Thirdly That every Christian should thrice in the year receive the blessed Sacrament of the Lords Supper Fourthly That a married woman convict of adultery should have her nose and ears cut off Krantzius much extols him as the most famous of the Kings of Denmarke He was a just Prince in all saving his tyranny against the two young Princes the sons of Edmond The lustre of this new erected Monarchy had no sooner displayed its beams in Canutus but like an unthrifty Taper it began to glimmer in Harold and absolutely expired in Hard knute who dying issueless the current of royalty ran back again into the channell of the Saxon bloud which flowed in the veinsâ— of Edward sirnamed the Conâ—essor Philpot's Preface to his Villare Cantianum After he had in great glory reigned about nineteen years he deceased at Shafiesbury in the County of Dorset and was buried in the Church of the old Monastery at Winchester where Queen Emma made her abode ever after Harold The second Danish King raigning in England and the thirty fifth Monarch of the Land He was called Hare-foot by reason of his swiftness Canutus had him by a Concubine a Shoomakers daughter This base son of Cnute dispossessed his legitimate son Harde-Cnute of the Crown of England contrary to Cnutes will and contract banished and spoiled Queen Emma of her treasure and Jewels oppressed the people with taxes and was soon cut off by death without any issue He was an oppresser of his people and vitious He raigned four years and four moneths He was neither in Warres so hardy nor in Government so prosperous as his Father Canutus before him had been Harde-Canute The third Danish King that raigned in England and the thirty sixth Monarch of the English men For his noble courage he was called Harde-Canutus The first great Prince of the house of Burgundy was Philip sirnamed the Hardy His recalling his Mother Emma and half Brother Edward and entertaining them respectively deserves commendation His Epicurism left an ill custome to all posterity Four times a day his Table must be covered to invite men to intemperancy through which at a marriage he is thought to have choaked himself at Lambeth most rejoycing to be rid of him in memory whereof Hock-tide a Feast of scorning or triumphing was a long time continued after The English men learned of him their excessive gormandizing and unmeasurable filling of themselves with meates and drinkes At the death of this King died all rule of the Danes in this Land after they had miserably afflicted the Kingdome for the space of two hundred and forty yeares though in Regall government but only six and twenty under these three last Kings He raigned two yeares lacking ten dayes The Danes ruled in this Land almost thirty yeares and raged without all rule about three hundred and fifty Lamberts Perambulation of Kent CHAP. X. Edward the Confessor THe son of King Ethelred the thirty seventh Monarch of the English men He was born at Islip near unto Oxford and tenderly educated by Queen Emma his Mother and after his Fathers death for safety sent into France He was the last King of the Saxon race Such was the opinion conceived of his holiness of life as that shortly after his decease he was canonized amongst the Saints and named Edward the Confessour To gain the more love of his Subjects at his first entrance he remitted the taxe of forty thousand pounds yearly gathered by the name of Dane-gilt so grevous to the Commons Fertur Edwardus Confessor teste Ingulpho cùm se daemonem vidisse super dcervo Daingeldi exultantem protestatus esset aspectunique exhorruisset collecium illico restitui jussâ—sse retento ne iota uno feram exactionem perpetuum relaxasse Spelmanni Glossarium Danegaldi redditio propter pyratas primitus statuta est Hoved. dnnal pars posrerior p. 603. vide plura ibid. He collected the Laws of his predecessors into a body for the administration of justice which some say are the ground of our Common-Law though the pleading be altered since the Norman conquest He found the Realm governed by three different Laws the West-Saxon Law the Mereian Law and the Dane Law Out of these three Lawes partly moderated and partly supplied he composed one body of Law commonly called St Edwards Laws which were of so great equity that when they were abrogated by the Conquerour and the Crown fell into controversie between Maud the Empress and King Stephen the people alwayes inclined to favour that part who put them in fairest hope of restitution of those Laws And afterwards in many Civil dissensions the greatest demand of the people appeareth to have been the restitution of King
should dispossess his children of the Crown was consenting to his death interpreting G. to be George Duke of Clarence which fell out to be Glocester to whose tyranny he left them by this ungodly means He vanquished in nine Battels himself being present The Scene of his fortune had more changes then any King of England yet except his Competitor Lust was reputed his bosome-sin God severely punisht him in his sons who were both dispossest of their Kingdome and their lives by their unnaturall Uncle there being so much appearance of right by their fathers incontinency that even an Act of Parliament was made to bastardize them He was the first of our Kings since the Conquest that married his Subject His usuall Oath was By Gods blessed Lady He sate on the Kings Bench in open Court three dayes together in Michaelmas Term anno 〈◊〉 of his Raign to understand how his Laws were executed Have we not seen the late King of England Edward the fourth of that name heir of the house of Yorke utterly destroy the house of Lancaster under the which both his father and he had lived many yeares Farther the said King Edward having done homage to King Henry the sixth being of the house of Lancaster did he not afterward hold him prisoner many years in the Tower of London the chief City of the Realm where in the end he was put to death Phil. de Commines hist. l. 5. c. 18. He saith that their King Lewis the eleventh of France in wisdome and sense far surmounted King Edward Lib. 6. c. 2. and l. 5. c. 13. he saith of Lewis undoubtedly he was one of the wisest and subtilest Princes that lived in his time That very day wherein an honourable peace was concluded between Edward the fourth and King Lewis the eleventh upon subscribed Articles it chanced a white Dove as Commines writes to repose her self upon King Edwards pavilion whereupon though many gathered an argument yet since she sate not equally between both the Kings I like much better of a Gascoines observation who having been present at the sight reported unto Philipde Commines as himself records that the Dove repaired to King Edwards Tent only to this intent to refresh and prune her self after a great rain because the Sun was warmest there Howards Defensative c. 24. Richard Nevill Earl of Warwicke was a man of an undaunted courage but wavering and untrusty the very Tennice-Ball in some sort of fortune who although he were no King was above Kings as who deposed King Henry the sixth a most bountifull Price to him from his royall dignity placed Edward the fourth in the royall Throne and afterwards put him down too restored Henry the sixth again to the Kingdome enwrapped England within the most wofull and lamentable flames of Civill War which himself at the length hardly quenched with his own bloud In his spirit birth marriage and revenue he was mighty which raised his thoughts above proportion The greatest and busiest Subject our later age hath brought forth That make-King Warwick having the English Crown Pinn'd on his sleeve to place where he thought best Who set up Princes and did pull them down How did he toyl the Land with his unrest How did his Sword rip up his mothers brests Whose greatness and his popularity Wrought both his own and others tragedy Sir Francis Huberts History of Edward the second Cecil Dutchess of Yorke his mother lived in Henry the sevenths Raign and died at her Castle of Barkhamsted being of extream years who had lived to see three Princes of her body crowned and four murthered He being near his death told his friends that if he could as well have foreseen things as now to his pain he proved them he would never have worn the courtesie of mens knees with the loss of so many heads He raigned two and twenty yeares one moneth and five dayes EDWARD the fifth He was scarce eleven years old when his father died and succeeded him in the Kingdome but not in the Crown for he was proclaimed King but never crowned and indeed it may not so properly be called the Raign of Edward the fifth as the tyranny of Richard the third He hearing that his Uncle had left the name of Protector and taken upon him the title of King and was with full consenting of the Lords to be crowned within a few dayes following with the same Crown and in the like Estate as had been provided for his solemnity the dejected Innocent sighed and said Alass I would my Vncle would let me enjoy my life yet though I lose both my Kingdome and Crown He and his brother Richard were murthered in the Tower Tâ—win brethren in their deaths what had they done O Richard sees a fault that they were in It is not actuall but a mortall one They Princes were 't was their original sin Why should so sweet a pair of Princes lack Their Innocents-day in th' English Almanack Aleyns History of Henry the seventh RICHARD the third He was king in fact only but Tyrant both in title and regiment He was ill featured of limmes crook-backed hard favoured of visage malicious wrathfull envious It is for truth reported that the Dutchess his mother had so much ado in her travail that she could not be delivered of him uncut and that he came into the world with the feet forward and as the same runneth also not untoothed whether men of hatred report above the truth or else that nature changed her course in his beginning which in the course of his life committed many things unnaturally Buck that writes his Raign writes favourably of him but the Chroniclers generally condemn him He was brother to King Edward the fourth and having most wickedly murthered his Nephews usurped the Kingdome by the name of King Richard the third and after two years lost both it and his life in a pitched field He slew with his own hands King Henry the sixth being prisoner in the Tower as men constantly said and that without commandement or knowledge of King Edward the fourth who undoubtedly if he had intended his death would have appointed that Butcherly office to some other then his own brother He slew also that Kings son in the presence of Edward the fourth Was the contriver of the death of the Duke of Clarence his brother He bare a white Bore for his Cognisance The Lord Lovell Sir Richard Ratcliffe and Sir William Catesby were chief rulers under him of the which persons was made a seditious Rime and fastened upon the Cross in Cheapside and other places of the City It was this The Cat the Rat and Lovell the Dog Rule all England under a Hog For which one Colingborne was executed A Prince who deserved to be ranked among the worst men and the best Kings Yet Sir Francis Bacon in his History of Henry the seventh saith that his good Laws were but the brocage of an usurper
King Edward the first For his Laws who so marks them well are deep and not vulgar not made upon the Spur of a particular occasion for the present but out of providence of the future to make the estate of his people still more and more happy after the manner of the Legislators in ancient and heroicall times The Tax called Benevolence was devised by Edward the fourth for which he sustained much envy It was abolished by Richard the third by Act of Parliament to ingratiate himself with the people and it was revived by this King but with consent of Parliament for so it was not in the time of King Edward the fourth It is observed as a rule in Politicks that Dominium sequitur terram those that are the greatest proprietaries have the chief power as in Turkie because none there holds any land but during his life therefore the great Turk hath such unlimited power and so the Barons were able they say to maâ—e War with their Prince because the land was most in their and their Tenants possession Henry the seventh therefore being raised by the Nobles conceiving that those which exalted him might cast him down did abate their power and made Statutes against Retainers But Henry the eighth demolishing the Abbies distributed the lands among the people and so they again gained great power by that meanes He made a composition with Philip father to the Emperour Charles the fifth being here in England that he should deliver into his hands the Duke of Suffolke his mortall enemy who was fled out of England and saved himself in the Low Countries alwayes provided that the King should attempt nothing against the Dukes life which promise notwithstanding being ner his end he expresly by will and testament commanded his succeeding son that immediately after his decease he should cause him to be put to death Montaigne his Essayes l. 1. c. 7. There scarce passed any Parliament in this time without a Law against Riot and Retainers the King having an eye to might and multitude The King was on a time entertained by the Earl of Oxford that was his principall servant both for war and peace nobly and sumptuously at his Castle at Henninghom At the Kings going away the Earls servants stood in a seemly manner in their Livery Coats with cognizances ranged on both sides and made the King a Lane The King called the Earl to him and said My Lord I have heard much of your hospitality but I see it is greater then the speech These handsome Gentlemen and Yeomen which I see on both sides of me are sure your meniall servants The Earl smiled and said It may please your Grace that were not for mine ease They are most of them my Retainers they are come to do me service at such time as this and chiefly to see your Grace The King started a little and said By my faith my Lord I thanke you for my good chear but I may not endure to have my Lawes broken in my sight My Atturney must speake with you The Earl after compounded for a thousand marks His disposition to crush treasure out of his Subjects purses by forfeitures upon penall Lawes proved the blot of his time When among many Articles exhibited by the Irish against the Earl of Kildare the last was All Ireland cannot rule this Earl Then quoth the King shall this Earl rule all Ireland and shortly after he made him Deputy thereof Iames the fourth King of Scotland married with the Lady Margaret the Kings eldest daughter During the Treaty it is reported that the King remitted the matter to his Counsell And that some of the Table in the Freedome of Counsellors the King being present did put the case that if God should take the Kings two sons without issue that then the Kingdome of England would fall to the King of Scotland which might prejudice the Monarchy of England Whereunto the King himself replied That if that should be Scotland would be but an accession to England and not England to Scotland for that the greater would draw the less and that it was a safer union for England then that of France This was the ninth time that since the Conquest the Scottish Kings have married with the English Nation Ayscu He left at his death most of it in secret places under his own Key and keeping at Richmond the summe of near eighteen hundred thousand pounds sterling a huge mass of money even for these times His son Henry the eight by his pleasures by unprofitable Wars exhausted all that treasure in a few of the first years of his Raign He died at his Palace at Richmond which himself had built having lived two and fifty years and raigned three and twenty years and eight moneths He died and in memoriall of his name Built that fair Chappell where he now takes rest A rich foundation of a curious frame The fairest monument lest unsupprest Passing all temples of the gorgeous East O strew his Hearse with Roses red white For he both stemmes did in one unite Storâ—rs Wolseius aspirans HENRY the eighth Seven is a number fatall from the heavens But eight King Henry passing all the sevens Storers Wolseius aspirans Of personage he was tall and mighty and in his latter years somewhat gross in wit and memory excellent such majesty and humanity as was comely in such a Prince Cui natura fortunaque supra Regium nomen incomparabilis formae maxime praestantis ingenii accumulata dona contulerunt nemo enim è tota Anglica juventute vel staturae dignitate vel venustate oris vel nervorum firmitate Regem aequavit Paul Jov. Britanniae descript Huic erat à teneris annis ars bellica cordis Ut reliquas dotes condignas principe tanto Corporis atque animi non sit memor are necesse Quod fortis clemens humeris quod alitor ibat Omnibus egregia facie vultuque decoro Oclandi Anglorum praelia It hath been observed by Historians of Tiberius Emperour of Rome of Mahomet the Great Emperour of the Turks and of Henry the eight King of England that there was no security in their love but that such as were highest in their favour were nearest to ruine He brought unto the block two Queens two noble Ladies one Cardinall declared of Dukes Marquesses Earls and the sons of Earls no fewer then twelve Lords and Knights eighteen of Abbots and Priors thirteen Monks and religious persons about seventy seven and many more of both Religions to a very great number Dr. Heylins Ecclesia Restaurata That is a tart expression of Sir Walter Rauleigh in his Preface to his History of the world If all the pictures and patterns of a merciless Prince were lost in the world they might all again be painted to life out of the Story of this King How many wives did he cut off and cast off as his fancy and affection changed When he was
pay yearly upon Lammas day one peny to the Pope which at first was contributed under the name of the Kings alms but afterwards was paid by the name of Peter-pence The Pope of Rome had out of every Chimney of England Ireland and Scotland Wales and Cornwall a penny a year for five hundred years together Omnis qui habet triginta denariatas vivae pecuniae in domo sua de proprio suo Anglorum lege dabit denarium sancti Petri. Hoved. Annal pars posterior p. 603. King Henry first forbad this to be paid to the Pope There preached one before him whose Sermon the King liked not as there was reason the King willed Sir Thomas More then being Lord Chancellor to give the Preacher thanks worthy such a Sermon He being a man of a pleasant wit spake aloud to the Preacher that the King might hear and said The Kings Majesty thanketh you for your notable Sermon which when the King heard he called Sir Thomas to him and said What mean you my Lord to give such thanks in our name If it like you quoth he there be some things notable evil It is a note worthy to be remembred that Thursday hath been a fatall day to King Henry the eight and all his posterity for himself died on Thursday the twenty eighth of Ianuary King Edward on Thursday the sixth of Iuly Queen Mary on Thursday the seventeenth of November and Queen Elizabeth on Thursday the twenty fourth of March. After Dr. Collets Sermon preached to him and long communication with him by occasion thereof he dismissed him with these words Lot every one have his Doctor as he liketh this shall be my Doctor Being necessitous he was offered by the House of Commons in a Parliament toward his latter end all the lands and houses of the two famous Universities to be confiscated to his Exchequer by a most mechanick prostitution of the learning the honour and the piety of the Nation but he told them not without a just scorn that he had too much of a Scholar in him to destroy two such Universities as the world had not the like His purpose was if he had lived to have made a perfect Reformation of Religion saith Mr. Fox in his second Volume of his Acts and Monuments oâ— the Church p. 647. and he gives there two reasons of his opinion But the secret working saith he of Gods holy providence which disposeth all things after his own wisdome and purpose thought it good rather by taking the King away to reserve the accomplishment of this Reformation of his Church to the peaceable time of his son Edward and Elizabeth his daughter whose hands were yet undefiled with any bloud and life unspotted with any violence or cruelty Cardinal Woolsey and after him Archbishop Cranmer were in great favour with him Sir Thomas Moor and the Lord Cromwell were also highly esteemed by him Francis King of France after the death of King Henry the eight was much disposed to melancholy whether for that he being some years the younger was by his death admonished of the like approaching fate They were also of so conspiring a similitude of disposition and nature that you shall hardly find the like between any two Princes of whatever different times He celebrated the Funerals of King Henry in the Cathedrall at Paris though excommunicated by the Pope Many learned men lived in his dayes Iohn Collet Dean of Pauls and founder of the School there William Lilly the first Schoolmaster of Pauls School after it was erected Thomas Linacer or rather Linaker a learned Physician and well seen in the tongues Richard Pace a good Linguist Iohn Fisher Bishop of Rochester Sir Thomas More an excellent Scholar Iohn Frith and William Tindall Robert Barnes Martyrs Robert Wakefield a good Linguist Sir Thomas Eliot Edward Lee Archbishop of Yorke Iohn Leland a great Antiquary William Grocin very expert in Greek and Latine Hugh Latimer Bishop and Martyr who hath put out an elegant Oration in Latine thus entituled Hugonis Latimeri Anglicani pontificis Oratio apud totum Ecclesiasticum Conventum antequam consultatio publica iniretur de Regni statu per Evangelium reformando Regni invictissimi Regis Henrici 8â— 6â— anno vigessimo octavo habita where he speaks of many things fit then to be reformed and well concludes Si nihil est emendandum in communi saltem emendemus nos ipsos singuli He raigned thirty seven years and nine moneths and died in the six and fiftieth year of his life leaving behind him three children Edward Mary and Elizabeth all which also raigned after him EDWARD the sixth Next after the death of King Henry succeeded King Edward his son being of the age of nine years A Prince although but tender in years yet for his sage and mature ripeness in wit and all Princely ornaments as I see but few to whom he may not be equall so again I see not many to whom he may not justly be preferred Fox his Acts Monuments of the Church vol. 2. p. 65 2. He fitly compares him there to good Iosias Favour and love saith he of Religion was in him from his childhood such an Organ given of God to the Church of England he was as England had never better Id. ib. All King Henries issue for themselves in their severall kinds were Princes of eminent vertue As Henry the eighth with Solomon was blame-worthy for women so he left but one son and two daughters Solomon had Rehoboam a fool and unfortunate his daughters but obscure and both of them Subjects But Henry was more happy in Edward his son another Iosiah and his sisters both Soveraignes of an Imperiall Crown Speed Lever compares him to Iosiah in severall respects He was born at Hampton-Court on the twelfth day of October anno 1537 being the only surviving son of King Henry the eight by Iane his third wife daughter to Sir Iohn Seymer Knight It hath been commonly reported and no less generally believed that Prince Edward being come unto the birth and there wanting naturall strength to be delivered his mothers body was ripped open to give him a passage into the world and that she died of the Incision in a short time after Whence this Epitaph was made upon her Phoenix Jana jacet nato Phoenice dolendum Saecula Phaenices nulla tulisse duos Alluding to the Crest of her father a Phenix in flames within a Crown Yet Dr. Heylin in his Ecclesia restaurata saith there are many reasons to evince the contrary that he was not so born The other was not more poetically then truely written he being considering his years an admirable President for all ages of piety learning clemency magnanimity wisdome and care in governing his people As Iulius Caesar in the midst of his greatest actions wrote an exact and curious Commentary of his notable enterprises by Arms so King Edward during all the time of his Raign but most especially towards the
the cure of wounds by the powder of Sympathy saith he had a strange antipathy to a naked sword of which he there ascribes the cause He alleadged this reason to an English Divine wherefore the Scottish Church was never troubled with heresie for if said he it sprang up in a Purish there was an Eldership itoâ— suppress it if it had escaped them the Presbytery was ready to crush it if the Presbytery should be negligent than the Synod would opposeâ—it if it had not been by them suppressed the Generall Assembly would take strict order concerning it Philip de Mornay Lord of Plessis often complained that the King of England was too much taken up with some petty differences amongst his own but was not carefull enough to heal the deep wounds and breaches which were in the Church Yet his sending certain select and worthy Divines to the Synod of Dort to compose the unhappy differences then in the Law Countries and his causing the Bible to be translated into English by judicious Divines and set forth more exactly than formerly it had been done were noble works He had two sons Prince Henry and King Charles and one daughter that lived the Lady Elizabeth Queen of Bohemia The order of Knight Baronets was instituted by him they must be Gentlemen of three descents and should be worth a thousand pounds per annum the number to be installed was not to exceed two hundred I may for his learning and respect to the learned his eloquence and his profound questions at meals compare him to Charles the Great of whom Eginhardus de vita gestis Caroli Magni Inter caenandum aut aliquod acroamia aut lectorem audiebat Legebantur ei historiae antiquorum Regum gesta Delectabatur libris S. Augustini prâ—cipuè iis quos de civitate Dei inscripsit Erat eloquentia copiosiu exuberans poterátque quicquid vellet apertissimè exprimere Artes liberales studio sissimè coluit earúmque doctores plurimum veneratus magnis afficiebat honoribus Vide plura ibid. The Moneth of November is memorable for the seventeenth 1558 the initiation of Queen Elizabeth in which the purity of the Gospel brake forth and fifth in King Iames his Raign in which the treachery of the Gospels enemies brake out Dr. Heylin in his Historia Quinqu-Articularis c. 22. saith it was an usuall practice with him in the whole course of his Government to ballance one extream by the other countenancing the Papists against the Puritan and the Puritan sometimes against the Papist that betwixt both the true Religion and professors of it might be kept in safety But in the Epistle of his Book to his Son he shews what he means by Puritan He died at Theohalds in the year 1625 the twenty seventh of March the fifty ninth year of his age having raigned over all Great Brittain twenty two years compleat CHARLES the First the second Monarch of Great Brittain He was born November the nineteenth anno Dom. 16â—0 at Dun-fermling in Scotland He was the third son of Iames the sixth King of the Scots and of Anne his wife daughter of Frederick the second and sister of Christian the fourth Kings of Denmarke He was comely of person very active temperate chaste mercifull He was thought to be the best mark-man and the most comely manager of a great Horse of any one in all the three Kingdomes Of his lawfull descent to his Crown and Kingdomes from all the Kings of this Nation See Flemings Royall Progeny He was crowned on the second of February at Westminster in the year 1626 by Dr. Abbot Archbishop of Canterbury He was rather slow than fluent in his words as well by grace as a naturall imperfection yet he was pithy pathetick and sententiou in his expressions What the Brittains lost to the Saxons they to the Danes and the Norman got from both was his birth-right besides the Kingdomes of Scotland and Ireland and Principality of Wales additions to the Normans Conquest Shortly after his Coronation he was married to the Lady Henrietta Maria younger Daughter to Henry the fourth King of France by whom he had seven Children four Sons and three Daughters He improved himself much by his travels and was generally liked in Spain When he was there Archee the fool came boldly to King Iames as he found him once in a good humour and told him that he was come to change Caps with him Why said the King Marry sayes Archee because thou hast sent the Prince into Spain from whence he is never like to return But said the King What wilt thou say when thou seest him come back again Marry sayes Archee I will then take off the fools Cap which I put upon thy head for sending him thither and put it on the King of Spains for letting him return At which words it is reported that the King became exceeding pensive never before so much apprehending the danger of that adventure as then and afterward he did For his being a Papist though it be charged by some of his enemies yet I suppose there is little ground for it as his manifesto at the beginning of the English and Scotch Presbytery shews Therefore Mr. Baxter in his Key for Catholicks c. 45. hath vindicated him from this aspersion His own Letters to the Queen taken at Naseby and his counsell to the Duke of Glocester to obey the Queen his mother in all but what related to Religion sufficiently confute this calumny In the year 1618 King Iames published a Declaration tolerating sports on the Lords day It was so much disliked as it was soon after called in It was after revived and ratified by King Charles L'estrange saith there was not any one Royall Edict during all King Charles his Raign resented with equall regret It was his custome in his youth for refreshing his mind and the confirming of his health almost every week to hunt the Harts and Does In the three summer moneths he hunted the males being fat and pleasant to eat in the like space of time he hunted the females There was one Robert Par of Shropshire aged 152 who lived in the Raign of ten Kings and being brought up to London by the procurement of the Earl of Arundell died here and lyes buried in Westminster Abbey Constat quot generationes Carolingorum Johannes de Temporibus trisecli-senex superavit ille nuper Anglus sub Edoardo 4. natus sub Carolo denatus qui novem vel decem Regibus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fuit Hornii Dissertatio de aetate mundi c. 6. Never was there in this Isle a Scene of Justice more magnificent reared for any Subject than that for the Earl of Strafford Scaffolds were erected on either side of Westminster Hall there the Commons sate uncovered and in the midst of the lower ascent the Peers behind but raised above them there was placed a Chair and Cloth of State for the