as his Reason and the Greatness of his Mind much more impregnable then that of his Power wherein though his Patience came not so near to that of our Saviours as his Passion did or as their barbarity rather did to that of those Souldiers imploy'd in that accursed drudgery of his Execution yet it appears to have been such as was as much above their Expectation as himself was above their Malice Witness his Exit not like a Lyon but a Lamb For notwithstanding the sight of those Ropes and Rings which they had provided in case he had strugled with them to bind him down to the Scaffold as a Sacrifice to the Altar had been enough to have disorder'd the Passions of any man much more a King yet having a firm belief that his honor should not suffer with him but as his own words are * In his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rise again like the Sun after Owls and Batts had had their freedom in the night to recover such lustre as should dazle the eyes of those feral Birds and make them unable to behold him he was so well fortified with that assurance that he despised the shame and endured the fatal stroak with alike Magnanimity as that Great †Galbaâ— Emperor who stretch'd forth his neck and bid the Souldiers strike boldly if it were for their Countries good Here seem'd to be the Consummatum est of all the happiness of this Kingdom as well as of the Life of this King For upon his Death the Vail of the Temple rent and the Church was overthrown An universal Darkness overspread the State which lasted not for twelve hours only but twelve years The two great Luminaries of Law and Gospel were put out Such as could not write supply'd the place of Judges such as could not read of Bishops Peace was maintain'd by War Licentiousness by Fasting and Prayer The Commonalty lost their Propriety the Gentry their Liberty the Nobility their Honour the Clergy their Authority and Reverence The Stream of Government ran down in new-cut Chanels whose Waters were alwayes shallow and troubled And new Engines were invented by the new Statesmen that had the stâ—erage to catch all sorts of Fish that came to their Nets some were undone by Sequestration others by Composition some by Decimation or Proscription In sine it appear'd when too late that the whole Kingdom suffer'd more by his suffering then he himself who being so humbled as he was even unto death falling beneath the scorn mounted above the Envy of his Adversaries and had this advantage by their Malice to gain a better Crown then they took from him whiles not induring that he should be their King they consider'd not that they made him their Martyr Quando ullum invenient parem Horat. Ode 24. lib. 1. Multis ille bonis flebilis occidit HONI · SOIT · QVI · MAL · Y · PENSE DIEV ET MON DROIT Now whether the Plot of this imaginary Structure came first from Hell or Holland matters not much but so it was that like the New-buildings there it cost more to make good the Ground it stood on then the Superstructure was worth which made the People in a very little time so weary both of the Projection and the Projectors that it was not long ere it fell into visible decay Now as ill-built Houses whose Foundations fail do not suddenly fall but cracking sink by degrees so the wiser Brethren the Scots foreseeing what the end would be withdrew themselves betimes whereby they not only avoided the danger of being crush'd under the ruins of so ill-grounded a Democracy but did themselves that right to be theÌ„ first return'd to as they were the first went from their Allegiance and however many then thought they did but like Foxes who having once slipt Collar are hardly ever to be chain'd up so fast but that they will one time or another get loose again yet this honest Apostacy of theirs made such a Schism for the present in the Brotherhood that had not Cromwell very opportunely stept into the Gap to stay them the whole Flock like frighted Sheep had then broke out to follow the right Shepheard Non aliud discordantis Patria remedium est quam ut ab uno regeretur Tacit. Annal. This he very well knew and resolving to make the advantage to himself like a second Antipater that would not wear the Purple outwardly but was all Purple within under an humble habit of Meekness he so deluded them that they chose him for their Supream Magistrate under the Title of Protector of the Common-wealth of England Scotland and Ireland Now least they should discover his Ambition before he could master their affection he began his Government not much unlike Tiberius who saith Tacitus would have all things continue at the manner was in the ancient * Meaning under their Consuls Free State for as he was willing to be thought irresolv'd whether to accept of the Empire or not and thereupon would not permit any Edict though it were but to call the Lords of the Senate to Councel to be proclaimed by the Vertue and Authority of any other but a Tribune himself being one so Cromwell retaining still the name of Common-wealth that his Tyranny might seem to differ from the former no otherwise then a Wolf doth from a Dogg submitted all to the Authority of the Parliament whereof himself was a Member And to assure the faithful of the Land that the Rule over them however it were by a single Person disser'd much from Antichristian Monarchy he did so far adventure to deny himself as to admit of those Popular Votes which every Body thought were so incompatible with all Kingly Principles that it was impossible for any one ever to cheat them into Allegiance again As 1. That the People under God are the Original of all just Power 2. That the Commons of England in Parliament assembled being chosen by and representing the People have the Supream Authority of this Nation 3. That whatsoever is enacted by them and declar'd for Law hath the force of Law 4. That all the People of this Nation were concluded thereby although the consent and concurrence of the King and House of Peers were not had thereto But long it was not ere he extracted out of the dreggs of these Votes certain Spirits that made those about him so drunk with Ambition and Courage that they forgat all their Republican Resolves and as 't is said that Caesar incouraged the fearful Pilot that was to waft him over Sea in a Storm by only telling him he carried Caesar and his Fortunes so they were animated by the confidence they observ'd in him who on the sudden was exalted to that wonderful pitch of boldness as altered his very Countenance made it not much unlike that of * Sutton Vit. Neron Lucius Domitius the great Ancestor of the Aenobarbi whose face being stroked by two Cluii or familiar Damons
distinct Priviledges 1. Jure (i) Senâ—c de benefic lib. 3. Cap. 28. Eut. lib. 10. formali by the distinction of Habit of which they had seven Sorts 1 Saga 2 Pretextae 3 Angusticlavia 4 Laticlavia 5 Paludamenta 6 Trabea and 7 Chlamys of these the Common People wore only the first Sort which were Coats without Sleeves the rest were worn only by Gentlemen and Noblemen differenc'd according to their respective Dignities 2. Jure (k) Aâ—l. Gâ—ll. lib. 3. Cap. 16. Petitionis by the right of their Offices for those that were Senators as afterwards all Noblemen had their Curules or blew Chariots with a Chair plac'd in it to ride through the Streets the Consuls being differenc'd by sitting in an Ivory Chair whereas the rest were wood only 3. Jure (l) Senec. de benef lib. 3. Cap. 18. Imaginum by the use of Images which were the same things to them in point of honour and Ornament as Eschocheons and Arms of Families are to us 4. Jure Gentilitiarum by having names that were hereditary for from the very time of the first League with the Sabins it was agreed that the Romans should praefix Sabin Names and the Sabins Roman before that of their families names which Prenomina being hereditary were therefore call'd Gentilitia whence came our word Gentlemen for at that time no part of the World had taken up that Custome now Tully tells us that these Gentiles were those Qui eodem inter se sunt nomine i. e. Men of the same name for the Common People were not permitted to call their Posterity by their own names but were obliged to give their Children always new uncouth and unheard of names which brought them under such contempt as if they had no names but were as Livy calls them Sine nomine turba a nameless Rabble The original Gentiles or Leaguers of the Latin Stock were the Fabii descended from the Kings of the Aborigines the Romuli Julii Junii Surgii Aurelii Curatii Horatii Servitii Priscorum who were of the Trojan Race that came in with Aeneas at the Conquest of Italy those of the Sabin Race were the Tatii the Issue of King Tatius the Pompilii whereof the Pinarii the Aemuli Mamurcenorum were younger branches the Ancimartii Claudii Regilenses the Tarquinii Publicolae Emilii Aenobarbi the Quintii Capitolinorum and Cincinatorum the Cornelii Scipiorum and Lentulorum these were all the antient Leaguers The Families of most note that sprung from them after they united and mixt together were the Posthumii Cossii Survii Sulpicii Sempronii of which the Gracchi were but a younger branch the Fulvii Flacci Octavii Mutii Pompeii c. These I instance amongst many because it was (m) Vt pat per rescript Dioclesian forbid the Common People under a great penalty to name their Children by any of these names or indeed by any other name that had but a Sound like them or like any name of a Gentleman 5. Jure Suffragii by the difference of Places in all Publick Conventions and Assemblies where they had by the Law of Fulvia a very formal precedence given them as we may see at large in (n) Lip de Amphith c. 14. Lipsius and (o) Senec. de benef lib. 3. cap. 28. Seneca 6. Jure Connubii for by the Law of the Twelve Tables it was forbid under the pain of Degradation for any of the Gentiles to match with a Plebeian 7. Lastly they were distinguish'd Jure Ordinis according to their Titles of Honour wherein they had also Seven gradations of different Stiles the lowest whereof was that of Egregii which were such as we properly call Gentlemen or Esquires next them were the 2 Perfectissimi which were those of the Equestrian Order as our Knights then came the 3 Clarissimi these were the Correctores or Praestas of Provinces much like to our Lord Lieutenants of Counties the next above these were the 4 Spectabiles a title proper only to Dukes and Counts Provincial the 5 Illustres such were all that had any voice in Senate all Praefects Magistri Equitum Peditum the Questores Palatii the Comites Maritimi which were as our Lord Admirals and all Generals and Lieutenant Generals of Armies had the same Stile (p) C. Tit. de Feriis Epigr. L. quoniam 6 Nobilissimi which some barbarous Lawyers of late saith (q) Alciate dispunct lib. 3. Com. 4. Alciate have chang'd and as they think Elegantly into Super-Illustres which the modern more refinedly have render'd Serenissimi this was appropriated only to Princes by birth as were the (r) Seld. Tit. Hon. p. 285. Caesars or heirs apparent of the Empire who were written Principes Juventutis the Emperours took to themselves that of Divi or 7 Augusti which we at this day term Sacred It is further observable that as Romulus was the first of seven Kings so Kingship was the first of seven Orders of Government in that Commonwealth for there were 1 Reges 2 Patricii 3 Tribuni 4 Decemviri 5 Dictatores 6 Triumviri 7 Imperatores the Last of which Titles cost no less than the Lives of seven times seven thousand Citizens a Purchase so dear that it had been impossible for any person to have perswaded them to submit to it but such an one as had first slaughtered seven times seventy thousand Enemies and subdued seven times seven Nations as Caesar did if they that writ his life say truth before he offer'd this Violence to his Country and Friends Again 't is noted that there was just seven hundred years spent betwixt Romulus the first King and Founder and this Caesar the first Emperour and Confounder of the Commonwealth and they that have taken the pairs to compute the years altogether from the time of the Birth to that of the Obsequies of this great State have pointed out just seven Periods which as the seven Ages of man they have measur'd by the 1 Beginning 2 Increase 3 Confirmation 4 Continuation 5 Declination 6 Degeneration 7 Dissolution From the Foundation to the Consulship of Brutus and Tarquinius Colatinus is reckoned the first Age consisting of two hundred and twenty years or thereabouts which we may call its 1 Infancy the time from thence to the beginning of the second Carthaginian War which took up two hundred and fifty years more may be call d its 2 Adolescence the time from that War which happen'd in the Consulship of Ap. Claudius the Bold to the Dictatorship of Caesar being two hundred and twenty years more we may call its 3 Youth Augustus's his Reign passes for its Prime or 4 Full Age continuing so near three hundred years from the time of Gallenus the thirty third Emperour was a sensible 5 Declination unto the time of Arcadius and Honorius which was about two hundred and thirteen years more the time from theirs to the Death of Maximus who slew Valentinian the Third look'd like its 6 Dote Age in which it labour'd with many infirmities
little disordered by it but those since who have found the benefit of having the Laws mysterious and less intelligible have little cause to decry him for it unless for this cause that they are never pleas'd with any fighting King In fine he strain'd not the Prerogative so high but his Son Henry the First let it down again as low when he restored to the People their ancient freedom of General Assemblies or rather permitted them a kind of share with himself in the Government by instituting a form of Convention so much nobler then any thing they had been acquainted with in elder timety in that the Peerage sate as so many Kings parting stakes with Soveraigns if what * Who was Lord Chief Justice to his Grandson Hen. 3. Bracton tells us be true who saith there were many things which by law the King could not do without them and some things which legally they might do without him which those that have read upon the Statute of Magna Charta can best explain This was not therefore improperly call'd the Parliament in respect of the Freedom of parlying after another fashion then had been permitted to their Ancestors in former Meetings which being Ex more or as they were wont to phrase it of Custome Grace during all the time of the Saxon Kings we cannot imagine their Debates to be much less restrained then themselves who attending in the Kings Palace like the Lords of the Councel at this day having had the honour to give their Opinions in any point of State submitted the final Judgment and determination to the Kings will and pleasure And whereas then the Commoners were wholly left out of all Consultations unless with the Learned Lambert we may think them included in the word Barones which seems to have been as equivocal a term heretofore in England as that of Laird yet in Scotland they now were made partakers of the like priviledge of voting as the Lords so that in Henry the Third his time to look no further backward we find them call'd by the yet continued stile of Knights Citizens and Burgesses to consult together with the Lords pro Pace asseverandâ firmandâ c. as the †lib. St. Alban f. 207. 4 H. 3. Record expresses it neither sate they when they met as Cyphers to those great Figures For when Pope Alexander the Fourth would have revoked the Sentence of Banishment past upon his proud Legate Adomare Bishop of Winchester for that he was not as he alledged subject to lay Censure they took upon them to give their Answer by themselves and it was a bold one That though the King and Lords should be willing to revoke it ‖ Vt pat Chart. orâ—g sub sigil de Mountford Vic. tot Communitat Rot. Parl. 42 Hen. 3. Communitas tamen ipsius ingressum in Angliam nullatenus sustineret How far their Priviledges were afterward confirmed and enlarged by several Kings successively but more particularly by that most excellent Prince Henry the Fifth who first allowed * 2 Hen. 5. The Petition of Right and permitted it to be entred in their Journals as the Great Standard of Liberty is not unknown from which time it hath been esteemed the second Great Charter of England whereby we were manumitted into that degree of Freedom as no Subjects in the world enjoy the like with like security from the fear of future bondage For as no man can be made lyable to the payment of any more or other Taxes then what himself layes upon himself by his representatives in that great Pan-Anglio call'd the Parliament so all the Kings of England since that time have been pleas'd to accept the Aids given by them even for the necessary support of the Government as so many Freewill-Offerings And well it is that they esteem them free since they are not obtained without a kind of Composition I might say obligation to give good Laws for good mony wherein the performance on the Princes part alwaies precedes that on the Peoples But there is yet something further then all this that renders the Norman Conquest so much more considerable then either that of the Romans Saxons or Danes by how much it spread its wings over the Seas into those goodly Provinces of the South never known to the English before thereby not only giving them Title to keep their Swords from rusting as long as they had any Arms to draw them forth but the Advantage therewithal of a mutual Conversation with a civiliz'd People who introduced so happy a Change in Laws and Language in Habits and Humours in Manners and Temperature that not only their rough I might say rude Natures no way inclin'd before to any kind of Gaiety admitted of smoother Fashions and quicker Motions but their dull Phlegmatick Complexions pale and wan by the continued use of dozing dreggy Liquor Ale became as ruddy as the Wine they drank which having more of Spirit and Fire then that other heavy composition sublimated their Courage and Wit and render'd them more lofty and eloquent both in Action and Language the last being before so asperous harsh and gutteral that an hours discourse together would have indanger'd the skin of their throats but being softned by the French and Latine Accents it became so gentle and smooth that as a Modern Master of Elocution hath observ'd 't is now so soft and pleasing that Lord Faulkland Prefat to Sands his Translation of the Psalms those From whom the unknown Tongue conceals the Sence Ev'n in the sound must find an Eloquence From the Normans likewise we had that honourable distinction of Sirnames which however they borrowed in the first place from the French who as Du Tillet tells us were about the year 1000 much delighted with the humour of Soubriquets * Vid Buck. Vit. Rich. 3. or giving one another Nic-names as we commonly call them insomuch that two of the very chiefest Houses amongst them the Capets and the Plantaginets had no other rise for their Names were continued no where with that certainty and order as amongst us here to the great renown and honour of our Families whose Nobility if it exceed not the date of the Norman Conquest may yet without any disparagement compare with any of those who call themselves the unconquer'd Nations of the World It being space long enough considering the vicissitude of time and power of Chance to antiquate the glory of great States much more of private Families and few there are that have attain'd to that Age. For however Honour like old Age magnifies its reverence by multiplying its years yet it is to be considered that there are visible decayes attend Veneration and it may so fall out that Names as well as Men may out-live themselves while the glory of a Family by over-length of time being less known may be the more suspected to have been but imaginary as some who exceeding the common bounds of certainty do pretend to justifie
his Bowels Of the two Murtherers one was taken and butcher'd at Sea t'other dyed in Exile perhaps more miserable And for the Nobility in general that were Actors in the Tragedy they had this Curse upon them that most of their Race were cut off by those Civil Discords of their divided Families to which this strange violation gave the first beginning not long after HONI · SOIT · QVI · MAL · Y · PENSE DIEV ET MON DROIT He was a Prince of that admirable composure of Body and Mind that Fortune seem'd to have fallen in Love with him and as she contributed much to the making him a King and yet more to the preserving him so so she elevaâ—ed him so far above the reach of Envy or Treachery that all the Neighbour Princes dazled with the splendor of his Glory gave place to him not so much out of any sense of their own defects as of his power whereof they could not but have some glimpse as well as himseâ—f who from his very first Ascent unto the Throne had a prospect of two Crowns more then he was born to the one placed within his reach which was that of Scotland to which there needed no more but an imaginary Right to gain him the Possession the other more remote which was that of France but better secur'd in respect of a reputative Title which however oppos'd could not be deny'd To the attaining the first there was a fair opportunity offer'd by the unreconcileable contest of two well-match'd Rivals whose Right and Interest were so evenly poys'd that the least grain of his Power might turn the Scale either way to the Recovery of the other there was yet a fairer Opportunity given him by the Revolt of Philip of Artois one of the first Princes of the Blood of that Kingdom and Brother in Law to the present King Philip de Valois who being incens'd by a Judgment given against him for the County of Artois recover'd by his Aunt the Dutchess of Burgoigne came over into England with a Resolution to set aside his Title who had before set aside his Neither wanted he a Power suitable to his desired Revenge for being well acquainted with the secrets of that Kings Councel all which he reveal'd to King Edward and being able to give him good security for the affections of several of the chief Governours there that depended on him 't is no marvel he so quickly blew that spark of Glory which he found wrapt up in the Embers of King Edward's ambitious Thoughts into such a Flame as threatning the Destruction of that goodly Country made all Christendom afraid of the Consequence The great Question of Right betwixt the two greatest Kings of Europe being thus set up which in effect was no more then this Whether the French King should take place as Heir Male of the Collateral and more remote Line or the English King as Heir of the Female but direct Line and one degree nearer Those of the other side the Water obstinately refus'd to tye their Crown as they said to a Distaff to which King Edward reply'd he would then tye it to his Sword Upon this they joyn'd Issue and both sides prepar'd for the decision by Arms. King Philip had a double advantage of the English first in the Loyalty and Affections of the French as being their Natural Prince secondly by the authority of the Salique Law which however it was not so clear but that it might admit of much dispute yet being back'd with a Possession which made up eleven of the twelve Points controvertable there having been a Succession of three Sons of Philip le Bell Queen Isabels Father by whom King Edward claim'd each inheriting Successively as the next Heir Male notwithstanding each of them left Daughters by which the present King Philip came now in as Heir Masculine it seem'd so like an adjudged Case that King Edward thinking it better to cut the Knot then lose time in trying to untie it resolv'd to put it to the Determination of a Battel This Resolution of his was so lowdly proclaim'd every where abroad as well as at home that like Thunder before a Storm the very noise of his Preparations made all Christendom shake and so shake that it fell into Parties the Princes of each Country round about like Herdsmen before a Tempest flying some to one side some to another all seeking rather to shelter themselves then to add any thing to the Party they flew to With the English King took part the Emperor and all the Princes of Germany of the first Rank the Arch-Duke of Austria and the Earl of Flanders only excepted whose People yet were on this side for their Trades sake the Earl of Holland the Dukes of Brabant and Gelders the Marquess of Juliers the Arch-bishop of Cologne and Valeran his Brother and divers of the more Northern Princes With the French were the King of Bohemia the two Dukes of Austria and the Earl of Flanders before mention'd the Bishop of Metz the Marquiss of Montferrat the Earl of Geneva the Duke of Savoy and divers of the Princes of Italy to the number saith Du Hailan of 10000 Persons and which perhaps was more considerable by how much he was nearer then all the rest was his inraged Brother in Law David Bruce King of Scots a weak but a restless Enemy who had reason to take part with the other side for that he as t'other fought against a Competitor too King Edward having set up Baliol to vie with him What the number of the English Forces were is not certain unless we may guess at them by the Charges of their Entertainment which as Walsingham tells us cost us not so little as One hundred thousand pounds Sterling in less then a years time a vast Sum for those days but very well repaid with the Glory of the two Confederate Kings Ransoms who being both taken Prisoners and brought into England the first to wit the King of Scots redeem'd himself for 10000 Marks the last to wit the King of France payed for his Liberty Three millions of Crowns of Gold whereof Six hundred thousand were laid down presently and Four hundred thousand more the Year after and the Remainder the next two years following The Captivity of these two Kings at one time shews at once the Power and Glory of this great King who riding triumphant on the wings of Fortune never wanted the means to make or continue himself Victorious and prevailing no less over his own Subjects then over his Enemies these subdued by his Wisdom as those by his Courage Some have made it a doubt whether he got more by his Scepter or his Sword the benefit of Ransoms abroad notwithstanding the many Princes taken Prisoners being much short of the Aids given him at home so that they that have taken the pains to state his Accompts reckon that out of that one single Imposition upon Wool which continued Six years he was able to
dispend a thousand Marks a day which I have the rather noted to shew how the Kingdom flourish'd as well as the King gaining as all wise States do by their layings out for the whole Revenues of the Crown in his Grand-fathers days were esteem'd to be not much above a hundred thousand Marks a year Five years the French King continued Prisoner here in England time enough to have determin'd the Fortune of that great Kingdom and dissolv'd their Canton'd Government into parts had it not been a Body consisting of so many strong Limbs and so abounding with Spirits that it never fainted notwithstanding all its loss of Blood but scorn'd to yield though King Edward came very near their heart having wounded them in the most mortal part their Head The Scotch King could not recover his Liberty in double the time being the less able to redeem himself for that he was upon the matter but half a King the other half being in the possession of Baliol who to secure a Moyety to himself surrendred the whole to King Edward whose Magnificence vying with his Justice he gave it back again upon Terms more befitting a Brother then a Conqueror shewing therein a Wantonness that no King perhaps besides himself would have been guilty of nor probably he neither had either his People been less bountiful to him or Fortune less constant which to say truth never forsook him till he like his Father forsook himself leaving all Action and bidding adieu to the World ten years before he went out of it declining so fast from the fortieth year of his Government that it may rather be said his famous Son Prince Edward commonly call'd the Black Prince reign'd then he and happy 't was for him that when his own Understanding fail'd him he had so good a Supporter who having it in his power to dispose of Kingdoms whilst he liv'd ought not to be denyed after he dyed the honour of being esteem'd equal to Kings in the Prerogative of a distinct Character Begin we then the Date of his Government from the Battel of Crassy which happening in the Sixteenth year of his Age makes the Computation of his Glory to commence near about the same time his Fathers did who however he was King at fourteen rul'd not till after Mortimer's death by which Battel he so topt the Fortune of France as his Father had that of England that he may be said to have taken thereby Livery in order to the Seisin of that Kingdom And after the Recovery of Calais it may be said the Keys of the Kingdom rather then of that Town were deliver'd into his hand for that he therewith open'd all the Gates of almost every Town he came to till the King of France incompassed him like a Lion in a Toil with no less then 60000 of the best Men of France and brought him to that streight that it seem'd alike disadvantageous to sight or yield and which made the danger more considerable as things then stood England it self was in some hazard of being lost with him here he seem'd to have been as well accomptable to his Country as to his Father for his Courage and Discretion and how well he acquitted himself appears by the Sequel when forcing Hope out of Despair like fire out of a Flint he necessitated his Men to try for Conquest by shewing them how impossible 't was for him to yield and by that incomparable Obstinacy of his made Fortune so enamour'd of his Courage that she follow'd him wherever he went while his Sword made its way to Victory and his Courtesie to the Affections of the Conquer'd whom he treated with that regard and generosity that many of them were gainers by the loss being dismiss'd with honourable Presents that made his second Conquest over them greater then the first the King of France himself being so well pleas'd with his Bondage that he return'd voluntarily into England after he was redeem'd to meet two Kings more that might be Witness of his Respect and Gratitude In short he was as King of England on the other side the Water as his Father was on this side keeping so splendid a Court in Acquitaine that no less then three Kings came to visit him too all at once these were the King of Majorque Navar and Castile the last of which craving Aid of him against an Usurper who was back'd by an Army consisting of no less then One hundred thousand men if the Writers of those times say true was re-instated accordingly by his single power to shew the World that he could as well make Kings as unmake them His second Brother who had the Title of King by marrying with the King of Castile's Daughter and Heir being principally indebted to him for the honour of that Title and it prov'd a fatal Debt both to him and his Son Richard the Second costing the one his Life the other both Life and Kingdom too for as himself never recover'd the health he lost in undertaking that Expedition so his Son never recover'd the disadvantage put upon him afterward by his Uncle Lancaster who by that means having got the Regency of his drooping Father King Edward who tyred with Action rather then Age fatally submitted to the loss of more years of his Government then he got by his unnatural Anticipation from his own Father and suffer'd himself to be buried alive as we may say under his Cradle put fair for setting his Nephew aside but wanting a Colour for so apparent an Injustice his jealous Father the Black Prince having declar'd him his Successor in his life time to prevent all tricks he thought it enough to make way for his Son to do it and accordingly put such an impression of dislike upon the innocent Youth at his very first Edition as prov'd Indelible in his riper years for the very same day he was presented to take his Grandfathers Seat in Parliament as Heir apparent to the Crown being then but eleven years old he taught him to demand a Subsidy purposely to turn the Peoples blood who were then big with their Complaint of Taxes But possibly he is made more splenetick as well as more politick then he was for it was scarce possible to make the Youth more odious then he had made himself before by disgusting those two potent Factions of the Church and the City of London who to shew how weary they were of his governing the old Child his Father would not after his Death let him longer Rule the young Child his Nephew but purposely depos'd him to the end as they said that he might not depose the other Thus this great King ended as ingloriously as he began who having stept into the Throne a little before he should 't is the less wonder he left it a little before it was expected he would especially if we consider that in out-living the best Wife and the best Son in the World he had a little out-liv'd himself being so unfortunate
consequences of which being justly to be suspected he made use of their present apprehensions to renew the Treaty and by his contrivance there came a Letter to the King from Melancthon to whom the King seem'd alwayes to have great regard exhorting him to perfect the Reformation begun as well in the Doctrinal as the Ceremonial part of Worship To which the King by advice of Gardiner gave this Answer That he would make a League with them in honest Causes as he had done with the Duke of Juliers and after that he would treat of an Accord in Religion This being no way satisfactory to them much less to Cromwell who had slatter'd them with hopes of a better Accommodation he cast about another way to compass his end and knowing very well that the King did alwayes prefer his Pleasure before his Revenge as those that mean to take great Fishes bait their Hooks with flesh so he held up the Treaty with the Proposal of a new Match that he believ'd could not but be very acceptable not only in respect of the Kings having been near three Years a Widower but for that it was such as he said would at once anger and curb the Emperor the Popes only Executioner to make good his late Fulmination This was a Daughter to the Duke of Cleve who being a Protestant and Father in Law to the Duke of Saxony and next Neighbour to the Emperors Dominions in the Low Countries there seem'd to be in the Proposal great considerations of State besides that of Riches and Beauty the last being the first thing in the Kings Thoughts wherein Hans Holbin the famous Painter contributed much to the deceiving him which whether it prov'd more unfortunate to her or Cromwell I cannot say but it so fell out that the King disgusting her after he saw her was easily prevail'd with to repudiate her and consequently to reject the Match-maker who having it in his Fate to be undone as he was at first set up by the Smock was sacrificed to the Envy of the People rather then his Masters Displeasure who let them lay the load of his Faults upon him and being a Prince that drew upon all his great Ministers more blame then either they could bear or durst answer he left him to perish under the weight of it And which made his Case more deplorable perhaps then that of most others that felt the weight of his Iron Rod and therefore look'd more like a Judgment from Heaven then Earth was First that he suffer'd him to be condemn'd at the same time all other men by a general and free pardon were indempnified from the same Crimes of which he stood accus'd Secondly in that he died like Phalaris by an Instrument as some say of his own inventing Thirdly and lastly that after having been Vicegerent to the Defender of the Faith he should dye as an Heretick for opposing the Faith after having had the repute of a faithful Servant indeed so faithful that as Cranmer's Letter to the King yet to be seen testifies he cared not whom he displeas'd to serve his Majesty he should dye like one that had merited no favour from him That he who was so vigilant to detect all Treasons in their Embrio should dye like a Traytor himself That he that had no bounds set to his Authority should dye for exceeding his Commission Lastly That he who was the only Master of Requests and gave an answer to all men that made any Addresses to the King should himself dye unheard as well as unpitied But when we consider all this we must conclude the end of some mens Rise is to keep others from Falling Providence oftentimes upholding Justice even by Injustice that so by correcting some men causlesly she may certainly teach all men Caution The King having thus rid himself of his new Wife and his old Servant both submitting to his Will the first with the loss of her Estate and Dignity for instead of being his Queen she was adopted his Sister the last with the loss of both his Estate and Life he found the means to repair the want of the one though he could not of the other by taking to his Bed perhaps with no disparity to his Greatness if there had been none betwixt her own Vertue and Beauty the fair Lady Katherine Howard Neece to the Duke of Norfolk who seems to be born to be a Scourge of the Injustice shew'd to his former Wives whilst her Incontinence under the veil of a clear and most modest behaviour appear'd so notorious that being confessed by her self he himself was forc'd to suffer in the shame with her which he was so sensible of that we find by a Law ex post facto he labour'd to prevent the like for the future And now being as it were weary of Pleasures of that kind this being his fifth Wife that was executed or suffer'd worse his Love gave place once more to his Ambition which he gratified with a new Title or rather the Superfoetation of an old one causing himself to be stiled King of Ireland whereas none of his Predecessors were otherwise stiled then Lords thereof which as it was in the first place intended by him as an additional honour to that Nation rather then to himself so in the last place he did it to prevent James the Fifth of Scotland who had an Invitation from some of the discontented Nobility there to have taken it on him having before affronted him by assuming the Title of Defender of the Faith with the addition only of the word Christian as if there were any other Faith but what was in truth so and because he was resolv'd to quarrel him upon it he sent to require Homage to be paid him for that Kingdom urging that the Kings of that Nation had for many Ages submitted themselves in a qualified Condition of Vassalage under the Kings his Ancestors both before and since the Conquest This begat a War which ended not with the Life of that King being struck to the heart with the melancholy apprehensions of being over-match'd who dying left a young Daughter to succeed whom King Henry thought a fitting Wife for his Son Prince Edward and accordingly afterward in despight of all the tricks of the French Party that then rul'd there he brought it to such a Treaty as amounted to a Contract being under Hands and Seals of both sides But the Scots shewing themselves by their wonted breach of Faith to be true Scots all ended in War wherein though he were victorious yet the main business was nothing advanc'd by the Success there being more done then became a Suiter for Alliance and too little for one pretending to Conquest Hereupon he was forc'd to try the Fortune of another Treaty with the discontented Earl of Lenox who having formerly been set up by the French to be Governour of the young Queen and the Kingdom but deserted by them when he had most need of their aid he was