ENGLAND'S WORTHIES The Life's of the Most Eminent Persons from CONSTANTINE the Great to OLIVER CROMWELL Late Protector; Printed for N: Brook at the Angel in Cornhill. 1660. engraving featuring a crown and mitre sitting on two columns, and a crossed olive branch and sceptre, surrounded by portraits of the subjects of this book: Emperor Constantine I, the Great; King Arthur; Saint Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury; King Edmund the Second, Ironside; King Edward, the Confessor; King William the First, the Conqueror; Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury; King Richard the First; King Edward the Third; Edward, the Black Prince; Sir John Hawkwood; Geoffrey Chaucer; King Henry the Fifth; John, Duke of Bedford; Richard Neville, Sixteenth Earl of Warwick and Sixth Earl of Salisbury; King Richard the Third; Thomas Howard, Second Duke of Norfolk; Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, Archbishop of York; Sir Thomas More; Thomas Cromwell, Earl of Essex; Sir Philip Sidney; Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester; William Cecil, First Baron Burghley; Sir Francis Drake; Sir Francis Walsingham; Sir Nicholas Bacon; Robert Devereux, Second Earl of Essex; Sir Robert Cecil, First Earl of Salisbury; Sir Thomas Overbury; Sir Walter Raleigh; William Camden; Thomas Sutton; Sir Francis Bacon, Viscount Saint Alban; Lancelot Andrews, Bishop of Winchester; John Donne, Dean of Saint Paul's; George Villiers, First Duke of Buckingham; Sir Henry Wotton; Thomas Wentworth, First Earl of Strafford; William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury; Robert Devereux, Third Earl of Essex; Sir Charles Lucas; King Charles the First; Arthur Capel, First Baron Capel; James Graham, First Marquess of Montrose; James Usher, Archbishop of Armagh; John Lilburne; Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector 1 C 2 K A 3 St D 4 K I 5 E ᵈ C 6 W th' C 7 T B 8 R t 1 9 E t 3 10 B P 11 Sir I H 12 I C 13 H t 5 14 D B 15 E d W 16 R 3d 17 E d S 18 T W 19 T M 20 T C 21 Sir P S 22 E d L 23 W B 24 Sir F D 25 F W 26 N B 27 R E d E 28 R C 29 Sir T O 30 Sir W R 31 W C 32 T S 33 Sir F B 34 Bp A 35 I D 36 D B 37 Sir H W 38 E oh S 39 Bp L 40 E d E 41 Sir C L 42 K C 43 Ld C 44 ma M 45 Bp V 46 47 O C England's WORTHIES. Select LIVES of the most Eminent Persons from Constantine the Great, to the death of Oliver Cromwell late Protector. Polib. Historici est, ne quid falsi, audeat dicere; ne quid veri, non audeat. By WILLIAM WINSTANLEY, Gent. printer's device of Nathaniel Brooke, featuring an angel holding a large feather or quill N B London, Printed for Nath. Brooke, at the Sign of the Angel in Cornhill, 1660. To the Right Honourable, Somerset, Lord Herbert of Ragland, Son and Heir of Edward Marquis of Worcester, Earl of Glamorgan, etc. To the Right Honourable William Seimor, Lord Beuchampe, Grandchild and Heir to the Right Honourable the Marquis of Hertford. To the Right Honourable Charles Dormer, Lord Dormer of Wing, Son and Heir to the Right Honourable the Earl of Canaruan. My Lords, I Have chosen to present you with this Volume, not only as it is worthy of the Ages past, but also of your Lordship's present view, the Affinity of your Blood and Greatness, challenging from me no less than these prostrate respects, as I could desire no firmer nor safer an Anchorage then in so proper a Dedication, no despairing that my Pen hath produced something worthy of your entertainments; as I have set before your eyes forty seven Select Lives of our English Heroes, the greatest Princes, the most Reverend Cleargymen, eminent Statesmen, and valiant Soldiers all deceased: As to History itself, a Modern Writer expresses, 'tis the study of the Holy Scripture that becomes a Gentleman; of the Ecclesiastical History, a Christian; and of the British History, an English man; all which Qualifications in some measure meeting in your Honours, as well as in this Work itself, gives me some assurance that these my weak endeavours would not be unwelcome to you. My Lords, he that hath the Spirit and Blood of his Ancestors in his veins, cannot be so much turned into a Statue as to stand still and admire the different Fortunes, this man's greatness, and of that man's lowness, so as not only to reflect on the tributary brooks of the former Matches of the Nobility, but also to look back to matter of fact what our Predecessors have been, as well as what we ourselves at the present are, least falling short of the imitation of their immortal actions, we so strangely degenerate, as not to understand what we ourselves ought to be. The clear Fountain flowing from the true Nobility of late being so disturbed, it is the office of an honest and true Historian, if not his duty, to have so much of the Herald, as to Register the Descents, Issues, worthy Acts, Achievements, Mannagements of our of late so little imitated Ancestors; of these several alterations in Nobility one observes, there are three principle Actors on the Theatre of great Families; the Beginner, Advancer, and Ruiner; in all these our uncivil troublesome times we have heard more of the latter then of the other two; one experiencst though unfortunate good, amongst the many mischiefs, which a Civil War occasions, is that in the ransacking of Studies, accidentally, though determined otherwise, the Togati and the Armati meet; several Manuscripts which otherwise would have remained useful only to private persons, have been by Divine Providence miraculously preserved, contrary to the intentions of the Agents, whose Barbarismes had snuffed out the candle to the present Age, and deprived posterity of those Illustrations from which they might know that truth, which otherwise they should never have been acquainted with: as they endeavoured that the most remarkable Affairs of these times should have otherwise been hid under a bushel. To your Honour, my Lord Herbert, I make this particular Address, though this Dedication is joint, as in respect of your happy Assinities, as you are Father-in-law to one of these youthful Branches of Honour, in respect of your advantages of some years, so your grandeur and experience renders you a History of yourself, and in respect of their tender ages another to them. My Lord, I know to your Honour it is no less than a Prodigy that our English Gentlemen should be more exact and refined in knowing the Religion, Laws, Governments, Strengths, Scites, Customs, and Fashions of Foreign Countries, then of their own wherein themselves are Natives, which caused a deserving Historian, as it were, to sigh out this expression, What pity is it for a proper Gentleman to have such a crick in his neck, that he cannot look so much as over his shoulder to know his own History; much less so far behind him, as to reflect on actions long since performed. I have presumed to intimate thus much to your Honour, as you are another Burleigh or Raleigh, to give better advice to your youthful Kinsmen. My Lords, I have chosen you as out of the Caesars, to affix your names to this Epitome of Lives, that as Julius was his own History and Commentary, so your Honours though yet but in the abstract of time, might pass it to posterity; to which purpose, I have chosen your united protections. Since I have been writing this History, there hath been no less than three alterations, Regal, Protectorship, and now a Commonwealth; I first undertook this enterprise in the time of Monarchy, continued it in the short space of Protectorship, and finished it in the immediate initiation of the Commonwealth: in all which progressions, if the Liberty of the Subjects modest prospects are shut up, or not allowed, if in these days that Lots little one of truth, by these present times posterity must be deprived of, wise and honest men will be seriously sensible of such obstructions; the maliciousness of such Machiavillians puts me in mind of what elegant Mr. Fuller citys what Naturalists observe of the Toad, who before she can be surprised by death, sucks up the supposed precious stone in her head, which till then was but a jelly; thus some men are so cowardly that they had rather have History buried with them, then that the least part of civil truth should be writ whilst they live, as if they deserved no Chronicle, or were only to be suffered in Libellous Pamphlets, which wise men scorn to cast their eyes on. I confess we live in times of Jealousies, nevertheless there is no danger in a Dedication that drives on a harmless design, which for the Innocency of it, craves protection from such tender years. My Lords, I wish that your Families may ever flourish, whose Charities like the expected showers have refreshed our parched English Earth, being nevertheless so undescernable as the wind, the left hand not knowing what the right hand did; the so eminent Noblesses of your Generous Blood hath obliged our English world, and amongst the rest of my Countrymen, commanded me to present these humble respects to your Lordships. In the tender of these Lives, My Lords, I have turned the Mirror of them to you, expecting that by your future Achievements you will get up hill to these Worthies, not questioning but some other Pen when I am in my silent grave will raise Pyramids to your Names, and affix you to this Volume: If your Lordships in your inspect at my turning of this Mirror to you, still perceive somewhat remaining of a sad representation, a once sable mourning cloud, 'tis now so serene, so dispersed with the Beams and Splendours of Honour, that you may safely be so loyal to Heaven, as with a correlative gratitude, to acknowledge the remarks of that Hero. My Lords, as I designed you the Persons of my Dedication, so you bear the Title of my Book in your promising Years and Blood, there being none in England in whom there is a Nobler confluence of so many Loyal Purple Rivulets of Honour, that a mean Herald by the guidance thereof upwards, may be lead to the Fountain and Head-Spring of the English Nobility. Be pleased to accept of these tenders of Service, as also of my best wishes, that as you have met in your Affinities, so joint Virtues may be united in your Natures, which shall be his request to Heaven, who is the meanest and unworthiest of Your Lordship's Servants, William Winstanley. To the Worthy Patron of Ingenuous Endeavours, the truly generous and nobly minded Thomas Salisbury, Esq; SIR, IT may make you the more to admire at my boldness, that in a midnight as not known to you, I shall nevertheless present these more than ordinary respects; I acknowledge till the Magis of those that rightly knew you had crowned my tenders with the Laurels of your deserts, I had not laid down this Dedication otherwise, then at the feet of your Eminent Qualifications, as of a proximity to what still remains of the surviving Nobility. Sir, I have placed you in the Front of my Heroe's, not disputing after so confirmed a survey of you by your Friends, that I could not choose a more fortunate Star to direct these my services, then to yourself; as I am informed with your own Pen you have begun with the life of Adam, the creation of History, give me leave after your Italian Victory, to entertain you with these British Triumphs, which take their rise from the Christian Cross of Constantine the Great, and sit down within the Herodian short-lived Protectorships. Sir, as to the undertake of History, you are not unacquainted that Judgement and a signalised Impartiality eternizes an Historian. That oil is adjudged the best that hath no taste; that Author should be the most preferred that hath the least tongue of interested affections, a candour of course being due to him that waves the chiding of the present times, in hopes that after Ages may excuse him. Seamen observe that the waters are the more troubled the nearer they come to the Land, because broken by repercussion from the shore; I am sensible (though that I cannot imagine wherefore) of the same danger, the nearer I approach to the times, and the end of this History, the more subject some will be to censure what they have so little wit as to interpret to themselves. One writes, if he did not invent the words himself, that Machiavelli used to say, that he that undertakes to write a History should have no Religion; if so (says he) glozing on his own wit, Machiavelli himself was the best qualified in his age to be an Historian; the Gentleman is much mistaken, alas he was but a simple fellow to the Religious Jesuits of our times, as he wanted the Holy Vestments, the Vizards of Scripture to gild over his designs. Some entertain this position, that the History of these present times must not be written by any one alive, which in my opinion is disgraceful to an Historian, and very prejudicial to posterity; as if they were to write at a distance, that obscurity might protect their mistakes from discovery: others also say, the Truth is not ripe enough to be writ in the Age we live in, which proves too rotten for the next generation faithfully to report: these men are extremely mistaken, for when Impresses of memorable matters are almost worn out, the History having more of the Author's hand then footsteps of truth therein, must needs suffer; sure I am that the most informative Histories to posterity, and such as are highly prized by the Judicious, have been written by eye-witnesses; such Historians as live in the Times, not by the Times; thus Thucydides reports impartially of the Pelopenesian War. Indeed St. Peter followed Christ afar off, so Politicians would not have the Historian to tread on the heels of the times, lest the times tread on his heels; the truth is, we live in such a warlike tragical Age, best to write of, but not to write in. Sir, if Wit be such a Plant that it scarce receives heat enough to keep it alive in the Summer of our cold Climate, how can it choose but whither in the so long and sharp a Winter of our Civil Uncivil Discontents. If my endeavours meet with any acceptation in this our English world, it must be from such understanding Persons as yourself, as it will remain a perpetual memorial to your name, as first brought forth under the Sphere of your tuition and Goodness. Worthy Sir, together with the respects I tender to your honoured self, I have entertained it as a Case of Conscience to transmit to the next Age some short Intimations of these times, as any wise Historian may justly fear that Records are not so carefully kept in these so many changes, as they have been in former Ages; as to the breviary of these Lives, I can only apologise, that no wise man can expect to cut and polish Diamonds with so little pains as we do Marbles; the chiefest matters contained in Giantlike Volumes is to be found in this, like a little Watch showing the time of the day as well as a great Clock. Sir, lest having written a Preface in respect of these tedious Lines, you should mistake them for another, I shall end with this short ejaculation, that as Fortune, whom the Poets have so long feigned blind, hath opened her eyes to look upon you as to your desires and deserts, so I wish you may enjoy her favours as many more happy Years as there are Lives in this Book. Thus Sir, at the high Altar of my Respects, I lay down this Sacrifice, be pleased to accept the Oblation from the hands of Yours really, both in Love and Service, WILLIAM WINSTANLEY. The Preface. To the still surviving Nobility and Gentry of England. THere is no treasure so much enriches the mind of man as Learning; there is no Learning so proper for the direction of the life of man as History; no History that carries more weight of concernment with it, then that of our own Country: In the undertaking of which great enterprise, not a word that the Historian writes but should be laden with the truth of matter; as Tacitus says of Galba, it ought to be Imperatoria brevitate. It hath been critically observed by some, that most Historians speak too much, and say too little; I doubt others will think, I speak too little, and say too much, so that it will be difficult to please all. My Method shall be, first to discourse of History itself; next of the rules and directions that are to be observed in the study of it; then of Epitomies what they are, the admirable use that may be made of them several ways, more respectively as to the particular Lives of Persons; afterwards of the use, benefit, and advantages that accrue by the reading of it; concluding with some other Addresses as to the right understanding of this now at last published Work. History, as Sir Walter Raleigh writes, makes us acquainted with our dead Ancestors, delivering us their memory and fame; out of it we gather a policy, no less otherwise then eternal, by the comparison and application of other men's forepast miseries with our own like errors and ill deservirgs. History, as it were, thus shooting off a warning-piece, from which we have the dear bought experience of former and of latter times; that in an hour we know what our Predecessors were many years attaining to: It makes a young man to be ancient without wrinkles or grey hairs, principling him with the experiences, the infirmities and inconveniences of old age. Thus we clearly perceive how Empires, Kingdoms, and Commonwealths every where have had their periods, but the History of them remains and lives for the instructions of men, and the glory of God, the chief intent and use of this study being to acknowledge our Creator, who only is unchangeable, and to admire his Wisdom and Providence in humane miscarriages. 'Tis undeniable that it hath pleased the Divine Disposer of all things to preserve the Arts of reading of men to himself, yet as the fruits tell the name of the tree, so do the outward works of men so far as their agitations are acted, give us to guests at the rest; no man can lay continual masks, so counterfeit behaviours, the things that are forced for pretences having no ground of truth, cannot long dissemble their own nature, so is the force of truth, the Divine Providence so powerful, that howsoever the greatest diligence hath been used to carry all in secret, to act with colourable evasions and glosses, like Tumblers that are squinteyed, looking one way, and aiming another, yet in these our days, we have known the closest of State secrets brought to light, the cunningest consultations and contrivances discovered; thus we have seen wicked Politicians seldom happy by their baseness, often losing all which either their subtleties, fortune, or other men's labours had cast upon them; and if they retain their ambitions for a life, non gaudet tertius Haeres. To this purpose one writes excellently, History is the mirror for us to look in, which represents to us things past as if they were present, and enables us to make a rational conjecture of things to come. For this world affordeth no new accidents, but in the same sense wherein we call a New Moon, which is the old one in another shape, and yet no other than what hath been formerly; old actions return again furbished over with some new and different circumstances. The Premises considered, to all wise men History must bear up, be highly esteemed, only what Pilot in so a Sea is able to steer aright, except he have discovered those Rocks on which others have split, so as to have first rightly poised their errors; he that is not sufficiently knowing of the slips of some Authors, and the trips that Writers cunningly give one another, will never be so wise as to set up for himself. I acknowledge in these last instances I have digressed, as I would as it were praeire, before I arrived at my directions for the reading of History; to prepare the Student in the pursuit of which Subject only, I shall throughout the whole thread of them interweave some unworthy Observations of my own; yet so as for the main, endeavour to keep close to the scope and sense of a late learned Author, whose remaining Manuscripts I could wish for the future good of posterity were committed to the Press. The first thing that is to be undertaken in this Enterprise, is to attain to some skill both in Ancient and Modern Geography, without which History is nothing but a Chaos of improbable and indigested tales, as Geography without History is a blank paper; then to betake one's self to some little Chronicle, not forgetting to shred it into an exact Chronology, for the series of the History, which will both help the understanding and the memory, it being as it were the fractions of time. Read Herodians Lives of the Emperors, Justin, which is a general Compendium of all; then Plutarch's Lives, an exact Systome of the Greek and Roman Affairs, which of all Nations were seasoned with the greatest wisdom; extract Political Observations, without which History is little worth, and Fables were as good as Histories; yet under the veil of Fables lies hid all the Divinity and Philosophy of the wise Ancients. That common fault of reading for pleasure, as the idle people do to pass away the time, is to be avoided; this at the best is but a supine labour. Be diligent to collect from variety of events experience and civil wisdom, by observing both Moral and Political Actions; the parties, the causes, the state of them, and parallel them with others of the like nature, for it may prove virtue to one, and vice to another; the doing of an action, wisdom in one, & madness in another, and so continually fortunate or unfortunate; which might be made good by several examples, which for brevity I shall omit. Here also the Historian amongst other difficulties will meet with these troublesome curiosities, and more than niceties, as they are too usually mistakes; as touching sums of money, numbers of Soldiers, Ships, the slain in Battle, computation of Time, differences of Names, Titles, etc. wherein Authors agree not; and it were to be wished that the assured Notes of such particulars were to be had. These things I insert only as cautions. To proceed, the Student having first in his reading gained forth his remarks, and gleaned his observations into heads, he is next to commit them to paper; for though the memory be the treasure of knowledge, yet we must not trust it too much, we so often finding our accounts fall short; therefore the Student should be sure to rank his observations with all possible order, otherwise they will be troublesome and less profitable. The Authority of the Author is seriously to be regarded, it being the Basis of the whole building; therefore before reading, the best information aught to be had how he is esteemed, whether suspected of faith or no, whether disinterested in the business he treats of, whether a Native or a Foreigner; these latter grossly mistaking, as Polydore Virgil doth too often in our History. Philip Comines commonly mentions those from whom he had his relations, it being the way whereby credit is extremely courted, learned men having had a great account of his writings. In the next place those Authors are to be compared with others of the same subject, that so if it may be possible to reconcile their differences, or to incline to those that bring the most colourable reasons or best authority, this will give you a great light to reading, and be an extraordinary help to your judgement and memory; and take it for a general Cannon, never to read a Translation if you can understand and procure the Original: translated Books being like removed Plants, degenerating from their excellency and native worth, because Translators though able, and furnished with the advantages of language, are never able to attain to the Authors own genius: to them join the choicest Commentators, that handle the customs, whether Tactics or Stratagemicks, few Classic Authors having not some, if not all; the understanding of either of these will mightily augment the life of a Narration. 'Tis now high time to descend to some particular directions; as for the election of some Authors, begin with the shortest, I have already occasionally cited Justin; I shall now amongst the Romans begin with Lucius Florus, an elegant writer, though somewhat too panegerical: read Veleius Paterculus, an excellent Author, who besides the purity of his stile, slices the time with a diligent calculation, who most accurately Annatomizes the minds of those great persons who were the chief Authors of those Affairs he treats of. Then you may give essays to Livy, and Plutarch, Dionyssus Halicarnassus, etc. For the Emperors begin with Tacitus rather than Suetonius, both because he is not so confused, as for the excellent Theorems of his policy, which he hath almost in every line, but alas his rents witness in him the wounds of Barbarism; but to remedy that, procure in them what you can to succenturiate in the History diligently, as I have already advised take the thread of time for conduct through the labyrinth; then set your mind to observe the customs and alterations: there are some things (not to instance them they are so generally known) that were in the free State of Rome that were not in the Empire; and on the contrary, that in the latter which was not in the former; look also into the manners of the people whose guests you read, and pry as much as you can into the secret humours of the Governors, the inclinations of the people, how when wantoning with success, how when feeling the pinches of fortune; observing also what nature they borrow from their climes, the Northern being more fruitful, the Southern more subtle, of whom nevertheless the others have gained ground, as the Goths of the Romans, the English of the French; as also that mountainous people are ever more hardy than those of the Plains, Husbandmen than Citizens: for the former the Switz may exemplify, without whose Infantry the French who are excellent Horsemen dare hardly take the Field; for the other, the Lord Verulam (in whose admiration I can never satisfy myself,) giving the reason why we breed so good Foot, says, it is because it depends on the yeomanry, the great joists of a state as well in peace as in War, so nature hath infused into every Nation some particular condition; in the Romans desire of Glory and Sovereignty, and a great observation of their promises. The Spaniards are reservedly proud, zealous of the honour of their Country. The French in the beginning of a Battle more than men, in the prosecution less than women, hot, fiery, and Mercurial spirits, etc. So Herodian observes the Antiochians, apt to any change. Comines, the people of Gaunt in Flanders, loving their Lords before they come into the Government, and then having them, inconstant, seditious, etc. these things will speak themselves, and are commonly the History of the whole Nation epitomised. To be brief, History hath this preeminency above Oratory and Poetry, that Oratory hath been rejected by the Lacedæmonians; Poetry by Plato, Tertullian, and others, as two pernicious instruments in a Commonwealth, to pervert men's minds; but History was never yet rejected by any; for what can be more profitable then to learn wisdom by other men's follies, to get experience by other men's cost and labours, and to be safe by other men's dangers. History is like a watchtower, on which we may see dangers afar off, and so avoid them; and what can be more pleasant then to see a Tragedy acted to the life, which only is to be seen in History; for here we shall see the whole world, but as a Stage on which men of all sorts have acted their parts, Princes, Prelates, Peasants of all ages acting the same things, on the same Stage; who after they have laid aside their discriminating Vizards, and personating Garments, they are all alike, as they were before they put them on: for Kings and Beggars have the same way of coming in, and the same way of going out; Mors Sceptra ligonibus aequat: Diogenes cannot distinguish King Philip's Skull from the rest; nor is there any difference in Charon's boat, between the greatest and the meanest, all must row there alike. As for my other consideration of Epitomies, what they are, I acknowledge them to be but lively Landscapes, such as if naturally drawn, are ex pede Herculem, not to reflect on those common saws, Homers Iliads in a Nutshell, that life is short, and art is long; nor to retort at the prolixity and dulness of some Historians, some of which like Tom. Coriat memorise where they last urined; to instance one for all, Holinshed, who discourses of tempests, of lightnings, of thunders, and trifling passages, as the burning of Brewer's Houses, etc. of whom that learned Historian of our Nation Doctor Heylin writes thus, Volumnious Holinshed and Stow, full of confusion and commixture of unworthy relations. Without question a great part of the perfection of a Historian consists in the wisdom of epitomizing, in picking out the morrow of larger Histories, they being so often fraught with impertinencies, saucy censures, and too partial adorations; to read large Volumes young men in the heat of their youthful diversions will not condescend, and Princes have not the leisure. Virgil (if we may reflect on Tradition,) after he had written thirty verses in a morning, spent the rest of the day to convert them into three good ones; like Ben. Johnson, who to one that told him of his oil and his lamp, the pains he took before his Births, those happy abstracts of the humours and manners of men; gave this answer, That his were Works, the other printed things for the Stage were but Plays. Dons and cleaveland's Poems, how have they whipped and pedantized the other locusts of Poetry? thus a true Diamond is to be esteemed above heaps of Bristol stones. To instance further, as to the writing of Lives, Historians that are thus employed, are, or aught to be the most impartial of all other Authors, except by their interests and flatteries they have resolved to render themselves worse than Pimps to posterity; it being their determined employment and proper duties to pull off the periwigs and disguises of great men, and to present them in their own colours, as a man's exterior actions are the best indicia of his mind; some men in their public actions being mere mimics, whereas in private they put off their assumed habits and become themselves again. A disinterressed Historian, for what next to God he can discover, paints them to the life; the general complaint in this particular is of the scarcity of the writers of lives: Indeed I know but few of the modern have laboured this way, for antiquity we have Laertius and Plutarch, you may happily pardon me if I touch at either of them, there is a certain abundance of moral wisdom in Laertius, he is rich in his examples of ancient Sages, is fraught almost in every page with moral instructions. Plutarch's fortune is to have engaged with warlike spirits, yet you may find in him counsels as well for the Gown as the Sword. I conceive no reason why Bodin and some others should bark at him, and say, his History may well be called Parallels, for they never meet; truly considering their internal inclinations, by their leave, in my judgement they are admirably well suited, nay, most of their actions concur; now if one had not the same fortune, as another Country risen when the other fell, it makes nothing against him, since chance may help the weak to the Victory. But lest contrary to my own Intention I should enlarge myself too much, it will now be high time for me to fall on my next particular, what is the use, benefit, and advantages that accrue from the reading of History. From this Study we learn the causes, rises, alterations, revolutions, characters of divers persons, the mutability of Counsels, the remarkableness of actions, the subtleties of pretensions, the drifts of interests, the secrets of State, the deportments of Princes wisely dissimulating with their people, from whose ambitious pretences Politicians determine that nothing is unlawful to him that hath power, and nothing so unsafe to a Cedar of State, as to be securely innocent. By the assistance of History we find out the especial Affairs of their Kingdoms, their Treaties, Articles, Letters, Charts, Ordinances, Entertainments, Provisions of Arms, Businesses of Commerce. It is indeed one of the most profitable employments of a man's life to read Histories, which stirs up men to virtue, and deterrs from vice, whilst they read how the one is rewarded, and the other punished; it makes a man serviceable both to the Church and State; it is a Study fit for Divines, to illustrate and confirm their Doctrines, whilst they exhort to virtue, and dehort from vice; it shows them also the increase and decrease of Religion, with the divers concomitants thereof; it is fit for the Lawyer, to show him the original, diversities, and changes of Laws and Governments; for the same cause it is a fit Study for all Princes, Magistrates, and Politicians, without which their Government will be but lame: and no less necessary is it to Soldiers, especially to Commanders and Captains, where they may see the the divers causes, events, attendants, and stratagems of War. Physicians also, Philosophers and Poets may reap no small benefit by reading Histories. Alexander made himself so expert a Warrior as he was, by reading the Life and Actions of Achilles; and Caesar was animated to undertake his great exploits by reading the Life of Alexander. Plutarch reports, that Paulus Aemilius who subdued Perses the Macedonian King, attained to his expertness in Soldiery, by his indefatigable Study in History. Selimus the Turk caused the actions of Julius Caesar to be translated (whereas his Predecessors slighted all Histories as fabulous) and by reading of these, he became so expert a Soldier, that in a short time he overrun a great part of Africa and Asia-Charles the Great was so affected with Histories, that he usually caused them to be read to him as he sat at dinner and supper. And Alexander Severus never undertook any great action, till he had first consulted with Historians. Innumerable other examples might be produced of the benefit attained by reading of Histories; now as they received profit from, so were they in ancient times as grateful to Historians. Polybius that wrote the Roman History, and their Wars with the Carthaginians, was honoured with a Statue on high Pillar at Megalopolis. Pompey the Great honoured Theophanes the Historian with the Privileges of the City of Rome. The Emperor Tacitus commanded the History of Tacitus to be placed in all Libraries, and lest it should perish, he caused it every year to be written ten times over. Titus Vespasian bestowed great wealth and honours on Josephus the Jewish Historian, notwithstanding he had before been his deadly enemy, and caused his Statue to be erected at Rome. So did Julian the Apostate upon Aurelius Victor, the Roman Historiographer. We read of Alphonsus' King of Arragon, that he commanded the Musicians from his presence, saying, He heard a better Harmony out of Livy. The Egyptians were so careful to preserve their Histories and ancient Monuments, that they slighted the Grecians, accounting them no better than children for their neglect herein. History is the general treasury of times past, present, and a lively pattern of things to come; and as one rightly terms it, the Workmistresse of Experience, and Mother of Prudence: by Prudence we find that a good Prince that is governed by evil Ministers is in as dangerous a posture of ruin, as if he were evil himself; we discover by the ruins of some rash great men what Ambition is, torrenti similis, which rises in an instant, and falls in a moment. In the Calamities of a Civil War we may perceive how the Law lies asleep, and how the opinions of the Church are traduced when all things are governed by the Sword, to see one brought a pallio & crepedis from the greatest obscurity to the Purple and Sceptre; another once in the Meridian of Majesty, in a short time set below in the Horizon of contempt; the sins of the Father visited in the progeny of another Prince, of a Prince in a Nation; the hand of God guiding this dance, like the Whitel of a Clock, which moving all the rest hath not of its self any sensible motion; or as we see the Circum-ambulation of the lower Spheres, yet see not the primum mobile, whose Revolution whirls them round about. Lastly, to consider the great delight of this Study, than which what can be greater than in History, as she reinforces Antiquity from her ruins; what can be nobler than to make the grey head of time white again? what more pleasant then to look back on that which is not, to see great Empires more unknown in their Originals then the Fountain head of the Nile, break out with such violent Cataracts that they have either overrun or terrified the amazed world, and then in the height of their glory pulled down by some unexpected and improbable means, and in a manner so annihilated, that they have kept no Tract of their greatness, save what is found in a piece of paper. To draw to a conclusion to my own Addresses, as to the right understanding of this Volume: I must for my own part freely acknowledge, that it is more than the Work of one man, were he of never so strong forces, to compose a passable contexture of the whole History of England; indeed somewhat I might say for myself, as it is well known I have spent some years in these Studies, but withal I know quam sit magnum dare aliquid in manus hominum, especially in this kind, where more is expected then hath been delivered before; in respect of answering the height of some insatiate curiosities, this I must write for myself, what I may profess in singleness of heart, that the ambition of my design hath been to keep close to truth, which to me hath seemed more amiable than all other worldly Interests, to which purpose I have rendered her as she is pictured, naked, without any unnecessary tires and advantages of Wit and Eloquence; it having been my chiefest endeavour to set down things in an even and quiet order, not quarrelling with the belief of Antiquity, nor obseuring the least particle of truth, which I know needs not, though falsehood requires supporters. Thus, as to the Authority of what I have writ, I have bound myself to the truth of History only, retaining to myself the right of an Author, my own liberty: As for the Method, Manner, and Phrase of writing, for my Authors I have prefixed a Catalogue of them, that my Reader may know that I have not (like the men of the times) done things ex tempore; if every where I have not charged my Book with them, it is because the History for the Impartiality of it is Author to its self; only to avoid too often citations; where I could not go abroad, as one writes, the rest I have taken in at the window. I acknowledge I had many supplies besides my own some years continued studies, I have conversed with the most knowing persons of unquestionable esteem, interested in most of the late Actions, I have had the use of their Manuscripts, consulted with Records, turned over many Volumes, so that my Reader as to the grand composure of this Work shall find nothing so lose, though one Life sometimes relates to another, but that with Lipsius his solder he may cement them together in their main position, as they will lead him by the hand into the Escurial of the History. One writes that our Historians are now adays not crook-backed, as is reported of the Jews, but crook-sided, warped, and bowed to the right or to the left; for my part I have declared myself , that posterity may know that some durst still write Truth, whilst other men's fancies are more light than their hands. As it is impossible for any man to ground a true History upon the printed Pamphlets of these times, such things as pass the Press without control, so lamentable is our condition, that in such a Harvest of Printing we should have so few true Historians; on the one side being either stifled with Pamphlets, or on the other oppressed with monstrous swollen Volumes, able to wear out the eyes with reading, the hand in turning, or the memory in receiving. I must beg pardon if I have imitated Tacitus, of whom one may say without partiality, that he hath written the most matter with the best conceit, in the fewest words of any Historian. For my own part I am so greedy of well doing, as that nothing suffices the appetite of my care herein; I had rather be master of a small piece handsomely contrived, then of vast Rooms ill proportioned and unfurnished. As for this Piece which I have extracted out of divers Historians, and contracted into a brief Epitome, I have endeavoured to set down in it all remarkable passages in as little room as I could, the Compendiousness whereof will be useful and acceptable to most sorts of men; as first to those who by reason of their other studies and employments in the world have no leisure to read over the many Volumes of Histories which have been written; in reading of this they shall not need to spend much time, which is but short, and every wise man will be willing to husband it as well as he can. 2. To those who have no patience to dwell too long upon prolix and tedious Histories, from reading of which many are deterred, as growing weary before they be half way, despairing ever to attain the end of their journey. 3. To these also (Quibus res angusta domi) who either cannot because of their narrow means, or will not because of their narrow minds, part with too much money on Books; in this, they that cannot reach to the price of a long Gown, may buy a short Cloak. Lastly, the benefit will accrue to all men who read this History, that they shall buy at a far cheaper rate the experiences of others recorded here, than they can buy their own; for they that live long and travel far, pay sound for their experience; but they who read Histories enjoy the experience of all that lived before, which is far greater and much cheaper. My only fear is, lest by essaying or epitomizing, I should trespass too much on the soil of other men's inventions or judgements, as to prejudice truth or the persons whose mutual offsprings they are; but these things being but by the by, the Reader will not much set by them. I shall therefore come to the main and most important considerations; this History though it gins with a distance of time, yet the discerning Reader shall find, that it is not so far off that the footsteps of time are worn out; and for those passages that have come nearest to our times, I have in my inquisitions gone betwixt the Bark and the Tree; what I have mentioned in Letters I know from whose closet they came, they are many of them never before printed, of the Caballa of State, of those of which Sir Robert Naunton says, if they could have been procured, would have told pretty tales of the times. If there be any persons living, who though they are not named, will still reflect so far on themselves as to be concerned, such if they rightly understand themselves, cannot be much displeased, since they may imagine what will be said of them in plain truth hereafter: this I am certain of; I have not intermixed any passion in my relations, to make myself a party, in which some have showed themselves better Advocates than Historians; all that I shall pretend to in this work, is no more than a bare narrative of matter of fact, digested into order of time, interposing of my own opinion in the interpretation of actions; all which traverses, as I have already expressed, I have infused neither Vinegar nor Gall into my ink; if I mention a charge or impeachment, it relates to the defence that was made by the accused. To be brief, in this small Volume the Reader may see the prosperous and torn estates of Princes and other persons, the declination of the Clergy, and the affairs of the Soldiery; in all which transactions, one life will smooth the way for another, that he that considers the one without the other, sees but with one eye; indeed the chief materials this Volume is built up of, are of the exploits and successes of my own Countrymen, as well in their foreign expeditions, as what was transacted at home. In the composure of this Volume, amongst the lives and draughts of the Worthies, I must acknowledge through the persuasions of friends, who prevailed with my pen. I have inserted some few inferior Lives, amongst the rest Master Lilburnes, which though not agreeing with the title of my Book, may as I have in his strange life expressed, pass as a Wonder, for some of the Royalists at the latter end of the Volume, except I would have defaced my endeavours, and spoiled the intention of my design, I could not but particularise them; as otherwise I must have made by themselves two little Volumes of the late King and the Protector, to the improper alteration, if not the spoiling the method of my designs; as they are successively placed, so their enemies, if they love to read of their own sad triumphs of their former actions, they will appear even to them as so many beauty spots in the face of this Epitome of the English History. There are several other Lives which were never before writ, these as I had no tract in History to find out the series of their transactions, cost me many hours of conversation with their friends and such as best knew them, from whom I received such light, as that together with their own so well known splendours, their more Heroic public deportments, which to me as also to themselves were their own History, though it hath been my good fortune to represent them in their still surviving pictures, which I question not but this present age as also posterity will be very well pleased with. In the choice of these lives I have not so much tickled my own fancy, as pursued our English History in no ordinary method, but such a one as to my knowledge the like is not extant in our English tongue; the general way of writing being of the Chronicles of the Kings, which path in my opinion had been too vulgar, and too much trodden in: the lives of particular persons being in them either obscured or too lightly touched on; whereas giving them their due lustre, these Diamonds, as relating to the Crown, with their splendour illumniate the several Reigns as they fall in their succession of time; and though every Prince is not inserted as so vulgarly known, nevertheless his story in these Heroes is for the main continued. I shall excuse my omission of these late Princes, Henry the eighth, Edward the sixth, Queen Marry, Queen, Elizabeth, and King James, as the people have from their continued reading their transactions imprinted in their minds. For those that are still behind hand, that are not versed in the English History, I thought fit to give them this short advice for the election of their Authors; Speed may be entertained though his Volume be large, he hath fewer impertinencies than some other more volumnious Historians. Sir Richard Baker is to be honoured for his handsome stile and method; these two Authors the Student may make use of as entire in themselves, though without dispute our English History hath been rendered best in parts; the writers having bestowed more pains, and have been more intent upon the Reigns they have undertaken. Thus the Readers best way will be to take the admirable Daniel, the most succinct Author, and the most judicious and notable for his censures, he writes from the beginning of our Story to Richard the Second. Then he must make as good a shift as he can with Trussel, who writes ad rem, though not with so acute a pen; he goes unto Henry the Seventh, whose Reign above all others read the Lord Verulam. Thence proceed to peruse Bishop Godwin, whose Annals contain Henry the Eighth, Edward the Sixth, and Queen Marry; the incomparable Cambden goes on with Queen Elizabeth. The parcel Historians that have done excellently in particular Lives, are Sir John Heyward, Sir Robert Cotton, the Lord Herbert, Mr. Habington, Dr. Heylin, Mr. Fuller, Mr. Le-Strange, Squire Sanderson, Mr. Rushworth, and others. But I fear I have already been too tedious, I shall immediately conclude with this request, that for the errors and failings of my pen, as it is a common saying, Humanum est errare, so I submit my pen to the censures of the more learned, entreating them in their better Judgements to correct my unwilling mistakes; for the oversight of printing I shall only crave pardon of course, as it is a fate common to Books and Bookmen not to be avoided; whatsoever the faults are; let them redound to myself, I wish the profit to others, but above all attribute the Glory to God. William Winstanley. The Names of the Authors cited in this Book. A. ALluridus Rivallensis Mr. Ascham Mr. Charles Allen Alexander ab Alexandro Ausonius. B Sir Richard Baker Bale Mr. Buckley Mr. Buck Sir John Beaumond St. Bede Du Bartus C Carton Cambden Chaucer Chronicum Chronicorum St. Chrysostom Comines Mr. Chrashaw. Mr. Cleaveland Cattullus D Drayton Sir Simon D'ewes Sir Wil Davenant E Eusebive Eutropius Enguerrant Erasmus F Mr. Fuller Mr. Fox Froysart Fabian G Geoffery of Monmouth Gower Bishop Godwyn Giraldus Cambreusis Grafton H Habington Dr. Hackwel Hall Sir John Harrington Lord Herbert Herodian Dr. Heylin Holinshed Hector Boetius Hoveden Horace Homer I Juvenal Joseph of Excester Isaacson K King James L Leiland Lucan Lidgate Lambert Mr. Le-strange M Matthew Paris Major Martin Sir Tho. Moor Marianus Scotus N Necham Ninius Mr. Alexander Nevil. Sir R. Naunton St. Nazzianzen O T. Occleve Ovid P Paulus Orosius. Platina Paradin Paulus Aemylius Plutarch Poggins Propertius Paulus Diaconus Polychronicon Polydore Virgil Paulus Jovius Pindarus Petrarch Q Mr. Quarles R John Rouce Tho. Randolph Rushanger S Sandys Shakespeare Sleidan Speed Stow Sozomenus Sabellicus Stapleton Suetonius Spenser Sir Philip Sidney Serres Selden T Theodoritus Tibullus Tacitus Trussel Nicholas Trivet Tertullian V Victor Verstigan Virgil W Will. of Newberry Will. of Malmsbury Walsingham Weever Waller X Xenophon Z Zosimus The Reader is desired to correct these Erratas with his Pen, the most material being in Sir Walter Raleighs Life; his Letter to the Duke of Buckingham should have been placed after his Voyage to Guyana. PAge 17. line 30. read fall'n. p. 24. l. 25. for Danes read English. l. 32. r. depart. p. 44 l. 17. r. Denmark. p. 80. l. 1. r. his. l. 11. r. sky. p. 92. l. 6. for himself r. him. p. 101. l 6. r. progress. p. 129. l. 18. after enterprise, r. which they refused. p. 186. l. 8. r. the. p. 207. l. 12. r. they. p. 228. l, 27. r. bait. p. 251. in the title r. Sir Walter Raleigh. p. 253. l. 17. r. Rams. l. 29. r. unfortunately. p. 255. l. 16. r. intercessor. p. 279. l. 18. r. Pallas. p. 329. l. 2. r. Strafford. p. 333. l. 19 r. Strafford. p. 405. l. 3. r. Louden. p. 477. l. 29. r. fit. p. 520. l. last r. Ship. p. 562. l. 33. r. tail. The Names of those whose Lives are written in this Book. 1 COnstantine the Great Folio 1 2 King Arthur Folio 8 3 Dunstan Folio 16 4 Edmond Ironside Folio 22 5 Edward the Confessor Folio 29 6 William the Conqueror Folio 38 7 Thomas Becket Folio 49 8 Richard the First Folio 55 9 Edward the Third Folio 66 10 Edw. the Black Prince Folio 79 11 Sir John Hawkwood Folio 88 12 Geoffery Chaucer Folio 91 13 Henry the Fifth Folio 98 14 John D. of Bedford Folio 115 15 Richard Nevil Earl of Warwick Folio 125 16 Richard the Third Folio 140 17 Thomas Howard Earl of Surrey Folio 145 18 Cardinal Wolsey Folio 151 19 Sir Thomas Moor Folio 155 20 Thomas Cromwell Earl of Essex Folio 170 21 Sir Philip Sidney Folio 179 22 Robert E. of Leicester Folio 186 23 The Lord Burleigh Folio 195 24 Sir Francis Drake Folio 205 25 Sir Francis Walsingham Folio 215 26 Sir Nicholas Bacon Folio 219 27 Robert Devereux Earl of Essex Folio 221 28 Sir Robert Cecil Folio 238 29 Sir Tho. Overbury Folio 241 30 Sir Walter Raleigh Folio 250 31 Mr. Wil Cambden Folio 261 32 Mr. Tho. Sutton Folio 268 33 Sir Francis Bacon Folio 273 34 Lancelot Andrews Bishop of Winchester Folio 289 35 Doctor Donne Folio 298 36 George Villiers Duke of Buckingham Folio 308 37 Sir Henry Wotton Folio 319 38 Tho. Wentworth Earl of Strafford Folio 329 39 William Laud Archbishop of Canterbury Folio 343 40 Robert Devereux Earl of Essex, General of the Parliaments Forces Folio 350 41 Sir Charles Lucas Folio 356 42 King Charles Folio 363 43 The Lord Capel Folio 433 44 James marquis of Montross. Folio 446 45 Bishop Usher Folio 469 46 John Lilburne Folio 479 47 Oliver Cromwell Folio 525 England's Worthies, Select Lives of the most Eminent PERSONS of the Three Nations, from Constantine the Great, to the Death of the late Lord Protector, Oliver Cromwell. COnstantine (for his many Victories surnamed the Great) was Son to Constantius Emperor of Rome; his Mother was named Helena, being Daughter unto Caelus a British Prince, though some Jews and Gentiles out of hatred to her Religion, have reported her to be an Inholder or Hoastess: he was born in England, as all Writers affirm, two petty Greek Authors only dissenting, who deserve to be arraigned of felony for robbing our Country of its honour; Colchester was the place where he first beheld the light, as the Ancient Poet Necham sung. From Colchester there risen a Star, The Rays whereof gave glorious light Throughout the world in Climates far, Great Constantine Rome's Emperor bright. At such time as he was Caesar under Constantius his Father, he was left at Rome as Hostage with Galerius the Emperor; but perceiving his death to be by him attempted, he posted to Britain in all haste to his father, who was newly returned to the City of York from an expedition he had made against the Picts and Caledonians. Constantius at the time of his son's arrival was sick of the Plague, whereof he died immediately afterwards; the sight of his son at the present so revived his spirits, that raising himself upon his bed, he set the Crown Imperial upon his head, and in the presence of his Privy Counsellors spoke to this effect. Now is my death to me more welcome, and my departure hence more pleasant, seeing I shall leave my unaccomplished actions to be performed by thee my Son; in whose person I question not but that my memorial shall be retained as in a monument of eternal fame. What I had intended, (but by death prevented) see thou accomplish; let thine Empire be governed uprightly by Justice, protecting the innocents' from the tyranny of oppressors, wiping away all tears from the eyes of Christians; for therein above all things have I esteemed myself happy: to thee therefore I commend my Diadem, and their defence, taking my Faults along with me to my grave, but leaving my Virtues to revive and live in thee. With the conclusion of which words he concluded his life, leaving his Subjects sorrowful for his departure; but the grief they received by the death of the Father, was mitigated in the hopes they conceived of his Son, who so resembled his Father in all virtuous conditions, that though the Emperor was changed, yet his good government remained: For as one writes. Sol occubuit, nox nulla secuta est. The sun was gone, but night was none. Another writes thus of him. Great Constantine preserved by Heaven's decree, Of mighty Rome the Emperor to be. Constantine thus chosen Emperor in Britain, was confirmed Emperor by the Senate of Rome, who (like the Persians) adored the rising Sun, giving approbation to what they could not remedy; his first expedition was against the Picts and Caledonians, which War his Father had begun, but death prevented him to finish it, leaving the prosecution thereof to his son Constantine, that the Fabric of so many victories by him achieved, might have the foundation thereof laid in Britain: nor was his success contrary to his expectation, subduing the inhabitants that were most remote witnesses (saith one) of the suns set, or going down. Whilst Constantine was thus busied in Britain, Maxentius by the tumultuous soldiers was proclaimed Emperor at Rome, whose sister Fausta, Constantine had married; but his tyrannical usurpation grew so odious to the Senate, that they sent to Constantine for his aid, who willingly harkening to what they so earnestly desired, prepared his forces against the new elected Emperor; Maximianus the Father of the Tyrant, feigning to abhor the outragiousness of his son, but seeking indeed to uphold him in his tyranny, repaired to his Son in law Constantine with an intent to murder him; but revealing his intentions to his Daughter Fausta, was by her detected; and being taken, was served with the same sauce he intended to serve another, verifying therein the ancient Proverb, He that for others digs a pit, Doth oft himself fall into it. Having escaped this eminent danger, he makes Licinius Governor of Sclavonia, Copartner with him in the Empire; and to assure him to his side, gives him his sister Constantia to wife, and then with an Army of 90000. Foot, and 8000 Horse, hasteth towards Rome against Maxentius his enemy, Constantine at the time of his setting forth of Britain, was (as appeareth by Authors) unsettled in his Religion; for though he observed the adoration of the Gods of the Gentiles to be altogether frivolous and deceitful, yet was he not confirmed in the Christian Faith, but was then rather of no Religion, then truly of any; the cause of his conversion, Eusebius and other Authors write, was, that being in his march against Maxentius aforesaid, being then piously affected to worship and to invocate the true God, he cast his eyes towards the East part of the Heavens, and had presented unto him the sign of a Cross, wherein were stars as letters so placed, that visibly might be read this sentence, IN HOC VINCE; this sign being seconded by the voice of Angels, confirmed him in that whereof before he was doubtful, so that changing the Imperial Standard to the form of this vision, as one armed from Heaven, he marched against his hellish Adversary. Who thinking to overreach Constantine by a stratagem, framed a false bridge over the River of Tybur, but the trap he set for another he fell into himself; for joining battle with Constantine, and being by him overcome, either for haste or forgetfulness, took over the same himself, which falling under him as he passed, he with many more were drowned, escaping thereby a more cruel and ignominious death. Maximinus, who then governed the East part of the Empire, hearing of the prosperous proceed of Constantine, purposed the destruction of him and all his partakers: but man proposeth, and God disposeth; for he who dreamt of nothing less than a glorious victory, was himself overcome by Licinius at Tarsus, where he shortly after died, being eaten up with louse. Licinius hereupon growing insolent, his prosperous proceed making him ambitiously mad, was in conceit no less than Emperor of the whole world; so that now he began to unvizard himself, and to show he was not what he pretended; for though before he had outwardly suffered the Christian profession, yet now he raised a bloody persecution against them in the East. Constantine according to his Father's commandment (which was to wipe away all tears from the Christians eyes) prepared his forces against this bloody persecutor, with whom he encountered in the Country of Hungary, his success being answerable to the justness of his cause, Licinius and his Army being overthrown; but he afterwards recruting, in a battle at Byzantium was again overthrown and taken prisoner; yet by the mediation of his wife Constantia, had his life spared and confined within the City of Nicomedia: but he afterwards endeavouring to recover his former dignity, was for his treasons afterwards put to death, so that then (as Mr. Speed writes) the peace of God's Saints manifestly appeared, and the progress of the Gospel passed uncontrolled. Maxentius, Maximinus, and Licinius being vanquished, Constantine remained sole Emperor, under whom the Christians enjoyed Halcyon days, returning from the deserts where before they were hidden; Churches were re-edified, Temples founded, and Festival Days celebrated in every place. And that this foundation might have as glorious a building, he congregated 318 Christian Bishops in the City of Nice, where divers things were decreed for the godly government of the Church in that primitive Age. His next care was to demolish and pull down idolatrous Temples and Images, as the Grove and Temple of Venus in Phenicia, which was a School of wickedness to those which were addicted to lust; where men and women frequently committed adulteries and fornications. Constantine thinking it unfit that the sun should behold such villainy, sent a band of Soldiers to suppress it: as also the Temple of Aesculapius, with the Image of Venus at Heliopolis, and many such like in other places. Nor was his zeal more shown in suppressing Pagan Temples, then in erecting structures for the advancing of Christianity, building a most magnificent Temple in the very place where our Saviour's Sepulchre was, though some report it to have been built by his Mother Helena; but we will not herein set the Mother and Son at odds, it may be she built it at his cost, or that it was built by him, and dedicated by her; as also those other two, the one on the Mountain where our Saviour Ascended, the other over the Cave where he was Born. The Kingdom of Christ beginning to appear thus visibly resplendent, the Devil envying the prosperity thereof, raised a new sedition in Antioch; the whole City being divided into two factions about the choice of a Bishop: Constantine well knowing that the War of the Church was the Infidel's Peace, wrote persuasive letters to them to maintain peace and concord among themselves; which like lenitive Physic allayed and cooled the hot distempers of their rage, who else had certainly killed and masacred one another. Hitherto is Constantine's reign commended of most, but the latter part of his life applauded of few. In the first beginning of his reign (saith Stow) he was worthy to have been compared with the chiefest Princes of the Romans; but for the end thereof, to be resembled to such as were of the meaner sort. Eutropius and Victor tax him of cruelty, for putting to death his wife Fausta and Crispus his son, though he be thereof excused by Paulus Orosius and Zosimus, who affirm the causes of there deaths were just. However, he is taxed by other writers to have more prejudiced the Roman Empire then any of his predecessors; first in removing the Imperial seat from Rome to Byzantium, adorning the same with magnificent buildings, and commanding all the Princes of the Empire to raise therein some memorable edifices. Likewise for transporting from Rome more curious statues, and other costly monuments, than any twenty of his predecessors had brought thither: as the Image of the Goddess Pallas, supposed to be the same that Aeneas brought from Troy; the Image of Apollo, of an unmeasurable highness', with the statues of Juno, Venus, and Minerva; where he also built a famous Library, wherein were an hundred and twenty thousand Books: changing the name to Constantinople, which it still retaineth unto this day. Another error of this famous Prince, was his dividing the Empire between his Children; for though (saith our learned Dr. Heylin) it was quickly again reunited, yet by his example others learned the same lesson, renting the Empire into many pieces, which finally occasioned the loss of the whole. Another defect was his translating the Legions from Britain, France, and Germany unto the Eastern Country, for a Bulwark against the Persians, thereby opening a gap for the barbarous Nations to enter, which they afterwards soon did to the great prejudice of the Empire; so that Zosimus (though in other of his writings concerning this Emperor discovers his malice) yet he truly calleth him the first subverter of that flourishing Monarchy. Concerning the time when he was baptised Authors only agree in disagreeing; Eusebius writes, that he was baptised in the City of Nicomedia; Sozomenus and Theodoritus, that it was a little before his death; others think he was baptised with Crispus his Son, to which opinion accords Platina and Sabellicus, who affirm the Font wherein they were baptised, to have remained unto their times. In this diversity of Writers the Reader must not expect I should satisfy him, seeing I cannot herein satisfy myself. But of more certainty is the place of his death, wherein they all accord, that it was in Nicomedia a City of Bythinia, where he died of a natural disease, a thing to be taken notice of, since of 40. Emperor's that reigned before him, above 30. of them came to untimely ends, most of them being bloodthirsty Tyrants, and Persecutors of Gods holy Saints, whose ends were answerable to their lives, their bloody actions having bloody deaths: So true is that of the Poet Juvenal. Few Tyrants do to Pluto's Court descend Without fierce slaughter, and a bloody end. At his death he divided his Empire betwixt his three sons, Constantine, Constantius, and Constance: To Constantine the eldest, he allotted the Countries of Britain, France, Spain, and part of Germany; Constantius his second son had Italy, Africa, Sclavonia, Dalmatia, and Greece; and Constance the youngest possessed the Countries of Thracia, Syria, Mesopotamia, and Egypt. The Life of King ARTHUR. BOth Poets and Historians out of the most famous Warriors that have lived in the world, have extracted nine of the chiefest, whom they termed Worthies; of these this famous Prince (whose life we now intent to relate) was accounted one. Questionless he was a Prince of a matchless prowess, and pity it is the naked truth of his actions hath not been delivered to posterity without the intermixture of ridiculous falsehoods; for Geoffrey of Monmouth is said to have feigned many things for the increase of his fame, though he hath thereby much impaired his own; and although for the same he was bitterly inveighed at by William of Newberry, and divers others, yet was his follies followed by several Authors, still adding to what he first had feigned, according to that of the old Poet. The thing at first invented great doth grow, And every one doth something add thereto. Thus their over-lavish pens in seeking to make him more than he was, have made many suspect he was not at all. But besides the testimonies of William of Malmesbury, Joseph of Excester, Ninius, Leiland, and divers others, for the truth of this Prince, a Charter exemplified under the seal of King Edward the Third, doth sufficiently testify; wherein mention is made of King Arthur to have been a great Benefactor to the Abbey of Glastenbury, and to this day his Arms (being an Escochen, whereon a Cross with the Virgin Mary having Christ in her arms) cut in stone, standeth over the first gate of entrance into the Abbey, and is said to be the Arms belonging to the same. Of his person we shall not need to doubt, though we may justly suspect the verity of many things said to be achieved by him. This by way of introduction I thought fit to insert, I shall now pursue his History with truth and brevity. He was base Son to Uter surnamed Pendragon, begotten of Igren Duchess of Cornwall, her husband yet living: this Lady had often withstood his unlawful desires, at last by the help of Merline (a renowned Welsh Enchanter) as some Authors write, he was brought to her bed in the likeness of Gorlois her husband, of whom that night he begat this Worthy, whom at his death he appointed to be King of Britain, notwithstanding he had two Daughters lawfully begotten, and as honourably married; the one to Lotho King of Picts, the other to Gouran King of Scotland. But scarcely was the Crown settled on his head, when the Saxons sought to strike it off, who being called in by Vortigerne for an aid against the Scots and Picts, like unmannerly guests sought to turn their host out of doors. To the aid of these Saxons joined Lotho King of Picts, out of envy to the Britain's, for that they had denied him to be their King; and although Arthur was his Kinsman, and professed Christianity, the other strangers and enemies to true Religion, yet neither Christianity nor Consanguinity could keep him from joining with them in amity, not caring who won, so Arthur did but lose. The first battle they fought was in the Country of Northumberland, where Arthur died his Sword in the Saxons blood, chase them from thence to the City of York, which notwithstanding he did straight besiege, yet their Captain named Colgerne escaped from thence, and got into Germany where he obtained aid of one Cherdike a King of that Country, who came himself in person, with 70 sail of ships, and having a prosperous Wind arrived in Scotland; which when Arthur understood, he raised his siege, and marched towards London. And that the multitude of his enemies might not daunt the courage of his Soldiers, he sent for aid to his Nephew Howel, King of little Britain in France, who came himself likewise in person to the aid of his uncle, doing, as old Authors write, acts worthy to be eternised with a golden pen. Their forces thus augmented, with undaunted resolutions they march to the City of Lincoln, which Cherdike did then besiege, whom they forced from thence to flee into a wood, but there being likewise compassed about with Arthur's victorious Army, they yielded themselves with condition to departed the Land, leaving the Britain's their horse, armour, and other furniture: but see what faith is to be expected from faithless people, for having their markets spoiled at Lincoln, they thought to make them good in the West, arriving at Totnes, and destroying all the Country till they came to ; but the price of their lives paid for their perjury, being encountered by Arthur, their Army was overthrown, their three Captains Colgrine, Cherdike, and Bladulf being slain. Howel King Arthur's Nephew was not at this last battle, being besieged at that present in the Marches of Scotland, to whose rescue hasted Arthur, with the flower of his Soldiers; and notwithstanding the Scots were aided by one Guillomer King of Ireland, yet obtained he of them a glorious victory, chase Guillomer into Ireland, and bringing Scotland into subjection: like another Caesar it might be writ of him, veni, vidi, vici, as one of our poets sings of him. Thus wheresoever he his course did bend, Still victory did ox his sword attend. Returning to York he instituted the celebration of the Nativity of our Lord, with such feasts and sports as are commonly now used; an institution which the Scottish writers do altogether condemn, comparing them to the feast of Bacchus and Priapus of old, it being a time more fit for our devotion then mirth. His wife was named Guinever, Daughter to the King of Biscay, and near Kinswoman to Cador Duke or Earl of Cornwall; a Lady who for her beauty was the miracle of her times, had it not been accompanied with a vicious mind; not only abusing herself by unlawfully accompanying with Mordred, son to Lotho Kng of Picts, but also in her husband's absence consented to be his wife; so rarely is beauty and chastity found to dwell in one body, that it hath caused many writers for the faults of some few to condemn the whole sex; amongst the rest take these of an Epigrammatist. A woman is not to be credited, If you will credit me, though she be dead. And again in another place. There is not one good woman to be found: And if one were, she merits to be Crowned. Together with the old Adage. Falere, flere, ne'er: Haec tria sunt muliere. Thus some in their critic fancies think all women to be bad, and others again as much contrary think them all to be good, certainly every man speaks as he finds, and by the knowledge of one passes judgement of all the rest. That they are all bad, I cannot think it: and that they are all good, I could never find it: sure he that thought them all good; was too much feminine, and he that concluded them all to be bad, had forgotten that ere he had a mother. But to return to our History. King Arthur to increase the courage of his Soldiers, instituted the Order of Knights of the Round Table, that he might reward the well deserving with titles of Honour: none were admitted into this order but such of the Nobility as were most renowned for virtue and Chivalry; they were in all the number of 150 the chiefest of them being Sir Lancelot, Sir Tristram, Sir Lamrock, Sir Gawine and others. These were all recorded for Knights of great renown; and had not King Arthur's valour been most transcendent, each of them might have passed for no less than a Worthy, though they must fall short of the deeds of King Arthur, of whom it is written, that in one battle against the Saxons, with his Sword named Callibourn, he slew above 800 of them, so much his valour exceeded all others, if my Author's words exceed not the truth. In twelve set Battles (besides several Skirmishes) is he said to have returned victor from the slaughter of the Saxons; the names of the places where these battles were fought, take here out of Ninius. The first was at the mouth of the River Gleyn. The second, third, fourth, and fifth, nigh unto the River Douglass in Lineux. The sixth upon the River Bassus. The seventh in the wood Calydon. The eighth besides the Castle called Guynien. The ninth at Carlien in Wales. The tenth by the Sea side, in a place called Trachenrith, or Rithowode. The eleventh upon a hill named Agned Cathergonien. The twelfth at or Bathen-hill. King Arthur in these battles having broken the force of the Saxons, and not only forced them to pay him tribute, but to receive Magistrates of his appointment; yet thought the glory of his actions to suffer an eclipse, if his victories were atcheived only in Great Britain; therefore with a well selected Army he passes over into Norway, subduing the same with all the Regions thereabouts; causing the people of those Countries to receive the Chistian Religion, and obtained of the Pope to have Norway confirmed to the Crown of this Realm, causing it to be called the Chamber of Britain. Then sailing into France he put Frolo (Governor there for the Romans) to flight, and afterwards in combat manfully slew him. But notwithstanding his wonderful achievements, yet Lucius Hiberus the Roman Legate demanded of him a Tribute for Britain; which he not only denied, but also threatened to have a tribute from Rome, as appeareth in his letters sent unto the Senate, where I find it thus written in an old Manuscript. Understand among you of Rome, that I am King Arthur of Britain, and freely it hold and shall hold; and at Rome hastily will I be, not to give you truage, but to have truage of you: for Constantine that was Helen's Son, and other of mine Ancestors conquered Rome, and thereof were Emperors, and that they had and held, I shall have yours Goddis grace; and accordingly he set forward against Lucius Hiberus, who with great power and vain confidence came marching against him; where after a long and bloody fight the Romans were discomfited, their General killed, and his slain body sent to the Senate for the tribute of Britain. Whilst Arthur was thus busied in conquering Kingdoms abroad, he had well near lost his kingdom at home; for in his absence his Cousin Mordred (confederating himself with Cerdicus King of the West Saxons) usurped the kingdom: which when Arthur understood, he returned into Britain, and at Cambula in Cornwall this british Hector encountering with Mordred slew him; but himself being deadly wounded, was conveyed to Glastenbury, where he died on the 21 day of May, in the year of our salvation 542. when he had victoriously governed the Britain's the space of six and twenty years. Here might we end his life, were he not further remembered by our Modern Authors, viz. how in the last year of the reign of King Henry the Second, more than 600. years after the time of his death, his body was found in the Churchyard of Glastenbury, betwixt two Pyramids therein standing: he was laid no less than sixteen foot deep in the ground, for fear (as Hollinshead writes) the Saxons should have found him; and surely the searchers for his body would have never digged so deep, had they not at seven foot depth found a mighty broad stone, to which a leaden Cross was fastened, and in that side that lay downwards, in barbarous Letters (according to the rudeness of that Age) this Inscription was written upon that side of the lead that was towards the stone. Hic jacet sepultus inclytus Rex Arturius. In Insula Avolonia. Here lieth King Arthur buried in the Isle of Avalonia. Nine foot deeper, in the trunk of a tree, was his body found buried: his bones being of a marvellous bigness, the space of his forehead betwixt his two eyes (if I could believe this Historians strange narration) was a span broad, and his shinbone being set in the ground, reached up to the middle thigh of a very tall man; ten wounds appeared in his scull, one whereof was very great and plain to be seen; his wife Queen Guinever lay buried likewise with him, the tresses of whose hair, the last of our excrements that perish, finely plaited, and of colour like the burnished gold, seemed whole and perfect until it was touched, but then (to show what all beauties are) it immediately fell to dust. Henry de Bloys (than Abbot of that house) translated their bones into the great new Church, (for the old one was burned not long before) and there interred them in a sumptuous Tomb of Marble, laying the body of the King at the head of the Tomb, and the body of the Queen at his feet towards the West part; which noble monument (saith Mr. Speed) among the fatal overthrows of infinite more, was altogether razed at the dispose of some then in Commission, whose overhasty actions in these behalves, hath left us a want of many truths which otherwise we might have had. Vain therefore is that which the Scottish Historians report, that Queen Guinever was buried at Angus in Scotland; and that what woman soever chanceth to tread upon her grave, shall remain for ever barren, without bringing forth any issue, insomuch (as Hector Boetius a lying Author reports) no woman dares not come near it herself, nor will suffer any of her daughters to come near thereunto. To conclude the Life of this famous Prince, we will shut up all with his Epitaph made by John Leland, and tranflated into English by Mr. Nicholas Roscarock. Who vanquished Saxon Troops, with Battles bloody broils, And purchased to himself a name with war like wealthy spoils, Who hath with shivering shining Sword the Picts so oft dismayed, And eke unwieldy servile yoke on neck of Scots hath laid: Who Frenchmen puffed with pride, and who the Germans fierce in fight Discomfited, and daunted Danes with main and martial might: Who of that murdering Mordred did the vital breath expel, That Monster griseley, loathsome, huge, that diresome Tyrant fell. Here liveless Arthur lies entombed within this stately hearse Of Chivalry the bright renown, and virtue's nursling fierce; Whose glory great now over all the world doth compass fly, And of the airy thunder scales the lofty building high. Therefore you noble progeny of Britain line and race, Arise unto your Emperor great of thrice renowned grace; And cast upon his sacred Tomb the roseal Garlands gay, That fragrant smell may witness well your duties you display. The Life of DUNSTAN, Archbishop of Canterbury. IN respect of this unusual Tract, as also of the strange variety of relations I have found in Authors of this History; I thought fit from the Sword to come to the Crosier, to select the Life of Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury, that posterity may be acquainted with the successes as well of the Mitre as Crown. He was born in West- Saxon, his Father was named Heorstan, and his Mother Cinifride; they in his youth set him to school, where he so profitted, that he excelled most then living of his age: in process of time he fell sick of an Ague, which was so violent that he fell into a frenzy, (Physicians belike being scarce in that age) he was, as my Author writes, under cure of a certain Woman; but through her unskilfulness his disease increased upon him, and one day being in a trance, he suddenly arose, and catching hold of a staff, laid about him, as (indeed he was) mad; next night he got up on the roof of the Church, running up and down on the same as if it had been on the ground, and coming safely down without any hurt; these effects of frenzy were reputed by the superstitious men of those times for miracles: hereupon his Father made him a Priest, and placed him in the Abbey of Glastenbury, from whence he was soon advanced into the service of King Ethelstone, and as soon banished the Court, being accused of Necromancy; for entering one day into a Gentlewoman's house, he hung his harp on the wall whilst he shaped a Priest's stoal, when to make him merry at his work his harp began to play, which the common people concluded to be done by the devil, though the subject of its song was said to be that Hymn, Gaudent in coelis animae sanctorum, etc. Yea, the Virgin Mary herself is said to solace him with her songs, Cantemus Domino sociae, etc. Being thus expulsed the Court his Cousin Elfheagus Bishop of Winchester persuaded him to become a Monk, that what preferment the Court denied, by means of the Church he might obtain: but he loathing a single life, and having a mind to marry some beautiful Damsel, refused so to do, but a sickness of his body healed this disease of his mind; for being stricken with a swelling in his belly, his body was brought into such state, as if he had been infected with a Leprosy; whereupon no sooner was he recovered but he went to the Bishop, who shore him a Monk: in which state of life he remined with such opinion of holiness, that whereas before he was reported to be a Necromancer, he was now reputed to be no less than a Saint: so variable are the opinions of the people, being all in extremes, observing no medium, as the Poet hath it: This day with great Augustus they will mate thee, Next day with false Sejanus they will hate thee. Now whether his devotion were real or feigned, I do not know; but certain it is, that for the opinion of his holiness, he was made Abbot of Glastenbury: nor must we imagine him to be less than a Saint, (if we will believe the Monkish relations of those times) since the devil and he was such great Antagonists; for being on a time at his prayers before the Altar of Saint George, his body fell asleep, though his devotion were waking, when the Devil coming to devour him in the likeness of a rough Bear, he encountered him so fiercely with the staff he used to walk with, that the Church rang with the sound thereof, to the wonder of many. At another time the devil would have tempted him to uncleanness in the likeness of a beautiful Damsel, but he having a pair of hot burning pincers in his hand, caught hold of her with them by the nose, and so spoiled the devil's countenance; from whence is still the Proverb. But to leave these fictions fit only for Monks to invent, and children to believe; certain it is, he was in great favour with Edred King of the West Saxons, who not only suffered his body in penance to be chastised by him; but also committed to his keeping the greatest part of his treasure, who locked up the same in his Monastery at Glastenbury, where it remained till the King fell sick of his last sickness; at which time it was demanded, but never restored: for Dunstan being on his journey with the same to the King, a voice from heaven spoke unto him, and said, Behold King Edred is now departed in peace; at the hearing of which words, his horse immediately fell down and died, whereupon he returned again to his Monastery; and though he lost his horse, yet was he recompensed thereby with the gain of the King's Treasure and Jewels. Edred being dead, his Nephew Edwy succeeded him in his Kingdom; altogether unlike his uncle in conditions, young in years, but viceous in life; for the very same day on which he was Crowned, he abused his Body with a Lady his near Kinswoman; and after, adding murder to incest, slew her Husband, that he might enjoy her as his Wife: for these and other notorious offences being boldly reprehended by Dunstan, he banished him the Realm; at whose departure the devil is said to rejoice, and to laugh aloud at the West end of the Church; to whom Dunstan (as it were by way of Prophecy) said, Well thou adversary, do not so greatly rejoice at the matter, for thou dost not now so much rejoice at my departure, but by God's grace thou shalt be as sorrowful for my return. All the time of King Edwy's reign, which was but short, (for Tyrants seldom are long lived) he remained at the Monastery of Gaunt in Flanders, where he received much friendship from the Governor of that Country; but Edwy dying, his brother Edgar succeeded in the Kingdom, who unraveling the web his brother had weaved, recalled Dunstan out of banishment; making him first Bishop of Worcester, after of London; and last of all bestowed the Archbishopric of Canterbury upon him. This Edgar had Dunstan in high estimation, by whose advice (the English being given to excessive quaffing, he put down many Alehouses, and would suffer but one to be in a Town: and the more to deter them from this swinish vice, he ordained certain cups with pins or nails; and made a law, that whosoever drunk past that mark at one draught, should undergo a certain penalty. No doubt this was an act acceptable unto God, and great need hath these times of another Edgar or Dunstan, to deter people from this beastly sin; and to put down the multiplicity of Alehouses, which now abound in every corner; of which one of our modern Poets as followeth: The way to Churches is o'ergrown with grass, But to the Alehouse fair and plain to pass. And what is it think you doth cause it so? But more to th' Alehouse then to Church do go? Then what may we expect of this same evil? Some may to God, but most will to the devil. Edgar dying, great troubles ensued about the election of one of his sons to succeed him; most of the Nobles combining for young Ethelred; Dunstan and the Monks standing as stiffly for Prince Edward: at last a Council being assembled to argue the matter, the Archbishop came in with his Banner and Cross, and not staying for further debating, presented Prince Edward for their lawful King; and the assembly consisting most of Clergymen, drew the approbation of the rest; and so he was Crowned King at Kingston, by Archbishop Dunstan, the year of our Lord 975. These troubles thus quieted about the Crown, far greater arose concerning the Church, for Alferus Duke of Mercia, favouring married Priests, would suffer no Monks to live in his Province: on the other side Edelwyn Duke of East-Anglia, and Brightnoth Earl of Essex, favouring the Monks, expulsed the married Priests out of their jurisdictions. These sparks at last increased to such a flame, that it was deemed nought but the blood of one side would quench the same; but upon better advice they laid arms aside, and referred the matter to be debated in a Council at Winchester, where the Monk's cause (as being worsted) had undoubtedly had the foil, had they not referred the matter to be decided by the Rood where the Council sat: to this Oracle Saint Dunstan desired them to pray, and to give diligent ear to what it should speak, for the juggling Monks had placed a Man behind a Wall, who through a trunk delivered these words to the beguiled Priests, God forbidden it should be so, God forbidden it should be so; you judged well once, but ye may not change well again. But this deceit of the Monks being discerned by the Priests, another assembly was held at Cleve in Wiltshire; where whilst they were arguing with bitter invectives against each other, the joists of the loft wherein they sat suddenly broke, and down fell the floar with the people thereon; many were maimed and some slain, only Archbishop Dunstan remained unhurt, for the posts whereon his chair was set (as it were by miracle) remained untouched. By this fall of the Floar, fell the cause of the Priests and Dunstan deemed a demi God. To this wooden miracle of his, popish writers add another of the same nature: namely, how a huge beam of a house being sunk out of the frame, and like to ruinated the whole building, with only making the sign of the Cross thereon with his fingers, he made it return to his former place. All the time of King Edward's reign was Dunstan had in high esteem; but he being too good a Prince to live in so bad an age, was bereft of his life by the cruelty of his stepmother, that her own son might succeed in the kingdom. Dunstan disallowing this act of the Queens, refused to Crown her son King; at length against his will he was compelled to solemnize his rights at Kingston on Thames, the 14. of April, 979. This Ethelred favoured not greatly the Monks, and therefore he was as little respected of them in their writings; who report him to be slothful person, neither forward in action, nor fortunate in proceed: at the time of his Baptism he is said to defile the Fount with his ordure: whereupon Dunstan being troubled in his mind, By the Lord (saith he) and his blessed Mother, this child shall prove to be a slothful person. But the greatest matter laid to his charge was his making War upon the Bishop of Rochester, whose peace being it would not be procured without the payment of a hundred pound in Gold; Dunstan sent him word that since he made more account of Gold then of God, more of money then of Saint Andrew Patron of the Church of Rochester, and more of covetousness then of him being the Archbishop, the mischiefs which the Lord had threatened should shortly come to pass, but the same should not chance whilst he was alive; he is likewise said to have foreseen the invasions of the Danes, and to have foretold the miseries that soon after fell upon the English Nation; as that they should not be free from Blood and the Sword till there came a people of an unknown tongue, that should bring them to thraldom; which predictions of his, soon after his death came to pass, as appears in the following Life of King Edmund; this Clergyman now waxing old, the thread of his life being spun out to the last, he was forced to yield to that from which none are exempted, to the tyranny of death; having tasted liberally in his time of the favours of Fortune; which notwithstanding could not keep him from dying: so true is that of the ancient Poet. Each living Corpse must yield at last to death, And every life must lose his vital breath: The soul of man, that only lives on high, And is an image of eternity. He died on a Saturday the 25. of May, the Year of our Lord 989. Happy in this, that he lived not to see the miseries of his Country, which happened presently after his death. The Life of EDMUND IRONSIDE. THe learned Philosopher Plutarch reports, that Marcus Tullius that eloquent Orator obtained the name of Cicero, by reason he had a thing upon the tip of his nose, as it had been a pease; whereupon they surnamed him Cicero, because Cicer in English signifieth a pease. So likewise we read of Ovid, that darling of the Muses, that he got the name of Nasonis, from the greatness of his Nose; and in the perusual of our English Histories we shall meet with many of the like examples, as of William the Second surnamed Rufus, from his red face: Richard the First got the name of Cordelion, from his inexpugnable and Lion like heart: even so this famous Prince whose life we now relate, was surnamed Ironside, from his notable courage and strength of body, to endure all such pains as is requisite for a Soldier: not so called, as some would have it, for that he used to go always in armour. He was third son to Ethelred, commonly called the unready, the eldest living at his Father's death; his two Brothers dying in defence of their Country, made way for him to succeed in the Kingdom: which notwithstanding was with much opposition, as well of Foreigners, as his natural Subjects; so that he inherited his Father's troubles as well as his Crown, and might be said to be a King without a Kingdom. The most part of the Clergy, and many of the Nobility out of hatred to the Father, rejected the Son; and at Southampton chose Canutus for their King: this Canutus was King of the Danes, who for six and thirty years together had miserably oppressed the English Nation, turning all into ruin wheresoever he came; Churches and Monasteries were made subject to his desolations, and Churchmen and Monks felt his cruel and merciless do; Wife, Daughter, and Maid, these cruel Danes abused at their pleasures; yea, they forced the chaste Nuns to their filthy pollutions: insomuch that some of them to save their chastities destroyed their beauties, deforming their bodies to keep their souls pure. To redress these enormities, Edmund (like another Maccabeus) stood up for his Country; and being Crowned at Kingston by Levingus Archbishop of Canterbury, he hasted to London being then besieged by Canutus; where he soon forced the Danes to raise their siege, and winter themselves in the Isle of Sheepie. But the Spring come, they suddenly assailed the West of England, and were as suddenly themselves encountered by Edmund, who with great courage, though with a small Army, gave them Battle at Penham in Dorcetshire, where many of these destroyers were themselves destroyed; the rest for safety flying towards Salisbury. Edmund having recruited and refreshed his Army, hasted after them, and at Sheorstan in Worcestershire a second Battle was fought, where Edmund behaved himself most gallantly, executing the office both of a hardy Soldier, and valiant Commander; and undoubtedly the Danes had received a great overthrow, had not Duke Edrick (who for his many treasons was surnamed the Traitor) cut off the head of a Soldier resembling Edmond, and holding it aloft, thus cried to the English: Fly ye wretches, fly, and get away, for your King is slain; behold here is his Head: but Edmond hearing of this treacherous stratagem, hasted to show himself to his Soldiers, whose sight so revived their drooping spirits; that had not the approaching night prevented them, they had obtained that day a most glorious victory. Duke Edricks life had paid for his treason, had he not presently fled to the enemy, who afterwards excusing the fact (as being mistaken in the countenance of the man, as he was willing to save the lives of the English) he was afterwards received into favour again. There were slain on both sides by the report of writers no fewer than 20000 Soldiers, which may very well be true considering the Battle lasted two whole days; and that of Canutus' side were many English who fought with a most furious and desperate hatred to the Danes: so true is that expression of the Poets: The highest fury reigns in civil War, And Country men in fight most cruel are. The Danes by stealth breaking up their camp, in the night time hasted towards London, which City they earnestly desired to conquer, and where their ships lay in manner of a siege; but edmond's coming forced them to discamne, who entered the City in a triumphant manner; and two days after gave them Battle at Brentford, where notwithstanding in passing the Thamesis he lost many of his men, yet obtained he the victory, and forced them to their ships. But as if the fable of Hydra had been turned to a verity, though they were suppressed in one place, yet with double strength they increased in another; and though Edmond in person obtained many a Victory, yet by his Subject's disloyalty, and Duke Edricks treachery, what he got in one place he lost in another; so that sometimes he, and sometimes Canutus were reputed as alternate Kings, as the fate of War was either with or against them; as a Poet writes of the successes of those times. Now one side wins, anon doth lose again, This week doth Edmond, next Canutus reign. The Danes altogether minding mischief, and to make havoc of all wheresoever they came, whilst Edmond was retired into the West, with great booties and spoils returned to their ships; and sailing up the river of Medway, pitched their tent near Oteford in Kent. Edmond as willing to save as they to destroy, hasted after, and pitched not far from his enemy's Camp; where he exhorted his Soldiers to remember their former victories, and not to droop at the fight of them whom so often they had vanquished; that the only way to victory was to fight valiantly, whilst cowards were causers of their own overthrow; that those whom they dealt with were their ancient enemies, accustomed to robberies, enriched with rapines fattened with manslaughters, and tainted with perjuries: their cause being thus just, he desired them to fight valiantly, and God would crown their endeavours with good success: the edge of their valours whetted sharp by this oration, with a general shout, presaging victory, they fell upon the Danes, whom they discomfitted, and slew of them to the number of four thousand five hundred, and lost of their own only six hundred. This Victory might have put a Period to the Wars, had not Duke Edrick dissuaded Edmond from pursuing after them, alleging the danger of ambush, and the overwearied bodies of his Soldiers, so that Canute thereby had leisure in safety to pass over into Essex. Where beginning again to rob and spoil the Country, many of the English for fear submitted themselves unto him, but the restless Ironside hasted after them; and at Ashdone, three miles from Saffron Walden, another Battle was fought; where the Danes being at the point to have lost the day, the traitorous Edrick revolted to their side; by which treachery the English were overthrown. In this bloody Battle the flower of the English Nobility lost their lives, as Duke Alfred, Duke Goodwin, Duke Athelward, Duke Athelwyn, Earl Vrchill, Cadnoth, Bishop of Lincoln, Wolsey Abbot of Ramsey, with many other of the Clergy, who coming thither to pray for the preservation of the King and his Army, were by the Danes inhumanely butchered: the remembrace of which battle is retained to this day by certain small hills there remaining; whence have been digged the Bones of men, Armour, and the Water-chains of Horse-bridles. Holinshead reports that in his time there were of these hills to the number of seven or eight, now only three remaineth at a place called Bartlow, which from them is called Bartlow Hills. Edmund thus discomfited, went almost alone on foot to Gloucester, where he raised new forces to oppose his enemies. Canutus pursuing him, both Armies met at Derehurst near unto the River Severne, where being ready to imbrue their hands in one another's bloods, a certain Captain stepped forth, and standing up in such a place as he might be heard of both the Generals, boldly uttered his mind in these or the like words: We have already (worthy Chieftains) fought long enough one against another, and too much blood hath been spilt for the Sovereignty of this Land; the valours of both Generals and Soldiers sufficiently tried; Fortune herself not knowing whom to yield the palm of Victory unto: for if one Battle were won it was not long kept; nor the loser so weakened but that he had both courage and power to win the next. Thus to gain you airy Titles the common Soldiers lose their lives. Worthy Chieftains, 'tis now high time to set a period to these differences; let him that would wear the Diadem bear the hazard himself, and either try the fortune of a single combat, who shall command, and who obey; or divide betwixt them the Kingdom, which may suffice two, that hath formerly maintained seven. These words were no sooner ended; but both Generals agreed to try it out by single combat in sight of both Armies, they entered into a small Island called Alney, adjoining unto the City of Gloucester, where first on horseback, and after on foot, they encountered each other with invincible courage: but Canutus having received a dangerous wound, and finding that Ironside overmatched him in strength, desired a compromise; and to that end thus spoke to Edmond with an audible voice: What necessity thus should move us, most renowned Prince, that for the obtaining of an airy title we should still put our lives into danger; better it were to lay armour and malice aside, and condescend to some reasonable agreement: let us therefore now become sworn brothers, and divide the Kingdom between us, and that in such a league of amity, that each may use the others part as his own. Edmond condescending to Canutus' motion, they unbuckled their Armours, and embraced each other; and on a firm agreement afterwards divided the Kingdom betwixt them: Edmond enjoying that part that lay coasted upon France, and Canutus entered upon the rest. But long enjoyed not the Ironside his part, for Duke Edrick a very compound of treasons, contrived the end of renowned Edmond; who being retired to a place for nature's necessity, he thrust from under the draught a sharp spear into his body: and having thus murdered him, he cut off his head, presenting it to Canutus, with this fawning salutation. All hail thou now sole Monarch of England, for here behold the head of thy Copartner, which for thy sake I have adventured to cut off. Canutus, though ambitious enough of Sovereignty, yet abhorring in his heart so detestable a murder, and knowing that he who was faithless to his natural Sovereign, would never be faithful to him a Stranger; commanded his head to be divided from his shoulders, and placed upon the highest Gate in London. Thus we see how Duke Edrick was mistaken in his hopes, who for his treason expecting a reward, received the merit due to treason: a worthy example in Canutus for succeeding Monarches to imitate, and in the Traitor Edrick for all false Subjects to beware. Thus this famous worthy, made his exit off of the stage of this world, having reigned in all but the space of seven months; so that if we consider the shortness of his time, we may wonder at the greatness of his actions, who had not only to deal with foreign forces, but with false friends; who whilst he lived was the only prop to uphold the tottering estate of his Country, and whose death was the cause his Countrymen were forced to bow their necks to a stranger. He left behind him two Sons, named Edward and Edmond; and two Daughters, named Christian and Margaret; which Margaret was married to Malcolme Canmore King of Scotland; from which Princely bed, James the first, late Monarch of Great Britain was lineally descended. The Life of EDWARD the Confessor. AS my learned Authors writes, to whom I am so much beholding for this Narrative: to give you his own words, discoursing of Peace, None, saith he, but such as are of turbulent spirits, or ignorant what War is, love to play the beasts, and inhumanely gore each other. Men were not made to act Tragedies, and to make the world a shambles for humane slaughters Nulla salus bello, pacem te possimus omnes. This perhaps it was made the Poet Tibullus exclaim against the inventors of mankind's destruction. Quis fuit, horrendus primus qui protulit enses? Quam ferus, & vere ferreus ille fuit? Tunc caedes hominum generi, tunc praelia nata, Tunc brevior dirae mortis aperta via est. Of kill swords who might first Author be? Sure a steel mind, and bloody thought had he. Mankind's destruction; Wars, were then made known, And shorter ways to death with terror shown. As contraries set off one another, white shows the more amiable compared with its opposite black; so peace is most pleasant to them that have tasted the miseries of War: we shall therefore now having shown the sad effects of the one in the life of Edmond, relate the blessings that accompany the other in the life of Edward. He was son to King Ethelred by his wife Queen Emma, and born at Islip in the County of Oxford; his mother (when the variable success of War doubtfully depended betwixt Edmund and Canutus) sent him over into Normandy to Duke Richard her Brother, there to be secured from all domestical stirs; where he remained all the time of Canutus reign; who although he married his Mother, yet thought it more safe to be there then in England. Canutus dying, his son Harold surnamed Hare-foot, whom he had by a Concubine a shoemakers daughter, usurped the Crown; but knowing others had better right to the same than himself, he resolved to remove those rubs out of his way; yet not daring to act his intentions openly, he thought to compass that by treachery, which he could not by force: to this end he counterfeits a letter in Queen Emmas name, unto her sons Edward and Alfred, to instigate them to attempt the recovering of the Crown, the tenure of which letter we have inserted as followeth. Emma tantum nomina Regina, filiis Edwardo & Alfrido, materna impertit salutamina, etc. Emma in name only Queen, to Edward and Alfred, her sons, sendeth motherly greetings: whilst we severally bewail the death of our Sovereign, my Lord and your Father, and yourselves (dear sons) still more and more dispossessed from the Kingdom your lawful inheritance; I greatly marvel what you determine to do, sigh you know, that the delay of attempts gives the Usurper more leisure to lay his foundation, and more safety to set thereon his intended buildings; never ceasing to post from Town to Town, and from City to City, to make the Lords and Rulers of them his friends, by threats, prayers, or rewards: but notwithstanding his policy, they privately signify that they had rather have one of you their Natives should reign over them, than this Danish usurper. Wherefore my advice is that either of you with all speed repair unto me, that we may advise together what is best to be done in this so great an enterprise: fail not therefore but send me word by this messenger what you intent to do herein; and so far ye well. Your affectionate Mother Emma. The bait thus laid to catch these two Princes was greedily swallowed by Alfred the youngest, who though the last born, had not the least hopes to wear the English Diadem; and making Baldwine Earl of Flanders his, and some few Bullogners, increasing his Fleet, he took the Seas for England; where for his welcome he was betrayed by Earl Goodwin under the notion of friendship; and by the command of King Harold inhumanely murdered: but Edward whether mistrusting the plot, or rather liking a private life with safety, than a public with danger, tarried behind, and so escaped those miseries that Alfred encountered. But as it is commonly seen, that a sinful life is rewarded with a sudden death, so King Harold's sweet beginning had a sour end; dying miserably after he had reigned four years, and some few months; his speedy death cutting off the infamy of a longer life: in whose room succeeded his brother in law, Hardi-Canute, the son of Queen Emma by Canutus her last husband; who though little differing from the other in conditions, yet is better reported of by Writers of that age, because he lovingly entertained his half brother Edward, and made Earl Goodwin purge himself for the death of Prince Alfred; so that we may in part wonder at former writers, that they should conclude Earl Goodwin to be guilty of that murder, and yet report he cleared himself of the same to Hardi-Canute: but his oath, say some, was the lighter urged, and the easier believed, by reason he had not long before presented to the king most bountiful gifts, namely a ship, whose stern was of Gold, with fourscore Soldiers therein placed, all uniformly and richly suited; on each of their arms were two bracelets of Gold, with gilt Burgonets on their heads, and on their bodies a triple gilt Habergion, a Sword with gilt Hilts guirded to their wastes, a Battle Axe on their left shoulders, a Target with gilt Bosses borne in their left hands, and a Dart in the right. The King now wholly following his pleasures, or rather, to say more truly, his vices delighting in nothing but swilling and Epicurism; he soon received the reward of his intemperance, for being at Lambeth at the celebration of a Marriage, revelling and carousing, in the midst of his Cups he suddenly fell down dead with the Pot in his hand, after he had reigned two years, and was buried at Winchester. His death was so welcome unto his Subjects, that they annually celebrated the day of his death with open pastimes in the streets, which custom continued even to these our times; being called Hoctide, or Huckstide, signifying a time of scorning or contempt. The Danish Line now clean extinguished, (for Hardi-Canute left no issue behind him) the glory of the Saxons, which had long lay buried in their own ashes, began again to revive and flourish; for the English Lords weary of the insulting Tyranny of the Danes, and willing one of their own Natives should rule, with a general consent chose Prince Edward for their King; who being at that present with Duke William in Normandy, they sent Ambassadors unto him to signify his Election: and that he might be ascertained their intentions were real, they delivered him Pledges for his more assurance. Edward accepting (as indeed who would deny) so honourable an offer, with some few Normans repaired into Englad, where he was entertained of the people with such acclamations of joy, as might well gain credence of their hearty affections towards him. The first thing he did after his Coronation, was his remitting the yearly Tribute of forty thousand pounds, gathered by the name of Danegilt, imposed by his Father; and for forty years together paid out of all men's Lands, except only the Clergies, who were exempted from the same; Because the Kings reposed more confidence in the Prayers of the Holy Church, then in the power of Armies. It is reported the King's clemency was moved to this compassion on this following occasion; When the Collectors of this money had gotten a great quantity of the same together, they brought it into his chamber, and laid it all on one heap; the King being called to see this great heap of Treasure, was at the first sight thereof much afraid, protesting he saw the Devil dancing upon the same with exceeding great joy: whereupon he commanded it should be restored again to the former owners, and released his Subjects of that Tribute for ever. Many such like stories are of this King related, and perhaps more than with safety of truth may be either believed or delivered; which we shall the rather overpass, because that in stories of this nature they are less to be blamed for omitting two verities, then relating one falsehood. Divers Laws being then used in several parts of the Kingdom, (viz. the Mercians, West Saxons, Danes, and Northumbrians) their multiplicity causing much confusion, he extracted from them all the chiefest and best, and made of them one universal and common Law throughout the Land; being in a manner the fountain of those which at this day we term the Common Laws, though the forms of pleading, and process therein, were afterwards brought in by King William the Conqueror. His Wife was named Editha, the virtuous Daughter of an infamous Father, Earl Godwin, a Lady incomparable for Beauty and Virtue, in whose Breast was a School of all Liberal Sciences (saith William of Malmesbury.) Her honourable qualifications might have expiated to her Husband King Edward; her Father's former treachery to his Brother. Unto to this Edward (as that ancient Writer hath it in these following words) was given to Wife the Daughter of Earl Godwin, a most beautiful Damosel, named Editha, of excellent learning; and for behaviour, a Virgin most chaste; and for humility, most holy; no way savouring of her Father or brethren's barbarousness, but mild and modest, faithful and honest, enemy or hurtful to none; insomuch, that this verse was rightly applied unto her. Sicut spind Rosam, Genuit Godwinus Egitham. From prickled stalk as sweetest Rose: So Egith fair from Godwin grows. This Lady though accomplished with these endowments of mind and body, the King notwithstanding refrained her bed, committing thereby the offence forbidden by the Apostle, 1 Cor. 7.5. Or if at any time he admitted her his bed, it was not otherwise than David with Abishag; for so much he himself on his deathbed did declare, saying, That openly she was his Wife, but in secret embrace as his own Sister: But whether it were for his debellity of body, or love to Virginity, I determine not; certain it is he was content to hear her accused of incontinency; whereof if she were guilty, he could not be innocent: nor can this his chastity, though applauded by many, be accounted otherwise then an injury, and too tyrannical a trial of his Wives Virtues. The King having no issue of his own, and desirous to establish the Crown in the English blood, sent into Hungary for his Nephew Edward, the Son of Edmund Ironside, who by reason of his long absence out of England, was commonly called by the name of the Outlaw; who coming over, brought with him his Wife Agatha, and Edgar, Margaret, and Christian his Children, in hope of the Kingdom; but his hopes with himself soon dissolved into dust, for he lived but a while after: so that Edward thereby was disappointed of his intentions, which was to have made him his Successor in the Crown; whereupon without delay he pronounced Edgar the Outlaws Son, and his great Nephew, Heir to the Crown, and gave him to surname Adeling, a name appropriated to Princes of the blood, which were born in hope and possibility of the Kingdom. Whilst Edward was thus busied about settling a Successor, Eustace Earl of Boulogne who had married his Sister Goda, came over into England to visit him; and returning homeward, at Canterbury his Harbinger dealing roughly with a Burgess for Lodgings caused his own death; whereupon he in revenge killed the said Burgess with eighteen other Citizens: the Canterburians herewith incensed, in a great rage armed themselves, killed twenty of his retinue, and forced the Earl himself to flight; who returning back again to the King, exhibited grievous complaints against the Townsmen; whereupon Earl Godwin was commanded to see execution done upon the offenders: but he not greatly affecting the Earl, was not overhasty to execute his commission, but advised the King to examine the matter further, before he proceeded against his true Subjects at the instigation of Strangers; this Counsel though it gained him the love of the Commons, procured the hatred of most of the Nobility; who so incensed the King with his refusal, that a day of meeting was appointed at Gloucester, wherein Earl Godwin should answer his contempt. The day come and the estates assembled, Earl Godwin was sent for, but refused to appear, alleging his present service against the Welsh then ready to enter into Rebellion; but they by Ambassadors clearing themselves, the suspicions increased, and great preparation for War was made on both sides. To the aid of the King came Leofrick Earl of Chester, Siward Earl of Northumberland, and Rodulf Earl of Hereford with competent forces; to Godwin repaired his people of Kent and Surrey, his two sons Harold and Swain, bringing with them the men of Essex, Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridge, Huntingdon, Somerset, Oxford, Hereford, Gloucester, and Barkshires; so that his Army exceeding the Kings, made him so much exceed in pride, as to demand Eustace Earl of Bulloign, with all his French and Normans, to be delivered unto him; which being (as good reason was) denied, each side prepared themselves to battle; but through the advice of some then present, the matter was ended without bloodshed and referred to a Parliament to be holden at London; so that now both sides seemed to be indifferently well pacified; but under these ashes of dissimulation lay hidden burning coals of fire, and revenge burst out into a flame; for Edward with a strong guard entered London, and Earl Goodwin with his sons in warlike manner came into Southwark to his own house, where his great army soon dissolyed into nothing; his Soldiers for the most part returning home again: which when Edward understood, he presently pronounced sentence of banishment upon him and his five sons, without further proceeding by way of Parliament. And that his wife, who was daughter to Earl Godwin, should have her sad share in the afflictions of her Parents & brethren who were banished the realm; he committed her Prisoner to the Monastery of Wilton, attended only with one maid: an unjust act, unbefitting a King, to punish the Child for the Father's offences, contrary to the prescript Rule of God, Ezek. 18.20. The soul that sinneth, it shall die: the Son shall not bear the iniquity of the Father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son. Yea, it was the observation of a Heathen man, It is mere injustice, if the father be a Rebel, that the son should therefore be accounted a Traitor. Yet as the Poet hath it, Yet notwithstanding we see oftentimes Children are punished for their father's crimes. But as things violent are not long permanent, so this storm of dissension betwixt King Edward and Earl Goodwin was soon blown over; for the Nobles interceding for him unto the King, a reconciliation was made, and Earl Goodwin restored to his former Dignities; but though the King forgave him his Treasons, the King of kings forgot not his Perjury: for he falsely swearing himself to be clear of Prince alfred's death; and wishing if he were guilty, he might never swallow down one morsel of bread, God himself manifested the truth, and according to his wish (though not his desire) it happened unto him. A fearful example to all foresworn wretches of Gods heavy judgements on their perjury. Another Act of this Kings was touching his Mother, which proclaimed him, if not undutiful, yet very unnatural; he was troubled with an infirmity, his ears were always opened to the complaints of strangers, and their mouths always full with complaints against the English: Robert Archbishop of Canterbury, a Norman by birth, accused Queen Emma, that under colour of private devotions, she had over familiarly accompanied with Alwine Bishop of Winchester. The King crediting the Archbishop's words, forced her (to wipe off this imputation) to pass the trial of fire Ordeal, which was by passing , and blindefolded over nine Ploughshares, glowing red hot, and laid at unequal distance; which she did without any hurt, to the great astonishment of all the beholders: in memory whereof she gave nine Manors to the Minster of Winchester, according to the number of the Ploughshares she had passed in her trial: And Edward repenting the wrong he had done her, bestowed on the same place the Island of Portland in Dorsetshire, being about seven miles in compass: for so the chance in those days was set, that whosoever lost, the Monks ever won. Several superstitious Writers render this King in his life to be of that holiness, that he received power from heaven to cure many diseases; amongst others the swelling of the throat, commonly called the Kings-Evil; a prerogative that continued hereditary to his Successors Kings of England; which, as they affirm, was first derived from him. Alluridus Rivallensis writing the life and death of this King, reporteth him to be a man void of pride, a lover of peace, a contemner of covetousness, abhorring wars and bloodshed; insomuch, as when he lived as a banished man in Normandy, he would oftentimes say, That he had rather live a private life for ever, then to attain the Kingdom by the death of any man. Indeed he was more fitting to be ruled then to rule, being too much subject to his Subjects, his familiarity causing their contempt; accounting his humility to be mere simplicity, though otherwise adjudged by the Poet. He's solely wise, who is not selfly wise; But humble in the judgement of his eyes. His innocent and harmless Government continued his Reign in length twenty three years, six months, and odd days; he died, and was buried in the Church at Westminster, which he formerly had builded, being after his death canonised for a Saint. The Life of WILLIAM the Conqueror. WIlliam the First, surnamed the Conqueror, was base son to Robert the first of that name, the sixth Duke of Normandy, begotten on Arlet a Skinner's Daughter: (from whence our English word Harlot is thought to be derived) when he was about seven years old, his Father intending a Pilgrimage to Jerusalem, assembled all his Nobles together, and caused them to swear fealty to this his son William, committing him to the governance of two of his Brothers, and the defence of that Government to Henry the French King; a strange confidence in the Duke, to commit the tuition of his son that was base born, to pretenders that were legitimate, and a potent Monarch, who desired to reannex that Dukedom to his Crown; but the proximity of blood in his brothers, and his former services to the French King made him so confident, that in the eighth year of his Dukedom he sets forward on his voyage; where entering Jewry, and not able to travel, he was born in a Litter on Saracens shoulders; and near unto the City meeting a returning Pilgrim, desired him to report in his Country, that he was carried to heaven upon the devils back; but so far he went, that he never returned, leaving his son a ball to be tossed about in Fortune's Tennis-Court. First, one Roger de Tresny sought to toss him out of his Dukedom, pretending the illegitimation of William; which fair pretence got him many complices, but the Divine Providence raised him up friends, particularly Roger the Beaumont, by whose valour this Roger de Tresny was defeated and slain. These troubles were scarce ended, but far greater arose; for William de Arques his base Uncle, assisted by the King of France, lays claim to the Duchy; but William so begirt his Castle with a straight siege, that the Earl was almost famished, was forced to yield, and the French with disgrace returned home; yet could not their ill success deter others from attempting the like, but Guy Earl of Burgoyn Grand child to Richard the Second, would needs likewise try his chance in Fortune's Lottery, which proved quite contrary to his expectation; for he seeking to be made head of the Dukedom, was for his treason made shorter by the head. Duke William having thus vanquished his enemies, and now grown more potent than he was before; (for every rebellion when it is suppressed makes the Prince stronger, and the Subjects weaker) comes over into England to visit his Cousin King Edward the Confessor, to whom (it is said) Edward (with the consents of Stigandus Archbishop of Canterbury, the Earls Goodwin and Syward, and of Harold son to Earl Goodwin) promised (if he died without issue) to leave the Crown; which promise was afterward ratified by the corporal oath of Harold; who being at his manor of Boseham in Suffolk, one day for his recreation in a fisher's boat launched forth to the Sea; but by a contrary wind was driven upon the Coasts of Ponthieu in France, where being taken by Earl Guido, was presented to Duke William, to whom he solemnly swore to assist him for obtaining the Kingdom: but Edward dying, the splendour of his Crown so dazzled the eyes of Harold, that forgetting his former promise and oath, he set the same upon his own head. Duke William whose hopes were that England should be his, now seeing his hopes frustrated by Harold, prepares his forces against the perjured King, with whom joined many of the French Nobility; and to make their endeavours the more successful, Pope Alexander the second sent him a consecrated Banner, an Agnus Dei, and one of the hairs of Saint Peter the Apostle. Thus furnished on all sides, with a Navy of 896. Ships, he cuts the briny face of Neptune, and arrives at Pemsey near Hasteings in Sussex; from whence he sent a Monk on Ambassage to Harold, (who was newly returned from the slaughter of the Norwegians) offering him three conditions; the first was, that he should resign up the Crown, or hold it as a Tributary Prince under him; or else in sight of both armies to defend his Title in Person against the Duke; if not, to stand to the arbitrement of the Pope: but Harold instead of granting his requests, threatens his ruin, except he forthwith returns into Normandy. Both sides thus enraged, (the one seeking to get, the other to keep, that which by right belonged to another) seven miles from Hasteings a bloody battle was fought, wherein was slain of the English, if I may credit my Author 66654. King Harold himself manfully fight was likewise slain; a Prince, (had he attained the Crown by right) worthy to have enjoyed it a longer time, but his pride and ambition caused his destruction; so true is that which one observes. Much have I seen, yet seldom seen I have Ambition go grey headed to the Grave. William having thus obtained the victory, of an old Duke was made a young King, being Crowned at Westminster by Aldred Archbishop of York, the Year of our Salvation 1066. And now the better to secure himself in his new state, he endeavours to get into his possession the strongest forts in the Kingdom; and to this end takes his journey towards Dover, (the Lock and Key of the Kingdom as Matthew Paris calls it) that by the command of so strong a place, he might the more easily keep under the Natives, and keep out strangers, if any excited by his example should dare to attempt what he had done. But the Kentish-men having notice of his intentions, assembled together; and at Swanscombe two miles from Gravesend, met him in the form of a moving Wood; for seeing no way lay open save only a front, they agreed to carry in their hands great Branches of Trees, which not only kept them from being discovered, but induced him to think all the Woods thereabout of the like nature; so that he willingly consented to what they desired, which was the continuance of their former Laws, and Pledges being given on both parts for performance, Kent yieldeth up her Earldom and Castle of Dover to King William. Now what the Kentish-men attained by arms, the Citizens of London obtained by art; for having to their Bishop one William a Norman, they so wrought with him, and he with the King, that he granted them their first Charter, written in the Saxon Tongue, and sealed with green wax; the copy whereof followeth: William Cyng, greit William Biscop, & Godfreges Portgerefan, & ealle tha Burhwaren the on Lunden beon, etc. William King, greeteth William Bishop, and Godfrey Portreeve, and all the Burgesses that in London be, French and English friendly. And I do you to wit, that I will, that you enjoy all the Law which you did in the days of Edward King. And I will that each Child be his Father's Inheritor after his Father's days. And I will not suffer that any man you any wrong offer. God you keep. The Lord Major and Aldermen to honour his memory upon the Solemn Days of their resort to Paul's, do still use to walk to his Grave-stone, being in the midst of the great West Isle; and on the same have affixed this Epitaph following. Gulielmo viro sapientia & vita sanctitate claro, qui primùm divo Edwardo regi & Confessori familiaris, ruper in Episcopum Londinensem erectus, nec multo post apud invictissimum principem Gulielmum Angliae Regem ejus nominis primum, ob prudentiam fidemque singularem in consilium adhibitus, amplissima huic urbi celeberrima privilegia ab eodem impetravit. Senatus populusque Londinensis bene merenti posuit. Sedic Episcopus Annos 20. Decessit anno à Christo nato 1070. Haec tibi, clare pater posuêrunt marmora cives, Praemia non meritis aequiparanda tuis: Namque sibi populus, te Londoniensis amicum Sensit, & huic urbi non bene praesidium. Reddita libertas duce te, donataque multis, Te duce, res fuerat publica muneribus. Divitias, genus, & formam brevis opprimat hora, Haec tua sed pietas, & benfacta manent. Thus turned into English by one of our modern Historians. To William, a man famous in wisdom and holiness of life, who first with St. Edward the King and Confessor being familiar, of late preferred to be Bishop of London, and not long after for his prudency and sincere fidelity, admitted to be of counsel with the most victorious Prince William King of England, of that name the first, who obtained of the same great and large Privileges to this famous City. The Senate and Citizens of London to him having well deserved, have made this. He continued Bishop twenty years, and died in the year after Christ his Nativity, 1070. These Marble Monuments to thee thy Citizens assign, Rewards (O Father) far unfit to those deserts of thine: Thee unto them a faithful friend, thy London people found, And to this Town, of no small weight, a stay both sure and found. Their Liberties restored to them by means of thee have been, Their Public Weal by means of thee large gifts have felt and seen. Thy riches, stock, and beauty brave, one hour hath them suppressed, Yet these thy virtues and good deeds with us for ever rest. The memories of this man, Sir William Walworth, Sir Thomas Gresham, and such others deserve to be honoured with statues advanced in the most conspicuous places of the City, lest otherwise she be reputed ingrateful to them, from whom she derives so honourable a splendour. But to leave the City, and return unto the Court, new troubles in Normandy arising in King William's absence, he was forced suddenly to raise an Army to suppress them, carrying along with him those whom he most suspected might take the advantage of his troubles abroad, so as to raise any new broils at home, pretending their aid against his Rebels in Normandy; but indeed fearing in his absence they should raise a new rebellion in England, dealing therein as the politic Captain Sextorius did with the Spaniards, whose children he kept under pretence of learning them the Latin Tongue, but indeed as Hostages for their Father's loyalties. And because the common people are to be feared for their number, as well as the Nobility for their greatness, he disarmed them; that so being left naked, they might be uncapable of Insurrections: yet notwithstanding his policy, no sooner was he gone, but Edrick Sylvaticus (a man of great spirit and power) aided by the Welsh-men made great spoils in Herefordshire, wasting all to the mouth of Wye. These troubles made the Englishmen so distasteful to King William, that returning out of Normandy, he laid such heavy Taxes and Impositions upon them, that many of them preferring penurious liberty before fetters of gold, left their habitations, and lived as Outlaws in the woods and deserts. The chiefest of these Malcontents were Edwin and Morcar, (the two stout Earls of Yorkshire and Chester) Hereward, Gospatria, and Syward, with many other Lords, to whom joined Stigand and Aldred, Archbishops, with many of the Clergy; who having Edgar Atheling amongst them, endeavoured to recover that which for want of taking time by the foretop they had improvidently lost. But their Forces being dissipated by William's conquering sword, every one sought how to save himself by flight; some fled into Denmtrk, others into Hungary, most into Scotland, whilst William with triumph returned to London; from whence he sent Ambassadors to Malcolme Canmore, than King of Scotland, for the delivery of Edgar with the rest of his enemies; which if he refused, he would denounce open War against Scotland. But King Malcolme not only denied his request, but also took to Wife the Lady Margaret, sister unto Edgar, which occasioned bloody Wars on both sides; and four several Armies were sent against the Scots. The first under the conduct of one Roger a Norman, who entering hastily into Northumberland, was by the Scots discomfited, and himself by his own Soldiers treacherously slain: to second whose beginnings another Army was sent under the Command of Richard Earl of Gloucester, whose fortunes being not answerable to William's expectations. A third Army was sent, led by Odo Bishop of Bayeux, and Earl of Kent; but he being more used to the Church than the Camp, and fit to handle a pen then a sword, encountering with the Scots, upon the first onset was quite defeated: but King William nothing discouraged with these overthrows, sent his son Robert with a far greater power than he sent before; which notwithstanding did not far greater service than the fortifying of Newcastle: at length a Peace was concluded betwixt them, which though prejudicial to King William's side, yet as affairs than stood, he could not well have acted otherwise: which was, that King Malcolme should enjoy that part of Northumberland which lieth betwixt Tweed, Cumberland, and Stanemore, doing homage to the Kings of England for the same. By this Peace was Edgar Atheling, and those other male-contented Lords restored to the King's favour; for William, although a Martial Prince, sought to establish his Crown rather by Peace then by the Sword, which made him the more apt to forget former injuries. And no doubt but this his too much lenity was one principle cause of his continual troubles; for Edwin and Morcar (the two stout Earls mentioned before) combining with Fretherick Abbot of St. Albans, fell into a new conspiracy, setting up Edgar Atheling once again their General. William storming at these disloyal attempts, with a mighty power hasteneth against them, who desperately bend to maintain what they had begun, resolved to make the Sword their Judge: but King William loath to lose that with shame which he had gotten by the effusion of so much blood, prevailed so far with them, that an Assembly was appointed to meet at Berkhamsted, where he solemnly swore upon the Holy Evangelists, and the Relics of St. Alban the Martyr, inviolably to observe the Ancient Laws of this Land, especially those compiled by King Edward the Confessor, which so wrought him into their good opinions, that they all forthwith laid down their weapons. But the storm being past, the danger was soon forgotten; and these mountains promises proved but molehill performances; for notwithstanding his oath, he dealt more roughly with the English now then before, thrusting some into Exile, and depriving others of their Lands, which he bestowed upon his Normans, whose Charters were of a far other tenor, form, and brevity, than those tedious and perplexed Conveyances, since in use, as may appear by this one, taken out of on old Chronicle in the Library at Richmont. I William King the third year of my reign, Give to thee Norman Hunter, to me that are both leef and dear, The hop and the hopton, and all the bounds up and down, Under the Earth to Hell, above the earth to Heaven; From me and mine, to thee and to thine, As good and as fair, as ever they mine were. To witness that this is sooth, I by't the white wax with my tooth, Before Jug, Maud, and Marjery, and my youngest son Henry: For a Bow and a broad Arrow, when I come to hunt upon Yarrow. Nor need we wonder the King was so liberal to the Hunter, since he himself loved hunting so well, that to maintain his game he depopulated above 30. miles in Hampshire, where had been (saith Carton) twenty six Towns, and eighty Religious Houses: so that where before God was Worshipped, now wild Beasts grazed; a sin which God punished in his posterity, his two sons William and Richard, and his grandchild Richard son to Duke Robert, coming there to untimely ends; which place was then and is to this day called by the name of the New Forest. The more to enrich his Coffers he laid great Subsidies upon the Land, causing a strict Survey to be taken of the whole Kingdom, exacting six shillings for every hide of Land; to the so great impoverishing of the English Nation, that they grievously groaned under their miserable estate: nor would he permit any English man to bear any office of credit or countenance. The English to ingratiate themselves with the Conqueror, being forced to leave off their former customs and habits, conforming themselves to the fashions of the Normans; so that England was now wholly become French, excepting Kent; which retained their former Customs a long time after. Towards the conclusion of his reign, dissensions betwixt Philip King of France and him, drew him once more over into Normandy; where falling sick, and keeping his bed more than he used to do, the French King hearing that his disease was in his belly, scoffingly said, Our Cousin William is laid now in Childbed: Oh! what a number of Candles must I offer at his going to Church? surely I think a hundred thousand will not suffice. This French frump being told to King William; he made this answer, Well, our Cousin of France I trust shall be at no such cost: but after this my Childbirth, at my going to Church, I will find him one thousand Candles, and light them myself. And accordingly towards August following, he enters France with a mighty Army, spoiling all the West parts thereof before him. And lastly set the City Meux on fire, wherein, he consumed the fair Church of our Lady; in the Walls whereof were enclosed two Anchorites, who might but would not escape, holding it a breach of their Religious Vow to forsake their Cell, though in never such extremity, and so became their own murderers. The King busied in these attempts, cheered his men to feed the fire, and came himself so near the flames, that with the heat of his harness he got a sickness, which was increased by the leap of his horse, that burst the inward rim of his belly; that returning to Rouen he shortly after ended his life. He was buried at Caen in Normandy, in the Abbey Church of Saint Stephen the first Christian Martyr; to the Monks whereof he bequeathed two Manors in Dorcetshire, one Manor in Devonshire, another in Essex, much Lands in Berkshire, some in Norfolk, a Mansion house in Woodstreet of London, with many Advowsions of Churches, as also his Crown, and Regal Ornaments thereto belonging; which his son Henry afterwards redeemed with the Manor of Brideton in Dorcetshire; his Tomb was afterwards opened by the Bishop of Bayeux. in Anno. 1542. wherein was found a gilt Plate of Brass, and this Epitaph engraven thereon. Qui rexit rigidos Northmanos, atque Britanoes, Audacter vicit, fortiter obtinuit; Et Caenomenses virtute coercuit enses, Imperiique sui legibus applicuit. Rex magnus parva jacet hac Gulielmus in urna: Sufficit & magno parva domus domino, Ter septem gradibus se volverat atque duobus, Virgins in gremio Phoebus, & hic obiit. In English. He that the sturdy Normans ruled, and over English reigned, And stoutly won, and strongly kept, what he so had obtained; And did the swords of those of Mains, by force bring under awe, And made them under his command live subject to his law. This great King William lieth here, entombed in little Grave, So great a Lord, so small a house sufficeth him to have. When Phoebus in the Virgin's lap, his circled course applied, And twenty three degrees had passed, even at that time he died. The Life of THOMAS BECKET, Archbishop of Canterbury. THomas Becket was the Son of one Gilbert Becket, a Person of good Alliance and Riches; who in his youth travelling to Jerusalem, as he returned, was taken prisoner by a Saracen Admiral, with whom he remained a year and a half; during which time the only Daughter of the Admiral was so taken with his carriage and qualities, that (he having by flight obtained his liberty) she wounded with his love, abandoned her Father's House and Country, and followed him secretly into England; where being instructed in the Christian Religion, and baptised in the Church of St. Paul by the Bishop of London, with great Solemnity in the presence of six Prelates, she was married to the aforesaid Gilbert; of whom he had Issue this Thomas, whose Life we now relate; who (as his Legend recites) was first brought up in a Religious House of Merton, afterwards was instructed in the Liberal Sciences, and then sent to study in the University of Paris; from whence returning home, he was by Theobald Archbishop of Canterbury made his Archdeacon, a place in those days of high degree in the English Clergy, next unto Lord Abbots and Bishops. Much about that time Henry Duke of Aquitain and Normandy succeeded King Stephen in the Crown of England, who in the very first year of his Reign advanced Becket to be Lord Chancellor of England; in which high honour he carried himself like another King. His retinue was great; his Followers men of good account; his House keeping such as might compare with, if not surpass, the greatest Earls of the Kingdom; his Clothes very costly full of bravery; his Furniture mighty rich; his very Bridles of beaten silver. Yea, Fortune did seem to have made him her Darling; and all things so flowed according to his desire, that one would have judged him to have laid clean aside the very thought of a Clergyman. King Henry having Wars in France, he served him with a Band of 700. Soldiers of his own Family, besides many others, with which, and some additional Forces after the King's departure he obtained a great victory. At another time he himself in person unhorssed a Frenchman called Enguerranus de Creya, a most hardy Soldier, renowned for deeds of Arms and Chivalry; for these valiant acts, in reward, and in further hope of his faithful service, upon the death of Theobald, the King made him Archbishop of Canterbury, though the Monks objected against him, that neither a Courtier, nor a Soundier (as he was both) were fit to succeed in so high and sacred a Function: But Thomas having obtained this dignity, forgot the King who had raised him to the same. For as the Poet hath it; A swelling spirit hates him by whom he climbs, As Ivy kills the tree whereon it twines: So rising men, when they are mounted high, Spurn at the means that first they mounted by. For not long after began that great controversy between Regnum & Sacerdotium, the Crown and the mitre; the occasion whereof was, the King being credibly informed, that some Clergymen had committed above an hundred murders under his Reign, would have them tried and adjudged in his Temporal Courts, as Laymen were, but this (as being contrary to the privileges of the Church) the Archbishop withstood: This affront of a subject the King could not endure, finding himself hereby to be but a demy-King. Wherefore having drawn to his side most of the Bishops, in an Assembly at Westminster, he propoundeth these Articles, peremptorily urging Becket to assent to them. 1. That none should appeal to the See of Rome for any cause whatsoever without the King's licence. 2. That it should not be lawful for any Archbishop or Bishop to departed the Realm, and repair to the Pope, upon his summons, without licence from the King. 3. That it should not be lawful for any Bishop to excommunite any person that holdeth in Capite of the King, without licence of the King, nor grant any interdict against his Lands, nor the Lands of any his officers. 4. That it should not be lawful for any Bishop to punish perjured nor false witnesses. 5. That Clarks crimonous should be tried before secular Judges. 6. That the King and his secular Justices, should be Judges in matters of Tithes, and other like causes Ecclesiastical. There points so nearly touched the Papal Sovereignty, that Becket resolutely denied to sign them: but by the importunity of many Lords and Prelates, at last he yields, subscribes the Ordinance, and sets his hand unto it. The King hereupon supposing all contradiction ended, and that Thomas would not waver in his faith, called an assembly of the States at Clarendon in Wiltshire, to collect and enact these Laws; where John of Oxenford sitting Precedent, Becket relapsed, saying, He had grievously sinned in that he had done, and that he would not sin therein any more. The King herewith vehemently incensed, threatens banishment and destruction to him and his; whereupon Becket once again persuaded, swears in verbo Sacerdotali, in the word of a Priest, sincerely, that he would observe the Laws, which the King entitled, Avitae; and all the Bishops, Abbots, Priors, and whole Clergy, with all the Earls, Barons, and Nobility, did promise and swear the same faithfully and truly to observe and perform, to the King, and to his Heirs for ever. But the King desiring him to affix his seal to an Instrument, wherein those Laws (being sixteen) were contained; he refused, saying, He did promise it only to do the King some honour, verbo tenus, in word only. Nor could the example of his fellow Bishops, nor the persuasions of Rotrod the Pope's messenger, move him at all to compose these differences. It may be thought a fable, yet is related by divers superstitious Authors, that one time during this contention, certain fellows cut off the Archbishop's horses tail; after which fact, all their children were born with Tails like Horses; and that this continued long in their Posterity. For may own part, though I confess God is able to do this, and much more; yet I reckon this amongst other ridiculous miracles mentioned of him by those writers, as that of Ailwardus, who for stealing a great whetstone (which the Author that writes it best deserved) being deprived of his eyes and virilities, by sentence of Law; upon prayer to Saint Thomas he had all restored again. Yea, even a Bird having been taught to speak, flying out of her cage, and ready to be seized on by a Sparrow Hawk, said only, St. Thomas help me, and her enemy fell presently dead, and she escaped. But slighting these follies, to return to our History, the King summoning a Parliament at Northhampton, Becket was cited to appear before his Majesty: which he refusing, upon his contempt, the Peers and Prelates judged his goods confiscated to the King's mercy. He making his appearance, the Parliament demanded of him an account of 30000 pounds which he received when he was Lord Chancellor to which he answered, that when he was chosen to be Archbishop, he was by the King's authority freed and acquitted of all Debts and Obligations of Court and Exchequer, and so delivered over to the Church of England; and that therefore at that time he would not answer as a Layman, having before had a sufficient discharge. This answer of the Archbishop was like Oil cast on fire, which instead of quenching increased the King's anger; and the Prelates perceiving the King's displeasure to tend yet to some further severity, premonished him to submit himself, for that otherwise the King's Court intended to adjudge him a perjured person, and also a traitor, for not yielding temporal Allegiance to his temporal Sovereign, as himself had sworn to do: and accordingly the Prelates themselves by joint consent adjudged him of perjury; and by the mouth of the Bishop of Chichester, disclaimed thence forward all obedience unto him as their Archbishop. But Becket herewith nothing daunted, caused to be sung before him the next day at the Altar that Psalm, Principes fedent. The Princes sit and speak against me, and the ungodly persecute me, etc. and forthwith taking his Silver Crosier in his own hands, enters armed therewith into the King's presence; who more and more enraged at Beckets insolency, commandeth his Peers to sit in judgement on him as on a traitor: and the Courtiers like Echoes answering the King; the whole Court sounded nothing but Treason: so that Becket afraid of being slain, hasteth home; and changing his costly Robes into course Rags, passeth over into Flanders, calling himself by the name of Dereman. The Archbishop gone, the King banishes all his Kindred out of his Dominions; and he on the other side excommunicates all such as had to do against him: at length the King of France with entreaty, and the Pope with the terror of the Church's censures, made a full atonement and reconciliation between them; the Archbishop in great triumph returned to England, having been absent from his native Country for the space of seven years. All controversies seemed now fully to be ended, though the sequel thereof proved far otherwise; for some excommunicated Bishops and other men of great account, desiring to be absolved, he refused to do it, unless with this caution, that they should stand to the judgement of the Church in those things for which they were excommunicated: but they disdaining the pride of the Archbishop, post over into Normandy, where the King was then, informing him, that Thomas was now grown more haughty than before, that he went up and down with great Troops of men, both Horse and Foot, that attended on him as upon the Kings own Royal Person; that to be a King indeed he wanted but the name, and setting the Crown upon his head. The King herewith highly incensed, in a great rage said, And is it possible that I cannot peaceably enjoy neither Kingdom. Dignity, nor Life; and all this for one only priest? Cursed be all such as eat my bread, since none will revenge me of this fellow. These words being overheard by four Knights. Sir Morvil. Sir William Tracy, Sir Hugh Brito, Sir Richard Fitz-urse, they thinking to do the King a pleasure, (though as the sequel of his reign proved, they could not have done him a greater injury) hasted into England, and in his own Church of Canterbury most barbarously murdered him, being then about 48. years of age; not long after he was Canonised by Pope Alexander, and the day of his death, being the 29. of December, kept annually holy. Many miracles are reported to have been done by him, and his Shrine so enriched by Pilgrims, which from all places came thither in devotion; that at the defacing thereof in the time of King Henry the Eighth, the spoil thereof in Gold, and Precious Stones filled two great Chests, such as six or eight strong men could do no more than convey one of them at once out of the Church. Thus the Images of many men were richly clothed, when many poor Christians (God's Image) went almost naked; so full of charity were those empty times of knowledge; a shame to us, who know more but practice less. Draiton in his Polyolbion hath these verses on him. Concerning whom the world since then hath spent much breath, And many questions made both of his life and death; If he were truly just he hath his right, if not, Those times were much to blame, that have him reckoned so. Stapleton a Jesuit put forth a book entitled, Tres Thomas; Saint Thomas the Apostle, Thomas of Becket, and of Sir Thomas Moor; he Canonizes' the two last, of either of which he writes six times as much as of St. Thomas the Apostle. The Life of RICHARD the First. THis reign, as it in part epitomizes the History of the holy War, without being guilty of an omission of the most admired part of Chronical History, I could not but insert Richard the first; who for his inexpugnable and Lion-like heart, obtained the surname of Coeur de Lion: he was a most valiant and magnanimous Prince, accustomed to Wars; he died in the fields of Mars, of whom as a Prince we shall say nothing, having so much to relate of him after he came to be King. This martial Prince, born in a martial age, was third son to King Henry the Second, and succeeded him in the Crown after his Decease, his elder Brothers dying before their Father. At his Coronation he commanded no Jews should be present: but they desirous to see the solemnities, hasted thither in great numbers; but the price of their lives paid for the pleasure of their eyes; the common people falling upon them and slaying a great number: so ominous to the enemies of Christ was the first day of this King's reign, presaging, saith one, his following successes in the Jewish Countries. For intending a journey to Jerusalem (not as a Pilgrim to see the City, but as a Soldier to conquer the Country) he raises an Army of thirty thousand Foot, and five thousand Horse; his next care was for money (the sinews of War) and notwithstanding his Father had left him eleven hundred thousand pound, (a vast sum for that age) yet was it no thought sufficient for so great a journey. Therefore to the end he might be able to go thorough with his work, he sells the Castles of Berwick and Roxborough to the Scottish King for ten thousand pounds, the Priory of Coventry to Hugh Bishop of Chester for 300. marks, and the County of Northumberland to Hugh Bishop of Duresme for his Life, jesting he had made a new Earl of an old Bishop; then feigning he had lost his old Seal, he made a new one; proclaiming that whosoever would safely enjoy those things which before time they had enroled, should come to the new Seal; by which princely skill (not to say cheat) he squeezed much money out of his Subjects purses. Having proceeded thus far towards his journey, his next care was for securing the Kingdom of England in his absence. On his Brother John (whom he knew to be of an ambitious spirit, and apt to take fire on the least occasion) on him he heaped both riches and honour, that by his liberality he might win him to loyalty: but the chief Government of the Land he committed to William Longchamp Bishop of Ely, Lord Chancellor of England, choosing him for his Viceroy rather than any lay-Earl; because a Coronet perchance may swell into a Crown, but never a Mitre: with him was joined in Commission, Hugh Bishop of Durham, for the parts of England beyond Humber. Yet, as Suetonius reports of the Consulship of Caesar and Bibulus; that nothing was reported of Bibulus, but all of Caesar; so Longchamps Sun eclipsed durham's Candle, his great Bell making such a sound, that the other Tantony could not be heard. Having thus settled his affairs in England, he crosseth the Sea to Philip King of France, who according to appointment was to go along with him in this journey; which after some stay (occasioned by the death of the French Queen) they agreed on these Christian and friendly terms. 1. That each of them preserve the others honour, and bear faith to him for life, and member; and earthly dignity, 2. That neither of them shall fail the other in their Affairs; but that the King of France shall help the King of England to defend his Land, even as he would defend the City of Paris if it were besieged; and Richard King of England, shall help the King of France to defend his Land, even as he would defend his City Rouen if it were besieged. These Articles agreed on, and sworn to on both sides these two great Monarches of the West, Richard the first, King of England, and Philip the second, King of France, set forwards on their journey; in the description of which, give me leave to light my Candle at Mr. Fuller's fire, and to borrow some of his expressions to enrich my stile; who in his History of the holy War hath so eloquently described it: nor let me be accused for a felon, or a counterfeit, in mixing his Gold amongst my Alchemy, since it may well pass for pay, which is stamped with so current language. There attended King Richard in this journey Baldwine Archbishop of Canterbury, Hubert Bishop of Salisbury, Robert Earl of Leicester, Ralph de Glanvile late Chief Justice of England, Richard de Clare, Walter de Kime, etc. At Tours he took his Pilgrim's Scrip and Staff from the Archbishop; his Staff at the same time casually broke in pieces; which some construed a token of ill success. Likewise when he and the French King with their trains passed over the Bridge at Lions, (which broke by reason of the throng of people) on the fall of the Bride this conceit was built, that there would be a falling out betwixt these two Kings, which accordingly happened: their intercourse and familiarity breeding hatred and discontent betwixt them. At Lions these two Kings parted company, Philip passing over the Alps in Italy, and Richard to the Seaside to Marseillis, to meet with his Navy; which being by tempest driven to other parts, after six week's stay, he hireth shipping for himself and his company; and passing forwards, upon occasion, anchored in the Mouth of the River Tiber, within fifteen miles of the City of Rome: yet notwithstanding he was so hot on his journey, his devotion was so cold towards his Holiness, that he would not vouchsafe to give him a visit, but plainly told Octavian Bishop of Ostia the Pope's Confessor; that having better objects to bestow his eyes upon, he would not stir a step to see the Pope; laying to his charge many shameful matters, touching the Romish Simony and Covetousness, with many other reproaches, alleging that they took 700. marks for consecration of the Bishop of Mains 1500. marks for the Legative power of William Bishop of Ely; and of the Archbishop of Bordeaux an infinite sum of money; whereupon he refused to see Rome. Yet notwithstanding this his disobedience to his spiritual Father, he arrived safe as Messana, where he met with the French King his most Christian brother; and although he lost the Popes, yet found he the Almighty's Blessing; his Navy within few days after arriving safe in Sicily. Tankred at this time was King of the Island, a Bastard born; and no wonder, if climbing up to the throne the wrong way, he shaked when he sat down: besides, he was a tyrant, both detaining the Dowry and imprisoning the Person of Joan Wife to William late King of Sicily, and Sister to King Richard. And therefore though he shown him a fair countenance, his heart was full of poisonous rancour: but King Richard perceived his hypocrisy, notwithstanding his vizard, as dissembling goeth not long invisible before a judicious eye; and being offered some abuses by the Citizens of Messana, he assaults and takes the City, demanding satisfaction for all wrongs done to him and his Sister. Tankred seeing how the case stood, thought it his best thrift to be prodigal, and bestows on King Richard many thousand ounces of Gold, purchasing that with his purse, which by using justice he might have had for nothing, King Philip seemed nothing pleased at these dissensions, yet wisely covered the fire of his anger with the ashes of discretion, till such time he might show it with more advantage; and thinking to forestall the market of Honour, and take up all for himself, he hasted presently to Ptolemais: which the Christians had long besieged, and with them he joins, while King Richard taking his Sister Joan, and Berengaria daughter to Sanctius King of Navarr, in 190. Ships, and 50. Galleys, puts to Sea for the holy Land, but is by tempest cast upon the Coast of Cyprus; where the Islanders under Cursac, or Isakius their King, seek to impeach his landing. But King Richard speedily over-ran the Island, and having taken Cursac, honours him with the magnificent Captivity of silver Fetters, having given him his word not to put him in bonds of Iron. This Island from all antiquity was celebrated for the seat of Venus according to the Poet: Venus feasts hallowed thorough all Cyprus came, And Venus fair was present at the same. And that it so might prove to King Richard, in the joyous month of May he solemnly takes to Wife his beloved lady Berengaria, and pawning the Island to the Templars for ready money, he passeth on to Ptolemais. Long time had this City been besieged by the Christians, and many were the miseries that were underwent by both sides; the Famine raging within, and the Pestilence reigning without: so that now upon King Richard arrival, the Turks despairing of succour, and their victuals wholly spent; they yielded up the City on condition to be guarded out of it safely. To take possession for the French, there was sent in Drogou de Merlou, and an 100 men at arms, and for the English Hugo de Gurnay with the like number; who equally parted the City, Goods, and People between them. Here the English cast down the Ensigns of Leopoldus Duke of Austria, which he had advanced in a principal place of the Wall, and threw them into the Jakes; for which injury King Richard paid dearly afterwards; so dangerous it is to exasperate any though far inferior: for as the fable acquaints us, the Beetle may annoy the Eagle, and the Mouse befriend the Lion: Eighteen days after the taking of Ptolemais the French King returned home, leaving Odo Duke of Burgundy to manage the Army in his absence, pretending the air of the Country did not agree with his body; but more likely that the air of King Richards too great honour could not down with his too great mind. Hoveden reports he was bribed by Saladine; which if true, let him for ever forfeit the surname of Augustus, and the stile of the most Christian Prince. King Richard goes on notwithstanding the French Kings departure, and fortifies the Town of Joppa; where going one day a hawking to recreate himself, being weary laid himself down upon the ground to fleep, when suddenly certain Turks came upon him to take him; but he awakened with their noise, rises up, gets a horseback, and drawing out his sword, assaults the Turks; who feigning to fly, drew the King into an ambush where many Turks lay; who had certainly taken him if they had known his person: but one of the King's Servants called William de Patrellis, crying out in the Saracen Tongue, that he was the King, they presently lay hold upon him, and let the King escape. At this time Guy of Lusignan was possessed of the City of Tyre, and with it of the right of the Kingdom of Jerusalem; King Richard more greedy of honour than profit, exchangeth his Island of Cyprus with this hungry Prince, for his Kingdom of Jerusalem; and upon this title the Kings of England were styled Kings of Jerusalem a long time after. And now did King Richard long to be possessed of his merchandise, whereupon it was determined then should presently march towards the holy City. Richard led the vanguard of his English, Duke Odo commanded in the main battle over his French, James of Avergne brought on the Flemings and Brabanters in the rear; Saladine, Serpentlike, biting the heal, assaulted the rear, not far from Bethlehem; when the French and English wheeling about, charged the Turks most furiously: emulation, formerly poison, was here a cordial; each Christian nation striving not only to conqer their enemies, but to overcome their friends in the honour of the Conquest. King Richard seeking to put his courage out of doubt, brought his judgement into question, being more prodigal of his person then beseemed a General. A great Victory they obtained of the Turks, with little loss to themselves, save only of James of Avergne, who here died in the Bed of Honour. And now they marched up within sight of Jerusalem, where King Richard intercepted the Caravan of the Saladine, laden with many rich Eastern wares, containing much in a little, and guarded with ten thousand men; whom King Richard valiantly encountering, with 5000. selected Soldiers, put most of them to the Sword, and took three thousand Camels and four thousand Horses and Mules, besides all their rich treasure; and yet of all this, and all that he gained in Sicily and Cyprus, he brought home nothing but one Gold Ring, all the rest of his wealth melting away in this hot service. And now King Richard being advertised of the King of France his invading Normandy, contrary to his oath at his departure, enforced him, though much to his grief, to conclude a peace with Saladine, and that upon conditions not very honourable for the Christians; which was to demolish all places they had walled since the taking of Ptolemais; which was in effect to undo what with much charge they had done: but such was the tyranny of King Richard's occasions, forcing him to return, that he was glad to embrace those conditions he hated at his heart; and so sending his Wife Berengaria, and his Sister Joan, with a great part of his Army into Sicily; and from thence into England, he passeth himself with some few of his company by the way of Thrace, and on the Coasts of Istria suffered shipwreck: wherefore he intended to pierce thorough Germany by land, the next way home. The better to pass undiscovered, he disguises himself to be one Hugo a Merchant, whose only merchandise was himself; but in his journey near to Vienna was unhappily discovered by the profuseness of his expenses: so that the very policy of an Hoastess finding his Purse so far above his did detect him. Leopoldus' Duke of Austria hearing hereof, as being Lord of the Soil, seized on this royal Hero, meaning now to ge his pennyworths out of him, for the affront done unto him in Palestine. But this booty being too great for a Duke, the Emperor got him into his Custody, meaning to coin much Gold and Silver out of his most unjust affliction, by sharp imprisonment. Yet all the weight of their cruelty did not bow him beneath a Princely carriage. Fifteen month's imprisonment did he endure, at last he was ransomed for an hundred and forty thousand marks, Collen weight, and delivered to his Mother Queen Elinor, by the Archbishops of Mentz, and Collen; which last named Archbishop for joy of his deliverance, did celebrate divine service after this manner; Deus missit angelum. Now I know that God hath sent his Angel, and hath delivered thee out of the hand of Herod, and from the expectation of the people, etc. We must not here forget how Gods judgements overtook this Duke, punishing his Dominions with Fire, Water, Barrenness, Worms, and Pestilence. The Fire causually burning his Towns; the River of Danubius drowning then thousand of his Subjects in an overflow: the Earth waxing dry and sear, the Worms destroying such Fruit and Grain as grew, and the stroke of Pestilence killing the principal Nobles and Gentlemen of his Dominions. The Duke himself in a tilting for solemnity of his Birthday, fell off his horse, and broke his leg; which turning to a Gangreen, he cut off with his own hands, and died thereof. King Richard after his return into England, at the Abbey of Saint Edmunds, offered up the rich Imperial Standard of Cursac Emperor of Cyprus, which he took among the spoils of the Griffons Camp, and then marched to reduce such Castles as the servants of his Brother John held against him; who ambitiously and ungratefully during his Brother's absence, sought to wrest the helm of Government into his own hands, fortifying the Castles of Marleborough, Lancaster, St. Michael's Mount, Nottingham and Tichil, Henry de Pumeray Captain of St. Michael's Mount, hearing for certain that King Richard was come, died for very fear, and the rest of the Castles were reduced with some small resistance. And now to show that he was an absolute King again, he caused himself to be again Crowned at Winchester; the King of Scotland honouring the solemnity with his presence, who bore a Sword before King Richard: between which two Princes there followed great amity and tenderness of love all their days. Not long after this the King being at dinner at Westminster, received advertisement that the French had laid Siege to Vernoul, a strong Town of his in Normandy; with which he was so moved that he swore a great oath, he would never turn his head till he had confronted the French. For the performance of which oath, he caused the wall-right before him to be presently beaten down, that so he might pass forward without turning his face, never resting till with an hundred great Ships he had crossed the Seas from Portsmouth into Normandy. But King Richard made not so much haste to secure, but the French King made as much haste to be gone; here Earl John submits himself to his Brother, who upon his submission restores his possessions unto him, saying only, I wish you may as well remember your fault, as I shall forget it. King Richard following the French King, overtakes him at Vendome, who affrighted at his approach, the second time flies without striking a stroke, leaving behind him all his bag and baggage, Munition, Tents, and Treasure, to a marvellous value; together with the Indentures of such as had left King Richard, to serve King Philip. Much about that time one Philip Bishop of Bevois, a Martial man, and who much annoyed the English borders, was fortunately taken in a Skirmish by King Richard's side, who put him in prison; the Bishop hereupon complained to the Pope, who wrote in the behalf of his son, as an ecclesiastical person, and a Shepherd of the Lords. The King sent unto the Pope the Armour he was taken in, and engraved thereon the words which jacob's sons used when they sold their Brother Joseph, and presented their Father with his Coat. Vide utrum filii tui tunica sit, vel non. See whether it be thy Son's Coat or no. Whereupon the Pope replied, That he was neither his Son, nor the Son of the Church, and therefore should be ransomed at the Kings will, because he was rather judged to be a Servitor of Mars then a Soldier of Christ. I am now come to the last act of this King's Life, which drew the black cloud of death over this triumphal and bright shining star of Chivalry; one Widomare Viscount of Lymoges, having found a great hoard of Gold and Silver, sent part thereof to King Richard as chief Lord: but he over covetous would not be contented without all, pretending that treasure was wholly his by virtue of his Prerogative Royal. Thereupon marches with a great power to a Castle of the Viscount's called Chaluz, where he supposed the riches were; the Garrison of which place offered to yield the same, and all therein, if only their lives and limbs might be saved: but he would not accept of any conditions, bidding them defend themselves as they could, for he would enter by the Sword, and hang them all; but in the assault he was slain by a shot from an Arbalist; the use of which warlike engine he first shown unto the French. Whereupon a French Poet made these verses in the person of Atropos. Hoc volo non aliâ Richardum morte perire, qui Francigenis Balista primitùs usum Tradidit, ipse sui rem primitùs experiatur: Quamque aliis docuit in se vim sentiat artis. It is decreed, thus must great Richard die, As he that first did teach the French to dart An Arbalist; 'tis just he first should try The strength, and taste the fruits of his own art. The man which shot him was named Bertram de Gurdon, who being brought before the King (who neglecting his wound, gave not over the assault till he had mastered the place) boldly justified his action, as done in defence of his Country; and to revenge the death of his Father and Brother, whom this King had slain with his own hand. Which said, the King caused him to be set at liberty, and gave him an hundred shillings sterling; but after the King was dead, one Markadey, a Captain of Rutters, took him, flayed him quick, and hanged him up. Concerning his issue, some report him to have none at all, others two, but illegitimate; a Priest in Normandy is reported to have told him he had three daughters, which he wished to bestow in marriage, or else God's wrath would attend him: the King denying he had any daughter; Yes (said the Priest) you have three, Pride, Covetousness, and Lechery. The King apprehensive of the Priest's meaning, called his Lords there attending; and said, My Lords, this Hypocrite hath found that I have three daughters. viz. Pride, Covetousness, and Lechery, which he would have me bestow in marriage: and therefore (if any such I have) I have found out most fit husbands for them all: My Pride I bequeath to to thee haughty Templars, and Hospitallers, who are as proud as Lucifer himself: My Covetousness I give to the white Monks of the Cisteaux Order; for they covet the Devil and all: But for my Lechery, I can bestow it no no where better than on the Priests and Prelates of our times, for therein have they their most felicity. Doubtless (saith Speed) these marriages proved so fruitful, that their issue hath now overflowed all Kingdoms of the earth. In this King's days, lived that famous Outlaw Robin Hood, accompanied with one called little John, and a hundred stout fellows more; who (as Sir Richard Baker saith) molested all Passengers upon the High way; of whom it is reported, that he was of Noble Blood, at least made Noble, no less than an Earl for some deserving services: but having wasted his Estate in Riotous courses, very penury forced him to take this course; in which yet it may be said he was honestly dishonest, for he seldom hurt any man, never any woman, spared the poor, and only made prey of the rich; till the King setting forth a Proclamation to have him apprehened: it happened he fell sick at a certain Nunnery called Brickleys in York shire; and desiring there to be let blood, was betrayed, and made bleed to death. Of all Thiefs (saith Major) this same was the Prince, and the most gentle Thief. The Life of King EDWARD the Third. HAving already as it were in a Land-scape discovered some part of the holy War, I shall now with a careful brevity pass through the transactions of our Wars with France, as they were managed with victorious success in the Reigns of Edward the Third, and Henry the Fifth; to which to complete the History, I have added the Life of John Earl of Bedford, with whose Life the Honour of our English Gallantry in France expired. Edward the Third surnamed of Windsor (his Birth-place) was eldest son to King Edward the Second; who for some misgovernments during the time of his Reign was by the factious Nobility deposed from the Crown, and not long after deprived of his life by the procurement (as it is said) of his Wife Queen Isabel, Lord Mortimer, and some others, and young Edward Crowned King, Anno. 1327. Who though he thus rise by Father's ruin, yet may in some sort be excused of the same. First, in regard of his adolescency, for though he were then married, yet had he not attained to 15. years of age, nor could he be induced to accept of the Crown until he was certified by some of his Lords that his Father had voluntary resigned it unto him; besides the exemplary punishment he took on the Lord Mortimer, a chief actor in his Father's Tragedy, may in part assure as of his Innocency therein. In the mean time to divert the rumours of the people concerning his Father's death, a War is proclaimed against Scotland, to revenge those overthrows the English had received from their valiant Chieftain King Robert le Bruce; but by the treason of the Lord Mortimer (who is said to have received bribes from the Scots) the journey proved unsuccessful, the young King hardly escaping with life: for one Sir James Dowglass (a valiant Scot) with 200 light horses assailed the Kings own Pavilion, where the King was so near death, that a Chaplain of his, who stoutly behaved himself, was slain in his master's defence, and Sir James retired from thence with safety. These treasons of the Lord Mortimer, together with his excessive pride, and over much familiarity with the Queen-Mother, made him so distasteful unto the Lords, that notwithstanding his strong guard, consisting of no less than ninescore Knights; he was by the young King and the confederate Lords surprised on a sudden at Nottingham Castle; from thence removed to the City of London, condemned of treason, and executed at the common Gallows. And here may the King be said to begin his Reign, living before at the Queen and the Lord Mortimer's allowance; which was only the third part of the Revenues of the Crown, which now he assumeth all to himself, putting the Queen to a pension of a thousand pounds a year, and confining her to a Castle all the days of her life: such was the miserable condition of this wretched Woman, the Daughter, Sister, Wife, and Mother of a King, as one of our Moderns hath it. So true is that the wise man once did say, That none are happy till their dying day. King Edward having thus raised himself, would next out of Charity help his Neighbour. Edward Balliol, Son to John Balliol, sometimes King of Scotland, having remained in France two and thirty years; comes over into England, whom King Edward aids against his Brother in Law King David; who at that time was with the King of France at Hallidown-Hill, where he utterly defeats the whole power of Scotland, slew of them 7. Earls, 90. Knights and Banerets, 400. Esquires, and 32000. common Soldiers, causing Balliol to be Crowned King, doing homage to King Edward as his superior Lord; for which though he had the Knees, he had not the Hearts of his people, who would be subject to none that were subject to another. But these were but petty actions, scarce worth the rehearsal, considering what he performed afterwards; his endeavours for the French Crown, which that I may in order describe, I will begin with the original cause of this invasion. King Philip of France dying without issue, the right of succession unto that Crown belonged to King Edward, as nearest in blood, being his Sister's Son; but Philip of Valois the Heir to Charles a former King, usurps the Crown, pretending a Law which they call Salic, wherein Females are debarred from inheritance; or as they term it the distaff from meddling with the Crown, according to that in the 6. of Matthew, Consider the Lilies (the arms of France) how they grow, they toil not, neither do they spin. Philip hereupon summons Edward to do homage for the Lands he held in France, which though prejudicial to his after claim; yet in regard his Kingdom of England was scarce well settled, and himself but young, he was contented to do; but this his Homage was exacted with such pride on the French Kings part, that it left a rancour in his heart for ever after; so that returning into England he studies revenge; nor long wants he an instrument to spur him on; for one Robert of Arthois being banished out of France, comes over into England, and becomes an incendiary betwixt the two Kings: this fugitive King Edward entertains, makes him Earl of Richmond, and one of his Council; then passing over into Flanders, by persuasion of the Flemings he takes upon him the Style, Title, and Arms of the King of France; who hereupon establish a League with him, accounting themselves disobliged of the Bond of twenty hundred thousand Crowns, which they had entered into, never to bear Arms against the King of France: confederating himself with them and many other Princes, with a well selected army he enters France. King Philip on the other side was not idle, but draws to his part the King of Bohemia, the Bishop of Liege, Earl of Luxembourge, Henry Count Palatine, Aubut Bishop of Metz, Otho Duke of Austria, Am Earl of Geneva, with many other; and with a mighty Army confronting King Edward near to Vermandeis, who notwithstanding part without doing any thing worth the relating, unless we should relate what to some way seem ridiculous: A Hare starting out before the head of the French Army, caused a great shout to be made; whereupon they who saw not the Hare, but only heard the shout, supposing it to be the onset to the Battle, disposed themselves to fight; and fourteen Gentlemen for encouragements sake, as the custom is, were Knighted; called afterward in merriment, Knights of the Hare. King Edward returning into England, left the Earls of Salisbury and Suffolk in Flanders to oppose the French; who having performed many great exploits, in an encounter near Lisle were both taken prisoners: King Edward to repair this loss prepares again for France, to impeach whose landing King Philip had provided a Navy of 200. sail; whereof when Edward was advertised, he prepares the like number of ships to encounter with them, and sets out to Sea upon Midsummer-eve; the next day Sir Robert Morley brings an addition to his Fleet, which joined together, set upon the French in the Haven of Sluice, defeated their whole Navy, took and sunk all their Ships, and slew thirty thousand of their men, as a Poet versifies on those times: Thus Salsburies' and Suffolk's loss, which they Received on Land, at Sea was washed away. Many of the French to escape killing drowned themselves, trusting to the mercy of the Waves, rather than to the pity of the English; which made the French Kings Jester set on to give him notice of this overthrow, to repeat often in the Kings hearing, Cowardly English men, Dastardly English men, Faint-hearted English men! and being by the King asked the reason why, Because (said he) they durst not leap out of their Ships into the Sea, as our brave French men did; by which speech the King came to have knowledge of their overthrow. The French lay the blame of this defeat on one Buchet, who having a chief command in the Navy, armed his ships with men of base condition (content with small pay) and refused Gentlemen and sufficient Soldiers in regard they required greater wages according to the old Law. When covetous Chiefs are sparing of their Crowns, Few Soldiers will be prodigal of wounds. Edward's Wings thus plumed with Victory, he flies amain to the Siege of Tournay with an Army of five and fifty thousand, where he is encountered by the Duke of Burgundy and Earl of Armigniack, who slew four thousand of his men upon the place: Edward notwithstanding continues his Siege; to the relief whereof King Philip sends all the Forces he could make: But by the mediation of the Lady Jane of Valois, who was Sister to King Philip, and Mother of King Edward's Wife, a truce was concluded from Michaelmas till Midsummer, and both their Armies again dissolved. Edward hereupon puts out of pay his foreign aids, and returning into England had notice that the Scots besieged the Castle of Striveling; for relief whereof he makes all the haste he can: but being disappointed of his provision that was to come by Sea, he makes a Truce with the Scots for four months, and returns home; during this truce the Scots send to King David, who upon their message leaves France, and returns into Scotland: and as soon as the truce was ended, with a strong Army enters Northumberland, besiegeth New Castle upon Tyne; but is valiantly resisted by John Nevile the Governor, who took the Earl of Murray prisoner, and slew divers of his men: from thence he passeth into the Bishopric of Durham, where he useth all kind of cruelty, killing men, women, and children, burning and destroying Houses and Churches, until he came to the Castle of Salisbury; but hearing of King Edward's approach (who certified of these things made all the haste he could) he returns homewards. King Edward pursues for three days together; at length a truce was concluded for two years; and William Earl of Salisbury prisoner with the King of France, was set at liberty in exchange for the Earl of Murray. Whilst Edward was thus busied about the Scots, a new difference arose in France; John Earl of Monfort claims the Duchy of Britain, and in pursuance of his title is taken prisoner by the French King; his Wife solicits King Edward for succour, who sends her aid under the conduct of Robert of Arthois, and not long after follows himself. Philip sends aid to Monforts Competitor, and both Armies encamp near to the City of Vannes, where was like to have been a cruel Battle, had not Pope Clement the sixth interposed; two Cardinals from him conclude a peace; Vannes is delivered up to the French King, and the Earl of Montfort is set at liberty. The murmuring Drum now silenced, and stern Mars for a while confined to prison, least rusty idleness should entomb their worth, and want of exercise make them forget their Arms, King Edward erects a round Table at Windsor, in imitation of the Renowned Arthur, and to invite great men from foreign parts; rich Salaries are the reward of high designs. King Philip fearing this association would be to him of ill consequence, writes after Edward's copy, and erects a round Table in his own Country, to allure the men of War of Germany and Italy, and so to keep them from coming into England. King Edward thus prevented in his design by the French King, institutes the most honourable order of the Garter; the Original case whereof is dubious: some conjecture that it arose for that in a Battle wherein he was victorious, he gave the word Garter for the word or sign. Cambden saith, King Edward the Third founded this order, to adorn Martial virtue with honours, rewards, and splendour. The Original Book of the Institution deduces the invention from King Richard the First, and that King Edward adorned it, and brought it into splendour; but the common received opinion is, that a Garter of his own Queen, or (as some say) of Joan Countess of Salisbury, slipping off in a Dance, King Edward stooped and took it up; where at some of the Nobles that were present smiling, as an amorous action, he seriously said, It should not be long ere Sovereign Honour were done to that Garter; whereupon he afterwards added the French Motto, Honi soit qui maly pense; therein checking his Lords sinister suspicion: Nor need we with Polydore Virgil trouble ourselves to make an Apology for the courseness of this Original, since according to the Poet: They swell with love, that are with valour filled, And Venus' Doves may in a Head-piece build. The number of Knights in this order is six and twenty, whereof the King is always precedent, so much accounted of in other Countries, that there have been nigh twenty and six foreign Emperors and Kings of the same; the glory whereof by a learned Poet is celebrated for to be such. That now Burgundians scorn their fleece of Gold; The French, the Escalopt Collar set with grace, Their Crossed weeds, Rhodes, Elba, Alcala hold As worthless: all matched with thy George are base. King Edward whose Eye was fixed, upon France, as the mark of his Conquest, having notice that King Philip had put many of his friends to death in Normandy; namely, Clisson and Bacon, Knights of the best note, glad that the truce was broken on King Philip's part, prepares again for the invasion of France; and taking along with him the young Prince of Wales, with an Army of 2500. Horse, and 30000. Foot, arrives in Normandy, where he took and and sackd many Towns of Importance; Clissons hands being nailed on the Gates of Carenton, he turns it into Cinders, making a Funeral-pile thereof for his slain friend. He takes also the populous and rich City of Caen, marching with his Army to the very Walls of Paris; Philip awakened with Edward's Victories, raises one of the greatest Armies that ever were seen in France; Edward laden with spoil is not unwilling to retire, which Philip interpreteth a kind of flight, the River of Some he passeth with much danger, and defeats Gundentor du Foy, who was placed there to hinder his passage. King Philip set on fire with his disaster, resolveth to give King Edward Battle, who was encamped nigh to a village called Crescy; his Army consisting of 30000. he divided into three Battalions: the first whereof was led by Edward the Black Prince of Wales, having in his company Beuchamp Earl of Warwick, Godfrey of Harecourt, the Lords, Stafford, Laware, Bourchier, Clifford, Cobham, Holland, etc. together with the number of 800. men at Arms, 2000 Archers, and 1000 Welch. In the second Battle were the Earls of Northampton and Arundel; the Lords Ross, Willoughby; Basset, Saint Alban, Malton, etc. with 800. men at Arms, and 1200. Archers. The third and last Battle was commanded by the King: himself, having in it 700. men at Arms, and 3000. Archers. The French Army was far greater, consisting of sixscore thousand men, having in it the two Kings of Bohemia, and Majorica, and of Princes, Dukes, Earls, Barons, and Gentlemen bearing Arms about 3000. The vanguard was led by the King of Bohemia, and the Earl of alanson. The main Battle King Philip commanded himself, and the Earl of Savoy the Rear. But since in this Battle the Prince of Wales was the chief General, I shall refer the further prosecution thereof to the description of his following life, and proceed in our History of King Edward, who after the good success of this Battle, marched directly to Calais, resolving not to stir until he had won it; for which cause he fortifies his Camp on all sides, stopping all relief that might come to them by Sea with his Navy. The French King not able to raise the Siege, seeks to divert him by an invasion in England. David the second King of Scots (a sure friend to the French, though allied to the English) with an Army of threescore and two thousand enters England, supposing (considering what great numbers were abroad) there were none left at home but Priests and Shepherds; but he was utterly deceived of his expectation, for at Nevil's Cross in the Bishopric of Durham, he was encountered by the Archbishop of York, with some Lords of the North, who animated by the Queen (who was there in person) defeated this great Army, slew the Earls of Murray and Strathern; the Constable, Martial, Chamberlain, and Chancellor of Scotland, with many other Nobles, and fifteen thousand common Soldiers, took King David himself prisoner, together with the Earls of Douglass, Fife, Southerland, Wigton, and Menteith. Thus France was not alone, the stage of King Edward's Victories, nor the French alone the Nation over whom he triumphed. This loss of the Scots lost the French King the Town of Calais, which after eleven month's Siege was delivered up to King Edward, who made Governor of the same, one Aymery of Pavia, and then with his Queen returned into England. But good fortune attended not Edward's person alone, it was likewise available in his Lieutenant's, Sir Thomas Dagworth in Little Britain, overthrew and took prisoner Charles de Bloys (Monforts Competitor) and besides many Knights and Esquires, slew 700. common Soldiers. Henry of Lancaster drove John Duke of Normandy, King Philip's eldest son, from the Siege of Aquillon, takes and sacks the Towns of Xaintoigne, Poictou, and Poityers, and returns to Bordeaux with more pillage than his Army could well tell what to do withal. Sir Walter Bentley puts the Marshal of France to flight, with the slaughter of 13. Lords, 140. Knights, 100 Esquires, and store of common Soldiers: thus the English prosper every where, and the French suffer. King Edward was at that time elected King of the Romans, but refused the tender, as out of his way, considering his French and other importunate affairs. King Philip dying John his eldest son succeeds him, who creates his son Charles Duke of Aquitain; Edward herewith incensed, bestows the same on the Prince of Wales, commanding him to defend that right with his Sword against his adversaries: hereupon an Army is raised for the Prince, consisting of 1000 men at Arms, 2000 Archers, and a number of Welshmen, with which he arrives in Aquaitain; and in emulation of his Father's glory, worketh wonders, recovering multitudes of Towns and prisoners, and loaden with booties returns to Bordeaux. Winter being spent, he again sets forth, sacks, spoils, and destroys where ever he goes; whom to oppose, King John with an Army of threescore thousand, follows to Poicters, and enforces him to fight: the Prince's army so small in comparison of his, that he might say as Tygranes did of the paucity of the Romans; if they come as Ambassadors, they are too many; if to fight, too few; the French exceeding him six to one: but what was wanting in number was made up in valour, for after a long conflict, they discomfitted their whole Army, took King John and his Son Philip prisoners, with many other Lords, and about 2000 Knights and Gentlemen bearing armouries, slew 1700. Gentlemen, whereof 52 were Bannerets, and about 6000. common Soldiers: of which victory a modern Poet sings. Such bloody lines the English here did write, Might teach posterity how they should fight. The Prince with his prisoners marcheth in triumph to Bordeaux, where resting a while he sets sail for England. With what joy he was welcomed home, may be easier imagined then expressed; his acts exceeding all expection, his performances afterwards as I refer to the description of his life: and return again to his Father King Edward. Who upon receipt of the French King, releaseth King David of his long imprisonment, thinking it honour enough to have one King prisoner at once; he had been here in durance the space of eleven years, and was at the incessant suit of his Wife Queen Joan set at liberty, yet not without a ransom of a hundred thousand marks, with condition to demolish and raze down several of his Castles. And now the third time on the behalf of the French, two Cardinals solicit Edward for peace; to which he yields, but on such conditions, that the Council of France will not condescend unto: whereupon in great displeasure, with a mighty Army, he again enters France, destroying all wheresoever he came; and notwithstanding great offers were made him by the French, yet would he not desist, but concontinued inexarable. God (saith mine Author) displeased thereat, sent such a terrible storm of Hail, with Thunder and Lightning upon his Host, that it killed many of his men and horses; whereupon wounded and struck with a remorse, he vowed to make peace on reasonable conditions; and not long after at a treaty at Bretagni, concluded the same. The chief Articles whereof were, 1. That King Edward should have to his possession the Countries of Gascoigne, Guienne, Poytiers, Limosin, Balevile, Exantes, Caleis, Guisness, with divers other Lordships, Castles, and Towns, without any dependency but of God. 2. That the two Edward's Father and Son should renounce all their right to the Crown of France, the Duchy of Normandy, the Countries of Tourain, Anjou, and Maine; as also to the homages of Britain, Armoricke, and the Earldom of Flanders. 3. That the King of France should pay for his ransom there millions of Crowns of Gold, six hundred thousand in hand, four hundred thousand the year following, and the rest in two years after; for assurance whereof a certain number of Hostages should remain in England. 4. That the French should not aid nor assist the Scots against the English, nor the English the Flemings against the French, etc. These Articles confirmed on both sides by seals and oaths, King John is delivered from his imprisonment, and King Edward with his Hostages returneth into England. But notwithstanding seals and oaths, it was not long ere these Articles were broken, yet good correspondence was held, during the life of King John; who coming over into England to visit King Edward, died of grief (as one writes) that the Duke of Anjou, one of his pledges came not into England according as he had sworn: after whom his son Charles, surnamed the Wise, succeeded; who with loving letters and presents, works himself into the good opinion of King Edward, whilst covertly he defrauds him of his interests in France: it fortuned whilst his Ambassadors were in the Kngs' presence, news was brought him of the forcible invasion of the French in Poictow; which when the King heard, he commanded the Ambassadors to get them home with their deceitful presents to their treacherous Lord, whose mocks he would not long leave unrevenged: but King Edward's fortunes having ascended their full height, began to decline; for notwithstanding he sent over great forces under the Duke of Lancaster and Earl of Hereford, no great matter thereof ensued. And now each day brings news of some Towns revolt, or Commanders death; the Earl of Warwick receives his death by a pestilential Dart, Sir John Chandoys an expert Commander is unfortunately slain, Sir William Molineux who had long served in the Wars of France, deceaseth in England; the Earl of Pembroke is taken prisoner by the Spaniards, and the Noble Prince Edward dieth at Canterbury, with whom (saith Walshingham died all the hopes of the English; during whose life, they feared no invasion of the enemy abroad, nor any division at home; for he assailed no nation which he overcome not, he besieged no City which he took not, whose death lay so heavy on his heart that King Edward himself lived not long after. A King (saith Speed) whose name among the surviving splendours of his actions is justly transmitted with honour to all posterity. He died at his Manor of Sheen (near Richmond) the 21. of July, 1377. having lived 65. years, and reigned 56. years, 4. months, and odd days; his body was solemnly interred at Westminster Church, where he hath his monument, with this Epitaph engraven thereon, made by Geoffrey Chaucer the Poet. Hic decus Anglorum, flos regum praeteritorum, Forma futurorum, Rex clemens, pax populorum; Tertius Edwardus, regni complens Jubilaeum, Invictus Pardus, pollens bellis Machabaeum. Here England's Grace, the flower of Princes past, Pattern of future, Edward the third is placed, Mild Monarch, Subjects peace, Wars Machabee, Victorious Pard, his reign a Jubilee. In the eleventh year of this Kings reign my Author writes was so great plenty, that a quarter of Wheat was sold at London for two shillings, a fat Ox for a noble, a fat sheep for six pence, and six Pigeons for a penny, a fat Goose for two pence, and a Pig for a penny, and other things after that the same cheap rate. The Life of EDWARD the Black Prince. IT may seem superfluous having writ the Reign of the Father in whose time he died, to publish the life of this Prince; but as an eminent Author writes, as heroic persons purchase their own honours, so they ought to inherit their own praises, to wear their own laurels. This may apologise for my enterprise, more especially, as I have endeavoured to avoid whatsoever hath been already written, and to set down only his more particular Transactions. Edward the Black Prince, so named of this dreaded acts, and not from his complexion, was the eldest son of King Edward the Third; a Prince of an undaunted spirit, so full of virtues, that he left no room for any nnworthy vice, who, had he lived in the heroic times, might well have been numbered amongst the nine Worthies. At 15. years of age his father takes him over with him into France, to initiate him as it were in the School of War, as one of our modern Poets hath it. In this fair heaven of magnanimity, The Prince, the star of honour decks the fly, Fixed here so soon by's Father's band, who meant He there should fall, or gild that firmament. I will for the more brevity treat only of three special passages in this Prince's life; his Battle at Crescy, his Victory at Poityers, and his restoring Don Pedro to his Crown of Castille; in the Battle at Crescy the French exceeded the English nigh four for one; and by reason of their numbers, being confident of Victory, would needs hasten the Fates to their own destruciton, and enforced the English to make their passage through, as they then determined, the red Sea of their own blood; nor could the terrible peals of Thunder from heaven, nor shoals of Ravens and ravenous birds, which came flying over their Host, foreshowing the harvest of carcases at hand, hinder their proceed; but as if ascertained of victory they did erect their banner called Oliflame, as a sign of taking none to mercy, no more than fire is extinguished by Oil: against which the English advance their Banner of the red Dragon, to signify no mercy to them that would show none. Both Armies divided into three Battalions, the sign of Battle being given by King Philip, the horror of War began to show its self; the grass was soon changed from green to red, and their glistering faucheons to a purple colour, Drums and Trumpets sounded, the knells of death, horror, and destruction appeared every where. Amongst other Nations that assisted the French in this sad War; were twelve thousand Genoese, being all of them Gross-bow men; these were to open a way for the French horse with their shot: but at the very instant fell such a shower of rain, which for the present wet the Archers strings, and made them less serviceable. The French King hereupon commanded Count Alencon who commanded the Van, to beat them from the point, and to charge the English: this was no sooner commanded then performed, and the poor Genoese trodden down by the horse; who now turn their fury against the French, seeking to destroy whom they came to help. The English enemies unto either having reinforced their Archery, liberally bestow their arrows amongst them endeavouring the destruction of them both; who ever saw a Matachin dance imitate fight, might here see a fight imitate the Matachin dance. The French way thus paved with Genoan bodies, half out of breath with headlong haste, never stay till they came up to the English Battle, with whom encounters the noble Prince of Wales, who commanded the English Vanguard that day; the fight grew fierce and cruel, each side striving to exceed the other in valour. Who had seen the Prince of Wales at that present, would have believed Pythagoras' doctrine of Transmigration, that the soul of great Hector had been infused into him: what Poets have feigned of ancient Heroes, fell short of the truth of what he performed that day. The King of Bohemia (whom age might have taught to have expected death in his Chamber, and not to have sought him in the Fields of Mars) seals his love to the French side with his dearest blood; his troop of faithful followers with their slaughtered bodies covering him even in death; whose plume of Ostrige feathers won then by valiant Edward, hath every since been the Cognisance of the Princes of Wales. Another trophy of the English Chivalry was the King of Majorca, who in aid of the French was there likewise slain, as a renowned Poet in his description of that victory. One King's too much, but there two Kings must die, Leave two uncrowned to Crown one victory. It was now high time for King Philip to bring up the main Battle, whose numbers threatened the destruction of the English; this onset threatening so much danger, King Edward is sent for to come up with his power to aid the Prince; whose answer was, Let them send no more to me for any adventure that may befall, whilst my son is alive; but let him either vanquish or bravely die, because the honour of this brave day shall be his, if God suffer him to survive. This answer would have wrought despair in cowards, but to these valiant Heroes brought increase of courage, who now bestir themselves more than before, sending such numbers to grisly Charon, that his leaking boat was ready to sink under the pressure of their numerous weight. Twice was King Philip beat off his horse, and twice by the Lord Beaumond mounted again; but being wounded in the Neck and Thigh, was forced to retire himself out of the fight; upon whose departure the French gave way, and stayed not long but betook them to flight. The French King with a small company flies to Bray, and being questioned by the guard who he was, answered, The Fortune of France; whereupon being known, he was received into the Town, with the tears and lamentations of the people. The number of the slain are reported to be 30000. (the same number which King Edward brought to the Battle) the chief whereof were, the two Kings of Bohemia and Majorca, Charles Earl of Alencon, John Duke of Bourbon, Ralph Earl of Lorraine, Lewis Earl of Flanders, the Dolphin of Viennois, the Earls of Sancerr, Harecourt, Aumarl, Nevers, etc. Thus under the conduct of this valiant Prince, the English obtained a glorious victory, whom King Edward the Father thus congratulates, Son, God send you good perseverance to so prosperous beginnings; you have nobly acquit yourself, and are well worthy to have the governance of a Kingdom entrusted unto you for your valour. Wars greatest tempest now blown over, some little mists remained behind, like to the glean after harvest, certain troops of French, under the command of the Archbishop of Rouen, and the Prior of France (ignorant of what had happened) were coming from Abbevile, Rouen, and some other Towns thereabouts, to the aid of King Philip, and to enrich themselves by the spoil of the English: but that they might be sensible of the ill fortune of a bad market, they found King Philip discomfitted before they came, and they themselves must become the English spoil. From his victory at Crescy, I shall proceed to his conquest at Poytiers, as I have already intimated in the Life of Edward the Third Philip King of France dying, his son John succeeds him, who invests his Son Charles with the Duchy of Aquitain. King Edward bestows the same on the Prince of Wales, commanding him to defend that right with his Sword; hence grows the quarrel, and a small matter, will cause a great difference where both parties wait for an occasion. The Prince with an Army lands is Aquitain, conquering all where ever he comes, unto whom Pope Clement the sixth sends a messenger with an overture to intercede for a Peace: the Prince returns answer, that the message must be sent to the King his Father, for he could not meddle without command from him. Mean while he takes Cities and Towns at his pleasure; and without impeachment returneth to Bordeaux, where for that year he takes leave of Martial Achievements. The prince could not continue long without action, for no sooner had the Son rid through his Winter's stage, but with an uncontrolled march he advances through Bruges, Perigort, and Limosin, intending to return to Bordeaux through the Countries of Turain, Paictou. and Saintcin. But John King of France (hasting to go beyond his Father in misfortunes) seeks to intercept his passage; and with a mighty Army follows after, whom he overtakes about the City of Poytiers. Both Armies preparing themselves for fight, two Cardinals from Pope Clement labour to take up the quarrel; but King John whom the Destinies drove headlong to destruction, would accept of no conditions; but that the Prince should deliver him four Hostages, and as vanquished, render himself and his Army to his discretion: but this being with just indignation rejected, it came to a most bloody and fearful trial. The French Army exceeded the English six to one, by reason the Prince had not long before sent a great part thereof to defend Aquitain; wherefore that he might be able to deal with the French numbers, he takes all the advantage he could of the ground, and providently got the benefit of Vines, Shrubs, and Bushes, with iron Spikes, with other encumbrances, on that part he was like to be assailed, to impester and entangle the French horse, which he saw were to come furiously upon him: then dividing his Army into three Battalions, he committeth the vaward to the Earls of Warwick and Oxford, the middle-ward was guided by himself, and the Reerward led by the Earls of Salisbury and Suffolk. The Army thus marshaled, the noble Prince standing conveniently to be heard, encouraged his Soldiers with this following speech as I received it from an ancient Manuscript. Your manhood (most noble companions in Arms) hath been so often experimented under my Father and me, that it proves you are not degenerate from true Sons of English men, but to be descended from those whose lively couragiousness hath heretofore tamed the French, the Cyprians, the Siracusians, the Calabrians, and the Palastines; brought under the stiffnecked Scots, unruly Irish, and stubborn Welsh; unto whom no labour was painful, no place invincible, no ground unpassable, no Hill (were it never so high) inaccessible, no Tower unscaleable, no Army impenetrable, no armed Soldier or whole Hosts formidable. At this time, gallant Countrymen, the honour, love of our Country, and the rich spoil of the French call upon us to be valiant; let not their numerous Army affright you, since they are the same men who not long ago were vanquished by a handful of us at the Battle of Crescy. Remember withal that I am Edward your Leader, who will participate with you either in weal or in woe; either sharing with you in the honour of their overthrow, or dying with you if overthrown. Scarcely could the Prince make an end of his Speech, when the French like an impetuous torrent, slighting the petty numbers of the English, came furiously on as to an assured victory; but upon their first assault were so wrapped in, molested, and encumbered amongst the Vines, that the Archers galled and annoyed them at their pleasure: for the French King, to give the honour of the day to his Cavalry, employed them only without his Infantry; so as they being disordered and put to rout, his whole Army was soon utterly defeated: as Drayton describes this Victory. Here a hand severed, there an ear was cropped, Here a chap fall'n, and there an eye put out; Here was an arm lopped off, there a nose dropped, Here half a man, and there a less piece fought. Like to dismembered statues they did stand, Which had been mangled by times iron hand. Few such lists of prisoners do we meet withal in any story as here were taken at this Battle, viz. John King of France, Philip his Son, the Archbishop of Sens, James of Bourbon, Earl of Ponthieu, John of Artoyer, Earl of Yew, Charles his Brother, Earl of Longuevile, Charles Earl of Vendosme, the Earls of Tankervile, Salbruch, Nassaw, Dampmarlin, La Roch, with many other Lords, besides two thousand Knights and Gentlemen; nor did the slain come far short of the prisoners, the Chiefest whereof were Peter of Bourbon, Duke of Athens, high Constable of France, John Clermont Martial, George of Charney Lord great Chamberlain, the Bishop of Chalons, the Lords of Landas, Pons, and Chambly, with others, to the number of 1700. Knights and Gentlemen. The Prince having commended his Soldiers, needed not at that time reward them; giving them the rich plunder of the Field, which did sufficiently recompense them for their victory. This indeed whetteth a Soldier's valour, when desert is recompensed with reward. The English whose valour was most conspicious, were the Earls of Warwick, Suffolk, Salisbury, Oxford, and Stafford, the Lords, Cobham, Spenser, Berkley, Basset, and Audley; which last named Lord for his valour, was rewarded by the Prince with the gift of five hundred marks Fee simple in England, which he presently gave to four of his Esquires: whereupon the Prince demanding whether he accepted not his gift? he answered, that these men had deserved the same as well as himself, and had more need of it: with which reply the Prince was so well pleased, that he gave him five hundred marks more in the same kind, an example worthy of immortal memory, where desert in the Subject, and reward in the Prince, strive which should be greatest. Nor did the Prince use less humanity towards his prisoners, whom he entertained in most honourable manner; so that King John's Captivity was only restraint of his liberty, being attended on like a King in the hands of his enemy; for noble spirits scorn to insult over misery: 'tis Plebeian rage that is merciless. Having refreshed his Army, he marcheth with his prisoners to Bordeaux, where he tarried a while longer to rest his Soldiers; from thence he sets sail for England arriving at Plymouth. King Edward as soon as he had knowledge of the Victory, caused a general Thanksgiving all over England eight days together, giving God the thanks and glory, knowing him the Author, and his Son but the instrument of this unparallelled victory. By reason of these his wonderful Achievements, his name grew famous all the Christian world over, to whom for succour comes Peter King of Castille, driven out of his kingdom by the French, with the assistance of the King of Arragon, and his Bastard Brother Henry placed in his room. Prince Edward considering what a dangerous precedent this might be against all lawful Kings, that any one should be thus disthrone, having obtained leave of his Father, resolveth to aid him, and taking along with him an Army of thirty thousand men, makes his way through the straits of Rouncevallux in Navarr, accompanied with the Kings of Castille and Majorca, John Duke of Lancaster his Brother, with many other Knights and Gentlemen. On the other side King Henry for defence of his Diadem had assembled an Army of an hundred thousand, consisting of French, under Glequin their famous Captain; as also of Castilians both Christians and Saracens. On the borders of Castille, at a place called Nazers, it came to a Battle, where the Prince obtained a glorious Victory, slew many thousands of his enemies, and took above two thousand prisoners; nor left he off here, but proceeded so far until he had set him in Burgus upon his Throne again. The greater the benefit is of him that receives it, the more monstruous is his ingratitude that doth not acknowledge it: this ungrateful King, notwithstanding the benefits he had received of the Prince, dismissed his without money to pay his Army, which constrained him in his return to Bordeaux to coin his Plate; but that not supplying his present necessities, he lays upon his Dominions in Gascoigne a new taxation, which was the cause of a most dangerous revolt. But this was not all the mischief that he accrued by this journey, for the Prince brought back with him such an indisposition of body, that he was never throughly well after. Some report him to have been poisoned by King Peter, and probable enough he might be guilty of such wickedness, whose whole course of life was so full of vice. Duke John of Lancester was not freed from the suspicion of hastening his death, though the heat of the Country and the unfitness of the Season might be the principal cause. How ever it was, certain it is he survived not long after, dying at Canterbury upon Trinity Sunday, Anno 1376. aged about six and forty years; a Prince excelling all the princes which went before him, and surpassing in Martial deeds all the Heroes that have lived after him. His body was buried at Christ-Church in Canterbury, where his monument standeth, leaving behind him only one Son, who was afterwards King of England, by the name of Richard the Second, unless we should reckon his natural issue, Sir John Sounder, and Sir Roger Clarendon Knights, which latter is thought to be Ancestor to the house of the Smiths in Essex. The Life of Sir JOHN HAWKWOOD. AMongst those many Worthies which this Martial age produced, that valiant Knight Sir John Hawkwood deserveth remembrance; who though of low birth, by his Martial prowess purchased his own renown over the Christian world. He was born at Sible Heningham in the County of Essex, and was in his youth bound apprentice at London with a Tailor, from whence he was pressed in the musters for service of King Edward the Third, and sent into France as a common Soldier; where contrary to the Proverb, which saith, Tailors are no men: he behaved himself so valiantly that he was made a Captain over a Company of Foot Soldiers, and not long after upon some further good service by him performed, advanced unto the order of Knighthood: but a peace being concluded between the French and English, and his estate not able to maintain his Title, he was loath to return home again to follow his old occupation; it being something preposterous from a Knight to turn Tailor again: wherefore he joined himself with the Companies called the Late-comers, who being about five or six thousand, made great spoil upon the East parts of France, passing through Champain, Burgundy, and Damphin, even to the very Gates of Avignion in Province. From thence he departed into Lombary, having the leading of that part of the Companies, which was called the White Band, with whom he served valiantly in the Wars of John Marquis of Montferrat; but Lionel Duke of Clarence, Son to Edward the Third, King of England, coming over into Italy, to marry with the Lady Violanta Daughter of Galeacio, Duke of Milan, he forsook that service and attended the Duke to the marriage. To omit their sumptuous entertainment, which by Paulus Jovius upon the life of Galeacio is written at large, Barnaby the Brother of Galeacio, having at that time great Wars with the State of Mantua, obtained of the Duke of Clarence, that Sir John Hawkwood, being a Captain and principal man of his retinue, might come to aid him in his Wars; for he himself being a warlike Prince, had a desire to make some trial of the Discipline of the English. Sir John Hawkwood hereupon undertaketh the service, behaving himself so valiantly in several Assaults and Skirmishes, that the Lord Barnaby for his valour importuned him to be his Son in Law, and gave him in marriage the Lady Dowager his Daughter, with the value of ten thousand Florence's of yearly revenue for her portion. By reason of this alliance his pay was increased, and his name became famous all over Italy, for it was judged his deserts were not small, that so great a Prince as Barnaby would alley himself with him; yet notwithstanding all this, upon some further hopes conceived, he revolteth from Barnaby, and joineth himself with his enemy: so true is that of Lucan. Nulla fides pietasque viris qui castra sequntur, Venalesque manus ibi fas, ubi maxima merces. Nor faith, nor conscience common Soldiers carry, Best pays their right, their hands are mercenary. By reason of this revolt many of the Towns of Lombardy came to be wasted, by the outrageous spoils of the English men; amongst other they took the Towns of Faera, and Banacanallo, whereof he sold one to the Marquis of East for twenty thousand Crowns, and the other he kept. Having both his Forces and pay increased, he determines to seek new adventures, going first to the aid of Pope Gregory the twelfth, and having with great commendation recovered the Cities of Province that had revolted from him, for his service therein, was worthily rewarded with the dominion of five Towns. From him he went to the Florentine, and not long after to the Pisans; from thence to the Florentines again, under whom he served with such a number of our Nation, both horsemen and footmen, that all Italy feared him, with that success and increase of his honour and glorious renown, that he was reputed to be the best Soldier of that age; for he had learned by his long experience in the Wars, having an exceeding ripe and quick conceit to force occasions to frame his resolutions, and to make speedy execution, being also as the opportunity required, both hot in his fight, and notable for his delays; in so much as sundry great Captains, who were afterward highly renowned, proceeded out of his School, as from an exact master of Martial affairs. The exploits that he had achieved with good success, were accounted for sure grounds and principles of Discipline, as well amongst his very enemies, as also amongst his own followers. After many Victories obtained, and an incomparable Renown amongst all men, he deceased an aged man at Florence; the Senate in reward of his well deserving, honoured his ashes with a stately Tomb, and the Statue of a man at Arms, having chief by his conduct, courage, and valour, preserved that City. The Italian Writers both Poets and Historians highly celebrating his matchless Prowess, enstile him, — Anglorum decus, & decus addite genti Italicae, Italico praefidiumque solo. England's prime honour, Italy's renown. Who held their honours up from sinking down. His Friends and Executours here in England raised a Monument or Tomb for him at Sible Heningham where he was born, arched over, and engraven to the likeness of Hawks flying in a Wood, and founded (such was the Religion of those times) a Chantry there for the good of his soul. The Life of GEOFFERY CHAUCER. THis famous and learned Poet Groffery Chancer Esquire, was supposed by Leland, to have been born in Oxfordshire or Berkshire; but as it is evident by his own words he was born in the City of London, as we have it from him in his Testament of Love. Also in the City of London, that is to me so dear and sweet, in which I was forth grown; and more kindly love have I to that place then any other in earth, as every kindly creature hath full appetite to that place of his kindly ingendure, and to wilne rest and peace in that stead to adide) thilk peace should thus there have been broken, which of all wise men is commended and desired. For his Parentage, although Bale, he termeth himself Galfridus Chaucer nobili loco natus, & summae spei juvenis, yet in the opinion of some Heralds (otherwise then his virtues and learning commended him) he descended not of any great House, which they gather by his Arms; and indeed both in respect of the name which is French, as also by other conjectures it may be gathered, that his progenitors were Strangers; but whether they were Merchants, (for that in places where they have dwelled, the Arms of the Merchants of the Staple have been seen in the glass windows) or whether they were of other callings, it is not much necessary to search: but wealthy no doubt they were, and of good account in the Commonwealth, who brought up their son in such sort, that both he was thought fit for the Court at home, and to be employed for matters of State in Foreign Countries. His Education, as Leland writes, was in both the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, as appeareth by his own words in his Book entitled, The Court of Love; and in Oxford by all likelihood in Canterbury, or in Merton College, with John Wickliff, whose opinions in Religion he much affected: For who shall read his Works, will find him not covertly, but with full mouth to cry out against the vices and enormities of the Priests in those times. Hear him in the Ploughman's tale. Man's Wives they hold, And though that they been right sorry; To speak they shall not be so bold For sompning to the Consistorey, And make him say mouth I lie, Though they it saw with her eye. His leman holden oppenly, No man so hardy to ask why. Improving his time in the University, he became a witty Logician, a sweet Rhetorician, a grave Philosopher, a Holy Divine, a skilful Mathematician, and a pleasant Poet; of whom for the sweetness of his Poetry may be said, that which is reported of Stesichorus; and as Cethegus was termed Suadae Medulla, so may Chaucer be rightly called the pith and sinews of Eloquence, and the very life itself of all mirth and pleasant writing: besides, one gift he had above other Authors; and that is, by the excellencies of his descriptions to possess his Readers with a stronger imagination of seeing that done before their eyes which they read, than any other that ever writ in any tongue. By his travel also in France and Flanders, where he spent much time in his young years, but more in the latter end of the Reign of King Richard the second, he attained to a great perfection in all kind of learning, as Bale and Leland report of him. Circa postremos Richardi secundi annos in Galliis floruit, magnamque illic ex assidua in literis exercitatione gloriam sibi comparavit. Domum reversus forum Londinense, & Collegia Leguleiorum, qui ibidem patria jura interpretantur, frequentavit, etc. About the Latter end of King Richard the Seconds days, he flourished in France, and got himself into high esteem there by his diligent exercise in learning. After his return home, he frequented the Court at London, and the Colleges of the Lawyers, which there interpretted the Laws of the Land; and among them he had a familiar Friend called John Gower, a Yorkshire man born, a Knight, as Bale writeth of him. This Gower in a Book of his entitled Confessio Amantis, termeth Chaucer a worthy Poet, and maketh him as it were the judge of his works. He married a Knight's Daughter of Henault, called Paon de Ruel, King of Arms, by whom he had issue his Son Thomas, to whom King Edward the Third (in recompense of his Father's services in France) gave him in marriage the Daughter and Heir of Sir John Burgershe Knight. This Thomas Chaucer had only one Daughter named Alice, married thrice, first to Sir John Philip Knight, then to Thomas Montacute Earl of Salisbury, and the third time to William de la Pole Earl and after Duke of Suffolk; who for love of his Wife, and the convenient seat of her estate, he removed into Oxfordshire, and Berkshire where his Wives Lands lay. This Alice had a Daughter by her second Husband Thomas Montacute Earl of Salisbury, named after her Mother Alice, married to Richard Nevil, Son to Ralph Earl of Westmoreland; by whom she had Richard, John, and George: Richard espoused Anne, sister and sole heir to the Lord Beauchamp, and after Duke of Warwick, in whose right he was created Earl of Warwick. But to return to our ancient Poet Geoffrey Chaucer, he had always an earnest desire to enrich and beautify our English Tongue, which in those days was very rude and barren; and this he did, following the example of Dantes and Petrarch, who had done the same for the Italian Tongue; Alanus for the French, and Johannes Mena for the Spanish: neither was Chaucer inferior to any of them in the performance hereof; and England in this respect is much beholding to him, as Leland well noteth. Anglia Chaucerum veneratur nostra Poetam, Cui veneres debet patria lingua suos. Our England honoureth Chaucer Poet, as principal, To whom her Country tongue doth owe her beauties all. He departed out of this world the 25. day of October, 1400. after he had lived about 72. years. Thus writeth Bale out of Leland: Chaucerus ad canos devenit, sensitque senectutem morbum esse; & dum causas suas, Londini curaret, etc. Chaucer lived till he was an old man, and found old age to be grievous; and whilst he followed his causes at London, he died, and was buried at Westminster. The old Verses which were written on his Grave at the first, were these. Galfridus Chaucer vates & famae poesis, Maternae haec sacra sum tumulatus humo. But since, Mr. Nicholas Brigham did at his own cost and charges erect a Monument for him, with these Verses. Qui fuit Anglorum vates ter maximus olim, Gaufredus Chaucer conditur hoc tumulo, Annum si quaeras Domini, si tempora vitae, Ecce notae subsunt, quae tibi cuncta notant. Anno Domini 1400. die mensis Octob. 25. It will not be amiss to these Epitaphs, to add the judgements and reports of some learned men of this worthy and famous Poet. And first of all Thomas Occleve, who lived in his days, writeth thus of him in his Book, De regimine Principis. But wellaway is mine hart woe, That the honour of English Tongue is dead, Of which I want was confaile have and réed, O master dear, and fadre reverend: My master Chaucer flower of Eloquence, Mirror of fructuous intendment. O universal fadre of science: Alas that thou thine excellent prudence In thy bed mortal mightest not bequeath. What eyld death, alas why would she thee fie: O death thou didst not harm tingler in slaughter of him; But all the Land it smerteth. But natheless yet hast thou no power his name slay, H●● high virtue asterteth Vnslain from thee, which ay us lifely herteth, With Books of his ornat enditing That is to all this land enlumining. John Lidgaete likewise in his Prologue of Bocchas, of the fall of Princes, by him translated, saith thus in his commendation. My Master Chaucer with his fresh comedies, Is dead, alas! chief Poet of Britain; That Whilom made full piteous Tragedies, The fall also of Princes he did complain; As he that was of making sovereign, Whom all this Land should of right prefer, Sith of our language he was the Loadsterr. Also in his Book which he writeth of the Birth of the Virgin Mary, he hath these verses. And eke my Master Chaucer now is in Grave, The noble Rethore Poet of Britain, That worthy was the laurel to have Of Poetry, and the Palm attain That made first to distil and rain The Gold due drops of speech and eloquence, Into our Tongue through his eloquence. And as for men of latter time, Mr. Ascham and Mr. Spenser have delivered most worthy testimonies of their approving of him. Mr. Ascham in one place calleth him English Homer, and makes no doubt to say, that he valueth his Authority of as high estimation, as ever he did either Sophocles or Euripides in Greek. And in another place, where he declareth his opinion of English versifying, he useth these words: Chaucer and petrarch, those two worthy wits, deserve just praise. And last of all, in his discourse of Germany, he putteth him nothing behind either Thucydides or Homer, for his lively descriptions of site of places, and nature of persons, both in outward shape of body, and inward disposition of mind; adding this withal, that not the proudest that hath written in any Tongue whatsoever, for his time, have outstripped him. Mr. Spenser in his first Eglogue of his Shepherds Calendar, calleth him Tityrus, the god of Shepherds, comparing him to the worthiness of the Roman Tityrus Virgil: in his Fairy Queen, in his Discourse of Friendship, as thinking himself most worthy to be Chaucer's friend, for his like natural disposition that Chaucer had; he writes, that none that lived with him, nor none that came after him durst presume to revive Chaucer's lost Labours in that unperfect tale of the Squire, but only himself: which he had not done, had he not felt (as he saith) the infusion of Chaucer's own sweet spirit, surviving within him. And a little before he calls him the most renowned and Heroical Poet, and his writings, the works of heavenly wit; concluding his commendation in this manner. Dan Chaucer, well of English undefiled, On fame's eternal Bead-roll worthy to be filled; I follow here the footing of thy feet, That with thy meaning so I may the rather meet. Mr. Cambden reaching one hand to Mr. Ascham, and the other to Mr. Spenser, and so drawing them together, uttereth of him these words. De Homero nostro Anglico illud verè asseram, quod de Homero eruditus ille Italus dixit. — Hic ille est, cujus de gurgite facro, Combibit arcanos vatum omnis turba furores. The deservingly honoured Sir Philip Sidney in his defence of Poesy, thus writeth of him. Chaucer undoubtedly did excellently in his Troilus and Crescid, of whom truly I know not, whether to marvel more; either that he in that misty time could see so clearly, or that we in this clear age walk so stumblingly after him. And Doctor Heylin in his elabourate Description of the World, ranketh him in the first place of our chiefest Poets. Seeing therefore that both old and new Writers have carried this reverend conceit of him, and openly declared the same by writing, let us conclude with Horace in the eighth Ode of his fourth Book. Dignum Laude causa vet at mori. Gower and Chaucer were both of the Inner Temple. Mr. Buckley a learned Gentlemen of those times gives an account of a Record he read in the same Inner Temple, wherein Geofery Chaucer, no friend to the covetous and lecherous Cleargymen of those times, was fined two shillings for beating of a Franciscan Friar in Fleetstreet: a considerable sum, money was so scarce in those days. I intended to have presented the world with the lives of three more of the most eminent of our modern Poets, viz. Mr. Edmond Spenser, Michael Drayton Esquire, and Mr. Benjamin Johnson, (not that I could thereby imagine to add unto their fames, they having built themselves everlasting Monuments in their never dying Works) but out of a desire to imitate foreign writers, who have ever done their Worthies that right. I have not been wanting of a most diligent inquiry, but as yet I cannot meet with any of their friends and honourers that are able to render me so full and happy an account of them, as that I might have registered them in this volume to Posterity. The Life of HENRY the Fifth. HEnry the fifth was born at Monmouth in Wales 1388. Of whom several Authors write, that he was the most dissolute Prince; but all agree that he was afterwards the most Martial King that England ever bred. For during his Father Henry the Fourths Reign, his chief associates were men of evil fame, wicked life, dissolute carriage, Robbers and Thiefs, by whose instigation he struck the Lord Chief Justice of England; for which offence he was imprisoned and dismissed of the Presidentship of the King's Council. With these Fratres in malo he committed many insolent pranks; but having attained unto the Crown, he summoned these his companions before him; and instead of preferring them as they expected, he banished them for ever from his presence: yet lest they should pretend want of maintenance to be a cause of their taking ill courses he gave to every one of them competent means whereby to subsist. Having thus reform himself; his next care was to reform his Kingdom; and to this end he assembleth a Parliament, as best able to inform him for his more discreet grievances of his Subjects, and best able to counsel him for their redress. In this Parliament was a Bill preferred by the Commons against the Clergy, whose Temporalities they affirmed would maintain fifteen Earls, fifteen hundred Knights, six thousand two hundred Esquires, an hundred Almshouses more than before, and unto the King's Coffers twenty thousand pounds by year. The Clergy nettled with the Commons Bill, being loath to have their Estates looked into, as men who were fuller of goods then of goodness, exceeding in riches more than in righteousness, and preaching for Gold more than for God, to divert the King's mind another way, by the mouth of Chicholy Archbishop of Canterbury, propound the recovering of his Rights in France. Henry as he affected nothing more than true glory, so in nothing more than in Warlike action, condescends to the motion, sends Ambassadors to the French King to surrender him his Land, threatening Fire and Sword upon his refusal: but a Crown though accompanied with a great many troubles is not so easily parted withal; yet the French King propounds him fair, if he would desist from his intended War, though the Dolphin in derision sent him a tun of Paris Balls, as fit for him to exercise, then to attempt the recovery of the French Crown; which King Henry took in such scorn, that he swore it should not be long ere he would send such London Balls amongst them, that should beat down their houses upon their heads. And to make good his promise, he raises an Army of 6000. Spears, and 24000. Foot, besides Engineers and Labourers: but being about to put forth to Sea, a treason was discovered against his person, plotted by Richard Earl of Cambriage, Henry Scroop Lord Treasurer, and Thomas Grey Earl of Northamberland: These men for a million of Gold were procured by the French Agents to kill the King, but were discovered by Edmond Earl of March, whom they would have drawn into the same Conspiracy. Upon their examination they confessed the Treason, as likewise the receipt of the money, and were for the same immediately put to death. For as Mr. Charles Allen writes. Man and Money a mutual falsehood show; Man makes false money, Money makes man so. This execution done, and the wind blowing fair, he puts forth to Sea, accompanied with his two Brothers, the Dukes of Clarence and Gloucester, his Uncles, the Duke of York, and Earl of Dorset, the Earls of Kent, Cornwall, and Huntingdon, with many other Lords, Barons, and men at Arms; and on our Lady-Eve landeth at Caen in Normandy, where falling devoutly upon his knees, desired God's assistance to recover his right; making Proclamation, That no man upon pain of death should rob any Church, or offer violence to any that were found unarmed. From thence with his Army he marcheth to Harflew, which after a few days was surrendered unto him; where he leaveth Sir John Falstaff with fifteen hundred men, and takes his way towards Calais through the Counties of Caux and Eu. Charles the sixth was then King of France, a weak brainsick King, his Nobles divided, and the whole Court swarming with Factions; yet the common enemy endangering all, they unite in Counsel, and agree the English should be fought with ere they got to Calais: wherefore to impede his process, they broke down the Bridges, plashed the Woods, entrenched the ways, struck stakes in Fords, and conveyed all victual out of the Countries thorough which he should go. Then having raised a mighty Army, they sent Montjoy the French King at Arms to defy him, and to let him know he should be fougt with: King Henry notwithstanding his Soldiers were faint and weary, having spent their provisions some twelve days before, being forced in the mean time to feed upon nuts, roots, and berries, and drink only water, yet accepted the Challenge, and rewarded the Herald for his message: then passing the River of Soam, he came to a Village called Agincourt, encamping from the French Host not above two hundred and fifty paces. Their power (saith Paradin) consisted of an hundred and fifty thousand Horse, (besides them for carriages which were innumerable) the Vanguard was led by the Constable of France, the Dukes of Orleans and Bourbon, the Earls of Ewe, Richmond, and Vandosme, the Lord Dempier, the Lord Admiral of France, the Marshal Bouciquale, and others. The main Battle by the Dukes of Bar and Alencon, the Earls of Vawinont Saling, Blamont, Grantpee, and Russy. And the Rearguard by the Earls of Marle, Dampmarlin, Fauconbridge, and Monsieur de Lorney Captain of Ardy. King Henry desirous to know the numbers of the French, sent forth one Captain Gam for discovery; who brought word that there were of them enough to kill, and enough to take, and enough to runaway. The French were so confident of victory, that they sent to King Henry to know what Ransom he would give: but they who reckon without their Host (we say) must reckon twice: they might better have sent to know what Ransom he would rake, who as full of courage, though not so full of bravery, was busied in the mean time about marshalling his Army, The Vanguard he committed to the conduct of the Duke of York, the main Battle he commanded himself, and the Rearguard was led by the Duke of Exeter. Then to prevent the fury of the French Horse, he commanded two hundred Bowmen to lodge in a low Meadow, being provided with sharp stakes studded with Iron at both ends, to guard them from danger, and to endamage the French Horse. The Battles thus ranged, the most valiant King gallantly mounted with a cheerful countenance, and words full of courage, thus animated his followers, somewhat as I have it from other Historians to this purpose. My most faithful Companions, and worthy Soldiers, we now are marching into the Field of Honour, which your great valours so long have expected and prayed for; lo the day is now come, your enterprise is the noblest in the world; pour now therefore forth your undaunted valours, that ages to come may know what the Lance, the Axe, the Sword, and the Bow can do in the hands of Englishmen: Whosoever therefore desires riches, honour, and rewards, here he shall find them. Nimirum haec medio posuit Deus omnia campo. Having this said, his Army fell prostrate on the ground and committing themselves to God, their devotions ended, the Drums and Trumpets summoned them to action: the French Vanguard being tightly appointed, intended with their Horse to have burst thorough the Archers with a violent course, who counterfeiting flight, brought the overhasty French into the jaws of destruction; for having left their sharp pointed stakes sticking in the ground, they miserably gored the foremost of their Enemy's Horses, being pressed on forward by the following Troops; and then turning head, sent such tempests of Arrows on the French, that many thousands their knells were rung out that dreadful day. The main Battles join together, the Dukes of Gloucester and Alanzon like enraged Lions encounter each other; but Gloucester is wounded and overthrown, whose body his Brother Henry bestriding, delivered from further danger, and with redoubled strokes brought the French Gallant himself to the ground; with whose fall fell the courages of the French, who for all their former bravadoes, they turned their backs shamefully and fled, with whom the Rearguard ran for company, not having struck one stroke all this while. In all this fight, which continued three hours, were none taken Prisoners, but the Sword now made weary, and drunk with blood, all danger past, and humanity retired, Prisoners were taken, and lives spared, which hitherto was neglected, lest mercy to others might have proved destruction to themselves. Whilst these things were thus acting, certain of the French Troops led on by Robert Bondile, and the Captain of Agincourt, fell to rifeling the King's carriages, being guarded only by Lackeys and Laundresses, whose terrible shrieks made King Henry to think some fresh Forces were come; certain Troops also of the King of Sicills appearing in the Field, made him give present order, that every man should kill his Prisoner, certain principal men only excepted: then setting his men in order, he sends to the assembled Troops, either to come to Battle, or departed the Field; but they fearing to drink of the same cup their fellows had done, with shame and dishonour departed away. The field thus cleared, and the King by his Scouts satisfied that no more enemy was to be seen, be caused the whole Army in their array as they were, to give thanks unto God, the Clergy then present singing the Psalm of David, In exitu Israel de Egypto, the Footmen kneeling down, and the Horse men bowing their bodies at this verse, Non nobis Domine, non nobis, sed nomini tuo da gloriam: Then singing; Te Deum, with other Hymns and Anthems, he divideth the rich spoil of the enemy's Camp among his Soldiers. There were slain of the French in this Battle above ten thousand, whereof a hundred twenty and six were of the Nobility, bearing Banners; of Knights and Gentlemen of Coat Armour, seven thousand eight hundred and seventy four; and of common Soldiers about sixteen hundred. On the English side the account falls far short, some reckon but sixteen slain in all, other six and twenty, the most not six hundred, whereof the Duke of York, and the Earl of Suffolk were chief, whose slain bodies King Henry brought over with him into England. The Duke was buried at Fodringhey in Northamptonshire, and the Earl at New-elme in Oxfordshire. Great was the joy of the English for the King's return, the City of London receiving him with Triumph as at a Coronation, whilst France lamenteth the loss of her Nobles. To unite the differences betwixt these two Kingdoms, Sigismond the Emperor, having been with the French King, cometh over into England, and with him the Archbishop of Rheimes, as Ambassador from France, to treat of peace. Henry willingly hearkeneth unto them, and sends the Bishop of Norwich, and Sir Thomas Erpingham, with Commission to Beauvois, to treat further of the matter; but hearing the French in the mean time had besieged Harflew, he recalleth his Amabssadours, and would hear no further of peace, but sendeth his Brother the Duke of Bedford, with the Earls of March, Oxford, Warwick, Huntingdon, Salisbury, Arundel, Devonshire, and divers others, with two hundred sail of Ships, to the rescue of Harflew; who entering the mouth of the River of Seyne, encountered with the French Fleet, commanded by Viscount Narbon, where after a sharp fight the Victory fell to the English, who took and sunk most of their Navy, chase the residue into Britain, and relieved Harflew with men and victuals. The Emperor hereupon leaves mediating any further for peace with France, and concludeth a League offensive and defensive with King Henry, the pope only excepted, who was the master Bee that then lead the swarm. His affairs finished he returneth homeward, whom King Henry accompanieth as far as Calais, whither (upon hostages given for his safe return) repaireth the Duke of Burgundy, who doth homage to the Emperor, and taketh a truce with King Henry for his Counties of Flanders and Arthois. These business ended, Burgundy returneth to Gravelling, Henry into England, and the Emperor to Germany. But long did not Henry remain in England, for having raised a puissant Army, he makes his second expedition into France, accompanied with many Earls and Lords, and an Army of 25527. Soldiers, constituting his Brother John Duke of Bedford Protector of England in his absence; and on the first of August arrives in Normandy, near to the Castle of Tonque, which he presently besieged; and after eight days had it yielded unto him; at which time the Earl of Salisbury took the Castle of Albervilliers which the King gave to him and his Heirs, being the first Land given by the King in France. He afterwards marched with his Army to Caen, who trusting unto the strength of the place refuse to render upon the King's summons; whereupon having taken it by assault, he adjudgeth some of the most stubborn refusers to death, and distributeth the spoil of the Town amongst his Sou●diers, according to the old Law. Those who when that they may refuse to have it, Shall afterwards have nay although they crave it. He next takes in the Castle of Corfye, the Town and Castle of Argenton, Allenson, Fallais, with many other Towns and places of importance; his uncle the Duke of Exeter bringing him a supply of fifteen thousand men out England, he takes the City of Eureux, and then encampeth with his Army before the great City of Rouen. Within the City were a thousand selected Soldiers sent by the Duke of Burgogne, besides fifteen thousand Citizens well trained and furnished, and stored with provision for a ten month's siege; the City of Lovies being an impediment to his passage, he assaults and takes, as also a stone bridge strongly guarded; the City is summoned by Windsor the Herald; who scorning to yield, make a sally forth, but are beaten in with loss. The King, the Dukes of Clarence and Exeter, with many other Lords, encompass it on the East, West, and North; on the South were encamped the Earls of Warren and Huntingdon, the River of Seine running betwixt them, over which was built a bridge for enter course the one unto the other. The King's Cousin-Germane the King of Portugal sent likewise a Navy of Ships to the mouth of the River Seine, which stopped all passage of succour up the River. The siege thus continuing from June unto December, the Citizens were brought unto that extremity that they eat Cats and Dogs, Rats and Mice, and had nothing to drink but Vinegar and Water; so that fifty thousand being miserably famished, they desired a parley: yet notwithstanding their wants, stand upon such high terms, that nothing was concluded but a truce for eight days, which being ended and nothing agreed upon, they crave one day longer, and that being ended four days more; at the end of which time by the importunity of the common people, the City was surrendered upon these Articles following. 1. That the Burgesses should give unto Henry towards his expense in the siege, three hundred fifty six thousand Crowns of Gold. 2. That Robert Liner Vicar-General to the Archbishop of Rouen, Jehan Jourdan, who commanded the Canoniers, and allen Blanchart Captain of the common people should be left to his mercy without condition, 3. That all the people should swear faith and loyalty to Henry and his successors. 4. That Henry should protect and defend them against all men, and confirm unto them their privileges, franchises, and liberties, which they had enjoyed ever since the time of St. Lewis King of France. 5. That all such as had desire to leave the Town, might freely departed with his garments only upon his back, and his goods to be confiscated unto King Henry. 6. That the Soldiers should bring all their Arms to a place assigned, and should departed out of the Town unarmed, with a Cudgel in their hands; first taking their Oath not to bear Arms against Henry for a twelve month next ensuing. Rouen the chief City of Normandy thus rendered, sundry other places of note yielded themselves, as Caudebec, Monstraillier, deep, Fesohamp, Arques, Neufchastel, Deincourt, Moncheaux, Eu, Vernon, Mante, Gorney, Harflewr, Ponteur-de-mer, Mollineaux, le Treict, Tancarvile Abrechier, Mauleurier, Valemont, Neufuille, Bellaucombre, Fontaines, Le bower, Logempree, Preaux, Nougonder-ville, Saint German, Sur Cuylly, Baudemont, Bray, Villiterre, Charles, Maisniel, Les bowls Guillon-court Fanifontaines, Le Becy, Crepin, Backeville, and divers other places, wherein King Henry placed Garrisons. Those great successes of King Henry caused the Duke of Burgundy, who bore all the sway with the French King, to mediate a peace; for which end he sent his Ambassadors to Henry, desiring a personal conference; to which he assented, and assigned the place, which was at Melun, whither at the time appointed he goes, accompanied with the Dukes of Clarence, Gloucester, and Exeter, his uncle Beaufort the Bishop of Winchester, with the Earls of March and Salisbury, and a thousand men at Arms, where he found the French King, Queen Isabel, the Lady Katherine their Daughter, the Duke of Burgundy, the Count St. Paul, with a great train attending his coming; many things were propounded, but nothing concluded: whereupon King Henry not well pleased, said to Burgogne, Cousin, I cannot well digest this refusal; but be you assured, that either I will have your King's daughter, and all my demands, or I will banish both you and them out of France. You speak your pleasure, said the Duke, but before you shall thrust the King, them, and me out of the Kingdom, you will be weary of the enterprise. The treaty thus broken up in discontent, King Charles repaired unto Paris, whilst King Henry quickeneth his thoughts for revenge; his first enterprise was on the Town of Ponthois, a place of great riches, which was surprised by the Earl of Longuevyle, and the Duke of Clarence; and from thence marching on, took in the Castles of Vangon Villeirs, Gysors, Galyard, and Dumal, so that now all Normandy, except Mount St. Michael, was reduced to the possession of the King of England. Charles the Dolphin in the mean time being bare of money, and by that means having no great store of Soldiers, seizeth upon his Mother's money, Plate, and Jewels: she in a womanish spleen studies revenge; but he to make good what he had done, inveagles the King's head, that her designs were dangerous, and bend altogether for the alienation of the Crown. Whereupon she is sent prisoner to Eours; but soliciting Burgogne for her deliverance, she is by an ambush taken from her keepers, and by his means made regent of France, and her Picture stamped upon the Seal of that State. These do of Burgogne displeased the Dauphin, yet still he carried fair weather in his countenance, notwithstanding he had storms of revenge in his heart; so warily, not to say wickedly, could he cover his passions, until he had performed what he did intent. The Duke doubting no danger, being sent for by the Dolphin unto the Town of Mountstrew, repaired unto him; where kneeling upon his knee, he was by the Dolphin charged with several misdemeanours and by the company there present most barbarously murdered, before he could arise from his knee, or get out his Sword. This more and more exasperateth Queen Isabel, who now thinks of nothing but disheriting the Dolphin; and joining in confederacy with Philip the new Duke of Burgogne, incites him to revenge his Father's death: Philip as forward as she was willing, they send Ambassadors to King Henry to entreat a Peace, which was concluded from the Epiphany to mid March following, during which time both sides meeting at Troy's in Champagne, a final conclusion was agreed upon; whereof the chief Articles were as followeth. 1. That King Henry should take Lady Katherine to wife. 2. That Charles and Isabel should retain the name of King and Queen; and should hold all their Dignities, Rents, and Possessions belonging to the Crown of France, during their natural lives, 3. That the Lady Katherine should have her Dowry in England twenty thousand Nobles, and if she out lived Henry, twenty thousand Franks yearly out of the Lands, Places, and Lordships that Blanch, sometime wife to Philip Beavisal, held and enjoyed. 4. That after the death of Charles, the Crown and Realm of France should remain unto Henry and to his Heirs for ever. 5. That during the Life of King Charles, the faculties and exercise of the Government, and disposition of the Public utility of the Realm of France, shall remain to Henry, admitting to his Council and Assistance such of the English Nobility as he shall please. 6. That Henry of his own power shall cause the Court of France to be kept and observed in as full Authority, and in all manner of places, that now, or in time coming, is, or shall be subject to King Charles. 7. Also that Henry to his power shall defend and help all, and every of the Peers, Nobles, Cities, Towns, Commonalties, and singular persons, now, or in time to come Subjects to King Charles, in their Rights, Customs, Privileges, Freedoms, Franchises, belonging, or due unto them, in all manner of places, now, or in time coming, subject to King Charles. 8. That Henry during the life of King Charles, shall not call, nor write himself King of France, but shall abstain from that name so long as King Charles liveth. 9 That King Charles during his life, shall name, writ, and call King Henry in French in this manner; Nostre treschier Filz Henry Roy d'Engleterre heretere de France: and in Latin in this manner, Praeclarissimus filius noster, Henricus Rex Angliae, & Haeres Franciae. 10. That King Henry shall put no impositions or exactions to charge the Subjects of France, without cause reasonable and necessary, etc. Many other Articles were concluded on, Sealed, and Sworn to on both sides, which for brevity I omit. King Henry not long after affianced the Lady Katherine, and thereupon was proclaimed Regent and Heir apparent to the Crown of France; from thence both Kings with their Peers road to Paris, wherein a Parliament of the three Estates assembled, all such as were guilty of the Duke of Burgundy's death were justiced. The disherizing of the Dolphin confirmed, and Wars against those Towns which held for him prepared; and thereupon on the fourth day of June, the two Kings of France and England, James King of Scots, who was newly arrived, the Duke of Burgoigne, the Prince of Orange, one and twenty Earls, five and forty Barons, with many Knights and Gentlemen, and an Army consisting of French, English, Scottish, Irish and Dutch, to the number of six hundred thousand, besiege Seins; which after twelve days was rendered, upon composition of life, those only excepted that were guilty of the Duke of Burgundy's death. The Duke of Bedford bringing a fresh supply of men out of England, they march to Monstreau, which by force was entered; where the body of the Duke of Burgundy undecently buried, was taken up, and in great Pomp interred at Dijon; the Town being taken, the Castle held out still, during which Siege, King Henry instituted Garter principal King at Arms, whom he sent with offers of mercy to the Castle, but was by Guiley Captain thereof reproachfully answered; which so incensed Henry that he caused twelve of his principle friends to be executed: at length the Castle was enforced to yield upon composition of life. Those that were guilty of Burgundy's death were only excepted. From Monstreau the Army marched to Melun, the Captain whereof was Signieur Barbason, an absolute Soldier, who countermined some, and stopped other Mines made by the English, and fought hand to hand with King Henry in the Barriers; at length through famine he was forced to yield: but being suspected to have had a hand in the murder of the Duke of Burgundy, he was sent Prisoner to Paris, where upon King Henry's return he was sentenced to death, and had suffered, had he not appealed to the Officers at Arms; the Law Military forbidding; That any man, having his Brother in Arms within his danger, should afterwards put him to death for any cause or quarrel, and proved himself to be the King's Brother in Arms; for that in the Countermine he had coaped with him in Combat, whereupon the sentence of death was revoked, yet was he still retained in prison; but at the winning of Castle Galliard nine years after, he was delivered, to the great joy of the French. Yet notwithstanding by this quirk of Heraldry Barbason escaped so well, others as little guilty had not so good luck; namely, Bertrand de Charmont a Gascoigne, and two Monks, who were all three put to death. Charles the Dolphin was cited to appear at the Marble Table at Paris, but not appearing, he was judged guilty of Burgognes' death, and by sentence of Parliament banished the Realm. King Henry caused a new Coin to be made called a Salute, whereon the Arms of France and England were quarterly stamped; then appointing his Brother Clarence the Lieutenant General of France, he with his Wife Queen Katherine returned into England, being received of his Subjects (saith Speed) as an Angel from Heaven, or another victorious Caesar on earth. During King Henry's abode in England, a sad accident befell him in France, namely, the loss of his Brother Clarence, who making a road into Anjou, upon his return was slain, together with many Lords and Gentlemen, and the Earls of Suffolk and Somorset taken Prisoners: King Henry having notice of this overthrow, was much perplexed; yet considering, that nothing is more certain than that the chance of War is uncertain, he leaves off womanish tears, and prepares again for manly actions; a Subsidy being demanded and denied in Parliament, he pawns his Crown to his Uncle Beaufort Bishop of Winchester for twenty thousand pound, (a strange humour in the King, to pawn a Crown in possession to purchase one in hope) and being thus furnished with money, he soon was furnished with Soldiers, to the number (saith Engnerrant) of thirty thousand, with whom he returneth again into France. No sooner was he arrived, but he sends the Earl of Dorset and the Lord Clifford with twelve hundred Horse and Foot unto Paris, to relieve the Duke of Excester, who was straightened of Victuals by the Dolphinois, whilst he with the rest of the Army hasteth to relieve Chartiers, besieged by the Dolphin with seven thousand Soldiers; but hearing of King Henry's coming, he packed up his pipes and retired to Tours, though before he had given out that he would meet him in the Field. Chartiers relieved, Henry marcheth to Dreux, which agreed to surrender, if not relieved by a certain day; the time expired, and no relief come, the Town was delivered, the Soldiers permitted to departed upon their Oaths, not to bear Arms against Henry for one whole year after; then takes he in the Towns of Baugency and Rouge-mount, where all that craved he took to mercy, and supplying his Army with fresh Forces, he lays siege to the Town of Meanx in Brie. During the time of this Siege, news was brought him that his Wife Queen Katherine was delivered of a Son named Henry, at the Castle of Windsor; whereat he rejoiced, though he liked nor the place of her delivery, having before commanded the contrary; prophesying, That what Henry of Monmouth should get, Henry of Windsor would lose. Queen Katherine for her disobedience to her Husband herein, commanded at her death, that her Coffin should be left open to be seen and handled of any that would. Should the Coffins of all the women that have disobeyed their Husbands in our days be left open, I fear we should have but few closed, so much is the Apostle Paul's Precept forgotten, Ephes. 5.24. The Town of Nan's holding out long without relief, made their conditions the harder, upon the surrender; the Captain Vaurus having hanged many English and Burgundians upon a tree which he named Vaurus, was now on the same hanged himself, and his head fixed upon a pole on the top of the same tree. Meaux being taken, Crespi, the Castle of Pierrepont, Offemont, Merlau, and sundry other places submitted themselves, so that now Henry had in possession all the Fortresses in the Isle of France, Champagne, Piccardy, Brie, and Normandy. Yet though Henry's part in France was great, all was not reduced unto his obedience, many places holding out for the Dolphin; who with an Army of twenty thousand besieged Cosney, a Town of the Duke of Burgundy's upon the River Loir; Henry hasting to raise the Siege, at Senlis fell sick of a burning Fever and Flux, whereupon the command of the Army was committed to the Duke of Bedford, who with Queen Katherine was lately come out of England, whereof he was Regent, to visit King Henry. Upon the Duke's approach the Dolphin retired into Berry, whereof in mockage he was after called King of Berry: King Henry's sickness increasing more and more, he was removed to Boys the Vencennois, and finding himself not able long to continue, he appointed his Brother John Duke of Bedford Regent of France, and his Brother Humprey Duke of Gloucester, Protector of England, till his son came of age: Then exhorting them to unity amongst themselves, to be true and faithful to the Duke of Burgoigne, loyal to their young Prince, and serviceable to his Queen, in a right mind, hope, and found memory, he rendted his soul to his Creator, after he had reigned nine years, five months, and fourteen days. His Body with Pomp and Solemnity conveyed into England, it was interred in the Abbey of Saint Peter at Westminster; upon whose Tomb Queen Katherine caused a royal Picture, to be laid, covered all over with silver Plate gilt, the head thereof altogether of massy silver; all which at that Abbeys suppression in the time of King Henry the Eighth, were sacrilegiously broken off, and by purloining transferred to far prophaner uses; where at this day the headless Monument is to be seen with these Verses inscribed upon his Tomb. Dux Normanorum, verus Conquestor eorum, Haeres Francorum, decessit & Hector eorum. Here Normans Duke, so styled by Conquest just, True Heir of France, great Hector lies in dust. We will end our Discourse of this renowned King, with the commendations given him by Walsingham a learned Historian. He was godly in heart, sober in speech, sparing of words, resolute in deeds, provident in counsel, prudent in judgement, modest in countenance, magnanimous in action, constant in undertaking, a great Alms-giver, devout to God-ward, a renowned Soldier, fortunate in Field, from whence he never returned without victory. Martin writes of this Prince, that his Father King Henry the Fourth being seized on by a deadly Appolexy, being near his last end, he caused his Crown to be placed by him on his Pillow, lest peradventure in the extremity of his sickness it might be delivered to some other who had better right to it then he had: but when his attendants verily supposed that he was dead, this Martial Prince seized on the Crown; whereat the King started up, raised himself upon his arms, and demanded who it was that had taken away his Crown; the Prince answered, that it was he. Henry the Fourth fetching a deep sigh, said, My Son, my Son, what right I had unto this Crown, and how I have enjoyed it, God knows and the World hath seen. Comfort yourself in God, says the Prince, my good Father; the Crown you have, and if you die I will have it, and keep it with the Sword as you have done; which his successful Reign, and hath been declared to his greatest honours, afterwards made good. The Life of JOHN Duke of Bedford. JOhn Duke of Bedford was third Son to King Henry the Fourth; a valiant Captain, and a great help to his Son Henry in the Conquest of France. I shall not therefore (like the idle Levites of our times) rehearse any of the former Transactions, but begin with the pursuit of his life where we ended; having chose the rather to write the History of this honourable person, as with the exit of his life, our English Affairs ceased to have any further footing in France. He being Regent there, to proceed, his care was to preserve the same for his Nephew; and knowing that what was won by the Sword must be kept by the Sword, he strengthens the confines of his government with Garrisons, assembleth his powers, and labours to retain the hearts of his own party; his chief assistants were the two French Dukes of Burgoignt and Britain, and those two terrors of France, Thomas Montacute Earl of Salisbury, and John Lord Talbot, to whom after the Death of King Henry the Fifth, he being then Regent, made averation, exhorting them to be true and faithful to their young King Henry, friend to his friends, and enemy to his enemies; that seeing the hatreds and enmities began now to die between the French and English names, it was too late for the French to be again renowned by their fraudulent practices. With many other words to the like effect, which wrought so in the auditors, that Henry is proclaimed King of England and France; such French Lords as were present taking their oaths to be true unto him. And great need had the Regent to bestir himself, for Charles the French King surviving King Henry but 53. days, died at St. Denis, whose imbecilities were a great help to the English, as the Infancy of King Henry was now an advantage to the Dolphin; who upon his Father's Death proclaims himself King by the name of Charles the Seventh: and making all the force he could, marcheth to relieve Crepan besieged by the English; but his enterprise proved very unfortunate, being routed with the loss of two thousand men: yet nothing daunted at this disaster, he resolveth to encounter adverse fortune with increase of courage; and hearing that many of the English had pillaged the Countries of Nugion and Main, upon their return into Normandy he sets upon them, recovers their booty, and slays fifteen hundred of them; then speedily takes he Meulan upon the River of Sein, putting all the English therein to the Sword, but the possession was short, and the revenge speedy, being recovered by Thomas Montacute Earl of Salisbury, who to quit scores with the Dolphin, killed all the French were found there. About this time, the three great pillars of the English Monarchy in France, the Dukes of Bedford, Burgundy, and Britain, met at the City of Amiens in Picardy, to consult of the whole course and sum of Affairs, adding to the old league this addition, that it should be offensive and defensive respectively; and to make the friendship the more firm, the Duke of Bedford married Anne Sister to Philip Duke of Burgundy; a Lady whose beauty surpassed the blush that glorified Luna when she kissed the Shepherd on the Hills of Latmos. But whilst the Regent was thus busied in promoting the English cause, the Parisians had a design to destroy it, which was by delivering their City up to the French King; but treason being seldom true to its self, it came to the Regent's ear, which cost the chief conspirators their lives: and now fresh forces coming out of England, his Army augmented, be takes from Charles the Towns and Fortresses of Crotoy, Baside, Riol, Rula, Gyrond, Basile, Mermound, Milbam, Femil, Seintace, and many other. The French finding themselves too weak to deal with the English by force, work by policy; and allure from their sides, the Duke of Richmond and his Brother Arthur, who deliver up to the Dolphin the Castles of Crotoye and Yerney; the Duke of Bedford hating their perfidiousness, assaults and takes Crotoye, and besieges Yerney, who agree to surrender if not relieved by a certain time: the Duke of alanson with sixteen thousand French undertakes the rescue; but finding the English numbers to surmount his Arithmetic, he wheeleth about to Vernoyle in Perch, whom the Regent overtaking a cruel Battle ensued, which for two hours together was maintained with equal courage on both sides: the Regent himself with a Battle-ax fought most fiercely, winning immortal honour in that bloody journey. At length the Victory fell to the English, though with the loss of above two thousand of their men; on the French side were slain 5. Earls, 2. Viscounts, 20. Barons, and above 7000. common Soldiers, besides 2700. Scots lately arrived; there were taken prisoners the Duke of alanson himself, the Lord of Herneys, Sir John Towrnebull, 200. Gentlemen, and many common Soldiers. This Battle was fought the 7. of August, 1425. That which followeth till the siege of Orleans, I have set down out of Paulus Aemytius, as Speed hath done before me. The fierce Conqueror besiegeth Mantz in Main, and with Ordnance beats down part of the Walls: it yields, an English Garrison is left there; after the taking which, not being sufficient to keep the Town in due subjection, is compelled to fly to a Tower for their safety; the enemies which were admitted into it by the Burghers enjoying the rest. The Lord Talbot (that most noble Captain of the English) with whose name Talbot is coming, the French used to fright their children, presently arrives to the rescue, and puts the Malefactors to death. The English Empire then extented itself at which time, as bathe been observed, to the River of Loire. Charles was called King of Berry. Hitherto the English fortunes in France received no check, their serene Sky was without Clouds, so long as a good correspondence was held betwixt the Burgundian and the English; but this knot of friendship was like to have been broken by occasion of the Duke of Gloucester, who married Jaqueline Countess of Haynoult, Holland, and Zealand, notwithstanding John Duke of Brabant her husband were yet living. The Duke of Burgundy his Cousin was greatly offended hereat; insomuch that the controversy grew to be so great, that the Duke of Gloucester sent him a challenge: but the Regent well knowing that the discord of the English might prove the union of the French, so wrought betwixt them that the sore seemed indifferently well healed. Much about that time likewise be compounded a difference between the Protector and Cardinal Beaufort Bishop of Winchester, though to effect the same he was fain to come over into England, substituting the Earl of Warwick Lieutenant General in his absence. But France wanting his company he quickly returned, carrying a great number of fresh men over with him. During his abode in England, Arthur Earl of Richmond made Constable of France by King Charles, raiseth an Army of twenty thousand men, and with them suddenly besiegeth St. Jean, a Town in Normandy; the Garrison were at first dismayed with their sudden arrival, but upon better advice they valiantly sallied out, crying aloud, a Salisbury, a Suffolk, whose names struck such a terror into the besiegers, that with loss of their Artillery, and 800. of their Company, they betook themselves to flight. To rehearse each particular would make our discourse prove too prolix; to come to the siege of Orleans, Undertaken by these matchless Worthies, the Earl of Salisbury and the Lord Talbot, with a puissant Army; the Citizens hearing of their intentions prepared to withstand them: their Suburbs equal in bigness to a good City, they levelly with the ground; choosing rather to destroy a part then hazard the whole: the English encompass it on every side, and the Citizens begin to feel the misery of want; God when man's help fails, interposeth his hand, the Earl of Salisbury looking out at a Window to take a view for a general assault, is unfortunately slain, a sad loss for the English; for upon the death of this man (saith Polydor Virgil) the fortune of the War changed. The Regent to repair this loss sendeth Sir John Falstaff with fresh supplies, who arrived there safe in despite of the Lord De la Brets, who with nine thousand men endeavoured to intercept him; hereupon the City would yield, but to the Burgundian, not to the English; a cunning plot to divide their affections: the Regent and his Council being sent unto, thought it not reasonable, that the English having been at all the cost should not reap the profit; the Burgundian on the other side resented this repulse ill, as thinking the English too nice in resentments of Honour. Whilst matters stood thus betwixt the French and English, there was presented unto King Charles at Chinon a young Maid about eighten years of age, named Joan of Arc, who pretended she was sent from God to deliver France from the English yoke: whereupon she was called Lafoy pucelle de Dieu, or the Maiden of God, though many judged her but a mere imposter; however, credit is given to her words; and she being armed like a man, she rides to Bloyes, where Forces and Victuals lay for the relief of Orleans; her first attempt was successful, she with the Admiral and Marshal of France enters safe, bringing fresh courage to the dying hopes of the Townsmen, who upon her encouragements sally forth, slew 600. of the English, and adventured upon the Bastile where the Lord Talbot commanded, who repelled them with great slaughter of their men: but yet the next day the Earl of Suffolk gave over his Siege and dispersed his Army into their Garrisons. In memory of this admirable deliverance they of that City erected a Monument, where Charles the Seventh King of France, and Joan the Martial Maid were represented, kneeling in Armour, elevating their eyes and hands to heaven, in sign of thanks and acknowledgement. At this time the success of War began to be various on both sides, the Lord Talbot took the Town of Laval with the Castle, but this gains was small in respect of the loss they received at that time; the Duke of alanson with Joan and other great Captains take by assault the Town of Jargeux, and in it the Earl of Suffolk, with one of his Brothers, slew another of his Brothers, and 200. Soldiers, and having his numbers augmented, encounters the Lord Talbot at a village called Poitiers, whom he discomfits, and slew of the English above a thousand. The Lords, Talbot, the glory of the English, Scales, Hungerford, and Sir Thomas Rampestone were taken prisoners; these losses shook the whole fabric of the English greatness in France, and caused the revolt of many Towns to King Charles; who encouraged by these successes marcheth into Champagne, where by composition he taketh the Cities of Troy's and Auxerre, Chalous and Rheimes yield themselves; in which last, according to the Maid's direction, he was solemnly Crowned King. The Duke of Bedford upon the upleasant tidings of Orleans rescued, and Talbot taken, opposeth himself; and having an Army of ten thousand English, besides Normans, marcheth out of Paris, sending letter of defiance to the French King, affirming, that deceitfully and by unjust means he had stolen many Cities and places of importance belonging to the Crown of England, which he was come to justify by Battle, if he would appoint a time and place, who returned answer by the Herald, that he would sooner seek the Duke, than the Duke should need to pursue him: yet notwithstanding his brags, upon the Duke's approach he marcheth away; the Regent follows and overtakes him at Senlys, there both the Armies encamped and embattelled, yet only some light Skirmishes passed between them; for the French King either thorough sear, or policy, or both, in the night time fled to Bray: the English Soldiers deeming it fear, would have pursued him, but the Regent judging it to be his policy to draw him further from the City of Paris (of whose fidelity he had no great assurance) refused to follow him any further. The Bishop of Winchester Cardinal Beaufort, having at that present raised four thousand men in aid of the Pope, to suppress the Bohemians, who began to slight his Pontifical pomp, at the request of the Duke of Gloucester went over with them to the Regent, for a present expedition against King Charles, who by the subtle working of the Pucelle was received into Campaigne, and had many Towns of importance rendered unto him. Yet notwithstanding his numbers exceeded twice the Regent's, yet by no provocations could he be drawn to Battle, but secretly fled to Crispis; whereupon the Regent also returned to Paris, where he stayed but a while, but passeth into Normandy, to provide for a safe retreat there, if the English (by the inevitable will of God) should be driven out of their other Dominions, exhorting them as their ancestors had always been, to be true and faithful to the Crown of England. In the mean while the French King was not idle, but gets by practice the Town of St. Denis, from whence he sends the Duke of alanson, and Joan the Martial Maid, to try their Friends and Fortunes at Paris; but joan's good Fortune having ascended the Meridian, began now to decline; for the English gave them so rough an encounter, that Joan herself was wounded, and the rest with much slaughter forced to fly: the Regent hearing of these attempts returneth to Paris, commending the Soldiers for their vigilancy and valour in resisting the French; and having fresh supplies out of England, marcheth to reduce Champaign to his obedience. The French under the conduct of their Martial Virago attempt to raise the siege, and enter in despite of the English and Burgundians that besieged it; but afterwards sallying forth, their troops were beaten, and Joan herself taken prisoner by John of Luxemburgh, a Burgundian Knight; who for the value of ten thousand pounds Turnoyes, and three hundred crowns yearly rend, delivered her to the Regent, and he to the Bishop of Beauvois, in whose Diocese she was taken; who judicially proceeding against her as a Sorceress, and deceiver of the King and his Subjects, she was condemned, and afterwards burnt to death at Rouen. Many sundry opinions were conceived of this Woman, some judging her miraculously raised up by God for the good of France, others that she was but a mere Imposter: we will suspend our judgement herein, and refer you to the Epitaph which we find thus written on her. Here lies Joan of Arc, the which Some count Saint, and some count Witch; Some count Man, and something more; Some count Maid, and some a Whore: Her life's in question, wrong or right, Her death's in doubt, by laws, or might; Oh innocence take heed of it, How thou too near to guilt dost sit. (Mean time France a wonder saw, A woman rule 'gainst Salic Law.) But, Reader, be content to stay Thy censure, till the judgement day: Then shalt thou know, and not before, Whether Saint, Witch, Man, Maid, or Whore. And now the Regent seeing the great success that had attended King Charles ever since his Coronation, would needs have King Henry Crowned in France, to see if the like effects would follow the English; whereupon he is sent for over, and by the Bishop of Winchester solemnly Crowned in the City of Paris, such of the French Nobility as were present doing their Homage: and now was France a Monster with two heads, the misery of which Nation by occasion of these Wars is thus described by Polydore Virgil. While the English and French (quoth he) contend for Dominion, Sovereignty, and life if self, men's goods in France were violently taken by the Licence of War, Churches spoiled, men every where murdered, put to death, or tortured; Matrons ravished, Maids forcibly drawn from out their Parents arms to be deflowered, Towns daily taken, defaced, spoiled; the riches of the Inhabitants carried whither the Conquerors thought good; Houses and Villages round about set on fire; no kind of cruelty left unpractised upon the miserable French; omitting many other kinds of other calamities, which all at once oppressed them. I shall only add, that the Commonwealth being destitute of the help of Laws, (which for the most part are mute in times of War and Tumults) floated up and down without any anchorage of right or justice. Neither was England herself void of these mischiefs, who by reason of her Civil Wars, every day heard the news of her valiant children's Funerals, slain in perpetual Skirmishes and Bicker, her general wealth continually decreasing, so that their evils seemed almost equal, and the whole Western World echoed the groans and sighs of either Nations quarrels, being the common argument of the discourse and compassion of all Christendom. The Regent having lately buried his Wife, Sister to the Duke of Burgundy, did now without his privity marry the Earl of St. Paul's Daughter, no friend to the Burgundian, which drove him into a discontentent; and that discontent did King Charles so work upon, that at length he seduced him from the English side; though to effect the same, he was fain to stoop so low, as to send him a blank, and bid him set down his own conditions, which were both many and unreasonable, saith Serres; yet worth his cost: For as Aemylius saith, The end of that War did redeem the French from a Foreign Government, as the first assuming thereof had made the English Lords over France. The Regent outlived this revolt not long, but died at Paris, with whom died all the English men's good fortune in France; his body was with all Funeral Solemnities buried in the Cathedral Church of our Lady at Rouen, on the North side of the high Altar, under a sumptuous and costly Monument; which Tomb certain Courtiers would have persuaded King Lewis the Eleventh to have demolished, to whom he answered, God forbidden I should disturb him dead, who living would have disturbed us all; no, let his bones rest in peace, well worthy to have a more stately Monument. How mighty a Prince he was, this his stile showeth; Regent of France, Duke of Bedford, Alanzon, and Anjon, Earl of Main, Richmond, and Kendale, and Constable of England. But (which excelleth his greatness, as my Author writes, was that) he was one of the best Patriots and Generals that ever blossomed out of the Royal Rosiar of England. He died the 14. of September 1435. The Life of RICHARD NEVIL Earl of WARWICK. THis undaunted Hero, whose Life we now relate, was he who in those times made and marred Kings, and handled their Fortunes at his pleasure; and was himself a great part of those famous Civil Wars between the Houses of York and Lancaster: he was the eldest Son of Richard Nevil Earl of Salisbury, and by Marriage with Anne the Sister and Heir of Henry Beauchampe, Earl, and after Duke of Warwick, was in her right created Earl of Warwick. His Grandfather was Ralph Nevil Earl of Westmoreland, whose Daughter the Duke of York had married, which might be one cause of his adhering so much to that side, and the effusion of so much blood as ensued thereon. For the Wars being now ended in France, which we have declared unto you in the Lives of Edward the Third, Edward the Black Prince, Henry the Fifth, and John Duke of Bedford, those uncivil Civil Wars soon after brake forth betwixt the two Houses of York and Lancaster: For though during our Foreign Wars, these dissensions appeared not so much as in the Embryo, both sides spending their stock of valour against the common enemy; these Wars being ended, these Martial minds difused to peace, would still be acting, though against themselves. The two chief Heads of these Factions was Richard Duke of York, and Henry the Sixth King of England, if we may call him a head who had so faint an heart, and not rather the Queen, who acted all though under his name. The Duke of York claiming the Crown, as Heir to the third Son of Edward the Third, the Line of whose eldest Son Edward the Black Prince extinguished in the deposition and parricide of Richard the second, procured by Henry of Bullingbrooke the first King of the house of Lancaster, Edward the Thirds second Son dying without issue. Henry pleaded the advantage of a long Reign, an interrupted descent in Majesty for threescore years; a Sovereignty acknowledged abroad by by all Christian Princes, and obeyed at home by all Englishmen without dispute: a title according to the Law Salic undubitable; and which had been confirmed at the first entry of his Grandfather Henry the Fourth into the Kingdom, not only by resignation of Richard the Second, but even by approbation; nay, particular negotiation of Edmond Duke of York, Edward Duke of Aumerle, and Richard Earl of Cambridge, Father, Uncle, and Grandfather to the said Duke of York. This weighty business being not the work of one day, the Duke of York draws to his side the Earls of Salisbury and Warwick; and the better to prepare his way, he practices all means to draw the King into the hatred of the people, as one insufficient to supply the room which he held: but Henry's piety having placed him so high in the affections of the people, he seeks to undermine him in the downfall of his friends, pretending not against the King, but his evil Counselors, (a pretence that hath been made use of in latter times.) The King at that present lying very sick, he neglects no advantage, but by the help of his friends wrought so effectually, that the Duke of Somerset was sent to the Tower: this man was exceedingly hated of the Commons, conceiving him the chief cause that all Normandy was surrendered into the hands of the French; of which their malice the Duke of York made good use, though his intentions for the removing him out of the way, was the hindrance he knew he would prove to his after claim of the Crown: but when the King had recovered his strength again, and resumed to him his Princely Government, he caused the Duke of Somerset to be set at liberty, and preferred him to be Captain of Calais; wherewith, not only the Commons, but many of the Nobility which favoured the Duke of York, were greatly offended, saying, that he had lost Normandy already, and would also lose Calais. Hereupon the Duke of York with his adherents, the Earls of Warwick, Norfolk, and Salisbury, the Lords, Cobham and Fawconbridge, with many other Knights and Esquires, raised an Army about the edge of Wales, and marched with the same towards London. King Henry being informed thereof, assembled likewise an host to resist them; and being accompanied with the Dukes of Buckingham and Somerset, the Earls of Northumberland, Stafford, Wiltshire, Dorset, Pembroke, and Devonshire, the Lords, Clifford, Sudley, Barnes, Rose, and many others, marched against him: at Saint Albon both Armies met, where betwixt them was fought a sore Battle; which continuing doubtful for a time, the Earl of Warwick with great courage breaking in upon them, and crying, a Warwick, a Warwick, discomfitted the King's side with a great slaughter, no less than five thousand losing their lives; among whom the chiefest was the Duke of Somerset, the Earls of Northumberland and Stafford, the old Lord Clifford, with many other Knights and Gentlemen; the King himself being wounded, was taken prisoner, and the next day carried to London. Soon after began a Parliament at Westminster, wherein the Duke of York was made Protector of the Realm, the Earl of Salisbury Lord Chancellor, and the Earl of Warwick Captain of Calais, and the Territories of the same; and thus the rule of the Realm rested in the Duke and Chancellor, and all the Warlike Affairs in the Earl of Warwick: the King's authority consisting only in name, which they made use of for their own ends upon every occasion. But the Queen stomacking these high indignities done to the King, studies revenge; and making sure to her side many of the Lords, under a pretence of hunting, conveys the King to Coventry: whither in a friendly way she sends for the Duke of York, and the Earls of Warwick and Salisbury; to which place the said Lords resort: but having secret intelligence that mischief was intended against them, they privately departed from the Court, with minds enraged against the Queen and her party; but thorough the mediation of some Lords, together with the Archbishop of Canterbury, all parties meeting together at London, a reconciliation was concluded on, with many outward ceremonious shows of friendship. But this calm lasted not long, the Earl of Warwick upon some debate betwixt him and the King's servants, was by them assaulted, and for safety of his life forced to fly unto Calais in a Barge: this affront done unto him was seconded by another, a Privy Seal being directed to him for the discharging of him of the Captainship of Calais, the young Duke of Buckingham (his enemy) being constituted Captain in his room. But for as much as he had his Commission from Parliament, he would not obey the Privy Seal; and to show his abilities fit for the mannagement of any design, he with fourteen sail of Ships, sets forth to scour the Seas, bringing home in little space, prizes to the value of ten thousand pound; a considerable sum in that age, before the Indies wealth overflowed Europe. In the mean time the Duke of York and Earl of Salisbury assemble an Army to revenge the injuries done to the Earl of Warwick; to oppose whom, the Queen sent James Twichet Lord Audley: at Blore-heath near Mucklestone both Armies met, where the Lord Audley was overthrown himself, and 2400. of his men slain. And now the Conquerors resolve to unvizard themselves, and to raise what forces they could for the obtaining of their purposes. The Earl of Warwick bringing to them a very great power from Calais; the King on the other side raises a mighty great Army, and having marched as far as Worcester, to save the effusion of blood, sent unto them Richard Beauchamp Bishop of Salisbury, with a general Pardon, if they would give over their enterprise: yet upon further advice, having sent an excusatory Letter to the King, they withdrew themselves into divers parts beyond the Seas. Soon after was a Parliament holden at Coventry, wherein the Duke of York, Edward Earl of March, his Son and Heir, the Earls of Warwick, Rutland, and Salisbury, with many other Lord and Gentlemen, were attainted of Treason. One Sir Baldwine Fulford undertook on pain of losing his head that he would destroy the Earl of Warwick; but having spent the King a thousand marks, returned without effecting his purpose. On the other side the Earl of Warwick sent some of his men, who by night coming to Sandwich, carried away the Lord Rivers and Sir Anthony Woodvile his Son, with many great Ships. And now the Earls of March, Warwick and Salisbury, being invited by the Kentishmen, crossed the Sea, and landed at Sandwich; where they were met by Thomas Bourchier Archbiship of Canterbury, and many others, who conducted them to London, in most solemn manner; where having convocated the Clergy in Saint Paul's Church, the Earl of Warwick in name of the rest took his oath upon the Cross of Canterbury, that they had ever borne true faith and allegiance to King Henry. Having by this oath gained credence of the Citizens, they leave the Earl of Salisbury Governor thereof, and with their Forces march down to Northampton where the King then lay, with a strong power; and first they affay to get him into their hands by fair means, but that not prevailing, they resolve force: whereupon both Hosts encountered each other; but the Lord Edmond Grey of Ruthen who commanded the King's Vanguard, forsaking his side and joining with the Earl, by that means set a palm of Victory upon his head, and a Character of Treachery upon his own, for betraying the trust reposed in him. There were slain on the King's part th' Duke of Buckingham, the Earl of Shrewsbury, the Lords Beaumond, and Egremont, with many Knights and Esquires; the King himself was taken prisoner, and with seeming liberty conveyed to London. And now to authorize their actions the better, a Parliament is called, wherein it was agreed, that King Henry in (relation to a long succession) should enjoy the Crown during his natrual life, which afterwards should devolve to Richard and his Heirs, in whom it was then apparently proved that the Title to the Kingdom did remain; in which agreement was likewise manifested, that Henry should make immediate forfeiture, whensoever either he or any of his Party should attempt to disannul this act. But the Queen with many of the Lords, not being at the bargain making, thought themselves not tied to the Conditions; whereupon, she having in her company the Prince her Son, the Dukes of Exeter and Somerset, the Earl of Devonshire, the Lord Clifford, and in effect all the Lords of the North, with an Army of 18000. men marched from York to Wakefield, with whom joined the Lord Nevil Brother to the Earl of Westmoreland; who having gotten a Commission from the Duke of York, under his name raised 8000. men, but brought them all to the adverse party. But the Duke of York whom fortune had hitherto waited on as his handmaid, nothing daunted at their number, leaving the Duke of Norfolk and the Earl of Warwick to attend the King, he with the Earl of Salisbury, and his Son the Earl of Rutland, with about some five thousand men marched against them: and although his numbers was nothing competent to his enemies, yet would he not be advised but gave them Battle; so that being encompassed on all sides, thorough his own rashness was himself slain, and his whole Army discomfitted; his Son the Earl of Rutland (being but twelve years old) stabbed by the Lord Clifford, his trusty friend the Earl of Salisbury beheaded by the common people, and his own head fixed on a pole, with a paper Crown, was set on the Walls of York, for the barbarous mirth of the uncivil multitude. The unwelcome news of the Duke's overthrow coming to the Ears of Warwick, to stop the torrent of the Queens proceed, he musters all the men he could, and taking King Henry along with him, marches from London to oppose the Queen; at St. Alban both Armies met, where Warwick lost the day, with the slaughter of two thousand of his men: King Henry also, (whom fortune neither favoured amongst friends nor foe;) was again taken. This Victory of the Queens had it been discreetly managed; might have turned the scales on the Lancastarian side, but she wanton with success, vainly imagined a security from future competition, and either wanted power to restrain her Soldiers, or licenced them to a free spoil; by which unruly violence she untied the affections of the Commons, who by their quiet and profit, measure the virtues of their Princes. So that the Citizens of London fearing to be plundered, hearing of their approach, shut up their Gates, and armed for resistance. The Queen hereupon with her plundering Army retires Northwards, where we will leave her for a time, and look back upon the Earl of March. Who being at Gloucester at such time as he heard news of his Father's death, spent not his time in womanish lamentation; but considering how dangerous leisure in to increase the apprehension of misfortune, having increased his Army with some additional forces, he marches against the Earls of Pembroke and Ormand, who had raised a great power with purpose to surprise him. Near Mortimer's Cross on Candlemass-day they encountered each other, where the two Earls and their whole Army were put to flight with the slaughter of there thousand eight hundred on the place. Edward having obtained this Victory, with his Triumphant forces directeth his march towards London; in the way at Chipping-Norton he met the Earl of Warwick, nothing daunted at his late misfortune, and coveting nothing more than by the trial of a new day to persuade, or else to force back victory to his side: then enter they London in a triumphant manner, the Citizens receiving them with great acclamations of joy, the Earl of March which a joint consent of them all is chosen King, and accordingly proclaimed throughout the City, by the name of Edward the Fourth. This was done at London; in the mean time the Queen and the Lords of her side were daring and vigilant in the North; and having raised threescore thousand fight men, they resolved with expense of their blood, to buy back that Majesty, which the House of Lancaster by evil fate had lost. Edward choosing rather to provoke then expect an enemy, having mustered what Forces he could, with his trusty friend the Earl of Warwick, marches against them; and notwithstanding his Army came far short of the others in number, yet by his Captains good conduct, and his Soldier's valour, joining battle between Caxton and Towton, he gave his enemies a mighty great overthrow. In no one battle was ever poured froth so much English blood, six and thirty thousand, seven hundred seventy six persons, all of one Nation, many near in alliance, some in blood; fatally divided by faction, were now united in death. On the Lancastrian side were slain the Earls of Northumberland and Westmoreland, the Lords, Clifford, Beaumond, D'acres, Grace, and Wells, John Lord Nevil Son to the Earl of Westmoreland, with divers others. On King Edward's side, the Lord Fitz-walter, and the Bastard of Salisbury, with many others of great reputation and courage. King Henry with the poor remains of his party fleeth into Scotland, whilst Edward in triumph returneth to London. But notwithstanding this great overthrow, yet did not the indefatigable Queen lose any thing from her spirit or endeavours, but makes addresses to all Princes abroad, whom alliance, reason of state, or compassion of so great a disaster, might move to her assistance; and notwithstanding all her endeavours, she gathered together but five hundred French; yet adding hope to her small number, she crosses the Sea with them into Scotland. Here some thin Regiments of Scots resorted to her, in whose company, taking her Husband King Henry along with her, she enters England; but this small number (scarcely deserving the name of an Army) were soon overthrown by the Lord Montague; most of the Lords of her side taken and beheaded. King Henry escaped from the Battle, but was soon after apprehended as he sat at dinner at Waddington-hall in Lancashire, and by the Earl of Warwick brought prisoner to London, and committed to the Tower. These great services done by Warwick and his Brother Montague for King Edward, made them set so high a price upon their merits, that the greatest benefits he could bestow upon them, were received in the degree of a debt, not a gift; and thereupon their expectations being not answered according to their imaginations, they begin to look upon Edward with a rancorous eye; and certainly this was the main cause of their falling off from Edward's side, though for a while they dissembled the same, until they should meet with a more plausible occasion, which soon after was offered unto them: for the Earl of Warwick being sent over into France, to negotiate a marriage betwixt King Edward, and the Lady Bona Sister to the French Queen; whilst he was busy in courting this Lady, Edward following more his fancy then reasons of State, falls in love, and marries the Lady Elizabeth daughter to the Duchess of Bedford, and widow of Sir John Grace, slain on King Henry's part at the Battle of St. Alban. But when the Earl of Warwick understood how mighty an affront by this was given to his employment, he entertained none but disdainful thoughts against his Prince. And expressed so bold a discontent, that Lewis of France, who was quick to perceive, and careful to foment any displeasure, which might tend to the disturbance of another Kingdom, began to enter into private communication with him; for ever after this common injury, (so they called the error of love in the King) the Earl held a dangerous intelligence in France, which after occasioned so many confusions to our Kingdom. Nevertheless upon his return he dissembled all discontent, and in every circumstance of respect applied himself to applaud the Marriage: and in particular, the excellent personage of the Queen. But long did not the fire of his revenge lie hid under the ashes of dissimulation; for King Edward grown secure by an overbold presumption, the daughter of a long prosperity, gave himself over to all licentiousness, whilst Warwick had made his faction not only mighty, but monstrous, being compacted of several natures: for into conspiracy of this great enterprise he had drawn off the Clergy and the Laity, and most of them of affections most opposite. The Archbishop of York was the principal mover, because he moved upon the soul, and made treason an act of Religion: the easy multitude who build their faith upon the man, not the Doctrine, thinking it meritorious to rebel, in regard his function seemed to give authority to the action. With him a 'greed the Marquis Montague, and many eminent persons of King Edward's Court, whom either desire of War, having never lived but in the troubled Sea of discord, or want of expected recompense, rendered discontented. All the partakers in the calamity of the house of Lancaster, most passionately at first overture embraced this motion; amongst whom was Henry Holland Duke of Exeter, who after his ruin with the fall of Henry the Sixth, was reduced to such extremity, that ragged and he begged for his meat in the Low-Countries. But the wonder of the world than was at the powerful sorcery of those persuasions, which bewitched the Duke of Clarence, the King's Brother to this conspiracy, to whom the Earl of Warwick (to tie him the faster to his side) gave him in marriage the Lady Isabel his daughter, and coheir to the rich Earldom of Warwick; for consummation whereof they sailed over to Calais, of which Town the Earl of Warwick was Captain, and in which the young Lady than remained with her Mother. Soon was the Ceremony past, and soon did the Earl invite his Son-in-law from the softness of the Nuptial Dalliance, as who had contrived this marriage for business, not for pleasure; and designed the first issue of their embraces to be a monster, and the most unnatural one; War between Brothers. Warwick having thus politicly ordered things, that he left little or nothing to fortune, with his Son-in-law returns to England; where against his return, the Archbishop of York, with some other of his friends, had raised a potent Army; to oppose whom, on Edward's side assembles a mighty power, under the conduct of the Earls of Pembroke and Devonshire: but they falling out at Banbury upon a trivial occasion, made way for the enemy to conquer them both. This overthrow was seconded with a great loss at Grafton in Northamptonshire, wherein the Earl Rivers and the Lord Widdevil. Father and Brother to the Queen, were taken, and barbarously beheaded. Edward nettled with these losses, raises what power he could, and marches against Warwick; whose pretence being that of all Rebels, The good of the Kingdom; yet to avoid effusion of blood, seemingly is very desirous of peace; but when with several overtures he had lulled the King in security, in the dead of the night, he sets upon his Army, kills the watch, and surpriseth his person, buried in a careless sleep. Warwick having thus gotten the prey into his hand he so long desired, sends him prisoner to Middleham Castle in Yorkshire, there to be kept by his Brother the Archbishop of that Sea; but King Edward being of another temper then his predecessor Henry, not enduring Captivity, soon found a way for his own liberty: for having gotten licence to hunt in the adjoining Park, he so contrived with Sir William Stanley, and Sir Thomas Burgh, that with a selected number they came to his rescue, and took him away from his weak guard; the Lord Hastings joining to them with some forces he had raised about Lancaster, they march directly to London, where they were entertained with great expressions of joy. The Earl of Warwick (who upon the taking of the King had disbanded his Army) hearing of his escape, was almost distracted with a thousand several imaginations; but soon by letters to the Lords of his faction, he reassembles his forces, and marches against the King: but thorough the solicitation of some persons inclinable to peace, an interview was agreed on in Westminster Hall; and oaths for safety being passed on both sides, accordingly they met; but such intemperance of Language passed at their meeting, as rather aggravated then allayed their anger; so that now they resolved the Sword alone should decide the controversy. The Earl of Warwick leaving his Army under the command of Sir Robert Wells whilst he himself went to raise more men; King Edward neglecting not the opportunity, whilst they were thus disjoined, gives them battle, and overthrows them, with the loss of ten thousand of their men. Sir Robert Wells was taken prisoner, and soon after beheaded. This overthrow struck Warwick to the heart; so that having not sufficient force to withstand the King, he with the Duke of Clarence sail over into France, with which King, as also with Queen Margaret, who then remained in the French Court, they entered into a combination for the deposing of King Edward, and setting up again King Henry. And that there might not be left any tract of former discontent, or path to future jealousy, a marriage was concluded and celebrated between Prince Edward the Queen's Son, and the Lady Anne younger daughter to the Earl; and for want of issue of these two, the Crown to come to Clarence and his posterity. Matters thus concluded, and the French King supplying them with money, they return into England to whom flocked almost all the Lords; the Commonalty also (desirous of innovation) adhered unto them: so that King Edward seeing himself in a manner wholly abandoned, was forced to quit the Land, and sail into Holland. And now notwithstanding his former hostility with him, Warwick restores King Henry to all his former dignity and honour; a Parliament is called, wherein nothing is denied which the prevailing party thought fit to be authorized: King Edward condemned for a Tyrannous Usurper, and all his adherents attainted of high treason; the Crown is entailed upon King Henry and his Heirs Males, for default of which, to George Duke of Clarence, and his Heirs for ever. The Earls of Oxford and Pembroke, and many others, restored to their estates and titles; the Duke of Clarence put in possession of the Duchy of York; and lastly the Government of the King and Kingdom committed to the Duke of Clarence, and Earl of Warwick; so that King Henry possessed no more than the name of King, and seemed not to be set at liberty, but to have changed his keeper. King Edward in the mean time, having hired four great Holland Ships, and fourteen Easterling men of War, transports his Army over into England, which consisted of two thousand Dutch men, and such English as accompanied him in his flight, or had escaped over after him; at Ravenspur in Yorkshire he landed, from thence he marched to York, but finding in every place where he came the people generally devoted to the House of Lancaster, he fashioned his behaviour to a new art, and solemnly took his oath that his intentions was not for the recovering of the Crown, but regaining the Duchy of York, wrongfully conferred on his Brother Clarence by the last Parliament. Hereupon many of note joined themselves with him, so that whom they refused to serve as King, which had been an act of loyalty, they condescend to aid as Duke of York, which was absolute rebellion: it being high treason in a Subject, though never so apparently injured, to seek his remedy by Arms. Having thus increased his Army he marches towards London; and although the Marquis Montague, Warwick's Brother, with a far superior power lay then at Pomfret to impeach his journey, yet let he him quietly pass, not permitting any act of hostility to be showed, or advantage taken; by which gross oversight he ruined himself and Warwick too: for no sooner was Edward past this danger, but many of the Nobility with mighty Forces repaired to him. Whereupon forgetting his oath, he takes upon him the title of King, and marched directly to Coventry, fierce in his desire to give Warwick battle, who lay there encamped; and now his Brother Clarence with all his Forces forsakes his Father-in-law the Earl of Warwick, and joins with his Brother. Hereupon uniting their Forces they march up to London, which after some show of resistance, submitted its self. Warwick having now joined with his Brother Montague, follows after him; whom to oppose, King Edward having settled the Town to his obedience, led forth his Army; at St. Alban they both met, where betwixt them was fought a most bloody battle, in which the Earl of Warwick and his Brother Montague valiantly fight were both slain, and their whole Army totally routed. To this violent end came the Earl of Warwick, and indeed how was it possible such a stormy life could expect a calmer death; he was questionless valiant, for a Coward durst not have thought those dangers into which he entered upon the slightest quarrels. His soul was never quiet, distasted still with the present; and his pride like a foolish builder, so delighted to pull down and set up, that at length part of the frame that himself had raised, fell upon him and crushed him to death. His varying so in approving contrary Titles, shown either a strange levity in judgement, or else that ambition, not conscience, ruled his actions. In sum, that greatness he so violently laboured to confirm in his posterity, came all to nothing; Almighty God ruining their designs, who think by policy (though contrary to Religion) to perpetuate their posterity. The Life of King RICHARD the Third. FRom the pen of so credible an Author as Sir Tho. Moor was (to other Historians) chief derived the History of this King; they so admiring and trusting to what he delivered, that without any alteration of his words (an unusual respect) we have hitherto (except two or three other Modern differing Writers) received all from the Knight's Tradition. He was a person indeed of unquestioned integrity, but how carefully and honestly his Works by others might be published after his death is not yet well determined. Sir Simon D'ewes Mr. Selden, and other eminent Antiquaries of our times, being in their learned discourses often too sensible of some abuses offered to the Chronicle of this Richard. The truth is, if as in respect of our own times, we have known the best of men so traduce, certainly where there hath been some more than ordinary failings, envious persons will think they cannot render him odious, or ugly enough. Richard the Third vulgarly known by the name of Crook-Backt, and so delivered by some Historians and Poets, with what truth I know not, since his Picture drawn in his life, and as it is said to be to the life, still preserved and suffered by his great enemy Henry the Seventh in the Long Gallery in White-Hall, denotes the contrary, and shows him him to be of a sweet and gracious aspect. And John Stow, who always took great pains in his inquiry of the relations of the persons of Princes, says, That he had spoken with some ancient men, who from their own sight and knowledge affirm that he was of body and shape comely. Neither did John Rouce who knew him, and wrote much in his description, observes any otherwise. But whether crooked or no, if his actions were strait, posterity hath the less to censure him. He was the youngest Son of Richard Plantagenet, the fourth Duke of York of that Royal Family; born at the Castle of Fotheringham, or as some writ, the Castle of Berkhamsteed, about the year of our Lord 1450. a dutiful Son to his Father, and a Loyal Subject to his Brother, who stood always firm to his side in that great defection of the Duke of Clarence, and Earl of Warwick, as we have declared in the preceding life. At the death of his Brother King Edward, he was chosen Lord Protector; and afterwards by the importunity of the people (knowing his Abilities) forced to take upon him the Regal Power, and confirmed by Act of Parliament. Therefore their cavils are vain, and discover an extreme malice and envy unto him, that report him to have obtained the Sovereignty by indirect means. As for his abilities for government, hear Reverend Cambden, an Author without exception, Fuit dignissimus regno, &c, non inter malos sed bonos Principes, commemorandus. That he was most worthy to Reign, and to be numbered amongst the good, not bad Princes. And indeed those many and good Laws enacted in his time demonstrate him a good King, though some have reported him to be a bad Man. He was Crowned at Westminster with great solemnity, most of the Peers of the Land being present; soon after his Coronation, he sent to the French King for his Tribute, formerly paid to his Brother Edward, in leiu of the Duchy and Countries of Aquitain, Normandy, Poictou, and Maine, etc. and now detained by the French King; and doubtless King Richard had still compelled him to continue it, had not eruptions of State and tumultary practices fatally diverted his Sword. Soon after was a Parliament called, wherein was attainted of High Treason, Henry Earl of Richmond, John Earl of Oxford, Thomas Marques of Dorset, Jasper Earl of Pembroke, Lionel Bishop of Salisbury, Pierce Bishop of Exeter, the Lady Margaret Countess of Richmond, Thomas Morton Bishop of Ely, with many others. King Edward's Children, for whom the world so much censures him, were adjudged uncapable of Government, and the Crown by a Parliament in those days confirmed to King Richard, in these words. It is declared, pronounced, decreed, confirmed; and established, by the authority of this present assembly of Parliament, that King Richard the Third is the true and undoubted King of this Realm, as well by right of Consanguinity and Heritage, as by lawful Election and Coronation, etc. So that here to tax so general an assent, were to say, there were not one honest nor just man in that High Court; and what greater scandal to the whole Kingdom, and to those that have since succeeded them. But as Honour is always attended on by Envy, so hath this worthy Prince's fame been blasted by malicious traducers, who like Shakespeare in his Play of him, render him dreadfully black in his actions, a monster of nature rather than a man of admirable parts, whose slanders having been examined by wise and moderate men, they have only found malice and ignorance to have been his greatest accusers, persons who can only lay suspicion to his charge; and suspicion in Law is no more guilt than imagination, as the divine Father Chrysostom faith, A good man hardly suspecteth another to be evil; but an evil man scarcely supposeth any to be good. King Richard had three great Favourites, as Princes are seldom without some, and those according to the constant custom of the World must be envied; Catesby, Ratcliffe, and Lovel: King Richards own Arms being the Boar, upon which one Collingborne of the West fancied this Libel, which in those times was received for excellent Wit. The Cat, the Rat, and Lovel the Dog, Rule all England under a Hog. But leaving such trifles, to return to King Richard. Henry Earl of Richmond ambitious of Sovereignty, envying his prosperity, practices with foreign Princes, and confederates with the English Nobles, for Assistance and Forces against King Richard. The chief abettor in England he had on his side was the Duke of Buckingham, one who had formerly constantly adhered to King Richard's side; but being by him denied the Earldom of Hereford, and Constableship of England, grew discontented, took up Arms, was defeated, and afterwards by Marshal Law put to death. Yet did not this break the neck of Henry's design, but having by his fair deportment gained Force; from the Duke of Britain, and some other Princes envious of the prosperity of the House of York, Richmond putteth forth to Sea, and lands at Milford-Haven in Wales; after some refreshing he marches to a Town called Haverford-West, where the people (who flocked to him in great number) welcomed him as a Prince, descended from their ancient Princes of Wales: the people generally being very noble, and loving to their British Kindred. Hither came to him with great Forces, the Earl of Salop, Sir Rice ap Thomas, Sir Walter Herbert, Sir John Savage, Sir Gilbert Talbot, and many others. His Army thus strong and united, he passes the Severne, and marches to Leichfield. King Richard hearing of his arrival prepareth against him, but though he thought the Nobility generally cemented to his side, yet found he a general defluxion from them to the other side; the Earl of Surrey, the Earl of Westmoreland, Viscount Lovel, and John Duke of Norfolk being the principal that stuck to him; which last, was much importuned to have fallen off from him: the night before the Battle one writing this Rhyme upon his Gate. Jack of Norfolk be not too bold, For Dicken thy master is bought and sold. But he regarding more his fidelity, than any danger that could befall him, doubles his care and diligence on the behalf of his Sovereign. The Earl of Northumberland, who had received great favours from the King, and who had in his Name raised Forces, being sent for by him, refused to come; pretending for his disobedience, certain dreams, wherein he was forewarned by his Father for to fight on King Richard's side. But the greatest defection was in the Lord Stanley, who notwithstanding he had left his Son George Stanley as a Pledge of his faith with the King, yet revolted to the other side. King Richard notwithstanding all these disadvantages, having encouraged his Army, giveth Richmond a Battle; where valiantly fight, after he had with his own hands slain Sir Charles Brandon the Earls Standard-bearer, and unhorsed Sir John Cheny, and shown himself a most Heroic Person, being overpowered with multitude, he was slain on the place. With him died the Duke of Norfolk, the Earl of Surrey was taken Prisoner, and the whole Army quite defeated. This Battle was fought at a Village called Bosworth near to Leicester. The Victor was crowned in the Field by Sir William Stanley with King Richard's Crown, which he as a valiant and confident Master of his right had worn that day. King Richard's dead body after it was most barbarously mangled and wounded, was thrown behind one upon a lean Jade, and so conveyed to Leicester; where at last it obtained a bed of earth, honourably appointed by the order of King Henry the Seventh, in the chief Church of Leicester, called Saint Maries, belonging to the Order and Society of Grey Friars, the King in short time after causing a fair Tomb of mingled coloured Marble, adorned with his Statue, to be erected thereupon. And notwithstanding the times were such when this great Prince lived, that he had scarcely time to sheathe his sword, yet left he behind him many Monuments of his Piety. He founded a Collegiate Church of Priests in Middleham in Yorkshire; another College of Priests in London in Tower-street, near to the Church called our Lady Barking; he built a Church or Chapel in Towton in Glocestershire; he founded a College in York convenient for the entertainment of an hundred Priests; he built the high stone Tower at Westminster, and when he had repaired and fortified the Castle of Carlisle, he founded and built the Castle of Perrith in Cumberland. He began many other good Works, which his sudden fat prevented, as Polidor Virgil witnesseth: which Works and Monuments of Piety, show not the Acts of a Tyrant. I shall end all with this Eulogy, which a learned Writer gives him. King Richard was a stout valiant person, ever indulgent to his People, careful to have their Laws duly observed, his making so many good ones, if they signified not some goodness in himself, were evident arguments of his more than ordinary love to Law and Justice. The Life of THOMAS HOWARD Earl of SURREY. THomas Howard Earl of Surrey; in his time the Ornament of Mars and the Muses, was Son to Sir. John Howard Knight, first made Baron by King Edward the Fourth, and afterwards Duke of Norfolk by King Richard the Third, in whose quarrel he was slain. This noble Earl his Son having been well educated, and afterwards trained up in Court, his Martial mind hating those silken pleasures admired of Courtiers, he with divers other young Gentlemen, went over to Charles Duke of Burgundy, who then had Wars with Lewis King of France, in whose quarrel he behaved himself so gallantly, that he won the honour and reputation of a most expert Commander. At his return King Edward for his valour bestowed on him the Order of Knighthood, to whose side he constantly adhered in that great difference betwixt him and the House of Lancaster. That quarrel being ended by the overthrow of Warwick, he afterwards did excellent service in the Wars betwixt him and Lewis the French King. King Edward being dead, and the Crown (by joint consent both of Peers and People) placed on King Richard's head, and after confirmed by Act of Parliament, he with his Father the Duke of Norfolk held firm to his side, notwithstanding the many solicitations he had from Henry Earl of Richmond, and the Lords of his faction; who to draw them off from Richard's side, that morning in which Bosworth Field was fought, was found a world of papers strewed before Norfolk's door. Yet notwithstanding all this, he regarding more his oath, his honour, and promise made to King Richard, like a faithful Subject absented not himself from his Master; but as he faithfully lived under him, so he manfully died with him. But to return to his Son the Earl of Surrey: in this Battle he had the leading of the Archers, which King Richard had placed in the forefront as a Bulwark to defend the rest; the undaunted courage of this Earl, and his resolute brave carriage being taken prisoner, are delineated to the life by the renowned Sir John Beaumond, in his everliving Poem of Bosworth Field; which if to some it may seem a long Quotation, the goodness of the lines will recompense the tediousness of reading them. Courageous Talbot had with Surrey met, And after many blows gins to fret; That one so young in Arms should thus unmoved, Resist his strength so oft in war approved. And now the Earl beholds his Father's fall, Whose death like horrid darkness frighted all: Some give themselves as Captives, others fly; But this young Lion casts his generous eye On Mowbray's Lion, painted in his shield, And with that King of Beasts repines to yield: The Field (saith he) in which the Lion stands Is blood, and blood I offer to the hands Of daring foes; but never shall my flight Die black my Lion, which as yet is white. His Enemies (like cunning Huntsmen) strive In binding snares to take their prey alive, While he desires t' expose his naked breast, And thinks the sword that deepest strikes is best. Young Howard single with an Army fights, When moved with pity, two renowned Knights, Strong Clarindon, and valiant Coniers try To rescue him, in which attempt they die. Now Surrey fainting, scarce his Sword can hold; Which made a common Soldier grow so bold, To lay rude hands upon that noble Flower, Which he disdaining, (anger gives him power) Erects his weapon with a nimble round, And sends the Peasants Arm to kiss the ground. This done, to Talbot he presents his Blade, And saith, It is not hope of life hath made This my submission, but my strength is spent; And some perhaps of villain blood will vent My weary soul: this favour I demand, That I may die by your victorious hand. Nay God forbidden, that any of my name, (Quoth Talbot) should put out so bright a flame, As burns in thee (brave Youth) where thou hast erred; It was thy Father's fault, since he preferred A Tyrant's Crown before the juster side. The Earl still mindful of his birth replied, I wonder Talbot, that thy noble heart Insults on ruins of the vanquished part: We had the right, if now to you it flow, The fortune of your Swords hath made it so: I never will my luckless choice repent, Nor can it slain mine honour or descent. Set England's Royal Wreath upon a stake, There will I fight, and not the place forsake. And if the will of God hath so disposed, That Richmond's Brow be with the Crown enclosed, I shall to him or his give doubtless signs, That duty in my thoughts, not faction shines. Which he proved to be most true in the whole course of his life; for having continued prisoner in the Tower three years and a half, the Earl of Lincoln, confederating with one Lambert Simnel, raised an Army against the King: the Lieutenant of the Tower favouring their enterprise, freely offered the Earl licence to departed out at his pleasure; which he refused, saying, That he that commanded him thither, should command him out again. The King understanding of his fidelity, not only released him of his imprisonment. but took him into a more specal regard, and soon had he an occasion to make trial of him: a great insurrection happening in the North, wherein the Rebels were grown so potent, that they slew the Earl of Northumberland in the field, and took the City of York by assault; against these King Henry assembles a great power making the Earl of Surrey Chief Captain of his Vanguard; who so behaved himself, that the Rebel's forces were dissipated, their chief Leaders taken, and soon after executed. The King noting his great prudence and magnanimity, made him Lieutenant General from Trent Northward, had Warden of the East and middle Marches, and Justice of the Forests from Trent Northwards: in which offices he continued the space of ten years; during which time, the Scots having committed some outrages upon the Borders, he made a road into Tivydale, where he burned and destroyed all before him: returning with great spoils and honour, Not long after he made another road into Scotland, returning with like success; James the fifth, than King of Scotland, raised a great power to withstand him, and sent to the Earl a challenge to fight with him hand to hand, which he accepted; but the King into his demands, would have the Country or Lands then in Controversy, to be made Brabium Victoris, which was without the Earls power to engage, being the inheritance of the King his Master; but he proffers better Lands of his own upon the Combat, which was not accepted, and so nothing was concluded. A peace being concluded with the Scots, he was called home, and made Lord Treasurer of England, & of the Privy Council, living in great Honour and reputation all the days of King Henry; who dying, his Son Henry that succeeded him, added to his other dignities, the high Martialship of England; and going in person with an Army into France, left him Lieutenant General from Trent Northward, to defend the Realm against the Scots: for James the Fifth, King of Scotland, notwithstanding he were King Henry's Brother-in-law, yet did so firmly adhere to the French, that to divert King Henry's proceed, in his own person, with a mighty Army he invades England. The Earl of Surrey to oppose him raiseth what Forces he could, and at a place called Flodden it came to a pitched field, which was fought with great courage and valour; but God who owned the just cause of the English, crowned them with success, and set the Palm of Victory on the Earl of Surrey's head. The Scottish King being slain, and with him two Bishops, eleven Earls, seventeen Barons, four hundred Knights, besides other Gentlemen, and seventeen thousand common Soldiers. The Earl for these services was by the King at his return home, highly rewarded, and restored to the Dukedom of Norfolk, his Father's Dignity. Soon after was he sent chief Commissioner with the Lady Mary, the King's sister, to be married unto Lewis the French King; and after his return home, the King and Queen going to Guines to visit the French King, he was made Protector of the Realm in his absence. Old age seizing on him, he obtained leave of the King to spend the remainder of his days at Framlingham Castle, an honourable Mansion of his own; where he continued, and kept a bountiful house to the time of his death, which happened in the fourscore and sixth year of his age. He was buried at Thetford Abbey in Norfolk, dying after a most generous life, worth a large estate; so clear from debt, that at his death he owed not one groat to any person whatsoever: an unusual happiness to attend so great a Soldier and Courtier as he was. From this famous Duke is descended the Right Honourable James Earl of Suffolk, whose great Grandfather Thomas Howard Duke of Norfolk married Margaret sole Daughter and Heir to Sir Thomas Audley, Lord Chancellor of England; by whom he had issue, Thomas Lord Howard of Walden, and Earl of Suffolk, who built that magnificent Structure at Audley-end, who left the same to his Son and Heir Theophilus, a worthy Gentleman, the Father of James Earl of Suffolk now living, Anno 1659. To whom with his most virtuous Lady, I wish all increase of true honour and felicity. To the greater honour of these Progenies, this Heroic Earl died so much a Laureate, that his Songs and Sonnets by all those that rightly understand Poetry, are looked upon as in those days to have been the Muses Parnassus: so that for his Epitaph there needed no more to be writ, but that here lies interred. The greatest Courtier, the most valiant Soldier, and the most accomplished Poet of those times. The Life of CARDINAL WOLSEY. Fortunae variantis opus Wolsaeus ad alta, Scandit iter dubium, certa minitante ruina. CArdinal Wolsey the Tennis-ball, of Fortune was born at Ipswich in Suffolk, of so poor and despicable Parents, that were his story of an ancient date, and not delivered by Authentic Historians, it might pass for a fiction; his Father being no more but a poor Butcher: from so low a beginning did he rise to the highest pitch of honour. His Education in youth was at Oxford, in Maudlin College, from thence he was preferred to be Schoolmaster to the Marquis of Dorsets Children, where he first learned to be imperious over noble blood: the Marquis dying, Wolsey went into France to seek his Fortune, and coming to Calais, became servant to Sir John Naphant then Treasurer of the Town; where he behaved himself with so great discretion, that his Master shortly preferred him to King Henry the Seventh. Having thus cast Anchor at Court, the Haven of hope, and Port of Promotion, he was more than double diligent in the King's eye, and very serviceable to Doctor Fox Bishop of Wincheter, Secretary, and Lord Privy Seal, as also to Sir Thomas Lovel Master of the Wards, and Constable of the Tower, who persuaded King Henry having urgent business with Maximilian the Emperor, to send Wolsey in Embassage unto him, being at that present in the Country of Flanders; who returned again before he was thought to be gone, and withal concluded some Points forgot in his directions, to the height contentment of King Henry; for the which he bestowed upon him the Deanery of Lincoln, and not long after made him his Almoner. But King Henry's day now drawing towards night, he adores the rising Sun Prince Henry; and having found the length of his foot, fitteth him with an easy shoe, well knowing there could be no loss to humour him, who was so able to give: nor was he deceived in his expectation, for Henry afterwards coming to be King, and having conquered the City of Tourney in France, bestowed the Bishopric of the same upon Wolsey; and not long after made him Bishop of Lincoln, and Archbishop of York. And now being Primas Anglia, carried himself accordingly, by erecting his Cross in the King's Court, although within the Jurisdiction of Canterbury; which high presumption William Archbishop of Canterbury greatly checked. But Wolsey not abiding any Superious, obtained to be made Priest, Cardinal, and Legatus de Latere, unto whom the Pope sent a Cardinal's Hat, with certain Bulls for his Authority in that behalf. And now remembering the taunts he had received from Canterbury, found means with the King, that he was made Lord Chancellor of England, and Canterbury which was Chancellor dismissed who had continued in that place long since before the death of King Henry the Seventh. Wolsey now sitting at the Helm of Church and State, had two Crosses and two Pillars born ever before him (the one of his Archbishopric, the other of his Legacy) by two of the tallest Priests that were to be found in the Realm. To the better maintenance of which chargeable estate, the King bestowed on him the Bishopric of Winchester; and in Commendam, the Abbey of St. Alban; and with them he held in Farm the Bishoprics of , Worcester, and Hereford, enjoyed by stranger's incumbents, not residing in the Realm; so that now being Bishop of Tourney, Lincoln, York, Winchester, , Worcester, and Hereford, he seemed a Monster with seven heads, and each of them crowned with the Mitre of a Bishop; far different from the state of his Lord and Master Christ, who had not a hole wherein to hid his head. Yet his ambition resteth not here, next he aspires to the Triple Crown, he only wants Holiness, and must be Pope; to the attaining of which Dignity he makes means to the Romish Cardinals, as also to the Emperor Charles the Fifth: Gold he gave to the Cardinals, and they gave him golden promises, although they proved but empty performances; nor did the Emperor serve him any better, promising much, but performing nothing. Wolsey hereat enraged, studies revenge, and by his instruments seeks to make a divorce betwixt Queen Katherine Dowager, the Emperor's Aunt, and King Henry the Eighth his Master, thereby to advance a Marriage betwixt him and the King of France's sister. But though he effected the one, he failed in the other; for contrary to his expectation, King Henry fell in love with Anna Bullen, a Gentlewoman nothing favourable to his Pontificial Pomp nor no great follower of the Rites of those times; which moved the Cardinal (the Pope having assumed the sentence of Queen Katherine's cause unto himself) to write unto his Holiness to defer the judgement of Divorce till he had wrought the King's mind in another mould. But though this was done secretly, it came to the King's ear, and wrought his mind quite off from the Cardinal, which finally was the cause of his confusion: for upon the King's dislike, the Counsel articled against him, and the Law found him in a Praemunire, for procuring to be Legatus de latere, and advancing the Pope's Power against the Laws of the Realm; for which resentment the King's displeasure was so incensed, that the Broad Seal was taken from him, and most of his other Spiritual Preferments, his house and furniture seized on to the King's use, and himself removed to Cawood Castle in Yorkshire. Yet was he still left Bishop of Winchester, and Archbishop of York, to which last, providing for his installing state equivalent to a King's Coronation, he was arrested of high treason by the Earl of Northumberland; (for words importing a desire of revenge saith Sleidan) from thence he was conveyed towards London by the Lieutenant of the Tower; in which journey, at Leicester Abbey he ended his life, breathing out his soul with speeches to his effect. Had I been as careful to serve the God of Heaven as I have been to comply to the will of my earthly King, God would not have left me in my old age as the other hath done. Some have imagined he poisoned himself, as not willing to survive his great glory; and some have thought he was poisoned by others, that with his feathers they might build themselves nests. Surely the fall of this stately oak caused the growth of much underwood; many rising by his ruin, raising themselves great estates out of the fragments of his fall. He left behind him these glorious monuments of fame, the buildings of Christ-Church White-Hall, Hampton-Court, Windsor. His Master King Henry lived in the two first, his Tomb being erected in the last. Some Historians writ that his body swelled after his death, as his mind when he was living, with his Ego et Rex meus, On which ambition of the Cardinal, one wrote these verses. Dicere Gramatices ratio permittit, Ego & Rex; Ethica te jubet ars dicere, Rex & Ego. Haec est nimirum vivendi ars, illa loquendi, Principis haec Aulae serviat, illa Scholae. The Life of Sir THOMAS MOOR. Hic est ille Thomas plebis de pulvere magnus, Qui tulit incanum Principis ira caput. SIr Thomas Moor, one of the greatest Ornaments of his time, was a man of those high employments, and of so great parts to go thorough them, that he is deservedly placed amongst our English Worthies. He was the Son of Sir John Moor Knight, and one of the Justices of the King's Bench, a man singular for his many rare perfections. His Birth place was at Milk-street in London, the year of our Lord 1480. Having attained some skill in the Latin Tongue, Cardinal Morton Archbishop of Canterbury, and Lord High Chancellor of England, took him into his house, where his wit and admirable deportment appeared to be such, that the Cardinal would often say of him to the Nobles that several times dined with him, This Child here waiting at the Table, whosoever shall live to see it, will prove the miracle of men. For his better proficiency in learning, the Cardinal placed him in Canterbury College in Oxford (now called Christ-Church,) where when he was both in the Greek and Latin Tongue sufficiently instructed, he was then for the study of the Law put into one of the Inns of Chancery, called New Inn; where for his time he highly improved: from thence he removed to Lincolns-Inne, where he was made an Utter-Barrister, where for some time he read a Public Lecture of St. Austin, de Civitate Dei, in the Church of St. Laurence in the Old Jury. Afterwards he was made Reader of Furnivalls-Inne, where he continued for the space of above three years; after which time he gave himself up to his devotions in the of London, living religiously there for the space of four years. Soon after he married the Daughter of Mr. John Colt of New Hall in Essex, by whom he had one Son and three Daughters; whom from their youth he brought up in virtue and learning. About this time his rare endowments began to be looked upon with a public eye, which caused him to be called to the Bench, and soon after chosen a Burgess of Parliament, which happened in the latter end of King Henry the Sevenths' Reign; who demanding one Subsidy and three fifteen for the Marriage of his eldest Daughter the Lady Margaret, unto the King of the Scots; Sir Thomas making a grave Speech, argued so strongly why these exactions were not to be granted, that thereby the King's demands were frustrated, and his request denied: by which occasion he fell so deeply into the King's displeasure, that for his own safeguard he was determined to have gone over Sea, had not the King soon after died, which somewhat mitigated his fear, and altered his resolution. After this he was made one of the under Sheriffs of London, by which office and his practice in Law, he gained an estate of four hundred pounds per annum. Now his learning wisdom, knowledge, and experience was grown into such note, behaving himself so admirably, that he gained a general applause from all men; and fell into such an estimation with King Henry the Eighth, that he made him master of the Requests, soon after Knight, and one of his Privy Council; and so from time to time advanced him; continuing still in his singular favour and trusty service twenty years and above: his pleasant disposition and readiness of wit so gaining him into King Henry's favour, that upon the death of Mr. Weston, Treasurer of the Exchequer, the King bestowed on him the office of Treasurer; and not long after made him Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. To render his History the more pleasant, take these few tastes of the sharpness of his Wit Cambden reports of him that he used to compare the great number of women to be chosen for Wives, unto a bag full of Snakes having amongst them but one Eel; now if a man puts his hand into this bag, he may chance to light on the Eel, but 'tis a hundred to one if he be not stung with a Snake. Being in company where the master of the house commended his Beer for the well relish of the Hop, Sir Thomas replied, but had it hopped a little further, it had hopped into the Thames. A supposed bribe being put upon Sir Thomas, a great gilt Cup presented to him; he being called before the King's Council to answer this accusation, Sir Thomas acknowledged that he did receive the Cup for a New-years-gift; after some importunities he received it, but immediately he caused his Butler to fill it with Wine, and therein drank to the Gentlewoman that presented it, and when that she had pledged him, he as freely gave it her again for a New-year's gift for her Husband. This great Mountain of his accusation being brought scarcely to a little Mosehill. When he was Justice of Peace he used to go to the Sessions at New Gate, where one of the Ancientest Justice of Peace of the Bench was used to chide persons when their Purses had been cut, for not being more careful; telling them, that their negligence was the cause that so many Cutpurses were brought thirther. Sir Thomas obs rving him to repeat this caution so often, sent for one of the chiefest Cutpurses that was in prison, and promised him to save him harmless if he would but cut the said Justice's Purse the next day as he sat on the Bench, and when he had done to make a sign of it to him. The day after when they sat again, the Thief was called one of the first; who being accused of the fact, said, he did not doubt but that he could sufficiently excuse himself, if he were permitted to speak to some of the Bench in private: Being bid to choose whom he would, he choose the grave old Justice, who then had his pouch at his girdle, as they wore them in those days; and whilst that he whispers him in the ear, he slily cuts his purse. Sir Thomas knowing by the sign that the business was dispatched, presently took occasion to move the Bench to distribute some alms upon a poor needy fellow that was there, and for example sake began first himself; the old Justice when he looked for his purse found it cut away; and much wondering, said, He was confident he brought it with him. Sir Thomas Moor replied pleasantly, What will you charge any of us with Felony? The Justice's colour rising (as he was ashamed) he calls the Cutpurse, and bids him give him his purse again; and withal advised the good old Justice hereafter not to be so bitter a censurer of other innocent men's negligences, when as himself could not secure his purse in that open Assembly. It chanced another time, that a Beggars little Dog which she had lost was sent to the Lady Moor for a present, she kept it a week being much pleased and delighted with it; but at last the Beggar having notice where her Dog was, came and complained to Sir Thomas, as he was sitting in his Hall at Chelsey, that his Lady kept her Dog from her: presently my Lady was sent for, and the Dog brought with her; which Sir Thomas taking in his arms, he caused his Wife to stand at the upper end of the Hall, and the Beggar at the lower end. Then saying that he sat there to do every one justice, he bade each of them call the Dog; which when they did, the Dog ran presently to the Beggar, forsaking his Wife; which when he saw, he desired her to be contented, for it was none of hers: yet she repining at the sentence, he agreed with the Beggar, and gave her a piece of Gold. All parties being satisfied, every one smiling at this strange discovery of truth. Sir Thomas Moor demanding his money of one that was in his debt, spoke this sentence in Latin to Sir Thomas Moor, Memento morieris; to which Sir Thomas presently replied, What say you, Sir, Memento Mori aeris, Remember Moor's money. It is also storied of him, that whereas upon Holy Days during his High Chancellourship, one of his Gentlemen when Service was done at Church used to come to his Lady's Pew, and say, Madam, my Lord is gone. The next Holy Day after his surrender of his office of Chancellourship, and putting off his former retinue of Gentlemen, he came to his Wife's Pew himself, and making a low congee, said, Madam, my Lord is gone. It is further reported of him, that when he was sent by his Master Henry the Eighth into Germany, that a little before he delivered his Embassage to the Emperor, he bid one of his servants to fill him a Beer-glasse of wine, which he drunk off twice, commanding his servant to bring him a third; he knowing Sir Thomas Moor's temperance, that he was not used to drink, at the first refused to fill him another, as he told Sir Thomas of the weight of his employment: But his servant not daring to deny his Master the third glass, Sir Thomas made his immediate address to the Emperor, and spoke his Oration in Latin, to the admiration of all the Auditors. Afterwards Sir Thomas merrily ask his man what he thought of his speech, he said, that he deserved to govern three parts of the World, and he believed if he had drunk the other glass, the Elegancy of his Language might have purchased the other part of the World. Another time a certain Friend of his presented him with a Book which he intended to publish, (being well conceited of his own Wit, which no body else thought worth the reading) because he would Sir Thomas should oversee it ere it were printed, he brought it to him; who perusing it, and finding nothing therein worthy the Press, said with a grave countenance, If it were in Verse, it would deserve better. Upon which words he went and turned it into verse, & then brought it again to Sir Thomas, who looking thereon said soberly, Yea marry, now it is somewhat; for it is Rhyme now, before it was neither Rhyme nor Reason. Infinite are the conceited expressions that continually fell from him. But to return from whence we have digressed, during the time he was Chancellor of the Duchy, he was twice made Ambassador, joined in Commission with Cardinal Wolsey, once to the Emperor Charles into Flanders, the other time to the French King into France. Being once at Bruges in Flanders, where an arrogant fellow had set up a Thesis, that he would answer any question could be propounded unto him in what Art soever: Of whom when Sir Tho. Moor heard, he laughed, and made this Question to be put up for him to answer, Whether Averia capta in Withernamia sunt irreplegebilia: adding, that there was one of the English Ambassadors Retinue that would thereof dispute with him. This bragging Thraso, not so much as understanding those Terms of our Common Law, knew not what to answer to it; and so he became ridiculous to the whole City for his presumptuous bragging. The Sea of Rome being now void, Cardinal Wolsey ambitiously seeketh for the place, but by means of the Emperor Charles the First was disappointed; whereupn the Cardinal (as we have recorded in his Life) to be revenged on the Emperor, and to ingratiate himself with the French King, endeavours a Divorce betwixt King Henry and Queen Katherine, Aunt to the Emperor, thereby to procure him to match with the French Kings sister. And for the better accomplishing thereof, he requested Longland Bishop of London, and Ghostly Father to the King, to put a scruple into the King's head, that it was not lawful for him to marry his Brother's Wife: which the King not sorry to hear of, opened it first to Sir Thomas Moor, whose counsel he required therein, of purpose quoting certain places of Scripture that seemed to serve his turn. Sir Thomas Moor unwilling to displease the King by discovering his opinion, began to excuse himself (as one that had never professed the study of Divinity) to be every way unfit to meddle with such matters; the King not satisfied with this answer, still pressed upon him so sore for it, that in conclusion he condescended to his request. And further, because the business was of such weight and importance, as required advisement, and good deliberation, he besought his Grace that he would give him sufficient time seriously to consider it; wherewith the King very well contented, told him that Tunstal and Clark, Bishops of Durham and , with others the most learned of his privy Council, should also confer with him therein. Sir Thomas Moor departing, compared those places of Scripture with the Expositions of divers of the old Doctors; and at his next coming to the Court, discoursing to his Majesty his opinion of the foresaid matter, he said, To be plain with your Grace, neither my Lord of Durham, nor my Lord of , (though I know them both to be wise, virtuous, learned and honourable Prelates) nor myself with the rest of your Council, (being all of us your Majesties own Servants, so much bound unto your Highness for your great favours daily bestowed upon us) be, in my judgement, meet Counselors for your Grace herein; but if your Highness please to understand the very truth, you may have such Counselors elected, as neither for respect of their own worldly profit, nor for fear of your Princely displeasure, will be inclined to partiality. He then quoted Saint Hierome, Saint Austin, and divers other Fathers and Holy Doctors, both Greek and Latin, showing what authority he had gathered out of them for what he said; which although it was against the grain, not so pleasant to the King, as not agreeing to his desires; yet Sir Thomas Moor (had in all his communication with the King in this business) so discreetly demeaned himself, that at that present the King did not distaste what he said, and often afterwards had conference with him about the same case of Conscience. For the further trial and examination of this Matrimony scruple, a Commission was sent from Rome, in which Cardinal Campeius and Cardinal Wolsey were joined Commissioners; who for the determination thereof sat at Black Friars in London: the King and Queen being cited to appear before them. In the prosecution of which busisiness, the King took such distaste at Wolsey, that he displaced him of his office of Lord Chancellor, and bestowed the same on Sir Thomas Moor, the better to draw him to his side; but he valuing more the quiet of his Conscience then any Prince's honour in the world, fell down on his knees, desiring his Majesty's favour to employ him in any Affair, in which with integrity of his Conscience he might truly serve God and him: to which the King courteously answered, that if he could not therein with his Conscients serve, he was content to accept of his service otherwise, and take the advice of other his learned Council, whose consciences would well enough dispense with it; yet that he would nevertheless continue his wont favour towards him, and no more molest or trouble his mind with that business. Upon Sir Thomas Moor's entrance into this last honourable preferment, every one might perceive a very strange alteration: for whereas the precedent Chancellor Wolsey would scarce look or speak to any, into whose only presence none could be admitted unless his fingers were tipped with Gold; on the contrary, this Chancellor, the poorer and meaner the Suppliant was, the more affable he was to him, and the more attentively he would hearken to his cause, and with speedy trial dispatch him; for which purpose he used commonly every afternoon to fit in his Hall, that if any person whatsoever had any suit unto him, they might the more boldly come to his presence, and open their complaints before him, and find sudden redress. It is reported of him that whereas our pick pocket Lawyers with longwinded Chancery Demurs, to the undoing of thousands; keep off business, his practice was, if it were to be done with conveniency, to dispatch a Cause at the first hearing; for which reason a Writer wittily calls him Sir Thomas Plus; because before he risen off from the Bench, he always used to ask if there were any more Causes. Thus the greatness of honour, the change of his place altered him not; Sir Themas remained still the same good man that he was, his humility was the same. It being observed of him, that every day as he passed through the Hall to his place in the Chancery, by the Court of the King's Bench, where his Father was one of the Judges, that he would go into the Court, and there reverently kneeling down, in the fight of them all, duly ask his Father Blessing. I shall only add one story more concerning his humility in the height of his honour; the Duke of Norfolk coming on a time to Chelsey to dine with him, happened to find him in the Church singing in the Choir, with a surplice on his back; to whom after Service as they went homeward hand in hand together, the Duke said, God's Body, my Lord Chancellor, what a Parish Clerk a Parish Clerk; you dishonour the King and his Office: nay, said Sir Thomas, smiling upon the Duke, Your Grace may not think your master and mine will be offended with me for serving of God his Master, of thereby count his office dishonoured. To proceed, King Henry determining to marry the Lady Anne Cleve, for his better proceeding in this affair called a Parliament, where he with the Bishops and Nobles of the upper House, were commanded by the King to go down to the Commons, to show unto them both what the Universities as well of other parts beyond the Seas, as at Oxford and Cambridge, had done therein; their Seals also testifying the same; all which at the King's request (not showing of what judgement himself was therein) he declared unto the lower House: yet doubting least further attempts should after follow, which contrary to his Conscience (by reason of his office) he was likely to be put unto, he made suit unto the Duke of Norfolk, his singular dear friend, to be a means to the King, that he might with his Majesty's favour be discharged of that chargeable office of Chancellourship; wherein for certain infirmities of his body, he pretended himself unable any longer to serve. To which purpose the Duke soliciting the King, obtained of him a clear discharge from the same, with thanks and praise for his worthy service herein. And not underservedly, his integrity, nobleness, and charity being so great that notwithstanding he had gone thorough so many offices for almost twenty years, he was not able to purchase more than one hundred pounds a year. Touching his troubles, they began first by occasion of a certain Nun dwelling in Canterbury, who affirmed that she had revelations from God to give the King warning of his wicked life, and of the abuse of the Sword and Authority committed to him. This Nun conferring with Bishop Fisher and Sir Thomas Moor about the same, they advised her to go to the King herself, and to let him understand the whole circumstance thereof: whereupon at the Parliament following, there was a Bill put into the lower House, to attach the Nun with divers other Religious persons of High Treason, and the Bishop of Rochester, Sir Thowas Moor, and some others of misprision of Treason. Divers other accusations came thick and threefold upon him; and doubtless had he not been one of a singular integrity, and free from all corruption of wrong doing, or bribes taking, these accusations had overwhelmed him: but they all falling short of the mischievous design that was on foot against him, a trick was found not to take him off, which those that contrived it were certain could not but take, as they knew that he was of so tender a conscience as that they could not fail of their project; he was cited to appear at Lambeth before the Bishop of Canterbury, the Lord Chancellor, and Secretary Cromwell, to take the oath of Supremacy, and Succession; which he refusing, he was committed to the custody of the Abbot of Westminster for four days, and afterwards, by the importunity of Queen Anne, to the Tower. Whereat his landing, Mr. Lieutenant was ready to receive him, the Porter of the Tower demanded of him his upper Garment, Mr. Porter, said he, here it is; and took off his Cap and gave it him, saying, I am sorry it is no better for thee: no Sir, said the Porter, I must have your Gown, which he gave him. This his pleasantness certainly argued a confidence he had in the justness of his cause. After many endeavours during his abode in the Tower, to get his consent to the taking of the Oath, all which proving fruitless, after a years imprisonment, he was called to his arraignment at the King's Bench Bar, where his Indictment being read, he pleaded not guilty; and to the admiration of the hearers, so quitted himself, that he put the Bench to a stand; until at the last one Mr. Rich the King's Solicitor deposited against him, that he should say, The Parliament could make the King no more Supreme Head of Church, than they could make a Law that God should not be God. To which Sir Thomas answered, If I were a man my Lords, that did not regard an oath, I need not at this time in this place (as it is well known to you all) stand as an accused person. And if this oath (Mr. Rich) which you have taken be true, than I pray that I may never see God in the Face, which I would not say were it otherwise to gain the whole world. Yet notwithstanding his oath, and the exceptions he took against the witness, the Lord Chancellor proceeded to sentence, That he should be brought back to the Tower of London, by the help of William Bringston Sheriff, and from thence drawn on a Hurdle through the City of London to Tyburn, there to be hanged till he be half dead, after that cut down yet alive, his Privy Parts cut off, his Belly ripped, his Bowels burnt, and his four quarters set up over four Gates of the City, and his head upon London Bridge. This Sentence was by the Kings pardon changed afterwards into only beheading, because he had borne the highest Office in the Kingdom. Of which mercy of the Kings, word being brought to Sir Thomas, he answered merrily, God forbidden the King should use any more such mercies to any of my posterity or friends. During the time he remained in the Tower after Sentence passed on him, one of the Court came to visit him, whose whole discourse was nothing else, but urging Sir Thomas to change his mind; who at last being wearied with his importunity, answered him, That he had changed it. Whreupon presently he went and told the King; and being by him commanded to know wherein his mind was changed, Sir Thomas rebuked him for his inconsiderate rashness, that he should tell the King those words that he spoke in jest, only to be rid of his impertinency; meaning a while after this merry expression came from him, that whereas he intended to be shaved, (for which he was said so much to resembled Erasmus) that he might appear to the people as before, he now resolved that his beard should undergo the same tribulation he did; which made the Courtier blank and the King very angry. The day appointed for his execution being come, about nine of the Clock he was brought out of the Tower, ascending the Scaffold, it seemed so weak that it was ready to fall; whereupon he said merrily to the Lieutenant, I pray you Mr. Lieutenant see me safe up, and for my coming down let me shift for my self. Then desired he all the people to pray for him, and to bear witness with him, that he should then suffer death, in, and for the Faith of the Holy Catholic Church, a faithful servant both of God and the King. Which done, he kneeled down, and after his prayers ended, he turned to the Executioner, and with a cheerful countenance, said, Pluck up thy spirits man, and be not afraid to do thine Office, my neck is very short, take heed therefore thou strike not awry for saving thine honesty: then laying his head upon the Block, he bade the Executioner stay until he had removed aside his Beard, saying, That that had never committed any Treason. So with much cheerfulness he received the Fatal blow of the Axe, which at once severed his head from his body. This jest at his death the Catholics so much distasted, that at so serious a time he should be so airy and light, that he had almost been scratched out of their Canonization for a Saint. He was executed the sixth day of July, following the decollation of Bishop Fisher, who was for the same Cause beheaded on Tower-Hill. The Life of this Bishop is extant, incomparable well done by Doctor Bailie. Thus died Sir Thomas Moor, a man admirable in all kind of learning, Latin, Greek, Profane, Divine: his Utopia is admired over the world; his Richard the Third, till of late years, of so much credit with Historians, that they have placed it in their Works without the alteration of a word. He was of such excellency of Wit and Wisdom, that he was able to make his fortune good in what place soever he lived; who wanted no skill either for the managing of private or public businesses, being experienced both in Country and City Affairs; in giving solid and sound counsel in doubtful cases, none more prudent; to tell the truth without fear, none more free; as from all flatteries he was open and pleasant, full of grace in delivering his judgement. And to conclude, one, whose integrity made him a miracle of nature, whist he was living, and whose Books have made him an everlasting Monument now he is dead. He was behead in the year 1535. his Monument is in Chelsey Church, where it is reported Bishop Fisher lies buried with him in the same Grave; that as they suffered for one Opinion, it was thought fit they should not be parted. Epitaphium Thomae Mori quod paulo post abdicatum munus Cancellarii ipse sibi composuit, & Sepulchro suo affixit. Thomas Morus, Vrbe Londinensi, familia non celebri, sed honesta natus, in literis utcunque versatus, quum ut causas aliquot juvenis egisset in foro, & in urbe, suo pro Shyrevo jus dixisset, ab invictissimo Rege Henrico Octavo (cui uni regum omnium gloria prius inaudita contigit, & fidei defensor, qualem & gladio se, & calamo verè praestitit, merito vocaretur) aà scitus in aulam est, delectusque in concilium, & creatus eques, proquaestor primum, post Cancellarius Lancastriae, tandem Angliae miro principis favore factus est. Sed interim in publico regni senatulectus est orator populi praeterea legatus regis nonnunquam fuit, alias alibi; postremo vero Cameraci, Comes & collega junctus Principi Legationis Cuthberto Tonstallo, tum Londinensi, mox Dunelmensi Episcopo; quo viro vix habet orbis hodie quicquam eruditius, prudentius, melius. Ibiinter summos Christiani orbis Monarchas rursus refecta faedera, redditamque mundo diu desideratam pacem, & laetisimus videt, & Legatus interfuit. Quam superi pacem firment, faxintque perennem. In hoc officiorum vel honorum cursu quum ita versaretur, ut neque Princeps optimus operam ejus improbaret, neque nobilibus esset invisus, neque injucundus populo; furibus autem, homicidis, haereticisque molestus: Pater ejus tandem Joannes Morus Eques, & in eum Judicum ordinem à Principe cooptatus, qui regius consessus vocatur; homo civilis, innocens, mitis, misericors, equus & integer, annis quidem gravis, sed corpore plus quam pro aetate vivido, postquam eo productam sibi vidit vitam, ut filium videret Angliae Cancellarium, satis in terra jam se moratum ratus, lubens migravit in coelum. At filius defancto patre, cui, quamdiu supererat comparatus, & juvenis vocari consueverat, & ipse quoque sibi videbatur, amissum jam patrem requirens, & editos ex se libros IU. at Nepotes XI. respiciens caepit apud animum persenescere. Auxit hunc affectum animi subsecuta statim velut ad petentis senii signum, pectoris valetudo deterior. Itaque mortalium harum rerum satur, quam rem à puero semper, optaverat, ut ultimos aliquot vitae suae annos obtineret liberos, quibus hujus vitae negotiis paulatim se subducens, futuram posset immortalitatem meditari, eam rem tandem (si coeptis annuat Deus) indulgentissimi principis incomparàbili beneficio resignatis honoribus impetravit, atque hoc sepulchrum sibi, quod mortis eum nunquam cessantis adrepere quotidiè commonefaceret, translatis huc prioris uxoris ossibus, extruendum curavit. Quod ne superstes frustra sibi fecerit, neve ingruentem trepidus horreat, sed desiderio Christi lubens oppetat, mortemque ut sibi non omnino mortem, sed januam vitae felicioris inveniat, precibus eum, Lector optimè, spirantem, precor, defunctumque prosequere; Pro Vxoribus suis, Chara Thomae jacet, etc. Sub quo haec quoque subjuncta Carmina occurrunt. Chara Thomae jacet hic JoannaVxorcula mori, Qui tumulum Aliciae, hunc destino quique mihi. una mihi dedit hoc conjuncta virentibus annis, Me vocet ut puer & trina puella patrem. Altera privignis (quae gloria rara novercae est) Tam pia quam gnatis vix fuit ulla suis. Altera si mecum vixit sic altera vivit, Charior incertum est, haec sit an haec fuerit. O simul ô juncti poteramus vivere nos tres, Quam bene si factum religioque sinant. Et societ tumulus, societ nos obsecro Coelum, Sic mors non potuit quod dare vita dabit. The Life of THOMAS CROMWELL Earl of Essex. Fortunae speculum Cromwellus scandit ad alta, casu graviore ruat, Regisque favore Tollitur hincque cadit livore oppressus inique. THomas Cromwell, from so low a beginning, as from the Forge, attained to so high a pitch of honour, as to be raised to a Pillar of State. His Father, as our Chronicles report, was a Blacksmith, to whom may be applied what Juvenal said of Demosthenes. Whom his poor Father, blear-eyeed with the soot Of sparks, which from the burning Iron did shoot, From Coals, Tongues, Anvil, and such Black-smiths tools, And dirty Forge sent to the Rhetrick Schools. He was born at Putney in Surrey, four miles from London, being endued with a singular excellency of Wit. His first advancement was under Cardinal Wolsey, who made him his Solicitor, employing him for the suppression of forty Monasteries, to the erection of his Colleges at Oxford and Ipswich. At the fall of the Cardinal he got him to Court, where he was by King Henry first advanced to be Master of his Jewelhouse, than Baron of Oakham in Rutlandshire, than Knight of the Garter; ere long he was created Earl of Essex, then made Lord great Chamberlain, and lastly ordained the King's Vicar General over the Spirituality; by virtue of which Office he sat in the Convocation-house, as Head over the Bishops: an Honour so great, that never any subject enjoyed the like in England. Drayton thus epitomizes his Honours, First by my Knighthood, rising by degree, The Office of a Jewelhouse my lot; After the Robes he frankly gave to me, From whence to Privy Counsellor I got: Then of the Garter, and then Earl to be Of Essex: yet sufficient these were not, But to the great Vicegerency I drew, Being a Title as supreme as new, And now finding by Wolsey's predicting fall, that the foundations of Monasteries were not unmoveable; he puts it into the King head to have them all suppressed, who being not long before declared supreme Head of the Church, thought his state in danger, so long as the Pope had such Pillars to uphold his Power. Another main thing was their excessive Riches, which was valued at the yearly sum of 1865 12. pounds, 8. shillings, 1. d. o. q. besides the two Universities, and divers Monasteries, which were unvalued. And no wonder that Bell sounded so sweetly in the King's ear, when so much profit pulled the rope: what ever was the true cause, the pretended cause was the gain that was got by ignorant devotion, and gadding on Pilgrimage; as likewise that they were the receptacles of all traitorous attempts against the peace of the Land, and Supremacy of the Crown. Besides the Whoredoms, Adulteries, Incests, and filthy Sodomies of the Monks, Friars, and Priests, which put together weighed so heavy, that by Act of Parliament they were granted all to the King's use, and Injunctions sent forth for the Bible in English to be read in all Churches, and Register-books of Weddings, Christen, and Burials in every of them to be kept. These Actions of the King exasperated many, especially the Pope, who feared his Dagon would down, if the King should be acknowledged supreme Head of the Church; whereupon he pronounceth him an Heretic, and seduceth (amongst others) James the Fifth King of Scotland against him. Cromwell that his Master might be able to bandy with the Pope, counselleth him to ally himself with some Protestant Princess; the King than a widower entertained the motion, and a marriage is concluded betwixt him and the Lady Anne, Sister to William Duke of Cleve, whose other Sister Fredrick Duke of Saxony had espoused, a great favourer of the Gospel, and maintainer of Martin Luther, the promulgator and professor thereof. But the Lady sent into England, and married to King Henry, found but little affection from him, which Stephen Gardiner then Bishop of Winchester perceiving, thought it a fit subject for him to work upon against the Lord Cromwell, the first contriver of the match; for being in his heart a great stickler for the Pope, he resolved to make use of the times. He acknowledged the King's supremacy, he persuaded the King that his reformation of Religion would set all the Princes of Christendom against him; and at last prevailed so far with him, that he consented to have six Articles enacted by Parliament, which according as we find them, we have here transcribed to posterity. 1. That after the words of confirmation spoken by the Priest, the real and natural body and blood of Christ, as he was Conceived and Crucified, was in the Sacrament, and no other substance consisting in the form of Bread and Wine, besides the substance of Christ, God, and man. 2. That the communion in both kinds was not necessary unto salvation, the flesh only in the form of Bread sufficient for the Laity. 3. That Priests after they had received Orders might not marry by the Law of God. 4. That the vows of Chastity either in man or Woman, aught by God's Law to be observed, and by which they are exempted from other Liberties of Christian people. 5. That private Masses was necessary for the people, and agreeable to the Law of God. 6. That Auricular Confession was expedient to be retained and continued in the Church of God. By this we see the King left the sting of Popery still remaining, though the teeth were knocked out by abolishing the Pope's supremacy; the effect of which bloody Articles the Lord Cromwell soon felt, for the King having by him attained his ends, and filled his Coffers with the Abbeys wealth, left him to the malice of his inveterate enemies. Whereupon a Parliament being summoned, Cromwell being in the Council Chamber was suddenly apprehended, & committed prisoner to the Tower: the Crimes objected against him were these. First, he was accused of Heresy, and a supporter of Heretics Secondly, that he had dispersed amongst the King's Subjects many Books containing much Heresy in them. Thirdly, that he had caused many Books to be Translated into English, comprising matter against the Sacrament of the Altar, and that he had commended it a good and Christian Doctrine. Fourthly, that he had spoken words against the King. Whilst he remained in the Tower, some Commissioners coming to examine him, he answered them with such discretion, as shown him to be of a sound judgement, and as able to defend, as they to accuse. Amongst the Commissioners there was one whom the Lord Cromwell desired to carry from him a Letter to the King, which he refused, saying, That he would carry no Letter to the King from a Traitor: then he desired him at the least to carry a message from him to the King, which request he assemted to, so it were not against his Allegiance; then the Lord Cromwell taking witness of the other Lords what he had promised, You shall (said he) commend me to the King, and tell him, by that time he hath tried and proved you as I have done, he shall find you as false a man as ever came about him. But his enemies knowing his innocency, and abilities, durst not bring him to his answer, nor try him by his Peers, but procured an Act of Attaindure, whereby he was condemned before he was heard. For the better illustration of his History, before I shall acquaint you with his exit, I thought it not improper to insert an example of his Generosity and Gratitude, as I have it from Doctor Hackwell in his Apology, in these words. In those glorious days, when the English young Gentry endeavoured to outvie their elder Brothers, by undertaking far and dangerous journeys into Foreign Parts, to acquire glory by feats of Arms, and experiencing themselves in the Military Discipline, Thomas Cromwell a younger Brother, to better his knowledge in Warlike Affairs, passed into France, and there trailed a Pike, accompanying the French Forces into Italy, where they were defeated at Gattellion; whereupon our English Volantier betook himself to Florence, designing to pass thence home again into England: but having lost all his equipage, and being in a necessitated condition, he was enforced to address himself to one Signior Francisco Frescobald an Italian Merchant, who corresponded at London; and making his case known unto him, Frescobald observing something remarkable, and a certain promising greatness in the Features, Actions, and Deportment of Thomas Cromwell, who gave an account of himself with so candid an ingenuity, and in such terms as beseemed his Birth, and the Profession he then was of: whereby he gained so much upon Frescobald, as inviting him home to his house, he caused him to be accommodated with new Linen and Clothes, and other suitable necessaries; kindly entertaining him, till such time as he testified a desire to return for England; when as to complete his Generosity and Kindness, he gave Mr. Tho. Cromwell a Horse, and 16. ducats in gold, to prosecute his journey homewards. In process of time, several Disasters and Bankrupts befalling Signior Frescobald, his Trading and Credit was not a little thereby impaired; and reflecting on the Moneys which were due unto him by his Correspondents in England, to the value of 15000. Ducats he resolved to pass thither, and try whether he could happily procure payment. During which interval of time, Mr. Thomas Cromwell being a person endowed with a great deal of Courage, of a transcendent Wit, hardy in his undertake, and a great Politician, had by these his good qualities gotten himself entrance and credit at Court, and highly ingratiated himself with King Henry the Eighth; having advanced himself to almost as high a pitch of Honour, in as short a time, in a manner, as his late Highness did. The Lord Thomas Cromwell therefore riding one day with a great Train of Noble Men towards the King's Palace, chanced to espy on foot in the streets Signior Frescocobald, the Italian Merchant, in an ill plight: however, he immediately alighting from his Horse, embraced him before all the world, to the great astonishment of the beholders, and chid him, that at his very arrival he came not to visit him. Frescobald being astonished at so unexpected an encounter, and receiving so signal a favour from a Personage he could not call to mind he had ever known, was quite surprised; & my Lord Cromwell's pressing Affairs at Court not permitting him the while to acquaint him further who he was, only engaged him to come and dine with him that day. Frescobald full of amazement, enquired of the Attendants who that great Personage might be? And hearing his name, he began to call the Feature of his Face, and the Idea of his Person to mind; and so by degrees conceiving with himself it might happily be the same Mr. Thomas Cromwell whom he had harboured at Florence; he enquired out his Lordship's habitation, and attended his coming at Noon-tide, walking in his Court-yard. No sooner was the Lord Thomas Cromwell entered the same (attended by several persons of Quality, and Officers of the Crown) but speedily alighting from his Horse, he embraced his Friend Frescobald in the same manner he had done in the morning; and perceiving that the Lords which accompanied him were amazed at such a disproportioned familiarity, he told them that he was more obliged to Frescobald, then to all the men in the world, owing unto him the making of his Fortune; and so proceeded to relate unto them the whole story which had befallen him at Florence. So great a delight do generous minds take to recount their foregoing Misfortunes, when their Grandor hath elevated them to such a pitch, as that they triumph over shame, and are incapable of Ingratitude. Frescobald was treated at Dinner with all the tenderness he could expect from so great a Personage, and so great a Friend, after which being carried up by the Lord Thomas Cromwell into his Closet, he was there presented with four Bags of Gold, each containing four hundred Ducats, in return of his former Civilities: which Frescobald (being of a gallant spirit) at first refused, but after several contestations was constrained to accept, as an acknowledgement from the Lord Cromwell; who, moreover enquiring of him concerning his coming over, and Affairs in England; and understanding his Losses, and that there were Moneys due to him, caused him to write down his Debtors names; and by his Secretary summoned the several Merchants which were indebted to Frescobald (upon pain of his displeasure) to clear their Accounts with him, and to pay him within the space of fifteen days; which was accordingly performed: only Frescobald freely forgave them the use. Over and above all which, the Lord Thomas Cromwell endeavoured to persuade his Friend Frescobald to have remained in England the rest of his days, proferring to lend him a Stock of 60000. Ducats, to trade withal: But Frescobald being overcharged with all those grand Obligations which the Lord Cromwell had conferred on him; having by his Lordship's Generosity acquired enough to keep him from being necessitated all his life time; and deeming that the trading in good Works was incomparably more sure and gainful then in the richest Wares and Merchandizes, being resolved to quit Trading, and to end the rest of his days peaceably and quietly, he obtained leave of the Lord Thomas Cromwell to departed to his own Country, freighted with so great obligations as caused in him a generous shame. He afterwards arrived safe in his own Country, where with great reputation he died in a good old age. Having done him this honour to eternize the noble deportments of his life, I shall now end with a short account of what he said at his death. When he came upon the Scaffold on Tower-Hill he delivered his mind to the people; I am come hither to die, and not to purge myself, as some perhaps may expect that I should, and will; for if I should so do, I were a very wretch: I am by the Law condemned to die, and I thank my Lord God that hath appointed me this death for mine offence; for I have always lived a sinner, and offended my Lord God, for which I ask him hearty forgiveness. It's not unknown to many of you, that I was a great Traveller, and being but of mean Parentage, was called to high honours, and now I have offended my Prince, for which I hearty ask him forgiveness, beseeching you to pray with me to almighty God, that he will forgive me, etc. Then kneeling down on his knees, he made a long and pithy prayer, which being ended, after a godly exhortation to those on the Scaffold, he commended his Spirit into the hands of his Maker: his head being dissevered from his body, July 28 1540 The King not long after his death, clapping his hands on his breast, repent this haste, wishing that he had his Cromwell alive again. With him was beheaded the Lord Hungerford of Heitesbury, who suffered death, a just death for buggery. Without question Cromwell was a person of singular qualifications, unfortunate in nothing more than that he lived in the days of Henry the Eighth; of whom, if it could be possible, one writes, that for the time he Reigned, he was guilty of more Tyranny than any of the Roman Emperors. This great Statesman was condemned to death, and yet never came to his answer, by an act (as it is said) which he himself caused to be made; of which Mr. Michael Drayton thus writes. Those Laws I made alone myself to please, To give me power more freely to my will, Even to my equals hurtful several ways, Forced to things that most do essay were ill; Upon me now as violently seize, By which I lastly perished by my skill, On mine own neck returning as my due, That heavy yoke wherein by me they drew: Thus whilst we strive too suddenly to rise, By flattering Princes with a servile Tongue; And being soothers to their tyrannies, Work our much woes by what doth many wrong: And unto others tending injuries, Unto ourselves producing our own wrong; In our own snares unluckily thus caught, Whilst our attempts fall instantly to naught. Questionless he was a man of an active and forward ripeness of nature, ready and pregnant of wit, discreet and well advised in judgement, eloquent of tongue, faithful and diligent in service, of an incomparable memory, of a reaching politic head, and of a most undaunted spirit. The Life of the great King Henry the Eighth, with the other Reigns of his Posterity, I have omitted, because they are so excellently penned by several Historians, and so Vulgarly known to the people. The Life of Sir PHILIP SIDNEY Carmen Apollo dedit, belli Mars contulit arts, Sed Juveni vitam Mors rapit ante diem. AMongst the rest of our Worthies, there is none of more precious memory than that famous and Heroic Knight Sir Philip Sidney, in whom the Graces and Muses had their domestical habitations; whose Life as it was admirable, so his Lines have not been excelled, though the French of late in imitation have endeavoured to address them. He was born of honourable parentage, his Father Sir Henry Sidney was thrice Lord Deputy of Ireland, a place of great honour and trust, having power of themselves to call Parliaments and enact Laws; nor cometh there any Vicegerent in Europe, more near the Majesty and prerogative of a King. His Mother was Daughter to Sir John Dudley Duke of Northumberland, and Sister to the Earls of Warwick and Leicester; so that his descent was apparently noble of both sides. Verstigan says the Sidney's are of a French extraction, that they came over into England in Henry the Thirds days. In his very childhood there appeared in him such excellent parts and endowments of nature, as shown him born for high enterprises; having been educated in the principles of learning at home, he was sent to the University of Oxford, Cambridge being nevertheless so happy to have a College of his name, where he so profited in the Arts and Sciences, that after an incredible proficiency in all the species of Learning, he left the Accademical life, for that of the Court; whither he came by the invitation of his Uncle, the Earl of Leicester, of whose faction he was; a great favourite of Queen Elizabeth: he was of a comely presence, framed by a natural propension to arms, and Warlike achievements; so that he soon attracted the good opinion of all men, especially of the Queen, fame having already blazed abroad his admirable parts; she thought him fit for the greatest employments, sent him upon an Embassy to the Emperor of Germany at Vienna, which he discharged to his own honour, and her approbation. Yea, his fame was so renowned throughout all Christendom, that he was in election for the Kingdom of Poland, and elective Kingdom: but the Queen refused to further his advancement, not out of emulation, but for the loss of his company at Court. He married Sir Francis Walsingams' Daughter, who impoverished himself to enrich the State; from whom he expected no more than what was above all portions, a Beautiful Wife, and a Virtuous Daughter. During his abode at the Court, at his spare hours he composed that incomparable Romance, entitled, The Arcadia, which he ded icated to his Sister the Countess of Pembroke. A Book, which considering his so Youthful Years, and Martial Employments, it was a wonder that he had leisure for to write such a Volumn: which as Dr. Heylin the Learned Ornament of our Nation in his exquisite Cosmography writes thus of. Sir Philip Sidney, of whom says he, I cannot make too honourable a mention, and of his Arcadia, a Book which besides its excellent Language, rare Contrivance, and delectable Stories, hath in it all the strains of Poesy, comprehendeth the whole Art of Speaking, and to them who can discern and will observe, affordeth notable Rules of Demeanour, both private and public. One writes that Sir Philip Sidney in the extreme agony of his wounds, so terrible the sense of Death is, that he requested the dearest Friend he had living to burn his Arcadia. On which one Epigrammatist writes thus. Ipse tuam moriens sede conjuge teste jubebas, Arcadiùm faevis ignibus esse cibum; Sic meruit mortem quia flammam accendit amoris, Mergi, non uri debuit iste liber. In librum quaecunque cadat sententia nulla, Debuit ingenium morte perire tuum. In serious thoughts of death 'twas thy desire This sportful Book should be condemned with fire: If so because it doth intent Love matters, It rather should be quenched then drowned i'th' waters. Which were it damned, the Book, the Memory Of thy immortal name shall never die. To make amends to such precise persons that think all that is not Divinity to be vain and lascivious, he translated part of that excellent Treatise of Philip Morney de Plessis, of the truth of Religion. To pass by the follies of such supercilious Enthusiasts, he wrote also several other Works; namely, a defence of Poesy, a Book entitled, Astrophel and Stella, with divers Songs and Sonnets in praise of his Lady, whom he celebrated under that bright name; so excellently and elegantly penned, that as it is in a Poem: 'Twould make one think (so sweet of Love he sings) His Pens were Quills plucked off from Cupid's Wings. So great were the Lamentations of his Funerals, that a face might be sooner found without eyes then without tears; no Persons of Honour at that time but thought it a dishonour not to mourn for him. To recite the Commendations given him by several Authors, would of its self require a Volumn; to rehearse some few not unpleasing to the Reader, Heylin in his Cosmography, calleth him that gallant Gentleman, of whom he cannot but make honourable mention. Another in his Annals, a most valiant and towardly Gentleman. Speed in his Chronicle, that worthy Gentleman, in whom were complete all virtues and valours that could be expected to reside in man. Sir Richard Baker gives him this Character, A man of so many excellent Parts of Art and Nature, of Valour and Learning, of Wit and Magnanimity, that as he had equalled all those of former Ages, so the future will hardly be able to equal him. Nor was this Poet forgotten by the Poets, who offered whole Hecatombs of Verses in his praise. First hear the British Epigrammatist. Thou writ'st things worthy reading, and didst do Things worthy writing too. Thy Acts thy Valour show, And by thy Works we do thy Learning know. Divine Du Bartas speaking of the most Learned of the English Nation, reckoneth him as one of the Chief in these words. And (world mourned) Sidney, warbling to the Thames His Swanlike tunes, so courts her coy proud streams, That (all with child with fame) his fame they bear To Thetis Lapet, and Thetis every were. The Renowned Poet Spenser in his Ruins of Time, thus writes of him. Yet will I sing, but who can better sing Then thou thyself, thine own self's valiance? That whilst thou livedst thou mad'st the Forests ring, And Fields resouned, and Flocks to leap and dance, And Shepherds leave their Lambs unto mischance, To run thy shrill Arcadian Pipe to hear: O happy were those days, thrice happy were. Sir John Harrington in his Epigrams thus, If that be true the latter Proverb says, Laudari à laudatis is most praise; Sidney thy Works in Fame's Books are enroled By Prince's Pens that have thy Works extolled, Whereby thy Name shall dure to endless days. Joining with the rest, that Kingly Poet King James the First, late Monarch of Great Britain amongst others, writeth thus. When Venus saw the noble Sidney dying, She thought it her beloved Mars had been; And with the thought thereat she fell a crying. And cast away her Rings and Carknets clean. He that in death a Goddess mocked and grieved, What had he done (trow you) if he had lived. These Commendations given him by so Learned a Prince, made Mr. Alexander Nevil thus to write. Harps others praise, a Sceptre his doth sing, Of Crowned Poets, and of Laureate King. To conclude, the Lord Burleigh, the Nestor of those Times, though otherwise an enemy to the Leicestrian Party, both loved and admired him. Yet was he not altogether addicted to Arts, but given as much to the Exercise of Arms, being a follower of Mars as well as a Friend to the Muses; and although he himself used to say, That Ease was the Nurse of Poesy, yet his Life made it manifest, that the Muses inhabited the Fields of Mars, as well as the flowery Lawns of Arcadia; that Sonnets were sung in the Tents of War, as well as in the Courts of Peace; the Muses Lays being warbled forth by a Warlike Sidney in as high a tune, as ever they were sung by a peaceable Spenser. And although the lamp of his life was extinguished too soon, yet left he a sufficient testimony to the world what he would have been, had the Fates allowed him a longer life. Witness such time when the French Ambassadors came over into Englad, to negotiate a Marriage between the Duke of Anjou and Queen Elizabeth; when for their entertainment a solemn Justs was proclaimed, where the Earl of Arundel, Frederick Lord Windsor, Sir Foulk Grivel, and he, were chief Challengers against all comers; in which challenge he behaved himself so gallantly, that he won the reputation of a most valiant Knight. Not long after, the Netherlanders oppressed with the tyanny of the Duke D' Alva, under the King of Spain, implored the assistance of Queen Elizabeth; which matter being debated in Council, she condescended to become their Defendress; and thereupon Articles being drawn, five thousand Foot, and a thousand Horsemen were sent under the command of Sir John Norris, a renowned Soldier, all retained at her Majesty's pay, which monthly amounted to twelve thousand five hundred twenty six pound Sterling, accounting fifty six days to the month. For which Moneys so disbursed, the Towns of Flushing and Brill, with two Sconces, and the Castle of Ramekins in Holland were delivered as Pledges till the Money was repaid. Over Flushing and the Castle of Ramekins was Sir Philip Sidney appointed Governor: His Motto was, Vix ea nostra voco, who during those Wars behaved himself, being entered into the Cockpit of War, most gallantly. At the taking of a certain great Town named Axle, where within an English mile of the Town calling so many of his Soldiers together as could conveniently hear him, he expressed himself to this effect, That all such of his Countrymen that exposed their lives to the hazard of Battle, aught to be advised of three things. First, the justness of the cause. Secondly, for whom they fight. Thirdly, against whom they fight. For the first, the justness of the cause, were it only for the defence of the Gospel it were sufficient; but the malice of the Spaniards did most evidently appear in their late attempts for Ireland; and should they seat themselves in these Nertherland Provinces, they might expect the same tyranny for England. Then next, the people for whom they drew their Swords, were their Neighbours, always Friends, and Well-will●●● to the English; as contrarily those against whom they were to fight, men of another Religion, enemies to God and his Church, a people whose unkindeness both in nature and life doth so excel, that God would not leave them unpunished. Furthermore he persuaded them that they were Englishmen, whose valour the world both feared and admired; and therefore now they should acquit themselves like Englishmen, for their own credit, and honour of their Country. Which oration wrought in them such resolutions, that they all vowed to live and die in that Service. How the Dutch have since deserved their then assistance of the Queen, or the blood of a Sidney, as they have since demeaned themselves, the world may judge. Amongst other of his successes he also took in the strong Town of Dorp: But in the full career of his Victories encountering with the Spaniards near to a place called Zutphen, when the triumphant Laurels were ready to crown his Brows, he was unfortunately shot in the thigh, which is the rendezvouz of nerves and sinews, which caused a Fever, that proved so mortal, that twenty five days after he died of the same; the night of whose death was the noon of his age, and the loss of Christendom. His Body was conveyed into England, and most honourably interred in the Church of St. Paul in London; over which was fixed this Epitaph. England, netherlands, the Heavens, and the Arts, All Soldiers, and the world, have made six Parts Of the noble Sidney; for none will suppose That a small heap of stones can Sidney enclose: England hath his body, for she defence shed; The Heavens his Soul, the Arts his Fame, All Soldiers his grief, the World his good name. Certain it is (saith one) that he was a noble and matchless Gentleman, of whom may be justly written without Hyperbole, or fiction, as it was of Cato Vticensis; that he seemed to be born to do that only which he went about. To speak more of him were to speak less. The Life of ROBERT EARL of LEICESTER. Ingenio gravis, arte potens, magnusque favore Principis; incertam liquit post funera famam. THe Earl of Leicester the Grand Politician and Proteus of those times, was one of Queen Elizabeth's early favourites; the first whom she made Master of the Horse: he was the youngest Son than living of the Duke of Northumberland, beheaded primo Mariae, and his Father was that Dudley, which our Histories couple with Empson: and so much infamed for the Caterpillars of the Commonwealth, during the Reign of Henry the Seventh; who being a noble extract, was executed the first year of Henry the Eighth: but not thereby so extinct, but that he left a plentiful estate, and such a Son, who as the Vulgar speaks it, could live without the teat; for out of the ashes of his Father's infamy he risen to be a Duke, and as high, as subjection could permit, or Sovereignty endure; and though he could not find out any appellation to assure the Crown in his own person, yet he projected and very nearly affected it for his Son Gilbert, by intermarriage with the Lady Jane Grey, and so by that way to bring it about into his Loins. Observations which though they lie behind us, and seem impertinent to the Text, yet are they not extravigant; for they must lead, and show us how the after passages were brought about with the dependences, and on the hinges of a collatterall workmanship: and truly it may amaze a well settled Judgement to look into those times, and to consider how this Duke could attain to such a pitch of greatness. His Father dying in ignomy and at the Gallows, his estate confiscate, and that for pilling and polling, by the clamour and crusifige of the people; but when we better think upon it, we find that he was given up but as a Sacrifice to please the people, not for any offence committed against the person of the King; so that upon the matter he was a Martyr of the Prerogative, and the King in Honour could do do less, then give back to his Son the privileges of his blood, with the acquirings of his Father's Profession, for he was a Lawyer and of the King's Council at Law, before he came to be ex interioribus consiliis, where besides the licking of his own fingers, he got the King a mass of Riches, and that not with the hazard, but the loss, of his fame and life for the King's father's sake. Certain it is, that his son was left rich in purse & brain, which are good foundations, and fall to ambition; and it may be supposed, he was on all occasions well heard of the King, as a person of mark and compassion in his eye, but I find not that he did put up for advancement, during Henry the Eights time, although a yast aspirer and provident storer. It seems he thought the King's Reign was given to the falling sicknesas; but espying his time fitting, and his Sovereignty in the hands of a Pupil Prince, he thought he might as well then put up for it as the best: for having then possession of blood, and a purse, with a head piece of a vast extent, he soon got honour; and no sooner there, but he began to side it with the best, even with the Protector; and in conclusion got his, and his Brother's heads; still aspiring, till he expired in the loss of his own: so that Posterity may by reading the Father and Grandfather, make Judgement of the Son; for we shall find that this Robert (whose original we have now traced, the better to present him) was inheritor of the genius and craft of his Father, and Ambrose of the estate, of whom hereafter we shall make some short mention. We take him now as he was admitted into the Court and Queen Elizabeth's favour; where he was not to seek to play his part well, and dexterously, but his play was chief at the foregame, not that he was a learner at the latter, but he loved not the after wit: for they report (and not untruly) that he was seldom behind hand with his gamesters, and that they always went away with the loss. To accomplish his direful designs, it is reported that Doctor Dee and Allen were his magical instruments; his Physicians that waited upon him were admirable poisoners, that could dispatch at the time appointed, and not before. At Cumner four or five miles from Oxford, his first Wife fell down a pair of stairs and broke her neck, he was also suspected for the death of Cardinal castilian his great enemy; after him he sent the Lord Sheffield, as it was thought, by an artificial Catarrh. Mounsieur Simers Ambassador to the French King, he forced to fly this Kingdom for his too early prattling to the Queen of this his Marriage with the Lady Lettuce. He poisoned Sir Nicholas Throgmorton with a Saller. The Earl of Sussex that called him the Son of a Traitor, he sent out of the world with an Italian trick. He employed his servant Killegray to slay the Earl of Ormond, but he fell short of that design, as the Poet hath it. When Hannibal did not prevail by blows, He used stratagems to kill his foes. His servant Doughty that knew too much of his secrets he shipped away, so as never to hear of him again. Mr. Gates the Pander of his lechery, for contrived gilt of felony was hanged; whom he pretended to reprieve on the Gallows, but never sent any to cut the rope, for he knew he was then past telling of tales. Thus he served one Salvatore an Italian, who being more conversant of his privacies then he thought fit, caused him to watch with him till midnight, but the next morning he was found dead in his bed in his house. He was otherwise for his outside of a very goodly person, and singular well featured, and all his youth well favoured, and of a sweet aspect, but high foreheaded, which as I should take it, was of no discommendation; but towards his latter end (which with old men was but a middle-age) he grew high coloured and red faced: so that the Queen in this had much of her Father, for (excepting some of her kindred, and some few that had handsome wits in crooked bodies) she always took personage in the way of her election: for the people hath it this day in Proverb, King Henry loved a man. He had all advantages of the Queen's grace, she called to mind the sufferings of his Ancestors, both in her Fathers and Sisters Reigns, and restored his and his Brother's blood, creating Ambrose the elder Earl of Warwick and himself Earl of Leicester, &c, and he was ex prioribus, or of her first choice; for he rested not there, but long enjoyed her favour, and there with much what he listed, till time and emulation (the companions of great ones) had resolved on his period. And to cover him at his setting in a cloud at Cornbury, not by so violent a death, as that of his Fathers and Grandfathers was, but as it is suggested, by that poison, which he had prepared for others. I am not bound to give credit to all vulgar relations, or to the libels of the times, which are commonly forced, and falsified suitable to the moods and humours of men in passion and discontent. His actions were so foul that I cannot think him to be an honest man, as amongst others of known truth, some already mentioned; that of the Earl of Essex death in Ireland, and the marriage of his Lady doth strongly asperse him, questionless his deeds were good and bad as the times required. He being such a Statesman as knew how to temporize. He was wonderful popular. To gain himself a good opinion of Religion, he was free of his promises to the Clergy. Being Chancellor to the University of Oxford, to raise himself a reputation of the Learned, he was the more liberal. And when he had a purpose to do a courtesy, he had such power with the Queen as to do what he pleased, either to bestow his favours or injuries as he could do, good or wrong to others, but not be wronged himself. Those he placed about the Queen he had the wisdom to keep firm to himself. The best of the Nobility being either linked to him by alliance of else his friends. In Wales he had the Earl of Pembroke. Sir Henry Sidney, a potent person, was his friend in Ireland. In Barwick, the Lord Archbishop Hunsden. He had a princely train, another Mortimer for gallantry, insomuch that he was called the heart of the Court. He was a not able dissembler, without which as Machiavelli will have it, he could not be rendered so grand a Politician. Lascivious he was at any rate rather than fail, he would Jupiter-like descend in a golden shower; to which purpose he had as graceful a carriage as if he meant civilly, and only carried the Reigns of honour in his hand. There is a Book written of him called his Commonwealth, in which there is more said of him then is true. One of our modern Poets in two lines more truly determines of him. Of him it may be said, and censured well, His Virtues and his Vices did excel. To take him in the observations of his Letters and Writings (which should best set him off) for such as fell into my hands, I never yet saw a stile or phrase more seeming religious, and fuller of the streams of Devotion, than some that I have seen are; and he was too well seen in the Aphorisms, and Principles of Nicholas the Florentine, and in the reaches of Caesar Borgia. I shall only discover his Pen to two of the greatest Headpieces of his time. To my very Loving Friend Sir Francis Walsingham, Ambassador, Resident for the Queen's Majesty in France. My Lord, since my last Letter unto you, I have little new matter worth the writing, saving now we are much troubled with the Scottish Cause; the Commissioners of both Parties are now here, and to write unto you that the end will be certainly, as yet I cannot. We find both Parties very stiff, and hitherto the King's Party very resolute for the maintenance of his Authority; her Majesty's scrupulosity touching his Title and Government; we partly know the unworthiness of their Queen to rule; she granteth but the Instances of their Cause, to depose her from her Dignity she can hardly be persuaded in: so yet she remaineth much perplexed. On the one side she is loath to set her up, or to restore her to her estate again. On the other side she is loath to defend that which she is not well persuaded to have justice with it; between these her Council chief seek for these two things, that herself may be preserved in safety, and the true Religion maintained. Assuredly, for as the state of the world standeth, and upon through examination of this Cause, it appears that both the ways be dangerous touching the Queen of Scots; for there is danger in delivering her to Government, so is there danger in retaining her in prison; her friends begin to speak proudly for her. We were wont always to have a friend on our side, if need were; but as far as I can see there is none of that side of the Sea to be found that be Princes absolute. Well, our case is the harder, and we must say, Si Deus nobiscum, quis contra nos. Touching this matter, as soon as it shall grow to any likelihood either of the one side, or of the other, I will advertise you, and withal send you the reasons of the Advice. In the mean time whatsoever you may hear, believe me there is no man in England can tell you which way it will go: Yet in respect of the King there, and his continual dealing for the said Queen, her Majesty rather giveth in words more favourable that way then the other. Mr. Norris is arrived here yesterday, being Shrove-Sunday; after Mr. Secretary was created Baronet Burleigh, and I think ere it be long he shall have the Office of the Privy Seal, but as yet remaineth Secretary still; and within a day or two Sir Thomas Smith is like to be called to assist him. The Parliament is to begin the second of April next. The Queen's Majesty thanks be to God is in good health, and all your Friends as you lest them, save Sir Nicholas Throgmorton, our good Friend. Your Wise was here lately to take her leave of her Majesty, who used her very well and graciously. I pray you let us hear as often as you can conveniently. I would gladly understand of some good for the poor Cardinal castilian. I desire and also long to hear of the Queen's Majesties Present how it is liked. Thus with my hearty Commendations I bid you hearty farewell. Your assured Friend R. Leicester. The 26 of March, 1570 To my very Friend Sir Francis Walsingham Ambassador for the Queen's Majesty in France. I have upon the Receipt of your Letter, written by Sir E. Gilbert, dealt with her Majesty touching your chargeable dwelling there; I trust her Majesty will have due consideration thereof. Your shall perceive by her Majesty's Letters her further pleasure touching Monsieur, whose cause hath been broken to her by my Lord of Buck. from the Queen's Mother. We perceive they deal very daintily, and doubt much her Majesty's Intention to Marriage; at least, that she had rather hear of it then perform it. But assuredly I do verily believe her Majesty's mind herein is otherwise then it hath been, and more resolutely determined then ever yet at any time before; yet do they mean to deal so secretly on that side, as though they will not yet believe it; and accordingly her Majesty mindeth not to deal but as privately as may be devised, that if that should not take effect, the less reproach to either party. Her Majesty hath broken this matter with my Lord of Burleigh and me, and I think will not use any more till some appearance fall out what is like to become of the matter. The person of Monsieur is very well liked of, his conversation is harder to know. I see her Majesty misliketh not of his estate; for she is o mind to marry with the Gretest, and he is left almost above the greatest to be had; the conditions will be all wherein I am right glad and we are bound to thank God to see her Majesty so well to stand to the maintenance of the cause of Religion; for their will be no great difficulty in respect of his person and estate to cause a Marriage between them: So yet I perceive with the impeachment any way of the true Religion here now established, she will for no cause deal with him, as you may perceive by her Majesties own Letters to you, albeit she doth not mean in respect of his policy to drive him in open show in the mean time to renounce his own profession, but conditionally if they should match, then wholly to maintain this as well privately as publicly. God send her Majesty always during her life so to stand to the defence of so just a cause, and withal his blessings upon her for us all, that we may live and see her bring forth of her own body, as may hereafter succeed her as well in that happiness, as in the enjoying of her Kingdom. So not doubting but we shall shortyly hear from you, I commit you to God Your assured Friend R. Leicester. The 23. of March, 1571. These two Letters sufficiently evidence that he dived to the bottom of the State Affairs of those times. Hitherto I have touched him in his Courtship, I conclude him in his Lance. He was sent Governor by the Queen to the united States of Holland, where we read not of his wonders; for they say, that he had more of Mercury then of Mars; and that his device might have been without prejudice to the great Caesar, Veni, vidi redii. Having remained there two yeats, and made a peace with the Provinces, he died in his way to Kenelworth Castle; his body lieth interred in the Temple of the Blessed Virgin in Warwick shire, with this Inscription. Spe certa resurgendi in Christo, Hic situs est Illustrissimus Robertus Dudleius (Joannis Ducis Northumbriae, Comitis Warwici, Vicecomitis Insulae, etc. filius quintus) Comes Lecestriae, Baro Denbighiae, Ordinis tam sancti Georgii quam sancti Michaelis Eques auratus: Reginae Elizabethae (apud quam singulari gratia florebat) Hippocomus, Regiae aulae subinde Seneschallus, ab intimis Consiliis Forestarum, Chacearum, Parcorum, etc. citra Trentum, Summus Justiciarius: Exercitus Angliae, à dicta Regina Elizabetha missus in Belgio ab anno 1585. ad annum 1587. Locumtenens, & Capitaneus Generalis Provinciarum Confoederatarum, ibidem Gubernator Generalis & Praefectus: Regnique Angliae Locumtenens, contra Philippum secundum Hispanum numerosa class & exercitu Angliam 1588. invadentem: Animam Deo Servatori reddidit, anno salutis 1588. die 4. Septembris. Optimo & charissimo marito moestissima uxor Letitia Francisci Knollis, Ordinis Sancti Georgii Equitis Aurati, & Reginae Thesaurii Filia, amoris & conjugalis fidei ergo posuit. The Life of the Lord BURLEIGH. Cecilius fidei cultor patriaeque Thesauri Custos, spes miseris unica pauperibus. THe exit of one Statesman occasions the entrance of another. Secretary William Cecil on the death of the old marquis of Winchester rise up in his room; a person of a most subtle and active spirit, though he stood not altogether by the way of constellation and the making up of a part and faction; for he was wholly intentive to the service of his Mistress Queen Elizabeth; and his dexterity, experience, and merit, challenged a room in her favour, which eclipsed the others overseeming greatness, and made it appear that there were others that steered and stood at the helm besides himself, and more stars in the firmament of her Grace then Vrsa major, or the Bear with the ragged staff. He was born, as some say, at Bourn in Lincolnshire; but as others upon knowledge aver, of a younger Brother of the Setsils or Cecils of Hereford-shire, a Family of no mean Antiquity, derived as some think from the Roman Cicilii. Who being exposed and sent to the City, as poor Gentlemen use to do their younger sons, he came to be a rich man on London-Bridge; and purchased Land in Lincolnshire, where this man was born. He was sent to Cambridge to St. John's College, then to the Inns of Court, to Grays-inn, where he attained to a great knowledge of the Law, though in all his life time he never sued, nor was sued by any. And so he came by degrees to serve the Duke of Somerset, in the time of his Protectourship, as Secretary; and having a pregnancy to great Inclinations, he came to rise to a higher conversation with the chiefest Affairs at State and Counsels, to be Master of the Requests, the first that ever bore that Office: But on the fall of the Duke he stood some years in umbrage, and without employment, till the State wanted his abilities; and though we find not that he was taken into any place, during Queen Mary's Reigh, unless (as some have said) towards the last; yet the Council on several occasions have made use of him, and at Queen Elizabeth's entrance he was admitted Secretary of State; the Queen, as her Titles were sparing, rendering them the more substantial: afterwards he was made Master of the Court of Wards, than Lord Treasurer. A Person of most exquisite abilities, and indeed the Queen began then to need, and to seek out for men of both garbs. Though our Burleigh lived in an age wherein it was present drowning, not to swim with the stream, yet whatsoever others writ of him, he opposed that act and unnatural will of King Edward the Sixth; wherein the King passing by his Sisters, Mary and Elizabeth, entailed the Crown on Queen Jane. This great Instrument of State was ranked amongst the Togati of state, as by these following Letters may be perceived. To the Right Honourable my very good Friend, Sir Francis Walsingham, Resident for the Queen's Majesty in France. Sir, My hard case is such as either by business in health, or by dolour in sickness, I cannot account myself a free man, but a slave to serve, or an offendor to suffer torment: the will of God be fulfilled in me to his honour, for otherwise I find no comfort in this world: of this enough. I am forced to write this in my bed with my hand, whilst I groan for pain in my knee and foot; and therefore I must be short. I could no sooner get answer to your Letters brought by Rogers. Your Lordships brought yesterday by Harcourt, were I think welcome, and well interpreted by her Majesty; for I sent them with my own sentence aforehand, of my good allowance of your discretion in your choice of taking and leaving. The Queen of Scots you see is deferred, whereof that portion which is written, was for my ease indicted by Sir Thomas Smith; you must make the best of it, and seek out reasons to satisfy them there that will mislike the delay. Indeed it hath been only devised to win delay. I thank you for your private Letter. Even now we have very good news from the Borders that Dun-Brittain Castle was taken on Monday last in the night by cunning, where was taken the Archbishop of St. Andrews and the Lord Fleming; the manner how it was taken is not signified, but it is of a greater importance than Edinburgh Castle, considering it was the Receptaculum to all the Scottish Queens Foreign Aid. From Westminster out of my Bed this Saturday at five of the Clock, the seventh of March, 1571. Your assured Friend, W. Burleigh. To my very loving Friend Mr. Francis Walsingham Esq; the Queen's Majesty's Ambassador in France. Sir, I have received your Letters both by Mr. Wigmore and Beal as by Harcourt I did late advertise you; and having made her Majesty partaker both by hearing them read and by her own reading, I am in this sort directed to answer you to the First of the Second, that is, to that of the 13. of February, brought by Beal. Her Majesty maketh good account of the person of him; I mean the 36 'tis 4 tio 30-0 of I u'c 62 by the Intelligence which he gave you, but it breedeth some doubt in her, that the certainty can be no otherwise understood, in that it is informed you, that the practice continueth by late dispatching of an Englishman of high stature and lean of visage; wherein is such incertainty, as no man can thereby attain either to discover the practice, or withstand it by apprehending the party. And surely Sir, her majesty wisheth you to endeavour yourself with such as you shall think good to come to the knowledge of some persons, by stay of whom such a matter might be deciphered; for my own part, I think it likely that these practices are devised, but without more appearance, I see no evident reason to move me; that in time when the Queen of Scots herself and her factors are in hope to be delivered by treaty, and with the favour of our Queen, there should be any attempt otherwise for her escape. Wherein how cunning soever men be in device, yet the execution standeth upon many adventures, and any mischance happening might breed ruin to the whole enterprise. I have been acquainted with many of these like advertisement, but surely I never found any substance in them in the event; but yet with them and without them I ever find it good to be circumspect. I writ not to have you forbear from hearing and reporting of any the like, but my experience serveth to move you to procure the givers of such things to discover the matters more certainly, and so they are of more value. The message sent you from Rochel of some dangerous intent upon Ireland from Spain, hath more appearance, for that we also hear it from Spain confirmed, and it is the same that before I advertsed you concerning Stukelie. I also smell some purpose of the Count Lodowick's coming with Ships towards the Low Countries, to accompany the design for his brother the Prince of Orange; whereof I would look for some better success, if I had not understanding thereof so many ways; for the force of that enterprise should consist in suddenness and secrecy which are not like to take place. Thus much for your first Letter. Now to the second, brought by Wigmore. The Queen's Majesty liketh well of your proceed with the Spanish Ambassador there, and marvelleth that he should be so coy with you, considering the reports of his former courtesies; but by likelihood some other accident moved it, which by your next speech will be better discovered. The cause why that Ambassador could not be answered sooner of the matter whereof he advertised her Majesty from the Duke of Alva, was, for that her Majesty could not sooner hear thereof from the Duke If you shall find it convenient to impart matters to the said Ambassador, you may let him know of these things following, one Monsieur Senegew a Low Countryman, is coming to end the treaty for restitution on both sides of the Merchant's goods. There are lately come into the Ports of the West certain Hulks laden from Spain and Portugal, driven by tempest; and because they should be well used, the Ambassador here for the King, though in other things he be not used, hath been dealt withal to name certain strangers. Merchants to resort to the Ports, and they have special Authority from us to put the same in all good safety and that no dealing shall be by any to the impairing of the said goods; and this special favour is showed because the time of restitution is at hand. And therefore we mean not to give any cause of quarrelling. There were also certain other Ships of War that came from Spain, being of the company which conducted the Queen of Spain into Spain, which being furnished with Soldiers, were favourably entertained, and permitted to departed at their pleasure; of these things you may give him knowledge, to make him have a better taste in his mouth: he may perchance contrariwise complain of spoil of his Master's Subjects by pirates haunting the Narrow Seas, and especially about the Isle of Weight; and I cannot deny the spoils, but surely they are committed by one Lubrest and others, belonging to the Prince of Orange, which we cannot remedy: and yet Mr. Horsey is presently dispatched with Authority to set forth certain Ships, either to take them or drive them from our Coast. I confess to you privately they are too much favoured (Lucri Causa) but you may know truly that the Queen's Majesty doth in no wise favour them. Thus much to the second Letter. Now to some credit given by Mr. Beal, concerning) (a few words shall suffice it. I cannot judge any thing in a 2 3 4 6 8. the matter is much liked, and all furtherers thereof allowed, and all disswaders not liked; I am commanded thus to write, that if any mention should be made to you thereof, you should show yourself willing to advertise, and so you shall do well. The retardation used herein by H. is not liked by A. and the good will of L. in the furtherance is allowed; by this you may perceive how to order yourself; and surely this principle I hold, that no one thing shall warrant more surety and quietness to the Queen's Majesty the 3 5 7 in; but the manner and circumstance are of the substance of my principals and not accidents: herein I deal boldly with you, I find nothing in your writing or doing, but allowable; if otherwise I did, I would advertise you for friendship to yourself, and for good will to the Office you bear. Although I cannot advertise you certainly as I would of the Grant of your Leases, yet I am in the forwardness as I trust by next writing to send you knowledge thereof. You must hereby be acquainted with the delays of the Court. From Greenwich the third of May 1570 Sir Thomas Smith I trust shall be admitted to the Council to morrow, and shortly after to be Secretary. I pray you Sir commend me to Mr. Cavalcant. Yours assuredly, William Burleigh. I have the rather word for word inserted the familiar passages of these two Letters, that the vigilancy of this great Statesman might be the more clearly and plainly discovered. To proceed; he had not to do with the Sword more than as the great Paymaster and Contriver of War, which shortly followed; wherein he accomplished much thorough his theorical knowledge at home, and intelligence abroad, by unlocking the Counsels of the Queen's enemies; he being withal so careful a Steward of her Treasure, that her Exchequer had money or credit when the King of Spain wanted both. In that great Faction betwixt Leicester and Sussex, he meddled not openly with, though it is easy to tell whom he wished best too: the Earl of Leicester gave him several rubs, and he some neat State trips; but still in the dark they would not take notice of what one acted against another. We must now take (and that of truth) into observation, that until the tenth year of her Reigh, her times were calm and serene, though sometimes a little overcast, as the most glorious sun-rising are subject to shaddowing and drop; for the clouds of Spain, and vapours of the Holy League began then to disperse and threaten her Serenity: moreover she was then to provide against some intestine storms, which began to gather in the very heart of her Kingdom; all which had a relation and correspondency each with other to dethrone her, and disturb the public tranquillity, and therewithal (as a principal work) the established Religion; for the name of Recusant began then, and first to be known to the world; and till then the Catholics were no more than Church Papists, but were commanded by the Pope's express Letters to appear, and forbear Church-going, as they tender their Holy Father, and the Holy Catholic Church their Mother. So that it seems the Pope had then his aim to take a true muster of his Children; but the Queen had the greater advantage, for she likewise took tale of her Apostate Subjects, their strength, and how many they were that had given up their names. He then by the hands of some of his Proselytes fixed his Bulls on the gates of Paul's, which discharged her Subjects of all fidelity, and laid siege to the received Faith, and so under the vail of the next Successor, to replant the Catholic Religion; so that then the Queen had a new task and work in hand, that might well awake her best providence; and required a Muster of Men and Arms, as well as Courtships and Counsels: for the times began to be very quick and active, and fit for stronger motions than those of the Carpet. And it will be a true note of her magnanimity, that she loved a Soldier, and had a propension in her nature to regard and always to grace them: which the Courtiers taking into observation, took it as an invitation to win Honour, together with her Majesty's favour, by exposing themselves to the Wars; especially when the Queens and the Affairs of the Kingdom stood in some necessity of a Soldier. For we have many instances of the Sallies of the Nobility and Gentry; yea, and out of the Court, and her privy Favourites, (that had any touch or tincture of Mars in their Inclinations) and to steal away without licence, and the Queen's privity, which had like to have cost some of them dear. So predominant were their thoughts and hopes of honour growing in them, as we may truly observe in the dispositions of Sir Philip Sidney, Essex, Mountjoy, and divers others, whose absence, and the manner of their eruptions, was very distasteful to her. Whereof I can add a true and no impertinent story, and that of the last, Mountjoy; who having twice or thrice stolen away into Britain, (where under Sir John Norris he had then a Company) without the Queen's leave and privity; she sent a messenger unto him, with a strict charge to the General to see him sent home. When he came into the Queen's presence, she fell into a kind of reviling, demanding how he durst go over without her leave; Serve me so (quoth she) once more, and I will lay you fast enough for running: you will never leave it, until you are knocked on the head, as that inconsiderate fellow Sidney was: you shall go when I send you, in the mean time see that you lodge in the Court, (which was then at Whitehall) where you may follow your Book, read, and discourse of the Wars. But to our purpose it fell out happily to these, and (as I may say) to those times, that the Queen during the calm of her Reign was not idle, nor rocked asleep with security: for she had been very provident in the reparation and augmentation of her Shipping and Ammunition: and I know not whether by a foresight of Policy, or an instinct it came about, or whether it was an act of her Compassion; but it is most certain, that she sent Levies, and no small troops to the assistance of the revolted States of Holland, before she had received any affront from the King of Spain, that might deserve or tend to a Breach in Hostility: which the Papists this day maintain, was the provocation and cause of the after Wars. Which act of hers, though some applaud as done in defence of those poor afflicted Protestants, yet she did not only therein countenance Rebellion, (by consequence since disable her successors) but also drew on herself a chargeable and dangerous War with the Spaniard. But omitting what might be said to this point, these netherlands Wars were the Queen's Seminaries, and the Nurseries of many brave Soldiers; and so were likewise the Civil Wars of France (whither she sent five several Armies) the Fence Schools that enured the youth and gallantry of the Kingdom; and it was a Militia wherein they were daily in acquaintance with the discipline of the Spaniards, who were then turned the Queen's inveterate enemies. In the management of which politicial Affairs our Burleigh was a great assistant. The Swordmen of those times complain that he was too much addicted to peace; indeed he would never engage the State in a War, except necessity, or her Majesty's Honour required it. To conclude, he was the Column or rather Atlas of the State, who after he had served his Royal Mistress forty years, died at London in the seventy seventh yaar of his age 1598. His body was buried with his Ancestors in Stanford-Church. A monument for his perpetual honour being erected for him in Westminster Abbey, which bears this following inscription. Si quaeratur quis sit hic vir senex genua flectens, canitie venerabilis, toga Parliamentaria amictus; est Honoratissimus & clarissimus Dominus Guilielmus Cecilius, Baro de Burghley, summus Angliae Thesaurarius, Serenissimae Reginae Elisabethae à consillijs sanctioribus, Ordinis Georgiani Eques Auratus etc. qui hoc monumentum uxori & filiae posuit; placidè ex his terris in coelestem patriam anno salutis 1598. 4. die Augusti demigravit. Cujus Exequiae magno apparatu & tanto viro dignissimae, hîc sunt celebratae die 29. ejusdem mensis. Corpusque quod in hac Ecclesia sex dies requievit; Stanfordiam in Ecclesiam Sancti Martini translatum fuit, ubi secundum Christi adventum expectat. Cor unum: via una. Epigramma De Gulielmo Cecilio nuper Angliae Thesaur. Anno 1596. Per parvi sunt Arma foris, strataegemata parvi, Sit nisi consilium, Caeciliusque domi. Caecilius velut alter Atlas divinitùs ortus: Hic humeris Coelum sustinet; ille statum. The Life of Sir FRANCIS DRAKE. Quem timuit soevis etiam Neptunus in undis, Et rediit toto victor ab Oceano, Faedifragos bellens pelago prostravit Iberos, Drakius huic tumulus aequoris unda fuit. THis famous Sea Captain Sir Francis Drake one of the first that put a Sea Girdle about the world, was born nigh South Davestock in the County of Devonshire, and received his name Francis from Sir Francis Russel (afterwards Earl of Bedford) being his Godfather; he was brought up in Kent, his Father was a Minister, who for fear of six Articles in the time of King Henry the Eighth fled into Kent, where he lived privately till the death of the King. He got a place to read Prayers amongst the Mariners of the Queen's Navy, and bound his Son Francis Apprentice to a Shipmaster, who traded with Commodities into France and Zealand; with whom he underwent a hard service, by which means he was trained up to pains and skill at Sea; his Master dying, bequeathed him his Bark, with which he a while followed his Master's profession. But the Narrow Seas being too narrow for his spacious spirit, he sold his Bark, venturing himself and most of his estate with Captain John Hawkins into the West-indies; but his journey proved unfortunate, for at St. John de Vlva, his goods were taken by the Spaniards, himself hardly escaping with life. This loss so exasperated the spirit of Drake, that he vowed the Spaniards should repay him with advantage; and to make his word good, after two or three several voyages into the West-Indies, to gain intelligence, at last he effectually set forward from Plymouth with two ships, and seventy three men and boys, sailing with all speed and secrecy to Nombre de Dios, the Granary of the West-Indies, where the Spanish Treasure lay, intending to surprise it, being an unwalled Town; but in the assault being dangerously wounded, he was forced to retire again to his Ships, when he had well near conquered the Town: thus victory sometimes slips thorough their fingers who have caught it in their hands. Yet notwithstanding this disaster, enough to have daunted a coward from prosecuting his design any further, he resolveth not to give over the project; but whilst he was determining what to do, a golden opportunity courted him with success; certain Negroes called symeron's, advertised him of many Mules laden with Gold and Silver which was to be brought from Panama over the Mountains. Drake who had ploughed long Furrows in the Ocean, expecting to have a Golden Harvest, leaves competent numbers to man his Ships, and with the rest of his men goes on Land, intercepts the prize, being weakly guarded, and carries away an infinite mass of Gold, hiding the Silver under ground, as not portable over so high hills. Then burned he a great place of Traffic called the Cross, and in it two hundred thousand pounds worth of Spanish Merchandise; which done, he returned with great Honour and Riches into England. This his so lucky beginning gave him more hopes of prosperous proceeding; wherefore in Anno 1577. he again sets forth from Plymouth, with a Fleet of five Ships, and sixteen hundred and four men in them, and within twenty five days came to Canline a Cape in Barbary; in his passage he took Nuno-da-Silva a Spanish Pilate, whose directions he afterwards much used. Hence he took their course to the Island of Brava, being much troubled with tempestuous winds, which in one hour vary all the points of the Compass; nor was their rain less strange poured (not as in other places, as it were out of sieves, but) as out of spots, so that a Butt of water falls down in a place: which notwithstanding was but a friendly in jury, helping them to fresh water, which otherwise in that hot Climate far from Land is not so easily come by. Then cutting the Line, he let every one in his ships blood; there saw they that face of Heaven which the Earth hideth from our sight, but therein only three stars of the first magnitude, the rest few and small compared to our Hemisphere; as if God (saith Mr. Fuller) had on purpurpose set up the best and biggest Candles in that room wherein his civilest Guests are entertained. The 16. of April he entered the River Plate, in which place John Doughty, the next to Drake in Authority, was questioned for raising sedition in the Navy; who being found guilty, was beheaded. Some report Leicester had given Drake in charge to make him away, for words be had said against him touching the Earl of Essex. The twentieth of August he passed the Magellan Straits with three ships, having cast off the other two as Impediments; and then entering the Pacifique Sea, his ships by tempests were dispersed from each one, the one whereof was never more seen, the other returned home through the Straits. Drake himself held on his course to Chily, Coquimbo, Cinnano, Palma, Lima, upon the West of America, passing the Line the first of March, till he came to the Latitude 47. intending to have come by those North Seas, but unseasonable weather made him alter his determination, and bend his Course South-West from thence, coming to Anchor 38. degrees from the Line, where the King of that Country presented unto him his Network Crown of many coloured feathers, and resigned therewith his Sceptre of Government unto his Devotion; his people so admiring our men, that they sacrificed unto them, as to their gods. This place for the glory of England, he named Nova Albion, and at his departure erected a Structure, as a Monument, to witness what there had been done. From thence the fourteenth of November he fell with Ternate one of the Isles of Molucco, the King whereof entertained him courteously, telling them, they and he were all of one Religion in this respect, that they believed not in Gods of stocks and stones, as did the Portugals. Here he took in certain tun of Cloves, with some necessaries which they wanted. But in relating the honour, we must not omit the riches he got in this journey, his Prizes being many, and of great value, which by Sir Richard Baker are thus summarily delivered. Losing from the Isle Moucha, he lighted upon a fellow fishing in a little Boat, who shown him where a Spanish ship laden with Treasure lay; Drake making towards it, the Spaniards thought him to be their own Countryman, and thereupon invited him to come on; but he getting aboard, presently shut the Spaniards (being not above eight) under hatches and took the ship, in which was four hundred pound weight of Gold. At Taurapasa, going again on shore, he found a Spaniard sleeping by the sea side, who had lying by him twenty bars of massy silver, to the value of four thousand Ducats, which he bid his followers take amongst them, the Spaniard still sleeping. After this going into the Port of Africa, he found there three Vessels without any Mariners in them: wherein, besides other wares, were seven and fifty silver Bricks, each of which weighed twenty pound. Tiding it to Lime, he found twelve ships in one road, and in them great store of silks, and a chest full of money coined, but not so much as a ship-boy abroad, (such security there was in that Coast.) Then putting to sea with those ships, he followed the rich ship called Cacofaga; and by the way met with a small ship, without Ordnance or other Arms, out of which he took fourscore pound weight of Gold, a golden Crucifix, and some Emeralds of a finger's length. And overtaking the Cacofaga, set upon her, and took her; and in her, besides Jewels, fourscore pound weight of Gold, thirteen Chests of Silver, and (as one writes) as much silver as would ballast a ship. And now having fraughted his ship with so much wealth that a Miser would not desire any more, he resolveth to return home; and having a large wind, and a smooth sea, ran aground on a dangerous shoal, where his ship stuck twenty hours, having ground too much, and yet too little to land on; and water too much, and yet too little to sail in. Expecting now no other than death, they betook themselves to prayer, the best lever at such a dead lift; afterwards they received the Communion, dining on Christ's in the Sacrament, expecting no other than to sup with him in Heaven. Driven to this straight, they were forced to cast out of their ship six great Pieces of Ordnance, threw overboard as much wealth as would break the heart of a Miser to think on, with much sugar and packs of spices, making a caudle of the sea round about. At last it pleased God that the wind, formerly their mortal enemy, became their friend, which changing from the Starboard to the Larboard of the ship, and rising by degrees, cleared them off to the sea again; for which they returned unfeigned thanks unto Almighty God. Having escaped this eminent danger, they bent their Course South-West, to the Cape of Bone Speranco, and by the West of Africa returned safe into England, and landed at Plymouth November 3. 1580. The next year he feasted the Queen in his ship at Dartford, who knighted him for his service; his Arms were given him, The World in a Ship. Which ship by the Queen's command was drawn on shore near Dartford, for a Monumant to all posterity. Concerning this his famous Voyage, a Poet then living directed to him this Epigram. Drake, pererrati novit quem terimus orbis, Quemque semel mundi vidit uterque polus: Si taceant homines, facient te sydera notum; Sol nescit comitis non memor esse sui. Drake, whom th' encompassed earth so fully knew, And whom at once both Poles of Heaven did view: Should men forget thee, Sol could not forbear To Chronicle his fellow-traveller. Anno 1585. he again set sail from Plymouth, with two and twenty ships and pinnesses, and two thousand three hundred soldiers and sailors, and passing by the Isles of Bayon and the Canaries, arrived at St. Jago, (the chief City of Cuba in America) which they took and burned: after they sailed to St. Domingo in Hispaniola, which they spoilt and ransacked: from thence to Carthagena, which they also surprised, and took in it (besides inestimable sums of money) 240. Pieces of Ordnance. And returning homewards razed and burnt the Fort and City of Saint Augustine in Terra Florida, arriving safe at Plymouth the 27. of July 1586. In this Voyage some Writers not taking notice of Sir Walter Raleigh, will needs have Tobacco first brought over into England; which though (saith one) in some respect, being moderately taken, may be Physical, yet besides the consumption of the purse, & imparing of our inward parts, the immoderate, vain, and fantastical abuse of the hellish Weed, corrupteth the natural sweetness of the breath, stupifieth the brain; and indeed is so prejudicial to the general esteem of our Countrymen, that as one saith of them, Anglorum corpora qui huic plantae tontopere indulgent, in Barbarorum naturam degenerasse videntur. The two chief virtues ascribed to it, are, that it is good against Lues Venerea, that loathsome disease, the Pox; and that it voideth Rheum. For the first, like enough it is that similes habent labra lactueas; so unclean a disease may be fitted with so unwholesome a medicine. For the second good quality attributed unto it, I think it rather to consist in opinion then truth: the Rheum which it voideth, being only that which it engendereth. But Tobacco itself is by few taken now as medicinal, it is grown a goodfellow, and fallen from a Physician to a Compliment. For as one of our Modern Poets hath it. He's no goodfellow that's without the Pox, Pipes, Tobacco, and his Tinder Box. A folly which certainly had never spread so far, if here had been the same means of prevention used with us, as was in Turkey by Morat Bassa, who commanded a pipe to be thrust through the nose of a Turk which was found taking Tobacco, and so in derision to be led about Constantinople. Take his farewell to it, who once much doted on this Heathenish Weed. Farewell thou Indian smoke, Barbarian vapour, An enemy to life, foe to waste paper. Thou dost diseases in the body breed, And like a Vulture on the purse dost feed. Changing sweet breaths into a stinking loathing, And with three pipes turns two pence into nothing. Grim Pluto first invented it, I think To poison all the world with hellish stink: Base heathenish weed, how common is it grown, That but a few years past was scarcely known! When for to see one take it was a riddle, As strange as a Baboon to tune a fiddle. Were it confined only to Gentlemen, 'Twere some repute to take Tobacco then, But Bedlams, Tinkers, Cobblers, Water-bearers, Your common drunkards, and most horrid swearers. If man's flesh be like hogs, as it is said, Then sure by smoking thus its Bacon made. Farewell foul smoke, good for such things as these, 'Gainst louse, sore heads, scabs, mange, or French disease. But to leave this unworthy subject, and to return to our History, in Anno 1588. when all England stood in fear of a Spanish invasion (though it proved but a Morris Dance upon our Waves) he was made Vice-Admiral of the English Navy; where what he performed towards the waning of that half Moon, the Chronicles report to his eternal honour: his very name being so terrible to the Spaniards, that Don Pedro de Valdes, Vasques de Silua, Alonzo de Sayas, and other Noblemen, hearing it was the fiery Drake that had them in chase, yielded themselves and came aboard his ship; protesting they were resolved to die in defence, had they not fallen under his power; whose valour and felicity was so great, that Mars and Neptune seemed to wait on his Attempts. Afterwards in the year 1589. Don Antonio pretending a right to the Crown of Portugal, sued to Queen Elizabeth for succour against the King of Spain, who detained it from him; she in pursuance of his Title sent him aid under the command of those renowned Generals, Sir Francis Drake, and Sir John Norris; who with eleven thousand Soldiers, and tweney five hundred Mariners set fail from Plymouth, and arrived at the Groin, a Haven in Galacia, took the lower Town by assault, and in it great store of ordinance, victuals, cables, ropes, and other furniture for shipping. From thence sailing towards Portugal, in their passage they met with Robert Earl of Essex, who without the Queen's leave had put forth to Sea, accompanied with his Brother Walter Devereux, Sir Philip Butler, Sir Roger Williams, Sir Edward Wingfield, and others. After two days they arrived at Penycha a Town in Portugal, which they took, leaving the Castle to Don Antonio. Here left they their sick and wounded, with seven Companies of Foot for their guard. The main Army under the command of Sir John Norris marched to Lisbon, whom Drake promised to follow with the Fleet; but by reason of the Flats which he must pass, and the Castle of Saint Julian fortified with fifty pieces of great Ordinance, his purpose was disappointed; yet surprised he the Town of Cascais, to which place not long after came the whole Army, being nessitated for want of victuals, and no aid coming in as was expected. Whereupon having taking threescore Hulks laden with Corn, and pillaged many Towns and Villages, they returned back again into England. This journey producing not that wished effect which was desired, another more likely was thought upon; Queen Elizabeth well knowing that the Spaniards chiefest strength consisted in the Treasure which he yearly received out of the West Indies, furnished Sir Francis Drake, and Sir John Hawkins, with ships and soldiers to bring this golden Harvest into the English Barn. These on the last of August set sail from Plymouth, and seven and twenty days after, came upon the Coast of the great Canary; in assaulting of which they wasted much time, to the great grief of Sir John Hawkins, who would have presently sailed to America; and this grief say some occasioned his death, though others impute it to the loss of his Bark, called the Francis, which five Spanish ships intercepted at the Isle of Saint Dominick; but when the same heart hath two deadly wounds given it together, it is hard to say which of them killeth. Drake notwithstanding continued his course to Port-Rico in St. John's Island, and casting anchor within the road, a shot from the Castle entered the steerege of his ship, took away the stool from under him, wounded Sir Nicholas Clifford, and Brute Brown to death, as they sat at supper: whereupon the English enraged, fired five Spanish ships of two hundred Tuns a piece in revenge of the Castle. The intention of the English was to have marched with their Land Forces from Port-Rico to Panama, (being an Isthmus which joineth together Mexicana and Peruana) where the Spanish Treasure lay. Sir Thomas Baskervile with seven hundred and fifty men undertook the charge; but the Spaniard having notice of their intentions, had built their Fortresses to impeach their passage: in assaulting of which first, the English had such welcome that they had no mind to try the second; so that fearing their Gold would be dear bought, as well as far fetched, they returned again unto their ships. Drake afterwards forced Nombre de Dios, and many other petty Towns; but though herein he did the Spaniard much hurt, he did the English little good: and now thinking with himself that according to his preparations, the expectation of his performances would be greater than before; the consideration thereof accompanied, if not occasioned the flux, which wrought his sudden death. January 28. 1595. who as he lived by the Sea, died on it, and was buried in it. A man no doubt of admirable parts, and one who had done many worthy services for his Country; and yet it is questionable whether those rich prizes he brought into England did us more good, than Tobacco supposed first brought hither by his followers, hath since done us hurt. One bestowed this Latin Epitaph upon him. EPITAPHIUM. Religio quamvis Romana resurgeret olim, Effoderet tumulum non puto, Drake, tuum. Non est quod metuas, ne te combusserit ulla Posterit as: in aqua tutus ab igne jaces. The Life of Sir FRANCIS WALSINGHAM. Te Francisce pio patriam cum deseris exul Pectore, pro meritis praemia digna capis. SIR Francis Walsingham the great manager of the Queen's pretended match with the Mounsieur of France, had the honour to be Sir Philip Sidney's Father-in-law. He was a Gentleman (at first) of a good House, but a better Education; and from the University traveled for the rest of his Learning. He was doubtless the best Linguist of those times, but knew best how to use his own Tongue; whereby he came to be employed in the chiefest Affairs of State. He was sent Ambassador into France, and stayed there a Leaguer long in the heat of the Civil Wars, and at the same time that Mounsieur was here a Suitor to the Queen; and if I be not mistaken, he played the very same part there, as since Gundamore did here. At his return, he was taken principal Secretary, and was one of the great Engines of State and of the Times, high in Queen Elizabeth's favour, and a matchful servant over the safety of his Mistress. He is noted to have had certain curious, and secret ways of Intelligence above the rest: but I must confess I am to seek wherefore he suffered Parry to be so long on the hook before he hoist him up; and I have been a little curious in the search thereof, though I have not to do with the Arcana Imperii. For to know is sometimes a burden: and I remember that it was Ovid's, crimen aut error, that he saw too much. But I hope these are Collaterals of no danger. But that Parry intending to kill the Queen, made the way of his access by betraying of others, and impeaching the Priests of his own Correspondency, and thereby had access and conference with the Queen, and also oftentimes familiar and private conference with Walsingham, will not be the Quaere of the Mystery; for the Secretary might have had ends of discovery on a further maturity of Treason: but that after the Queen knew Parry's intent, why she should then admit him to private discourse, and Walsingham to suffer it, considering the conditions of all assailings, and permit him to go where and whither he listed, and only on the security of a dark sentinel set over him, was a piece of reach and hazard beyond my apprehension. I must again profess, that having read many of his Letters, (for they were commonly sent to Leicester and Burleigh out of France) containing many fine passages and secrets; yet if I might have been beholding to his Ciphers, whereof they are full, they would have told pretty tales of the times. He was ranked amongst the Togati, chief of those that laid the foundation of the Dutch and French Wars, which was another piece of his fineness, and of the times. I shall conclude with one observation more, that he was one of the great Allies of the Austrian embracements; for both himself and Stafford that preceded him, might well have been compared to the Fiend in the Gospel, that sowed his tares in the night; so did they their seeds of division in the dark: and it is a likely report that the father on him at his return, that he said unto the Queen with some sensibility of the Spanish designs in France, Madam, I beseech you be content not to fear; the Spaniard hath a great appetite, and an excellent digestion; but I have fitted him with a bone for this twenty years, that your Majesty shall have no cause to doubt him; provided that if the fire chance to slack which I have kindled, you will be ruled by me, and now and then cast in some English Fuel, which will revive the flame. That the discerning Reader may the better scent this Fox, I have presented to his perusual one of his Letters. A Copy of the Letter sent to Mr. Secretary touching the negotiation had with the King the 28. of August, 1570. SIR, May it please your Honour to advertise her Majesty, that the King accepted in very good part her congratulation, as from his good Sister and Neighbour, who hath always wished his well-doing (for these were his words.) After congratulation done to the King, the Queen Mother having enquired of me of the well-doing of her Majesty, asked me how the Queen of Scots did; I answered her that at my departure, for any thing I knew to the contrary, she did very well. Then she proceeded to inquire of me, touching her present estate: I answered according to the tenor of my instructions, in what state she stood at my departure; wherewith she seemed to rest very well satisfied. And then she fell to protestations, that for her own part she was so well persuaded of the Queen's Majesties merciful disposition, as she knew right well, that if she did deal any thing hardly with the Queen of Scots, it rather proceeded from some of her Ministers, then from her Majesty's self. I replied that I was glad to understand that she conceived so well of the Queen my Mistress' good disposition, so was I sorry that she should think she would be by any of her Ministers or Councillors drawn to any thing, either towards her, or any other, that might not stand, with her honour; for that her skill and years was now to direct, and not to be directed. I desired her therefore in her Majesty's name that she would evermore reserve an ear for her: (A thing that would not in equity be denied to the meanest person in France) who in all her actions hitherto towards the Queen of Scots, had dealt with that regard to her honour as she was right able to justify herself, both towards the King, her good brother, as also towards all other Princes. Then she made great protestations of her indifferency, and that she is no less affected in good will towards her Majesty, whom it pleaseth, saith she, to do me the honour as to call me by the name of a Mother, then to the Queen of Scots her daughter-in-law; and therefore in wishing her liberty, I do it, saith she, as much as for the Queen your Mistress quietness sake, as for any other respect; which without her liberty can hardly grow unto her. This Sir in effect was the whole course of the Speech that passed from her in that behalf which she had then with me apart. The King being then in talk with my Lord Ambassador, than she caused the King to deal with me in that behalf, to whom I shown the state of her cause, according to the contents of my instructions, wherewith he seemed to be satisfied, He told me that he wished that the Queen his good Sister according to the inclination, would have some compassion of her cause, and grow to some speedy conclusion in that behalf. I told him that I doubted not but that her Majesty would for his sake do that which should be to his contentation, so far forth as might stand with her honour and safety. Then he professed that otherwise he would not desire it. Thus having imparted to your honour the effect of my negotiation, to the end you may advertise her Majesty, I most humbly take my leave. From Paris the 29. of August, 1570. Your Honours to command F. Walsingham. To conclude, he was sent twice Ambassador into France, once into Scotland, once into the Low Countries, so that he was most intimately acquainted with the deepest counsels and secrets of Princes; that he rightly understood how to preserve his Country, and how to manage affairs either for Peace or War. He died the sixth day of April, in the year of our Lord 1590. He lies entombed in St. Paul's, being in respect of the debts he had contracted for his faithful service to the Crown, forced to be buried privately in that Cathedral. One bestowed this Latin Epitaph on his Memory. Sic reticenda domi fido secreta recondis Pectore, sic discis discutienda foris: tua sitnè fides dubitem, an prudentia major. Virtute indubio hac, magnus utraque vir es. The Life of Sir NICHOLAS BACON. Ingenio Bacon magnus custosque sigilli firmavit justas posteritis opes. SIR Nicholas Bacon, a person inferior to none of his predecessors, as arch a piece of wit and wisdom as any of them all. He was a Gentleman, and a man of Law, of great knowledge therein; whereby together with his other parts of Learning and dexterity, he was promoted to be Keeper of the great Seal; and being of kin to the Treasurer Burleigh, had also the help of his hand to bring him into the Queen's favour; for he was abundantly factious, which took much with Queen Elizabeth when it was suited with the season, as he was well able to judge of his times. He had a very acquaint saying, and he used it often to good purpose; that he loved the jest well, but not the loss of his friend. He would say, that though he knew unusquisque suae fortunae faber, was a true and good principle, yet the most in number were those that marred themselves. But I will never forgive that man that loseth himself to be rid of his jest. He was Father to that refined Wit, which afterwards acted a disastrous part on the public Stage, and afterwards sat in his Father's room as Lord Chancellor. Those that lived in his age, and from whence I have taken this little Model of him, give him a lively Character; and they decipher him for another Solon, and the Sinon of those times, such a one as Oedipus was in dissolving of Riddles. Doubtless he was as able an instrument, and it was his commendation, that his head was the mawl (for it was a great one) and therein he kept the wedge that entered the knotty pieces that came to his table. He was of the prudent Family of the Bacons of Norfolk and Suffolk; he died in the year of our Lord 1578. the threescore and seventh year of his age, and lieth entombed in the Cathedral Church of St. Paul's, with this Latin Epitaph inscribed on him. Hic Nicclaum ne Baconem conditum Existima illum, tam diu Britannici Regni secundum Columen, exitium Malis, Bonis asylum, caeca quem non extulit, Ad hunc honorem sors; sed Aequitas, Fides, Doctrina, Pietas, unica & Prudentia. Neu morte raptum crede: qui unica brevi, Vita perennes emerit duas: agit Vitam secundam coelites inter animus. Fama implet orbem, vita quae illi tertia est, Hac positum in Arâ est corpus, olim animi domus; Ara dicata sempiternae memoriae. His Motto was, Mediocria firma. He left behind him as a Monument of his incomparable worth in continuance of his Name, Sir Francis Bacon, our English Plato, the inimitable Writer of this Age. The Life of ROBERT DEVEREUX Earl of ESSEX. Infelix virtus & ventis vela secundis, Extrema Comitem tandem oppressere ruina. RObert Devereux Earl of Essex was born Anno 1566. He had scarcely attained to ten years of age, when his Father Walter Devereux Earl of Essex and Earl Marshal of Ireland, deceased at Dublin, premonishing his Son to have always before his eyes the six and thirtieth year of his age, as the utmost term of his life, which neither himself, nor his Father before him outlived; and the son did not attain to it. At his Father's death he was by the Lord Burleigh his Guardian sent to the University of Cambridge, under the tuition of Doctor Whitguift, than Master of Trinity-Hall; a man of the primitive temper, when the Church by lowliness of spirit did flourish in highest examples of Piety and Learning. At sixteen years of age he took the formality of Master of Arts, and kept his public Acts, yet notwithstanding his good erudition, it is reported of him, that like certain Vegetables he did bud and open slowly, Nature sometime delighting to play an aftergame as well as Fortune, which had both their tides and turns in his course. His first advancement to Court was by means of the Earl of Leicester, yet not so much out of love to him, as it was thought, as out of envy to Sir Walter Raleigh, whose splendour at Court he meant to allay with this young Earl. His first appearance in the Fields of Mars was at Tilbury Camp, Anno 1588. where he was by the Queen made in the Field Commander of the Cavalry, (as he was before in Court) being much graced by her openly in the view of the Soldiery and people, even above my Lord of Leicester himself. But scarcely was he thus warmed in the Queen's favour, when without her consent or knowledge he thrust himself into the Portugal Voyage, hazarding thereby his future fortunes, besides the danger of incurring the Queen's displeasure, and laying himself open to the practice of the Court; notwithstanding a noble report coming home before him, (as indeed his actions deserved no less) at his return all those clouds were dispersed, and this his excursion afterwards accounted but a sally of Youth. Nay, he grew every day taller in her Majesty's grace and favour, insomuch that the King of France imploring her assistance against the Prince of Parma, who in hostile manner had invaded his Dominions; the charge of that enterprise was committed unto him; who full of valour, though young in years, being furnished with four thousand Foot and two hundred Horse, besides many Pioneers and other Volanteers, whose Heroic Aspects determined the courage of their hearts, landed in Normandy, and laid siege to the strong City of Rouen; in assaulting whereof his Brother Walter Devereux (a Diamond of the time, both of an hardy and delicate mixture) was slain with a small shot, to the excessive grief of the Earl; who after a tedious Winter's Siege challenged Mounsieur Villerse the Governor to a single combat; who not desirous to purchase his honour with the effusion of his blood, refused it: with contempt of his refusal, the Earl returned into England. The Queen having now experience of his valour, soon found an occasion for him to show it; the King of Spain threatening to invade her borders, she thought it the best policy to invade his first: to perfect so great a design, a mighty Navy is made ready, consisting of an hundred and fifty ships, wherein were above 14000. soldiers and sailors. Our intended brevity will not permit us to recount the several Officers in this expedition. The Earl of Essex and Charles Howard, Lord Admiral of England, were commanders in chief. The first of June they set forth from Plymouth, and on the 18. of the same month came to Cabo St. Vincent, where they lighted upon an Irish Bark, who certified them, that at Cales from whence they came, were store of Galleys, Ships of War, and Merchant Ships, laden with Munition, Coin, Oil, Wine, Wax, Silk, Cloth of Gold, and Quicksilver; news most acceeptable unto the Generals. The twentieth of June they cast Anchor on the West side of the Island, where a fair Dove, a fortunate presager of their success, lighted upon the main yard of the Lord Admiral's ship, and sat there quietly the space of three hours, every man gazing, but no man suffered to remove her. The next day a Council being called, it was determined the fight should be begun with the lesser ships, because the road was too shallow for the greater; the Lord Thomas Howard, Sir Walter Raleigh, Sir Francis Vere, Sir George Carew, and Sir Robert Southwell, with some Londoners, and a squadron of Low Country ships undertook the same, which they valiantly attempted, manfully maintained, and bravely continued: nor were the Spaniards backward in performance of their duties, but resolutely fought in defence of their lives; each side striving to acquit themselves bravely, which made the fight continue fierce and doubtful. The valiant Essex (though by a Council of War appointed to keep the main Battle) upon the sudden, from Port Saint Mary's side, thrust himself foremost in this Sea fight: which the other General perceiving, desirous to participate of the danger, as well as of the honour of victory, forsook his great ship, too unwieldy for those narrow waters, took into his Pinnace, that he might not be overacted in point of Honour. The scales of War which before were even, now turned to the English side: the Spanish Admiral a ship of fifteen hundred tun, was by their own soldiers set on fire, whose ruin was accompanied with two other ships that lay next her; the rest of their fleet ran themselves on ground in the Bay of Port Real. The Earl of Essex in pursuit of his design landed his men at Puntal, a League from Cales: to oppose his Forces half a mile from the Town appeared many horse and foot; but they finding the English numbers exceed their expectation, they presently gave back: the English perceiving their stratagem to out-wit them, counterfeiting a fear, made a retreat; by which means having enticed forth their enemies, they returned with such violence that they forced them back into the Town: but there they having an advantage from the higher ascent, played so fore upon the English, that their foremost ranks began to give back; which valiant Essex perceiving, to engage his soldier's resolutions, caught his own Colours, and cast them over the Wall into the Town: the undaunted English ashamed to lose their Ensign, forgot all danger, ascending the wall with shot and sword, make way through the thickest press of the enemy; in the interim Sir Francis Vere broke the the Gate and rushed in, and the rest with him; divers were wounded with stones from the tops of houses, and Sir John Wingfield slain in the Marketplace with a shot from the Castle. The Town thus surprised, the Castle was summoned, which the next day yielded; the Citizens compounding with the Lords Generals to pay an hundred and twenty thousand Ducats for their ransom, were suffered to departed; for the assurance of which payment, forty of the chiefest Citizens were brought pledges into England. Far worse sped the ships that had run themselves on ground, who being assaulted by Sir Walter Raleigh, profferred two millions and a half of Ducats for their redemption; but he telling them he was sent to destroy ships, not to dismiss them upon composition, they were by the command of the Duke of Medina Sidonian, Admiral of Spain, set altogether on fire: it was judged by the wiser sort of people that the Spaniard was damnified by this expedition no less than twenty millions of Ducats. The fortunacy of this enterprise gave occasion to one of the Wits then living to frame this excellent Annagram on the Earl of Essex name. Deureux Vere Dux. Which he afterwards englisht in this Distich. Vere Dux Deureux & verior hercule; Gades, Nam semel hic vidit, vicit at ille simul. Alcides yields to Deureux, he did see Thy beauties Cales, but Deureux conquered thee. The whole Navy returning home safe, crowned with victory and laden with spoils, yet seemed the revenge far less than the injury offered by the Spaniard: wherefore the next year a third voyage was undertaken, whereof the Earl of Essex was made commander in chief. Their design was to intercept the Indian Fleet in their return into Spain; many of the Nobility and principal Gentlemen accompanied the Earl in this expedition. The ninth of July, 1597. they set sail from Plymouth, directing their course to Feral and the Groin: but God, as a worthy Author interprets, was so displeased at these nations enmities, that they had not sailed forty leagues, but they were encountered with such a terrible tempest, that the Mariners themselves were at their wit's end, and the Fleet had much ado to recover Plymouth. And attempting to set out the second time, the wind fell so cross, that for a whole month's time they could not get out of the Haven. The 17 of August they again hoist sail, but before they came in view of Spain they were dispersed by another horrible tempest; in which they lost two of their ships. The 15 of September they fell into the Isles of Flores, Evernes, Fyal, and Pike, all which submitted themselves to the Earls devotion; afterwards they sailed to Gratiosa, whose inhabitants submit, and find mercy: here would the Earl have tarried in expectation of the Indian Fleet, had he not been most unluckily dissuaded by Graves his Pilot; for no sooner was he gone, but the American Fleet came by, (wherein were forty ships, and seven of them laden with Treasure:) these fearful sheep, hearing the English wolves were abroad, loath to lose their golden fleece, sailed with all speed they could to Tezcera, where they gained the Haven, all but three ships which the English took; the rest securing themselves in the Port, which being impregnable. The English sail from thence to Sain michael's, where they took Villa Franca, a fair Town well stored with Merchandise, wine, wood, and corn; here they tarried six days, during which space, a Caraque coming out of the East-Indies, and perceiving the English were there, ran herself ashore, unloaded her Merchandise, and then fired herself. October the ninth they hoist sail for England; but in their passage were assailed by such a tempest that quite lost them the sight of the Spanish Fleet, who likewise suffered much by the same tempest; for one of their ships was cast upon Dartmouth, the Soldiers and Mariners half starved in her; who upon examination confessed, that the Spanish Fleets intention was to seize upon some Haven in Cornwall: which being nigh the mouth of the Chancel, might be convenient to receive Forces from Spain; but man proposeth and God disposeth, for the divine providence frustrated the designs both of the Spaniard and the English. The Earl of Essex upon his return was created Earl Marshal of England. Hitherto have we beheld our Earl ascending the zenith of Honour, but favourites of great Princes are seldom without parasites; who wanting true worth in themselves, make a ladder of mischief to climb up to promotion: these buzz into the Earls head strange fancies and chimeras, that his deserts were far greater than his rewards; that during his absence Sir Robert Cicill was made Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, and Charles Lord Howard created Earl of Nottingham, with relation in his patent to the Victory in eighty eight and his good service at Cales; that he was descended of the blood royal of Scotland and England, and had better right to the Crown then any other of the compettitors. This puts the Earl upon indirect courses, and though he cannot attain to be King of England, he seeks to be made a petty King of Ireland: the state of which Country (ordained to be the Sepulchre of his Father, and the gulf of his own fortunes) was at that present in a dangerous condition, by reason Tir Oenone, a notorious rebel, had lately achieved such a victory with so great loss to the English, as they had never felt the like since they first set footing in Ireland. Whereupon a serious consultation was held on whom to send to quell the rebels; Essex though he seemed not to desire the employment, yet still was ready with his exceptions if any other were nominated: at length it was concluded that he should be the man, and an Army of twenty thousand foot, and thirteen hundred horse, allotted unto him; with these and a great retinue besides of the Nobility, he passeth into Ireland. His first action after his arrival was against the Petty Rebels in the Province of Monster, contrary to his Commission which was to go immediately against Tir Oenone himself; but men who prefer their private fancies before public Instructions, seldom attain to their wished desires: For notwithstanding he took the Castle of Cahir, and drove the Rebels into the Woods and Groves adjoining, his Forces by this means were so impaired; that the gain did not countervail the loss; wherefore sending for fresh supplies out of England, in the mean time he sendeth directions to Sir Coniers Clifford, Precedent of Connaught, to set upon the Rebels in one place, (thereby to sever their Forces) while he assaulted them in another. This counsel though good, yet found ill success; Clifford with fifteen hundred Soldiers marching towards Belike, set upon the Rebels; but the Fight continuing long, and the English wanting Powder, were put to flight, Clifford himself, and many of the old Soldiers being slain. In the mean time Essex receiveth fresh Forces out of England; and withal a check for neglecting the Queen's Command; wherefore at length he setteth forth towards the borders of Ulster, with thirteen hundred Foot and five hundred Horse. Tir Oenone not able to match him in power, yet seeketh to over-match him in policy, and by his Messenger desireth a parley; Essex mistrusting not the poison in the bate, condescended, appointing the shallow of Balla Clinch for their meeting place: thither came Essex alone, with whom Tir Oenone had private conference a full hour; and not long after by their Delegates concluded a Truce from six weeks to six weeks till May Day. This Transaction more incensed the Queen, who dispatcheth very sharp Letters unto him, blaming his delay, and letting slip every fair opportunity; with which Letters he likewise receiveth advertisement, that Sir Robert Cecil was made Master of the Wards, a place which he expected himself. This Sir Robert Cecil was a man of lame feet, but of a sound head; one who bore great sway in the Court, and a special stickler against the Earl; which exasperated him the more, not that he lost the place himself, but that his Adversary had attained unto it. This State proceeding entered so deep into his thoughts, that he studies revenge, and held private consultations of returning into England with part of his Forces, to surprise his Adversaries. But from this dangerous course the Earl of Southamptom and Sir Christopher Blunt dissuaded him; yet within a month over he went, and came with speed to the Court at None-such; where falling upon his knees before the Queen, after a little talk she bid him retire to his Chamber, and soon after committed him to custody in the Lord Privy Seals house; where having remained the space of six months, he began to repent him of his former courses, and shown so great patience, and so much submission, that the Queen gave him leave to return to his own House again. Nevertheless the popular voice, the crowd of common people so extolled his innocency, that she could not, for the removal of suspicion of Injustice, free herself and her Counsellors, but was forced to bring him to a trial; which accordingly she did in the house of the Lord Privy Seal. The chief Articles objected against him were, That contrary to his Commission he had made the Earl of South-hampton General of the Horse; had drawn his Forces into Munster, neglecting the Arch Rebel Tir Oenone; entertained a parley with him against the Dignity of the Queen's Majesty, and the person of a Viceroy, which he represented; and that the Parley was suspicious, in regard it was private. The Earl (remembering the words of Solomon, Proverbs 16.14. The wrath of a Prince is as messengers of death, but a wise man will pacify it,) fell down upon his knees at the end of the board, professing he would not contest with the Queen, nor excuse the faults of his young years, either in whole, or in part; protesting that he always meant well, howsoever it fell out otherwise; and that now he would bid his rash erterprises adieu: with many other words to the like purpose, which made the Assembly there present to weep. For indeed he was a man dearly beloved both of the Queen, Peers, and People; nor do we read of any English Subject, whose fall was more lamented than his. At length this sentence was pronounced against him, That he should be deposed from the office of a Privy Counsellor, suspended from the functions of Earl Martial, and Master of the Ordnance, and be imprisoned during the Queen's pleasure. And indeed her pleasure was he should not endure Imprisonment long; for upon his show of humiliation and mortification, she removed Berkley his Keeper, and gave him leave to go at large; only admonishing him to make his own discretion his Keeper, and not to come at the Court, or in her presence. Now the Earl thinking all danger was past, and that a serene sky would succeed this storm, in a presumptuous confidence of the Queen's wont favour, he became an earnest suitor to her for the Farm of sweet Wines: she to try the truth of his temper made him this answer, That she must first know what it was worth, and not give away things hand over head. His high spirit not brooking a denial, falls into discontented expressions which came to the Queen's ear. That it was now plain, the Queen intended to make him as poor as Job; that he should live of the basket, and gather crumbs under the table; that the Queen was now old and decrepit, and withered as well in mind as in body. And now again he runneth upon desperate counsels, for the removal of his Adversaries from the Court. The Earl of Southampton is sent for out of the Low-countrieses, his doors set open for all Comers, decayed Soldiers, and discontented persons admitted by Merrick his Steward to his own table; Citizens flock thither each day in great numbers, and all signs popularity appeared. The chief of his Council were the Earl of Southampton, Sir Charles Danvers, Sir Ferdinando Gorge, Captain of the Garrison of Plymouth, Sir Christopher Blunt, his two servants, Merrick and Cuffe, with some others: These meeting in consultation at Drury House, resolve the Queen's Palace shall be seized upon, and his Adversaries secured, who were nominated to be Raleigh, Cobham, Carew, Cecil, And the Admiral. But before they could effect their designs, the Queen by several circumstances having suspicion of their actions, sent Secretary Herbert to call him before the Council; the Earl doubting the matter, excuseth himself that he was not very well. But this slight excuse increasing the suspicion, four of the Lords were by the Queen sent unto him: namely the Lord Keeper, the Earl of Worcester, Sir William Knolles, and the Lord Chief Justice of England: these coming to Essex House, found there a confused number of people, and the Earls of Essex, Rutland, and Southampton in the midst of them; after some little talk the four Lords were secured; Essex with a Troop of two hundred men at his heels making haste into City, being falsely informed that the Citizens would take his part. The Earl of Bedford, the Lord Cromwell, and other Lords meeting him by the way, join themselves, Essex crying out as he went, For the Queen, for the Queen, they lay wait for my life. Whilst thus he seeketh in vain for help of the Citizens, certain of the Nobility entered the City with a Herald, declaring him and all his adherents Traitors: this so abated the edge of their courages, that some of his followers began to shift for themselves; amongst which was Sir Ferdinando Gorge, who the better to obtain the Queen's mercy, freeth the four Lords that were kept prisoners in Essex House, going along with them to the Court by water. The Earl himself thinking to return, was opposed by men in Arms at the West end of Paul's; where after a short bickering he retired to Queen-hive, and went to Essex-House by water. By and by the Admiral besiegeth the House, commanding them to yield, which at first they refuse; but afterwards finding their cause to be desperate, they fall upon their knees, and deliver up their weapons to the Admiral. The chief of them, as Essex, Southampton, Rutland, Sands, Cromwell, Mounteagle, Danvers, and Bromley, were committed to the Tower, the rest were put in common Prisons. The Earl being thus immured, sent this Letter to Sir Thomas Egerton Lord Chancellor. The Copy hereof the better to express the temper of his spirit, I have word for word inserted. The Earl of Essex Letter to the Sir. Thomas Egerton, Lord Chancellor. My very good Lord, though there is not a man this day living that I should sooner make judge of any question that might concern me then yourself, yet you must give me leave to tell you, that in some cases I must appeal from all earthly Judges; and if in any then surely in this, when the highest Judge on earth hath interposed upon me the heaviest punishment without trial or hearing: since than I must either answer your Lordship's arguments, or else forsake mine own just defence, I will force mine aching head to do me service for an hour. I must first deny my discontentment which was forced to be an humorous discontent; and so that it was unseasonable, or is so long continuing, your Lordship should rather condole with me then expostulate: natural seasons are expected here below, but violent and unseasonable storms come from above. There is no tempest to the passionate indignation of a Prince, nor yet at any time so unseasonable, as when it lighteth on those that might expect an harvest of their painful and careful labours. He that is once wounded must needs feel smart till his hurt be cured, or the part hurt before senseless: but cure I expect none, her Majesty's heart being obdurate: and be without sense I cannot, being of flesh and blood. But you may say I may aim at the end; I do more than aim, for I see an end of all my fortunes: I have set an end to all my desires, in this course do I any thing for my enemies: when I was present I found them absolute; and therefore I had rather they should triumph alone, then have me attendant upon their Chariots. Or do I leave my friends, when I was a Courtier I could tell them no fruit of my love, and now that I am a Hermit they shall bear no envy for their love to me: or do I forsake myself because I do not enjoy myself; or do I overthrow my fortune, because I build not a fortune of paper walls; or do I ruinated my honour, because I leave following the pursuit or wearing the false ones or shadow of honour; do I give courage or comfort to the enemies, because I neglect myself to encounter them; or because I keep my heart from business, though I cannot keep my fortune from declining: No no, I give every one of those considerations his due right; and the more I weigh them, the more I find myself justified from offending in any one of them. As for the two last objections that I forsook my Country when it hath most need of me, & fail in that dissolvable duty which I own my Sovereign; I answer, that if at this time my Country had any need of my public service, her Majesty that governeth it would not have driven me to a private life. I am tied to my Country by two Bonds, one public; to discharge carefully and industriously that trust which is committed to me; the other private, to sacrifice for it my life and carcase, which hath been nourished in it. Of the first I am free, being dismissed by her Majesty; of the other, nothing can free me but death; and therefore no occasion of performance shall sooner offer itself, but I will meet it half way. The indissolvable duty I own to her Majesty, the service of an Earl, and of a Marshal of England, and I have been content to do her the service of a Clerk; but I can never serve her as a villain or a slave. But you say I must give way to time; so I do, for now I have seen the storm come, I have put myself into harbour. Seneca saith, we must give way to Fortune. I know that Fortune is both blind and strong and therefore I go as far as I can out of the way, You say, the remedy is not to strive; I neither strive nor seek for remedy. But you say, I must yield and submit, I can neither yield myself to be guilty, nor this my Imprisonment to be just: I own so much to the Author of Truth, as I can never yield truth to be falsehood, nor falsehood to be truth. Have I given you cause you ask, and yet take a scandal? No, I gave no cause so much as to take up Fimbria his complaint; I did tutum telum corpore accipere, I patiently bear, and sensibly feel all that I then received when this scandal was given me: nay, when the vilest of all Indignities are done unto me, doth God require it? Is it impiety not to do it? Why, cannot Princess err? cannot Subjects receive wrong? Is an earthly power infinite? Pardon me, pardon me my Lord, I can never subscribe to these Principles: Let Solomon's fool laugh when he is stricken; let those that mean to make their profit of Princes, show to have no sense of Prince's injuries. Let them acknowledge an infinite absoluteness on earth, that do not believe an absolute infiniteness in heaven. As for me I have received wrong, I feel it; my cause is good, I know it: and whatsoever comes, all the powers on earth can never show more strength or constancy in oppressing, than I can show in suffering whatsoever can or shall be imposed on me. I must crave your Lordship's patience to give him that hath a crabbed Fortune leave to use a crooked stile. But whatsoever it is, there is no heart more sensible or more affected towards your Lordship, then that of Your Lordship's poor Friend Essex. The ninteenth of February following, Essex and Southhamdton were arraigned in Westminster-hall; their Indictment was, for plotting to deprive the Queen of her life and Kingdom, to surprise her in her very Palace; and that they broke forth into open rebellion, by imprisoning the Councillors of the kingdom, by exciting the Londoners to rebellion with vain fictions, by assaulting the Queen's loyal Subjects in the City, and by defending Essex-house against the Queen's Forces. Hereunto they pleaded not guilty, but being found guilty by there Peers, they had sentence of death pronounced against them by Buckhurst Lord Treasurer, high steward of England for that time. Six days after was the fatal day appointed to put a period to Essex his life; the Queen notwithstanding her Motto, Semper eadem, yet in the case of life and death was oft times wavering; willing she was to have remitted what was past, if she might have been ascertained of his loyalty for the time to come: nevertheless she gave command he should not be executed; but being informed he should say, He could not live but she must perish, she countermanded her former word and gave order he should be executed. In pursuance of which order he was brought forth to the place of execution, where a Scaffold was erected; sundry of the Nobility being present, where having craved mercy of God, and pardon of the Queen, he had his head severed from his body. The thirteenth of March following, Merrick and Cuffe were drawn to Tyburn, and there hanged, and two days after, Sir Charles Danvers, and Sir Christopher Blunt were beheaded on Tower-hill: for great men seldom fall alone, but as the Poet hath it. Winds with great fury on tall Cedars blow, Whose fall doth ruin them that are below. One of our modern writers observes that happened to the Countess of Essex; she being fearful in her husband's behalf, gave a Letter which she had received from him to the custody of one Rihove, a Dutch woman that waited on her; this Dutchwomans' husband, named Daniel, lighted by chance upon the Letter, and perceiving some passages in it, which might bring the Earl of Essex into danger, got a cunning fellow to draw a counterfeit copy of the said letter; with this he cometh to the fearful Lady who was newly brought to bed, threatening to give the same to her husband's adversaries, unless she would presently give him three thousand pounds. She to shun the danger, paid him eleven hundred and seventy pounds at the very instant; yet did he deliver her the counterfeit copy only, meaning to make use of the true one, to get another some of the Earls adversaries. This imposter being found out, he was censured to perpetual imprisonment, condemned in three thousand pounds (two of which were to go to the Countess) and his ears nailed to the pillory, with this writing over his head. A notorious Cheater. I shall conclude all with some few observations on this unfortunate Earl: as to his first rise, my Lord of Leicester introduced him who had married his mother, a tye of affinity. Sure it is that he no sooner appeared in the Court, but he took with the Queen and Courtiers; and I believe they all could not choose through the sacrifice of the Father, but look on the living Son; whose image by the remembrance of former passages was afresh, like the bleeding of men murdered, represented to the Court. The Cicero of our modern times parallels him and Buckingham; where the difference was is too transparent: certain it is, to use Sir Robert Nauntons own words, that there was in this young Lord, together with a most goodly person, a kind of urbanity or innate courtesy, which both won the Queen, and took too much on the people; which amongst other disparities, Buckingham never did attain to the latter. What hath been imputed to his fall, is, that he drew too fast from the Queen's indulgence, like a child sucking of an over uberous Nurse; which caused him to express himself in such peremptory language, when he heard that my Lord Mountjoy received a favour from the Queen for his running so well a tilt; when as though he would have limited her respects, he said, Now I believe every fool must have a favour: which made the Queen swear by God's death, it was fit that one or other should take him down, and teach him better manners. All Authors agree that he was a man of a rash spirit, thirsty after the uncertain fame of popularity, which helped him on to his Catastrophe. One writeth this Latin Epitaph on him. Epitaphium de eodem Comite. Ecce sub hoc tumulo situs est celeberrimus Heros Qui cecidit, patrii spesque decusque soli: Fama ingens: annis juvenis: fortissimus armis: Nobilitate potens: religione pius: Terra Britannia parens, & testis Hibernia lethi, Tristia fata gemunt: fortia facta canunt: Facta togae, bellive magis, praestantia mirer? Optima, pace domi: Maxima marte foris. Mors fera corpus habet: Coelo Comes inclyte, vivis: Vita dicata Deo: mors nonna vita data est. The Life of Sir ROBERT CECIL. Tu pater & patriae Princeps, Prudentia cujus Extulit immensum roges populosque Britannos. THis Earwig of the Court Sir Robert Cecil, afterwards Earl of Salisbury, was the Son of the Lord Burleigh, and the Inheritor of his Wisdom, and by degrees Successor of his places and favours, though not of his Lands; for he had Sir Thomas Cecil his elder Brother, afterwards created Earl of Exeter. He was first Secretary of State, than Master of the Wards, and in the last of Queen Elizabeth's Reign came to be Lord Treasurer: all which were the steps of his Father's greatness, and of the Honour he left to his House. For his Person he was not much beholding to Nature, though somewhat for his Face, which was the best part of his outside; but for his inside, it may be said, and without Solecism, that he was his Fathers own Son, and a pregnant Proficent in all Discipline of State. He was a Courtier from his Cradle, (which might have made him betimes,) yet at the age of twenty and upwards, he was much short of his after-proof; but exposed; and by change of climate he soon made show what he was, and would be. He lived in those times wherein the Queen had most need and use of men of weight; and among able ones, this was a chief, as having his sufficiency from his instructions that begat him, the Tutourship of the times and Court, which were then the Academies of Art and Cunning. This great Master of State, and the staff of the Queen's declining age; who though his little crooked person could not promise any great supportation, yet it carried thereon a head, and a head-piece of a content; and therein it seems Nature was so diligent to complete one, and the best part about him, as that to the perfection of his memory and intellectuals, she took care also of his senses, and to put him in Linceos oculos, or to pleasure him the more, borrowed of Argus, so to give unto him a prospective sight; and for the rest of his sensitive Virtues, his predecessor Walsingham had left him a receipt, to smell out what was done in the Conclave: and his good old father was so well seen in the Mathematics, as that he could tell you thorough all Spain every part, every ship, with the burdens, whither bound with preparation, what impediments for diversion, of erterprises, counsels, and resolutions. And that we may see (as in a little Map, how docible this little man was, I will present a taste of his abilities. The Earl of Devonshire (upon the certainty the Spaniard would invade Ireland with a strong Army) had written very earnestly to the Queen and the Council for such supplies to be sent over, that might enable him to march up to the Spaniard, if he did land, and follow on his prosecution against the Rebels. Sir Robert Cecil (besides the general dispatch of the Council, as he often did) wrote this in private; for these two began then to love dearly. My Lord, Out of the abundance of my affection, and the care I have of your well doing, I must in private put you out of doubt, (for of fear I know, you cannot be otherwise sensible, then in the way of honour) that the Spaniard will not come unto you this year; for I have it from my own, what preparations are in all his Parts, and what he can do: For be confident, he beareth up a reputation by seeming to embrace more than he can gripe. But the next year be assured he will cast over unto you some Forelorn-hopes, which how they may be reinforced beyond his present ability, and his first intention, I cannot as yet make any certain judgement; but I believe out of my intelligence, that you may expect there landing in Munster; and the more to distract you, in several places; as at Kinsale, Bur-haven, Baltimore, where you may be sure (coming from Sea) they will first fortify and learn the strength of the Rebels, before they dare take the field; howsoever (as I know you will not) lesson not your care, neither your defences; and whatsoever lies within my power to do you and the public service, rest thereof assured. And to this I would add much more, but it may (as it is) suffice to present much as to his abilities in the pen, that he was his Craftsmaster in foreign intelligence: and for domestic affairs, as he was one of those that sat at the stern to the last of the Queen, so was he none of the least in skill, and in the true use of the Compass. And so I shall only vindicate the scandal of his death, and conclude him, for he departed in the month of May, 1612. at Saint Margret's near Marlborough, in his retun home from the ; as my Lord Viscount Cranborne, my Lord Clifford his Son, and Son-in-law, and many more can witness. But that the day before he swooned in the way, was taken out of the Litter, and laid into his Coach, was a truth; out of which that falsehood concerning the manner of his death had its derivation, though nothing to the purpose, or to the prejudice of his worth. He was from his greatest enemies acknowledged to be a complete Statesman, a support of the Protestant Faction, a discloser of Treasons, the Mercury of his time. His body lies buried at Macfield. He was famous for his buildings, more especially that called Britain's Burse; with this and other rare edifices to his extraordinary cost, with which he adorned his Country. The Life of Sir THOMAS OVERBURY. A man's best Fortune, or his worst's a Wife; Yet I that knew nor Marriage, Peace, nor Strife; Live by a good one, by a bad one lost my life. A Wife like her I writ, scarce man can wed: Of a false Friend like mine, there's none hath read. THis Witty (but unfortunate) Knight Sir Thomas Overbury was the son of Sir Nicholas Overbury of Burton in Glocestershire, who to his natural propension of Ingenuity had the addition of good Education. He having been a while Student of the Law in the Middle Temple, soon after he cast Anchor at Court, the then Haven of hope for all aspiring spirits. Yet upon some discontent he descended from those lofty Pinnacles, and traveled into France, where having been some time, he returned again, and was entertained into the respects of Sir Robert Car, one who was newly initiated a Favourite to King James, who put him in trust with his most secret employments; in which he behaved himself honestly and discreetly, purchasing by his wise carriage in that place good affection and respect, not only from Sir Robert Car, but of other eminent Persons. In process of time this favour procured profit, profit indulged honour, honour large employments, and in him expert execution; for where diligence and humility are associate in great affairs, there favour is accompanied with both. So that many Courtiers perceiving great hopes grew into familiarity with him; the Knight's expectations are performed, and his businesses accomplished beyond his expectation to his wishes; so that his diligence and parts gained him extraordinary resentments from the Viscount to his uniting him into friendship with himself; insomuch; that to the show of all the world this bond was indissolvable; neither could there be more friendship used, since there was nothing so secret, or private, but the Knight imparted it to Master Overbury. After some continuance of time, Sir Robert Car is made Viscount, and Master Overbury had the honour of Knighthood conferred on him; who grew still more and more into the affections of the people; so that now his worth and his wealth were so much taken notice of, that he was likely to taper at Court. These Eminencies as they are not unvaluable, so in their spectators they raise scruples and cause doubts, especially in the Viscount; for Sovereignty and Love can abide no Rivals. And indeed what State on earth is so firm that is not changeable, or what friendship so constant that is not dissolvable? Who would imagine this Viscount should become instrumental to his death, who had done him so faithful service, and to whom he had embosomed his most secret thoughts? We shall therefore in the next place lay down the grounds of this revolt of friendship on the Viscounts part; for we find no breach in Sir Thomas, but that rather his constant affection, and free delivery of his opinion (scorning to temporize) occasioned his death. There had lately past a Divorce betwixt the Earl of Essex and the Lady Frances Howard, so that she being now free, a motion of Marriage was propounded betwixt Viscount Car and this Lady: Sir Thomas Overbury, who had written a witty Poem, entitled, The Wife, thinking her not agreeable to his intentions of Matrimony, dissuaded the Viscount from it, with words reflecting much on the Countess' reputation. This counsel, though it proceeded from an unfeigned love in Sir Thomas, yet where beauty commands, all discretion being sequestered, created in the Viscount a hatred towards him; and in the Countess, the fury of a woman, a desire of revenge: who persuaded the Viscount, That it was not possible that ever she should endure those injuries, or hope for any prosperity so long as he lived. That she wondered how he could be so familiar, so much affected to this man Overbury, that without him he could do nothing, as it were, making him his right hand, seeing he being newly grown into the King's favour, and depending wholly upon his greatness, must expect to be clouded, if not ruined, when his servant that knew his secrets should come to preferment. The Viscount apt enough of his own inclination to revenge, further exasperated by the Countess, resolves upon his death; and soon he found an occasion to act it. The Council finding Overbury's diligence and sufficiency, nominates him as a fit man to be Ambassador into the Low Countries to the Arch Duke, as thinking they could not serve him up to preferments worthy of his deserts. Before he had given in his answer, the Viscount comes to him, acting his fatal part against Sir Thomas, dissuades him from undertaking it; using this argument, That his preferment and expectations depended not on Foreign Nations. You are now, said he, in credit at home, and have already made trial of the dangers of travel, why then should you hazard all upon uncertainties, being already in possession of that you can probably expect by these means. Overbury not doubting the Viscounts fidelity towards him, was persuaded by him; forgetting the counsel of the Poet. Ne cuiquam crede, haud credere quisquam, — Nam fronte politi. Astutam vapido celant sub pectore vulpem. Believe thou not scarce any man, For oft a Phrygian face Is smoothly covered with a smile, Within seeks thy disgrace. King James deeply incensed with the refusal of his tendered honours, for his contempt, commits him to the Tower; the Viscount aggravated his offence to the King, but privately promised Sir Thomas by his intimacy with the King, to bring him off from any troubles that might arise: but whatsoever he pretended, he practised the contrary. And now having him in the place they desired, their next study to secure their revenge, was closely to make him away, which they concluded to be by poison. To this end, they consult with one Mrs. Turner, (the first inventor of that horrid Garb of yellow Ruffs and Cuffs, and in which Garb she was after hanged) she having acquaintance with one James Franklin, a man skilled for their purpose, agreed with him to provide that which should not kill presently, but cause one to languish away by degrees, a little and a little. Sir Jervas' Velvis Lieutenant of the Tower, being drawn into the conspiracy, admits of one Weston, Mrs. Turner's man, who under pretence of waiting upon Sir Thomas, was to act that horrid tragedy. The Plot thus contrived, Franklin buys certain poisons, viz. Rosater, White Arsenic, Mercury Sublimate, Cantharideses, red Mercury, with three or four more deadly ingredients, which he delivered to Weston, with instructions how to use them. Weston (an apt scloller in the Devil's school) tempers them in his broth and meat, increasing or diminishing their strength, according as he saw him affected: besides these, poisoned tarts and jellies are sent him by the Viscount. At last, his salt, his sauce, his meat, his drink, and whatsoever he eats is mingled with poison, till his hair fell from his head, and he was strangely forced to part with the excrements of his nails; so that had he not been a very strong man he could have never stood it out so long. Besides these villainies, was added this affliction, that none of his friends were permitted to see him, or so much as to speak with him but at a window; so that all things considered, we may conclude him, as to his outward condition, truly miserable. In the mean time the Viscount flourishes, the marriage is consummated betwixt him and the Countess, and more honours conferred on him, being created Earl of Somerset. Sir Thomas Overbury hearing of this marriage, makes great lamentation, foreseeing thereby his own death; yet having some weak hopes of the Earl, he sends this letter to him, to mind him of his former promise. Right noble and worthy Sir, your former accustomed favours, and absolute promise concerning my present deliverance, hath caused me at this time to solicit your Lordship, and to put you in remembrance of the same; not doubting that your Honour is at all forgetful of me, but only (by reason of my imprisonment) being possessed of divers diseases, would for my body's health and safety, taste the felicity of the open Air; in which cause if your Lordship please to commiserate my present necessities, and procure me my speedy deliverance, I shall not only stand so much the more obliged to you, but also acknowledge you to be the preserver of my life. The Earl having received the Letter, returns him answer, that presently he could not accomplish his desires; but willed him not to doubt, for shortly he should have a deliverance: which indeed proved true, thought not as Overbury intended; for the conspirators now hearing some inkling of Sir Thomas' releasement, resolve upon his quick dispatch; to this end Weston agrees with an Apothecary, for twenty pound, to administer an empoisoned glister unto him. Sir Thomas persuaded that it would be much for his health, takes it; by the infusion whereof he falls into a languishing disease, with a griping in his guts; the next day after which extremity of pain he died: and because there was some blisters and ugly botches on his body, the conspirators gave it out that he died of the French Pox. This past currant, and the mischief lay concealed a long time, but God who will never suffer such mischiefs to pass unpunished, revealed the same. Somersets conscience gins now to accuse him; that former love that he bore to him, till the eyes of his Lady had enchanted him, returned; his wont mirth forsakes him, he is cast down, he takes not that felicity in company he was wont, but still something troubles him. And hearing of the people's mutterings concerning Overbury's death, finding the King in a good humour, he makes his address to this effect. That whereas it had pleased his Majesty to commit many things unto his charge, and some of them proving something too weighty for him to undergo, it was so that ignorantly he had run himself into a Praemunire, whereby he had forfeited to him both his lands, goods, and liberty, unless it pleased him of his wont favour to grant him pardon for that and many other offences that he had ignorantly committed. The King still bearing a good affection towards him, bids him draw his pardon, and he would sign it. Which accordingly he did, but it coming to the Lord Chancellors hands, he refused to let it pass the Seal, and acquainted the King with the danger that might accrue thereby. And now suspicion growing higher of Sir Thomas Overbury's death, Weston is examined by the Lord Cook, who at the first stiffly denied the same; but being persuaded by the Bishop of London, he tells all: How Mistress Turner and the Countess came acquainted, what relation she had to Witches, Sorcerers, and Conjurers; that Northampton, Somerset, Franklin, the Monsons', and Yelvis had all their hands in it; whereupon they were all apprehended, some sent to the Tower, others to Newgate. Having thus confessed, being convicted according to course of Law, he was hanged at Tyburn; after him Mistress Turner, after her Franklin, than Sir Jervas' Yelvis, upon their several Arraignments of the fact, were found guilty, and executed; some of them died very penitent and sorrowful for what they had done against such an incomparable person. The Earl and his Countess were both condemned, but through the King's gracious pardon had their lives saved, but were never admitted to the favour of the Court. This Ingenuous Knight, whose death was so generally lamented, was the other Sidney of this Nation. One of our Modern Writers observes, that he was too honest, which with the Machiavelians is interpreted to be too open breasted; as they retain this principle, that one that waits on great persons ought to keep a secret till his breath stinks. Whereas without question he did enlarge himself too much also in his discourse to others, which besides his downright Integrity to the Viscount, being as sharp Wits are too much addicted to an unfortunate way of jeering and jesting, must of necessity prove fatal to him; the revenge of a woman being always in pursuit. His Poem of a Wife is to the life; his Characters to this day not outwitted by any. To give a taste of the respects those times tendered him, I have affixed these following Verses. To the Memory of the generally bewailed Gentleman, Sir THOMAS OVERBURY. But that weare bound in Christian piety To wish Gods will be done; and destiny (In all that haps to men, or good, or ill) Suffered or sent by that implored will; Methinks t'observe how Virtue draws faint breath, Subject to slanders, hate, and violent death: Wise men kept low, others advanced to State, Right checked by wrong, and ill men fortunate; These moved Effects from an unmoved Cause Might shake the firmest faith; Heavens fixed laws Might casual seem, and each irregular sense Spurn at just Order, blame God's Providence. But what is man, to expostulate the Intents Of his high Will, or judge of strange Events? The rising Sun to mortal sight reveals This earthly Globe; but yet the stars conceals: So may the sense discover Natural things, Divine above the reach of humane wings: Then not the Fate, but Fates bad instrument Do I accuse in each sad accident; Good men must fall: rapes, incests, murders come, But woe and curses follow them by whom. God Authors all men's actions, not their sin, For that proceeds from devilish lust within. Thou then that suffer'dst by those forms so vile, From whom those wicked Instruments did file Thy drossy part, to make thy fame shine clear, And shrine thy soul in Heavens all glorious Sphere; Who being good, nought less to thee befell, Though it appeared disguised i'th' shape of Hell. Vanish thy blood and nerves; true life alone In Virtue lives, and true Religion, In both which thou art deadless: O behold (If thou canst look so low as earth's base mould) How dreadful Justice (late with lingering foot) Now comes like whirlwind! how it shakes the root Of lofty Cedars; make the stately Brow bend to the foot! how all men see that now The breath of Infamy doth move their sails; Whiles thy dear name by loves more hearty gales Shall still keep wing, until thy Fame's extent Fill every part of this vast Continent. Then you the Sire of their murdered Son Repine not at his fate, since he hath won More honour in his sufferance: and his death Succeeded by his virtues endless breath. For him, and to his Life and death's example, Love might erect a Statue, Zeal a Temple: On his true worth the Muses might be slain, To die his honour's web in purest Grain. Though for his worth the Muses were all slain His honoured Works would raise them up again. An Elegy upon the untimely Death of Sir Thomas Overbury, poisoned in the Tower. IT Would ease our sorrow, 'twould release our tears, Can we but hear those high Celestial Spheres, Once tune their motions to a doleful strain, In sympathy of what we Mortals plain, Or see their fair Intelligences change Or face or habit, when black deeds, so strange, As might force pity from the heart of Hell, Are hatched by Monsters, which among us dwell. The Stars methinks like men inclined to sleep, Should through their Crystal Casements scarcely peep; Or at least view us but with half an eye, For fear their chaster Influence might descry Some murdering hand, imbrued in guiltless blood, Blending vile juices to destroy the good. The Sun should wed his beams to endless Night, And in dull darkness canopy his Light, When from the rank stews of adulterous Breasts, Where every base unhallowed project rests; Is belched, as in defiance of his shine, A stream might make even Death itself to pine. But those things happen still, but ne'er more clear, Nor with more lustre did these Lamps appear: Mercury caper's with a winged heel, As if he did no touch of sorrow feel, And yet he sees a true Mercurian killed, Whose birth his Mansion with much honour filled. But let me not mistake those powers above, Nor tax injuriously those Courts of Jove. Surely they joy to see these Acts revealed. Which in blind silence have been long concealed; And Virtue now triumphant, whilst we mourn To think that e'er she was foul Vices scorn: Or that poor Overbury's blood was made A Sacrifice to malice and dark shade. Weston, thy hand that Covure-feu Bell did sway, Which did his life to endless sleep convey. But rest thou where thou art, I'll seek no glory By the relation of so sad a story. If any more were privy to the deed, And for the crime should be adjudged to bleed, To Heaven I pray, with reared up hands and eyes, That as their bodies fall, their souls may rise: And as those equally turn to one dust, So these alike may shine among the just; And there make up one glorious constellation, Who suffered here in such a differing fashion, The Life of Sir WALTER RALEIGH. SIR Walter Raleigh the Learned Apollo and Oracle of our Nation was one that (it seems) Fortune had picked out of purpose, to make an example of her mutability or tennis-ball, thereby to show what she could do; for she tossed him up of nothing, and too and fro to greatness, and from thence down to little more than to that wherein she found him; (a mean Gentleman) not that he was less, for he was well descended, and of good Alliance, but poor in his beginnings. And for my Lord of Oxford's Jest of him (the Jack, and an upstart) we all know, it savours more of emulation and his humour, then of truth; and it is a certain note of the times, that Queen Elizabeth in her choice never took into her favour a mere new man, or a Mechanic, as Comines observes of Lewis the Eleventh of France, who did serve himself with persons of unknown parents; such as was Oliver the Barber, whom he created Earl of Dunoyes, and made him ex secretis consiliis, and alone in his favour and familiarity. His approaches to the University and Inns of Court, were the grounds of his improvement; but they were rather excursions, than sieges or settings down, for he stayed not long in a place; and being the youngest brother, and the house diminished in patrimony, he foresaw his own destiny that he was first to roll (thorough want and disability to subsist other ways) before he could come to a repose: and as the stone doth by long lying, gather moss, he first exposed himself to the Land Service in Ireland, a Militia which then did not yield him food and raiment, (for it was ever very poor) nor had he patience to stay there, though shortly after he came thither again under the command of the Lord Grey, but with his own colours flying in the field; having in the interim cast a new chance, both in the Low Countries, and in a voyage to Sea. And if ever man drew virtue out of necessity, it was he: therewith was he the great example of industry; and though he might then have taken that of the merchant to himself, per mare, per terras, currit mercator ad Indos, he might also have said, and truly with the Philosopher, Omnia mea mecum porto; for it was a long time before he could brag of more than he carried at his back; and when he got on the winning side, it was his commedations that he took the pains for it, and underwent many various adventures for his after perfection. And before he came into the public note of the world, and that it may appear how he came up (per ardua) per varios casus, per tot discrimina rerum, not pulled up by chance, or by any gentle admittance of Fortune: I will briefly describe his native parts, and those of his own acquiring which was the hopes of his rising. He had in the outward man a good presence, in a handsome and well compacted person, a strong natural wit, and a better judgement, with a bold and plausible tongue, whereby he could set out his parts to the best advantage; and to these he had the adjuncts of some general learning, which by diligence he enforced to a great augmentation, and perfection; for he was an undefatigable reader, whether by Sea or Land; and none of the least observers, both of men and the times. And I am confident, that among the second causes of his growth, that variance between him and the Lord Grey, in his descent into Ireland, was a principal; for it drew them both before the Council Table, there to plead for themselves; where (what advantage he had in the cause, I know not) but he had much the better in the telling of his tale; and so much that the Queen and the Lords entertained no ordinary considerations of his person, and his parts: for from thence he came to be known, and to have access to the Queen, and to the Lords; and then we are not to doubt how such a man might rise by his compliance, the most expeditious way of progression. Whether Leicester had then cast in a good word for him to the Queen I cannot determine; but true it is, he had gotten Queen Elizabeth's ear at a trice, and she began to be taken with his elocution, and loved to hear his reasons to her demands; and the truth is, she took him for a kind of Oracle, which nettled them all: yea, those that he relied on, began to take his sudden favour for an alarm, and to be sensible of their own supplantation, and to project his, which made him shortly after sing, Fortune my foe, etc. So that finding his favour declining, and falling into a recess, he undertook a new peregrination to leave that Terra infirma of the Court, for that of the Wars; and by declining himself, and by absence, to expel his, and the passion of his enemies, which in Court was a strange device of recovery; but that he knew there was some ill office done him, that he durst not attempt to mind any other ways, then by going aside: thereby to teach envy a new way of forgetfulness, and not so much as to think of him. Howsoever, he had it always in mind never to forget himself; and his device took so well, that at his return he came in (as Romans do, by going backwards) with the greater strength, and so continued to her last, great in her grace, and Captain of the Guard. One observation more may not be omitted; namely, that though he gained much at the Court, yet he took it not out of the Exchequer, or merely out of the Queen's Purse, but by his Wit, and the help of the Prerogative; for the Queen was never profuse in the delivering out of her Treasure, but paid many, and most of her servants part in money, and the rest with grace, which as the case stood, was taken for good payment, leaving the arrear of recompense due to their merit, to her great successor, who paid them all with advantage; our Raleigh excepted, who fortunately in the very first beginning of his Reign, fell into his displeasure, by combining with the Lords, Cobham and Grace, Sir Griffin Markham, George Brook Esquire and several others, to destroy the King, raise sedition, commit slaughter, move rebellion, altar Religion, subvert the State, to procure Invasion, levy War, and to set up the Lady Arabella Steward, etc. of all which crimes being arraigned, he was found guilty, and condemned. But King James being a Prince of peace, unwilling to slain the beginning of his Reign with blood, contented himself with only his Imprisonment, this following Letter to his Favourite having saved his life. Sir Walter Raleigh to the Duke of Buckingham. If I presume too much, I humbly beseech your Lordship to pardon me, especially in presuming to write to so great and so worthy a Person, who hath been told that I have done him wrong. I heard it but of late, but most happy had I been if I might have disproved that villainy against me, when there had been no suspicion that the desire to save my life had presented my excuse. But my worthy Lord, it is not to excuse myself that I now write: I cannot, for I have now offended my Sovereign Lord, for all past, even all the World, and my very Enemies have lamented my loss; whom now if his Majesty's mercy alone do not lament, I am lost. Howsoever that which doth comfort up my soul in this offence, is, that even in the offence itself I had no other intent than his Majesty's service; and to make his Majesty know that my late enterprise was grounded upon a truth; and which with one ship speedily set out, I meant to have aspired, or have died; being resolved, as it is well known, to have done it from Plymouth, had I not been restrained. Hereby I hoped not only to recover his Majesty's gracious Opinion, but to have destroyed all those Malignant Reports that had been raised of me. That this is true, that Gentleman whom I so much trusted, my Keeper, and to whom I opened my heart, cannot but testify; and wherein I cannot be believed living, my death shall witness: yea, that Gentleman cannot but avow it, that when we came back to London, I desired no other treasure then an exact description of those places in the Indies. That I meant to go hence as a discontented man; God I trust, and my own actions will dissuade his Majesty, whom neither the loss of my Estate, thirteen years' Imprisonment, and the denial of my pardon could beat from his service, or the opinion of being accounted a fool, or rather a distract, by returning as I did, balanced with my love to his Majesty's person and estate, had no other place in my heart. It was the last severe Letter from my Lords for the speedy bringing of me up, and the impatience of dishonour that first put me in fear of my life, or enjoying it in a perpetual Imprisonment, never to recover my Reputation lost, which strengthened me in my late and too late lamented resolution. If his Majesty's Mercy doth not abound, if his Majesty do not pity my old age, and scorn to take the extremest and utmost advantage of my errors; if his Majesty in his great charity do not make a difference betwixt offences proceeding from a life, saving natural impulsion, without all ill intent, and those of an ill heart; and that your Lordship, remarkable in the world for the nobleness of your disposition, do not vouchsafe to become my successor; whereby your Lordship shall bind a hundred Gentlemen of my Kindred to honour your Memory, and bind me for all that time my life, which your Lordship shall beg for me, to pray to God that you may ever prosper; and ever bind me to remain Your most humble Servant, W. Raleigh. He remained prisoner in the Tower above thirteen years, during which time he writ that Elabourate Work, entitled, the History of the World; which Book for its worthiness Dr. Heylin termeth, Primus in Historia. When at last being desirous of his liberty, he studied his exit, acquainting the King with the avaricious Intelligence of a rich Mine which himself and one Captain Kemish had formerly discovered by the Informations of the Indians in the Country of Guiana. For the obtaining of which, if his Majesty would please to give him leave to make a journey thither, he made no doubt but to benefit the State, without prejudice to the Spaniard. Which Proposition was condescended unto by the King, as he than imagines he would be far enough from his Complices; but he commanded to set down not only the Country, but the very River by which he was to enter it: as also to name his ships, number, men, and Artillery. Which being known to Gundamore, Leaguer Ambassador here for the King of Spain, he writes to his Master with the purpose of his Voyage. Upon which the King of Spain directed his Letters to all parts of the Indies to provide for his coming. Nevertheless Sir Walter Raleigh prosecuted his design, and having endured infinite dangers, besides a tedious journey, at last he came to Guyana, where he was much cherished of the Indians of his acquaintance. But falling desperately sick, he gives order to five small ships to sail into Drinoque, having Captain Kemish for their conductor towards the Mines. But passing up the River by Saint Thame, they were set upon by the Spaniard; whereupon they assaulted the Town, and took it. But in the charge Master Walter Raleigh, Sir Welter's son (more desirous of honour than safety) was slain. The English finding such stout opposition, that there was no way for them to obtain their purpose but only by desperate designs, the Spaniards having so fortified the passage to the Mines, they were forced to return, to the great grief of Sir Walter Raleigh; who told Kemish upon his return that he had undone him, and wounded his credit with the King past all recovery; which caused Kemish desperately to kill himself. And now Sir Walter Raleigh being returned into England, Gundamore so exclaimed against him to the King for breach of Peace, and so wrought upon his timorous disposition, that he was committed to the Tower. Where expecting every hour to be sacrificed to the Spanish cruelty, some few days before he suffered, he sent for Master Walter Burr, who formerly printed his first Volumn of the History of the World, whom taking by the hand, after some other discourse, he asked him how that Work of his had sold. Mr. Burr returned this answer, that it had sold so slowly, that it had undone him. At which words of his, Sir Walter Raleigh stepping to his Desk, reaches his other part of his History to Mr. Burr, which he had brought down to the times he lived in; clapping his hand on his breast, he took the other unprinted part of his Works into his hand, with a sigh, saying, Ah my Friend hath the first part undone thee, the second Volume shall undo no more; this ungrateful world is unworthy of it. When immediately going to the fire side, he threw it in, and set his foot on it till it was consumed: As great a loss to Learning as Christendom could have, or owned; for his first Volumn after his death sold thousands. And now the time approached wherein he was to act his last part on the Stage of this world, he first sent this following Letter to King James. Sir Walter Raleigh to King James before his Trial. It is one part of the office of a just and worthy Prince to hear the complaints of his Vassals, especially such as are in great misery. I know not amongst many other presumptions gathered against me, how your Majesty hath been persuaded that I was one of them who were greatly discontented, and therefore the more likely to prove disloyal: But the great God so relieve me in both worlds as I was the contrary; and I took as great comfort to behold your Majesty, & always learning some good, and bettering my knowledge by hearing your Majesty's discourse. I do most humbly beseech your sovereign Majesty not to believe any of those in my particular, who under pretence of offences to Kings, do easily work their particular revenge. I trust no man, under the colour of making examples, should persuade your Majesty to leave the word merciful out of your stile: for it will be no less profit to your Majesty, and become your greatness, than the word invincible. It is true that the Laws of the Realm are as no less jealous of the Kings, than Caesar was of Pompey's Wife; for notwithstanding she was cleared for keeping company with Claudius, yet for being suspected, he condemned her. For myself, I protest it before God Almighty, and I speak it to my Master and Sovereign, that I never invented Treason against him: and yet I know I shall fall in manibus corum à quibus non possum euàdere, unless by your Majesty's gracious compassion I be sustained. Our Law therefore, most merciful Prince, knowing her own cruelty, and knowing that she is wont to compound Treasons out of her own presumptions and circumstances, and doth give this charitable advice to the King her supreme, Non solum sapiens esse, sed misericors, etc. cum tutius est reddere rationem misericordiae quam judicii. I do therefore on the knees of my heart beseech your Majesty from your own sweet and conformable disposition, to remember that I have served your Majesty twenty years, for which your Majesty hath yet given me no Reward; and it is fit I should be indebted to my Sovereign Lord, than the King to his poor Vassal. Save me therefore, most merciful Prince, that I may owe your Majesty my life itself, than which there cannot be a greater debt. Limit me at least my Sovereign Lord, that I may pay it for your service when your Majesty shall please. If the Law destroy me, your Majesty shall put me out of your power; and I shall have none to fear but the King of kings. Walter Raleigh. Being brought before the Lord Chief Justice at the King's Bench in Westminster Hall, the Attorney General demanded Execution according to the Judgement formerly pronounced against him. Whereupon he was asked what he could say why he should not die, according to the Law. His answer was, That this fifteen years he had lived by the mere mercy of the King, and did now wonder how his mercy was turned into justice, he not knowing any thing wherein he had provoked his Majesty's displeasure; and did hope, that he was clear from that Judgement by the King's Commission, in making him General of the Voyage to Guiana; for (as he conceived) the words, To his trusty and wellbeloved Subject, etc. did in themselves imply a pardon. But the Court resolving otherwise, he was committed into the hands of the Sheriff of Middlesex, who presently conveyed him to the Gatehouse in Westminster. The Imputation of the first bringing in of Tobacco into England lies on this Heroic Knight; but as in the Life of Sir Francis Drake I have cleared him, that his Mariners first brought it in. So for that report, that when he went to his Trial, he took three Pipes in the Coach. I rather look on him as he was too guilty of occasioning the mode of this vanity, rather than that it was any Institution of his own. The day appointed for his Execution being come, a Scaffold was erected for him before the Parliament House; upon which being brought, with a cheerful countenance and undaunted look, he spoke as followeth. My Honourable Lords, and the rest of my good Friends that are come to see me die, know that I much rejoice that it hath pleased God to bring me from darkness to light, and in freeing me from the Tower, wherein I might have died in disgrace, by letting me live to come to this place; where though I lose my life, yet I shall clear some false accusations unjustly laid to my charge, and leave behind me a testimony of a true heart both to my King and Country. Two things there are which have exceedingly possessed and provoked his Majesty's indignation against me, viz. A confederacy or combination with France, and disloyal and disobedient words of my Prince. For the first, his Majesty had some cause, though grounded upon a weak foundation to suspect mine inclination to the French Faction; for not long before my departure from England, the French Agent took occasion, passing by my house to visit me; we had some conference during the time of his abode only concerning my Voyage, and nothing else, I take God to witness. Another suspicion is had of me, because I did labour to make an escape from Plymouth to France: I cannot deny, but that willingly, when I heard a rumour, that there was no hope of my life upon my return to London, I would have escaped for the safeguard of my life, and not for any ill intent or conspiracy against the State. The like reason of suspicion arose, in that I persuaded Sir Lewis Stenkly, my Guardian, to flee with me from London to France; but my answer to this is, as to the other, that only for my safeguard, and nought else, was my intent, as I shall answer before the Almighty, It is alleged, that I feigned myself sick, and by art made my body full of blisters when I was at Salisbury. True it is, I did so, the reason was, because I hoped thereby to defer my coming before the King and Council, and so by delaying might have gained time to have got my pardon. I have an example out of Scripture for my warrant, that in case of necessity, and for the safeguard of my life; David feigned himself foolish and mad, yet it was not imputed to him for sin. Concerning the second imputation laid to my charge, that I should speak scandalous and reproachful words of my Prince, there is no witness against me but only one, and he a Chemical Frenchman, whom I entertained rather for his Jests then Judgement. This man to encroach himself into the favour of the Lords, and gaping after some great reward, hath falsely accused me of seditious speeches against his Majesty; against whom if I did either speak or think a thought hurtful or prejudicial, Lord blot me out of the Book of Life. It is not a time to flatter or fear Princes, for I am a Subject to none but deatb; therefore have a charitable conceit of me: that I know to swear, is an offence, to swear falsely at any time is a great sin; but to swear falsely before the presence of Almighty God, before whom I am forthwith to appear, were an offence unpardonable: therefore think me not now rashly, or untruly to confirm, or protest any thing. As for other Objections, in that I was brought perforce into England, that I carried sixteen thousand pounds in Money out of England with me more than I made known; that I should receive Letters from the French King, and such like; with many protestations he utterly denied. Having ended his Speech, he saluted the Company; and after he had made his addresses to heaven, submitted his neck to the stroke of the Axe. Thus ended this worthy Knight; a man of such admirable parts, that he is more to be admired then sufficiently praised. Leaving him to his repose till the last great day, I shall only set down this following Epitaph made by himself. Even such is time which takes in trust Our youth, and joys, and all we have; And pays us but with age and dust Within the dark and silent grave: When we have wandered all our ways, Shuts up the story of our days. From the which earth, death, grave, and dust, The Lord shall raise me up I trust The Life of Mr. William Cambden. THis learned Antiquary, who so diligently preserved the memories of many noble Families of this Nation, and whose laborious Works have been a great light to Histories already extent, and such as future Ages shall produce, is deservedly placed amongst our Heroes; that he whose pen made so many others live, in his never dying Brittania, may likewise live here in this present Work, amongst the rest of our English Worthies. He was Son to Master Samson Cambden, descended of an ancient family in Staffordshire; his Mother was extracted from the worshipful family of the Curwens in Cumberland, as he himself witnesseth in his Britannia. He was born in the Old-Baily in the City of London, Anno. 1550. That he was well educated, his learned Works make manifest; being put to School, first in Christ-Church, then at Paul's. At fifteen years of age, (so soon was he ripened for the University) he went to Magdalen College in Oxford: where having much profited, he removed from thence to Broadgates' Hall, where he gave some proofs of his learning in those short Latin graces the Servitors still use. From thence he went to Christ-Church, where he attained to such eminency, as his abilities preferred him to be Master of Westminster School. There is as a learned Gentleman observes, scarce any profession in the Commonwealth more necessary, which is so slightly performed. The reasons whereof he takes to be these. First, young Scholars make this calling their refuge; yea perchance before they have taken any degree in the University, commence Schoolmasters in the Country; as if nothing else were required to set up this profession, but only a Rod and a Ferula. Secondly, others who are able use it only as a passage to better preferment, to patch the rents in their present fortune, till they can provide a new one, and betake themselves to some more gainful calling. Thirdly, they are disheartened from doing their best, with the miserable reward which in some places they receive; being Masters to the Children, and slaves to their Parents. Lastly, being grown rich, they grow negligent, and scorn to touch the School, but by the proxy of an Usher. But our Schoolmaster was of another temper, studying his Scholar's natures, as carefully as they their Books, and ranked their dispositions into several forms; for that Schoolmaster deserves to be beaten himself, who beats nature in a Boy for a fault. The truth is, our English Schoolmasters, I mean the unworthier sort of them, to conceal their ignorance and continue their profits, keep Boys in Lilies Grammar; first to get it by short lessons, by heart, and then to construe it, which they have a Book to help themselves with; continuing so long in this no less slothful and knavish practice of theirs, that Footboys and Mechanics in other Countries speak good familiar Latin, before we are out of our Quae Genus: it being a custom beyond the Seas to choose a large Grammar, as Disputerius, or the like, which they only explain, and then fall to their Vocubularies, familiar Authors, and Dictionaries; and in a short time are able to travel with the Latin Tongue over the world. Mr. Cambden taking great pains in the erudition of youth, continued so for a long space, till that he was called aside: Queen Elizabeth making him first Richmond Herald, and not long after Clarenceaux King of Arms; so that here was the story, as Mr. Fuller writes of Dionysius inverted, who from a King became a Schoolmaster, but here a Schoolmaster became a King; (I mean of Arms) which place he discharged with great integrity, being very careful to preserve the memories of extinguished families, and restoring many to their own rightful Arms; as also to curb their usurpation who unjustly entitle themselves to ancient families. Spending his time under a peaceable Prince, he had leisure to compose those most excellent Works of his, which he left behind him, as a Monument of his never dying fame. Viz. his Britannia, which he wrote in Latin, since translated into English by Philemon Holland Doctor of Physic. A Book which will speak its own worth better than my rude Pen can set it forth. His History of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth, the Original and true Edition of which he writ in Latin, it was Printed at London in Folio. The lesser Volumes Printed in Holland are corrupted. That passage in favour of Mary Queen of Scots left out, for which the doors of the Cloisters being shut too by one with a vizard to disguise, he was sound banged about the walks with these words often repeated, For Queen Elizabeth, and so was dismissed, not knowing to his dying-day, who bestowed so much pains upon him. He wrote a Greek Grammar, which for the clear method and brevity of it, is outdone by no foreign nation. His last book which one would have had written on his monument for his Epitaph, cambden's Remains, contains the Languages, Names, Surnames, Allusions, Annagrams, Armouries, moneys, Empresses, Apparel, Artillery, wise Speeches, Proverbs, Posies, and Epitaphs. To recreate the Reader, I think it not amiss to relate some few passages out of this last mentioned book, that it may appear, that our most gravest Authors would many times mix somewhat of mirth with their more solid writings, to draw the Reader on as well by pleasure as profit. Amongst other pleasant passages he mentions, Johannes Erigena, surnamed Scotus, a man renowned for learning, who sitting at the Table, in respect of his learning, with Charles the Bald, Emperor and King of France, behaved himself as a slovenly Scholar, nothing courtly: whereupon the Emperor asked him merrily; Quid interest inter Scotum & Sotum; What is the difference between a Scot and a Sot? He merrily, but yet malapertly answered, Mensa, the Table; as though the Emperor were the Sot and he the Scot In another place he mentions the Emperor did set down unto him a dish with two fair great fishes, and one little one; willing him to be carver unto two other Scholars that sat beneath him: this Master John, who was but a little man, laid the two great Fishes upon his own Trencher, and set down the other little Fish unto the two Scholars, who were big men; which when the Emperor saw, he smiling said, In faith, Master John, you are no indifferent divider? yes, if it like your Highness, very indifferent (said he) for here (pointing to himself and the two great Fishes) be two great ones, and a little one, and so yonder (reaching his hand towards the Scholars) are two big ones and a little one. He continues with the pleasant relation of Winefridus born at Kirton in Devonshire, after surnamed Boniface, who converted Freesland to Christianity, was wont to say, In old time they were golden Prelates, and wooden Chalices, but in his time wooden Prelates, and golden Chalices. Then discourses in another place of Ethelwold the Bishop of Winchester, in the time of King Edgar, in a great famine, sold away all the sacred Gold and Silver Vessels of his Church, to relieve the hungerstarved poor people, saying, That there was no reason that the senseless temples of God should abound in riches, and living Temples of the Holy Ghost starve for hunger. In another place, that when Hinguar of Denmark came so suddenly upon Edmund King of the East-Angles, that he was forced to seek his safety by flight; he happened unhappily on a troop of Danes, who fell to examining of him, whether he knew where the King of the East-Angles was; whom Edmund thus answered, Even now when I was in the palace, he was there, and when I went from thence, he departed thence, and whether he shall escape your hands or no, God knoweth. But so soon as once they heard him name God, the godless infidels pitifully martyred him. In another place he takes notice of a quick retort to Geoffrey, base Son to King Henry the Second; who being by him advanced to the See of Lincoln, would in his Protestations and Oaths always protest, By my faith, and the King my Father. But Walter Mapes, the King's Chaplain told him, You might do as well to remember sometimes your Mother's honesty, as to mention so often your Father's Royalty. As also of Eubulus a scoffing Comical Greek Poet, who cursed himself, if ever he opened his mouth against women; inferring, albeit Medea were wicked, yet Penelope was peerless; if Clytaemnestra were naught, yet Alcestes was passing good; if Phaedra were damnable, yet there was another laudable: But here, saith he, I am at a stand; of good women I find not one more, but of the wicked I remember thousands. To this purpose I have read in an old Manuscript, Women are all in extremes, too willing, or too wilful; too forward, or too froward; too friendly, or too fiendly; too courteous, or too coy; the mean they always meanly account of. As also of a certain Captain, who being persuaded to marry, replied no; If I marry a Wife, she will be wilful; if witty, then wanton; if poor, then peevish; if beautiful, then proud; if deformed, then loathsome; and the least of these is able to kill a thousand men. But I fear I have been too prolix, I shall only add one story concerning Cardinal Wolsey, then give you a taste amongst many others of some of his merry Epitaphs, and so proceed. There was a noble man merrily conceited, and riotously given, that having lately sold the Manor of an hundred Tenements, came ruffling into the Court in a new Suit, saying; Am not I a mighty man that bear a hundred houses on my back? Which Cardinal Wolsey hearing, said, You might have better employed it in paying your debts. Indeed my Lord (quoth be) you say well, for my Lord, my father, owed my master, your father, three half pence for a Calves-head; hold, here is two pence for it; Wolsey's Father being a Butcher. I will only set down a few lines of his merry Epitaphs as resemblances of the rest. An Epitaph on Menalcas. Here lieth Menalcas as dead as a log, That lived like a Devil, and died like a Dog: Here doth he lie said I? then say I lie, For from this place he parted by and by. But here he made his descent into Hell, Without either Book, Candle, or Bell. Upon one of a base condition, yet in respect of his Name, would have claimed Kindred of a most Noble Family, and being a notorious Liar was this written. Here lies M. F. the son of a Bearward, Who would needs bear Arms in despite of the Herhaught: Which was a Lion as black as a Jeatstone, With a Sword in his paws instead of a Whetstone. Five sons had this Liar, 'tis worth the revealing, Two arrant Liars, and three hanged for stealing, His Daughters were nine, never free from sores, Three crooked Apostles, and six arrant Whores. Another on one that was bald. Here lies John Baker enroled in mould, That never gave a penny to have his head polled. Now the plague and the pox light on such a device, That undid the Barber, and starved the Lice. But to return where we left, Master Cambden was so great a lover of Learning that he founded an History-Professour in Oxford, to which he gave the Manor of Bexley in Kent, worth in present a hundred and forty pounds per annum, but (some few years expired) triple as much. And now having lived many years in honour and esteem, death at last, even contrary to Jus Gentium, killed this worthy Herald; so that it seems, Mortality, the Law of Nature, is above the Law of Arms. He died the 74. year of his age, November 9 1623. He was buried in the Abbey of Westminster, having this Epitaph upon his Funeral Monument. Qui fide Antiqua, & opera assidua Britannicum Antiquatem indigavit, Simplicitatem innatam honestis studiis excoluit. Animi solertiam candore illustravit Gulielmus Camdenus ab Elizabetha R. Ad Regis Armorum (Clarentii Titulo) Dignitatem evocatus. Hic spe certa resurgendi in Christo S. E. Q. Obiit Anno Domini 1623. 9 Novembris. Aetatis suae 74. A base villain, for certainly no person that had a right English soul could have done it, hath defaced his Effigies, not suffering his Monument to stand without violation, whose learned Leaves have so preserved the Antiquities of the Nation. Though we have met with most horrid transactions, & the inevitable dart of death hath deprived us of learned Master Dodsworth, yet Divine Providence hath still left us two Argus-eyed Antiquaries, Master Ashmole and Master Dugdale; who by their studious Inquiries to their expenses in most learned Volumes, have retrived from our late ruins the honour of the Nation. On these Gentlemen I only look as fit to write the Life of their deceased Predecessor Master Selden, one of the late Worthies of our Age, and Wonders of the World. The Life of THOMAS SUTTON. Suttonum Ingenium & locupletem industria fecit, congestas miseris ille refudit opes. FAith, Hope, and Charity, these three divine Graces are a created Trinity, and have some glimmering resemblance of the Trinity uncreated; for as there the Son is begotten of the Father, and the Holy Ghost proceeds from them both; so true Faith begets a constant Hope, and from them proceeds Charity: thus is God's Temple built in our hearts. St Augustin saith, that the foundation of it is Faith, Hope the erection of the walls, and Charity the perfection of the roof; an excellent virtue, very rare in this contentious self-interested Age, wherein fratrum quoque rara gratia est. As a shame to these times, and an honour to the former, I have inserted the life of this worthy Gentleman, which if I had omitted, I had in some kind detracted from the honour of the Nation. Master Thomas Sutton was of a good extract born in the County of Lincoln, the then seat of Baron Willoby of Eresby, where in his youth he was generously and liberally brought up; he had some knowledge of the Languages, and might pass for more than an indifferent Scholar. In his youth he attended Thomas Howard Duke of Norfolk, and afterwards presented his service to the Earl of Warwick, with whom for some space of time he was in high favour, as also with his Brother, that Fox of the State, Robert Earl of Leicester. In process of time the eminency of his Qualifications being more particularly taken notice of, he was preferred, made Master of the Ordnance of Barwick, of the Laws of which Castle I have seen a transcript reputed to have been under his own hand. This place he held for a long time quietly, the Barwick Ordinance having been since charged to Covenant purposes; but by him only shot off with silver for Charitable uses. The truth is, he first raised his estate from that employment, by living sparingly and thrivingly, continually purchasing and improving of what he had got by merchandise and otherwise. Afterwards in his latter time he withdrew himself from the concourse of conversation, and dwelled in a little Town called Castle-Camp in the County of Cambridge; there he lived privately many years, retained no great Family, entertained few Guests, obscured himself as much as he could, and made no show of his Estate; yet notwithstanding his wealth was so every where openly known, that at last every one gave him the name of the Rich Sutton. And now by this time it was the general wonder of all men, he having no Heir, how he would dispose of his great estate: This made his Kindred, with emulation one to another in his sickness, most diligently to attend him; and in his health, against the time of his sickness they strove who should present him with the richest gifts; every one of them being freely accepted of. The old man, who as he received all, so they thought at his death to have their own again with the largest Interest. I have conversed with some of the Wits, who credibly informed me, that Ben. Jonsons' Play of the Fox under the name of Volpone, had some allusion to Mr. Suttons manner of treating of his Kindred. But to pass by such impertinences; as he had sums, so he had thoughts; he had honourable ways, and determined uses to empty his bags with: the word P. F. being not heard of in those days. A Friend of his, with whom he was very intimate, walking with him in his Summerparlour, thought to please him with a motion of putting out a sum of his money to interest on good security. Master Sutton showing a dislike, told him, that he had other purposes, and for the lawfulness of Usury he was not so fully convinced of it, but that he did believe that the most confident Usurer that ever lived would give the best bag he had on his deathbed to be cleared of that case of conscience. He being asked by his friend what he would then do with his money, he answered, that he was only as treasurer and disposer for poor and wanting persons: which words of his agreed with his mind, as the end of his Life declared. For as he determined with himself, so he afterwards built an Hospital, having first got a Grant from K. James confirmed by Act of Parliament. To this purpose, having bargained with Tho. Earl of Suffolk for a House then called the Seat of the Carthusians, now the , which was much out of repair; this with many thousands of pounds he bought of the Earl, though some asperse him, and report that he got it into his hands first by fraud, the Deeds being entrusted to him, that he kept them; by which subtlety he had the advantage to make his own market. I cannot believe this, but if it were true, he had great need, if it could stand him in any stead, to fly to that Scripture which the Romanists make so much use of, Charity covers a maltitude of sins. But to pass by this diversion, this House questionless he bought lawfully of the Earl, which he turned into an Hospital: When he was very old, and considering how soon his craziness and weakness might set a period to his life, and not knowing what injuries the present or future Ages might act against his Charity, he took such care to confirm his will by the Royal power, and the Laws of the Land, that except it hath been abused by the corruption of some particular covetous persons, it hath not been otherwise violated. The particulars of his Testament are too large to be inserted here, I refer the Reader to the printed Copy: I shall only out of it instance a few particulars. He bestowed upon his Kindred, Friends, and Servants, sums of money, besides six thousand pounds a year to the Hospital: For the performance whereof he chose honest, wise, and experienced Executours. His Will being thus perfected, he fell deadly sick at his House at Hackney near London; in the year of our Lord 1611. he died. Not long after his death the House began to be turned into an Hospital, though after his decease, this good work with several quirks and pretences of Law was oposed, as to the very foundation of it, the King's ears being abused. At last such was the faithful zeal of those that were entrusted, God assisting them in so honourable actions, that the Institution came to perfection by a quiet possession to the use appointed, with a Library, as a gift worthy of such an Hospital. In this House fourscore old men are maintained, which should be decayed Gentlemen and Soldiers, according to the Doners intent, who are to have an allowance both for their bodies and souls. There is also a School for thirty children of poor parents; though I am credibly informed rich persons of late years, that make the greatest friends, soon get their children in; an abuse of the Will of the deceased, and a crying oppression of the poor. These Children have their constant diet and clothing. There are several other stipends for the Governor, Overseers, Physicians, and Surgeons of the Hospital, together with an annual allowance, and an ample stipend assigned to a learned Minister, who in the Chapel on the Lord's Day is to preach to the Hospitallers with prayers twice every day in the week. An honourable gift to the end of the world bestowed on the distressed members of our Saviour's body. Master Sutton was first buried in Christs-Church in London, but afterwards removed and interred in the Chapel of his Hospital the , where a costly Monument was erected for him by his Executours. The Papists that glory so much of their good works, cannot show a nobler foundation for a particular person of his quality. To conclude, though our actions of Charity are never so great, (foolishly thought by them meritorious) yet if not the effects of a true saving faith, they are lost, and a man may for all his Charity go to the Devil. And though the Catholics would plead from the form of the last judgement, Matthew 25. that God accepts men to Life for their deeds of Charity, feeding, clothing, relieving, etc. yet the Scripture fully testifies, that God neither accepts these, nor ourselves for them, no further than they are the effects of a true faith; our persons being first justified by faith in Christ, than God will crown our works. This according to the holy Writ we acknowledge, that Charity for the perpetuity of it excels all other Graces; when we have possession of those pleasures that we believed and hoped, what longer use is there of faith and hope: but our Love shall not end with our lives; we shall everlastingly love our Maker, Saviour, Sanctifier, Angels, and Saints: where no discontent shall breed any jar in our hallelujahs. To conclude, as the use of Mr. Suttons Love and Charity was a comfort and delight to him on earth, what can we think it will be to him in heaven? The Life of the most Noble, Sir FRANCIS BACON Viscount of Saint ALBANS. AFter I had bestowed much pains, and strictly enquired the transactions of the life of this incomparable Knight, having finished it with all the ingenuity, care, and impartiality of a studious mind, I at last had the happiness to meet with it in Latin, exactly and admirably done by Doctor Raleigh his Chaplain; who as he discharged his faithful trust in publishing of some of his Works, I thought myself obliged to do him the right of the alone setting forth of his Life more especially, as no person better knew him then this Reverend Doctor; I have only translated what he did word for word, neither adding nor detracting. Sir Francis Bacon, the Honour of his age and Country, the credit and ornament of Learning, was born at York-House in the Strand, a noted Street, adjoining to the City of London, on the 22. day of January, in the year of man's salvation, MDLX. His Father was that famous Counsellor to Queen Elizabeth, and while he lived, one of the chief Props and Pillars of her Kingdom, Sir Nicholas Bacon Knight, Keeper of the great Seal of England; a Hero of approved wisdom, judgement, moderation, and integrity. His Mother was Anne, a Daughter of Sir Edward Cook, (who had the education of Edward the Sixth King of England) a Lady both of singular Piety and Virtue, and eminently learned, having no mean skill, especially considering her Sex, in the Greek and Latin Tongues; sprung from such Parents, what manner of person he was like to prove; is hence easy to conjecture, since no advantages either from Nature or Education could be imagined to be wanting to him: he passed the more tender years of his childhood not without rare testimonies of many growing excellencies, and great abilities of mind; nor did he come on faster in age, then in ingenuity and acuteness of wit, which promised high assurances of that profound and universal knowledge and comprehension of things which rendered him afterwards so famous, and brought him to be taken notice of by many noble persons, and others that were eminent both in dignity and place; and principally by the Queen herself, who, as I have heard from some of repute and credit, took much delight oftentimes to discourse with him, and to try his wit with difficult questions; but with so much gravity and deliberate judgement did he behave himself, that the Queen was used to call him the little Lord Keeper of the Seal. Being asked of her how old he was, he yet a child, ingeniously answered, That he was the younger by two years for her happy Reign. When he had attained the age that was thought ripe for the University, or rather more early than others commonly used to go, he was by his Father's appointment entered of Trinity College in Cambridge, under the tuition of the most Reverend John Whitgift Doctor of Divinity, at that time Master of that College, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury; a Prelate of the first magnitude, and most conspicuous for Sanctity, Learning, Patience, and Humility, under whom he was found to have made a wonderful progress in the Liberal Arts and Sciences, and above all that were his contemporaries; while he gave himself up wholly to his study in the University, wanting yet somewhat of sixteen years of age. The Philosophy of Aristotle (as his Lordship hath been pleased to impart to me in private discourse) began to seem unsavoury and distasteful to him, not out of any disesteem of that Author, for it was ever his custom to load him with high praises; but because of the insufficiency of that way of Philosophy, since it was so contrived and disposed (as his Lordship was oftentimes pleased to inculcate) as if it had been framed only for disputations and controversies, and was altogether barren as to the production of such operations as tended to the benefit of humane life; in which opinion he persisted to his very last gasp. After he had run through the whole course of the Liberal Arts, his Father thought fit to have him bend and apply himself chief to the study of Politics; and for that cause, took care to send him into France, in the Company of Sir Amie Pawlet, at that time appointed Ambassador in ordinary to the French King. He had not been there very long, ere he was so far looked upon, as to be thought a fit person to be sent into England upon some special message to the Queen; which employment having worthily discharged, he was sent back by the Queen, not without some testimony of her grace and favour. Upon his going into France the second time, he took this resolution, not to see England again, till after some certain-years expired. During his travels in France, his Father the Lord Keeper died; leaving behind him (as I have heard from some that were acquainted with his affairs) a considerable sum of money, purposely set apart for the purchasing of certain Lands and Revenues, for the use of this his youngest Son; who only of all the rest was left after his Father's decease, destitute of a hereditary patrimony: for though in his Father's estate, yet not in his Father's affection; held he the lowest place But since the buying of those Lands was only intended and not performed in his Father's life-time, there fell no more to his share, then according to the proportion of money that was to be distributed among five brothers; which was the cause that he enjoyed but a slender and somewhat hard fortune during his younger years; for he came not to the possession of that noble and most delightful Manor of Gorhambury till many years after, and that by the death of his most dear Brother Mr. Anthony Bacon, a man of great note, and one that had been much conversant in the Courts of Foreign Princes; for the excellency of his Wit equal, but for knowledge in the Liberal Arts, inferior to his Brother. Between these two there had ever past a most firm league of friendship, as being, besides the same paternal extraction, united by a more strict tye of having both one Mother. As soon as he returned out of France, his care was to pitch upon some certain course of life; thereupon he addicted himself to the study and profession of the common Law of England: in which undertaking he in a short time made an admirable progress. Although to use his own words he made choice of that profession, rather as subservient and auxiliary, then as his principal intention. He set forth from the first to the last divers Tractates concerning this subject; in which, though perhaps by some of the ancient standers of that profession, he might be exceeded as to the bulk of volume and number of cases; yet for matter of weight, and his insight into the fundamentals and mysteries of the Law, he gave place to none. He had scarce served out his Apprenticeship in the Law, before he was by the Queen taken into her learned Council extraordinary; a favour, as I have heard, scarce granted to any one before. The habitation he chose as most commodious for his studies and Office of Advocate, was amongst the honourable society of Grey's-Inne, into the number of which Society he admitted himself; there he erected that neat and elegant structure, which at this day is known by the name of the Lord Bacon's Buildings; in which at times he spent the greatest part of his life (some few years only excepted) even to the very day of his death. In this Society he carried himself with that mildness, that affability and generosity of mind, that thereby he attracted to himself great love and respect from the Seniors and Students of that Inn. But though he was tied by the exigence of his fortune, and for his better maintenance to profess the Law; yet his mind and affection inclined more to the Political Arts and Offices of State: of which if it had pleased her Royal Majesty, he was as capable as any. In the full strength of his age he admitted himself of the number of those that followed that noble, though unfortunate Hero, the Earl of Essex; whom as a most faithful and bosom Counsellor, he served to his utmost power, ad still laboured to instill into his mind wholesome and honourable precepts; till at length that Earl giving ear to the counsels of certain rash and hare-brained men, ran headlong to his own destruction. This he owed to the native and ingenuous endowments of his mind, that they opened to him an easier and freer access unto the Prince's Court, then to any others of the same profession; and so by consequence to the presence of the Queen herself, who did not think much to enter into discourse with him apart: and with much familiarity (as often as there was offered any opportunity) not only in reference to his Profession, and about matters of Law; but also about the weighty affairs of State, and the concernments of the kingdom: and at all times he gave her such judicious answers, that she received great satisfaction by them. But though she abundantly cherished him with the favour of her countenance, yet never with the favour of a bountiful hand; as never having advanced him to any public office, either of honour or profit, excepting only one dry reversion of a Registers Office in the Star-Chamber, computed at the yearly value of 1600. pound; into the possession of which he came not till about twenty years after, or thereabout: of which office his Lordship said pleasantly in Queen Elizabeth's time, That it was like another man's Farm bordering upon his own house, and so might help his prospect, but not fill his Barn. But in King James his Reign, he at length enjoyed that office, and managed it by a deputy. Now that he was not sooner preferred cannot be any way attributed to the least aversion or displeasure that the Queen had in her mind against him, but to the fraud and envy of some one of the Noble men, (at that time powerful with the Queen) who sought by all means possible to depress and hinder him; lest if he should be advanced to any height of honour, his own glory should be eclipsed by him. However though in the time of his Mistress Queen Elizabeth, his merited promotion was still forestalled or kept back; yet after the change of Government and the coming in of his new master King James, he with a quickened pace soon made a large progress; being by this King eminently ennobled with places of trust, honour, anst great revenues. I have seen some letters written with his own hand to King James, in which he acknowledgeth him to have been so good a master to him, as to have nine times conferred upon him his iterated favours, thrice titles of great honour, six times offices of profit: the Offices he means, I suppose were these; he being Council extraordinary to his Majesty, in which place he had formerly served the Queen, the King's Sollitour General, the King's Attorney General, or principal Procurator, made one of the King's Privy Council, while yet he held the place of Attorney General, Lord Keeper of the great Seal of England, lastly Lord Chancellor of England. Which two last Offices, although they are the same in Authority and Power; yet in their Patent, degree of honour, and favour of the Prince, they differ: and since the time of his holding that Magistracy, none of his successors hath been honoured with that title unto this day. His honours were first his being Knighted by the King, than he was created Baron Verulam, lastly Viscount of St. Albon; besides other rich gifts and extentions of a bountiful hand, which his Majesty was pleased to bestow upon him, as well out of the profits of the great Seal, as out of the Office of Alienation. When he had arrived to that part of his age, in which fortune smiled upon him, he began to think of marrying; and at length took to Wife Alice the Daughter and one of the Heirs of Bennet Bernham Esquire, and Alderman of London, with whom he received a very considerable Dowry, as well in Land as in ready money: children he had none by her; but for as much as children conduce very much to the perpetuating our names after death, he was not altogether destitute of that advantage, since it was his hap to be blest with an other kind of Offspring, for the perpetuation of his memory to after times: namely, the Off spring of his brain, in which he was always wonderfully happy, like Jove himself, when he was delivered of Palace. Nor did this want of children in the least measure abate his affection to his Wife, toward whom he behaved himself as an indulgent Husband, and shown her all manner of conjugal love and respect, bestowing upon her rich Furniture, precious Jewels, and likewise settled upon her a fair Jointure: nor is it to be omitted in honourable remembrance of him, that she wore a rich Wedding Gown which he had bestowed upon her, about twenty years after his death; for so long she survived her most honoured Husband. The last five years of his life, retiring himself from Court-Affairs, and all kind of busy employments, he bent himself wholly to study and contemplation; which kind of life seemed indeed to be most pleasing to him, as if he would have chosen by his good will to dwell rather in the shade then in the sunshine. Of which also we may find some not obscure intimations in the reading of his Works; in which space of time he wrote the greatest part of his Books, as well those that were written in English as in Latin; which according to the order of time that they were written in, I (who was present all the while and observed) shall endeavour to reckon up, and they were these following. The History of the Reign of Henry the Seventh, King of England; written in English. The Abecedary of Nature, a Metaphysical tractate, which, I know not by what evil fate, perished. The History of the Winds. The History of Life and Death. The History of Dense and Rare, never till now in Print. The History of Heavy and Light, which also is lost. These Books were composed in the Latin tongue. Next were certain English Fragments, as namely these. A Discourse concerning the carrying on of a War with Spain. A Dialogue concerning the Holy War. The-Fable of new Atlantis. A Preface to be placed before the body of the Laws of England. The beginning of the History of Henry the Eighth King of England. Between some of these came that learned work of his, called The Advancement of Learning; in the Translating of which (a thing undertaken of his own accord) out of his native Tongue into the Latin, our most honoured Author took very great pains, and from time to time enriched it with many and various additions. After these came his Counsels, Civil and Moral, formerly called Essays, augmented both as to their number and weight, in the English tongue. Some of David's Psalms Composed into English Verse. Moreover divers of his Works already mentioned, he converted out of English into Latin, which were these. The History of the Reign of Henry the Seventh, King of England. His Counsels Civil and Moral, called Faithful say, or the Inward sense of things. The Dialogue of the Holy War, and the Fable of New Atlantis; these he translated in favour of Foreigners, by whom he heard they were desired. Other Books that he writ originally in Latin were, his book of the Wisdom of the Ancients, reviewed by himself. The last place was taken up by his Syula Sylvarum, or Natural History; a work written in English. And these were the fruits which ripened in the shade of the five years. The Books composed before that five years' space I here pass by; but it was fully determined by him at the command of the late most Serene King Charles, to have compiled the History of Henry the Eighth King of England: but that Work proceeded not beyond designation only, it pleasing God to put a period to the life of this most famous Author. Yet there is extant a certain taste of that History which a few morning hours of one day brought forth, published in English amongst his Miscellany Works; and from thence you may discern the Lion by his claw. The Virtues of this Hero, and the rich endowments of his mind were so many, that to commemorate them would take up no less space than the whole course of life; those faculties which you shall find in other men, though not of the meanest parts, to lie dissevered and solitary, in him appeared to be united, and as it were joined in Wedlock: these were a ready and acute wit, a faithful memory, a penetrating judgement, and a flowing elocution. Of the former three his Books abundantly testifies, of which (as Hirtius saith of Julius Caesar) As well and truly others may judge as we also know with what ease and celerity he writ them. But of the fourth, namely his Elocution, I judge it not amiss to mention that which I have heard the famous Sir Walter Raleigh (a man endowed with singular virtues, and who well deserves to have his judgement relied on) once discoursing, viz. That the Earl of Salisbury was a good Orator, but a bad Writer; and contrariwise, that the Earl of Northampton was a good Writer, but a bad Orator; but that Sir Francis Bacon excelled in both, as well in speaking as in writing. Often came this thought into my mind, that if ever God in these last times vouchsafed to enlighten any mortal man with a certain ray of humane Science, doubtless it was this very man whom he so enlightened; for though our Author had been a diligent peruser of Books, yet it cannot be granted that he took his knowledge out of Books only, but out of certain principles and notions kindled within, which nevertheless he not rashly, but with great caution and deliberation divulged. That Work of his called Novum Organum (to which he himself attributes the first place among his works) was certainly no idle dream or comment of his own brain, but as it were a fixed and radicated notition, the offspring of many years and hard labour. I found among the Archives of his Lordship about a dozen Copies written with his own hand of this Novum Organum new laboured, and brought back to the Forge from year to year; and every year more exactly polished and corrected, until at length it grew up to that Volume in which it was published: just as some sort of creatures are wont to lick their young ones, until such time as they bring them to a certain form and firmness of members. In the composing of his Books he chief aimed at the life and vigour of expression, and perspicuity of Words, rather than Elegancy or the acquaint order of Phrase; and as he was writing or dictating he would often ask whether his sense was very clear and perspicuously rendered, as one who knew it to be equal that words should wait upon things, not things upon words; and if by chance he had lighted upon a more polite stile then ordinary, (as among us he was ever counted a grand master of English Eloquence) it therefore happened as being a difficult thing for him to shun it; for he was not overmuch taken with subtleties and allusions of words, but always set himself industriously to avoid them, well knowing that such kind of vanities were nothing else but deviations or wander from the intended aim, and that they did not a little hurt and detract from the gravity and dignity of stile. When he used to read he would not dwell so long upon a Book, as to glut or weary himself; for though he read much, yet it was with great judgement and a rejection of all the Refuse that commonly we shall meet withal in most writers; yet he still intermingled with his studies a convenient relaxation of mind, as gentle walking, riding in a Coach, or on a Horse, and that not swift but leisurely, playing at Bowls, and other exercises of the like nature; nor did he give way to the loss of any time, for as soon as he returned home, he presently and without the least delay set himself afresh to reading and meditation, so that he suffered not any moment or particle of time to perish or pass away in vain. His Table you might well call a repast for the ears as well as for the belly, not unlike those Attic Nights, or the Banquets of the Deipnosophists, at which men might feast their minds and intellects no less than their bodies. I have also known some men of excellent wit, who profess that they betook themselves to their Common-place books as often as they arose from his Table. He never counted it any glory to baffle or put to the blush any of his guests or those that discoursed with him, as some delight to do; but whatsoever their parts or faculties were, he was still ready to cherish and help them forward: nor was it his custom to arrogate to himself only the liberty of speech, but to permit unto those that sat with him the freedom of speaking when ever it came to their turn, adding this also, that he would most willingly hear any one discourse in his own Art, and was still forward to incite and draw him on to that manner of discourse; as for himself he contemned no man's observations, nor was he ashamed to light his own Lamp at another's Candle. His speeches and common say were scarce ever called in doubt, as he discoursed all heard him willingly, no man opposing, as if the things he uttered had been rather Oracles than sayings; which I judge must be attributed, either to the exact weighing of his words before he uttered them in the balance of truth and reason, or else to the esteem that all men had of him. Whence that kind of argumentation, in which a controversy was held pro and con, his Table was scarce acquainted with; or if any such by chance did intervene, it was managed with great submission and moderation. I have aften observed, and it was taken notice of by many noble persons, that if haply any occasion fell out into discourse of repeating another man's speech, he was still furnished with a way to bring it forth in a new and better dress; so that the Author of it might perceive his own saying brought to him back again more elegantly apparelled then when he sent it from him, although in sense and substance no whit injured; as if to use handsome forms of speaking were a thing planted in him by nature: not unlike what Ovid in the business of composing Verse sung of himself. What ere I tried to write became a Verse. As aften as he was constrained by his Office to condemn any guilty person (which duty was incumbent upon him, as being learned Council to the King's majesty) whether in criminal matters of a lesser nature, or in capital offences, he never carried himself proud or lofty towards the delinquent, but always mild and of a moderate temper: and though he knew that it was his duty in behalf of the King to urge and aggravate the crime, as much as in him lay against the guilty person, yet he so carried himself, that at the same time he looked upon the fact with an eye of severity, upon the person with an eye of mercy. In matters of State when he was called into the King's Privy Council, he ever observed the best manner of counselling, not engaging his master in any rash counsels, or such as were grievous to the people, but rather temperate and equal; insomuch as King James honoured him with this testimony, That he knew the method of handling matters after a mild and gentle manner; and particularly expressed himself, that it was a thing highly pleasing to his Majesty. Nor was he when occasion served less gracious with the Subjects of the Kingdom, then with the King himself; he was ever very acceptable to the Parliamentary Committees (while he sat there) of the Lower House, in which he often made Speeches with great applause. After he was advanced to the office of Attorney General, and elected to sit in Parliament, liberty was granted to him, by common suffrage, of sitting in consultation among them; a thing not known to have been granted to any other Attorney General. And as he had the praise of a good Servant towards his Master, (for as much as in nineteen years' administration, as he himself affirmed, he never incurred the King's displeasure for any offence immediately committed against the King's Majesty) so he obtained the name of a good Master towards his own Servants, and freely rewarded their diligent services with eminent Offices, as often as they came into his power to bestow, which was a main cause why he was almost wearied with prayers to receive into the number of his Pages so many young men of the better sort, and sprung from noble families; and if any of them abused his grace and favour, that was only to be attributed to the error of his native goodness, though it redounds to their perpetual infamy and intemperance. This our worthy was a strict worshipper of the Divine Majesty, for although it hath been a custom among the vulgar to brand political persons, and men of eminent wits with the note of Atheism, yet that he both acknowledged and worshipped God, appears most evidently by various testimonies dispersed through the whole course of his Works; for otherwise he had destroyed and overthrown his own principles, which were, That Philosophy only sipped and slightly tasted of, draws us from God, as that which magnifies second causes beyond their due; but that Philosophy taken in a full draught brings us at length back unto God. Now that he himself was a very profound Philosopher, there is no man I suppose that can deny; nor is this all, but he was likewise both able and ready to render an account of that hope which was in him to any one that desired it; and of this, that Confession of Faith, set forth at the end of his Volume hath left a sufficient proof. He very frequently used (when he was in perfect health to be present at Divine service, whether privately or publicly celebrated, at the hearing of Sermons, at the Participation of the holy Eucharist, and at length he quietly slept in the true Faith established in the Church of England. This is to be affirmed for a certain, that he was utterly void of all malice, which as he said himself, he never brought forth nor nourished; of the revenging of injuries he never so much as thought, since to the performance thereof, had he been so disposed, he was sufficiently armed, both with opportunity and power. A remover of Officers from their places, he was not in the least manner, although he might have enriched himself by the destruction and ruin of others: nor did he ever bear the name of a calumniator of any man to his Prince. On a certain day, when one of the chief Ministers of State, who had borne him no good will, being lately dead; the King asked him what he thought of that Lord who was dead, he answered, That he was such a one as never had promoted his Majesty's Affairs, or made them better; but that doubtless he had done his best to keep them from sinking or declining. This was the hardest Sentence he would utter concerning him, which indeed I reckon not among his Moral but his Christian virtues. His name was more celebrated & shined brighter abroad amongst foreigners, then at home among his own Countrymen; as it is mentioned in holy Writ, A Prophet is not without honour, except in his own Country, and in his own House. To make this good, I shall produce a little passage out of an Epistle sent from Italy (the shop of polite Wits) to the late Earl of Devonshire, at that time Baron Candish, which was thus. The new Essays of the Lord Chancellor Bacon, as also his History, and whatsoever besides he is now about, I shall expect with infinite thirst of mind, but especially in his History I promise to myself a perfect and well polished work, and chief in the Affairs of Henry the Seventh; in the relating of which, he will have liberty to exercise the gift of his acute wit. That Lord daily increaseth in fame, and his Works are more and more in chocie request among us, and those who in humane Affairs are wise above the vulgar, repute him among the greatest and most sublime wits of the age, and so in truth he is. Many of his Books were taught other languages, as well the ancient and modern, both heretofore and of late by those of foreign Nations. Divers eminent men, while he was living, came over into England for no other cause but only to see him, and to have an opportunity of discoursing with him; upon one of whom he bestowed his Picture drawn whole at length from head to foot to carry back with him into France; which he thankfully received, as a thing that would be very grateful and acceptable to his Countrymen; that so they might enjoy the Image of his Person as well as the Images of his Brain, viz. his Book. Among others the Marquis of Fiat a Nobleman in France, (who came Ambassador into England in the first year of Queen Mary's coming over, the Wife of King Charles) was affected with a very earnest desire of seeing him; whereunto having gained an opportunity, and coming into his Bedchamber where he lay sick of of the Gout, he addressed himself to him with a very high Compliment; as that his Lordship had always been to him like the Angels of whom he had heard and read many things, but that it had never been in his power to see them. From the time of which meeting such amity was contracted between them, and so great a veneration the Marquis had for him, that besides frequent visitations they held a constant correspondence in Letters, saluting one another by the name and title of Father and Son. Not to mention here those innumerable Commendations sent him in Epistles from the most eminent men of Foreign Nations, addicted to the study of Wisdom and good Arts, it being a thing common to him with others of note and fame. But now that I discourse of his Fame, I would to be understood as if I writ in a stile not exclusive but comparative; for his Fame ever among the English was not faint or drooping, but lively and vigorous, especially among those that were conspicuous for their acute and sublime parts; of which I shall insert two testimonies, and no more. The first is this, When his History of Henry the Seventh was just ready for the Press, it was sent by King James to Fulk Lord Brook to peruse, who when he had read it all over, sent it back to the Author with this commendation; Present my respects to his Lordship, and entreat him from me to have a special care of buying good Paper and Ink; for this Work of his is excellent above any thing that I have seen in this kind. The other is the testimony of Doctor Samuel Collins, late Professor of Divinity in the famous University of Cambridge, and Master of King's College, a man of no vulgar wit, who (whether pleasantly or seriously) affirmed to me, That after he had read his Book of the Advancement of Learning, he thought himself driven to that pass, that he must be forced to renew the whole course of his studies from the very beginning, and that all this while he had but lost his labour. It was earnestly desired by some, that I would insert some things concerning his Diet, and the government of his Health, in regard that because of his universal knowledge in natural things, his example might be a guide to others. As to his Diet therefore he used rather a full and liberal way of feeding, according as he found his stomach able to bear, then thin and sparing; which way he hath also commended in some places of his History of Life and Death. In his younger years he fed chief upon the more delicate and light sort of meats, as the flesh of Fowls, and the like; but afterwards having learned more experience, he rather approved of stronger meat, such as is sold in the shambles, as that which would supply the body with more firm and substantial juice, and (that I may use his own words) less dissipable, upon which alone he himself would often feed, although his Table were furnished with variety of all sorts of dishes; you may well think that he did not in the least manner neglect that which you shall find him to have so often cried up in his writings, namely the often use of Nitre, whereof he took every day in the morning, about three grains in a mess of thin warm Broth, and this course he continued for thrity years at least before his death. As for his use of Physic, it is true that he lived medicinably but not miserably, for once in six or seven days, he continually took a dram and a half of Rhubarb, and no more, infused and macerated for the space of half an hour in a draught of Ale and White-wine mixed together; and that a little before meat (either dinner or supper) to keep his body from drying up, since as he affirmed it would carry away the excrementitious humours of the body, and not cause the spirits to exhale, as frequent sweeting useth to do. Now certainly to take so little Physic as this could not be miserable, but for any other medicaments, whatsoever hath been vulgarly reported, he would not at all accustom himself to them. The remedy against the Gout, which he himself discovered, and which he found by experience would assuage the pain in two hours' space, is extant at the end of his Natural History. It is likely that at his Nativity the Moon held some principal place, as in the Horoscope or Mid-heaven; for as oft as the Moon was in the wane or suffered an Eclipse, he was taken with a sudden faintness or depression of spirit, and this would happen though he had had no knowledge beforehand of the Moon's defect; but as soon as the Moon had begun to recover her former light, he presently grew well again. He died on the 9th. day of April, MDCXXVI, very early in the morning, being the day before the feast of the Resurrection of our Lord, commonly called Easter Eve, in the sixty sixth year of his age, at the Earl of Arundels' House at Highgate, a Village near London; to which place he came about eight days before, not with an intent to make any abode there, but only for his pleasure and recreations sake: but God so ordained it, that in this place he should end his days. It was of a linger Ague that he died, together with a strong Catarrh, which caused so violent a defluction of humours to his breast, that by a sudden suffocation the passage of his life was intercepted. He was buried in St. Michael's Church near St. Alban, a place destined for his Sepulchre upon some grand considerations; as both because the body of his Mother lay buried in the same Church, as because that Church is the only place remaining at this day, out of the ruins of old Verulam. Here a famous Monument of white Marble was built to his memory (by the care and gratitude of Sir Thomas Mutes, administrator of his last Will and Testament, heretofore Secretary to his Lordship, and afterwards Clerk to the Privy Council under two Kings) having upon it his Effigies in a posture sitting in a chair, and intent upon his study; together with an Epitaph, which that most elegant and polite person Sir Henry Wootton composed, out of the reverence and admiration which he bore to his memory. But though his Body which he put off and laid aside were mortal, yet his Books and Fame will doubtless be everlasting; and as soon will the frame of the Earth be dissolved as they stoop to fate: moved with the consideration of which, it seemed good to me to collect, according to my slender capacity, these memories, such as they are, that I also might be serviceable to the propagating of his name to posterity. There are some light passages and pleasant Apothegms which I have often Beard discoursed of the life of this ever to be honoured Worthy, which as this reverend Doctor thought too low for the Grandeur of Sir Francis to have recorded, I submit to his better determination and have thought fit to silence my Pen. The Life of LANCELOT ANDREWS Bishop of Winchester. IT is poetized of the Thracian Orpheus, that his Oratotary was so powerful, that with it, he drew the senseless stones after him, towards the building of Thebes; which some moralise that his eloquence was such, as attracted the senseless and stony multitude from Barbarism, to frame themselves to a civil and well ordered life. What was storied of Orpheus, may fitly be applied to this learned Bishop, who with his heavenly Oratory, drew many stony senseless hearts out of the Captivity of Satan, unto the glorious freedom of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. For his person we can add nothing to him, to name him is enough to all that knew him, and to read him will be enough to them that knew him not; his piety being such as was esteemed comparable to that which was found in the primitive Church. This right reverend father in God, Bishop of Winchester; Prelate of the Garter, was born in the City of London, descended from the ancient Family of the Andrews in Suffolk; his Father a Merchant of good repute, and (according to the Religion of those ancient times) very devout being one of the Society and Masters of the Holy Trinity; commonly called Trinity-House. He in his tender years, shown great aptness to learning, which he so improved under his two Schoolmasters, Mr. Ward, Master of the Cooper's Free School in Radcliffe, and Mr. Mulchaster Master of the Merchant-Taylors Free School in London, that he promised a golden Harvest from so hopeful a seedtime. So that from his youth he declared an extraordinary worth, that he was made up of learning and virtue; in both of them so eminent, that it was hard to judge which had the precedency and greater interest; though it was truly asserted from his contemporaries, that there was not any kind of Learning that he was a stranger to, but in his profession admirable; which was as well if not better known abroad then admired at home. Having under these two gained an excellent knowledge in the Greek and Hebrew Languages, he was sent to Pembroke-Hall in Cambridge, where he was by Doctor Wat's Archdeacon of Middlesex, a Benefactor to that house, placed in one of the Greek scholarships: soon after he was made Bachellour of Arts, and a Fellowship being void, he and Thomas Dove (afterwards Bishop of Peterburgh) for the obtaining thereof, were put to a trial of some Schollastical exercises; upon performance whereof, they chose him into the fellowship; yet so well did they approve of his opponent, that they made him some allowance for his present maintenance, under the title of a Tanquam Socius. Thus this great miracle of worth that arrived to such a fullness of material learning, had yet room enough left him in the temper of his brain for almost all Languages to seat themselves; so that his learning had all the helps that Language could afford, and his language learning enough for the best of them to express: so that it might be said of him as it was of Claudius Drusus, that he was a man of great parts as mortal nature could receive, or industry make perfect. In process of time his endowments made him so eminent, that he was invited unto Jesus College in Oxford, by Mr. Hugh Price, who built the same; whose decerning spirit presaging of his future abilities, nominated him in his foundation to be one of his first Fellows there; and having taken the degree of Master of Art, he applied himself wholly to the study of Divinity. Soon after was he chosen Catechist in the College, which he performed so well, that not only the University became his common auditors, but many out of the Country resorted thither, greatly admiring at his profound learning. Henry Earl of Huntingdon hearing of his worth, sent for him, to accompany him into the North (whereof he was Precedent;) where by his painful preaching, he converted many Recusants to the Protestant Religion. And now his abilities being still better known to the world, Sir Francis Walsingham, (Secretary of State to Queen Elizaheth) took special notice of him, and by his means he was preferred to be Vicar of Saint Giles without Cripplegate London; then Prebend and Residentiary of St. Paul's, and afterwards Prebend of the Collegiate Church of Southwell; soon after upon the death of Doctor Fulk, he was elected into the Mastership of Pembroke-hall in Cambridge. Afterwards he was made Chaplain in ordinary to Queen Elizabeth, who took such delight in his preaching, that she resolved upon his higher preferment: but having made him first Prebend, and not long after Dean of Westminster, death prevented her of her intentions. But what was wanting in her, was performed by her learned successor King James; who admiring him for his transcendent abilities: (soon after his coming to this Crown) made him Bishop of Chichester, and Lord Almoner, and withal added the parsonage of Cheyham in Surrey to his Commendam. He now as he excelled most of his Brethren in dignity, he thought it not enough, unless he did more than imitate them in sanctity of life; and knowing no better rule for his direction herein, then what Saint Paul had prescribed to Timothy; he resolved to make those precepts his rules of practice. In these addresses of his to Heaven, first, he led his life (as in respect to men) blameless; his virtues admired by all, but imitated of few: his life being like a candle set on a candlestick, which gave light to the whole House; drawing many souls to God as well by his holy conversation, as pious preaching. It is a true saying. A man's pious carriage makes his speech persuasive. Secondly his charity was most transcendent, to pass over many vast sums, he bestowed upon poor Parishes, Prisons, and Prisoners, his private Alms in his last six years (besides those public) amounted to the sum of 1300. pounds and upwards. Notwithstanding by what hath been said he might seem in his life time to be his own Almoner, yet extended he his works of compassion most abundantly at his death, leaving four thousand pounds to purchase two hundred pounds' land per annum for ever, to be distributed by fifty pounds quarterly thus; to aged poor men fifty pounds, to poor widows, the wives of one husband, fifty pounds to the binding of poor Orphan's Apprentices, fifty pounds; and to the relief of poor prisoners, fifty pounds. Also he gave two hundred pounds to poor Maidservants of honest report, who had served one Master or Mistress seven years, to be distributed presently after his decease. Many other acts of Charity did this good Bishop do; a fair copy for new succeeding rich Cleargymen, who are all for the mountain word of Faith, but have nothing to do with good Works to write after. He had always a special care of promoting sufficient and able men to Live; a great man's letter will do but little good with him, if he saw not piety as well as personage in the party. His enquiry was constantly to know what hopeful young men were in the University, and on them he bestowed the preferments which fell in his gift; thus he weighed their merits in the Balance. His own manner of preaching being no less wise than eloquent; so he would have men of his profession to be possessed with a Christian and religious wisdom to preserve peace and truth together. Nevertheless as he understood his own qualifications, he the better knew what men of his function were able to perform. And though his improvements were admirable, after he was Vicar of Saint Giles, and his dislikes of all preaching, which by being too frequent, is withal too lose, thence was his censure on himself (recorded by Bishop Brockridge in his Funeral Sermon) that when he preached twice a day at St. Giles, he prated once; not but that his very table talk, and what, in the depth of his humility he called his prating, was more useful & more learned than the very best preaching of them that are enemies to his Glory, as well as Doctrine. But because he thought the word of God was never well enough handled, and that the work of God was never well enough done, until it had received the utmost care and circumspection: as Mr. Fuller excellently discoursing of preaching twice a day, commends the necessity of a large repartition in the afternoon; which he compares to a dish of cold meat, which with a little addition will suffice those that are not of too greedy appetites, all ear and nothing else. Doctor Dun renders an excellent reason, why some are so tedious and longwinded in their holding forth; For that, saith he, there ware is course, they can afford the larger measure. But to return to our present undertaking, our Bishop's fidelity in his Almoner-ship was such, that he would never suffer one penny of that which accrued to him by that place; to be mingled with any of his own Rents or Revenues; and wherein he kept a more exact account then of his own estate. And if upon accounts at any time he found any surplusage, he would never suffer it to lie by him, but like a faithful Steward distribute the same to poor householders, and other persons where he saw most need. But in recounting his virtues, let us not forget to what height they preferred him; having held the Bishopric of Chichester about four years, his Majesty advanced him to that of Ely, wherein he sat about nine years; in which time he was made a Privy Counsellor first of England, and then of Scotland, in his attendance of the King thither. He was afterwards preferred to the Bishopric of Winchester, and the Deanery of the King's Chapel; which two last preferments he held to the day of his death. He was ever faithful, provident, and careful to keep in good repair the Houses of all his Spiritual Preferments, and spent much money that way. As upon the Vicarage House of Saint Giles, the prebend's and Deans House of Westminster, and the Residentiaries House of S. Paul's. Upon the house belonging to the Bishopric of Chicester he expended above four hundred and twenty pound: Of Ely above two thousand four hundred and forty pound. Of Winchester (besides a Pension of four hundred pound per annum, from which he freed his See at his own charge) he spent two thousand pound. He bequeathed several Legacies to the Parishes of Saint Giles, Saint martin's Ludgate, where he had dwelled, Saint Andrews in Holborn, Saint Saviour's in Southwark, All-Saints Berking, where he was born, and others. Also to Pembroke-Hall in Cambridge (where he had been a Scholar, Fellow, and Master) a thousand pound to purchase Land for two Fellowships. Besides three hundred Folio Books of his own, to the increase of their Library; together with a gilt Cup, and a Basin and Ewer of great worth. His gratitude to those from whom he had received any benefits was most conspicuous; as Doctor Ward, son to his first Schoolmaster, upon whom he bestowed the Living of Waltham in Hampshire. Master Mulcaster his other Schoolmaster he always reverendly respected living, and being dead caused his Picture (having but few other in his House) to be set over his Study door. Upon a Kinsman of Doctor Wats (which was all he could find of that Generation) he bestowed preferments in Pembroke-Hall. But should I go about to particularise all his Virtues, it were sufficient of its self to make up a Volumn. Master Crashaw, the second Herbert of our late Times, writ these following Verses in Latin and English on the Bishop; some of which are placed before his Picture to his Sermons. In Picturam reverendissimi Episcopi D. Andrews. Haec charta monstrat, fama quem monstrat magis, Sed & ipsa quem dum fama non monstrat satis, Ille, ille solus totam implevit tubam, Tota ora solus domuit, & famam quoque Fecit modestam: mentis igneae pater Agilio, radio lucis aeternae vigil, Per alta rerum pondera indomito vagus Cucurrit animo, quippe naturam ferox Exhausit ipsam, mille Faetus artibus, Et mille linguis ipse se in gentes procul. Variavit omnes, fuitque toti simul Cognatus orbi; sic sacrum & solidum jubar Saturumque coelo pectus ad patrios libens Porrexit ignes; hac eum (Lector) vides Huc (ecce) charta: O utinam & audires quoque. Upon Bishop Andrews Picture before his Sermons. This Reverend Shadow cast that setting Sun, Whose glorious course through our Horizon run, Left the dim face of this dull Hemispheer, All one great eye, all drowned in one great tear. Whose fair Illustrious soul led his free thought Through Learning's Universe, and vainly sought Room for her spacious self, until at length She found the way home, with a holy strength Snatched herself hence to Heaven, filled a bright place 'Mongst those immortal fires, and on the face Of her great Maker fixed her flaming eye, There still to read pure true Divinity. And now that grave aspect hath deigned to shrink Into this less appearance; if you think, 'Tis but a dead face Art doth here bequeath: Look on the following leaves, and see him breath. To draw to a period of his Life which happened September 25. 1626. in the third year of the Reign of King Charles, and 71. of his Age. When he changed this mortal for an immortal life, becoming one of those heavenly Choristers, which sing continual Hallelujahs unto the Lord, as Master Waller admirably expresses in his Poems. All that the Angels do above Is that they sing, and that they love He lieth buried in the upper Isle of the Parish Church of Saint Saviour's in Southwark, over whom his Executours have erected a very fair Monument of Marble and Alabaster, enscribed with this Epitaph. LECTOR, Si Christianus es, siste: morae pretinum erit, Non nescire te, Qui vir hic situs sit Ejusdem tecum, Catholicae Ecclesiae Membrum, Sub eadem faelicis Resurrectionis spe: Eandem D. jesu praestolans Epiphaniam, Sacratissimus Antistes, Lancelotus Andrew's, Londini oriundus, educatus Cantabrigiae Aulae Pembroch: Alumnorum, Sociorum, Prefaectorum Vnus, & nemini secundus. Linguarum, Artium, Scientiarum, Humanorum, Divinorum omnium Infinitus Thesaurus: stupendum Oraculum: Orthodoxae Christi Ecclesiae Dictis, Scriptis, Precibus, Exemplo Incomparabile Propugnaculum: Reginae Elizabethae à sacris, D. Pauli London Residentiaerius: D. Petri Westmonast. Decanus, Episcopus Cicestrensis, Eliensis, Wintoniensis, Regine Jacobo tum ab Eleemosynis, Tum ab utriusque Regni Consiliis, Decanus denique sacelli Regii. Idem ex Indetessa opera in studiis, Summa sapientia in rebus, Assidua pietate in Deum, Profusa largitate in egenos, Rara amaenitate in suos, Spectata probitate in omnes. Aeternum admirandus: Annorum pariter, & publicae famae satur, Sed bonorum paessim omnium cum luctu denatus, Caelebs hinc migravit ad Aureolam coelestem. Anno Regis Caroli III o. Aetatis suae LXXI o. Christi MDCXXVI. Tantum est (Lector) quod te maerentes posteri Nunc volebant, atque ut ex voto tuo valeas, Dicto, Sit Deo Gloria. His Works were many and pious. Ninety six Sermons preached upon several occasions, like which the Christian World hath not many such bodies of Sermons; he being a Preacher that had both the Urim and the Thummim: the former in his word, the latter in his example. In the next place his Opera Posthuma, Concio ad Clerum pro gradu Doctoris. Ad Clerum in Synodo Provinciali. Coram Rege habita V o. August 1606. In discessu Palatini XIII o. April 1613. Theologica Determinatio de Jurejurando. De Vsuris. De Decimis. Respontiones ad 3. Epistolas Petri Molinei. An Answer to the 18. and 20. cc. of Cardinal Perons' Reply. A Speech in the Star-Chamber against Master Thrask. Another there concerning Vows in the Countess of Shrewburies' case. His Respontio ad Apologiam Cardinalis Bellarmini. An Author, whom when he wrestled with, felt him, he being one as well able to shift for himself, as any of the Roman party. His Manual of Devotions he originally penned in the Greek Tongue, which Mr. Drake hath most excellently translated. Another excellent Volumn of his on the Commandments, published by Master Jackson, with his Incomparable Lectures on Genesis, which he preached in Saint Paul's: A Volumn, which had he lived to have revised, could not have been outdone. To conclude, how consummate a Divine, how exact a Preacher, how acute a Disputant, how judicious a Moderator, and how eminent a Christian he was, there is nothing more easy to determine, both from the admiration of the best men, and from the malignity of the worst, then from these his Incomparable Writings, which he left behind him for his perpetual Monuments? The Life of Doctor DONNE Dean of PAUL'S. THis Worthy Prelate, whose Learning hath made him deservedly famous, was born in London, extracted by his Father's side from an ancient and worshipful Family in Wales, and by his Mother from the learned Sir Thomas Moor, and the laborious Judge Rascal, those two great Pillars of Law and Learning. His first Education was in his Father's house, where a private Tutor had the care of him; under whom he so profited, that at nine years of age he was sent to the University of Oxford, having besides the Latin and Greek, attained to a knowledge of the French Tongue; Languages which few Children understand at that age; nay, many scarcely their own. Remaining in Hart-Hall (having for the advancement of his studies Tutors in several Sciences to instruct him) he in short time advanced to such a height of Learning, as declared him fit to receive his first degree in the Schools: but his Parents being of the Romish persuasion, conscionably averse to some parts of the Oath, dehorted him from it; whose advice as Paternal Commands, he dutifully obeyed. Here fell he in acquaintance with that great Master of Language and Art, Sir Henry Wootton, betwixt whom was such friendship contracted, that nothing but death could force the separation. And now (like a laborious. Be desirous to gather honey from more flowers than one) he was transplanted from Oxford to Cambridge, (our other renowned Nursery of Learning) where he much improved his studies, but took no degree, for the reasons formerly mentioned. Being about seventeen years of age, his Father died, who left him three thousand pound in ready money his mother and those to whose care he was committed, willing he should be able to manage such an estate, took him from Cambridge, and placed him in Lincolns-Inne; where for the improvement of his knowledge, they provided him Tutors in several Sciences, as the Mathematics and others; but with these they had instructions also, to instil into him the Principles of the Romish Church. And indeed they so wrought with him, (having for their advantage, besides their opportunity, the example of his most dear and pious Parents) that they had almost obliged him unto their faith. But rectifying his judgements by the holy Scriptures, and conferring Papists and Protestants Works together he was not only drawn off from their Opinions, but more settledly grounded in the Protestant Religion. And now having a youthful desire to travel, and a fit opportunity by occasion of the Earl of Essex going to Cales, he embraced the advantage, and went along with him; and having seen the issue of that expedition, left them and went into Italy, and from thence into Spain; where by his industry he attained to a perfection in their Languages, and returned home with many useful observations of those countries', their Laws, and Government. Soon after his return the Lord Elsmore, Lord Keeper of the great Seal, and after Chancellor of England, taking notice of his abilities, entertained him for his chief Secretary, in whose service he fell in love with a young Gentlewoman who lived in that Family, Niece to the Lady Elsmore, and Daughter to Sir George More, Chancellor of the Garter, and Lieutenant of the Tower. And notwithstanding her Friends opposed, and endeavoured what they could to prevent it, yet some faithful promises having interchangeably passed betwixt them, they resolved, and did marry, without the knowledge or advice of those that might justly claim an interest in the disposing of them. But his Father-in-law Sir Geor More was so immeasurably incensed at what was done, that he not only detained his wife from him, but procured the Lord Elsmore to discharge him of the place he held under his Lordship. And although the Lord Chancellor at his dismission protested he thought him a fit Secretary for a King than a Subject, yet could not this put a period to Sir George's choler, never leaving till he had cast him into prison, as also his two special Friends, Master Samuel Brook, (who was after D in D. and Master of Trinity College in Cambridge) who had married him, and his Brother Master Christopher Brook of Lincolns-Inne, who gave him his Wife, and witnessed the Marriage. In the time of Master Donnes melancholy Imprisonment, how true I know not, only I have heard it often discoursed, that he writ on the window with the point of his Diamond, reflecting on the then present affliction of his Marriage these words, John Donne, done and undone. But long were they not there, but Mr. Donne got himself enlarged, and soon after his two Friends; and long it was not ere the edge of his Fathers-in-law passion was taken off by the advice of some Friends, who approved his Daughter's choice: and although at present he refused to contribute any means that might conduce to their livelihood, yet did he bestow upon them his Paternal Blessing, and secretly laboured his son's restauration into that place of which his own rashness had bereft him; although it found no success. The Lord Chancellor replying, That though he was sorry for what he had done, yet it stood not with his credit to discharge and re-admit Servants at the request of passionate Petitioners. And now Mr. Donne by means of his Father-in-law being brought out of employment, the greatest part of his portion by many and chargeable travels wasted, the rest disbursed in some few Books, and dear bought experience; was surrounded with many and sad thoughts. And indeed no apprehension of discourtesy strikes so deep into a man, as to receive it from those where we expect the greatest courtesies; certainly he who hurts his Son-in-law, cannot choose but harm his own Daughter. Neither is it enough for him to say he repenteth him of what he hath done, unless withal he endeavour for him a new employment, and allow him maintenace so long as he is out of it: As did this good Knight Sir George More, who repenting of his error gave Master Donne a Bond to pay him eight hundred pound at a certain day, as a portion with his Wife, and to pay him for their maintenance twenty pound quarterly, (as the Interest of it) until the said portion were paid. Master Donne during the time of his Fathers-in-law displeasure, was courteously entertained by their noble Kinsman Sir Francis waly of Pirford, where he remained many years; who as their charge increased, (for she had yearly a child) so did he increase his love and bounty. Sir Francis dying, he for a while kept house at Micham near Croyden in Surrey; but being importuned by his friends, he left Micham, and had a convenient house assigned him by that honourable Gentleman Sir Robert Drury, next his own, in Drury-Lane, who not only gave him his dwelling rend free but was also a daily cherisher of his studies. And now was he frequently visited by men of greatest learning and judgement in this kingdom; his company desired by the Nobility, and extremely affected by the Gentry; his friendship was sought for of most foreign Ambassadors, and his acquaintance entreated by many other strangers, whose learning or employment occasioned their stay in this kingdom. Divers of the Nobility interceded for his preferment at Court, and great hopes was given him of some State employment; his Majesty having formerly known and much valued him, was much pleased to hear his learned disputes, frequently used as they sat at meals. About this time was that great dispute in England, concerning the Oaths of Supremacy and Allegiance, in which the King had engaged himself; who talking occasionly with Mr. Donne concerning some arguments urged by the Romanists, received such satisfactory answers, that he commanded him to state the points, and bring his reasons to him in writing; which within six weeks he performed, with such contentment to the King, that he persuaded him to enter into the Ministry; to which Mr. Donne seemed to be modestly unwilling, his modesty apprehending it too weighty for his abilities; his friends also (knowing how his education had apted him) mediated with his Majesty to prefer him to some civil employment: but the King having a descerning spirit, replied, I know Mr. Donne is a learned man, will prove an excellent Divine, and a powerful Preacher. Which caused this learned King again to solicit him to enter into Sacred Orders, which yet he deferred for the space of three years, applying himself in the mean time to an incessant study of Textual Divinity, and attained to an admirable perfection in the Greek and Hebrew Tongues. Soon after his entering into this holy profession, the King made him his Chaplain in ordinary; he attending his Majesty in his progress to Cambridge, the University (knowing his worth) with a universal consent; made him Doctor in Divinity. Immediately after his return home, his Wife died, leaving him the careful Father of seven Children living, (having buried five) to her he promised never to bring them under the subjection of a stepmother; and although his age being but forty two years, might promise the contrary, yet kept he his word faithfully, burying with his most dear and deserving Wife, all his sublunary joys in this world, and living a retired life, applied himself wholly to the exercise of Divinity. And now his preaching and godly conversation was grown so eminent, that fourteen Advowsions of several Benefices were offered unto him in the Country; but he having a natural inclination to London his Birth-place, refused them, and accepted of a Lecture at Lincolns-Inne, being glad to renew his intermitted friendship with them; where he continued for the space of three years, constantly and faithfully dispensing the word of God; and they as freely requiting him with a liberal maintenance. About which time the Palsgrave usurping the Crown of Bohemia, much trouble arose in those kingdoms; for the composing whereof, the King sent the Earl of Carlisle, (than Viscount Doncaster) his Ambassador to those unsettled Princes, and by a special command from his Majesty, Doctor Donne was appointed to go along with him, which accordingly he did; to the great comfort of that virtuous Lady the Queen of Bohemia, who very gladly received him as the Ambassador of Christ; and during his abode there, being a constant hearer of his most excellent and powerful preaching. Within fourteen months he returned home, and about a year after his return; the Deanery of Saint Paul's being vacant by the removal of Doctor Cary to the Bishopric of Exeter, the King bestowed the same upon him: at his entrance into the Deanery he repaired the Chapel belonging to his house, Suffering (as the Psalmist hath it) his eyes and temples to take no rest, until he had first beautified the house of God. Soon after the Vicarage of Saint Dunstan's in London fell to him by the death of Doctor White, with another Ecclesiastical endowment, about the same time. Thus God blessed him, that he was enabled to be Charitable to the Poor. His Father-in-law Sir George More coming to pay him the conditioned sum of twenty pound, he refused it, saying, as good Jacob said when he heard his Son Joseph lived, It is enough, you have been kind to me, and careful of my Children, and I thank my God I am provided for; therefore I will receive it no longer: and not long after freely gave up his Bond of eight hundred pounds. But as envy is always attendant on the best deserving, so did some malicious person whisper in the King's ear, that Doctor Donne had preached a Sermon that implied a dislike of his Government; the King herewith incensed, sent for him, to answer the accusation; which was so satisfactory, as gave the King exceeding great content; who with much earnestness said to some of his Council, My Doctor is a very honest man. He was made Dean in the fiftieth year of his age, and in the fifty fourth year a dangerous sickness seized him, which turned to a spotted Fever, and ended in a Cough, that inclined him to a Consumption. During this sickness he wrote this heavenly Hymn, expressing the great joy he then had in the assurance of God's mercy to him. A Hymn to God the Father. Wilt thou forgive that sin where I begun, Which was my sin, though it were done before? Wilt thou forgive that sin through which I run, And do run still, though still I do deplore? When thou hast done, thou hast not done, For I have more. Wilt thou forgive that sin which I have won Others to sin, and made my sin their door? Wilt thou forgive that sin which I did shun A year or two, but wallowed in a score? When thou hast done, thou hast not done For I have more. I have a sin of fear, that when I have spun My last thread, I shall perish on the shore; But swear by thyself, that at my death thy Son Shall shine as he shines now, and heretofore; And having done that, thou hast done, I fear no more. But it pleased God to restore him to his health, and to add unto his life five years more. August 1630. being with his Daughter Mistress Harvy at Abrey-hatch in Essex, he fell into a Fever, which with the help of his constant infirmity, vapours from the Spleen, brought him into a Consumption; yet notwithstanding his disability, the first Friday in Lent being come, (which was his old constant day he was appointed to preach on) he resolved not to decline that service: and although some of his Friends persuaded him from undertaking it, fearing it might be a means to shorten his days, he passionately denied their requests, saying, He would not doubt, that God who in many weaknesses had assisted him with an unexpected strength, would now withdraw it in his last employment. His Text was; To God the Lord belong the issues from death. Many that saw his tears, and heard his hollow voice, professing they thought the Text prophetically chosen, and that Doctor Donne had preached his own Funeral Sermon. He would often desire, if that God would be pleased to grant it, that he might die in the Pulpit; if not that, yet that he might take his death in the Pulpit; that is, die the sooner by occasion of those labours. And indeed we may justly conceive that God granted his requests; for after his Sermon was over, hastening to his house, he never moved out of it, until like St. Stephen, He was carried by devout men to the grave. During the time of his sickness, his spirits being much spent, which made him unapt to discourse, a Friend asked him, Why are you sad? to whom he replied after this manner; I am not sad, I am in a serious contemplation of the mercies of my God to me; and now I plainly see, it was his hand that prevented me from all temporal employment. And I see it was his will that I should never settle nor thrive until I entered into the Ministry; in which I have now lived almost twenty years, (I hope to his glory) and by which (I most humbly thank him) I have been enabled to requite most of those friends that shown me kindness when my fortunes were low. And (as it hath occasioned the expression of my gratitude) I thank God, most of them have stood in need of my requital. I have been useful and comfortable to my good father-in-law Sir George More, whose patience God hath been pleased to exercise by many temporal crosses. I have maintained my own Mother, whom it hath pleased God after a plentiful fortune in her former times, to bring to a great decay in her very old age. I have quieted the consciences of many that groaned under the burden of a wounded spirit, whose prayers I hope are available for me. I cannot plead innocency of life, (especially of my youth) but I am to be judged of a merciful God, who hath given me (even at this time) some testimonies by his holy Spirit, that I am of the number of his elect. I am full of joy, and shall die in peace. He lay fifteen days earnestly expecting his hourly change; his speech which had long been his faithful servant, remained with him till his last minute. In his very last hour (as his body melted away and vapourated into spirit) his soul having some revelation of the beatifical vision, he said; I were miserable if I might not die. And after many periods of his faint breath, with these words, Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, he rendered up his soul to him that gave it him. He was buried in Saint Paul's Church, attended with many persons of Nobility and Eminency; after his burial some mournful friends repaired, and as Alexander the Great did to the grave of the most famous Achilles, so they strewed his with curious and costly flowers. Nor was this (though not usual) all the honour done to his reverend ashes, for some person (unknown) to perpetuate his memory, sent to his two Executors, Doctor King, and Doctor Montford, an hundred Marks towards the making of a Monument for him; which they faithfully performed, it being as lively a representation, as in dead Marble can be made of him. The recreation of his youth were Poety, in which he was so happy, as if Nature with all her varieties had been made to exercise his great wit, and high fancy: nor did he leave it off in his old age, as is witnessed by many of his Divine Sonnets, and other high, holy, and harmonious composures, as under his Effigies in these following verses to his printed Poems, one most ingeniously expresses. This was for youth, strength, mirth, and wit the time Most count their golden age, but 'twas not thine: Thine was thy later years, so much refined From youth's dross, mirth, and wit, as thy pure mind Thought like the Angels nothing but the praise Of thy Creator in those last best days. Witness this Book, thy Emblem, which gins, With love, but ends with sighs and tears for sins. He left behind him many fruits of his labours, as Sermons, all writ with his own hand, a large and laborious Treatise entitled Biathanatose, concerning self-murder. The resultance of fourteen hundred Authors, most of them analized with his own hand. Nor were these only found in his study, but all businesses that past of any public consequence in this or any of our Neighbour-Kingdoms, he abreviated either in Latin, or in the Language of the Nation, and kept them by him for a constant Memorial. The Life of GEORGE VILLERS Duke of Buckingham. TAll Cedars are shaken with the wind, when the humble shrub rests secure; Envy strikes not at the lowly person, her aim is evermore at the tallest. How vain then is that man, who enjoying the quiet of a retired life, ambitiously hunts after honour? How few Favourites go to the grave in peace, Histories make mention, and this Age can testify: this truth will be too sadly instanced in the late Lord Duke of Buckingham, who from the mean estate of a private Gentleman being raised to the highest pitch of honour a subject could be capable of came at last to an untimely end. His first rise began at the Earl of Somersets fall, one upon whom King James had heaped many great favours; for from the degree of a Knight he was first made Viscount Rochester, next sworn a Privy Counsellor, then created Earl of Somerset, and last of all made Lord Chamberlain. But this serene Sky of favour was soon over-shadowed with Clouds by the Earls undeserving; for having married the Lady Frances Howard, Daughter to Thomas Earl of Suffolk, and not long before divorced from the Earl of Essex, the unfortunate Knight Sir Thomas Overbury for speaking against the match, was by their procurement committed to the Tower, and not long after poisoned, as I have more at large treated of in his Life; for which fact both the Lady and Earl were arraigned and condemned, yet through the King's great clemency had their lives spared, but were for ever banished his presence. This great Favourite being thus disgusted, King James, who would not long be without an alter idem, or Bosom-friend, took into special regard, as I have intimated, Master George Villers, (a Gentleman of a good extraction, but a younger Brother) and finding him susceptible, and of good form, moulded him (Platonically) to his own Idea. And that he might be a fit companion for a King, raised him in honour next to himself; yet not all at once, but by degrees, making him first a Knight, and Gentleman of his Bedchamber, soon after a Viscount, and Master of the Horse; a while after erected Earl of Buckingham, then Marquess of Buckingham, and made Lord Admiral. King James having thus hardened and polished him about ten years in the School of observance (for so a Court is) and in the furnace of trial about himself, for he was a King that could peruse men as well as books; he made him the Associate of his Heir Apparent, together with the Lord Cottington, an adjunct of singular experience and trust in foreign travel, and in a business of love and of no equal hazard, enough to kindle affection even between the distantest conditions; so as by various and inward conversation abroad (besides that before and after at home) with the most constant and best natured Prince (bana si sua nocint) that ever any Nation enjoyed, this Duke (which last title was conferred on him in Spain) now becomes seized of reiterated favour as it were by descent, though the condition of that state commonly be no more than a tenancy at will, or at most for the life of the first Lord, and rarely transmitted, it being a kind of wonder to see favour hereditary, yet in him it proved far otherwise, as one writes. The King loves you, you him; both love the same, You love the King, he you, both Buckingame; Of sport the King loves game, of game the Buck, Of all men, you, why you, why, see your luck And although it be ever the perpetual lot of those who are of choicest admission into Prince's favours, to feel as strong strokes of envy and ill will from beneath, as they do beams of grace and favour from above; the Princes love procuring the people's hate: this Duke contrarily found their affection so great towards him, that in open Parliament the generality honoured him with no lesser acclamation, than the preserver of his Country. But what odd turns are in the passions of men, and how little time continue their affections, may appear in this; those very men in a Parliament holden the first year of King Charles, accusing him as the only cause of all bad events which happened in the Commonwealth; drew up a charge of thirteen Articles against him, the Prologue whereof expressing the prodigious greatness of this Duke; the influence of whose power this ensuing Letter of Sir Henry Wotton's doth sufficiently express. My most noble Lord, When like that impotent man in the Gospel, I had lain long by the Pools side, while many were healed, and none would throw me in; it pleased your Lordship first of all to pity my infirmities, and to put me into some hope of subsisting hereafter: therefore I most justly and humbly acknowledge all my ability and reputation from your favour; you have given me encouragement, you have valued my poor endeavours with the King, you have redeemed me from ridiculousness, who have served so long without any mark of favour; by which arguments, being already, and ever bound to be yours, till either life or honesty shall leave me, I am the bolder to beseech your Lordship to perfect your own work, and to draw his Majesty to the settling of some things that depend betwixt Sir Julius Caesar and me, in that reasonable form, which I humbly present to your Lordship by my Nephew, likewise your obliged servant being myself by a late indisposition confined to my Chamber, but in all estates such as I am, Your Lordships, Henry Wootton. But to return where I left to the preface of his Titles as I find them copied in the Parliaments Declaration against him; For the speedy redress of the great evils and mischiefs, and of the chief causes of those great evils and mischiefs, which this Kingdom of England now grievously suffereth, and of late years hath suffered, and to the honour and safety of our Sovereign Lord the King, and of his Crown and Dignities, and to the good and welfare of his People; the Commons in this present Parliament, by the authority of our said Sovereign Lord the King assembled, do by this their Bill show, and declare against George, Duke, Marquess, and Earl of Buckingham, Earl of Coventry, Viscount Villers, Barron of Whaddon, Great Admiral of the Kingdoms of England and Ireland, and of the Principality of Wales, and of the Dominions and Islands of the same, of the Town of Calais, and of the Marches of the same, and of Normandy, Gascoigne, and Guienne; General Governor of the Seas and ships of the said Kingdoms; Lieutenant General, Admiral, Captain General, and Governor of his Majesty's Royal Fleet and Army lately set forth; Master of the Horses of our Sovereign Lord the King; Lord Warden, Chancellor and Admiral of the Cinque-Ports, and of the members thereof; Constable of Dover Castle, Justice in Eyre of all Forests and Chases on this side Trent, Constable of the Castle of Windsor; Lieutenant of Middlesex and Buckinghamshire; Steward and Bailiff of Westminster; Gentleman of his Majesty's Bedchamber, and one of his Majesty's Honourable Privy Council in his Realms, both of England, Scotland, and Ireland, and Knight of the most noble Order of the Garter. The same Parliament likewise was the Duke accused of High Treason by the Earl of Bristol, and the Earl of Bristol in like manner accused of High Treason by the Duke; the Factions of both sides were passing jocund at this contest, observing,. That whilst between these Grandees mutual malice broke out, truth came to her own. But that Parliament being broke up abruptly, the people were frustrated of their expectations. To recover the Duke's reputation, which seemed eclipsed by this charge of High Treason, a Navy being made ready for the relief of Rochel, the Duke was made Commander both by Sea and Land; who endeavouring by his Achievements to remove all cause of calumny against him, by the ill success of that enterprise more exasperated the hatred of the people. The cause of this expedition (that we may relate things in order to truth) was as followeth: The French King during the Treaty of Marriage between England and France, pretending a Martial design against Italy and the Valtoline, obtained of King James the Loan of the Vanguard, a parcel of the Navy Royal, and (with the owner's consent) of six Merchants Ships more; but a rumour being spread that those ships were intended against Rochel, then revolted from him, an express caution was put in to the contrary. But before those ships set out, King James died, and the French King and the Rochellers (by the mediation of King Charles) came to an accord; but no sooner was the French Army advanced for Italy, but the Rochellers (upon pretence that the King had not kept touch with them in slighting Fort Lewis) under the leading of Subize, surprise the Isle of Rhee, surprise many ships in the Harbour, and bad fair for the taking of Fort Lewis, had not the Duke of Vendosme posted thither with relief. The French King nettled at this insolency, began to raise an Army, sets forth all the ships he could procure, obtained naval aid of the Dutch, and demanded of Captain Pennington the delivery of the English ships, agreeable to his Master's promise; Pennington refuses to deliver any till a further signification of his Majesty's pleasure: but King Charles rather willing to submit to the hazard of Lewis his breach of faith, then to the blame of receding from his own promise, returned answer, That his will was, that he should consign up his own, and the six Merchant's ships to the service of his Brother. With these Forces he quickly undoeth what Subize had done, forceth him from his strength, reprizeth many of his ships, and so impetuously chaseth him, as he, with much difficulty, escaped to the Isle of Oleron. King Charles discontented for the misimployment of his ships, sent an expostulatory message to his Brother, demanding the cause of this violation of his Royal Parole; and withal, requiring the restitution of his ships. Lewis returneth answer, That the Rochellers had first temerated, and slighted their faith with him, and that necessity enforced him to use all means to impede the progress of so great disloyalty, which he could not well do without the aid of the English Ships, his own Fleet being upon other service. And for the restitution of those ships he replied, That his Subjects by whom they were manned, held them contrary to his mind, and therefore wished him to come by them as he could. This answer nothing pleased King Charles other discontents also arising, and Rochel being close beleaguered by the Duke of Guise, a Navy was made ready, whereof the Duke was made Admiral, as you have heard. June the 27. the year of our Lord 1627. he set sail from Portsmouth with about 6000. Horse and Foot; their design was intended against Fort Lewis, upon the Continent near Rochel; but upon a false information that the Duke D' Angoulesm was there with fifteen thousand men, (whereas indeed he had but three thousand Foot, and two hundred Horse) they altered their determination, and instantly directed their course towards the Isle of Rhee. July the 30. early in the morning they shown themselves upon the Islands of Oleron, to the number of about twenty Sail, being at first supposed to be Dunkirks waiting the motion of the Hollanders then in the road; but upon their nearer approaches toward the Isle of Rhee, and that the Hollanders took no Alarm, they were then suspected to be English. At a certain Fort called De la Pree they landed; to the number of 1200. whom to oppose Sieur de Toiras Governor of the Citadel of Saint martin's, with the like number encountered; the Fight continued fierce and doubtful. On the English side were slain Sir William Heyden, and Sieur de Blancard a Frenchman, Agent from the Duke of Rohan and the Protestants. Of the French, the Governors' Brother, and the Baron of Chuntal; of common Soldiers on both sides, about nine hundred, whereof the French bore the greater share; and now having tried a taste of each others valour, the French retire to their Garrison, and the English to their Ships. Three days together both sides lay quiet, as if they had spent their whole stock of valour at once, or sworn a truce on both sides; at length the Duke went on shore again, entrenching himself, until he had debarqued all his Horse; and receiving a recruit from Rochel of 500 Foot, marcheth directly towards St. Martin's Fort. Upon his approach the Islanders abandoned the Town and fled into the Castle: so that the Duke being now possessed of the one, thought it would not be long ere the other was his; but those who reckon without their host (we say) must reckon twice: two months together the Duke encamped before this Fort, during which time Toiras the Governor had hired a French man to have stabbed the Duke; who being taken by the English, confessed his intentions. But what detriment the French could not do the English by treachery they performed otherwise; that gallant Gentleman Sir John Burroughs being slain with a Musket shot from the Castle, as he was viewing the English Works, whose body was after honourably interred at Westminster. At length the Castle was reduced to a condition of yielding, when in the very nick of necessity monsieur Balin at an high flood, in the dead of night conveyed in twelve Pinnaces laden with Provision, which so cheered their drooping spirits, that they resolved to stand it out resolutely, which accordingly they did, till at last they were relieved by the Marshal of Schomberg; who with four thousand Foot, and two hundred Horse, landed at Fort de la Pree, and undiscovered, marched up to the view of the Fort, and of the English. The Duke alarmed at this sudden apparition, fearing to be charged front and rear, resolved to rise and be gone; the French upon their retreat, came up to the very tail of their rear, hallowing to them in a Bravado: whereupon the English were drawn up in Battalia, but the French would advance no nearer, until spying their advantage, the English being to go over a narrow passage, having salt-pits on either side, they then came on amain, pouring great volleys of shot upon the English; and having routed the Lord Montjoyes Troops, and taken him prisoner, they fell upon Sir William Coninghams', but they most bravely fought it out even to the last man: had the Lord Montjoyes Troops done the like a quarter so many had not perished; but cowards are foes to their own lives, and gain only this by running away, to be killed more basely, and further off from their fellows. The rear being thus routed, they fall on upon the main Battle, but Sir Edward Conways who commanded the van, facing about, made them retreat; and having left a select company of musquetiers to guard the pass until night, they burned the Bridge, lodging that night in a place called the Lose, and the next day went on board. Thus returned home the English with extreme loss, whereof the Duke as in Command the chief, so did he share chief in the disgrace; the French scoffingly saying, Though the Duke could not take the Cittidal of St. Martin's, yet it was odds but he would take the Tower of London. Doctor Moor also a Prebend of Winchester, took occasion in his Sermon to cite that of Augustus in Cornelius Tacitus, Quintili Vare redde Legiones, which, saith the Historian perished, propter inscitiam & temeritatem Ducis, giving him a acquaint wipe the Amphibology of the word Dux, thus (as the Poet hath it.) When we do think (puffed up with hope) that we do fly aloft, Then soon clipped are our wings, by angry stars full oft. But the King was not so daunted at this disaster, but that he resolved to give one pluck more for the relief of Rochel; which the Earl of Denbigh attempting with ill success; a third Fleet was made ready, than which there never before appeared a more gallant Armado form by our Nation. The Duke desirous to recover his reputation, much blemished by his discomfiture at the Isle of Rhee, was by the King made Commander in chief; but before his setting forth, being at breakfast at Portsmouth with Subize, and others of principal quality, one John Felton (sometimes a Lieutenant to a Foot Company in the Regiment of Sir John Ramsey) watching his opportunity, as the Duke was passing through an Entry with Sir Thomas Friar, (to whom he declined his ear in the posture of attention) in the very instant of Sir Thomas his retiring from the Duke, Felton with a knife stabbed him on the left side into the very heart; saying as he struck him, The Lord have mercy upon thy soul; a Speech which the Duke had scarce time to say for himself: such effusion of blood flowing from the wound after the knife was pulled out, that he presently expired; being only heard to say (some report with an oath) The Villain hath killed me. The motives that induced Felton to this execrable murder are said to be these; he had long, and in vain waited for his arrears of pay, due for former service; again, he was twice repulsed upon his Petition for a Captain's place, and others super-inducted over his head. But least private malice should be thought his only motive to the fact, he declared it to be the late Remonstrance of the House of Commons; sticking a paper to the lining of his hat, wherein he had written as followeth. I would have no man commend me for doing it, but rather discommend themselves; for if God had not taken away their hearts for their sins, he had not gone so long unpunished. John Felton. The man is cowardly base in mine opinion, and deserves neither the name of a Gentleman or Soldier, that is unwilling to sacrifice his life for the honour of God, his King, and Country. John Felton. Felton for this fact suffered at Tyburn, very penitent and sorry for what he had done; his body was from thence conveyed to Portsmouth, and there hung in Chains. Of this fact of Feltons' a modern Wit thus writes. Some say the Duke was virtuous, gracious, good, And Felton basely did, to spill his blood. If it be so, what did he then amiss, In sending him the sooner to his Bliss; All deaths seem pleasant to a good man's eye, And bad men only are afraid to die: Changed he this Kingdom to possess a better, Then is the Duke become John Feltons' debtor. Many are said to be the warnings the Duke had of his end; some two months before, one Doctor Lamb (a creature of the Dukes) was by the rude multitude slain in the Streets; they telling him as they were belabouring him with stones and cudgels, That were his Master the Duke there, they would give him as much. This time also was common in many men's mouths. Let Charles and Mary do what they can, The Duke shall die like Doctor Lamb. The same day that Lamb was slain, the Duke's Picture fell down in the High Commission Chamber at Lambeth. These with other the like accidents forebodeing something of present fatality to the Duke, being spoken of in the Lady Davis her hearing, she, for certain replied, No, his time is not come till August. The same Lady also, (as I was informed by a Gentleman of near relation unto me) did by her servant certify the Duke, that at such time as a Mole, which he had upon his Shoulder, should go away, the Duke should die; which accordingly came to pass. But the most strange (if true) is that related by Lily in his Observations on the Life and Death of King Charles, namely, that a Daemon appeared to one Parker in the likeness of Sir George Villers the Duke's Father, bidding him go and tell his Son, that unless he refrained such and such company, he should ere long be killed, and withal shown him a knife, appointed for the act; Parker told the Duke of these things, but being an old man was judged to dote: not long after the Daemon appeared to him again, telling him that the Duke should not long survive; and also bid him set his own house in order for he should shortly die. Both which things accordingly came to pass. He died the thirty sixth year of his age, a time which by the course of Nature he might have doubled. Never did so great a man fall so much unlamented, though causeless, as by the success of Affairs wise men have since determined. The Life of Sir HENRY WOTTON. TO survey him at one single prospect, Sir Henry Wotton was born at Boctonhall in the County of Kent. in the year of our Redemption 1568. descended of an ancient and honourable Family, great cherishers of Learning, as appears by that excellent Antiquary Master William Lambert in his Perambulation of Kent. He had three elder Brothers, all Knights, men eminent for Wisdom and Piety; by all which it appears, that Sir Henry Wotton was a branch of such a Kindred as left a stock of reputation to their posterity. His Childhood being spent under the tuition of his Mother, he was sent to Winchester School, a place of strict Discipline and Order, that so he might in his youth be moulded into a method of living by rule. Where having much profited, he was removed from thence to New College in Oxford, where he remained till about the eighteenth year of his age; from thence transplanted into Queen's College, where to show the world some part of his abilities, he writ a Play of the Tragedy of Tancredo, which though some sour dispositions may condemn, yet considering his youth, and those weighty sentences contained in the same, it may be thought neither uncomely nor unprofitable. During Sir Henry's abode at Oxford, his Father (being then in Kent) dreamt that the University Treasury was rob by five Townsmen and poor Scholars; and being that day to write to his son Henry, thought it worth so much pains, as by a Postscript in his Letter, to make a slight enquiry of it: which coming to his hands, the very morning after the night in which the robbery was committed, was by him shown, and by means thereof the five guilty persons discovered and apprehended. The next year he proceeded Master of Arts, at what time he read an Optic Lecture with great applause of the University; especially of those two great Wits, Albericus Gentilis, a Learned Italian, and Doctor Donne sometimes Dean of Paul's, of whose worth none that but pretends to Learning can be ignorant. With these two he entered into a bosom friendship, which continued during the term of their lives. Attaining now to the age of two and twenty, he left Oxford, and betook himself to travel, to purchase the rich treasure of foreign knowledge. Almost nine years was he absent from England, the most of which time he remained in Germany and Italy, acquainting himself with the most learned of either Nations. At his return Robert Earl of Essex, (than one of the Darlings of Fortune) who hearing of his abilities, took him to be one of his Secretaries: at the fall of the Earl (with whom fell Master Cuffe his other Secretary) he privately posted out of England, and went to Florence in Italy, where he met with his old Friend Siegnior Vietta, than Secretary to the great Duke of Tuscany: having stayed some short time there, the Duke intercepted certain Letters that discovered a design to take away the life of the then King of Scots. The Duke abhorring the fact, and resolving to endeavour a prevention of it, advised with his Secretary Vietta, by what means a caution might be given to that King; and after consideration it was resolved to be done by Sir Henry Wotton, who gladly undertaking the same, to avoid the light of English Intelligence, posted into Scotland by the way of Norway, under the name of Octavio Baldi; being admitted private audience with the King, he was not only discovered wherefore he came, but also who he was: and having stayed there three months with great contentment, he returned to Florence with a fair and grateful account to the Duke of his employment. Queen Elizabeth dying, no sooner was King James entered upon the English Government, but he advances him (being returned from Florence) to the Order of Knighthood; and having had experience of his Abilities, sends him Ambassador to the State of Venice, where he remained almost twenty years; during which time he studied the dispositions of those Dukes, and the Consultors of State, well knowing that he who negotiates a continued business, and neglects the study of dispositions, usually fails in his proposed ends. And although through some misunderstanding he fell one time into King Jame's displeasure, yet did he by an Apology so clear himself, that as broken bones well set become the stronger, so Sir Henry Wotton did not only recover, but was much more confirmed in his Majesty's estimation and favour then formerly he had been. Thrice was he sent Ambassador to the Republic of Venice, once to the Emperor Ferdinando the second, as also to several Germane Princes, to incline them to equitable conditions for the restauration of the Queen of Bohemia and her descendants, to there patrimonial inheritance of the Palatinate. And although success had made the Emperor inexorable, that his Embassage obtained not the wished effect; yet so nobly deported he himself in that journey, that the Emperor adjudged him a person of much honour and merit; and at his departure presented him with a Jewel of Diamonds, of more value than a thousand pounds, which Sir Henry acepted; but the next morning at his departing from Vienna, at his taking leave of the Countess of Sabrina where he lodged, thanking her for her honourable entertainment, he prevailed with her to accept of that Jewel as a testimony of his gratitude: with which action the Emperor being displeased, Sir Henry Wotton was heard to say, That though he received it with thankfulness; yet, he found in himself an indisposition to retain it, it being a gift that came from an enemy to his Royal Mistress: he so usually called the Queen of Bohemia. Here it would not be amiss for the Readers diversion, to discourse touching the Affairs of the Embassy of an Ambassador: to give some short hints, as to their Original, Privileges, Wisdom, Valour, quick Wits, and Behaviours; they are the Legates, Deputies, Messengers of Princes, and Orators of Kings; for all these terms do include one function, exercised in different manners. And because there are sundry sorts of them somewhat different from the custom of our age, I will not only treat of them as they were in times passed amongst the Romans, as they were in the times of their most magnificent glories, but as near as I can, briefly digest the usage and duty of them as they are now put in office by Emperors, Kings, and Princes. The Jews were a people most ancient, from whom all Government, Learning, Morality, Philosophy and other notable things have been derived. Amongst them, in honour to the antiquity of Religion, Phineas the Priest, the Son of Eleazar with ten Princes of the Tribes, was sent Ambassador to the Israelites beyond Jordon. The Greeks sent Ulysses that Eloquent Orator, and with him Menelaus, to reconcile the differences betwixt them and the Trojans. There might be infinite instances of other Nations. The person that should be thus employed aught to be nobly born free, of good credit, honest, loyal, valiant, circumspect, learned, eloquent, adorned with the languages, liberal, with other necessary virtues and qualifications. For the order how Ambassadors have been received and used by Princes. Alexander ab Alexandro thus expresses, Alex ab Alex. Lib. 5. Cap. 3. Apud Graecos nisi praeconibus adhibitis, Legatos minime hostium fines ingredi docebat; neque Legationis munere fungi quenquam, nisi prius infusae aqua ab eisdem manus abluissent, Jovique coronatis poculis propinassent, high tamen Legati qui cum patriis sacris, Olympiam aut Pytheam missi erant, sacris qui vero foedera percutiebant quasi pacis arbitri, & interpretis dicti sunt: in his Fourth Book, and the 21. Chap. speaking of the time when they should be received, neque illud praetereundum, etc. Neither is it to be over passed; that it is remembered, that to Legates and Foreign Nations admitted into the Senate, the Roman Consuls were not accustomed to give any answers but only in Latin: who being admitted after the manner of the Fathers, the Senate gave them power of that they would have: but the Greeks by their Deputies appointed, did declare their minds if any body required any thing. And the Arrebates and Belonaces did assemble their Counsels by the sound of Trumpets; but if they would speak any thing in their own Language to such being admitted, in the Senate were interpreters given, by whom they did propound what was needful, and receive the agreement and answers of the Senate. Many have been the privileges, immunities and advantages they have derived to their own honour and the happiness of those that have employed them. Francis Dandalus the Venetian Orator, being sent Ambassador into France to pacify the French King, and the great Clergyman, for that he was displeased with the States of Venice for the receiving of Feraria; when he had divers times used his best arguments, yet could not remove the anger of the Bishop of Rome, falling on his hands and knees (no compulsive, but a free way of introducing the subtlety of his design) being raised by the Pope, he poured forth such a flood of Rhetoric, that he so wrought on him, that he reconciled him and the Venetians. When Clement the Seventh Bishop of Rome, and Charles the Fifth, the Emperor, had met at Bononia about divers affairs, Francis Alvarez the Legate of Denied, commonly called Presto John, was King of the Abyssine Ethyopians, which do possess the middle part of Africa, being come to Benonia, by the conduct of the Ambassadors of John King of Portugal, did in the Senate, in the name of the King, promise Faith and Obedience to Clement Bishop of Rome, in the year of our Lord 1533. For which wise dispatch of his Embassy, after ages took notice of him. I shall forbear to enlarge myself, and only insert a few of their Apothegms. Policartidas an Orator, being sent with others to certain Dukes, when it was demanded of them whether his coming was public or private, they answered, that if they had obtained the effect of their message, they came publicly; if not, privately: which subtle answer did admirably manifest their good intentions to their Country: for if the legation succeeded to their minds, they would give the glory to their Country; if otherwise, they would have the reproach and repulse to appertain to the Commonwealth. The Lacedæmonians sending but one Legate to King Demetrius, he highly resented it for an indignity, ask if one man were enough to come to him. To which the Ambassador answered, Yes Sir, we deemed it sufficient to send but one to one man. Such another answer did Agis the Son of Archidamus use, being sent to Philip King of Macedon. When certain Lacons, a people of Greece inhabiting Sparta, went Ambassador to the tyrant Ligdanus, who often deferred conference with them, excusing himself that he was somewhat sickly; they desired the messengers to return him this answer, That they came to talk, not to wrestle with the King. The Romans dispatched their Ambassadors to Bithnia to assuage a domestical breach betwixt Drusus the Father, and Nicomodes the Son; which Legates were such as one of them had many scars of wounds in his head and face, another was diseased in his feet, and the third but of a slender Wit: of whom M. Cato was wont to jest, that the same Embassy lacked both head, feet and heart. Two Legates, saith Poggius, being sent from the Council of Constance to Petrus de Luna the false Pope, did amongst other bitter chide and hard speeches which they used together upon the Title of the Pontificiality, after that the Pope had said of himself, This is the ark of Noah; meaning that all the power of the Pontifical Sea remained in him: they answered, there were many beasts in the Ark of Noah; expressing thereby, that there were many vices in the Pope, and many wicked men in the Church. These with infinite more might be collected out of our English Authors, but to knit up this discourse wherein I have epitomised the office, management, gravity, magnanimity, policy, witty and wise answers of Ambassadors; to conclude, these messengers of Princes to Princes, had, as we may allude, their first institution and original from the order of Archangels, who have been the Ambassadors of God, to such persons as God hath honoured in great matters either of revelation or successes of kingdoms; as Gabrel was to Daniel: or of opening some strange things, as he was also to the Virgin of the conception of the Saviour of souls. But enough of, and perchance too much to some cavilling heads, that there hath been so large a digression, which I have only enterprised to illustrate the perfection of our Knight in this illustrious employment; he having observed all the laws of Ambassadors, and so managed the Affairs of his Prince, that he was the wonder of those times he lived in, and an admirable example for ours. Sir Henry Wotton returning home in the latter year of King James his Reign, his estate much wasted with his continued Embassies, very desirous to enjoy the quiet of a retired life; he obtained to be made Provost of Eton College, which how well it suited to his fancy, this speech of his to a friend will sufficiently testify. I thank God and the King, by whose goodness I am now in this condition; a condition which that Emperor Charles the Fifth seemed to approve: who after so many remarkable victories, when his glory was great in the eyes of all men, freely gave his Crown, and the Cares that attended it, to Philip his Son, making a holy retreat to a Cloystral life; where he might by devout meditations consult with God (which the rich or busy men seldom do) and have leisure both to examine the errors of his life past, and prepare for that great day, wherein all flesh must give an account of their actions. And after a kind of tempestuous life, I now have the like advantage from him, that makes the out-going of the morning to praise him, even from my God whom I daily magnify for this particular mercy, of an exemption from business, a quiet mind, and a sufficient maintenance, even in this part of my life, when my age and infirmities seem to sound me a retreat from the pleasures of this world, and invite me to a contemplation; in which I have ever taken the greatest felicity. This contemplative life he continued to his end, so that this place seemed to be the beginning of his happiness, the College being to his mind, as a quiet Harbour to a Sea-faring-man after a tempestuous Voyage; where by the bounty of the pious Founder, his very food and raiment were plentifully provided in kind; where he was freed from corroding cares, and seated on such a rock, as the waves of want could not probably shake; where he might sit in a calm, and looking down, behold the busy multitude turmoiled and tossed in a tempestuous sea of dangers! And (as Sir William Davenant has happily expressed the like in another person.) Laugh at the graver business of the State, Which speaks men rather wise then fortunate. He died in Decemb. 1639 having completed seventy three years. His will was made by himself above two years before his death, wherein he appointed that his Executours should lay over his Grave a plain stone of Marble, with this Epitaph enscribed thereon. Hic jacet hujus sententiae primus Author. Disputandi pruritus, Ecclesiarum scabies. Nomen alias quaere. Which may be englished thus. Here's lies the first Author of this Sentence. The Itch of Disputation will prove the Scab of the Church. Inquire his name elsewhere. To acquaint the world with two or three other Instances of the readiness of his Wit, he having in Rome retained an acquaintance with a pleasant Priest, who invited him one evening to hear their Vesper-Musick at Church; the Priest seeing Sir Henry stand obscurely in a corner, sends to him by a Boy of the Choir this question written in a small piece of paper; Where was your Religion to be sound before Luther? To which question Sir Henry Wotton presently underwit, My Religion was to be found then, where yours is not to be found; in the written word of God. To another that asked him, Whether a Papist may be saved? He replied, You may be saved without knowing that; Look to yourself. To another, whose earnest zeal exceeded his knowledge, and was still railing against the Papists, he gave this advice: Pray Sir forbear till you have studied the Points better; for the wise Italian hath this Proverb, He that understands amiss concludes worse. And take heed of entertaining this opinion, That the further you go from the Church of Rome, the nearer you are to God. He left behind him many Monuments of his Learning, whose worth are such, that they speak themselves more incomparably to posterity, than any Eulogies I can bestow upon them. Give me leave to conclude with the words of one of the learnedst Modern Critics: That for the generality of the stile throughout his Works, 'tis most quaintly, delightful, gentle, soft, and full of all manner of blandishments, only his pen flowed a little too much with the oily adulation of Court-flattery. Questionless if Sir Henry Wotton was reduced to any of these subserviences, they were occasioned from his generous expenses in the time of his Embassies for his Master's honour, who used him as Queen Elizabeth did Sir Francis Walsingham, who had but from hand to mouth. The Life of THOMAS WENTWORTH Earl of Stafford, and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. TO particularise all the actions of the Earl of Strafford would of its self require an entire Volume, it being a Garden of choice Varieties, wherein points of Law are interwoven with Acts of State, and the Affairs of Ireland, as in the same Escutcheon, quartered with those of England. I shall only take a superficial view of his life, and not strain myself ambitiously to show forth the utmost reach of his perfections; he being a rare conjunction of Courage attended with loyalty, to danger; Wisdom accompanied with Eloquence, to admiration; who could both think and speak, speak and do: whose answers and replies to the Articles exhibited against him by the House of Commons, show his abilities to be such, that whatsoever is spoken of him, is infinitely below what was spoken by himself. He was born in Yorkshire, well descended, and as well educated; which fitted him to sustain the weighty Affairs he afterwards underwent. A great stickler at the first against the Prerogative, until alured by Court-preferment he turned Royalist: for the King finding his worth and ability never left till he had gained him to himself, obliging him to his side by many titles of honour and places of trust; whose services he found equivalent to his favours, continuing to his death a trusty servant, a faithful friend, a prudent Counsellor, and a constant adherer to his side in all his exigencies. The greatest services he did to the King were during the time he was Lieutenant of Ireland, by his augmenting and advancing the King's Revenues there, restoring the Church's maintenance, suppressing the Outlaws, establishing obedience to Royal Authority, impediting the Tyranny and usurpation of the great ones over the Commons, causing the Irish to leave off many of their barbarous customs, and conform themselves to the more civil manners of the English, which drew much hatred upon himself; for changes (though for the better) are most times ill resented by the vulgar: witness those troubles in England in the time of King Edward the Sixth. Nor could these innovations have found more dislike in any Nation under the Heavens than Ireland, so wedded are those people to their ancient, vain, ridiculous customs. But since I have inserted his most remarkable actions in the Life of King Charles, I shall omit those passages, and come to his solemn Trial, so paramount in the Equipage of all Cirumstances, that (as former ages have been unable) so future are unlikely to produce a parallel of them. This great Minister of State was by the Parliament (well known for the length of it) accused with twenty eight Articles of High Treason, February 16. 1640. The particulars are too long for me here to recite; the substance of them being, that he endeavoured to subvert the Fundamental Laws and Governments of the Realms of England and Ireland, and enriching himself by indirect ways in his office, for incensing the King against the Scots, for endeavouring to set things amiss betwixt his Majesty and the people, and to have given counsel tending to the disquiet of the three Kingdoms. The 13. of April following began his Trial in Westminster-Hall, where there was a Throne erected for the King, on each side whereof a Cabinet enclosed about with boards, and before with a Terrace: before that were the Seats for the Lords of the upper House, and sacks of wool for the Judges: before them ten stages of seats, extending further than the midst of the Hall, for the Gentlemen of the House of Commons: at the end of all was a desk closed about, and set apart for the Lord Lieutenant and his Council. The Earl of Arundel was Lord High Steward; his Accusers were Pym, Glin, Mainard, Whitlock, St. john's, Palmers, Sir Walter Earls, Stroud, Selden, Hampden and others; Many days were spent, and much Rhetoric used on both sides: for the Lieutenant was no child, but as cunning in the art of defence as any man in England; equal, if not surpassing his Predecessor the Earl of Kildare, in the time of King Henry the Eighth. But the House of Commons were implacable in their hatred towards him, nothing being satisfactory to them but his downfall: So that some conclude his death was for necessity, and rather for the satisfaction of rancourous apprehensions, then for any guiltiness in the cause. The lower House perceiving by the Lieutenants insinuating and witty defences, a great increase of his friends in the Lord's House, they resolved of no more hearing of him in public, but to draw up a Bill of Attainder, and present the same to the Lords, whereby first the matter of Fact should be declared to have been sufficiently proved, and then in the matter of Law, that he had incurred the censure of Treason, for intending to subvert the Fundamental Laws of the Kingdom. And they were confident the Lords would ratify, and approve of this Bill of theirs, and give judgement accordingly. But the Lords fearing such Proceed, as a beaten path trodden out to the ruin of their own lives and estates, told the House of Commons, that they themselves as competent Judges, would by themselves only give sentence in the Cause; nor was there course suitable to the practice and State of the Kingdom, the safety of the Nobility, or to Equity or common Justice. It was replied by them of the Lower House, that they were resolved to go on with their Bill, and if the same should be rejected by the Lords, they feared a rapture and division might follow, to the utter ruin and desolation of the whole Kingdom. That no content would be given to the Subject, unless the man who had so much intruded upon their right, and discontented the people, might be punished as a Traitor, and dealt withal according to his demerits. But the Lords were resolute in their first determinations, and resolved to give him a fair hearing in the matter of Law, whereupon his Council were called to the Bar, Master Lane the Prince's Attorney, Master Gardiner Recorder of London, Master Lo, and Master Lightfoot, who spoke both much, and to the purpose. Yet would this nothing satisfy the House of Commons; no, though the King in person in a set Speech declared unto them, That there never was such a project, nor had the Lord Strafford ever offered such advice, for the transporting of an Irish Army into England, neither had advised him to establish an Arbitrary Government, that he would never in heart nor hand concur with them to punish him as a Traitor; and desired therefore that they would think of some other way how the business might be composed. Nor should it ever be less dear to him (though with the loss of his dearest blood) to protect the innocent then to punish the guilty. But this made the House of Commons a great deal the more pressing, fearing by the King's peremptory answer that there was some plot underhand. But the House of Commons were not so much inflamed by the King's Speech as the common people, who to the number of five or six thousand, having Weapons and Battoons in their hands came to Westminster; and at the entering at every Coach, cried out for speedy justice and execution, with a wonderful and strange noise. After this they drew up the names of those either in the House of Commons, or the House of Lords, whom they imagined to favour the Lieutenant, and gave them the Title of Straffordians, with this close, That all those, and all other enemies to the Commonwealth should perish with him; and did post up the names of fifty five at the Corner of Sir William Brunkards house, in the old Palace-yard in Westminster, writing underneath This and more shall be done to the Enemies of Justice afore-written. The House of Commons in the mean time were not idle, but brought forth a Protestation, or band of Association, (as they termed it) much like the Covenant taken not long before in Scotland; which without further process or delay, was subscribed by the whole House, except the Lord Digby and an Uncle, or Friend of his. Not long after, the Bill against the Lord Stafford past the Lords, there were forty five present; of which nineteen voiced for him, and twenty six against him: the greatest part of his friends absented themselves upon pretence, (whether true or suppositious) that they feared the multitude; otherwise his suffrages had more than counterpoised the voters for his death. Nothing wanted now, but the King's assent to this Bill, which the same afternoon was desired of him; the King desired respite for two days, consulting in the mean time with some Bishops and Judges what to do in this case, who as the sequel shows, advised him thereunto: so that we may herein admire at the wonderful Providence of God, to suffer not only the King and the Country, but the Church too, to be involved in his blood, who had stood so stiffly in the Church's maintenance. But nothing gained his Majesty's assent thereunto so much, as a Letter from the Lieutenant himself; wherein he desired his Majesty that for the preventing of such mischiefs as might happen by his refusal to pass the Bill: intimating his consent therein, as this following Letter of his testifies. May it please your sacred Majesty, It hath been my greatest grief in all these troubles, to be taken as a person which should endeavour to represent and set things amiss between your Majesty and your people; and to give Counsels tending to the disquiet of the three Kingdoms. Most true it is, that this mine own private condition considered, it hath been a great madness, since through your gracious favour I was so provided, as not to expect in any kind to mend my fortune, or please my mind, more, then by resting where your bounteous hands had placed me. Nay, it is most mightily mistaken, for unto your Majesty it is well known, my poor, and humble advises concluded still in this, That your Majesty and your people could never be happy, till there were a right understanding betwixt you and them: no other means to effect, and settle this happiness, but by the Council, and assent of the Parliament, or to prevent the growing evils upon this State, but by entirely putting yourself in the last resort, upon the loyalty, and good affections of your English Subjects. Yet such is my misfortune, this truth findeth little credit, the contrary seemeth generally to be believed, and myself reputed, as something of separation between you, and your people, under a heavier censure than which I am persuaded no Gentleman can suffer. Now, I understand the minds of men are more incensed against me; notwithstanding your Majesty hath declared, that in your Princely opinion, I am not guilty of treason, nor are you satisfied in your conscience to pass the Bill. This bringeth me into a very great strait, there is before me the ruin of my Children, and Family, hitherto untouched in all the branches of it with any foul crimes. Here is before me the many ills, which may befall your sacred Person, and the whole Kingdom, should yourself, and Parliament part less satisfied one with the other, then is necessary for the preservation both of King and people. Here are before me the things most valued, most feared by mortal man, Life or Death. To say Sir, that there hath not been a strife in me, were to make me less man, than God knoweth mine infirmities give me. And to call a destruction upon myself and young children where the intentions of my heart (at least have been innocent of this great offence) may be believed, will find no easy content from flesh and blood. But with much sadness I am come to a resolution of that which I take to be best becoming me, to look upon that which is most principal in itself, which doubtless is the prosperity of your sacred Person, and the Commonwealth, infinitely before any private man's interest. And therefore in few words, as I put myself wholly upon the Honour and Justice of my Peers so clearly, as to beseech your Majesty might please to have spared that Declaration of yours on Saturday last, and entirely to have left me to their Lordships; so now, to set your Majesty's conscience at liberty, I do most humbly beseech your Majesty, in prevention of mistakes which may happen, by your refusal to pass this Bill: And by this means remove (praised be God) I cannot say, this accursed (but I confess) this unfortunate thing forth of the way, towards that blessed agreement, which God I trust shall ever establish between you and your Subjects. Sir, my consent shall more acquit you herein to God, than all the world can do besides. To a willing man there is no injury done. And as by God's grace I forgive all the world with a calmness and meekness of infinite contentment to my dislodging soul; so Sir, to you can I give the life of this world, with all the cheerfulness imaginable; in the just acknowledgement of your exceeding favours. And only beg that in your goodness you would vouchsafe to cast your gracious regard upon my poor Son, and his three Sisters, less, or more, and no otherwise, then as their (in present) unfortunate Father, may hereafter appear more or less guilty of this death, God long preserve your Majesty. Your Majesty's most faithful, and humble Subject, and Servant, Strafford. Tower 4. May, 1641. Whereupon the next morning the King signed the Bill, a Commission being drawn up for his Execution. It is reported that this Speech the Earl intended to have spoken on the Scaffold; but being intercepted, he delivered it to his Brother Sir George Wentworth, from whose original Copy under the Earls own hand, this is word for word transcribed. People of my Native Country, (I wish my own or your Charity had made me fit to call you Friends.) It should appear by your concourse and gazing aspects, that I am now the only prodigious Meteor, towards which you direct your wand'ring eyes. Meteors are the infallible Antecedents of Tragical events, and do commonly levelly their malevolent operation upon some remarkable person. At this present I am become my own prodigy, and the cross influence will appear in my too sudden Execution; and this fear is only left me, the consequence will produce a greater effusion than mine. I would to God my blood would cure your sad hearts of all their grievances, (though every drop thereof were a soul on which a life depended, I could tender it with as much alacrity, as some, nay, the most of you are come to triumph in my fatal expiration: In regard I have been by you (my native Country, whose wisdom and justice in respect of the generality of it; is no way questionable) voted to this untimely end; I have not one syllable to say in justification of myself, or those actions for which I suffer; only in excuse of both, give me leave to say my too much zeal to do my Master service, made me abuse his Regal Authority: and howsoever I have been one most unfortunate, yet at all times a favourite in the prosecution of my places and offices. Yet as I shall answer before the dreadful tribunal; whereunto your just anger hath before nature doomed me, my intents were fairer than my actions; but God knows the over-greatness of my spirits severity in my government, the witchcraft of authority, and flattery of multitudes to sharpen it, are but ill interpreters of my intention; which that you may believe I have no argument but improtestation, which hath but this circumstance to confirm it, that it proceeds from a dying man. If I should take upon me to make a relation of all the particulars of my Arraignment and Attainder, it would but too much prorogue your longing expectation of my shameful death; besides, it would be needless in respect I should but say over again what I said before the Parliament, and perhaps be as little believed, though the terms on which I then answered be far different from my attestation now; that being before my condemnation and this after it: besides, there were multitudes to catch it as fast as I uttered it; and doubtless you shall have it upon every stall-post; for I have been, and whilst I breathe am the pestilence which rages through your minds, your estates, and trades; and you will read the bills of your losses, though the disease that brought the destruction be removed. Having nothing in this world but a little breath which within a few minutes is to be expired, I should not use it to this purpose, but that custom upon these directions prescribes my warrant for it; and further, that I might be an example to great persons, that they may know the favour of a great King is not equivalent to the breath of Nations; and that it is a thousand times better and more noble for a Lion to play with a Glove then to tear it; nor is it proper for a Dove to soar with eagle's wings; and the rather, because the necessity of the times requires that I should die only for example. He that gave conscience to you all (that are willing to accept it) my Royal Master did in his own conscience once declare me guiltless of those facts for which this death is come upon me; but heaven which hath made your general clamours the organ of my destiny, thought me not worthy to enjoy this life. I have abused, and from your voices, as from the lips of Oracles, I have received my woeful doom, wherein my charity at this hour cannot nor will accuse you of the least injustice; but still I trench upon your patience, and linger in the thing you came to look for, my death. A little, a little more and I have done; for a testimony of my Faith and Religion, be pleased to understand that I have professed and do now die in the true Protestant Religion, not in any points deviating in my belief from the fundamental grounds, authorized by the Church of England. I would say more of this, but that I desire my private ejaculations may be my last meditations: only because I know there is not any one of you at odds with my soul or person, though with my facts and vices; I cannot doubt but your humanity and charitable inclinations will afford me your devout prayers. For my Saviour's sweet mercy, good people pray for me, even for my eternal Saviour's sake, into whose bosom I render my woeful and afflicted soul; sweet Jesus my redeemer, the redeemer even of me a woeful and dejected sinner, receive into thy arms my Spirit. At the time appointed, he marched to the Scaffold more like a General in the head of an Army to breath victory, then like a condemned man to undergo the sentence of death. The Lieutenant of the Tower desired him to take Coach, for fear the people should rush in upon him and tear him in pieces: No (said he) Master Lieutenant, I dare look death in the face, and I hope the people too: have you a care that I do not escape, and I care not how I die, whether by the hand of the Executioner, or the madness and fury of the People; if that may give them better content, it is all one to me. Having mounted the Scaffold, and seeing his Brother Sir George Wentworth weeping. Brother said he, What do you see in me that deserves these tears? doth my fear betray my guiltiness, or my too much boldness any Atheism? think now, that you do accompany me to my marriage bed. Nor did I ever throw off my with such freedom and content, as in this my preparation to my Grave; that stock, [pointing to the Block appointed for his Execution] must be my Pillow; here must I rest, and rest from all my labours: no thoughts of envy, no dreams of treason, jealousies of foes, cares for the King, the State, or myself, shall interrupt this nap: therefore Brother with me pity mine enemies, who beside their intention have made me blessed; rejoice in my innocency, rejoice in my happiness. Kneeling down upon the Scaffold, he made this Protestation; I hope Gentlemen you do think that neither fear of loss or love of reputation will cause me to belie God and my Conscience: for now I am in the door going out, and my next step must be from time to eternity, either of peace or pain. To clear myself to you all, I do solemnly protest before God, I am not guilty (so far as I can understand) of that great crime laid now to my charge, nor have had the least inclination or intention to damnify or prejudice the King, the State, the Laws, or Religion of this Kingdom; but with my best endeavours to serve all, and support all, concluding with these words, as God might be merciful to his soul. Addressing himself to my Lord Primate of Ireland, he said, It is my very great comfort that I have your Lordship by me this day, in regard I have been known to you these many years; and I do thank God and your Lordship for it that you are here, I should be very glad to obtain so much silence, as to be heard a few words; but I doubt I shall not, the noise is so great. My Lords, I am come hither by the good will and pleasure of Almighty God, to pay that last debt I own to sin, which is death; and by the blessing of that God to rise again through the merits of Jesus Christ to righteousness and life eternal. [Here he was much interrupted.] My Lords, I am come hither to submit to that judgement which hath passed against me; I do it with a very quiet and contented mind; I thank God, I do freely forgive all the world: a forgiveness that is not spoken from the teeth outwards (as they say) but from the very heart. I speak it in the presence of Almighty God, before whom I stand, that there is not a displeasing thought arising in me towards any man living. I thank God I can say it, and truly too, my conscience bearing me witness, that in all my employment, since I had the honour to serve his Majesty, I never had any thing in the purpose of my heart, but what tended to the joint and individual prosperity of the King and People; although it hath been my ill fortune to be misconstrued. I am not the first that hath suffered in this kind, it is the common portion of us all, while we are in this life to err, righteous judgement we must wait for in another place; for here we are very subject to be misjudged one of another. There is one thing that I desire to free myself of, and I am very confident (speaking it now with so much cheerfulness) that I shall obtain your Christian Charity in the belief of it. I was so far from being against Parliaments, that I did always think the Parliaments of England were the most happy Constitutions that any Kingdom or Nation lived under, and the best means under God to make the King and People happy. For my death I here acquit all the world, and beseech the God of heaven hearty to forgive them that contrived it, though in the intentions and purposes of my heart I am not guilty of what I die for. And my Lord Primate it is a great comfort for me, that his Majesty conceives me not meriting so severe and heavy a punishment as is the utmost execution of this sentence: I do infinitely rejoice in this mercy of his, and I beseech God return it into his own bosom, that he may find mercy when he stands in need of it. I wish this Kingdom all the prosperity and happiness in the world, I did it living, and now dying it is my wish; I do most humbly recommend this to every one that hears me, and desire they would lay their hands upon their hearts, and consider seriously, whether the beginning of the happiness and Reformation of a Kingdom should be written in Letters of blood; consider this when you are at your homes, and let me be never so unhappy, as that the least drop of my blood should rise up in judgement against any one of you; but I fear you are in a wrong way. My Lords, I have but one word more, and with that I shall end. I profess that I die a true and obedient son to the Church of England, wherein I was born, and in which I was bred; peace and prosperity be ever to it. It hath been objected, (if it were an objection worth the answering) that I have been inclined to Popery; but I say truly from my heart, that from the time that I was one and twenty years of age, to this present, going now upon forty nine, I never had in my heart to doubt of this Religion of the Church of England, nor ever had any man the boldness to suggest any such thing to me, to the best of my remembrance; and so being reconciled by the merits of Jesus Christ my Saviour, into whose bosom I hope I shall shortly be gathered, to those eternal happinesses which shall never have end. I desire hearty the forgiveness of every man, for any rash or unadvised words, or any thing done amiss; and so my Lords and Gentlemen farewel. Farewell all the things of this world. I desire that you would be silent, and join with me in prayer, and I trust in God we shall all meet and live eternally in Heaven, there to receive the accomplishment of all happiness, where every tear shall be wiped away from our eyes, and every sad thought from our hearts. And so God bless this Kingdom, and Jesus have mercy on my soul. Having ended his Speech, he addressed himself to prayer, wherein he continued about a quarter of an hour; and then standing up, took his leave of all the Nobles and considerable Persons on the Scaffold; which done, he prayed again, and then laying his head down on the Block, had the same dissevered from his body by the Executioner at one blow. His Body was afterwards embalmed, and carried into Yorkshire, there to be buried amongst his Ancestors. I shall close the Scene, and shut up all with Mr. cleaveland's excellent Epitaph on this Hero. Here lies wise and valiant Dust, Huddled up 'twixt fit and just: Strafford, who was hurried hence 'Twixt treason and convenience. He spent his time here in a mist, A Papist, yet a Calvanist. His Prince's nearest joy and grief, He had, yet wanted, all relief: The Prop and Ruin of the State, The People's violent love and hate. One in extremes, loved and abhorred. Riddles lies here, and in a word. Here lies—, and let it lie Speechless still, and never cry. The Life of WILLIAM LAUD Archbishop of Canterbury. THis reverend Father in God William Laud Archbishop of Canterbury, the times he lived in neither knowing his worth nor worthy of his person, have too much vilified. He was of no extraordinary Extraction as well as Stature, yet he risen by his deserts to the highest degree of Honour. He was born at Reading in Berkshire, the year of our Redemption 1573. His Father a man of a competent Estate, willing to see his pregnant son well educated, who in few years attained to such learning, that he was sent to St, John Baptists College in Oxford; where he was such a Proficient, that in twelve years' space he was looked upon, and applauded even to admiration of the University, from whence he proceeded Bachelor and Master of Arts. Not long after he was chosen Proctor of the University, about which time he also became Chaplain to the Earl of Devonshire, where first he fell acquainted with the Nobility, a great cause (no doubt) of his preferment. Soon after he proceeded Bachelor, than Doctor in Divinity; and becoming Chaplain to Doctor Neal Bishop of Rochester, was by him recommended to King James, and made his Chaplain. Being now in the path to promotion, he neglected no opportunity conducible thereunto, but proves very serviceable to all those who might be any ways advantageous to his advancement; more especially was he observient to the Duke of Buckingham, the grant Favourite of the times. So that in short space he was made Prebend of Bugden, and Westminster, Dean of Gloucester, Archdeacon of Huntingdon, and Precedent of Saint John's College in Oxford; besides these, several Benefices bestowed upon him, Stanford in Northamptonshire, West-Tilbury in Essex, Cuckston in Kent, and Ibstock in Leicestershire. Not long after King James (the best Master to his Servants that ever was) bestowed the Bishopric of St. David's upon him, and with it in Commendam the Parsonage of Creek. King James dying, his Son our late Sovereign Charles finding his abilities, took him into more special regard, making him first Bishop of and Wells, than Dean of his Chapel, next a Privy Counsellor, soon after Bishop of London, than Chancellor of Oxford, and not long after Archbishop of Canterbury. Higher he could not be advanced in England, in Rome he might, who to gain him to their side, made him a ridiculous tender of a Cardinal's Cap; to which he returned answer, That somewhat dwelled within which would not suffer that, till Rome were otherwise then it is. Implying thereby, that that Church had errors to which his conscience could no ways conform. Far different was Bishop Laud from his Predecessor D. Abbot, whose judgement for the indifferency of things Ceremonial, made the enjoining of them by Bishop Laud be termed an innovation; many in their writings at that time inveighed bitterly against Episcopal Government, as also against the Bishops; three of which violent opponents were, Mr. Pryn a Barrister of Lincoln's Inn, Dr. Bastwick a Physician, and Master Burton a Divine, who were censured in the Star-Chamber to pay each of them five thousand pounds to the King, to lose their ears in the Pillory, and to be imprisoned perpetually. The first in Canaruan Castle in Wales; the second in Lanceston Castle in Cornwall, and the other in Lancaster Castle; Master Pryn over and above, to be stigmatised on both cheeks with the letter S. for a Schismatic. This severity, with the obtruding of the Common Prayer Book altered, on the Scots, which was by the King's special command, so exasperated them and the English Commonalty, that Libels were each day scattered about; one pasted on the Cross in Cheapside, That the Archbishop of Canterbury had his hand in persecuting the Saints, and shedding the blood of the Martyrs. Another in the South Gate of Paul's, That the Devil had let that house to him. Another on the North Gate of Paul's, That the government of the Church of England is a candle in the snuff, going out in a stench. Another hanged upon the Standard in Cheapside, wherein his Speech in the Star-Chamber was set in a kind of Pillory, etc. Five hundred persons likewise under the name of Apprentices beset his house at Lambeth, intending no doubt to have done to him as the unruly Rabble did to his Predecessor Simon Sudbury, in the time of King Richard the second, who was sacrificed to the fury of the people; for which one of the chief, named Thomas Bensteà, being taken, was hanged and quartered. Many have been the reports that this Archbishop was addicted to Popery, and a great friend to the Papists. Certainly he who shall read the relation of his conference with the Jesuit Fisher, will find him so little theirs, as he hath for ever disabled them from being so much their own as they were before, it being the exactest Masterpiece of Polemic Divinity of all extant, as Sir Edward Deering in one of his Speeches writes, that this Book of his mortally wounded the Jesuit in the fifth rib. This learned Volume might have satisfied the people as touching his Religion, and his Diary written by himself of the Integrity of his Life. For he had not any intermission for his pen, and best intentions of mind against the Roman Faction, whatsoever the Covenanters have interpreted to the contrary; he having continual occasions to lift up his eyes to heaven, for the preservation of the glory of the Church, and the honour and safety of his Majesty, as by the abstract of a discovery made by Andrea's ab Habernsfeid against the designs of the Papists, to stir up a Commotion in Scotland, and in the heat thereof to murder the King and the Archbishop may appear; the Copy of the Archbishop's Letter, and his Majesty's Notes thereupon, for vindication of his Integrity I have here inserted. The Archbishop's Letter to the King upon the first overture of this Discovery. May it please your Majesty, As great as the secret is that comes herewith, yet I choose rather to send it in this silent covert way, and I hope safe, then to come thither, and bring it myself. First, because I am no way able to make haste enough with it. Secondly, because should I come at this time, and antedate the meeting September 24. there would be more jealousy of the business, and more enquiry after it; especially if I being once there should return again before that day, as I must, if this be followed as is most fit. The danger it seems is eminent, and laid by God knows whom, but to be executed by them which are very near about you: For the great honour I have to be in danger with you, or for you, I pass not, so your sacred Person and the State may be safe. Now, may it please your Majesty this information is either true, or there is some mistake in it. (A.) If it be true, the persons which make the discovery will deserve thanks and reward; if there should be any mistake in it, your Majesty can lose nothing but a little silence. The business (if it be true) is extreme foul. The Discovery thus by God's Providence offered, I do hereby humbly beg it upon my knees of your Majesty, that you will conceal (B) this business from every creature, and his name that sends this to me. And I send his Letters to me to your Majesty, that you may see his sense both of the business and the Secrecy. And such instructions as you think fit to give him. I beseech you let them be in your own hand for his warrant, without imparting them to any; and if your Majesty leave it to his discretion to follow it there in the best way he can, that in your own hand will be instruction and warrant enough for him: And if you please to return it herewith presently to me, I will send an express away with it presently. In the mean time I have by this express returned him this answer, (C) That I think he shall do well to hold on the Treaty with these men with all care and Secrecy, and drive on to the discovery so soon as the business is ripe for it, that he may assure himself and them they shall not want reward, if they do the service. That for my part he shall be sure of secrecy, and that I am most confident that your Majesty will not impart it to any, that he have a special eye to the eighth or the ninth Proposition. Sir, for God's sake and your own safety, secrecy in this business; and I beseech you send me back (D) this letter, and all that comes with it speedily and scretly, and trust not your own pockets with them, I shall not eat or sleep in quiet till I receive them. And so soon as I have them again, and your Majesties warrant to proceed, no diligence shall be wanting in me to help on this discovery. This is the greatest business that ever was put to me, and if I have herein proposed or done any thing amiss, I most humbly crave your Majesty's pardon; but I am willing to hope I have not herein erred in judgement, (E) and in fidelity I never will. These Letters came to me on Thursday, September 10. at night, and I sent these away according to the date hereof, being extremely wearied with writing this Letter, copying out these other which come with this, and dispatching my Letters back to him that sent these, all in my own hand. Once again secrecy for God's sake and your own; To his most blessed protection I commend your Majesty, and all your Affairs, and am Your Majesty's most humble faithful Servant, W. Cant. Lambeth Septemb. 11. 1640. His Majesty's Notes and Apprehensions on this Letter. (A) It is an unanswerable dilemma. (B) I concur totally with you in opinion, assuring that no body doth or shall know of this business, and to show my care to conceal it, I received this but this Afternoon, and now I make this dispatch before I sleep. Herewith I send his warrant as you advise, which indeed I judge to be the better way. (C) I like your Answer extreme well, and promise not to deceive your confidence nor break your word. (D) I have sent all back, I think these apostles will be warrant enough for you to proceed, especially when I expressly command you to do so (E) In this I am as far from condemning your judgement, as suspecting your fidelity. York 13. C. R. This Letter I have inserted the rather, because some men sharpwitted only in speaking evil, have reported him to be a man of little Learning, etc. To wipe off such aspersions vulgarly cast on him, that he was addicted to the Romish persuasion: to which purpose they nickname his honour Superstitious, which wise and moderate men name, a zeal to God's house, to his perpetual honour. The North Door of Saint Paul's was repaired at his own charges, the Workmen themselves not knowing from whence their money came. Thus have you seen this Archbishop mounted on the top of Fortune's wheel; but what estate on earth is so permanent, that it remains unmoveable: for Honour is like a mountain which seems to those who are at the foot of it with his towering head to touch the skies; but to those that are at the top, it seems with its Basis to reach the Abyss. Anno 1641. he was by the House of Commons accused of fourteen Articles of High Treason, and for four years together continued a Prisoner in the Tower. Yet like his Master and King he enjoyed not so much as the quiet of a prison; for oftentimes (about fourscore several days) he was carried from the Tower to Westminster, and there arraigned in the House of Lords. At last he was adjudged to be hanged, drawn, and quartered; but upon his Petition to the Lords, that sentence was changed to beheading, which was sadly performed on Tower Hill January 10. 1644. On the Scaffold he made a Sermon unto the people, taking his Text out of Hebrews 12. and the 2. verse; and having concluded his Sermon, he made a short prayer; upon the conclusion whereof, the Executioner, a sign given him, cut off his head at the first stroke. He in his prosperity furnished Oxford with many excellent Volumes and rare Manuscripts; many other endeavours had he for the propagation of Learning, but his untimely death hath prevented us of so great benefits, as notworthy of so much happiness. I have not enlarged myself in the writing of this Reverend Father's Life, like as I have done in others; I must apologise, as Mr. Speed in one of his Descriptions writes, that such a Gentleman had begun, who afterwards went through the greatest difficulties of a most curious Map; to build upon whose foundations he held it too injurious: so I must with all submission acknowledge, that a Gentleman of most accomplished parts hath made a progress at large in this reverend Prelate's History; for me to have went about to build, when he alone had laid such a firm foundation, as shall outlive all other Historians, I could not but count it too ambitious; and am so far from thinking myself worthy to attend his noble purposes, that if I had not thought it a crime of necessity, though in the Epitome to place him amongst these eternised Heroes; with Mr. Speed, I should rather have left out a whole Country, then in these few pages have committed the sin of presumption against his admirable endeavours. The Life of ROBERT DEVEREUX Earl of Essex, General of the Parliaments Forces. THis Earl was borne in London Anno Dom. 1592. beginning his morning in the evening of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth. His Father was that Robert Devereux Earl of Essex, whose unfortunate life we have already discoursed of; his Mother was the widow of Sir Philip Sidney, one whose Pen and Sword have rendered him famous to all posterity. His education in his youth was at the University of Cambridge, afterwards committed to the tuition of Bishop Whitgift a reverend Divine. King James restoring him to his Father's Titles and Estate forfeited by his father's treasons to Queen Elizabeth: That a perfect reconcilement might be made in all things, a Marriage was contracted betwixt him and the Lady Frances Howard, Daughter to the Earl of Suffolk, a Lady of a transcendent beauty: but she full of fire, and the Earl of ice, upon complaint made, they were separated (by a most just sentence of nullity executed by Commission under the great Seal of England) after they had enjoyed the Society of one bed for three years together. Some report that indirect and unjustifiable practices were used in the scrutiny of her Virginity, but I aver, according to the truth of allegations and proofs, as the Jury of Midwives declared, she was an untouched Virgin: so did the Earl himself confess that (though he had often attempted it) he never could and believed never should untie her Virgin zone: whereupon the Commissioners pronounced a divorce betwixt them. Some Authors writ that she did not much affect the Earl, being of a lustful appetite. Some on the other side imputed it to his travels; others to her looseness in the time of his absence, suffering her body to be abused. Others bring Viscount Car on the stage, that she placed her affections on him. Others writ that Mrs. Turner and Doctor Forman were employed to bewitch the Earl, and to procure frigidity quo ad hanc; so much do our Historians differ in their relations of this unfortunate marriage. The Earl perceiving how little he was beholding to Venus, is now resolved to address himself to the Court of Mars; and to this purpose he bestows himself in the Netherlands, which at that time was the School of Honour for the Nobility of England in their exercise of Arms: where having continued for certain years, and gained renown by his experience and perfection in the feats of Arms, he advanced from thence into the Palatinate, to which place went also the Earl of Southampton, the Lord Willoughby, the Earl of Oxford, and Sir John Borlans with their Regiments; but these not seconded as they expected, and being invaded by so potent an Enemy as was then the Emperor, and seconded by so puissant a Potentate as the King of Spain; having in vain endeavoured with such weak forces to resist so great power, they returned into England. King James dying; in the beginning of his Sons Reign a design went on for a sudden expedition into Cadiz in Spain, which was committed to the mangement of Viscount Wimbleton and the Earl of Essex; who putting forth to Sea, were much dammaged with a furious storm: but meeting together in the height of the Southern Cape, they sailed to Cadiz; where having taken Puntal Castle, and in likelihood to fire the Ships in the Harbour; the field men in the interim being directed to Land, for their recreation and to take in fresh water, having discovered the Cellars plentifully stocked with wine, they carrowsed thereof so liberally, in despite of more sober commands to the contrary, as put them to the hazard of a dismal reckoning. Whereupon the Admiral finding the Soldiers thus insufferably disordered, fearing the Spaniard upon this advantage might make a lamentable butchery amongst them, was forced to put to Sea again; and having stayed some time in expectation of setting upon the Plate Fleet in their returning home, the Pestilence so reigned in their Navy, that they had scarce men enough to handle their Sails; which enforced them to ply home with all the speed they could. The Earl of Essex soon after his return made a voyage into Holland, not loving to lie idle when any action of Honour was on foot; where he behaved himself with such gallant resolution, as got him high repute in the mouths of all men. Having given these undeniable testimonies of his valour, he was ambitious to give some further proofs of his virility; and having been a while in England, he solicits the affection of Mrs. Elizabeth Paulet (daughter of Sir William Paulet of Wiltshire, extracted from the noble line of the Marquis of Winchester) with whom he consummated his Nuptials at Netley the Earl of hartford's house; by her he had a Son, who was Christened Robert, after his Father's name; he died in the year 1636. and lies buried at Drayton in the County of Warwick. With this Lady he did agree and cohabit, but it was but a short time, becoming soon unhappy in his second, as he was in his first choice; for he could as little digest her overmuch familiarity with Mr. Vdal, as his former Ladies with the Earl of Somerset: upon which distaste, this Earl did ever after abandon all uxorious thoughts, and for a while lived a retired life. Soon after began the long Parliament, in which such Differences arose betwixt them and the King, that for the deciding thereof, each part had their recourse to Arms. The Parliament very wisely chose Essex for their General, there being no person in the Kingdom so fit to take the people, and credit their designs; who having an Army raised, marches with them against the King. The King on the other side proclaims Essex and his adherents Traitors; and confident in the justness of his cause, gives him Battle on a place called Edge-hill, which was fought with much eagerness, and in a manner with equality; for though the King kept the field, and therein had the honour of the day, yet lost he many brave Commanders, who there died in the bed of Honour. Amongst others, the Lord Aubigney, Sir Edward Vaerney, who carried the King's Standard, Colonel Monroe and others. Soon after was an overture for Peace, but whilst it was in agitation, a second Battle was fought at Brainford; Essex at that time was sitting in the Parliament House, but alarmed with the noise of the great guns, he speedeth down, his coming putting a stand to the King's Forces, who then were upon point of Victory. There were slain on the Parliaments side Sergeant Major Quarles, a man of eminent parts; who left behind him one only Daughter named Esther: since married to Master William Holgate of Saffron Walden, a deserving Gentleman; whose love to learning and learned men, hath made his name famous to all posterity. Captain Lilburne with some others were taken prisoners: the winter then drawing on apace, both Armies retired to their Winner quarters. The next Spring Essex sets forth with his Army, lays Siege to Reading; to relieve which, the King, Prince Rupert, and Prince Maurice advanced with a great Army; but being worsted at Causham-Bridge, the Town was surrendered to the Earl of Essex. Presently after the taking of Reading, the Parliament side began to decline on a sudden; a contageous sickness seized on the Earl of Essex Soldiers: the Marquis of New Castle was grown very powerful in the North, and Sir William Waller defeated in the West; Bristol being delivered up to the King: so that had he with his Army come up the next way to London, it was thought he would have found but little opposition; Gloucester only held out against him. The King unwilling to leave any Town behind him, lays Siege thereunto; to the raising whereof, the Army being not in a capacity of themselves, the Train Bands of London assented to this expedition, who raised the Siege, and not long after gave the King's Forces Battle at Newberry; this was a long and bloody fight, nor had either of the parties much cause to boast. On the King's side were slain the Earl of Carnarvan, the Earl of Sunderland, the Lord Faulkland, Colonel Morgan, Lieutenant Colonel Fielding, Mr. Strode, and other eminent persons. On the Parliament side was slain Colonel Tucker, Captain George Massey, Captain Hunt, and others. The Earl of Essex with the Trained Bands returned to London, where he had solemn thanks given him by the Parliament. And now the Winter coming on, he had the leisure for a while to refresh himself, and to make new provisions for War against the ensuing Spring; which being come, he marches with his Army from London. Sir William Waller at some distance marching with him, after a while he sits down before Oxford, where the King then was; who fearing a Siege, about midnight did take Horse, attended with certain Troops, who carried some Foot mounted behind them, and came to Witney five miles from Burford; whither also Essex followed him. Prince Maurice who had long laid Siege to Lyme, upon his approach towards those parts, he raises it. The strong Town of Weymouth it surrendered unto him, yea all the Countries round about came in unto him, and the Garrisons opened their Gates at the first sound of his Trumpet. At Chard within the compass of twelve miles came four thousand men unto him, protesting to live and to die in the cause of the Parliament, as their friends at Dorchester did before them. Barnstable revolteth to him, Sir Richard Grenvile is beaten, and Taunton Castle taken by his forces; soon after he possesses himself of Mount Stanford, Plimpton, Salt-Ash, and divers other small Garrisons: from thence he advanceth towards Tavestock, where he took Sir Richard Grenviles' house, and in it two pieces of Canon, eight hundred Arms, a great quantity of rich Furniture, and three thousand pound in Money and Plate. He marches into Cornwall, forcing his passage over at Newbridge, with the loss of a hundred and fifty of his enemies; about Listethel he encountered Sir Richard Grenvile, whom he overthrew, immediately upon this Bodmin, Tadcaster, and Foy stoop unto him. But the King who all this while was not idle understanding of his advance into Cornwall, resolved to march after him, for he found that his Army did daily increase. The presence of a Prince, by a secret attraction, for the most part prevailing upon the affections of the people. Essex hereupon sends to the Parliament for Recruits, but before he could receive any supply, the King had so cooped up his Army, that his Horse had no room for forage: in this straight he calleth a Council of War, wherein it was concluded, that three thousand Horse under the command of Sir William Belfore should attempt to break through the main body of the King's forces; which accordingly was put in execution: necessity whetting their valours, so that with some loss they got through, and came safely to Plymouth. But the Foot having not that swift means of escape, were forced to yield themselves. The Earl made his escape by Sea, attended with the Lord Roberts, and taking shipping at Foy, landed at Plymouth, sick both in body and mind. Thus on a sudden was all undone, which he with much pains and hazard had been long a doing; so uncertain is the chance of War, that he who now rideth triumphantly in the Chariot of Victory, may ere long become the Object of his enemy's mercy. Soon after followed the new moddeling of the Army, wherein all those Commanders who were Members of either House of Parliament were called home; Essex hereupon surrendered up his Commission, Sir Thomas Fairfax being made General in his stead; after which time he continually sat in the House of Peers, until the time of his death, which was on the 14. of September, 1646. and 56. year of his age. His Funeral was solemnised with great state; a Monument being erected for him in Westminster Abbey, which a mad villain most uncivilly defaced. The Life of Sir CHARLES LUCAS. SO much pity is owing from posterity to the unfortunate Loyalist Sir Charles Lucas, that should I omit to render him his due honours, I might be taxed of partiality, at least to have fallen short of what the Title of this Volume promises, he being one whose Learning and Valour hath made him, amongst others, eminent of the English Nation. I shall not need to spend much time in setting forth the stem from whence this illustrious Ciens sprung; he who hath not heard of the Family of the Lucas' knows nothing of Gentility; yet had no honour accrued to him from his famous Progenitors, it were honour enough to him to be Brother to that nobly accomplished, and deservingly honoured, the Plato of this age, the Lord Lucas; a Gentleman singularly gifted in all suitable elements of worth, as also to Sir Gervas' Lucas, a valiant Commander, sometimes Governor of Belvoir Castle. For his Education, it was generous, having his youth sufficiently seasoned in principles of knowledge, both Humane and Divine, to which joining his Manhood and Discipline in the Field, he had scarce his equal. He was a person accompanied with a resolute spirit, of an active disposition, and a suitable discretion to manage it; strict in his commands without a supercilious severity, free in his rewards to persons of desert and quality; in his society he was affable and pleasant, in his charge serious and vigilant, remiss in nothing that might any way improve or expedite his dispatch in Martial Affairs. But to take a brief survey of his Military Exploits, I shall in the first place (omitting engagements of less consequence as not so pertinent) mount up the Hill near Newbury and Enborn Chase, the two places where that memorable Battle was fought, where Sir Charles Lucas with sundry other worthy Commanders behaved themselves as bravely as any of the most eminent Heroes from the beginning of this unhappy War; in which Fight Sir Charles was grievously wounded. Here were his characters of Honour deeply stamped in a Crimson die. For the more brevity I shall pass by his valiant courage upon the Parliaments Forces at the assault of Cawood Castle; where with skill and valour he forced his way thorough their Quarters to such places as he thought convenient, and that with such confidence and magnanimity, as his very name became a terror to his enemies. His Gallantry at Marston Moor will be had in remembrance, so long as that Fight shall be recorded in our English Annals. His valiant mannagement of Affairs at Newark, where he expressed himself an absolute Soldier both in his Discipline and personal action. His brave and successful attempt in his march from Berkley Castle with part of his Regiment, betwixt Slymbridge and Beverston Castle, upon Colonel Masseys' Garrisons. His incomparable Gallantry, in the pursuit of his design at Tidbury. But to descend from these particulars to the main thing we intent, namely his Magnanimity in defending Colchester, besieged by a powerful and successful Enemy. We will in the first place give you a brief account of the occasion thereof, and then as briefly relate the most memorable concernments during the Siege. When the Parliaments Army had so subdued the King's Forces, that not one Garrison stood our for him openly, and the King himself sold unto them by the Scots, it was expected by the people a composure of differences would have ensued, and the King reestablished on his Throne again, according as they had promised in many Declarations. But contrary thereunto, they enacted to settle the Kingdom without him; this much discontented the generality of the people, and first they shown their dislike thereof by way of Petition; but that not prevailing, they resolve force. Langhorn, Powel, and Poyer, strengthen themselves in Wales; the Scots (notwithstanding they had sold the King not long before) yet now exclaim against the English for breach of Covenant, and resolve to have the other march for England. Against the Welshmen was Lieutenant General Cromwell sent, and Sir Thomas Fairfax designed to go against the Scots; but called back to march against the Kentish-men, who in a Body of six thousand had possessed themselves of Maidstone, with a resolution to stand it out against all opposers. But Sir Thomas Fairfax falling upon them, after a short but smart fight, the Kentish-men were routed, and their Army dispersed, only the Earl of Norwich with about three thousand men crossed the Thames, and passed into Essex. Where he found Sir Charles Lucas with some other persons of eminent honour and quality, as the Lord Capel, Loughborough, etc. with a complete body of resolute men: who after they had secured the Committee at Chelmsford, struck into Colchester; a Town inconsiderable as was generally conceived both by the Enemy and adjacent parts of the Country, either to receive by a provisional way of relief any great force into it, or by reason of the indefensive and intenible condition of the Town, to stand out any time upon their settling or planting in it. Yet so constantly, courageous, vigilant, and incredibly industrious were these loyally disposed Gentlemen, as this Town, which in opinion by reason of her disprovision could not probably hold out against so powerful and formidable an Enemy the space of one week, continued three months in a most resolute defiance, and resistance of a victorious Army, sated with such fullness of Conquests, and supplied with such fresh and constant Recruits, to bring their successive Achievements to a more absolute period. At length after many stout endeavours, Sallies and Assays, gallantly performed, having eaten all the Horses, Dogs, Cats, and whatsoever, (though most reluctant to Nature) could afford them nourishment, this unfortunate Town of Colchester was surrendered after the continuance of three month's Siege completely ended; with these strict conditions, the superior officers to mercy, and the Soldiery upon quarter for life. To those that shall demand what should be the reason for the besieged to hold out so long, by their continued resistance, to bring both themselves and the rest of the inhabitants into such misery and fearful distress; especially seeing there appeared no hope at all of raising that lasting Siege, nor of the Generals remove till he had finished his design; besides, their pertinacy and aversion from such reasonable conditions as in the beginning were proposed to them, could not but highly incense the General, and bring them (as afterwards it did) to extremer terms, upon intelligence of their necessitous condition, that they might either be enforced to perish through Famine, or necessarily surrender the Town. To this sad inquiry, I answer, that (besides others) there were three main reasons, which induced them to hold out so long as they did. The first was, that not only the County wherein they were beleaguered, but other Counties too, had engaged themselves upon their fidelity, (a strong gage of assurance to valiant men) that they would really join in assistance with them: but this strong engagement procured an easy dispensation, none appearing visibly, save only a small party about Saffron Walden, who as they were soon up, were as soon down; being routed at Linton by a party of Horse under Major Sparrow. But far greater hopes had they from London; many of of the Royalists having engaged their persons under the Earl of Holland, Duke of Buckingham, etc. to secure them. But this expected aid proved fruitless, for having lost that active spark of Honor. the Lord Francis Villers, the rest of their flying Army were surprised at Saint Needs, few escaping to carry tidings of their disastrous success. But the main reason which induced them on to the continuance of this Siege, was their daily expectance of relief from the North; for the Scots having now ended their debate with their Presbyterian Clergy, concerning the conveniency and inconveniency of this War, with 30000. men, under the leading of Duke Hamilton, entered England. This numerous Army of Covenanters appearing so invincible, made the Presbyterians in England to rest confident, and to cry out Hosanna to the Mother Kirk of Scotland. But as an Army of Sheep having a Lion to their leader, is better than an Army of Lions with a Sheepish Commander; even so this Canopy-General, whose port and magnificence in his march promised wonders, though it proved but Majesty in an embroidered habit with a feverish heart. At Preston in Lancashire he was encountered by Cromwell, with a handful of men in comparison of his vast Army; the effect of which fight was, that the Scots went home by weeping cross, complaining they had lost more by Hamilton, then ever they got by Lesley. Soon after followed the surrender of Colchester, and within five hours after the surrender, the deaths of Sir Charles Lucas and Sir George Lisle. What motives induced the General to more severity against them then the rest, I know not; but certain it is, never was the message of death (though the terriblest summons that can come to nature) entertained by any with more magnanimity, and undaunted resolution, than it was by them. Never did Roman with greater courage, nor Christian with firmer confidence court grim death, than did this matchless pair of Heroes. Sir Charles Lucas was the first designed to die; who having retired himself a while for prayer, with a pious and humble commendation of his soul into the hands of God, he stood up, remembering no doubt, that saying, It behoveth a General to die standing: and tearing open his Doublet, he exposed his naked Breast, crying out, Now Rebels do your worst: he was immediately dispatched on the place. Sir George Lisle's turn was next; who beholding that sad spectacle, the dead body of his dearest friend, fell upon it and kissed it, as if he meant to breathe into it another soul: with a free but true relation of his virtues and endowments, he often would redouble these words. In how short a moment has a brave spirit expired! well, this priority was due to thee, but I shall not be long behind thee, my death which is now at hand shall restore thee to me. After this, standing up, and taking five pieces of Gold out of his pocket, he gave one to his Executioners, and the other four he sent to four friends in London; then turning to the standers by, he said, Oh how many do I see here about me, whose lives I have saved in hot blood, and now must mine be taken away most barbarously in cold blood! sure the like was never heard of among the Goths and Vandals, or the veriest Barbarians in the world in any age;— after which words, and some few invocations upon the name of Jesus, he was also dispatched, as he stood in an Heroic posture, courting grim death with a sprightly countenance, and a greedy expectation. I have heard it reported by divers credible persons, that on the ground where Sir Charles Lucas fell when he was shot, there hath grown no Grass; where the print of his body was, still remaining bare; notwithstanding round the same, the Grass flourished with verdancy: what this should signify concerning his guilt or innocency, as the ways of God are unsearchable, so shall I not determine any thing, but leaving every one to his own opinion, please myself with the only traditional relation of it. This Epitome which I have derived to posterity, is but as a glimpse or sparkling to the radiant beams of this Carbuncle of Honour. The Life of King CHARLES. KIng Charles the First was born at Dumfermling in Scotland, November 19 Anno Dom. 1600. He was not next Heir to the Crown, then having an elder Brother Prince Henry, of admirable parts; but God countermanding Nature's dispose, by taking away his Brother, left him the Heir Male to the British Diadem. At the death of his Father he had attained to twenty five years of age, whereof the most part of one was spent in Spain, in making addresses to the Lady Infanta in the quality of a Wooer; and although he attained not the end for which he went, yet it gave him a tincture of travel and experience, more worth perchance then the mark he aimed at; attaining by this means to a greater degree of that which made Ulysses so famous. Quod mores hominum multorum videt & urbes. Amongst other Curiosities I have met with a Letter of Pope Gregory's, to win him to his Religion, when he was Prince, which I have inserted, with his answer. A Copy of the Letter written from Pope Gregory the Fifteenth, to Charles Prince of Wales, then being in Spain. Most noble Prince, Salutation and Light of the Divine Grace: Forasmuch as Great Britain hath always been fruitful in Virtues, and in Men of great worth, having filled the one and the other world with the glory of her renown; she doth very often also draw the thoughts of the Holy Apostolical Chair to the consideration of her praises. And indeed the Church was but then in her infancy when the King of kings did choose her for his Inheritance; and so affectionately, that we believe the Roman Eagles have hardly outpassed the Banner of the Cross. Besides that many of her Kings instructed in the knowledge of the true Salvation, have preferred the Cross before the Royal Sceptre, and the Discipline of Religion before Covetousness leaving examples of Piety to other Nations, and to the Ages yet to come. So that having merited the Principalities and first places of blessedness in Heaven, they have obtained on Earth the triumphant Ornaments of true holiness. And although now the State of the English Church is altered, we see nevertheless the Court of Great Britain adorned and furnished with Moral Virtues, which might serve to support the charity that we bear unto her; and be an ornament to the name of Christianity, if withal she could have for her defence and protection the Orthodox and Catholic Truth. Therefore by how much the more the Glory of your most Noble Father, and the apprehension of your glorious inclination, delights us, with so much more zeal we desire, that the Gates of the Kingdom of Heaven might be opened unto you, and that you might purchase to yourself the love of the Universal Church. Moreover it being certain, that Gregory the Great of most blessed memory, hath introduced to the English people, and taught to their Kings the Law of the Gospel, and the respect of Apostolical Authority: we as inferior to him in Holiness and Virtue, but equal in Name and Degree of Dignity, it is very reasonable, that we following his blessed footsteps, should endeavour the salvation of those Provinces, especially at this time when your Design (most Noble Prince) elevates us to the hope of an extraordinary advantage: therefore as you have directed your journey to Spain towards the Catholic King, with desire to alley yourself to the House of Austria, we do much commend your Design, and indeed do testify openly in this present business, that you are he that takes the principal care of our Prelacy. For seeing that you desire to take in marriage the Daughter of Spain, from thence we may easily conjecture, that the ancient seeds of Christian Piety, which have so happily flourished in the hearts of the Kings of Great Britain may (God prospering them) revive again in your soul. And indeed it is not to be believed that the same man should love such an Alliance that hates the Catholic Religion, and should take delight to oppress the Holy Chair. To that purpose we have commanded to make continually most humble Prayers to the Father of Lights that he would be pleased to put you as a fair Flower of Christendom, and the only hope of Great Britain, in possession of that most noble Heritage that your Ancestors have purchased for you, to defend the authority of the Sovereign High Priest, and to fight against the Monsters of Heresy. Remember the days of old, inquire of your Fathers, and they will tell you the way that leads to Heaven, and that way the Temporal Princes have taken to attain to the everlasting Kingdom. Behold the Gates of Heaven opened, the most holy Kings of England, who came from England to Rome accompanied with Angels, did come to honour and do homage to the Lord of lords, and to the Prince of the Apostles in the Apostolical Chair: their actions and their examples being as so many voices of God, speaking and exhorting you to follow the course of the lives of those to whose Empire you shall one day attain. Is it possible that you can suffer that the Heretics should hold them for impious, and condemn those that the Faith of the Church testifies to reign in the Heavens with Jesus Christ, and have command and authorisy over all Principalities and Empires of the Earth? Behold how they tender you the hand of this truly happy Inheritance, to conduct you safe and sound to the Court of the Catholic King, and who desire to bring you back again into the lap of the Roman Church: beseeching with unspeakable sighs and groans the God of all mercy for your salvation, and do stretch out to you the Arms of the Apostolical Charity to embrace you with all Christian affection, you that are her desired Son, in showing you the happy hope of the Kingdom of Heaven. And indeed you cannot give a greater consolation to all the people of the Christian Estates, than to put the Prince of the Apostles in possession of your most noble Island, whose Authority hath been held so long in the Kingdom of Britain for the defence of Kingdoms, and for a Divine Oracle; which will easily arrive, and that without difficulty, if you open your heart to the Lord that knocks, upon which depends all the happiness of that Kingdom. It is of our great charity that we cherish the praises of the Royal name; and that which makes us desire that you and your Royal Father might be styled with the names of Deliverers and Restorers of the ancient and paternal Religion of Great Britain which we hope for, trusting in the goodness of God, in whose hands are the hearts of Kings, and who causeth the people of the earth to receive healing, to whom we will always labour with all our power, to render you gracious and favourable: in the interim take notice by these Letters of the care of our Charity, which is none other than to procure your happiness, and it will never grieve us to have written them, if the reading of them stir but the least spark of the Catholic Faith, in the heart of so great a Prince, whom we wish to be filled with long continuance of joy, and flourishing in the glory of all virtues. Given at Rome in the Palace of St. Peter, the 20th. of April, 1623. in the third year of our Popedom. The Answer of Prince Charles to the Pope's Letter. Most Holy Father, I received the dispatch from your Holiness with great content, and with that respect which the piety and care, wherewith your Holiness writes, doth require: It was an unspeakable pleasure to me to read the generous exploits of the Kings my Predecessors, in whose memory posterity hath not given those Praises and Eulogies of Honour as were due to them: I do believe that your Holiness hath set their example before my eyes, to the end that I might imitate them in all my Actions, for in truth they have often exposed their Estates and Lives for the exaltation of the holy Chair; and the courage with which they have assaulted the enemies of the Cross of Jesus Christ, hath not been less than the thought and care which I have, to the end that the peace and intelligence which hath hitherto been wanting in Christendom might be bound with a true and strong concord. For as the common enemy of the peace, watcheth always to put hatred and dissension amongst Christian Princes; so I believe that the glory of God requires that we should endeavour to unite them; and I do not esteem it a greater honour to be descended from so great Princes, than to imitate them in the zeal of their piety. In which it helps me very much to have known the mind and will of our thrice honoured Lord and Father, and the holy intentions of his Catholic Majesty, to give a happy concurrence to so laudable a design: for it grieves him extremely to see the great evils that grow from the division of Christian Princes, which the wisdom of your Holiness foresaw, when it judged the marriage which you pleased to design, between the Infanta of Spain and myself, to be necessary to procure so great a good; for 'tis very certain that I shall never be so extremely affectionate to any thing in the world, as to endeavour Alliance with a Prince who hath the same apprehension of the true Religion with myself: Therefore I entreat your Holiness to believe, that I have been always very far from encouraging, or to be a partisan of any Faction, against the Catholic, Apostolic Roman Religion: but on the contrary, I have sought all occasions to take away the suspicion that might rest upon me, and that I will employ myself for the time to come, to have but one Religion and one Faith, seeing we all believe in one Jesus Christ, having resolved in myself to spare nothing that I have in the world, and to suffer all manner of discommodities, even to the hazarding of my estate and life, for a thing so pleasing unto God. It rests only that I thank your Holiness for the permission you have been pleased to afford me, and I pray God to give you a blessed health, and his glory after so much pains which your Holiness takes in his Church. Signed, Charles Stuart. In his Journey to Spain he passed through Paris, where by the benefit of false hair he attained to a sight of that incomparable Lady Henretta Maria, Daughter to that Martial King of France, Henry the Fourth, whom afterwards he received into his Bed. Which Marriage, (concluded on by King James) was with great solemnity commenced at Westminster, June 18. 1625. And in the first year of his Reign he assembled a Parliament, where speedy supplies were desired, for the setting forth a Fleet against the Spaniard, (friendship growing stolen betwixt these two Kings, by reason of the breach of Marriage, and the detention of the Palatinate.) But the King was not so quick but the Parliament were as slow; for notwithstanding the streams of King James his bounty had so drained the Exchequer, that he left his Son only an empty Purse to encounter with a full bagged Monarch, yet could not the Parliament be persuaded to come off roundly with their Subsidies; some were very prompt to give without delay, others would give but in convenient time, not then; but the most part agreed not to give, and to make an humble Remonstrance declaring the causes wherefore. Most of the Voters of this Remonstrance flew high against the Duke; some would divest him of his Offices, the Admiralty especially; others of his Revenue, by resuming what he possessed of the Crown Demesnes; others demanded an account of what Public moneys he had been entrusted with. This being signified to the King, occasioned this Speech of his Majesty. His Majesty's Speech at the same time concerning the Duke of Buckingham and Cook. I must withal put you in mind of times past; you may remember my Father moved by your Council, and won by your persuasions, broke the Treaties; in these persuasions I was your instrument towards him, and I was glad to be instrumental in any thing which might please the whole body of the Realm: Nor was there any then in greater favour with you then this man, whom you now so traduce. And now when you find me so sure entangled in War, as I have no honourable and safe retreat, you make my necessity your privilege, and set what rate you please upon your Supplies; a practice not very obliging towards Kings. Mr. Cook told you, It was better to die by a Foreign Enemy then be destroyed at home. Indeed I think it is more honourable for a King to be invaded, and almost destroyed by a Foreign Enemy then to be despised at home. The King expecting no conclusion from those for his assistance, who were so divided in their opinions, soon dissolved the Parliament. Yet notwithstanding the backwardness of the Parliament, the King so forwarded the business, that in the beginning of October a Navy way was sent to sea, under the Command of Viscount Whimbleton, as also some ships of the Netherlanders, with whom the King had entered an Offensive and Defensive League, against the King of Spain, and Emperor of Germany: these landing at Cades, had the Fort of Puntal surrendered unto them, and in it fifteen barrels of powder and eight Pieces of Ordnance, with store of Wine; whereof the Soldiers drank so immoderately, (notwithstanding more sober commands to the contrary) that had the Spaniard known his advantge, he might have made a lamentable butchery amongst them. The Admiral seeing this disorder of the Soldiers, thought it bootless to stay any longer on Land; and thereupon put to Sea again, intending to stay twenty days in expectation of the Plate Fleet, then in return from the West Indies; but the Plague of Pestilence so raging amongst them, that every day hundreds were thrown overboard; he was forced to make all the speed he could back into England: yet was not his haste such, but that the News of his ill success was there before him. So true is that of the Poet. Ill News hath wings, it very fast doth go, Comfort's a Cripple, and comes always slow. February the second next ensuing was the King crowned, and four days after a Parliament assembled; the Spring approaching, (a time fit for Martial employments) supplies were desired, to which the Commons by way of Remonstrance replied, That if addition may be made of other things importing his service, then in consultation amongst them, they were resolved so to supply him, as might evidence the truth of their intentions; might make him safe at home, and formidable abroad. And now again fall they on a vigorous proceeding against the Duke of Buckingham, accusing him with thirteen Articles of High Treason, the Prologue whereof we have declared in his Life; to which the Duke returned so modest and humble an answer, that it abated the edge of some of their Indignations against him; yet were they resolved to give a reply to his answer, but whiles they were intentive upon it, the King sent them a Letter, demanding without further delay the speedy producing of their Bill of Subsidy to be passed: which accordingly they did, but first drew up a Declaration of the same make and mind with their former impeachment; which so incensed his Majesty, as on the very next day, being June 15. he dissolved the Assembly. Presently after the dissolution of the Parliament, the King being informed of several misdemeanours committed by the Queen's Servants, commanded them all to leave the Land, and departed into France; the French King herewith incensed, sent Mounsieur Bossompier, extraordinary Ambassador into England, to demand their restitution to their former places. But returning without a satisfactory answer, Lewis resolveth upon open hostility, and seizeth upon the English ships at Bordeaux. This indignity King Charles stomacht with such vehemency of spirit, that he resolveth the sword should end the controversy; to which purpose he published a Manifest, as followeth. A Manifest of the Reasons which moved his Majesty to take up Arms against the French, published by the Duke of Buckingham in the Isle of the, July 21. 1627. What part the Kings of Great Britain have always taken in the affairs of the Reformed Churches of this Kingdom, and with what care and zeal they have laboured for the good of them, is manifest to all, and the examples thereof are as ordinary as the occasions have been. His now Majesty of Great Britain comes nothing short of his Predecessors therein, if his good and laudable designs for their good had not been perverted to their ruin, by those who had most interest for their due accomplishment. What advantages hath he refused? What parties hath he not sought unto? that by his Alliance with France he might work more profitably and powerfully the restitution of those Churches to their ancient liberty and splendour? And what could be less hoped for by so strict an Alliance, and from so many reiteratad promises by the mouth of a great Prince, but effects truly Royal, and sorting with his greatness? But failings have been such, that his Majesty by so many promises, and so straight an obligation of friendship hath not only been disappointed of means to obtain liberty and surety for the said Churches, and to restore peace to France by the reconciliation of those, whose breath utters nothing else but all manner of obedience to their King, under the liberty of their Edicts: that contrariwise they have prevailed by the interest which he had in those of the Religion to deceive them, and by this means not only to untie him from them, but also to make him, if not odious unto them, at least suspected in perverting the means, which he had ordained for their good, to a quite contrary end; witness the English Ships designed for the extirpation of them of the Religion, but to the contrary express promise which was made, that they should not be used against them in the last Sea-fight. What then may be expected from so puissant a Prince as his Majesty, so openly eluded, but a through feeling equal and proportionable to the injuries received. But his patience hath gone beyond policy, and as long as he had hopes that he could benefit the Churches by any other means, he had no recourse by way of Arms: so far that having been made an instrument and worker of the last Peace, upon conditions disadvantageous enough, and which would not have been accepted without his Majesty's intervention, who interposed his credit and interest in the Churches to receive them, even with threaten, to the end to shelter the honour of the most Christian King; under assurance of his part, not only for the accomplishment, but also for the bettering of the said condition, for which he stands caution to the Churches. But what hath been the issue of all this but only an abuse of his goodness? And that which his Majesty thought a sovereign remedy for all their sores, hath it not brought almost the last blow to the ruin of the Churches? It wanted but a little by continuing the Fort before Rochel, the demolishment whereof was promised by the violence of the Soldiers and Garrisons of the said Forts and Isles, as well upon the inhabitants of the said Town as upon strangers; in lieu whereas they should have retired, they have been daily augmented, and other Forts built; as also by the stay of the Commissioners in the said Town beyond the time agreed on, to the end to make broils, and by means of the division which they made to slide amongst the Inhabitants to open the gates to the neighbouring Troops, and by other withstandings and instructions of peace, I say a little failed, that the said Town, and in it all the Churches had not drawn their last breath. And in the mean time, while his Majesty hath yet continued, and not opposed so many injuries, so many faith-breaking, but by complaint of Treaty, until he had received certain advice, confirmed by intercepted Letters, of the great preparation the most Christian King made to pour upon Rochel; and then what could his Majesty of Great Britain do, but to vindicate his honour by a quick arming against those, who had made him a complice of their deceits? And to give testimony of his integrity and zeal which he hath always had for the reestablishing of the Churches, an establishment which shall be dear and precious to him above any other thing. This is the sole end of his arming at this time, and not any particular interest; yet whosoever would doubt thereof, let him consider the circumstance of times, and disposition of affairs as they stand now with his Majesty. For, who will believe that he can have any design upon France, or to have projected conquests here in a time so disadvantageous, having now for his enemy one of the most puissant Kings of the world? and if he had such a design, surely he would have sent greater Forces, than those now sent upon this action, whereof if the number were known, they would be Judged but Auxiliaries only; and that their aim is no other, but for the good of the Churches, which for many important reasons and considerations, he finds himself obliged before God and man to protect and secure. But if it be alleged that his Majesty hath been moved to take up Arms for other respects, as the detention and seizure of the Ships and Goods of his Subjects at Bordeaux, and other places of this Kingdom, to the breach and manifest contravention of the peace betwixt the two Crowns which in this point tend expressly to the irreparable prejudice, yea, to the total ruin of Commerce; in the rapture whereof, the poor people of this Realm, being not able to vent their Merchandizes, groans not only under the burden of so many Taxes and Impositions, but for the very necessity of life itself; that the apprehensions his Majesty hath of the powerful increase of the most Christian King by Sea, hath moved him to arm for preventing the growth thereof: And lastly, that being hopeless of any accommodation of things, he hath been constrained to put himself in arms. The answer to all this is, that whosoever shall search the Arrests, Prizes, and Seizures which have been made on both sides, he shall find his Majesty and his Subjects have hitherto profited by this breach, and that it turned to their advantage. In the second place he is so far off from being jealous of the pretended power of the French by Sea, and that he should have reason to hinder it, that there needs no more than for him to grant, when he thinks it fit, Letters of Mart to his Subjects, and so these vain and feeble Forces at Sea might be dissipated without the employent of any Fleet Royal. Finally, that there hath been a necessity to arm thus, because there is no hope of accommodation otherwise, the contrary will be most manifest to him who will consider the researches which have been made at several times, as well by their own Ministers, as by the Ministers of other Princes to his Majesty, to treat of accommodating things at their instigation. It appears by all this that his Majesty hath not been forced to arm for any particular interest, but only for defence of the Churches, for the security and freedom whereof he stood responsible; yet there are some that dare amuse the world, that his Majesty hath a particular design in it, and that he useth Religion for a pretext to gain a party, by means whereof, and by which conjunction he hopes to push on his purposes to the end at which they aimed No, no, our Religion teacheth us otherwise, his Majesty's piety (wherein he gives place to no man living) will never permit him. His design is the establishment of the Churches, his interest is their good, and his aim their contentment, that being done, these Drums beating, those Ensigns displayed shall be folded up again; And all this noise of War shall be buried in night and silence, which would never have been but for their cause. The King having raised good sums of money by loan and otherwise, setteth forth a Fleet under the Duke's command, for the relief of Rochel; but the Duke returning home with ill success, being discomfitted at the Isle of the, the King of France reinforceth his Siege: whereupon the Rochellers sue once again to King Charles for supplies; who being necessitated for money, assembleth a Parliament, March 17. 1627. who readily and cheerfully gave him five Subsidies: whereupon the King granted them the Petition of Right. That gallant Standard of Common Liberty, deserving to be recorded to all posterity; the substance whereof reduced to four heads, take as followeth. 1. They do pray your most excellent Majesty, that no man hereafter be compelled to make or yield any Gift, Loan, Benevolence, Tax, or such like charge, without common consent by Act of Parliament; and that none be called to make answer, or to take such oath, or to give attendance, or be confined or otherwise molested, or disquieted concerning the same, or for refusal thereof. 2. And that no freeman be taken, and imprisoned, or be disseised of his freehold or liberty, or his free customs, or be outlawed, or exiled, but by the lawful judgement of his Peers, or by the Law of the Land. 3. And that your Majesty would be pleased to remove the Soldiers and Mariners now billetted in divers Counties, and that your people may not be so burdened in time to come, 4. That the late Commissions, for proceeding by Marshal Law, may be revoked and annulled, and that hereafter no Commission of like nature may issue forth to any person or persons whatsoever to be executed, lest by colour of them any of your Majesty's Subjects be destroyed, and put to death contrary to Law, and the Franchises of the Land. All which they most humbly pray of your most excellent Majesty, as their Rights and Liberties, according to the Laws and Statutes of this Realm; and that your Majesty would also vouchsafe to declare, that all awards, do, or proceed to the prejudice of your People, shall not be drawn hereafter into consequence and example. Never (writes a late Author of the History of the Reign of King Charles) did arbritary power, since Monarcy first founded, so submittere faces, so veil its Sceptre; never did the Prerogative descend so much from perch to popular lure, as by this concession; a concession able to give satisfaction ever so supererogation, for what was amiss in all the Kings bypast government. Much hoped it was that this Parliament would have had a happy conclusion, but what Gregory Nazienzen complained of Counsels, That he never saw any one end well; King Charles might with as much verity have pronounced (as to his content) of Parliaments, not any one he summoned, having had any termination other then disgustful to him; for no sooner was the Petition of Right granted, but the Parliament resolved upon a large Remonstrance to the King, wherein they ripped up many grievances of the Kingdom, accusing the Duke of Buckingham his excessive power, and abuse of that power, the principal cause of all those evils and dangers: to which the King returned a smart answer, wherewith the Commons being displeased, fell down right upon another Remonstrance against Tonnage and Poundage. Whereupon the King (unwilling to hear of any more Remonstrances of that nature) prorogued the Parliament unto October 20. During this Session, the Earl of Denbigh with fifty Sail of Ships attempted the relief of Rochel; but prevailing nothing, a third Fleet was prepared ready, whereof the Duke of Buckingham was to have the Command: but being ready to embark, he was stabbed with a knife by Felton a discontented person; of which, as also of his unfortunate proceed at the Isle of the, I refer my Reader to his foregoing Life. The Duke being dead, the charge of the Fleet was committed to the Earl of Lindsey, a Gentleman of a gallant resolution; but before his coming, the Town was so blocked up by Land, and barred up by Sea, that it was almost unapproachable: yet many gallant attempts were made by the Earl, bringing up his Ships to the very mouth of the Bar; but being ready to enter the pass, the wind whisked about into an opposite Point, which drove them dangerously foul one upon another: whereupon the Rochellers hopeless of relief, opened their Gates, submitting themselves to the King's mercy, which was granted them. The Famine and War having made such havoc amongst them, that of twenty two thousand souls, but four thousand were left. October the 20. being come, the Parliament was prorogued to January the 20. following; at which time they met, who begun where they last left with Tonnage and Poundage; for complaints came in thick and threefold against the Customers for taking and distraining Merchant's goods. Great stickling was betwixt the King and Parliament concerning this business, the King claiming it as a Prerogative belonging to the Crown, they denying it as an infringement of the Petition of Right. After much debating and high words on both sides, the dissolution of the Parliament put a period to the contest. Not long after, by mediation of the signory of Venice, a Peace was concluded between France and England; Spain also hampered with wars and want of money, made overtures of a Peace, which at last was concluded, and published with more than ordinary Solemnity. These Wars with France and Spain had so emptied the Exchequer, that the King was forced to make use of his Prerogative for a supply, which was by summoning all persons who had Estates of forty pounds per annum to receive the Order of Knighthood; formerly practised by several Kings, though now a long disuse had made it a novelty. Many of the Country Hobbs, who had gotten an estate liable to a Fine, took it first as a jest, and thereupon made no appearance, but their purses afterwards paid for it in good earnest. This project alone bringing in to the Exchequer no less than a hundred thousand pound. May the 29. 1630. the Queen was delivered of a Son, who was baptised by the name of Charles, having two years before miscarried of a son of the same name, who lived not above an hour, which occasioned Randolphs' Muse thus to express herself. Thy first birth Mary was unto a Tomb, And sad Lucina did not aid thy womb: To Heaven thou then wert fruitful, now to earth; Thou canst give Saints, as well as Kings, a birth. It was now seven years and better, since Charles was crowned King of England; Scotland (his Native Country) had a Crown also to bestow upon him; and the King adjudged it worth the going for; for though (saith one) it conferreth no one dram of solid and real grandeur to the Throne, yet ceremoniated as it is with such formalities, it representeth itself a serious vanity. There attended him this journey, the Earls of Northumberland, Arundel, Pembroke, Southampton, Salisbury, Carlisle, Holland, Monmouth, and New Castle; the Bishop of London, Lord Treasurer, Secretary Cook, Vice Chamberlain, with many other Gentlemen of quality. June 18. 1633. he was crowned with great Solemnity at Edinburgh; and having visited Ealkland, Sterling, and some other eminent places, he returned back again into England. Thus he was crowned by a Nation that afterwards snatched it from his Royal Temples. The King at his return found his Exchequer near empty, whereupon he consults with his Attorney Noy for a way how to supply it; he searching old Records, (being a man very studious that way) finds an ancient precedent of raising a Tax for setting forth a Navy in case of danger; to which purpose a Writ was issued out to the seveaal Counties in England, for the raising of money sufficient for the setting forth of forty seven ships; at which the Commons grumbled, as an illegal Tax, contrary unto the Petition of Right. The King for his better satisfaction demands the opinion of the Judges, who all of them under their hands confirmed the Legality thereof; yet were not the Commons so satisfied therewith, but that some of them stood it out even unto imprisonment. Much debate was afterward about it, and the King got not so much money, as ill will of the Subjects thereby. At this time the King received a Letter from Sidan King of Morocco; the Contents follow. A Letter from Sidan King of Morocco, to Charles King of ENGLAND. When these our Letters shall be so happy as to come to your Majesty's sight, I wish the Spirit of the righteous God may so direct your mind, that you may joyfully embrace the Message I send; presenting to you the means of exalting the Majesty of God, and your own reward amongst men. The Regal Power allotted to us makes us common servants to our Creator; then of those people whom we govern: so that observing the duties which we own to God, we deliver blessings to the world; in providing for the public good of our State, we magnify the Honour of God like the Celestial Bodies, which though they have much veneration, yet serve only to the benefit of the world. It is the excellency of our Office to be Instruments, whereby happiness is delivered to the Nations. Pardon me Sir, This is not to instruct, (for I know I speak to one of a more clear and quick sight then myself) but I speak this, because it hath pleased God to give me a happy victory over some part of those rebellious Pirates that have so long molested the peaceable trade of Europe, and hath presented further occasion to rout out the generation of those who have been so pernicious to the good of our Nations. I mean, since it hath pleased God to be so auspicious to our beginnings in the Conquest of Salla, that we might join and proceed in hope of like success in the War against Tunis, Algiers, and other places, (Dens, and Receptacles for the inhuman villainies of those who abhor Rule and Government.) Herein whilst we interrupt the corruption of malignant spirits of the world, we shall glorify the great God, and perform a Duty that will shine as glorious as the Sun and Moon, which all the earth may see and reverence: a work that shall ascend as sweet as the perfume of the most precious odours in the Nostrils of the Lord; a work grateful and happy to men; a work whose memory shall be reverenced so long as there shall be any that delight to hear the Actions of Heroick and magnanimous spirits, that shall last as long as there be any remaining among men, that love and honour the piety and virtue of noble minds. This action I here willingly present to you, whose piety and virtues equal the greatness of your power: that we who are servants to the great and mighty God, may hand in hand triumph in the glory which this action presents unto us: Now because the Islands which you govern have been ever famous, for the unconquered strength of their shipping, I have sent this my trusty Servant and Ambassador to know whether in your Princely wisdom you shall think fit to assist me with such Forces by Sea, as shall be answerable to those I provide by Land; which if you please to grant, I doubt not but the Lord of Hosts will protect and assist those who fight in so glorious a cause. Nor ought you to think this strange, that I who much reverence the peace and accord of Nations, should exhort to a War. Your great Prophet CHRIST JESUS was the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, as well as the Lord and Giver of peace: which may signify unto you, that he who is a Lover and Maintainer of peace, must always appear with the terror of the Sword, and wading through Seas of Blood, must arrive to Tranquillity. This made James your Father of glorious memory so happily renowned admongst all Nations. It was the noble fame of your Princely virtues which resounds to the utmost corners of the earth, that persuaded me to invite you to partake of that blessing wherein I boast myself most happy. I wish God may heap the riches of his blessings on you, increase your happiness with your days, and hereafter perpetuate the greatness of your name to all Ages. The occasion of writing this Letter was as followeth; a rabble of Pirates rest themselves in Salla, a Port Town of the Realm of Fess, and belonging to the King of Morocca, creating thence great mischief to him, both by Sea and Land; and not to them only, but to all the Merchants of other Countries, whose business led them towards the Seas. Unable to suppress them for want of shipping, he craved aid of King Charles of England, by whose assistance he became Master of the Port, destroyed the Pirates, and sent three hundred Christian Captives for a present to his sacred Majesty, An. 1634. Nor stayed he here, but aiming at the general good of Trade and mankind, he sent this Letter to his Majesty by one of the chief Eunuches of his Chamber, handsomely attended in the Port and quality of an Ambassador, desiring the like aid against those of Tunis and Algiers, who did as much infest the Mediterranean, as the Pirates of Salla did the Ocean. In order whereunto his Majesty began immediately to strengthen and increase his Royal Navy; and to that end required the wont naval Aid (lately best known by the name of Ship-money) from all his Subjects, and possible enough might have pursued this design for suppressing the Pirates of Algiers and Tunis, if he had not been unhappily hindered by the insurrection of the Scots, and those continued troubles which ensued upon it. I have the rather inserted this Letter, considering how seriously our learned Doctor Heilin in his Cosmography reflected on it, so as to blame Mr. Le-strange for omission of it; the truth is, the Letter carries some weight with it, and savours of more piety than could be expected from a Mahometan. His Ambassador was entertained with great honour, with a magnificent Masque, and a costly Antic Show through the Streets, at the vast expenses of the Inns of Court Gentlemen. To proceed, far greater troubles arose in Scotland, concerning the Book of Common Prayer. The King at his last being there, observing that God Almighty was very negligently, and as he thought undecently worshipped, took the Reformation thereof into his Princely care: to which end he gave directions to the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishop of Ely, and to divers other Bishops, to Revise, Correct, Altar, and Change, as they pleased, the Liturgy compiled in his Father's time; which accordingly they did: and having shown it to the King, he approved thereof, in regard that coming nearer to the first Liturgy of King Edward the Sixth, in the Administration of the Lords Supper, it might be a means to gain the Papists to the Church, who liked far better of the first, than second Liturgy. But the Scotch, a scrupulous Nation in their opinion, who (as one saith of them) are more afraid of the name of yielding, then resisting, and would sooner offend against Religion, than the Ceremonies of it, did publicly refuse it. From hence proceeded Tragedies, Tumults, War, and Invasion; for upon the first reading thereof, the people were so violent against it, that the Dean and Bishop of Edinburgh hardly escaped with life; nor were they only the rascal multitude that thus opposed it, but many of the Noblemen, Barons, and Gentlemen; amongst whom the chief were the Earl of Hume, and the Lord Lindsey. To appease these disorders, the King sent down the Marquis Hamilton, in the quality of an high Commissioner, impowring him with a Commission to use the utmost of his interest and power for the settling of peace: but whether (as some writ) he dealt deceitfully, in aspiring to the Crown himself, or no, I judge uncertain; but most certain it is, that after his coming the differences increased far greater than before; and no question but it had become far better for the King, had this Marquis been either a more close friend, or an opener enemy. The King being at home in no good condition, used all means he could to pacify his enemies abroad, not only winking at many of the foul disorders of the Scots, but also yielded unto them in their desires for many things, which nevertheless allayed not their spirits, but rather encouraged them to proceed as they had begun. For as Cleaveland hath it. Nor Gold, nor Acts of Grace, 'tis steel must tame The stubborn Scot, a Prince that would reclaim, Rebels by yielding, doth like him, (or worse) Who saddled his own back to save his horse. Hamilton being returned into England, the Scots began might and main to levy Soldiers, to impose Taxes, to raise Fortifications, to block up some, and seize others of the King's Castles, and to prepare for War. The King not to be behind hand with the Scots (it being no good policy in War to strain courtesy who should begin first) raised a considerable power, to the maintenance whereof many of the Nobility contributed largely, especially the Bishops; it being for the preservation of their own Hierarchy. March 27. the Army began to march, the Earl of Arundel commanding in Chief: but all the preparation both of one side and the other proved only an interview of two Armies, nothing being acted considerable in the way of engagement; for after a few day's attendance upon each other, a Pacification was concluded upon, distributed into these Articles. On the Kings Part. 1. His Majesty to confirm what his Commissioner promised in his name. 2. That a general Assembly be indicted, to be kept at Edinburgh, August 6. 3. That command be given for a Parliament to be holden at Edinburgh, August the 20. 4. That he recall all his Forces by Land or Sea, and restore all Ships and Goods arrested and detained, since the pretended Assembly at Glasgow, upon the Covenanters disarming, and disbanding of their Forces, dissolving their Tables, and restoring to the King all his Castles, Forts, and Ammunition, and releasing all the Persons, Lands, and Goods, then under restraint, or detained since the pretended Assembly of Glasgow. This his Majesty to do by Declaration. On the Scots Part. 1. The Forces of Scotland to be disbanded within eight and forty hours after publication of the King's Declaration. 2. They to render up after the said publication, all Castles, Forts, Ammunition of all sorts, so soon as the King shall send to receive them. 3. They to hold no meetings; treatings, nor consultations, but such as are warranted by act of Parliament. 4. They to desist from all fortifications, and those to be remitted to the King's pleasure. 5. They to restore to all the King's Subjects, their Liberties, Lands, Houses, Goods, and Means, taken or detained from them, since the first of February last. This Pacification being solemnly ratified on both sides, the King well hoped a general peace would ensue, but what ever the Scots pretended, the sequel shown they intended nothing less; for they still kept their Officers in constant Pay, they did not slight their fortification at Leith, they still continued their Meetings and Consultations, they still disquieted, molested, and frighted all of different inclinations; and which was worst of all, they dispersed a scandalous Libel, entitled, Some conditions of his Majesty's Treaty with his Subjects of Scotland, before the English Nobility, are set down here for remembrance. Which Book tending to the defamation of his Majesty, and disavowed by the Commissioners then present at the Treaty, was by the command of the Council, burnt by the common Hangman. The King (who intended to stay till the General Assembly was met) seeing matters remain in this doubtful posture, returned into England, leaving the Earl of Traquair his Commissioner. August the 6 the Assembly met at Edinburgh, wherein Episcopacy, the five Articles of Perth, the High Commission, the Liturgy, and Book of Canons, were abolished the Earl of Traquiar assenting thereunto. The Assembly being ended, the Parliament began; who instead of reforming Abuses, fell upon new moddelling the Government, forming an Act Recissory, whereby former Acts concerning the Judicatory of the Exchequer, concerning Proxies, and concerning confirmation of Ward Lands, should be nulled. Which being signified to the King, he by his Commissioner the Earl of Traquair, prorogued the Parliament until the 2. of June next. These actings of the Scots warping altogether towards War, were much forwarded by an accident. November 19 it happened a great part of the walls of the Castle of Edinburgh, with the Cannons mounted, fell to the ground; this being the Anniversary night of the King's Birthday, was construed in the Grammar of Superstition, an ominous presage of the ruin of the King's design. The King appointed the Lord Ostrich, Colonel Ruthen, and the Governor of the Castle, to take order for the re-edification of what was lapsed; but the Scots would not suffer any materials to be carried in for reparation. This Indignity the King concludeth intolerable, and thereupon resolveth to relieve himself by force: to this end a private Juncto is selected for the close carrying on of the design, wherein it was agreed his Majesty should call a Parliament, to assemble April the 13. next. The King approved well of their Council, but withal said, My Lords, the Parliament cannot suddenly convene, and the subsidies they grant will be so long in levying, as in the interim I may be ruined; therefore some speedy course must be thought upon for supplies. The Lords willing to forward the business, told him they would engage their own credits; and the Lord Deputy of Ireland giving the onset, subscribed for twenty thousand pound; the other Lords writing after his Copy, subscribed conformable to their Estates; the Judges also contributed largely, as also the Recusants, who are ever sure to undergo the lash, yielded according to their abilities. From which Loyalty of theirs to his Majesty, the more envious and schismatical sort of people gave out, that the King was in his heart a Papist: I have thought it my duty to insert in Latin and in English his Majesty's Declaration to all Foreign Churches concerning his sincerity in the true Protestant Religion. Declaratio serenissimi potentissimique Principis Caroli, magnae Britanniae Regis ultramarinis Protestantium Ecclesiis transmissa. Carolus singulari Omnipotentis Dei providentia Angliae, Scotiae, Franciae, & Hiberniae Rex, fidei Defensor, etc. universis & singulis qui praesens hos Scriptum seu Protestationem inspexerint, potissimum reformatae Religionis cultoribus cujuscunque sint gentis, gradus aut conditionis, salutem. Cum ad aures nostras non ita pridem fama pervenerit sixistros quosdam Rumores Literasque politica vel perniciosa potius quorundam industria sparsas esse, & nonnullis Protestantium Ecclesiis in exteris partibus emissas, nobis esse animum & consilium ab illa Orthodexi Religione, quam ab incunabilis émbibimus, & ad hoc usque momentum per integrum vitae nostrae curriculum amplexi sumus, recedendi, & Papismum in haec Regnaiterum introducendi, quae conjectura seu nefanda potius calumnia nullo prorsus nixa vel imaginabili fundamento horrendos hosce tumultus, & rabiem plusquam belluinam in Anglia suscitavit sub larva cujusdam (Chymericae) Reformationis, Regimini Legibusque hujus Domini non solum incongruae sed incompatibilis: Volumus ut toti Christiano Orbi innotescat, ne minimam quidem animum nostrum invasisse cogitatiunculam hoc aggrediendi, aut transversum unguem ab illa Religione discedendi, quam cum Coronâ Sceptroque hujus Regni solenni & sacramentali juramento tenemur profiteri protegere & propugnare. Nec tantum constantissima nostra praxis & quotidiana in exercitiis praefatae Religionis praesentia cum crebris in facie nostrorum Agminum asseverationibus publicisque Procerum hujus Regni testimoniis, & sedula in Regiam nostram sobolem educando circumspectione (omissis plurimis aliis argumentis) luculentissime hoc demonstrat, sed etiam foelicissimum illud matrimonium, quod inter nostram primogenitam et illustrissimum Principem Auriacum sponte contraximus, idem fortissime attestatur: quo nuptiali foedere insuper constat nobis non esse propositum illam profiteri solummodo sed expandere & corroborare quantum in nobis situm est. Hanc Sacrosanctam Anglicanae Christi Ecclesiae Religionem tot Theologorum Convocationibus sancitam, tot Comitiorum Edictis confirmatam, tot Regies Diplomatibus stabilitam, unà cum Regimine Ecclesiastico & Liturgia ei annexa (quam Litergiam Regimenque celebriores Protestantium Authoxes, tam Germani quam Galli, tam Dani quam Helvetici, tam Batavi quam Bohemi multis Elogiis (nec sine quadam invidia) in suis publicis scriptis comprobant & applaudunt, ut in transactionibus Dordrechtanae Synodi, cui nonnulli nostrorum Praesulum (quorum dignitati debita praestita fuerit Reverentia) interfuerunt, apparet.) Istam, inquimus, Religionem quam Regius noster Pater (beatissimae memoriae) in illa celeberrima fidei suae Confessione omnibus Christianis Principibus (ut & haec praesens nostra protestatio) exhibita publicè asserit: Istam, istam Religionem solenniter protestamur, nos integram, sartam tectam, & invoilabilem conservaturos, & pro virili nostro (Divino adjuvante Numine) usque ad extremum vitae nostrae periodum protecturos, & omnibus nostris Ecclesiasticis pro muneris nostri & supradicti sacrosancti Juramenti ratione doceri & praedicari curaturos. Quapropter injungimus & in mandatis damus omnibus Ministris nostris in exteris partibus, tam Legatis, quam Residentibus, Agentibusque & Nunciis, reliquisque nostris subditis ubicunque Orbis Christiani terrarum, aut curiositatis, aut commercii gratia degentibus hanc solennem & synceram nostram protestationem, quandocunque sese obtulerit loci, & temperis opportunitas, communicare, asserere, asseverare. Datum in Academia & Civitate nostra Oxon. pridie Idus Maii 1644. The same in English. Charles by the Providence of Almighty God, King of England, Scotland, France, and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, etc. To all those who profess the true Reformed Protestant Religion, of what Nation, Degree, and Condition soever they be, to whom this present Declaration shall come, Greeting: Whereas we are given to understand, that many false rumours and scandalous Letters are spread up and down amongst the Reformed Churches in Foreign parts, by the politic, or rather the pernicious industry of some illaffected persons; that we have an inclination to recede from that Orthodox Religion, which we were born, baptised, and bred in, and which we have firmly professed and practised through the whole course of our life to this moment: and that we intent to give way to the Introduction, and public exercise of Popery again in our Dominions; Which conjecture or rather most detestable calumny, being grounded upon no imaginable foundation, hath raised these horrid Tumults, and more than barbarous Wars throughout this flourishing Island, under pretext of a kind of Reformation, which would not prove only incongruous, but incompatible with the Fundamental Laws and Government of this Kingdom. We desire that the whole Christian World should take notice and rest assured, that we never entertained in our imagination the least thought to attempt such a thing, or to departed a jot from that holy Religion, which when we received the Crown and Sceptre of this Kingdom, we took a most solemn Sacramental Oath to profess and protect. Nor doth our most constant practice and daily visible presence in the exercise of this sole Religion, with so many Asseverations in the head of our Armies, and the public Attestation of our Barons, with the circumspection used in the education of our Royal Offspring, besides divers other undeniable Arguments only demonstrate this; but also that happy Alliance of Marriage we contracted betwixt our eldest Daughter and the Illustrious Prince of Orange, most clearly confirms the reality of our Intentions herein: by which Nuptial engagement it appears further, that our endeavours are not only to make a bare profession thereof in our own Dominions, but to enlarge and corroborate it abroad, as much as lieth in our power. This most holy Religion of the Church of England ordained by so many Convocations of Learned Divines, confirmed by so many Acts of Parliament, and strengthened by so many Royal Proclamations, together with the Ecclesiastic Discipline and Liturgy thereunto appertaining; which Liturgy and Discipline, the most eminent of Protestant Authors, as well Germane as French, as well Danes as Swedes and Swissers, as well Belgians as Bohemians do with many Eulogies (and not without a kind of envy) approve and applaud in their public writings, particularly in the Transactions of the Synod of Dort, wherein, besides other or our Divines (who afterwards were Prelates) one of our Bishops assisted, to whose Dignity all due Reverence and Precedency was given. This Religion, we say, which our Royal Father of blessed memory doth publicly assert in that this famous Confession addressed (as we also do this our Protestation) to all Christian Princes; This most holy Religion, with the Hierarchy and Liturgy thereof, we solemnly protest, that by the help of Almighty God, we will endeavour to our utmost power and last period of our life, to keep entire and inviolable; and will be careful according to our duty to Heaven, and the tenor of the aforesaid most Sacred Oath at our Coronation, that all our ecclesiastics in their several degrees and incumbencies, shall preach and practise the same. Wherefore we enjoin and command all our Ministers of State beyond the Seas, as well Ambassadors as Residents, Agents and Messengers; and we desire all the rest of our loving Subjects that sojourn either for curiosity or commerce in any Foreign parts to communicate, uphold, and assert this our solemn and sincere Protestation, when opportunity of time and place shall be offered. For the for ever silencing of such blackmouthed people, I have here set down his Majesty's Speech and Protestation before his receiving the Holy Eucharist at Christ Church in Oxon, 1643. His Majesty being to receive the Sacrament from the hands of the Lord Archbishop of Armagh, used these public expressions immediately before his receiving the blessed Elements, he risen up from his knees, and beckoning to the Archbishop for a short forbearance, made this Protestation. My Lord, I espy here are many resolved Protestants who may declare to the world the Resolution I now do make. I have to the utmost of my power prepared my soul to become a worthy receiver, and may I so receive comfort by the Blessed Sacrament, as I do intent the establishment of the true Reformed Protestant Religion, as it stood in its beauty in the happy days of Queen Elizabeth, without any connivance at Popery. I bless God that in the midst of these public distractions I have still liberty to communicate; and may this Sacrament be my damnation, if my Heart do not join with my Lips in this Protestation. But to proceed in our History; the King was not so busy in preparing against the Scots, but they were as forward in providing for his resistance; those of the Nobility and Gentry who stood firm for the King they imprisoned; they invited and procured to their service many Commanders from Holland, and reared works of Fortification in all places agreeable to their designs. In this state stood the Affairs of both Kingdoms, when April 13. according to pre-appointment the Parliament assembled, the Earl of Strafford being led into the upper House by two Noble men, to give them account of his proceed in Ireland, having there obtained the grant of four Subsidies for the maintenance of ten thousand Foot, and fifteen hundred Horse: implicitly hinting agreeable to what Scheme England should proportion their supplies. The King also to forward the business, sent a message to the Lower House, representing to them the intolerable Indignities and Injuries wherewith the Scots had treated him; and withal declared to them, that if they would assist him with supplies suitable to the exigency of his sad occasion, he would for ever quit his claim of Ship-money; and into the bargain give them full content in all their just demands. This Message delivered by Secretary Vane, he (whether wilfully or casually mistaking I leave undetermined) required twelve Subsidies, whereas it was said his express order was only for six. This Proposition raised the House of Commons to such animosity, as the King advising with his Juncto, their Compliance was represented to him so desperate, as May the fifth he ordered the Dissolution of the Parliament. But though the Parliament were sullen, and would not give down their milk, the Gentry and others contributed largely, especially the Clergy, who in their Convocation granted a Benevolence of four shillings in the pound to be assessest upon all the Clergy for six years together towards this Expedition. With these and other forementioned aids, a Royal Army was raised, whereof the Earl of Northumberland was appointed Generalissimo, and the Earl of Strafford Lieutenant General; but both General's falling sick, the charge of the Army was committed to the Lord Conway: who marching with the Army as far as Newburn upon Tine, was encountered by the Scots, and worsted three hundred of the English being slain and taken. Sir Jacob Astley, than Governor of New Castle, hearing of this Defeat, deserted the same, as not tenable against so potent an Army; which Town was taken into the Scots possession. The King (who had stayed behind during the time the Queen was brought to bed of her third Son Henry) advances after his Army, when at Northalerton he was certified of the Lord Conway's discomfiture, and Sir Jacob Astley quitting New Castle; this being accounted an unlucky omen, some of the Lords desirous of Peace, working upon the occasion, presented to the King at York, this following Petition. To the Kings most excellent Majesty. The humble Petition of your Majesty's most loyal and most obedient Subjects, whose Names are under-written, in behalf of themselves and divers others. Most Gracious Sovereign, The zeal of that duty and service which we own to your Sacred Majesty, and our earnest affection to the good and welfare of this your Realm of England, have moved us in all humility to beseech your Royal Majesty to give us leave to offer to your Princely Wisdom the apprehension which we and others your faithful Subjects have conceived of the great distempers and dangers now threatening the Church and State, and your Royal Person, and of the fittest means by which they may be removed and prevented. The evils and dangers whereof your Majesty may be pleased to take notice, are these. 1. That your Majesty's sacred Person is exposed to hazard and danger in the present Expedition against the Scottish Army; and by occasion of this War your Majesty's Revenue is much wasted, your Subjects burdened with coat and conduct of money, billeting of Soldiers, and other Military Charges, and divers Rapines and Disorders committed in several parts of this your Realm by the Soldiers raised for that service, and your whole Kingdom become full of fears and discontents. 2. The sundry Innovations in matters of Religion, the Oath and Cannons lately imposed upon the Clergy, and other your Majesty's Subjects. 3. The great increase of Popery, and the employing of Popish Recusants, and others illaffected to the Religion by Laws established, in places of power and trust, especially in commanding of Men and Arms, both in the Field, and sundry Counties of this your Realm, whereas by Law they are not permitted to have any Arms in their own houses. 4. The great mischiefs which may fall upon this Kingdom, if the intentions which have been credibly reported of bringing in Irish and Foreign Forces should take effect. 5. The urging of Ship-money, and prosecution of some Sheriffs in the Star-Chamber for not levying it. 6. The heavy charge upon Merchandise, to the discouragement of Trade, the multitude of Monopolies, and other Patents, whereby the Commodities and Manufactures of the Kingdom are much burdened, to the great and universal grievance of your people. 7. The great grief of your Subjects, by long intermission of Parliaments, and the late and former dissolution of such as have been called, without the happy effects which otherwise they might have produced. For remedy whereof, and prevention of the dangers that may arise to your Royal Person, and to the whole State; they do in all humility and faithfulness beseech your most excellent Majesty, that you would be pleased to summon a Parliament within some convenient time, whereby the causes of these, and other great Grievances which your people lie under, may be taken away, and the Authors and Councillors of them may be brought to such legal trial, and condign punishment, as the nature of their several offences shall require. And that the present War may be composed by your Majesty's wisdom without blood, in such manner as may conduce to the honour and safety of your Majesty's person, the comfort of your people, and the uniting of both your Realms against the common enemy of the reformed Religion. And your Majesty's Petitioners shall ever pray, etc. Concluded the 28. of August 1640. Francis Bedford. Robert Essex. Mulgrave. Say & Seal. Edward Howard. William Hartford. Warwick. Bullingbrooke. Mandevile. Brooke. Pagett. This Petition being seconded by another from the Scots to the same effect, the King the twenty fourth day of the same month assembled the Lords together at York, where it was concluded, that a Parliament should be summoned to convene November the third next ensuing; in the mean time a cessation of Arms was concluded between both Nations, whereupon the King and Lords posted to London. Tuesday November the third, according to pre-appointment the Parliament assembled; no sooner were they set, but Petitions came thronging in from all Counties of the Kingdom, craving redress of the late general exorbitancies both in Church and State; many who were in prison were ordered to be set at liberty, as Pryn, Bastwick, and Burton, and the Bishop of Lincoln; and many who were at liberty were ordered to be sent to prison, as Sir William Beecher, the Earl of Strafford, and the Archbishop of Canterbury, Secretary Windebank; and the Lord Keeper Finch, who was forced to fly the Land; Ship-money was voted down, the late Cannons damned, Peace is concluded with Scotland, and three hundred thousand pound allowed them for reparations. This was summarily the first actings of the Parliament, which gave much content to many people, especially the Londoners; who to the number of 15000. Petition for the abolishing of Episcopacy itself. Indeed some few of the Clergy at this time, as at all others, were corrupt in their lives; many of them being vicious, even to scandal; yea, many of those who pretended much purity in their conversations were most covetous and deceitful in their deal, besides their pride was intolerable; insomuch, that a great one amongst them was heard to say, He hoped to live to see the day, when a Minister should be as good a man as any upstart Jack Gentleman in England. Well therefore might it it be said of the Priests of our times, what Gildas surnamed the wise, wrote of the Priests of his time. Sacerdotes habet Britannia, sed insipientes; quam plurimos, Ministros, sed impudentes; clericos, sed raptores subdeles, etc. Great Britain hath Priests indeed, but silly ones; Ministers of God's word very many, but impudent; a Clergy, but given up to greedy rapine, etc. Yet let none mistake me, I writ not thus to persuade any to an ill opinion of the Ministry; for though our Church had cause to grieve for the blemishes of many, yet might she glory in the ornaments of more; so that Episcopacy received not at this time the fatal blow, but was only mutilated in her former glory: the House of Commons voting, that no Bishop shall have any vote in Parliament, nor any Judicial power in the Star Chamber, nor bear any sway in Temporal Affairs, and that no Cleargy-man shall be in Commission of the Peace. The Parliament having thus set bounds to the exorbitant power of the Clergy, they next fell upon the Trial of the Deputy of Ireland; who as you heard not long before was committed prisoner to the Tower: this man at first was a great stickler against the Prerogative, until alured by Court preferment he turned Royalist. Westminster Hall was the place assigned for his Trial; the Earl of Arundel being Lord High Steward, and the Earl of Lindsey Lord High Constable; the Articles charged against him being very many, are too long to recite. I having more at large in their place inserted them in his Life. The sum of them were for ruling Ireland and the North of England in an arbitrary way, against the Laws, for retaining the King's revenue without account, for increasing and encouraging Popery, for maliciously striving to stir up and continue enmity betwixt England and Scotland, and for labouring to subvert Parliaments, and incense the King against them; yet notwithstanding this high charge, the Earl by his answers so cleared himself, that the King told the Lords, he was not satisfied in Conscience to Condemn him of high Treason, but acknowledged his misdemeanours to be very great; at last wearied with the clamours of the people, the Earl also by a letter desiring the same, he granted a Commission to four Lords to Sign the Bill for his Execution; which Execution was accordingly performed on Tower-hill, May 10. 1641. Thus died this unhappy Earl, a sacrifice to the Scots revenge, cut off (as it was thought) not so much for what he had done, as for fear of what he afterwards might do; a man of the rarest parts, and deepest judgement of any English man of our late times. The same day, fatal to the King, he Signed the Bill for the Deputy of Ireland's death, he also Signed the Bill for a trienial, or perpetual Parliament, which should not be dissolved without consent of both Houses; some say Duke Hamilton counselled him to it, others say it was the Queen, whoever it was, it was his ruin: for the Parliament now fearless of a dissolution began to act in an higher way than before, being fortified with a strong guard of Soldiers, whereof the Earl of Essex was Captain: they without the King's leave or knowledge, appoint an extraordinary Assembly in the City, that should manage all weighty and great occurrences; and to weaken his Majesty the more, or rather to satisfy the insolence of the people, they cast twelve Bishops into Prison, because they went about to maintain their privilege by the public Charter. The King moved with this, accused five of the lower House, and one of the upper House of high Treason; their names were, the Lord Viscount Mandevil, Mr. Pym, Mr. Hampden, Sir Arthur Haslerig. Mr. Hollis, and Mr. Strewed. This action of the Kings was by the Parliament adjudged a great breach of their Privileges; certainly it much increased the differences between them, and left scarce any possibility of reconcilement. This small river of Discord being now grown a Sea of Dissension, the King and Queen post to Hampton Court; yet before he went, that he might clearly demonstrate his real intentions to compose all differences, he consented to the Petition of the Parliament, to exclude the Bishops out of the House; an act very prejudicial to himself; for by this means, the scale of Votes in the upper House which oft had turned to his advantage, did by this diminution incline most commonly the other way. Having stayed about a month at Hampton Court, the Queen went into Holland, to accompany her Daughter Mary, who was lately married to the young Prince of Orange. The King, the Prince, the Palsgrave, the Duke of Richmond, and some other of the Nobility went down into the North, intending to seize on the Magazine at Hull; but the Parliament had before sent down one of their own Members, Sir John Hotham, who from the Walls denied his Majesty entrance: the King complaineth hereof to the Parliament, but they justify his Act; yet what grains of affection towards his Majesty were wanting in Hull, were found superabundant in the City of York; who with the Counties adjacent, declare unanimously for his Majesty. Encouraged here with, August 22. 1642. he sets up his Standard at Nottingham. The Parliament in the mean time raised a considerable Army, whereof the Earl of Essex commanded in chief. And now were the gates of Janus unlocked, and stern Mars released out of prison, the seldom heard Drum rattled in every corner, and the scarce known Trumpet sounded in every street; now Factions banded, Nicknames were invented, Oaths framed, and amongst the rest the Covenant obtruded; against which his Majesty published this following Proclamation. His Majesty's Proclamation forbidding the tendering or taking of the late Covenant: called, A Solemn League and Covenant for Reformation, etc. Whereas there is a printed Paper, entitled, A Solemn League and Covenant for Reformation, and defence of Religion, the honour and happiness of the King, and the peace and safety of the three Kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland, pretended to be ordered by the Commons in Parliament, on the one and twentieth day of September last, to be printed and published; which Covenant, though it seems to make specious expressions of Piety and Religion, is in truth nothing else but a traitorous and seditious Combination against us, and against the established Religion and Laws of this Kingdom, in pursuance of a traitorous design and endeavour to bring in Foreign Forces to invade this Kingdom. We do therefore straight charge and command all our loving Subjects, of what degree or quality soever, upon their Allegiance, that they presume not to take the said seditious and traitorous Covenant. And we do likewise hereby forbid and inhibit all our Subjects to impose, administer, or tender the said Covenant, as they and every of them will answer the contrary at their utmost and extremest perils. Given at our Court at Oxon the 9 day of October, in the nineteenth year of our Reign. Hitherto have we beheld England like a curious Garden flourishing with all the choicest flowers both for scent and colour that ever Flora watered with pearly drops, or Titan's radiant beams gave birth unto, whose flourishing branches adorned with Turtles twinned in chaste embraces, as if they simpathized of each others peaceful and fruitful virtues, that Nature herself was enamoured to walk into the twined Meanders of her curious Mazes; here might you see the Princely Rose [the King of Flowers] so full of fragrancy, that for its smell and colour it was the envy of all the world: there might you see the Lily, [Queen of Flowers] there might you see the Olive Plants [the Royal Progeny] placed round about a table, where Kings and Queens had used to feast; [the Nobility and Gentry] emulating each other to excel in sweetness. But now (alas) with our late discords, the Scene is so altered, that this curious Garden hath been overrun with Weeds, I mean the miseries which followed upon these dissensions. For (as one writes) the War went on with horrid rage in many places at one time; and the fire once kindled, cast forth through every corner of the Land not only sparks, but devouring flames; insomuch, as the Kingdom of England was divided into more Battles than Counties; nor had she more Fields than Skirmishes, nor Cities than Sieges, almost all her Palaces of Lords, and great Houses, being turned every where into Garrisons: they fought at once by Sea and Land, and through all England (who could but lament the miseries of his Country) sad spectacles were of plundering and firing Villages; and the Fields, otherwise waste and desolate, rich only and terribly glorious in Camps and Armies. The King's side at first prospered exceedingly, the Earl of New Castle his General in the North, overthrowing the Lord Fairfax, and driving him into Hull: in the West Sir William Waller a Parliament Chieftain, was utterly defeated by the Lord Wilmot, who came from Oxford with an Army of the Kings; and having lost all his Army, made haste to London: and such as the fortune of the Field was, was the condition of Towns and Garrisons; for immediately after waller's defeat, the two greatest Cities of all the West were yielded up, Bristol to Prince Rupert, and Excester to Prince Maurice. So that now the King was master of all the West, save only Gloucester, which he besieged with a Royal Army. Essex himself the great General at the same time, his Army decreasing suddenly, some dying of sickness, others for want forsaking their Colours, was constrained to leave the Field, and return to London, quartering the sick and weak remnant of his Army at Kingston, and other adjacent places, until a recruit could be made for him; so that it was judged by wise men, if the King leaving Gloucester, had marched directly with his victorious Army to London, which was then not at all fortified, and miserably distracted with Factions within it: or besides, if the Earl of New Castle, letting alone the besieging of Hull, (which likewise proved fruitless) had poured out his numerous Forces upon the Eastern associated Counties, he had been more successful than he was. But Fata viam invenient, Destiny will find ways that never were thought of makes way where it finds none; and that which is decreed in Heaven shall be effected by means, of which earth can take no notice of. The King to no purpose thus spending his time at Gloucester, Essex the while recruiteth his Army, with which marching from London eighty miles, he raiseth the Siege; and having relieved the Town, in his retreat from thence encountered and vanquished the King's Army near to the Town of Newberry. Both sides, excepting only the inexhaustible riches and strength of the City of London, by this overthrow seemed of equal strength; yet each of them endeavours to make themselves stronger, the Parliament calling in to their assistance the Scots, the King the Irish. The Earl of Leven was General of the Scots, to whom joined the Earl of Manchester, and the Lord Fairfax, and with joint Forces besieged York; to raise the Siege Prince Rupert came with a great Army out of the South, the three Generals left their Siege to fight the Prince: under him also New Castle having drawn his Forces out of York, served; who on a great Plain called Marston Moor gave Battle to the three Generals. The Victory at first inclined to the Royalists, but by the valour of Cromwell (who fought under Manchester) their whole Army was utterly defeated, Prince Rupert his Ordnance, his Carriages, and Baggage being all taken. This was the greatest Battle of the whole Civil War, and might have proved a great Remora to the Kings proceed, had he not soon after worsted Essex in Cornwall, who having lost all his Artillery returned to London. The Parliament soon after new modelled their Army; Sir Thom as Fairfax was chosen General in the room of Essex: and now the Idol of a Treaty was set up at Uxbridge, in which to show the clearness of his Majesty's intentions, I have included some of his most material proceed, conducible to an Agreement betwixt him and the Parliament. His Majesty's particular Prayer for a Blessing on the Treaty. O most merciful Father, Lord God of Peace and Truth, we a people sorely afflicted by the scourge of an unnatural War, do earnestly beseech thee to command a Blessing from Heaven on this Treaty, brought about by thy Providence, the only visible remedy left for the establishment of a happy Peace; soften the most obdurate hearts with a true Christian desire of saving those men's blood, for whom Christ himself hath shed his. O Lord let not the guilt of our sins cause this Treaty to break off, but let the truth of thy Spirit so clearly shine in our minds, that all private ends laid aside, we may every one of us hearty and sincerely pursue the Public good; and that the people may be no longer so blindly miserable, as not see at least in this their day the things that belong to their peace. Grant this gracious God for his sake who is our peace itself, even Jesus our Lord, Amen. His Majesty's Message to the Houses of Parliament, which drew on the following Treaty at Uxbridge, December 13. 1644. His Majesty hath seriously considered your Propositions, and finds it very dffiicult, in respect they import so great an alteration in Government both in Church and State; to return a particular and positive Answer before a full debate, wherein those Propositions and all the necessary explanations and reasons for assenting, dissenting or qualifying, and all inconveniences and mischiefs which may ensue, and cannot otherwise be so well foreseen, may be discussed and weighed: his Majesty therefore proposeth and desireth as the best expedient for peace, that you will appoint such number of persons as you shall think fit, to treat with the like number of persons to be appointed by his Majesty upon the said Propositions, and such other things as shall be proposed by his Majesty for the preservation and defence of the Protestant Religion, (with due regard to the ease of tender Consciences, as his Majesty hath often offered) the Rights of the Crown, the Liberty and Propriety of the Subjects, and the Privileges of Parliament: And upon the whole matter to conclude a happy and blessed Peace. Sent by the Duke of Richmond, and the Earl of Southampton, December 13. 1644 His Majesty's Commission to certain Lords and Gentlemen to treat at Uxbridge, with the Commissioners of the Lords and Commons assembled at Westminster, etc. Charles Rex. Whereas after several Messages sent by us to the Lords and Commons of Parliament at Westminster, expressing our desires of Peace, certain Propositions were sent by them to us at Oxon, in November last, by the Earl of Denbigh and others; and upon our Answers, Messages, and Propositions to them, and their Returns to us, it is now agreed, That there shall be a Treaty for a well-grounded Peace to begin at Uxbridge on Thursday the thirtieth day of this instant January, as by the said Propositions, Answers, Messages, and Returns in writing may more fully appear. We do therefore hereby appoint, assign, and codnstitute, James Duke of Richmond and Lennox, William Marquess of Hertford, Thomas Earl of Southampton, Henry Earl of Kingston, Francis Earl of Chichester, Francis Lord Seymor, Arthur Lord Capel, Christopher Lord Hatton, John Lord Culpeper, Sir Edward Nicholas Knight, one of cur principal Secretaries of State, Sir Edward Hid Knight, Chancellor and under-treasurer of our Exchequer, Sir Richard Lane, Chief Baron of our said Exchequer, Sir Thomas Gardiner, Sir Orlando Bridgeman, Master John Asburnham; and Master Jeffery Palmer, together with Dr. Richard Steward upon the Propositions concerning Religion, to be our Commissioners touching the Premises, and do hereby give unto them, or to any ten or more of them, full power and authority to meet, and on our part to treat with Algernon Earl of Northumberland, Philip Earl of Pembroke and Montgomery, William Earl of Salisbury, Basil Earl of Denbigh, Thomas Lord Viscount Wentworth, Denzil Hollis, William Pierpoint, Esquires, Sir Henry Vane the younger, Knight, Oliver St. John, Bulstrade Whitlock, John Crew, and Edmond Prideaux, Esquires, for the Lords and Commons assembled in the Parliament of England at Westminster, and John Earl of London, Lord Chancellor of Scotland, Archibald Marquis of Arguile John Lord Maytland, John Lord Balmerino, Sir Archibald Johnson, Sir Charles Ask, George Douglas, Sir John Smith, Sir Hough Kennedy, and Master Robert Carly, for the Estates of the Parliament of Scotland, together with Master Alexander Henderson, upon the Propositions concerning Religion, or with any ten or more of them, upon and touching the matters contained in the said Propositions, Answers, and Messages, or any other, according to the manner and agreement therein specified or otherwise as they, or any ten or more of them shall think fit, and to take all the Premises into their serious considerations, and to compose, conclude, and end all Differences arising thereupon, or otherwise as they, or any ten or more of them, in their wisdoms shall think fit; and upon the whole matter to conclude a safe and well-grounded Peace, if they can; and whatsoever they, or any then or more of them shall do in the Premises, we do by these presents ratify and confirm the same. Given at our Court at Oxon, the 28. day of January, one thousand six hundred forty and four, in the 20. year of our Reign. His Majesty's Instructions to the Commissioners at Uxbridge, Concerning the Militia and Ireland. First, concerning Religion. In this the Government of the Church, as is set forth, Sect. 3. Numb. 14. Next concerning the Militia. After Conscience, this is certainly the fittest Subject for a King's quarrel, for without it the Kingly Power is but a shadow, and therefore upon no means to be quitted, but maintained according to the known Laws of the Land; yet to attain to this so much wished peace of all good men, it is in a manner necessary that sufficient and real security be given for performance of what shall be agreed upon, I permit either by leaving strong Towns, or other Military force into the Rebel's possession (until Articles be performed) to give such assurance for performance of Conditions as you shall think necessary for to conclude a Peace, provided always that you take (at least) as great care by sufficient security that Conditions be performed to me. And to make sure that he Peace once set, all things shall return into their ancient channels. Thirdly, for Ireland. I confess they have very specious and proper Arguments to propose this point, the gaining of no Article more conducing to their ends then this: and I have as great reason in honour to take care how to answer this Account; all the world knows the eminent inevitable necessity which caused me to make the Irish Cessation, and there remain yet as strong reasons for the concluding of the Peace, wherefore ye must consent to nothing to hinder me therein, until a clear way be shown me how my Protestant Subjects may probably (at least) defend themselves, and that I shall have no more need to defend my Conscience and Crown from the injuries of this Rebellion. His Majesty's Letter to the Duke of Richmond in pursuance of the said Instructions. Richmond, I thank you for the account you sent me by this Bearer, and have nothing of new to direct you in, but only to remember you, that my going to Westminster is not to be mentioned but upon probable hopes of procuring a Treaty with the Commons, there or thereabouts, and that you mention the security I ask with my coming to West. And I hope I need not remember you to cajole well the Independents and Scots; this Bearer will tell you how well our Western and Northern association go on, to whom I refer you for other things. I rest. Directions for Secretary Nicolas to the same effect. First, for Religion and Church Government I will not go one step further than what is offered by you already. 2. And so for the Militia, more than what ye have already allowed me, but even that you must observe that I must have a nomination of the full half, as if the total number, Scots and all, be thirty, I will name fifteen, yet if they (I mean the English Rebels) will be so base as to admit of ten Scots to twenty English, I am contented to name five Scots and ten English, and so proportionably to any number that shall be agreed upon. 3. And for gaining of particular persons, besides security, I give you power to promise them rewards for performed services, not sparing to engage for places, so they be not of great trust, but as much profit as you will; with this last you are only to acquaint Richmond, Southampton, Culpeper, and Hid. His Majesty's Letter to his Commissioners at Uxbridge, for procuring longer time to conclude the Treaty. Right trusty, etc. Having received from you a particular account of your proceed in the Treaty, and observing thereby, how impossible it is within the days limited to give such full answer to the three Propositions you are now upon, as you might, if upon consideration had of the rest of the Propositions, you could clearly see what fruit such answers will produce, in order to a blessed peace for the present, and the future good and happiness of this Kingdom, we have thought it fit to advise you, that you propose and desire of the Commissioners with whom you treat, that they will procure such further time to be allowed, after the expiration of the twenty days, as may be sufficient for you, upon a full understanding one of another upon the whole, to make such a conclusion, that all our Subjects may reap the benefit good men pray for, deliverance from these bloody distractions, and be united in peace and charity; and if you think fit, you may communicate this our Letter to them: So we bid you hearty farewel. Given at our Court at Oxon. Feb. 13. 1644. Thus by these former passages all wise men may perceive how far the King declared the truth of his intentions, which finding frustrate he speedily sent this Letter to the Queen. His Majesty's Letter to the Queen, March 5th. 1644. Dear Heart, Now is come to pass what I foresaw, the fruitless end (as to a present peace) of this Treaty, but I am still confident, that I shall find very good effects of it; for besides that my Commissioners have offered, to say no more, full measured reason, and the Rebels have stucken rigidly to their Demands, which I dare say had been too much, though they had taken me Prisoner, so that assuredly the breach will light foully upon them. We have likewise at this time discovered, and shall likewise make it evidently appear to the world, that the English Rebels (whether basely or ignorantly will be no great difference) have as much as in them lies, transmitted the command of Ireland from the Crown of England to the Scots, which (besides the reflection it will have upon these Rebels) will clearly show that reformation of the Church is not the chief, much less the only end of the Scotch Rebellion; but it being presumption and not piety so to trust a good cause as not to use all lawful means to maintain it; I have thought of one means more to furnish thee with for my assistance than hitherto thou hast had: it is that I give thee power to promise in my name (to whom thou thinkest most fit) that I will take away all the Penal Laws against the Roman Catholics in England, as soon as God shall enable me to do it; so as by their means or by their favours, I may have so powerful assistance as may deserve so great a favour, and enable me to do it: But if thou ask what I call that assistance, I answer, that when thou knowest what may be done for it, it will be easily seen, if it deserve to be so esteemed. I need not tell thee what secrecy this business requires, yet this I will say, that this is the greatest part of confidence I can express to thee; for it is no thank to trust thee in any thing else but in this, which is the only thing of difference in opinion betwixt us, and yet I know thou wilt make make as good a bargain for me even in this, I trusting thee (though it concern Religion) as if thou wert a Protestant, the visible good of my Affairs so much depending on it; I have so full entrusted this, Bearer Pooly, that I will not say more to thee now, but that herewith I send thee a new cipher, assuring thee that none hath or shall have any Copy of it but myself, to the end thou mayest use it when thou shalt find fit to write any thing which thou wilt judge worthy of thy pains to put in cipher, and to be deciphered by none but me, and so likewise from him to thee, who is eternally thine. The Spring approaching, both sides prepare themselves for action; a great party of the Royalists was trouted by Cromwell at Islip-Bridge, divers of the Commanders taken prisoners: the remainder of the party flying to Bletchtington House, were there besieged and taken; with the same success at Bampton-bush, he took Vaughan and Littleton, and defeated their forces. The King in the mean time marched Northward with his Army, and took the strong and considerable Town of Leicester. Soon after was that dismal Battle at Naseby, where the fate of England was to be determined; the number of both sides were not much unequal, nor the ordering of their Battalia's much unlike; the King's Front was filled with brave Troops of Horse, the Foot stood in the second body, the right Wing was commanded by the Princes Rupert and Maurice, the left by Sir Jacob Ashley; other Commanders of great quality sustaining their parts. The Parliamentarian Foot made a firm body in the midst, the wings were guarded by the Horse, the right wing was commanded by Cromwell, the left wing by Ireton; the Foot (being divided into two bodies) was commanded by Major General Skippon: fortune at the first favoured the Royalists. The Parliaments left wing being routed by Prince Rupert, the commander Ireton wounded, and taken Prisoner; but betwixt the two other Wings the case was different, Cromwell coming on with so great force, that he routed and overthrew the King's left Wing: the Battle seemed in an equal balance, the Wings on both sides being scattered, but after some sharp dispute, the Royalists were routed, their Horse disserting the Foot fled to Leicester; the cumbersome plunder of which place being reputed the occasion of that defeat. The King's Standard and one hundred other Colours were taken, all the Ordnance, the King's Coach, Cabinet Letters, a rich booty of Jewels, a great quantity of Gold and Silver, and almost five thousand prisoners; which may seem the more strange, since on both sides there were not five hundred slain. To proceed, the loss of that day lost the King his Crown; for presently after this, Leicester, Bath, Sherburn, yea, and Bristol itself were yielded up; the Town of Taunton long besieged by Goring was relieved by General Fairfax, who soon after took Tiverton and Dartmouth; and then marching into Cornwall at a place called Torrington gave the Lord Hopton a great overthrow. Cromwell in the mean time took Basin and Winchester, the Devizes and Barcklay were taken by other Commanders, Wodstock by Rainsborough, and Carlisle by the Scots; who marching from thence to besiege Newark, were called back to the relief of their own Country, than almost subdued by the Marquis of Montross, of whom I shall insert the less, having particularised it in his Life. This Marquis at first sided with the Covenanters, participated of their counsels, and was the first man when the Scots invaded England, Anno 1639. that set footing on English Ground; but afterwards detesting their do, he became the most bitter enemy to them that ever they had. About the beginning of the year 1644. when the Scottish Covenanters came into England to assist the Parliament, Montross went to Oxford to the King, to offer his service against the Covenanters in Scotland. The King to fit him forthat, purpose, created him a Marquis, and gave him his Commission, to be Lord Governor of Scotland, and General of all his Forces. Scotland being then wholly under the Covenanters, it was agreed that the Earl of Antrim should by the beginning of April, send over into Argile (where the passage is short into Ireland) ten thousand Irish as a stock to begin withal; this promise at the appointed time Antrim performed in part, but was very deficient in the number of Soldiers; for instead of ten thousand, he sent scarce twelve hundred, under the conduct of Macdonald: Montross notwithstanding with these men, and the addition of his Atholians, patched up an Army, with which he afterwards performed such exploits, as would pose Antiquity amongst all the Camps of their famed Heroes, to find a parallel to this Army. The first Summer after his arrival in Scotland he gave the Earl of Argile a great overthrow; fiteen hundred of his men being slain and taken; afterwards at a place called Kilsithe, having scarce 4000 Highlanders and Irish, he encountered and overthrew the States great Army, slew above five thousand of them, and dispersed the rest: hereupon is their Army sent for, all Scotland being almost at his devotion. Sir David Lesley returned with the Horse, and at Selkirk gave Montross a defeat. The King in the mean time was routed at Routen Heath by Pointz a Commander of the Parliaments Army, the Lord Digby the next month was beaten at Sherburn in Yorkshire, and afterwards utterly defeated at Carlisle, Chester long defended by Byron was yielded up, and Ashley himself the King's General vanquished by Morgan, and taken prisoner with one thousand six hundred of his men. The King had now no Garrisons left but Oxford, Newark, Banbury, Wallingford, Worcester, Ragland, and Pendennis; Newark was straight besieged by Leven, Pointz, and Rossiter, Oxford (wherein the King was himself) began to be blocked up by Ireton and Fleetwood, and every day the coming of Fairfax himself, and a straighter Siege of that City was expected; the King resolved therefore to go out of Oxford before this should happen, and communicating his mind to some secret and faithful Counsellors, above all other places, he pitched upon the Scottish Camp: to the Scots therefore, as they lay before Newark, the King sent Montruel the French Ambassador, and himself soon after, as ashburnham's man, with a Cloak-bag behind him, escaped unknown out of Oxford, and came to Newark, to the Scots, hoping to be received with great humanity by such good Subjects as they boasted themselves to be. But now both Fortune and Fidelity failed the distressed King; the Scots they first betray him and then Pontius Pilate like washed their hands to declare their Innocency. They delivered the King to the English upon Conditions (as they pretended) that no violence should be offered to his Person; the English now having their King a Prisoner, carry him first to Holnbey Castle, then to Roiston, thence to Hatfield, not long after to Causam, then to the Earl of Bedford's House near Ouborn, soon after to Hampton Court, the most stateliest of all his Palaces; but with what content to his dejected mind let others judge, to see his Palace turned into a Prison, and himself to be a Captive, must needs be a sorrow fit for out amazement then expression; for certainly as joy is most sweet to them who have tasted the miseries of sorrow, so sorrow is most bitter to them who have always lived in bliss, as one of our modern Poets sings. The very thought renews the memory, Of my precedent lives felicity; Whereby I know my sorrow is the more, Who hapless now lived happy heretofore. To hurry him out of his right mind he did not long stay at Hampton Court, but by a crafty excuse he was juggled into the Isle of Wight; for a certain Letter was left on the Table, whereby the King was advertised the there were some that laid wait for his life; whereupon being frighted, he privily fled from Hampton Court, leaving a Letter behind him, written with his own hand to the Commissioners to be by them communicated to both Houses of Parliament: in which Letter, after he had discoursed somewhat about Captivity, and the sweetness of Liberty, he ended in these following words. Now as I cannot deny, but that my personal security is the urgent cause of this my retirement; so I take God to witness, that the public Peace is no less before mine eyes. And I can finde no better way to express this my profession, (I know not what a wiser man may do) then by desiring and urging that all chief interests may be heard, to the end each may have just satisfaction: as for example, the Army, (for the rest, though necessary, yet I suppose are not difficult to consent) ought (in my judgement) to enjoy the liberty of their consciences, and have an act of Oblivion, or Indemnity (which should extend to the rest of all my Subjects) and that all their Arrears should be speedily and duly paid; which I will undertake to do, so I may be heard and that I be not hindered from using such lawful and honest means as I shall choose. To conclude, let me be heard with freedom, honour, and safety, and I shall instantly break through this cloud of retirement, and show myself ready to be Pater Patriae. Charles Rex. The King had not been long in the Isle of Wight, but he sends a Letter of great length to the Parliament, in which he delivered his sense and opinion concerning the abolition of Episcopacy, he disputed out of the dictates of his conscience much, and gave touches also of other matters; of all which he hoped that he should satisfy the Parliament with his reasons, if he might personally treat with them; therefore he earnestly desired to be admitted with honour, freedom, and safety, to treat personally at London: the Commissioners of Scotland with great vehemence also pressed that this desire of the King might be granted. But the Parliament pretending tumults and innovations that might arise by the Kings coming to London, which (as they said) was then full of Malignants, sent down four Propositions to him to Sign, which being done he should be admitted to a personal Treaty. The four were these. 1. That a Bill be passed into an act by his Majesty, for settling of the Militia of the Kingdom. 2. That a Bill be passed for his Majesty's calling in of all Declarations, Oaths, and Proclamations against the Parliament, and those who have adhered to them. 3. For passing an Act, that those Lords who were made after the great Seal was carried to Oxford, may be made uncapable of sitting in the House of Peers ever after. 4. That power may be given to the two Houses of Parliament to adjorn, as the two Houses of Parliament should think fit. The Commissioners of Scotland would seem in no wise to give their consent that these four Bills should be sent to the King, before he treated at London; therefore, in a very long Declaration they protested against it: the King likewise denied to Sign them when they were sent unto him. Upon which denial, a Declaration and Votes passed both Houses of Parliament, in this manner. The Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament, after many addresses to his Majesty for the preventing and ending this unnatural War, raised by him against the Parliament and Kingdom, having lately sent four Bills to his Majesty, which did contain only matter of safety, and security to the Parliament and Kingdom, referring the composure of other differences to a personal Treaty with his Majesty; and having received an absolute negative, do hold themselves obliged to use their utmost endeavours, speedily to settle the present Government in such a way, as may bring the greatest security to this Kingdom in the enjoyment of the Laws and Liberties thereof; and in order thereunto, and that the Houses may receive no delay nor interruptions in so great and necessary a work, they have taken their resolutions, and passed these Votes following, viz. Resolved, etc. by the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament, that no application or address to be made to the King by any person whatsoever without leave of both Houses. Resolved, etc. by the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament, that the person or persons, that shall make breach of this order, shall incur the penalty of High Treason. Resolved, etc. That the Lords and Commons do declare, that they will receive no more any message from the King, and do enjoin, that no person whatsoever do presume to receive or bring any message from the King to both or either of the Houses of Parliament, or any other person. To these Votes of Parliament the Army declared their consent and approbation, and that they would live and die in defence of the House of Commons; but the people, though before they were enraged against the King; now seeing their errors, resolved to plead his Cause: Petitions upon Petitions are presented for a personal Treaty with the King, for the disbanding of the Army, and for the removal of all other grievances. Langhorn, Powel, and Poyer, three eminent Commanders, who had done many and great services for the Parliament, now declare themselves for the King; and with an Army of 8000. men fortify Pembroke and Chepstow Castles: Sir Thomas Glemham in the North seizes upon Carlisle, and Sir Marmaduke Langdale upon Barwick and fortified it; the strong Castle also of Pomfret was then taken by the Royalists, and the Governor stain. Against these Sir Thomas Fairfax was marching Northwards, but far greater dangers detained him in the South, for the Kentish men not far from Gravesend were gotten together into an Army; with whom were above twenty Knights, Esquires, and Gentlemen of the Country, and amongst them divers Commanders formerly of the King's Armies: upon the approach of the Parliaments Army some two thousand of them march to Maidstone, which they resolved to make good against the Army. Fairfax (after the dispute of some passages) breaks up to them, and assaults the Town with a great deal of boldness; they on the other side defend themselves with unspeakable courage; at last the Kentish men are overcome, 200. being slain, and about 1400. taken prisoners. But the Earl of Norwich with about 3500. (with much ado) kept together, and got over the River Thames into Essex; whereupon Sir Charles Lucas raises what strength he could possible in that County, to whom joined the Lord Capel, the Lord Loughborough, Sir George Lisle, Sir Bernard Gascoigne, Sir William Compton, with many more Gentlemen and Soldiers, and having first taken the Committee-men at Chelmesford, they marched to Colchester, a Town of great Antiquity; but the people heretofore accounted no great friends to Monarchy, nor the Town of that strength to withstand so enraged and successful an enemy as followed them at the heels. June 12, 1648. they settled themselves a Garrison, the Parliament Horse coming up and quartering within Canon shot of the Town. Touching these proceed I have further enlarged myself in the Life of Sir Charles Lucas. But the greatest of all dangers which threatened the Parliament, was from the North, from the Kingdom of Scotland; Duke Hamilton with an Army of five and twenty thousand entered England for the King, with whom joined Sir Marmaduke Langdale, divers of the chief Ships of the Royal Fleet likewise, much about the same time, revolted from the Parliament, and set their Vice-Admiral Rainsborow ashore, affirming they were for the King, and would serve Prince Charles, sailing towards Holland, where the Prince the was, and with him his Brother the Duke of York, who not long before fled privately out of London. The Earl of Holland also with they young Duke of Buckingham, having five hundred Horse, appeared in Arms for the King by Kingston; so that all things considered, we may conclude that the King's party since the beginning of the Wars was not in a likelier condition, at least more formidible then at this present; but God had otherwise decreed, and all these fair hopes in a few days vanished into nothing, as the following ill successes will declare. The Earl of Holland soon after his rising was put to flight by Sir Michael Levesey and others. The Lord Francis Villers, Brother to the Duke of Bucking ham was slain, and Sir Kenelm Digbies eldest Son, who as he was fight with four at once was cowardly thrust through his Back. Holland flying with the remainder of his Horse was within few days after at the Town of Saint Needs by Colonel Scroop (whom the General Fairfax had sent from Colchester for that purpose) altogether subdued, Holland himself taken, and by the Parliament committed prisoner to Warwick Castle. Langhorn and Powel were totally routed between the two Towns of Fagans and Peterstone, and having lost all their Army, escaped by flight to Colonel Poyer into Pembroke Castle; which after a straight Siege was surrendered to Cromwell, the three Colonels rendering themselves Prisoners at mercy. Poyer only suffered death, who in hopes of a Reprieve, dissembled a reluctancy when he was ready to die. Cromwell from thence marched against the Scots who were now come as far as Preston in Lancashire, and with the addition of Lambert's strength, gave Battle to Hamilton, (pursuing them as far as Warington, about twenty miles) and killing many in the Chase, took Lieutenant General Bailey Prisoner, with a great part of the Scottish Army, granting them only quarter for their lives. In this Battle were slain three thousand Scots, and taken Prisoners about nine thousand: Duke Hamilton himself within few days after, having fled with a good party of Horse to Vttoxeter, was there taken prisoner by the Lord Grace, and Colonel Wait. With Hamilton were taken about three thousand Horse Langdale also not long after was taken prisoner in a little Village by Widmerpole a Parliament Captain; this was the success of hamilton's invading England. The Trophies of this Victory were placed in Westminster Hall. Soon after was the strong Town of Colchester surrendered to General Fairfax, which for three months together with much Resolution and Gallantry was defended by Sir Charles Lucas, Norwich, Capel, etc. until all hopes they had of relief were utterly blasted, and all their provisions quite spent; not so much as a Dog or a Cat left them to satisfy the necessity of Nature. Sir Charles Lucas and Sir George Lisel were shot to death the same day the Town was surrendered; the Earl of Norwich, Lord Capel, and Master Hasting (Brother to the Earl of Huntingdon) were sent Prisoners to London. The Lord Capel some few weeks after, together with Duke Hamilton, and the Earl of Holland were all three beheaded. The Parliament during these Broils, to give some seeming satisfaction to the Kingdom, annulled their former votes of making no further addresses to the King, and restored again to their seats eleven of their Members, who had formerly been impeached by the Army: a Treaty was voted to be with the King in the Isle of Wight, the Earl of Middlesex, with two of the House of Commons were sent to the King, who made answer, that he was very ready to treat of peace; and named Newport in that Island to be the place. Five of the House of Peers, and ten of the House of Commons were appointed Commissioners, and the Treaty went on with a great deal of seeming satisfaction on both sides. But whiles they were intent upon the business, a Petition was exhibited to the Parliament, wherein they desired that the King might be tried by the Laws, and brought to justice, and all further Treaties with him to be laid aside; which when the Parliament denied, the Army not being satisfied, they march some of them towards Newport, others to the King, who was now a Prisoner as large. In the mean time the General sends his Letters to Colonel Hammond, to render up his Command to Colonel Ewers, who is to take the charge of the King; but the Parliament vote him hereupon to stay there, of which the General having notice 27. November. The Army fast and pray, and receive (according to the still continued fashion) Petitions from several Counties in order to what they intent to resolve, and therefore Hammond submits and delivers up the King to Ewers, and comes towards the Army. The Parliament are angry, and vote a Letter to the General, that his orders and instructions for securing of the King's person, are contrary to their resolutions and instructions to Colonel Hammond, and that it is the pleasure of the House that his Excellency recall his orders, and that Colonel Hammond be free to take his charge to the Isle of Wight; the Treaty being ended, but instead of obedience hereto he salutes them with a sharp Letter for money to pay Arrears for the Army: hereupon the Army marches to London, and the King had his removes by Ewers till he came to the Block. After that the House had past their Vote for no address to the King, he being in a sad condition by his stricter condition in Hurst Castle, hearing of these Votes, prepares his soliloquies for his assured comfort in death, as we find his meditations in those golden Leaves of his Book. As I have leisure (says he) so I have cause more then enough to meditate on and prepare for my death; for I know that there are but a few steps betwixt the Prisons and the Graves of Princes. Now the Axe was laid to the root of the Tree, the House of Commons vote that by the Fundamental Laws of the Realm, it is Treason for the time to come to Levy War against the Parliament and Kingdom; the Ordinance for the King's Trial was refused by the Lords, January 2. After this a Proclamation was from the House of Commons for any one to accuse the King, the Ordinance of the Trial was January 6. engrossed and read, and the manner referred to the Commissioners who were to try him in the Painted Chamber, Monday the 8. of January, a Proclamation resolved to be made in Westminster Hall, the Commissioners to sit the next day, to which intent Mr. Denby the younger, a Sergeant at Arms to the Commissioners, rid into the Hall, the Drums of the Guard beating without the Palace, and in like manner at the Old Exchange, and in Cheapside, Jan. 9 The Commons Vote the Title in Writs of Caroli dei gratia, etc. to be altered, that great Seal be broken, and ordered a new one, with the Arms of England, and the Harp for Ireland, with this word, The great Seal of England; and on the reverse the Picture of the House of Commons, with these words, In the first year of Freedom by God's Blessing, 1648. Now there was a new Tribunal erected, there being appointed 150 Judges or Tryers, that so in number they might represent the people who are improved to covenant, hear, Judge, and Execute Charles Stuart King of England; of these there were of several sorts of persons, six Earls of the upper House, the Judges of the Kingdom, Commanders of the Army, Members of the Commons, Lawyers, men of several Trades and Professions. The Presbyterian Ministers, now too late, disclaim against the prosecutions, and the English Nobility offer themselves pledges on the the King's behalf, but all too late; and now the penitent Scots with their predecessor repent themselves of their Silver, and in a Declaration express their dislike. The High Court of Justice was framed in the upper end of Westminster Hall betwixt the than King's Bench and the Chancery. Saturday, Jan. 20. the King was brought from St. James through the Park in a Sedan to White Hall, thence by Water with guards to Sir John Cottons House, at the back end of Westminster Hall. The Judges met in the Painted Chamber attending the Precedent Bradshaw in his Scarlet Robe, the Sword born before him by Colonel Humphrey, the Mace by Sergeant Denby the younger, and twenty men for his guard with Partisans, himself sits down in a Crimson Velvet Chair of State, fixed in the midst of the Court with a Desk before him, and thereon a Cushion of Crimson Velvet; the seats of each side, benches covered with Scarlet Cloth; the Partisans divided themselves on each side. O yes! and silence made, the great Gate of the Hall was opened for any one to enter. Colonel Tomson brought forth the Prisoner, the Sergeant with his Mace received him to the Bar, where was placed a red Velvet Chair; the King looks sternly on the Court, where he spies one person who had received signal favours from him; at the sight of whom, as I received it from one in the Court, he laid his hand on his breast, and pronounced to himself scarce audibly, Caesar's words, Et tu Brute: after which he sat down, not showing the least regard to the Court, but presently rises and looks downwards on the guards and multitudes of the spectators. The Act of parliament for the Trial of Charles Stuart King of England, was read over by the Clerk, one Phelps, who sat on the right side of the Table, covered with a Turkey Carpet, placed at the feet of the Precedent, upon which lay the Sword and Mace. The several names of the Rolls of Tryers were called over, and eighty answered to their names, in the charge the King is accused in the name of the People of England of Treason, Tyranny, and of all the Murders and Rapines that had happened in the War, they imposed all the weight of the accusation on this, that he raised War against the Parliament. A great many people looking on with groans and sights, deploring the condition of their King. The Precedent stood up and said, Sir you have heard your Charge containing such matters as appear by it, and in the close it is prayed that you answer to your Charge which this Court expects. The King whilst he heard this Charge, with a majestic countenance and a smile in answer to the Precedent, asks the new judges by what Auhority they did bring to Trial a King, their most lawful Sovereign against the Public Faith, so lately given him, when he commenced a Treaty with the Members of both Houses. By what (saith he) emphatically lawful Authority; for (saith he) I am not ignorant that there are on foot every where every man's unlawful powers, as of Thiefs and Robbers in the High Way, he bids them only declare by what authority they had arrogated this whatsoever power to themselves, and he would willingly answer to the things objected; which if they could not, he advised them to avert the grievous crimes from their own heads and the kingdom; whatsoever they did, he resolved not to betray the charge committed to him by God, and confirmed by ancient descent, The Precedent rejoins that he was called to an account by authority of the people of England, by whose election he was admitted King. The king replied the Kingdom descended to him in no wise elective, but hereditary above a thousand years, that he stood more apparently for the Liberties of the People of England, by refusing as unlawful and arbitrary authority, than the Judges or any other asserting it. That the authority and power of the people was showed in Parliamentary Assemblies, but that here appeared none of the Lords; who to the constituting of a Parliament ought to be there, and which is more, some King ought to be present, but that neither the one nor the other, nor both the Parliament Houses, nor any other judicature on earth had any authority to call the King of England to an account, much less some certain Judges chosen only by his Accusers, masked with the authority of the Lower House and the same proculated. Howbeit he willed them again that they would at least produce this their Authority, and he would not be wanting to his defence, forasmuch is was the same offence with him to acknowledge a Tyrannical Power, as to resist a lawful one. The precedent often interrupting the King's Speech, told him that they were satisfied with the●r authority, as it is upon on God's authority, and the kingdom, in doing justice in this their present work. The Monday after the Court met in the Painted Chamber, where it was resolved that the king should not be suffered to argue the Courts Jurisdiction, but that the Precedent should tell him that the Commons in Parliament had constituted that Court, whose power was not to be disputed; that if he refuse to answer, it shall be accounted a contumacy to the Court; that if he answer with a Salvo, his pretended Prerogative above the Court, he shall be required to answer positively yea or no; that he shall have a copy of his Charge till he own the Court, and declare his intentions to answer on his second Trial. Solicitor Cook moves that the Prisoner may make a positive answer, or that the Charge may be taken pro Confesso, and the Court ot proceed to Justice. The Precedent repeats in brief the passages of the last day, and commands the King to answer to the Articles of the Charge, unless he had rather hear the Capital Sentence against him. The king persists to interrogate concerning the Cause, and says. That he less regards his life then his Honour, his Conscience, the Laws, the Liberties of the people, all which that they should not perish together; there were weighty reasons why he should not prosecute his defence before the Judges, and acknowledge a new form of Judicature; for what power had ever Judges to erect a Judicature against the King; or by what Law was it granted, sure not by God's Law, which on the contrary commands obedience to Princes; nor by Man's Laws, the Laws of our Land, sigh the Laws of England enjoin all Accusations to be read in the King's Name, nor do they indulge any power, of judging the most abject Subject to the Lower (or Commons House) neither lastly their Power flow from any Authority (which might be pretended) extraordinary delegated from the people, seeing ye have not asked so much as every tenth man in this matter. The Precedent interrupting his Speech, rebukes the Kings, and bids him be mindful of his doom, affirming once more, that the Court was abundantly satisfied of their Authority, nor was the Court to hear any reasons that should detract from their power. But what (says the King) or where in all the world is that Court in which no place is left for reason. Yes, (answered the Precedent) you shall find Sir; that this very Court is such a one. But (the King presses) that they would at least permit him to exhibit his reasons in writing, which if they could satisfactorily answer, he would yield himself to their Jurisdiction. Here the Precedent not content to deny, grew into anger, demanding the Prisoner to be taken away. The King replied no more to these things then; Remember (says he) this is your King, from whom you turn away your ear, in vain certainly will my Subjects expect Justice from you who stop your ears to your King who is ready to plead his Cause. The Saturday after the 27. of January before they assembled, sixty eight of the Tryers answered to their names. The Precedent in a Scarlet Robe, and as the King Came, the Soldiers cried out for Execution of Justice. The King speaks first, and desires to be heard a word or two, but short, and yet wherein he hopes not to give just occasion wherein to be interrupted, and goes on. A sudden Judgement (says the King) is not so soon recalled. But he is sharply reproved of contumacy. The Precedent profusely praises the patience of the Court, and commands him now at length to submit, otherwise he shall hear the sentence of of death resolved upon by the Court against him. The King still refuses to plead his Cause before them, but that he had some things conducible to the good of his people, and the peace of the Kingdom, which he desires liberty to deliver before the Members of both Houses. But the Precedent would not vouchsafe him so much as this favour, lest it should tend (he said) to the delay and retardation of Justice. To which the King replies, It were better to sustain a little delay of a day or two, then to precipitate a Sentence which will bring perpetual Tragedies upon the Kingdom, and miseries to Children unborn. If (says he) I sought occasion of delay, I would have made a more elabourate contestation of the Cause which might have served to protract the time, and evade (at least the while) a most ugly sentence; but I will show myself a defender of the Laws, and of the Right of my Country, as to choose rather to die for them, the Martyr of my People, then by prostituting of them to an arbitrary power go about to acquire any manner of liberty for myself, but I therefore request this short liberty of speaking before a cruel Sentence be given; for that I well know, 'tis harder to be recalled then prevented; and therefore I desire that I may withdraw, and you consider. They all withdraw, the King into Cottons House, and the Tryers into the Court of Wards, and in half an hour return. The Precedent as he had begun, so he proceeds into a premeditated Speech to hasten Sentence; which the King offers reason to forbear, whilst he might be heard before his Parliament, and this he requires as they will answer it at the dreadful day of Judgement, and to consider it once again. But not prevailing, the Precedent goes on; wherein he aggravates the Contumacy of the King, and the hatefulness of the cimes, he asserts Parliamentary Authority, producing Examples both Domestic and Foreign, etc. his Treasons he styles a breach of Trust to the Kingdom, as his Superior, and is therefore called to an account minimus majorum in Judicium vocat; his murders are many; all those that have been committed in all the War betwixt him and his people are laid to his charge, all the innocent blood which cannot be cleansed, but by the blood of him that shed the blood. So then for Tyranny, Treason, Murder, and many other crimes, he wishes the King to have God before his eyes, and that the Court calls God to witness, that merely their Conscience of Duty brings them to that place of this employment, and calls for God's assistance in his Execution. The King offered to speak to these great Imputations in the Charge; but he was told that his time was past, the Sentence was coming on, which the Precedent commanded to be read under this form. Whereas the Commons of England have appointed them an High Court of Justice for the Trial of Charles Stuart King of England, before whom he hath been three times convented; and at the first time a Charge of High Treason and other Crimes and Misdemeanours, were read in the behalf of the Kingdom of England, etc. To which Charge he the said Charles Stuart was required to give his answer: and so expressed several passages at his Trial in refusing to answer, for all which Treasons and Crimes the Court doth adjudge that the said Charles Stuart, as a Tyrant, Traitor, Murderer, and Public Enemy shall be put to death, by the severing his Head from his Body. This Sentence (says the Precedent) now read and published, is the Act, Sentence, Judgement, and Resolution of the whole Court, to which the Members of the Court stood up, and assented to what he said by holding up their hands. The King offered to speak, but he was instantly commanded to be taken away, and the Court broke up. After the Sentence the King was hurried away, mocked and reviled by the Soldiers, they puffed their Tobacco in his face, no smell being more offensive to his father and him: such as saluted him they bastinadoed; one that did but sigh, God have mercy, they caneed; they intrude almost into his Closet, hardly permitting him his private Devotions. Sir Hardress Waller, Colonel Harrison, Colonel Dean, Commissary General Ireton are to consider of the time and place of his Execution, and in the Painted Chamber Monday January 29. the Precedent and Judges met, and within the Committee resolve, that in the open street before White Hall (his own House) is the fittest place; that the King be there executed to morrow Tuesday between ten and two of the Clock, upon a Scaffold covered with black, next to the Banqueting House, where he was wont to ascend his Throne. It was supposed the King would not submit his neck to the Enemy's Axe, and therefore it was so provided with staples and cords that he should not resist. January 27. the King lodged at White Hall, the next day Sunday the Bishop of London preached before him. Afterwards his children had leave to visit him, his children being come to him, he first gave his blessing to the Lady Elizabeth, and bade her to tell her Brother James when soever she should see him, that it was his Father's last command that he should no more look upon Charles as his eldest Brother only, but be obedient to him as his Sovereign; that they should love one another and forgive their Father's Enemies. Then said the King to her. Sweet Heart you'll forget this, no (said she) I shall never forget it whilst I live, and pouring down abundance of tears promised him to write the Particulars. Then the King taking the Duke of Gloucester upon his knee said, Now they will cut off thy Father's head, (upon which the child looked very steadfastly on him) Mark Child what I say, they will cut off my head, and perhaps make thee a King. But mark what I say, You must not be King so long as your Brother Charles and James do live, for they will cut off your Brother's heads (when they can catch them) and cut off thy head too at last; therefore I charge thee do not be made a King by them, at which the Child sighing said, I will be torn in pieces first, at which the King smiled. The fatal day appeared, Tuesday 30. January, when he prays and receives the Sacrament, just at ten of the Clock in the forenoon he is called to come forth from St. James' Palace then his Prison, to go on foot over the Park to White Hall, guarded with a Regiment of Foot Soldiers, part before and the rest behind him, with Colours flying and Drums beating, his private Guard of Partisans about him, and Doctor Juxon Bishop of London next to him on one side, and Colonel Thomlinson on the other. Ascending the stairs up to the Park Gallery into his Cabinet Chamber, he continued there at his devotion, and refused to dine, only about twelve of the Clock, he eat a bit of bread, and drank a Glass of Claret-wine; from thence he was conveyed into the Banqueting House, and the great Window enlarged, out of which he ascends the Scaffold: the Rails being hung round, and the floor covered with Black; the Executioners disguised with vizards encountering him, he not affrighted shows more care of the people living, then fear of his own dying; for looking round about upon the people, whom the thick set Guards and Troops of Horse kept a great distance off, and seeing he could not be heard by them, omitting probably what he purposed to have spoken to them, turning to the Officers and Actors, but rather to Colonel Thomlinson he said. I would now speak nothing unto you in this place were it not that some men would interpret my silence as an argument of guilt, and think that I took on me the crimes objected with the same conscience as I submit to the punishment with patience. I call God to witness of my innocency, (before whose Tribunal I must shortly appear) it never entered into my thoughts to entrench on the just privileges of Parliament, and that I raised not any Army before such time as they had raised hostile forces against me, which from the order of proceed on both sides, and dates of Commissions and Proclamations will be clearly manifested to the inquirer. Mean while I acknowledge, and submisly own God's Justice, which this day (by an unjust sentence of mine) he hath inflicted a just judgement on me, for as much as heretofore I would not quit an innocent man, (meaning the Deputy of Ireland) when oppressed by a most unjust decree. With what Charity I embrace my enraged enemies, this good man is my witness, (pointing to the Bishop of London) I pardon them all from my very heart, and I earnestly beseech the God of all mercies, that he would vouchsafe to grant them serious repentance, and remit this great sin. Yet I cannot to my last gasp, but be solicitous of the peace of my kingdom, which I am not able at the present better co consult for, then by chalking out the way, from which you of the soldiery have exceedingly deviated, and by which we must return to sobriety and peace. Herein I perceive, you are most miserably out of the way, in that by the rule of the Sword without all, even a shadow of right you think good to wrest the government to yourselves, and endeavour to establish the Kingdom, not by the authority of the Laws, but upon the score of Conquest? which can never have any accruit of right, unless adhered in by a just Cause and Triumph of War; namely, either by the repulsing of wrongs, of recovering of rights unjustly detained. But if more prosperous success shall advance the victor, beyond the modest bounds of just and lawful, nought hinders, but that the Kingdoms that are erected, both be, and be accounted great robberies, which we read heretofore, a Pirate objected to Alexander. But being out of the way (as you are) can you by no other expedient return into the the right ways of peace, by no other counsel (believe me) can you hope to divert God's wrath, then by restoring to God, the King, the people, respectively such things as are their deuce. You shall give God his due by restoring his pure worship, and Church rightly regulated, according to the prescript of his holy word, which hath long since been miserably convulst and disjointed. And this a national Synod duly called, will best effectuate, to the King, (namely my successor) you will render full right, if you restore those things which by the clear Letter of the Law stands expressed. Lastly you will put the people in their rights and due liberties, not by lifting them in the consort of the Throne, and sway of the Sceptre, but by recovering unto the Laws there Authority, and the people's observance to the abrogating of which by the enormous power of the Sword, when as by no means I could be induced, I was brought hither to undergo Martyrdom for my people. So his last breath gently dissolving into a most meek prayer, the Bishop of London said to him (thus) If his most excellent Majesty pleased he would openly profess what he thought touching his Religion, not that any one alive could suspect it, of which himself at all times throughont the whole space of his life had given manifest testimonies. Whereupon (says the King) that he deposited the testimony of his faith, which this holy man (meaning the Bishop) or else expected defence in this behalf of all men, who well knew his life and profession, namely, that I die, (said he) in the Christion Faith, according to the profession of the Church of England, as the same was left me by my Father of blessed memory. Then looking about upon the Officers, having (says he) a most gracious God, and a most just cause, that I shall by and by change this corruptible Crown for an immortal one; I both trust and rejoice, that I shall departed hence into another Kingdom altogether exempt from all manner of disturbance. Then preparing towards the Circumstances, the Bishop putting on his Night cap, and unclothed him to his Sky-colour Satin Waistcoat; he said, I have a good cause, and a gracious God, and gave his George Order to the Bishop, bidding him to give it to the Prince. There is but one stage more, (says the Bishop) this is turbulent and troublesome, and but a short one, but it will soon dismiss into a way further, even from Earth to Heaven, there you are assured of joy and comfort. I go (says the King) from a corruptible to an incorruptible Crown, where no disturbance can be, but peace and joy for evermore. Then lifting up his eyes and hands to heaven, mildly praying to himself, he stooped down to the Block as to a prayer-desk, and most humbly bowed down his generous Neck, to God, to be cut off by the vizarded Executioner, which was suddenly done at one blow. Thus fell Charles, and thus all Regal Power with him. His Body was buried at Windsor for to render him the more odious in the Vault with Henry the Eighth. His Effigies at the Old Exchange being pulled down, with this Inscription placed there, Sic exit ultimus Tyrannus. His own and his Father's Statue being not long before thrown down from the West end of Paul's. A late worthy Historian writes, that though there were many excellent ones written on him, yet the King himself was his own best Epitaph, as his Reign and death makes as full and as perfect a story of goodness and glory as earth could suffer; so his Christian virtues deserve as faithful a Register as earth can keep. I shall conclude with one of our Modern Poets. Crowns have their compass, length of days their dates, But time puts periods both to Crowns and States. This Epitaph came to my hands which I have here inserted. Within this sacred Vault doth lie The Quintessence of Majesty; Which being set, more glorious shines; The best of Kings, best of Divines; Britain's shame, and Britain's Glory, Mirror of Princes, complete Story Of Royalty, one so exact, That th' Elixirs of praise detract: These are fair shadows; but t' endure, He's drawn to th' life in's Portraiture. If such another Piece you'd see. Angel's must limn it out, or he. Master Lily in his Monarchy or no Monarchy says, that some affirm that several Prodigies appeared before his death: all he observed for a long time before, was, that there appeared almost every year several Mock-suns, sometimes two, sometimes three; so also Mock-moons, or Paracelenes, which were the greatest he ever observed or feared. The Life of the Lord CAPEL. THis honourable Person, though he was not like some of our other Worthies, crowned with the Successes and Laurels of War; yet is he no less to be eternised for his endeavours, his animosity, constancy, and perseverance, to the parting first with his Estate, sequestered for his Loyalty, and aterwards with his Life; so that he might rightly be termed The Flower of English Fidelity, his name ever to be honourably mentioned, according to that of the Psalmist, Psal. 112.6. The righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance. He was Son and Heir to Sir Arthur Capel of Hadham-hall in Hertfordshire, a Gentleman of a great estate, one who followed the old Mode of our Nation, kept a bountiful house, and shown forth his faith by his works; extending his Charity in such abundant manner to the poor, that he was bread to the hungry, drink to the thirsty, eyes to the blind, and legs to the lame, and might justly be styled Great Almoner to the King of Kings. Concerning the Humility of this worthy Knight, (though it be too sudden a diversion) I shall presume to insert a story which I have heard delivered by some well acquainted with his worship; That be being set at his gate all alone, in a plain but decent habit, a Servingman who had plumed himself with his Masters cast feathers came riding to him, and asked him if Sir Arthur Capel were within; Sir, replied the Knight, he was there not long ago, and if you please to walk in you may hear further of his servants: Old Father said the Servingman, here take my Horse and first money he ever received in that kind; Sir Arthur agreed to the motion, and with a smile received from him a single penny, took his Horse and walked him, whilst the finical spruce Servingman strutted with convenient boldness into the house: but being informed by the Servants that their Master was at the Gate, he replying to the contrary, one of them to justify their words, went with him to the Gate to see, where they found Sir Arthur very industrious in his employment; the Servingman very much ashamed of his mistake, craved pardon, and with humble obeisance, with his Hat in his hand, with many cringes, would have received the Horse from the Knight; Nay stay, says Sir Arthur, you paid me my hire, get up as soon as you will, I am resolved to see you on Horseback. The old Knight putting his hand into his purse gave him half a piece, which he said was for his taking so much care of his Master's Horse, being purposely thus liberal to encourage his own Servants to imitate his careful example. But to return to his Son, he was very well educated, attained to some perfection in learning, he had a good expression, and elegant stile, as his own Letters hest delineate. His Father dying, as he inherited his Estate, so did he his virtues; his pious bounty appearing so conspicuous, that some envious persons who hate good works in others, because they will do none themselves, have maliciously aspersed him for an inclination to Popery. But as such aspersions amongst persons of understanding speak nothing but the speakers malice, so wrought it in others a deserved commendation of this of our late Noble inimitable Lord more especially, that in these last times when Charity lies bedrid, and faith only so much talked on, whereas he made his Faith publicly known by his Works. From the degree of Knight he was by King Charles advanced to be Baron of Hadham. As it may be computed about that time the Earl of Strafford received his Trial, this unfortunate Lord amongst others, being one that gave his fatal Vote for the passing that Bill. In those great differences betwixt the King and Parliament, he constantly and faithfully adhered to his Majesty, contributing very much to his aid, both in purse and person: and at such time as the King was secured in the Isle of Wight, some hopes being given of his restauration to his former dignity by the coming in of Duke Hamilton with a potent Army; as also of Langhorns, powel's, and Poyers declaring themselves for his Majesty, together with the rising of the Countries in several places to the same unhappy purpose; he with a selected number of his friends, associates, and servants, joined himself with the Lord Goring, Sir Charles Lucas and others, who with a great Party were up in Arms in Essex: and having valiantly defended Colchester for the space of three months, against a potent enemy sated with success, were at length (as I have already discoursed in the Life of Sir Charles Lucas) for want of provision forced to yield both it and themselves, the superior Officers to mercy, the common Soldiers with the loss of their flying Garments, the Townsmen to pay the mulct of fourteen thousand pounds, which was above a thousand pounds a month for the time that they held out the Siege. And for the Articles of agreement which the Cavaliers had made with General Fairfax, they could not but imagine that they had ascertained their lives; yet notwithstanding upon their surrender (as hath been mentioned) Sir Charles Lucas and Sir George Lisle were shot to death; which to all discerning men must needs seem strange and unusual, though the General in his Letter to the Parliament calls it Military Execution; upon which the House debated and sent to the General to explain his Letter of the 29. of September. His head Quarters were then at Saint Albans, from whence they had this answer, That the General doth not take upon him to conclude; but waving the business, leaves them to the Civil Power, and so in effect to Trial for life. The Lord Capel and divers others were committed to the Tower, where whilst he remained he endeavoured an escape, and had effected it, had he not been betrayed by a second Banister, a Waterman whom the Noble Lord entrusted himself with, who ignominiously for the lucre of a little money discovered him; not long after this his misfortune, this honourable Lord, together with the Earl of Holland, Duke Hamilton, the Earl of Norwich, and Sir John Owen, was brought to a Trial before a High Court of Justice in Westminster Hall; where (for the brevity to omit the particulars) after a formal Trial, they were all condemned: the Earl of Norwich, and the undaunted Welshman Sir John Owen, (whom they made march on Foot to his Trial) were reprieved. It hath been reported that the Earl of Norwich who was ever pleasantly conceited, was sent to by a dear friend of his the day after his Reprieve, to know what he conceived, as concerning the danger of his condition; who returned this answer, That he thought in all haste to have put off his Doublet, but now he had leisure to unhook his Breeches. But to return to our enterprise, to furnish this Landscape rather than History of this honourable person, concerning his deportment before and after the time of his condemnation, when he was to encounter and look grim death in the face; by way of introduction to a larger discovery of his Christian fortitude, I shall set down the Copy of a Letter written by a reverend Doctor, who knew the passages thereof as may be clearly perceived by the tenor of it. SIR, I hope this paper will find you upon recovery, you have my daily and hearty prayers for it, not so much for your own sake (for I doubt not but it would be much better for you, in regard of yourself, to be dissolved and to be with Christ) but in the behalf of the Church, your Friends, and poor Family; to which notwithstanding be assured, God will be merciful, howsoever he disposeth of you, either for this life, or for a better. But if you live, (as I pray and hope you will) you shall do very well to write the Life and Death of that noble Lord and blessed Martyr, who professed at his death. That he died for the fifth Commandment: and to die in the defence, and for the Testimony of any Divine truth, is truly and properly to be a Martyr. That which I can contribute towards this work, is, to communicate some few observations I made of him, and from him, before and after his condemnation. I was several times with him, and always found him in a very cheerful and well composed temper of mind, proceeding from true Christiun grounds, and not from a Roman resolution only; (as his enemies are pleased to speak of him) he told me often, it was the good God he served and the good Cause he had served for, that made him not to fear heath: adding, he had never had the temptation of so much as a thought to check him for his engagement in this quarrel, for he took it for his Crown and Glory, and wished he had a greater ability and better fortune to engage in it. After his condemnation, and the afternoon before his suffering, we were a great while in private together; when, bewailing with that sense which became a true (and not despairing) penitent, the sins of his life past, the greatest he could remember, was his voting my Lord of strafford's death; which though (as he said) he did without any malice at all, yet he confessed it to be a very great sin, and that he had done it out of a base fear (they were his own words) of a prevailing party; adding, that he had very often and very hearty repent of it, and was confident of God's pardon for it. Then he told me, he had a great desire to receive the Blessed Sacrament (so he called it) before he died the next morning: ask what Divine of the King's party I would recommend to him; I replied, that (though many were more worthy, yet) none would be more willing to do that service then myself; which he accepting very kindly, told me he durst not desire it, for fear it might be some danger to me. After this, and some conference in order to his preparation, both for his viaticum and his voyage, the Sacrament and his death; he desired me to pray with him, which after I had performed, and promised to be with him by seven the next morning, I left him for that time to his own devotions. The next day I was there at the time assigned, and after some short conference in order to the present occasion, he desired me to hear him pray; which he did for half an hour in an excellent method, very apt expressions, and most strong, hearty, and passionate affections. First, confessing and bewailing his sins with strong cries and tears: then humbly and most earnestly desiring God's mercy, through the merits of Christ only. Secondly for his dear Wife and Children, with some passion; but for her especially with most ardent affections: recommending them to the Divine Providence with great confidence and assurance; and desiring for them rather the blessings of a better life, then of this. Thirdly, for the King, Church, and State. And lastly, for his enemies, with almost the same ardour and affection. After this, sending for my Lord of Norwich and Sir John Owen, I read the whole Office of the Church for Good Friday: and then, after a short Homily I used for the present occasion, we received the Sacrament, in which action he behaved himself with great Humility, Zeal, and Devotion. And being demanded after we had done, how he found himself, he replied, very much better, stronger, and chearfuller for that Heavenly repast; and that he doubted not to walk like a Christian through the vale of death, in the strength of it. But he was to have an Agony before his Passion, and that was the parting with his Wife, eldest Son, Son-in-law, two of his Uncles, and Sir T. C. especially the parting with his most dear Lady, which indeed was the saddest spectacle that ever I beheld. In which occasion he could not choose but confess a little of humane frailty; yet even then he did not forget both to comfort and counsel her, and the rest of his friends, particularly in blessing the young Lord, he commanded him never to revenge his death, though it should be in his power: the like he said unto his Lady. He told his Son he would leave him a Legacy out of David's Psalms, and that was this, Lord lead me in a plain path. For Boy, (saith he) I would have you a plain honest man, and hate dissimulation. After this with much ado, I persuaded his Wife, and the rest to be gone; and then being all alone with me, he said, Doctor, The hardest part of my work in this world is now past, meaning the parting with his Wife. Then he desired me to pray preparatively to his death, that in the last action he might so behave himself, as might be most for God's glory, for the endearing of his dead Master's memory, his present Master's service, and that he might avoid the doing or saying of any thing, which might savour either of ambition or vanity. This being done, they were all carried to Sir Robert Cotton's house, where I was with him, till he was called unto the Scaffold, and would have gone up with him, but the Guard of Soldiers would not suffer me. The same day he suffered, he writ this following Letter to his Wife. My dearest life, My eternal life is in Christ Jesus, my worldly considerations in the highest degree thou hast deserved, let me live long here in thy dear memory, to the comfort of my Family, our dear Children, whom God out of mercy in Christ hath bestowed upon us. I beseech thee, take care of thy health, sorrow not, afflict not thyself too much; God will be unto thee better than an Husband, and to my Children better than a Father. I am sure, he is able to be so; I am confident, he is graciously pleased to be so. God be with thee, my most virtuous Wife, God multiply many comforts to thee, and my Children, is the fervent prayer of Thy, etc. March the 9 1648. was the day appointed for his beheading, as also of Duke Hamilton, and the Earl of Holland. A Scaffold being erected in the new Palace-yard at Westminster, over against the great Hall Gate. The first that mounted the same was Duke Hamilton, attended with Doctor Sibbald; who after much delay, and many impertinent discourses, hoping as it was thought for a politic Reprieve: but none coming, he submitted his neck to the Axe; upon whom an unlucky Wit writing his Epitaph, thus descants. A politition, yet a fool, A teacher, and yet went to School, A Hempen cord of silken twist, A Papist yet a Calvanist, A mere OGYGES, yet a stranger To prudence, that foresees a danger; Here lies (he's but to Scotland gone, No worse Hell) 'tis Hamilton. The next that entered the lists of death was the Earl of Holland, one whose oft changing from side to side had made him less acceptable in the eyes of the people, though the disposition of affairs altering their postures so often, may in part plead his excuse; no doubt he was real in his last undertaking. He came to the Scaffold attended on by Mr. Bolton, & having made a long speech to the people, of his honest intentions for the good of the Kingdom, and desiring of God that it would please him, the people might look upon the posterity of the King, and that they might be called in again, after many fervent prayers he had his head severed from his body: upon whom our forementioned Poet thus Satirically goes on. By Venus' self beneath this stone Lies Holland that spruce Earl, His carcase here, his head is gone To Bridget his brave Girl, Who makes it her memento mori While she lies close to Captain Pory. Last of all our honoured Hero mounted the Scaffold, to court grim death with an undaunted brow; he came not as the two-former attended with a Minister, having before prepared his way for death. Coming to the front of the Scaffold he said as followeth. The conclusion that I made with those that sent me hither, and are the cause of this violent death of mine, shall be the beginning of what I shall say to you, when I made an address to them (which was the last) I told them with much sincerity, that I would pray to the God of all mercies, that they might be partakers of his inestimable and boundless mercies in Jesus Christ; and truly, I still pray that prayer, and I beseech the God of Heaven, forgive any injury they have done to me, from my soul I wish it, and truly this I tell you, as a Christian, to let you see I am a Christian; but it is necessary that I should tell you somewhat more, That I am a Protestant, and truly I am a Protestant, and very much in love with the profession of it, after the manner as it was established in England by the thirty nine Articles; a blessed way of profession, and such a one, as truly I never knew none so good: I am so far from being a Papist, which some have very unworthily charged me withal that truly, I profess to you, that though I love good works, and commend good works, yet I hold, they have nothing at all to do in the matter of Salvation: my Anchor hold is this, That Christ loved me, and gave himself for me, that is that I rest upon! And truly something I shall say to you as a Citizen of the whole world, and in that consideration I am here condemned to die, contrary to the Law that governs all the world; that is, the Law of the Sword: I had the protection of that for my life, and the honour of it; but I will not trouble you much with this discourse, because in another place I have spoken very largely and liberally of it. I believe you will hear by other means what arguments I used in that case: but truly, that that is a stranger, you that are English men, behold here an English man now before you, and acknowledged a Peer, not condemned to die by any Law of England, not by any Law of England; nay, shall I tell you more (which is strangest of all) contrary to all the Laws of England that I know of. And truly, I will tell you, in the matter of the civil part of my death, and the cause that I have maintained, I die (I take it) for maintaining the Fifth Commandment, enjoined by God himself, which enjoins Reverence and Obedience to Parents. All Divines on all hands, though they contradict one another in many several opinions, yet most Divines do acknowledge that here is intended Magistracy and Order; and certainly I have obeyed that Magistracy and that Order under which I have lived, which I was bound to obey; and truly, I do say very confidently, that I do die here for keeping, for obeying that Fifth Commandment given by God himself, and written with his own Finger. And now Gentlemen, I will take this opportunity to tell you, That I cannot imitate a better, nor a greater ingenuity than his, that said of himself, For suffering an unjust judgement upon another, himself was brought to suffer by an unjust judgement. Truly Gentlemen, that God may be glorified, that all men that are concerned in it may take the occasion of it, of humble Repentance to God Almighty for it, I do here profess to you, that truly I did give my Vote to that Bill of the Earl of Strafford; I doubt not but God Almighty hath washed that away with a more precious Blood, that is, with the Blood of his Son, and my dear Saviour Jesus Christ, and I hope he will wash it away from all those that are guilty of it. Truly, this I may say, I had not the least part, nor the least degree of malice in the doing of it; but I must confess again to God's Glory, and the accusation of my own frailty, and the frailty of my nature, that truly it was an unworthy cowardice, not to resist so great a torrent as carried that business at that time. And truly, this I think I am most guilty of, but malice I had none; but whatsoever it was, God I am sure hath pardoned it, hath given me the assurance of it, that Christ Jesus his Blood hath washed it away; and truly, I do from my soul wish, that all men that have any stain by it, may seriously repent, and receive a remission and pardon from God for it. And now Gentlemen, we have had an occasion by this intimation to remember his Majesty, our King that last was; and I cannot speak of him, nor think of it, but I must needs say, that in my opinion, that have had time to consider all the Images of all the greatest and vertuousest Princes in the world; and truly, in my opinion, there was not a more virtuous, and more sufficient Prince known in the world, than our gracious King Charles that died last: God Almighty preserve our King that now is, his Son; God send him more fortunate and longer days; God Almighty so assist him, that he may exceed both the virtues and sufficiences of his Father: for certainly, I that have been a Counsellor to him, and have lived long with him, and in a time when discovery is easily enough made, for he was young (he was about fifteen or sixteen years of age) those years I was with him, truly I never saw greater hopes of virtue in any young person then in him; great judgement, great understanding, strong apprehensions, much honour in his nature, and truly, a very perfect English man in his inclinations. I pray God restore him to this Kingdom, and unite the Kingdoms one to another, to the happiness both of you and him, that he may long live and reign among you, and that that Family may reign till thy Kingdom come, that is, while all temporal power is consummated: I beseech God of his mercy, give much happiness to this your King, and to you that in it shall be his Subjects, by the grace of Jesus Christ. Truly, I like my beginning so well, that I will make my conclusion with it, that is, That God Almighty would confer of his infinite and inestimable grace and mercy, to those that are the causers of my coming hither; I pray God give them as much mercy as their own hearts can wish; for my part I will not accuse any one of them of malice, truly I will not; nay, I will not think there was any malice in them; what other ends there are I know not, nor I will not examine; but let it be what it will, from my very soul I forgive them every one: and so, the Lord of Heaven bless you all, God Almighty be infinite in goodness and mercy to you, and direct you in those ways of obedience to his commands to his Majesty, that this Kingdom may be a happy and glorious Nation again, and that your King may be a happy King in so good and so obedient people; God Almighty keep you all, God Almighty preserve this Kingdom, God Almighty preserve you all. Having ended his Speech, he called for the Executioner, on whom he bestowed five pounds, saying to him, I not only forgive thee from my soul, but desire of God to give thee grace for a better employment. Having stood still a while he said, God Almighty stench this blood, God Almighty stench, stench, stench this issue of blood, this will not do the business; God Almighty find out another way to do it. Then having taken his leave of those friends and servants that were about him, he addressed himself to prayer, and upon a sign given by him, had his head severed from his body by the Executioner. Our forementioned Poet, better affected to this Honourable Lord, then to the other two that died with him, bestows this Epitaph upon him, in remembrance of his Virtues. Here Virtue, Valour, Charity, and all Those rare endowments we Celestial call Included are, nor wonder at the story, Capel lies here, Loyalties chiefest glory. I shall close up all, only give you the abstract, or rather the introduction to an Elegy, that a deserving person bestowed on him. Disturb me not, my soul is mounting high To pyramid great Capulets memory; I'll range my thoughts, it is a world that shall Be ruled by Capulets Echo, hollow all Ye sacred Muses, and conspire to bring Materials for this work and learn to sing: For should you weep, your eyes might undertake To drown the world which I intent to make. Forbear, your tears are useless, you must now Gaze upon earth with an undaunted brow; Capel hath taught us how to entertain The pallid looks of fate, by him we gain The art of dying, and from him we have The definition of a deathless Grave. Rare soul I say, thy ever active fame Shall build a world unto thy pregnant name; And every letter of thy stem, shall raise A spacious Kingdom, where thy ample praise Shall be recorded, every listening ear Shall prove ambitious, be entranced to hear: 'Twill be a glory when the world shall say, 'Twas bravely done, his Sovereign led the way: And he as valiant Soldiers ought to do, Marched boldly after, and was always true To sacred Majesty; his Heroeed breath Disdained the fear of a so courted death; Death added life unto his thoughts, for he Contemned a death, he bought with Victory. The very Birds shall learn to prate, and sing How Capel suffered for his Royal King. The Life of JAMES Marquis of Montross, Earl of Kincardine, etc. IT may seem strange in such a scarcity of Scotch Worthies, there also being already so many of our own, that I should go about to borrow one from that Country, where if Diogenes were alive again, the Cynic, as I have heard one merrily express, with his Lantern, would make no long inquest after such an impossibility, but infallibly conclude, that there is not such another to be found in Scotland. This renowned Marquis was extracted from the Ancient and famous Family of the graham's in Scotland, whose valiant and loyal Actions have eternised their Names to all posterity. His Grandfather and Father were advanced by King James and King Charles unto places of the greatest honour in that Kingdom: which they most happily discharged, with the love and good affection both of King and People. This Honourable Person (whose Life we now relate) persisting in his Predecessors steps, may give us cause to think that Valour and Loyalty were entailed on that Family. Yet at first he sided with the Covenanters against the Royal Party, they pretending to nothing then, less than the preservation of Religion, the Honour and Dignity of the King, the Laws of the Land, and the Freedom of the Nation. But having found that those fair tales were only pretensions, and only coined of purpose to draw people to their side, he like a wise man finding their hearts alienated the King, he mediated a disengagement; but finding the work difficult, he a while dissembled his intent, seeming as active as he was before, that when time served he might dissert them to better purpose, having also many of his friends amongst them, whom he hoped to draw off; by which means he should be able to gather no small power, which would conduce much both to the King's safety and his own. Whilst he was upon these determinations, the Covenanters had raised a strong Army, and in a solemn convention at Duns, they determine to invade England; Montross seeing he could not hinder those actions, would not seem to disapprove of them; and having the command of two thousand Foot, and five hundred Horse, to seem the more active, was the first man that set foot on English ground; and had his friends fulfilled their promises, he had not only broken to pieces the Covenanters designs, but in all probability had brought the whole Army along with him to the King. But the Scots marching over the Tine, otherwise than he expected, he was much disappointed of that opportunity he so longingly attended; yet he kept the same loyal Inclinations towards the King, which (taking advantage of the Treaty that ensued betwixt them) that he found means to acquaint his Majesty by Letters, wherein he protested his faith and ready obedience to him: but these Letters being stolen out of the King's pockets by his Bedchamber men, (the supposed instruments of Hamilton) and by them copied out, were sent to the Covenanters at New Castle, which place by the treachery of some English Commanders was yielded unto them, who concealing their Information, did not withal conceal their malignity against the Earl, but laboured all they could to render him odious to the people, and thereby unserviceable to his Majesty. Nor wanted they fit instruments for this purpose, for having obliged to themselves most of the Preachers throughout the Kingdom, they made use of their mercenary tongues, to rail against the King and his faithful Subjects, as the enemies of Christ; being themselves the while the very shame and scandal of Christianity. Yet still Montross goes on in his Loyal intentions, and joins to his side many of the prime men for Nobility and Power, though some of them afterwards for fear betrayed their designs unto the Covenanters; so that on a sudden when he suspected nothing, he with Napier Lord of Marchiston, and Sir Sterling Keer were committed Prisoners to the Castle in Edinburgh. But a Pacification being made betwixt both Kingdoms, he with his friends were set again at liberty. Not long after in England happened those fatal discords betwixt the King and Parliament; which growing so high, that they came to be determined by the Sword: the Covenanters not to be wanting in the aid of their Confederates, resolved to raise a puissant Army; and to oblige Montross to their side, proffered him freely the Office of Lieutenant General of the Army, and what ever else he could desire, and they bestow. But he not more careless of their proffers then careful to inform the King of the danger that hereby hung over his head, to which purpose he posts into England, taking only the Lord Ogleby into his counsel and company. At York he informs the Queen of the covenanters' intentions, and of the danger that would ensue thereof; which doubtless had taken good effect at that time, had not the coming of Duke Hamilton out of Scotland (upon pretence of kissing the Queen's hand, but with intent to overthrow Montross his counsels) hindered the same, who persuaded the Queen there was no fear of any Army, nor that the King should need despair of amity and reconciliation with them; protesting he himself would be active for the King with his person and estate. But the Covenanters proceeding on in their designs, and Montross having better knowledge of their intentions then before, he goes to Gloucester, and delares the same to the King himself; but the King was so soothed up with Letters of the contrary from Hamilton, and some such other Courtiers also buzzing in his ears Montrosses youth, his rashness, his ambition, the envy and hatred he bore unto the hamilton's, and on the other side the Hamiltons' fidelity, their honesty, their discretion, their power; so that Montross nothing prevailed. In the mean time the Covenanters were not idle, but having raised an Army of eighteen thousand Foot, and two thousand Horse, march for England; and now the King (when it was too late) seeing himself thus grossy abused, sends for Montross, and asks his advice what was best to be done. Montross having declared the desperate estate Scotland was in at that present, and how abominably his Majesty had been betrayed by them with whom he had entrusted his secrets, resolved nevertheless, if the King would lay his Commands upon him, nothing distrusting God's assistance in a righteous cause, he would undertake his cause, and use his best endeavours. The King applauding his magnanimous resolution, giving him thanks, encouraged him to fit himself cheerfully for so great a work; and the better to carry on the design, the King sent the Earl of Antrim into Ireland, who engaged himself to be with Montross in Argile, (a part of Scotland bordering upon Ireland) with ten thousand men by the first of April 1644. this promise being passed to him in December 1643. for a sTock of men to set up withal; the King wrote to the Marquis of New Castle to furnish him with aid, and sent Sir John Cockeram his Ambassador, with a Commission and Instruction for foreign Aids and Arms. This being done, he sets forward in his journey from Oxford towards Scotland, having in his company about two hundred Horse, most of them Noblemen and Gentlemen, who had formerly been Commanders in Foreign Countries. Being come to Durham, he sends the King's Instructions to the Marquis of Newcastle, and the next day they met and conferred; but Newcastles wants were so great, that he could spare him at present only an hundred Horse, and two Brass Field Pieces; but sent his Orders to his Officers and Commanders in Cumberland and Westmoreland to afford him all the assistance they could, who accordingly met him near to Carlisle with eight hundred Foot, and three Troops of Horse. With these small Forces he enters Scotland, but having come to the River Anan, upon occasion of a Mutiny among the English, most of them fly their Colours, and run back to England. Notwithstanding he with his own men came to Dumfrise, and took the Town into protection upon surrender, where he stayed a while, that he might be ready to entertain Antrim and his Irish; but the time appointed being past, and no news stirring of them, the Covenanters gathering themselves together on every side, to secure himself from being surprised, he returns to Carlisle. And not loving to lie idle, joins with the King's Forces in Northumberland, takes the Town and Castle of Morpet, as also an hundred Foot at the mouth of the River of Tine, and afterwards victuals New Castle; then intending to join his Forces with Prince Rupert, who was coming to raise the Siege at York, he made all the haste he could, but met him not till he was upon his retreat, the day after that unfortunate Battle: All things thus failing him, he returns to Carlisle, and sends the Lord Ogleby and Sir William Rolluck disguised into Scotland, to discover the state of the Country; who returning back, brought him word, that all things were in a desperate condition, and therefore counselled him to bend his course some other way. But Montross thinking it unworthiness in him to despair of so good a cause, resolves upon a strange adventure, for delivering those few Gentlemen that had been constant unto him to the Lord Ogleby, to be conducted to the King: he with Sir William Rolluck, and one Sibbald, being disguized, entered Scotland, Montross passing as Sibbalds man. Thus making all the haste they could, they came at last to the house of his Cousin Patrick Graham of Innisbrake, not far from the River of Tay in the Sherifdom of Perth; not long had he been there, but he receives news of eleven hundred of Irish sent over by Antrim, who were then upon the Mountains; who being made to understand of his being there, they came marching unto him, and submitted to his command. The next day the men of Athol, to the number of eight hundred, put themselves in Arms, and joined with Montross; so that now having gotten this handful of men, he desires to be in action; impatient therefore of further delay, he marches from thence, with a resolution to set upon his enemies: and having marched as far as Bucknith, five hundred more under the command of the Lord Kilpont. Son to the Earl of Taith, joined with him, by whom he understood that the Covenanters were thick in Arms at a Rendezvouz at Perth; whereupon with all the haste he could, he speedeth thither: these were commanded by the Lord Elcho, who upon Montrosses approach provided to fight; they were in number six thousand Foot and seven hundred Horse, so that contemning the paucity of their enemies, they grew to a foolish confidence of Victory; but Montross so well ordered his Army that their confidence failed them, for joining Battle they were overthrown, two thousand being slain, and more taken prisoners. The City of Perth upon this overthrow, submitted herself to the Conqueror, to whom he did not the least harm; where having stayed three days, many of his Athol men returning home, he marches with the rest of his Forces to Aberdeen; but the Town having a strong Garrison therein refused to submit and he thinking it no wisdom to hazard the honour he had gotten by his late Victory upon the doubtful success of a Siege, turns away towards Esk, whither came to him the Lord Ogleby with his two Sons, Sir Thomas and Sir David, who with admirable constancy continued with him to the very end of the War. And now receiving intelligence that an Army of the Covenanters, under the command of the Lord Burleigh lay at Aberdeen, with long marches he hies thither, sets upon them, and after a long fight puts them to the rout, with the loss of almost all their Foot; who flying for refuge unto the City, Montrosses men came in thronging amongst them, through the Gates and Posterns, and laid them on heaps all over the Streets. This Battle was fought September the 12. 1644. After this defeat Montross calling his Soldiers back to their Colours, entered the City, and allowed them two day's rest. In the mean time news was brought that Argile was hard by with far greater Forces than those they had dealt with last; whereupon he removes to Kintor, a Village ten miles off from Aberdeen, expecting some of the gordon's would have joined with him; but none appearing he resolved to withdraw his Forces into the Mountains and Fastnesses, for though he had fought twice indeed very prosperously, it could not be expected that seeing he was so beset on all sides with great and numerous Armies, he should be able to hold out always without relief: whereupon hiding his Ordnance in a Bog, he marches to an old Castle called Rothmurk, intending to pass over the River of Spey, but on the other side were the number of five thousand up in Arms to hinder his passage; wherefore to save his Army from being oppressed with the enemy's Horse, he turned into Badenoth, a Rocky and Mountainous Country; here he fell very dangerously sick, but recovering again, he sends Macdonel who commanded the Irish, with a Party into the Highlands, to invite them to take up Arms with him, and if they would not be invited, to force them; he himself passes into the North of Scotland, and having stayed a while for recruit at Strathbogy, he removed to Faivy Castle and possessed it. Secure now as he thought from Argile, his confidence had well near destroyed him, he and Lothian with 2500. Foot, and 1200 Horse, having undiscovered come within two miles of him. Montross to repair his Scouts negligence, having but 1500. Foot, and 50. Horse, draws them up to a high craggy Hill, which over-looked the Castle, but before he had appointed every one his ground to draw up in, many of his Soldiers fairly run away; yet notwithstanding their cowardice, he so behaved himself with the remainder, that though Argile several days attempted to assault him, he carried away nothing with him but loss and disgrace. Montross being now desirous to join with Macdonel and those Highlanders he had raised, takes the advantage of the night, and returns to Strathbogy, whither also Argile follows him, and endeavours by great promises to draw away his Soldiers from him. Montross to prevent his designs, marches from thence to Balveny and so to Badenoth, yet had Argiles promises wrought such effects in many of the Gentry and prime Soldiers, that they shamefully deserted him: Montross looking upon their revolt with indignation and scorn, hastes into Athol, and joins with Macdonel. Argile at that time lay at Dunkeldon, but being frighted with the report of Montrosses coming, when he was yet sixteen miles off, he bid his men shift for themselves, and he himself fled as fast as he could to Perth. Montross hereupon passes into the Country of Argile, and harazes the same with Fire and Sword; and hearing that the Earl of Seafort with five thousand Horse and Foot were near at hand, he resolveth to fight them; but whilst he was preparing against him, he had information that the Earl of Argile having gathered Forces out of the lower parts of the Kingdom, and joined unto them such Highlanders as yet adhered unto him, containing in all about three thousand Foot, were at an old Castle called Innerligh upon the Bank of Logh-Aber, some thirty miles of him, which caused him to march in all haste through untrodden paths, and was on their backs ere they were ware, and giving them Battle overthrew them, having the kill of them with a most horrible slaughter for nine miles together; no less than 1500. being killed, among whom were very many Gentlemen of the Campbels, whose deaths were answerable to their names, dying in Campo belli, in the Field of War. Argile himself escaped by Boat, many of the conquered fled into the Castle, which was soon after surrendered to Montross. Long stayed he not there, but returns again by the coasts of Harrick, Arne, and Narne, a great party of his enemies being assembled at Elgin, upon the news of his approach dispersed themselves, leaving the Castle of Elgin unto him, here the Lord Gordon eldest Son to the Marquis of Huntley, with a select number of his friends and clients joined themselves to him; having now two thousand Foot and two hundred Horse he marches to Brechin, where he understood Sir John Hurrey General of the Horse for the Covenanters was with a great party of Horse, whom he encounters and puts to flight; and understanding that Bailey a Commander of great account had been fetched out of England to withstand him, he resolves to give him Battle, and thereupon goes against him; but having in vain often provoked him thereunto, many of his Soldiers also deserting him, he was forced with much difficulty and hazard to retreat to the Mountains. And now being out of his enemies reach, he sends the Lord Gordon to levy new Forces, whilst he with a small Party marches through Angus into Pertshire, that he might distract the enemy till such time he made up his Army: Bailey understanding where he was, intends to surprise him, but he found Montross provided for him, who so valiantly repulsed his assault, that by killing some and routing others he forced them to a retreat. Hurrey having thus before missed his market on Montross intended to make it up on the Lord Gordon; Montross fearing he should be overmastered, thought it necessary to oppose Hurry as soon as was possible, as well to secure so dear a friend from so eminent danger, as to be nibbling at the enemy's Forces, as he found them asunder, and to cut off that power by peace-meal, which he well knew, if it were all in a body would be above his strength; therefore by long and continued journeys, he marches into Marre, and joins with the Lord Gordon, who had raised a thousand Foot, and two hundred Horse; and indeed it was but time, Hurry having gotten within six miles of him, who understanding of Montrosses coming, retires with all speed he could to Innerness: Montross as hastily followeth after him, here the Earls of Seafort and Sunderland, the whole sept of the fraser's, and most of Murray and Cathness, and the neighbouring parts joined with Hurry, so that Montross fearing to be overpowered had a great mind to retire; but not only Hurry pressed so vehemently upon him, that it was scarce possible for him to retreat, but Baily also with a Southern Army, much stronger than Hurry's, was gotten betwixt the Mountains and him, so that fearing to be hemmed in between two Armies, he resolves to try the fortune of War without delay, and commit the success to God; to gain much advantage as he could, he marshals his Army, and gives them Battle, which was fought with much courage and eagerness on both sides; each part striving to outvie the other in valour; at length the Covenanters were overthrown, three thousand of their Foot Soldiers being slain, but most of their Horse escaped by a more timely than honourable flight. Hurry with his broken Troops fled unto Baily, after whom Montross (having a few days refreshed his Souldidiers) followed after, whom Baily provokes unto Battle, which he refused, yet nevertheless by frequent skirmishes, and especially breaking up their quarters in the night, be so weakened their power and courage, that as well Commanders as Soldiers, hastily and disorderly betook themselves by night to Innerness when none pursued them. In the mean time the Earl of Lindsey, the prime ringleader of the Covenasters next unto Argile, had raised a new Army, and had passed over with his Forces into Angus, intending to be a reserve unto Baily; Montross resolving to quell this new Army, marches against him with such speed, that the news of his approach was not so swift as himself; and now Lindsey was not above seven miles from him, and all things ready for an assault, when (upon what occasion it is uncertain) almost all the Northern men privately ran away from their Colours, and going back the way that they came, return into their Country; by which means that Victory slipped thorough his fingers, which he had almost grasped in his hand. Therefore taking up new resolutions, he sendeth the Lord Gordon and Macdonel to levy more Forces; and now Lindsey pretending to do some famous exploit, takes a thousand old Soldiers from Baily, leaving him as many new raised men in their rooms: Montross having notice hereof, desires to fight him, and sends a Trumpet to offer a set Battle; but Bailie answers, he would not receive order to fight from an Enemy. Yet at last through the rashness of the Lord Balcarise, a Colonel of Horse, who precipitated himself and the Horse under his command into danger, he was forced thereunto; whereupon a bloody Fight ensued, wherein Baily was overthrown, with the loss of the greatest part of his Army. This Battle was fought at Alford on the 2. of July, 1645. Montross having obtained this Victory, marches into Angus, where he met his Cousin Patrick Graham with his Athol men ready to live and die under his command, and Macdonel with a great power of Highlanders; so that being reinforced with such an Army, he resolves to make his way into the very heart of the Kingdom: and passing over the Tay at Dunkeldon, encamped in Methfyn Forrest; the Covenanters at that time held a Parliament at Saint John's Town, but hearing of Montrosses approach, they secured themselves by flight: he to increase their terror, drew nearer to the Town; but finding it not safe for him to descend into the Champion Country, having such want of Horse, he retreated to little Dunkeldon. But that want was soon supplied by a Party from the North, under the Earl of Aboine, and Colonel Nathaniel Gordon, the Earl of Airley, and Sir David his son; so that being now thus recruited, he thought it not good to lose any time, but marched strait towards the Enemy. And having in vain several times proffered them Battle, at last it came to a pitched Field in a place called Kilsythe, where the Covenanters though they overmatcht him in number, yet came so far behind him in valour, that he obtained over them an absolute Victory, having the kill of them for fourteen miles; so that of all their Foot it is thought there did not an hundred come off, nor did their horse escape very well, of whom some were killed, some taken, the rest dispersed. Their Ordnance, their Arms, their Spoils came clearly to the Conquerors, who lost only six of their men, on the other side were slain six thousand, a great disproportion in number; and did not the effects which followed this Victory make it the more credible, it might seem to some a falsehood, if not an impossibility. For presently afterwards was a great alteration all the Kingdom over, the chief of the Nobility who sided with the Covenanters, some fled to Barwick, some to Carlisle, some to New Castle, others into Ireland; the Marquis of Douglass, the Earls of Limmuck, Annandale, and Hertfield; the Lord Barons of Seton, Drummond, Fleming, Maderly, Carnegy, and Jonston, with many others of great quality submitted themselves: such as before only privately wished well unto the King, now expressed it openly. The Cities and Countries that were furthest off, began to dispatch their Commissioners to profess in their names their Allegiance to their King, their duty and service to his Vicegerent, and freely to offer him Men, Arms, Provision, and other necessaries of War. The City of Edinburgh to ingratiate themselves with the conquerors, they released their Prisoners, of whom the chiefest were the Earl of Crawford, and James Lord Ogleby, son to the Earl of Airly, whom with their Delegates they sent to Montross to entreat for peace, proffering submission, and promising obedience for the time to come; yea, the whole Kingdom every where sounded nothing but Montrosses praise. But what thing on earth is permanent many of his Soldiers being loaden with spoil, ran privily away from their Colours, and returned home. Presently after their very Commanders desired Furloghs for a little while, pretending that the Enemy had no Army within the borders of the Kingdom, and therefore their service for the present might very well be spared; the Earl of Aboine (whether the Lord Governor would or no) carried away with him not only his own men, but all the rest of the Northern Forces: yea, Alexander Macdonel, who had hitherto continued so faithful, departed into the Highlanders with more than three thousand stout men, and sixscore of the best Irish, promising with a solemn oath their sudden return, yet he never saw Montross after. Montross seeing it would be no better, with his small Army passing by Edinburgh, (into which he would not enter, by reason the plague then raged in the City) led them through Lothainshire, and in Strathgale joined with some Forces raised by the Marquis of Douglass; afterwards he marches to Niddisdale and Annandale, and the Country of Air, that he might there raise what Horse he could; and coming to Selkirk, he quartered his Horse in a Village, and his Foot in a Wood close by. His Army consisting of only five hundred Foot, and those Irish, and a very weak party of new raised Horse. Lesley understanding of his weak condition, (having been newly sent for out of England to help the Covenanters in their exigency) with six thousand Horse made such speed, that before he was descried by Montrosses Scouts, he was not above half a mile off; Montross at that present was very busy in dispatching Letters to the King, but upon news of Lesley's coming he mounts the first horse he could light on, and gallops into the Field appointed for the Rendezvouz, where he finds a great deal of noise, but no order. The Cavalry being little acquainted with duty, and lying already dispersed in their quarters, where they dreamt more of baiting their horses, then maintaining their lives and honours; yet there were a few, and those were for the most part Noblemen and Knights, who made all speed thither, and gallantly undertook to make good the right Wing: but they being not above sixscore in all, and being assailed by so potent an Enemy, multitude overcoming valour, having twice repulsed their Enemy with loss, at last they betook themselves to flight, the Foot fight a good while stoutly and resolutely, were forced to yield, but found little mercy from the Conqueror, putting them all to the Sword. Montross seeing his men routed, (which he never saw before) rallying about thirty Horse whom he had gathered up in that confusion, he desperately chargeth thorough the Enemy, who hotly pursuing him, to make his flight the more honourable, he chargeth his pursuers, routs them, and carries away one Bruce a Captain of Horse, and two Cornets with their Standards Prisoners. And now being safe from danger, he makes what haste he could into Athole, to recruit his Army, Aboine bringing him fifteen hundred Foot, and three hundred Horse; with some addition of the Athol men, he crosseth the Forth, and came into Leven, which he destroyed without any resistance; but his Forces too weak to resist so powerful an Army as the Enemy had then in the Field, he returneth back into the Country of Athole, and goeth himself in person to Bogie Castle upon the mouth of Spey, to speak with Huntley; (having by messengers often fruitlessly solicited him to join with him) as soon as they met, Montross invited him in smooth and gentle language to associate with him him in the War for the safety of the King and Kingdom, and gave him so full satisfaction in all things, that as being at last overcome, he seemed to give him his hand, and promised that not only all his men, but he himself would come in person in the head of them, and be with him with all possible speed. And for the better managing of the War, they agreed that Huntley wafting over the Spey, should make his way on the right hand, by the Sea Coast of Murrey, and Montross was to go round about on the left hand thorough Strath-Spey, and so to besiege Innernes (a strong Garrison of the Covenanters) on both sides. In the mean time a convention of the Estates was held at Saint Andrews, wherein were condemned and executed Colonel Nathanel Gordon, Sir Robert Spotswood, Andrew Gutherey, Son to the Bishop of Murray, and William Murray Brother to the Earl of Tullibardin. The crimes objected against them was no less than High Treason; the facts they were guilty of, Loyalty to the King; for the same cause was beheaded not long before Sir William Rollock, Alexander Ogleby, of an ancient and honourable Family, and Sir Philip Nesbit. The death of his Friends troubled Montross exceedingly; yet abhorring their cruelty by inflicting the like on those Prisoners he had of theirs, he resolved to revenge their deaths in a more nobler way, and with his Army marched to besiege Innerness, the most considerable Garrison of all the North, and the Haven there most commodious for entertaining Foreign Forces. Now had Huntley with his Army come up to have blocked up that side of the Town he undertook to do, the Garrison for want of provision had been forced to yield: but he trifling away his time in Murray, a good way off Innerness, without either honour or profit, gave Major General Middleton time to raise six hundred Horse and eight hundred Foot to raise the Siege, and notwithstanding Huntley had notice thereof by Montross, yet could he receive no answer from him but what relished of scornfulness; nay so far off were they from affording him assistance, that Montross having sent three Troops of Horse to lie at the Fords of the Spey, to observe the motion of the enemy, and if they came, to send him often and certain intelligence; Lewes Gordon, Huntleys' Son, who then commanded the Castle of Rothes, invited the Captains to a banquet in his Castle, persuading them to leave off their needless guards, and that the enemy lay very far off, where with dainty cheer and store of wine he detained them so long till Middleton with a great Army of Horse and Foot had got over the Spey, and set footing in Murrey; so that had not Montross had notice of their approach another way, he had had a sharper bout now then he had at Selkirk; but Montross knowing them too strong for him in Horse, avoiding the plain, he retreated with his men beyond the Ness; and notwithstanding their often falling upon his rear, yet he so well managed his retreat, that with little loss he advanced unto the Bank of the Spey, safe from his enemy's Horse. And now he resolved without further delay to make his progress over all the North Country and Highlands, with a considerable party, to list Soldiers, to encourage the well disposed, to reduce those that were refractory by the severity of the Laws and condign punishment, and to deal with them as men use to do with sick children, make them to take Physic whether they will or no; but whilst he was busy about his design, there came a Herald unto him from the King (who by I know not what misfortune had cast himself upon the Scotch Covenanters at Newcastle) whereby he was required forthwith to lay down his Arms and disband, and to departed into France, and there to wait his Majesty's further pleasure; he being astonished with this unexpected message, bitterly bewailed the sad condition of the King, that had forced him to cast himself upon the mercy of his deadly enemies; yet not to be guilty of that crime, and especially lest the Covenanters should put his actions upon the King's account, and use him the worse for them, seeing they had him in their power, he according to the King's command disbanded his Army. Now it was articled betwixt the King and the Covenanters that Montross should departed Scotland within a month, and that they should find him Shipping, with provision and all things necessary when he went; but they seeking to circumvent him, sent him no Ship for his transportation until the last day allowed for his stay: the Ship itself ill victualled and worse rig'd, so that when Montross shown himself ready to departed, the Master of the Ship told him, that he must have some days allowed him to pitch and right is Ship, before he durst adventure himself to the wind and waves: moreover there lay great English Ships and Men of War every day in sight about the mouth of the River of Esk (by which he was to pass) attending there in favour of the Covenanters, for their much desired booty, that by no means he might escape their hands. But Montross smelling out their designs, had sent some before hand to search diligently the Havens in the North; who by good fortune in the Haven of Stanhyve found a small bark of Bargain in Norway, the master whereof was soon agreed with; thither Montross sent several of his friends whom he knew could not be safe for never so little a while in that Country, and they on the third of September 1646. having a good wind put forth to Sea for Norway; and the same evening Montross himself, accompanied only with one James Wood, a worthy Preacher, by a small Cockboat got into a Bark which lay at Anchor without the Haven of Montross, and being clad in a course suit, the Lord and Patron passed for his Chaplains servant. Montross having thus cleared himself out of his enemy's hands, went into France, where by the general consent of the Princes of the Blood, and the rest of the Nobility, he was designed Captain General of all the strangers in that Kingdom, a place of great honour and trust; but Cardinal Mazarine thwarting his designs, (being a professed foe to Scots in that Kingdom) he took his journey into Holland, where the Prince then was, in pursuit of his former intentitions. But Duke Hamilton (a name fatal to the House of the Stewards) who formerly was his irreconcilable enemy was now his competitor; so that Montross seeing no good there to be done, travelled up into Germany, and so to Austria, where by the Emperor he was courteously entertained, and amongst many other honours conferred on him, he freely proffered him the command of ten thousand men for a standing Army against the Swede: but peace being concluded betwixt these two Potentates (intending a journey for Scotland) being honourably dismissed, he addresses himself to the Dukes of Brandeburgh and Holsteyn, and having gathered together about six or seven hundred men, fearing he should have an express command to desist from his purpose, because the Treaty betwixt the Prince and the Scottish Commissioners was now very near a conclusion, made him precipitate himself and those that were with him into most inevitable ruin; for considering his small preparation, it was a desperate action to attempt so mighty a business, but the matter being fatal, he must needs contribute his own endeavours towards that destruction which his cruel fortune had provided for him. Nor could the loss of two Ships with all the men and arms therein, (whom he had sent before to prepare his way) alter his resolution, but with the rest of his company passes over to Orkney, and having raised what force he could there, embarcks himself, and in a short space lands upon the point of Cathnes, which is the farthest land to the Northwest of Scotland, as knowing the world was much astonished at this invasion; now whilst the King was upon a Treaty, he published a Declaration, wherein he laboured to clear himself of any aspersion of sinister ends; that his intention was only against some particular persons, who had against the Laws of the Kingdom, raised and maintained a War against the King's Father, and did now by their subtle practices endeavour to destroy the Son also; but the Country for several causes did not come to second him as he expected; so that being encountered by the Earl of Sunderland and Colonel Staughorn, his Army was overthrown, two hundred killed, and twelve hundred taken. In this skirmish was taken the Standard which he had caused to be made of purpose to move the affections of the people, with this Motto, Judge and revenge my cause, O Lord, and the Portrait of the late King beheaded, exactly well done. The Standard-bearer a very gallant young Gentleman was killed, after he had several times refused quarter; there was Colonel Hurry taken, the Lord Frenderick, Sir Francis Hay of Dalgety, Colonel Hay of Naughton, Colonel Grya, and most of the Officers, and two Ministers. Montross himself after he saw the day was absolutely lost, having with his Sword hewn out his way through the midst of his enemies, hoping fortune might afterward be more favourable to him, he endeavours by policy to save his life, and forsaking his Horse, throws away his Cloak and Sword, then exchanging apparel with a Highlander, in that habit keeps himself undiscovered in the Fields for three or four days together; but such narrow search being made for him, that he could not long escape, he freely discovers himself to the Lord of Astron, who had been one of his followers before, thinking to find friendship at his hands; but he greedy of the reward which was promised to his apprehender by the Council of State, money having a deeper impression in his heart then amity, seized on him, and with a strong guard conveyed him to David Lesley. He being now in the custody of his mortal enemies, from whom he could not expect the least favour, he yet expressed a singular constancy, and in a manner a carelessness of his own condition. And now joyful of their prey, they conduct him to Edinburgh, where by the way lodging one night at the Town of Dundee, notwithstanding they had suffered more by his Army then any Town else within that Kingdom, yet were they so far from insulting over him, that they testified a great deal of sorrow for his woeful condition, and furnished him with suitable to his birth and person. The Parliament of Scotland being otherwise affected, who was then informed of his taking, thought fit to give out this Sentence against him before he came to Edinburgh; That so soon as he should come to Town, he should be met at the Gate by the Magistrates, and Hangman; that he should be tied with cords upon a Cart bareheaded, and the Hangman to ride upon the Horse that drew the Cart, covered before him, and so to be brought though the Town; that he should be hanged on a Gibbet at the Cross of Edinburgh, until he died; his History and Declaration hanging about his neck, and so hang three hours in public view of all the people: after which, he should be beheaded and quartered. His head to be fixed upon the prisonhouse of Edinburgh, and his Legs and Arms over the Gates of the Cities of Sterling, Glascow, St. John's Town, and Aberdeen. All which was executed upon him with a great deal of insultation, especially of the Ministry, who having him now at their mercy could never be satisfied with his calamities; they reviled him with all possible spite, objected frequently to him his former condition, and his present misery, and pronounced heavy judgements against him; and being asked why they could not otherwise be satisfied but by so ignominious handling of him? they replied, They knew no other way to humble him, and bring him home to God. The fatal day being come designed to put a period to all his troubles, there was erected in the middle of the marketplace a large Scaffold, breast high, in the midst of which, was planted a Gibbet of extraordinary height; to this place was he conducted by the Baliffs, he was clothed in a Scarlet Cloak richly laced with Gold lace; as he came along the Streets in great State, there appeared in his countenance so much Beauty, Majesty, and Gravity, as amazed the beholders. John Tailors honest Verses will serve for this dishonourable Scotch expedtion. In a good cause to die it is no shame, Although a Halter do procure the same. Being come thither, he was much detained with a great many frivolous questions, of which, partly the Ministers, partly those whom the States suffered to be about him, desired to be satisfied. He made a short Speech, in which he was often interrupted; the tenor of which was, That be was satisfied in his conscience for what he had done for his Royal Master the King, as in relation to War. That for his own particular sins (which were infinite) he bade begged pardon earnestly of God, and had an inward hope to obtain it; he freely forgave all those who had sought his overthrow, and entreated the charity of all the people to pray both for him and themselves. The Ministers because he was under the Sentence of excommunication refused to pray for him, and even on the very Scaffold were very bitter against him. After he had about a quarter of an hour prayed with his Hat before his eyes, he was ready to go to his suffering, when his Book, and Declaration, and all other printed Papers which he had published in his life, being tied in a string together, were hanged a bout his neck; he was very earnest that he might have the liberty to keep on his hat, it was denied; he requested he might have the privilege to keep his Cloak about him, neither would that be granted; in despite of all their affronts, uncivil, and barbarous usage, with a most undaunted courage he went up to the top of that prodigious Gibbet; where having freely pardoned the Execuoner, he gave him three or four pieces of gold; when this was done, and his arms tied, he asked the Officers, If they had any more dishonour, as they conceived it, to put upon him, he was ready to accept it. Then commanding the Hangman at the uplifting of his hands to tumble him over; he was accordingly thrust off by the weeping Executioner, who with his more honest tears seemed to revile the cruelty of his Country men. I shall conclude with the Poet. Nescia mens hominum fati sortisque futurae, Et servere modum rebus sublata secundi. Some writ that though he had not the courteous invention of an Epitaph by any of his Friends to memorise him, that he was so zealous of the Fame of his great Master Charles the first, the with the point of his Sword he wrote these following Lines. Great, Good, and Just, could I but rate My griefs, and thy so rigid fate, I'd weep the world to such a strain, As it should deluge once again. But since thy loud tongued Blood demands supplies, More from Briareus hands then Argus eyes. I'll sing thy obsequies with Trumpets sounds, And write thy Epitaph with Blood and Wounds. Montross. One that detested the harsh deal of the Scots to this Martial Earl, writ these two Latin Verses. A Dolour Inferni, frauds Capitis que Rotundi, Et Judae suavium, det Deus ut Caveam. The Life of JAMES USHER Archbishop of Armagh. The Country of Ireland hath from old brought forth so many pious and learned men, that several Writers have termed it, The Land of Sains. Amongst the rest this worthy Prelate is not the least Ornament unto that Nation; one who was a person of great Piety, of singular Judgement, learned to a miracle; so excelling in knowledge, both Humane and Divine, that I cannot write so high of his worth, as his merits raised themselves above all expression. He was born at Dublyn, in the Year of our Redemption, 1580. extracted from honest and able Parents; his Father was one of the Clerks of the Chancery, a man of excellent parts and endowments. His Mother of the Family of the Stanihursts, sufficiently famous in Richard Stanihurst, Ireland's Cambden, the most eminent Philosopher of his time. This his good, though seduced Mother through the subtlety of the Popish Priests was drawn into the Romish Persuasion, and notwithstanding great means was used for the reclaiming her, yet continued she therein to the day of her death. His Grandfather by his Mother's side was chosen three times Speaker of the House of Commons in Parliament in Ireland. His Uncle by his Father's side was one of his Predecessors Archbishop of Armagh. And as he was thus nobly descended, so was he as well educated; being at eight years old sent to the Grammar School, Sir James Fullerton being his Schoolmaster, and Sir. James Hamilton (afterwards Lord Viscount Clandeboise) Usher to the School, who were by King James sent out of Scotland upon another design, but disguized themselves under that employment. Under these two he so profited, that in four years' time he excelled in Grammar, Rhetoric and Poesy; and was so affected with Chronology and Antiquity, that in his early years he drew out an exact Series of Times when each eminent person lived. The next year, being the thirteenth of his age, he was admitted into the College of Dublyn, being the first Scholar that was entered into it: and truly it is a question whether the College received more Honour thereby, in having so learned a man recorded in the Frontispiece of their Admission Book; or the from the College in honouring him to be their first Graduate, Fellow, Procter, etc. At the same time also Sir James Hamilton hitherto Usher of the School, was chosen Fellow of the College, and so became his Tutor under whom he attained to a perfection in the Greek and Hebrew Languages, which he wanted when he came to the College. He thus increasing in knowledge as in years, looked still further, as he did account all knowledge vain which tended not to the establishment of his mind, and to the good of his future estate. For the furtherance of this Achievement he read many Books, amongst other that of Stapletons, Fortress of the Faith, wherein he blotteth our Church with Novelty, in dissenting from them, who from all Antiquity had maintained the same Faith; this plunged our great Scholar into several doubts, that the ancientest must needs be the best, as the nearer the Fountain the purer the streams; and that Errors were received in succeeding Ages, according to that known speech of Tertullian, Verum quodcunque primum, adulterum quodcunque posterius. For the rectifying of his judgement herein, with indefatigable pains and industry, he read over most of the Ancient Fathers, and most Authors writing of the Body of Divinity; whereby he not only settled his Opinion, but also became able to dispute with the prime of the adverse party. Having taken the Formality of Bachelor of Arts, Anno 1598. The Earl of Essex being sent over Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, and Chancellor of the University of Dublin, there was a solemn Act for his entertainment, wherein Mr. Usher answered the Philosophy Act with great applause. And now his Father intended to send him over into England, to the Inns of Court, for the study of the Common Law; but God who intended him for a Labourer in his own Vineyard, prevented his intentions by death, leaving his son a good Estate in Land; but he fearing it might be an hindrance to his studies, gave a great part of the Estate to his Brothers and Sisters: and devoting himself wholly to the study of Divinity, was chosen Fellow of the College; soon after he commenced Master of Arts; about which time he disputed with Henry Fitz-Symonds the Jesuit, who gave him great commendations for his abilities; and said, That of those which were not Catholics, he was one of the most learned. Soon after was he chosen Catechist of the College, and immediately after (notwithstanding he was not-twenty one years of age) he was ordained Minister, and afterwards proved mighty powerful in his preaching, converting many Papists to the Protestant Religion; who came so constantly to hear him, and so admired his Doctrine, that it was well hoped the Nation would be of one heart and one mind; but through the connivance of some in Authority, the Statutes made against Papists were suspended, and they obtained little less than a tolleraton in their Religion; which caused many of them to withdraw themselves again. This pious Bishop entertaining an holy Indignation thereat, preached a Sermon to the State at Christ Church in Dublyn, taking for his Text this passage in Ezekiel, Chap. 4.6. where the Prophet by lying on his side was to bear the iniquity of Judah forty days. I have appointed thee day for a year, even a day for a year, (as the Old Translation of that Bible he then used reads it) making this application thereof, From this year will I reckon the sin of Ireland, that those whom you now embrace shall be your ruin, and you shall bear this iniquity. Now this passage of the Prophet doth by consent of Interpreters signify the time of forty years to the destruction of Jerusalem, and that Nation for their Idolatry; and this Sermon being Preached in Anno 1601. just forty years before that horrid Rebellion broke forth in Ireland, Anno 1641. made it appear that it had something in it of a prophetic spirit. His first Church preferment was to the Chancellourship of St. Patrick in Dublin, in which Mr. Cambden found him, An. 1607. at what time he was composing his most excellent Brittania, of whom he gives this Character in his observations concerning Dublin. Most of which I acknowledge to owe to the diligence and labour of James Usher, Chancellor of the Church of Saint Patrick, who in various learning and judgement far exceeds his years. Soon after Mr. Cambdens' departure be commenced Bachelor of Divinity, and immediately upon it was chosen Professor of Divinity in that University of Dublin, which he held about thirteen or fourteen years; during which time the Provostship of the College falling void, he was unanimously elected by the Fellows; but by reason of some trouble belonging to it (notwithstanding it it had a large annual allowance) he refused it: a thing to be taken notice of, because rare amongst the Clergy men of this latter age. Soon after he proceeded Doctor of Divinity, and now his eminency gained him enemies, who scandalised him to King James, under the notion of a Puritan; but what was intended for his downfall proved for his preferment; for the King entering into a free discourse with him, received from him such abundant satisfaction of the soundness of his Judgement and Piety, that notwithstanding the opposition of great ones, without his seeking, made him Bishop of Meath in Ireland, just then falling void whilst he was in England; upon his entering into his dignity, a Wit of those times made this excellent Annagram upon him. James Meath, Anagrama, I am the same. Which he made good ever after in the whole course of his life, neither being puffed up with the the windy titles of ambition, nor slacking his former constancy of preaching; engraving this Motto on his Episcopal Seal, Vae mihi si non Evangeliza vero, which he continued in the Seal of his Primacy also. It is credibly reported of him that he was person of so excellent a memory, that when he hath been distant from his Library many miles, without the aid of any Catalogue, he hath directed his man by the figures of them imprinted in his mind, to go directly to the several places where they stood, to bring him such Books as he wanted. During the time he was Bishop of Meath, he answered that Challenge of the Jesuit Malone; and coming over into England to have it Printed, during his abode here, Primate Hampton dying, he was made Primate of Ireland, An. 1624. And now though he was promoted to the highest step his profession was capable of in his native Country, yet having some occasion of stay still in England, he continued his laborious preaching in a little Village called Wicken in Essex; where upon the request of some Ministers of that County to preach on the Week days, (because they could not come to hear him on the Sundays) preaching too often beyond his strength, he fell into a Quartane Ague, which held him three quarters of a year. Scarcely had he recovered his sickness, when it pleased God to make him the instrument of the conversion of an honourable person to the Protestant Religion, the occasion thus; the Lord Mordant (afterwards Earl of Peterborough) being a Papist, and his Lady a Protestant; both of them being desirous to draw each other to their own Religion, agreed that there should be a meeting of two prime men of each, to dispute what might be in controversy between them: hereupon the Lord chose for his Champion, one Rookwood a Jesuit, (Brother to Ambross Rookwood one of the conspirators in the Gunpowder Treason) who went disguised under the name of Beaumond: the Lady made choice of this Archbishop; Drayton in Northamptonshire was appointed for their meeting place; the Points proposed were concerning Transubstantiation, Invocation of Saints, Images, visibility of the Church. Three days were spent in disputations, wherein the Archbishop was opponent, and the Jesuit respondent. The fourth day according to agreement, the Jesuit was to have been opponent, but that morning he excused himself to the Lord Mordant, saying, That all the Arguments he used, he had framed within his own head, and thought he had them as perfect as his Pater Noster, but he had strangely forgotten, and could not recover them again; which caused him to say, That he believed it was the just judgement of God upon him, thus to desert him in the defence of his cause for the undertaking of himself to dispute with a man of that eminency and learning, without the licence of his Superior. This excuse gave so little satisfaction to the Lord Mordant, that upon some further conference with the Archbishop, he became a Protestant, and so continued to his dying day. After this Victory over the Jesuit, with the Canon bullets of his controversial Pen, he dispersed whole Army of the Irish Catholics, so that they were never able to rally their Forces again. After some time of tarrying in England, he returned into Ireland, where he was received with great acclamations of joy: where he continued faithfully discharging his Office, until the year before the Rebellion broke forth there, in which he returned into England; not long after was the great business of the Earl of Strafford in agitation. I have heard it reported by men not over credulous to believe flying news, that the day before the King signed the Bill for that Earls death, that when the King for the satisfying of his conscience desired the opinion of him, as also of the Bishops of London, Durham, Lincoln, and Carlisle; that those other four for the satisfying of the people, (who were then grown extraordinary insolent) wished him to sign the Bill. But that this Bishop advised the King not to wound his Conscience, in seeking to heal State sores; the truth of this I will not assert, for it is confidently believed by many, that Doctor Juxon Bishop of London was not assenting thereto; but this is certain, that when a person of honour had in the King's presence, spoken words in effect that this Bishop should advise him to the signing of that Bill, that he in very great passion, (laying his hand upon his breast) protested his innocency therein. It is generally reported, how true I know not, that when the King heard that an honourable Lady had extended her nobleness to the Bishop, that he should say, That that charity of hers would cover a multitude of her sins. Many endeavours, not like the fire-drakes of our late Pulpits, did this reverend Bishop use to draw the King and Parliament to a Reconciliation; and so faithfully discharged he hid endeavours, that he won the love of both sides. Thus after he had holily and peaceably for many years to the honour of God, and edification of his Church, continued to the time of his death constantly preaching the word of God, he in the seventy sixth year of his age surrendered up his soul into the hands of his Maker; his mamory being as a precious Ointment yielding a sweet savour in the Nostrils of God's Saints, which gave occasion to one of our late Poets amongst many others, to write these two Verses. Usher remains sustained by the blessed Powers, A Saint in Heavens bright Orb, a Star in ours. He deceased the 21. of March 1655. and was honourably buried in Henry the Sevenths' Chapel at the Abbey in Westminster; Oliver then Lord Protector, dispending two hundred pounds at his Funeral; extending to his the Grant of some of the Lands of the Primacy of Armagh for twenty one years. I shall shut up all with this Character given him by a solemn Order in the Convocation at Oxford, Anno 1644. James Usher Archbishop of Armagh, Primate of all Ireland; The most skilful of Primitive Antiquity, the unanswerable Defender of the Orthodox Religion, the Maul of Errors, in Preaching frequent, eloquent, very powerful; a rare example of an unblameable life. Of whom may be writ as one doth by way of Elegy on the late Martyr of our times, that admirable Divine Dr. Hewet. Since he is dead, report it thou my Muse Unto the world as grief, and not as news. Hark how Religion sighs, the Pulpit groans, And tears run trickling down the senseless stones. That Church which was all ears is now turned eyes, The Mother weeps, and all her Children cries In remembrance of him and his incomparable abilities, at Christ Church in Oxford, there is an Oration spoke constantly once a year. He left many Monuments of his Learning behind him to posterity. His Book De successione Ecclesiarum, 4o. Londini 1613. Epistolarum Hibernicarum Sylloge, 4ᵒ. Dublini 1630. Historia Goteschalci, Dublini 1631. De Primordiis Ecclesiarum Britannicarum 4ᵒ. Dublini, 1631. the greatest part of which were cast away as they came by sea. Ignatii Epistolarum annotationibus 4o. Oxoniae 1648. De anno solari Macedonum, 8o. Londini, 1648. annal Veteris Testamenti, Folio Londini, 1650. annal Novi Testamenti, Folio Londini, 1654. both which are since in one Volumn printed in English; a Work acknowledged by the learnedst men of this Age for the admirable Method and Worth of it, not to have hitherto been paralleled by any preceding Writers. Epistola ad Cappellum de variantibus textus Hebraici Lectionibus, 4o. Londini, 1652. De Graeca septuaginta interpretum version Syntagma 4o. Londini, 1655. His English Works were these; A Sermon preached before the House of Commons, February 18. 1618. A Declaration of the visibility of the Church, preached in a Sermon before King James, June 20. 1624. A Speech delivered in the Castle Chamber in Dublyn, the 22. of November, 1622. An Answer to Malon the Jesuit, 4ᵒ. 1631. The Religion professed by the ancient Irish and Britain's, 4ᵒ. 1631. Two Works which routed the Catholics of Ireland. Immanuel of the Incarnation of the Son of God. 4ᵒ. Dublin 1639. A Sermon for the learning and worth of it never to be sufficiently esteemed. A Geographical description of the Lesser Asia, 4o. Oxford 1644. Confessions and Proofs of Doctor Reinolds, and other Protestant Divines concerning the Right of Episcopacy, 4o. Oxford 1644. His Discourse of the Original of Bishops and Archbishops, 4o. Oxford 1644. The Sum and Substance of Christian Religion, being in part his, but published without his consent, Folio London. His small Catechism reviewed, 12o. London. A Method for Meditation, or a direction for hearing the Word. I have since had the happiness to peruse several Sermons of his ordained for the Press; truly worthy of him, they were all of them but one preached before the year 1626. most of them before he was Bishop. I thought it for the better knowing of them from others that may be falsely fathered on him, to be convenient to set down the several Texts, Philip. 3.8. Ephes. 2.1, 2. Ephes. 2.2, 3. John 14.16, 17. His most excellent Sermons on the Sacraments out of 1 Cor. 11.28. as also on Colos. 1.21. Two Sermons on 1 Pet. 4.17. His Sermon preached a little before he was made a Bishop, before the King at Greenwich, June the 25. 1626. his Text was taken out of the 1 Cor. 14.33. the words, For God is not Author of confusion but of peace, as we see in all the Churches of the Saints. At that time there was a strange division and clashing one against another of the great ones of the Court, whom his sharp Sermon touched so near to the quick, that the Puritanical Bishop, as they then called him, put the highest spirits of them to a non plus. These Sermons Dr. Bernard of Grays-inn, formerly Chaplain to Bishop Usher, had the perusal of, who said they wanted nothing but only that Life and Majesty they were adorned with, when the Bishop himself delivered them. I have ended my discourse as to what concerns this reverend Father of the Church. I have no more to write, but only to exprese my sorrow that I could not arrive to a right knowledge of the Lives of two of our late worthy Divines, Doctor Featly, who died first, as his spirits were oppressed with the afflictions of our distracted times; as also of that Contemplative Seraphical Clergyman, Bishop Hall, who was in Heaven whilst he was on earth: the Life of the former, Doctor Featly, the Champion of our Church against the Romanists, I at last despaired of, having after a long search and strict enquiry gained no perfect cognizance from any of his friends: and concerning Bishop Hall, having no acquaintance with the Heir to his blessed qualifications, his most accomplished Son, otherwise then from the Pulpit, my modesty being so much a stranger to him, would not suffer me to make an address. The Life of Master John Lilburne. I Question not but that it will be admired that such an inferior person as Master Lilburne should take up any room in this Volume; I shall only need to express that I have not inserted him as a Worthy, but rather as a Wonder: the truth is, whosoever shall diligently mark the transactions of this person, will find such variety of matter contained in his Life, not only to excuse the publishing of it, but also so far to transport them that read it, as to believe him to be a fit object for an entire Volume by himself, rather than this short relation I shall obtrude on his memory; which considering how his. Life was shuffled and confused, the Reader cannot expect any other than fragments, no clear nor continued progress of his History. When Taxaris saw his Countryman Anacharsis in Athens, he said unto him, I will at once show thee all the Wonders of Greece. So may I say of him, I will in one show you the wonder of our times; such a Proteus as few ages can produce such another: he having like Ishmael every man's hand against him, and his against all. Who more violent against the Hierarchy of the Bishops than he; none more against King and Kingly Government than he; how violent was he against the House of Lords, and they being down and another Government established without King and Lords, he sets himself against that too: such an opposite and Antagonist to all forms of Government whatsoever, that he might fitly be compared unto the Rainbow, which is never on that side of the world that the Sun is, but wheresoever it appears it is in opposition against the Sun. But to come to his Life, he was Son to Richard Lilburne of the County of Durham; during his miniority an Apprentice in London, near London-stone, to one Mr. Hewson, a a dealer in Cloth, whom he served about five years; his Master declining his trade, he moved him that he might have his liberty to provide for himself; to which purpose he went into the Country, to have the consent of his friends, and afterwards made a voyage into Holland. Before this his transportation he had made his ends, having been of such an insinuating spirit, that he won the love of some silly Schismatics, who for his strange though empty expressions, deemed him, as they have done others, one inspired. So that by that time he came out of his time, and had served his Apprenticeship, who but Lilburne of note amongst the Sectaries; his approbation desired, and his counsels followed in all tumultuous and factious transactions. It happened during the imprisonment of Doctor Bastwick, (censured for libelling by the Archbishop of Canterbury) divers persons affecting the said Doctor, out of their love resorting to him; amongst the rest, one of them took John Lilburne with him as his associate: after plenty of cheer Doctor Bastwick to solace his guests, read to them his Lettany, which he had written against the Prelates, which Book was highly pleasing to them all. Lilburne also hearing the said Lettany read, and knowing that whatsoever was written in defiance of that power, then generally hated, would be very acceptable; he desired of Doctor Bastwick, to have a copy of one of them, with which he would travel beyond Sea, and cause it to be printed, not doubting to be enriched by it; the wind of this fancy transported him over Sea, accompanied with a fellow whose fidelity he doubted not; there he printed many Books, and by them got much money, selling them even at what rates he pleased; afterwards coming into England, bringing with him his printed trinkets, hoping to have a new Mart, the fellow that accompanied him was his betrayer, who gave information to the Archbishop of Canterbury, both where Lilburne and his Libels were, who immediately dispatched a Pursuivant with plenary authority, who attached Lilburne and seized on his Books, which were all afterwards burnt. Lilburne himself was committed to the Fleet, and refusing to take his Oath in the Star-Chamber, was by them fined five hundred pound; and censured to be whipped from the Fleet to Westminster, and afterwards to stand in the Pillory, which accordingly was executed; and because he fell into a long speech against the Bishops and their Hierarchy, they caused him to be gagged, wherein he continued an hour and a half. But the times altering, the Bishops being Voted down by Parliament, and a War ensuing betwixt them and the King, these his sufferings caused him to be looked upon by the Parliament, who preferred him to the Office of Lieutenant Colonel in their Army; wherein he behaved himself most gallantly, particularly at Brainford; where he with about 700. men withstood the King's whole Army, about five hours together, and fought it out to the very Swords point, and to the Butt end of the Musket, and thereby hindered the King from his then possessing the Parliaments Train of Artillery, and by consequence the City of London; in which act he was taken prisoner, without Articles or capitulation, and was by the King and his Party then looked upon, as one of the most active men in the whole company; and should have been therefore Tried for his life had not he by his wit avoided the same by sending to the Parliament, who thereupon sent a Letter to Oxford, threatening them with lex talionis, (they having at the same time many of their great eminent men prisoners in the Tower, Warwick Castle, and other places) which put a period to all further proceed against him, and freed him by an exchange. Returning to London, he gins to set abroach his factious opinions, writing a Pamphlet, wherein he termed the Laws, Norman innovations, with other unparallelled speeches; all which he sent to Judge Reeve, who himself, or some other for him, made a complaint unto the Lords, who immediately summoned him to appear before them, which accordingly he did; where being commanded to kneel at the Bar, he refused, saying. That he had learned both better Religion and manners, then to kneel to any humane, or mortal power how great soever: with many other aggravating and ambitious speeches, which committed him close prisoner, first to Newgate, and afterwards to the Tower, where he continued above twelve months together; but this not a whit calmed his spirit, but was rather like Oil cast on the fire, finding occasion from these his troubles and imprisonments, to inveigh more bitterly against the Government and Governors then in being, terming the Parliament (to use his own words in his scurrilous pamphlets,) A pack of dissembling juggling knaves, a company of tyrants, the most perfidious, false, faith and trust-breakers, that ever lived in the world, and aught by all rational men to be most detested of all men that breathe; treacherous, selfseeking, usurpers of the name and power of a Parliament, most treacherously to do what they list. Saying, That Corah, Dathan, and Abiram, were never more against Authority, as the General, (viz. the Lord Fairfax) and his Council; nor the Anabaptists at Munster, with John of Leidon, and Knipperdolling, were never more contemners of Authority, nor Jack Straw and Wat Tyler, nor all those famous men mentioned with a black pen in our Histories. These, with infinite other railing terms his pamphlets are stuffed and farced withal, not fit to be bestowed on the most inveterate enemies can be encountered in this Life; the young Gentleman was very prodigal of such Rabshekah expressions, as his impudence was most conducing to his desperate designs, etc. For these, and many other single rapired expressions of the nature, contained in several Books which he wrote, he was committed to the Tower, and by a special Commission of Oyer and Terminer tried upon a Charge of High Treason at the Guild Hall in London; October 24, 25. 26. 1649. Many were the Commissioners that sat upon his Trial, and multitudes of Spectators that came to behold it. I have inserted his Trial thus at large, not only as in respect of the eminency of it, but as many passages in it from his own lips, give further illustrations of his Life. The first Trial of Lieutenant Colonel John Lilburne was at the Guild Hall in London the 24. of October 1649. being Wednesday. The Commissioners Names of the extraordinary Commission of Oyer and Terminer, for the Trial of Lieutenant Colonel John Lilburn, were these. Thomas Andrews, Lord Mayor. Richard Keble, Lord Commissioner. Philip Jermyn, Judge of the upper Bench; Thomas Gates; Baron. John Pulestone, Justice of the Common Pleas. Francis Thorp, Barron and Member, Robert Nicolas, Member. Richard Ask; Justices of the Upper Bench. Peter Warburton, Justice of the Common Pleas. Alexander Rigby, Baron, but absent. Sir Thomas Fowler. Sir Henry Holcroft. Sir William Row. Sir Richard Saltonstall. Sir Richard Springal. Sir John Woolistone: Sir William Roberts. John Green. John Clarke; John Parker, Sergeants at Law. William Steel; Recorder. John Fowke, Thomas Foot, John Kendrick Thomas Cullum, Simon edmond's, Samuel Avery, John Dethick, Robert Tichburn, John Hayes, Aldermen. Henry Proby; Common Sergeant. Thomas Brigandine, Nathaniel Snape, Edward Rich, Owen Roe, Tobias Lisle, Austin Wingfield, Richard Downton, Daniel Taylor, William Wibend, Silvanus Taylor The Court was called, O yes made, All persons that were adjourned to the Court required to make their appearance. The Lieutenant of the Tower of London, Colonel Francis West was called, to bring forth his Prisoner according to the precept. Whereupon Colonel West Lieutenant of the Tower, brought up the Prisoner out of the Irish Chamber, where he had been some time before the sitting of the Court, and was guarded by the said Lieutenant, and a special Guard of Soldiers besides. And being brought to the Bar, the Sheriffs of London were directed to take the Prisoner into their custody. Silence commanded, the Crier said, John Lilburne, hold up thy hand. Lieutenant Colonel Lilburne directed himself to Master Keble one of the Keepers of the great Seal, as the Precedent of the Court, and said to this purpose, Sir, will it please you to hear me, and if so, by your favour thus. All the privilege for my part that I shall crave this day at your hands is no more, but that which is properly and singly the Liberty of every Freeborn Englishman, viz. the benefit of the Laws and Liberties thereof, which by my Birthright and Inheritance is due unto me; the which I have fought for as well as others have done, with a single and upright heart; and if I cannot have and enjoy this, I shall leave this Testimony behind me, that I died for the Laws and Liberties of this Nation: and upon this score I stand, and if I perish I perish. And if the Fact that I have done cannot be justified by the Law of England, let me perish. I mention none of this for the gaining of mercy, or by way of merit, no I scorn it; for mercy I crave from none but from the hands of my God alone, with whom I hope, and am assured one day to rest; whom I have set before my eyes, and so walked, as believing I am always in his presence, in whose power my confidence is fixed, whom I take and own to be my stay, my staff, my strength and support, and in whom I rest as the life of my life, and whom I hope to meet with joy, when this fading and uncertain life shall have an end, to live with him in glory, and blessedness for evermore. And because I would not willingly trouble you with many words, to cause you to spend your time impertinently; therefore Sir, in reference to the Court, I shall crave but so much liberty from you as was given to Paul, when he pleaded for his life before the Heathen Roman Judges, which was free liberty of speech to speak for himself, the which I now humbly crave as my right, not only by the Law of God and Man, but also by the law and light of Nature: And I shall do it with that respect, reason, and judgement, that doth become a man that knows what it is to plead for his life. I hope Good hath given me ability to be master of my own passion, and endowed me with that reason, that will dictate unto me what is for my own good and benefit. I have several times been arraigned for my life already. I was once arraigned before the House of Peers for (sticking close to the Liberties and Privileges of this Nation, and those that stood for them) being one of those two or three me, that first drew their swords in Westminster Hall against Colonel Lunsford, and some scores of his associates. At that time, it was supposed, they intended to cut the throats of the chiefest men then sitting in the House of Commons; I say for this, and other things of the like nature, I was arraigned by the King's special Command and Order, the first of May, 1641. I mention it to this end, that when I came before the House of Peers, where was about three or fourscore Lords then sitting at the beginning of the parliament; (who then were supposed the most arbitrary of any power in England) yet I had from them free liberty of speech, to speak for my life at their Bar, without check or control in the best manner, that all those abilities God had given me would enable me; and when I was at Oxford. I was again arraigned as a Traitor before the Lord Chief Justice Heath, for levying War at the Command of the then Parliament against the person of the King: and when I came before him in the Guild Hall of Oxford, he told me (there being present with him as his fellow Judge) Master Gardiner, (sometimes Recorder of the City of London) now Sir Thomas Gardiner, and others that sat by a special Commission of Oyer and Terminer from the King; the which Commission I did not so well then understand, as I hope I do now. And my Lord Chief Justice Heath stood up, and in the face of all the Court, and in the face of all the Country present there told me, Captain Lilburne, you are brought here before us for High Treason, for levying War in Oxfordshire against your Sovereign Lord and King; and though you be now in a Garrison, and were taken in Arms in open hostility against the King. (yea Sir, and I must now tell you in such hostility, that we were but about seven hundred men at Brandford that withstood the King's whole Army in the field, about five hours together, and fought it out to the very swords point, and to the butt end of the Musket; and thereby hindered the King from his then possessing the Parliaments Train of Artillery, and by consequence the City of London; in which very act I was taken a Prisoner, without Articles or Capitulation, and was by the King and his Party then looked upon, as one of the activest men against them in the whole company) yet said Judge Heath, we will not take advantage of that, to try you by the rules of Arbitrary Marshal Law, or any other Arbitrary ways; but we will try you by the rules of the good old Laws of England; and whatsoever privilege in your Trial the Laws of England will afford you, claim it as your Birthright and Inheritance, and you shall enjoy it with as much freedom and willingness, as if you were in Westminster Hall to be tried amongst your own Party; and this we will do for that end, that so at London your friends shall not have any just cause to say, we murdered you with cruelty, or denied you the benefit of the Law, in taking away your life by the rules of our own wills. Nay, further said he, Captain Lilburne, it is true, I am a Judge made by my Sovereign Lord the King, according to his right by Law, and so in a special manner am his Servant and Counsellor, and am to act for his good, benefit, and advantage: And yet notwithstanding it is by the known Laws of this Land my duty to be indifferent and free from partiality betwixt my Master and you the Prisoner, and I am specially bound unto it also by my Oath; and therefore you shall have the utmost privileges of the Law of England, which is a Law of Mercy. and not of Rigour, and hath the life of a man in tenderest and highest estimation; and therefore it is the duty of a Judge by Law to be of counsel with the Prisoner, in things wherein by his ignorance he falls short of making use of the benefit of the Law, especially when he is upon the Trial of his life. Yea, and to exhort him to answer without fear, if he perceive him daunted or amazed at the presence of the Court: Yea, it is my duty to carry myself with all fairness and evenness of hand towards you; and wherein that there shall seem any mistakes to appear in circumstances of Formalities, to rectify you: For 'tis my duty to help you, and not to use any boisterous or rough language to you in the least, to put you in fear, or any ways prevent the freedom of you defence: and according to the Laws of England this is my duty, and this is the Law. And accordingly he gave me liberty to plead to the errors of my Indictment, before ever I pleaded not guilty; yea, and also became willing to assign me what Council I pleased to nominate, freely to come to prison to me, and to consult and advise with me, and help me in point of Law: This last he did immediately upon my pleading to the Indictment before any Fact was proved, all which is consonant to the declared Judgement of Sir Edward Cook that great Oracle of the Laws of England, whose Books are published by special Orders and Authority of Parliament for good Law, who in his 3. part Institutes, Chapt. Of High Treason, fol. 29.34. compared with fol. 137.230. asserts the same. Truly, Sir, I being now come before you to answer for my life, and being no professed Lawyer, may through my own ignorance of the practic part of the Law, especially in the Formalities, Nisities and Puntillio's thereof, run myself with overmuch hastiness, in snares and dangers that I shall not easily get out of. And therefore being all of a sudden bid to hold up my hand at the Bar, I cannot choose but a little demur upon it, and yet with all respect to you, to declare my desirableness to keep within the bounds of Reason, Moderation and Discretion, and so to carry myself as it doth become a man that knows what it is to answer for his life. And therefore in the first place, I have something to say to the Court about the first Fundamental liberty of an English man in order to his Trial, which is, that by the Laws of this Land, all Courts of Justice always ought to be free and open for all sorts of peaceable people to see, behold, and hear, and have free access unto; and no man whatsoever ought to be tried in holes or corners, or in any place where the Gates are shut and barred, and guarded with armed men: and yet, Sir, as I came in, I found the Gates shut and guarded; which is contrary both to Law and Justice. Sir, the Laws of England, and the Privileges thereof, are my Inheritance and Birthright: And, Sir, I must acquaint you, that I was sometimes summoned before a Committee of Parliament, where Mr. Corbet and several others have had the Chair; and there I stood upon my right by the Laws of England, and refused to proceed with the said Committee, till by special order they caused their Doors to be wide thrown open, that the people might have free and uninterrupted access to hear, see, and consider of what they said to me; although I think the pretence that I am now brought before you for, be the very same in substance, that I was convened before Mr. Corbet for, which was about Books; and I am sure there I did argue the case with him and the rest of the Committee sound out in Law, proving that they were bound in Law and Justice, freely to open their Doors, for the free access of all sorts and kinds of Auditors: And I did refuse (as of right) to proceed with them, till by special order they did open their Doors. For no trial in such cases, aught to be in any place, unless it be public, open and free; and therefore if you please that I may enjoy that Legal Right and Privilege which was granted unto me by Mr. Miles Corbet, and the rest of that Committee, (when I was brought before them in the like case that now I am brought before you:) which privilege I know to be my right by the Law of England, I shall, as it becomes an understanding Englishman, (who in his actions hates deeds of darkness, holes or corners) go on to a trial. But if I be denied this undoubted privilege, I shall rather die here then proceed any further. And therefore foreseeing this beforehand, and being willing to provide against all jealousies of my escape, the fear of which I supposed might be objected against me as a ground to deny me this my legal right; and therefore beforehand I have given my engagement to the Lieutenant of the Tower, that I will be a faithful and true prisoner to him. He enlarged himself as to other particulars, but these being the most material as to the relation of some passages of his Life, I thought it necessary to insert them. He having these requested freedoms granted him from Judge Keble, his trial went on, which because of itself it is a large printed volume, I shall only hint at some things not to be omitted in it. After he had ended his Speech, Judge Keble told him that his requests were granted, bid him look behind him, the Doors were open. Mr. Prideaux the Attorney General excepted against the favour done him of the liberty of his Speech, as at the beginning of his arraignment he had denied to hold up his hand; he further expressed that the Commission for the Trial of Mr. Lilburne, was for differences betwixt the State and him. Master Lilburne desired that Master Prideaux might be excepted against as his enemy, one of the faction of the Court against his life. Judge Keble told him that he spoke irrationally and indiscreetly; he having so fair respect and so free a hearing to except against so great a Minister of the Court; afterwards Judge Jermyn a sound Lawyer, but a better forenoon than afternoons man, said, That since Master Lilburne begun to plant his Ordnance against the Authority of the Court, that the Court did sit by a lawful Authority derived from the Parliament, the supreme Authority of England, that he was accused of High Treason, had his Jury of Freemen of London, Citizens, men of religious integrity; he instanced many cases to him, concluding, that he desired him to put himself upon his Trial by Law, and to hear with patience those offences of Treason were laid to his charge. Master Lilburne notwithstanding continued to use several arguments against the Commission of Oyer and Terminer, which he knew to be that, by the virtue of which they did sit; and since he was to be tried for his life, he desired to hear their Commission read; but since they had denied him that, he desired all his friends to take notice how contrary to reason and equity they dealt with him. Judge Keble urged him still, not taking notice of his Traverses, to hold up his hand at the Bar, which he explained to him was no more but a special notice that the party is the man inquired for, and therefore if he were John Lilburne, the man that was charged, he bid him but say that he was the man, and that he was there, and that should suffice. Lilburne accordingly said, I am John Lilburne, Son to John Lilburne. Judge Jermyn afterwards to persuade him to hold up his hand, gave him two reasons why that custom had been always used. First, for notice that those who are called for capital and criminal offences, that they should hold up the hand, to declare that they are the men. Secondly, he said, that a pure innocent hand did set forth a clear and unspotted heart, for which reason he bid Mr. Lilburne hold up his hand; if he refused to do it, he deprived himself of the prime benefit of the customs of England. Master Lilburne still quibbling with the Court and refusing, Judge Keble gave order that the Indictment should be read, to which purpose Master Broughten read, Hold up your hand Master Lilburne, and hearken to the charge; thou standest indicted of High Treason, by the name of John Lilburne late of London Gentleman, for that thou art a false Traitor, not having the fear of God before thy eyes, but being stirred up and moved by the instigation of the Devil, etc.— After he had read it out, Master Broughton said, What sayest thou John Lilburne, art thou guilty of this Treason, of which thou standest indicted or not guilty. Lilburne answered, That by the Laws of England he was not to answer questions against or concerning himself. Another Judge said, Master Lilburne, by the Laws of the Land you are to plead to your charge, and it is no accusing of yourself to say you are guilty or not guilty. Master Lilburne instanced the Petition of Right to the former purpose, he also excused, himself as he was ignorant of the formalities of the Law, having none of the Law Books in English; and therefore fore them to take away his life in a Language he understood not, was extreme hard: therefore he humbly desired to have Council assigned him to consult with. Judge Keble told him he could not grant him that favour, it was not consistent with the Law. Master Lilburne still refused to plead without Council, withal he said, he was not guilty in any of the treasons in manner or form as they were laid down in the Indictment, pointing to it, and withal said Now I have pleaded, and crave the Liberties of England that you will assign me counsel. Master Boughton said, By whom wilt thou be Tried, Lilburne replied, By the known Laws of England, and a legal Jury of his equals, constituted by Law. One of the Clerks said, you must say by God and your Country. Master Lilburne said, he never read in the Laws of England that he was to plead in that manner. Judge Keble explained the word Country to him, saying, By it was meant a Jury of his equals. Master Lilburne desired as he had been a prisoner seven months deprived of Books, that he might have a reasonable time allowed him to prepare himself for his Plea and Defence, or else to knock him in the head in the place where he stood; for he must needs be destroyed, if they denied him the means of his preservation. After many of his evasions, Judge Nichols told him that if he would not be lead by the proceed of Law it would be worse for him. Master Lilburne instanced the freedom of his Trial at Oxford, the Judges in effect told him that he was now at London on a different manner of fact. He answered, they might murder him if they would, observing Master Prideaux the Attorney General, whispering Judge Thorpe in the ear, he said on the Bench, It was not lawful for a Judge to be whispered. To which Judge Thorpe replied, that as he was the prosecutor of the State against him, he might confer privately with him. Master Lilburne quoted to the contrary, Cooks Institutes, the third part, Cap. Treason, upon which Judge Keble took him up short, and said, that if he would not come to something, and behave himself according to the bounds of Reason and Law, he would cause his Jury to be returned. Master Lilburne replied that he desired to have the privilege of the Laws of God, which he said, he himself must acknowledge to be the Law of England; and he was sure that the Law of God was, that they should do as they would be done by; now he said, it could not be by the Laws of God for his adversaries to have the helps of all manner of counsels, by snares, quirks, tricks, and provocations to take away his life, and for him to be denied the benefit to consult with any to preserve himself against such potent malice. Judge Jermyn answered, the question was not, whether the Law of God, and the Law of reason, and the Law of man may be consonant to each other, and whether the Court or John Lilburne shall be Judges thereof, that was the question, Master Lilburne crying for all equity to himself, but allowing the Court none. Judge Keble said further, that when a man had done such treasonable things, that it was the Law of God that he should answer directly and positively whether he were guilty or no; and if he answer not guilty, and they be not fully proved against him, there is no more to be said, After some other trifling pro and con, Master Lilburne compared the prerogative that he said the Judges made use of, to Nebucadnezzar, that endeavoured to destroy Daniel by his prerogative, as he was to be thrown into the Lion's Den; making this application, that if they would not allow him council to consult with, to make a Plea for his life, it was a vain thing for him to spend any more words. Judge Keble the afterwards Precedent of the High Court of Justice, replied, Mr. Lilburne this language is but the sparks of that venomous heat that is within you, and they may burst out to prove you guilty before us, and in our presence if so be that you are charged with, without any other proof or proceed, for you may do it, I tell you that you may do it where you stand; therefore take heed what you say. Mr. Lilburne replied, Sir, I have cast up my account, and I know what it can cost me; he blessed God he had learned to die, having always carried his life in his hand, for about twelve years together. Judge Keble replied, he should not now lay it down, if he did not destroy or cast away the Commonwealth; but if he went about to destroy the Commonwealth, the Commonwealth would destroy him. Master Lilburne replied, he desired nothing but council, and to produce his witnesses. Mr. Prideaux the Attorney General answered, that if Master Lilburne had these concernments granted to him, it would be a precedent for all future times, by means of which there would be no ends of Trials in criminal cases; and that it was a wonderful strange thing to him, that when the prisoner had pleaded the usual way, that they did not immediately proceed to Trial. He did desire that Master Lilburne might be dealt with all legal, just, and fair precedings of the Court; he did desire accordingly the proceed of the Commonwealth be so too, that Master Lilburne may be without delay according to the Law proceeded against for his notorious Treasons. Judge Keble immediately said, well Mr. Lilburne the Court is very tender, not to take up any of your time, you have heard what was declared to you there, that Master Attorney hath made Process against you returnable to morrow at seven of the Clock, and therefore to spend more time would be your loss and damage: the Sheriffs of London are to take care to return the Jury to morrow morning, and therefore the Court doth adjourn till seven of the Clock to morrow in the morning, in the mean time they commit the prisoner at the Bar to the Lieutenant of the Tower again a prisoner. Judge Keble said, that he had more favour than any prisoner in England ever had; for by the Laws of England, in matters of Treason, whereof Master Lilburne is indicted, he ought to have been Tried presently and immediately; and because all the world shall know with what candour and justice the Court doth proceed against him, we deferred time till to morrow morning, which is the Courts extraordinary favour, and the doors are wide open, that all the world may know it. Mr. Lilburne said, Sir I can show you a hundred precedents to the contrary to disprove what you say. Judge Keble bids adjourn the Court. Mr. Lilburne humbly thanked the Judges for their extraordinary favour, and so the Curtains were drawn for that day, the Court having adjourned till the next morning, & the Prisoner was remanded to the Tower. The 26. of October the Friday following, he was brought to the Bar with his Brother Colonel Robert Lilburne, his Solicitor Master Sprat, and some other of his friends, being hardly admitted; Judge Keble saying, your Brother shall not stand by you there, I will only have one hold your Papers and Books, and the rest not to trouble you, therefore let them come out of the Court. Master Lilburne pleaded for his Council, instancing Major Rolfes Trial at Oxford, about his intent to poison the King, where he had Council allowed him: to which Judge Keble subtly answered, Mr. Lilburne when you come to Trial you shall see there will be no need of Council: the Court will be instead of Council to you; nay, the Court, if they see matter of Law for Council, though you do not ask it, they will give it you, and therefore set your heart at rest; for if there be any thing Rational in Law that we can spy out as well as your Council, we'll help you in it. Master Lilburne answered, Sweet Sir, I pray but one word more, if you deny me what the Law affords me, and that which hath been granted to the Law by Cavalier Judges; yea, and by your fellow Judges, who are now in power at this day, the Lord deliver me from standing in need of you to be my Counsellors. Says Keble, we are upon our lives as well as you. Master Liburne replied, No by your Favour, not in so eminent a manner. Judge Keble replied, we are upon our lives and our souls to all eternity. Master Lilburne desired to be heard one word; Judge Keble said, he would hear no more. Upon which Master Prideaux desired the Court would proceed, and not prolong time, being he had pleaded not guilty, and had confessed something. Lilburne replied, No sir, you do me wrong, and abuse me, I never confessed any thing, neither did I plead not guilty; he said, his Plea was conditional, grounded on their promises not to take any advantages of his ignorance in their Formalities. Judge Keble exasperated at his obstinacy, cried out, Go on, be silent: Master Lilburn desired that at least they would let him hear the grand Jury speak; for he understood from some of themselves, that they never found him guilty, but do conceive themselves wronged by some words yesterday that passed from some of the Judges, he desired to hear them speak. Judge Keble desired him to be rational, a word he often used, and that he would be silent, and hear the Court; he told him he could lose no more time to hear him; he bid the Crier call the Jury; the Crier called, and Master Lilburne earnestly pressed to be heard, but could not, Master Lilburne desired to see their faces. Judge Keble warned Master Sprat, John's Solicitor, not to talk to the Prisoner, he said he might stand and hold the Books, but he should not come near the Prisoner to talk to him as he had done the day before. Master Lilburne said, that the Law allowed a slander by to speak in the Prisoner's behalf at the Bar, much more to whisper to him, but more especially if he were his Solicitor. The Crier called the names, Miles Petty, William Wormwell, John Sherman, Thomas Dainty, Ralph Ely, Edward Keiser, Edward Perkins, Ralph Packman, Francis Woodall, William Commins, Henry Hauson, Roger Jenkenson; Joshua Hammond, Richard Allen, Richard Nevil, John Main, Henry Jooley, Arthur Due, Roger Sears, John Mayo, Henry Jooley, Arthur Due, Roger Sears. The Crier, said you good men of the City appear; Stephen Jues, John Sherman, Ralph Ely, Roger Jenkenson, Roger Sears, John Mayo, Nicholas Murren. The Clerk of Court says to the Jury, here is your Prisoner at the Bar presented before the Court, here take your Jury of Life and Death; if therefore Master Lilburne you will challenge them, or any of them, you must challege them before that they go to be sworn. Cryer. Every man that can inform my Lords, the Justices, and the Attorney General of the Commonwealth, against Master John Lilburn Prisoner at the Bar, of any Treason or Felony committed by him, let them come forth, and they shall be heard; for the Prisoner stands upon his deliverance: and all others bound to give their attendance, are upon pain of forfeiture of their Recognizance to come in. Master Lilburne desired to be heard a few words; the Judge told him he must talk in his legal time, and take legal exceptions, and then he should be heard till midnight. Master Lilburne desired to be heard, he said, he did not know the faces of two men that were read to him, therefore he desired that he might have time to consider of them. Judge Keeble told him that he ought not to have it. Master Lilburne desired the Judge that he would at least vouchsafe him to have some friends by him that are Citizens of London, that knew them, to give him information of their quality and conditions, without which, he said, they might as well hang him without a Trial. Mr. Sprat or Master Robert Lilburn challenged one of the Jury, which the Judge excepted against, and commanded the Fellow in the white cap should come out there, pull him out. Master Lilburne replied, that they did not deal civilly according to their own Law; and now there was a full noise, the whole cry was, to pull down the Stag of the Petition of Right. The Jury being called, he excepted against several persons of the Jury; six lived about Smithfield, one in Gosling-Street, two in Cheapside, two in Broad-street, one in Friday-street. After his particular exception, Master Broughton proceeds and reads his Indictment. Hold up thy hand John Lilburne, Thou standest here indicted of High Treason by the name of John Lilburn, late of London Gentleman; for that thou as a false Traitor, not having the fear of God before thine eyes, but being stirred and moved up by the instigation of the Devil, didst endeavour not only to disturb the peace and tranquillity of this Nation, but also the government thereof to subvert; now established without King or House of Lords, in the way of a Commonwealth, and a free State, and happily established; and the Commons in Parliament assembled being the supreme Authority of this Nation of England, to disgrace, and into a hatred, base esteem, infamy, and scandal, with all the good, true, and honest persons of England, to bring into hatred; that is to say, that thou the said John Lilburne, on the first day of October in the year of our Lord 1649. and on divers other days and times, both before and after, in the Parish of Mary the Archess, in the Ward of Cheap, London, aforesaid, of thy wicked and devilish mind and imagination, falsely, maliciously, advisedly, and traitorously, as a false Traitor, by writing and imprinting, and openly declaring, that is to say, by a certain scandalous, poisonous, and traitorous writing in paper, entitled, A salva libertate: and by another scandalous, poisonous and traitorous Book, entitled, An Impeachment of High Treason against Oliver Cromwell, and his son-in-law Henry Ireton, Esquires, late Members of the late forcibly dissolved House of Commons; presented to public view by Lieutenant Colonel John Lilburn close Prisoner in the Tower of London, for his real, true, and zealous affection to the liberties of this Nation: and by another scandalous, poisonous, and traitorous Book, imprinted and entitled, An Outcry of the young men and Apprentices of London, or an inquisition after the lost fundamental Laws and Liberties of England, directed August 29. 1649. in an Epistle to the private Soldiers of the Army, especially all those that signed the solemn, Engagement at Newmarket Heath, the fifth of June, 1647. but more especially the private Soldiers of the General's Regiment of Horse, that helped to plunder and destroy the honest and true hearted Englishmen, traitorously defeated at Burford, the fifteenth of May 1649. And also by another scandalous, poisonous, and traitorous Book, entitled, The legal fundamental liberties of the people of England, revised, asserted, and vindicated, didst publish that the Government aforesaid, is tyrannical, usurped and unlawful; and that the commons Assembled in Parliament, are not the Supreme Authority of this Nation: and further, that thou the said John Lilburne as a false Traitor, God before thine eyes not having, but being moved and led by the instigation of the Devil, endeavouring, and maliciously intending, the Government aforesaid, as is aforesaid, well and happily established; thou the said John Lilburne, afterwards (that is to say) the aforesaid first day of October in the year of our Lord 1649. aforesaid, and divers other days and times, as well before as after, at London aforesaid, that is to say, in the Parish and Ward aforesaid, London aforesaid, maliciously, advisedly, and traitorously didst plot, contrive, and endeavour to stir up, and to raise force, against the aforesaid Government, and for the subverting and alteration of the said Government, and to do those wicked, malicious, and traitorous advisement to put in execution, etc. and thou the said John Lilburne, afterwards, that is to say, the aforesaid first day of October in the year of our Lord 1649. aforesaid, and divers days and times, as well before as after, at London aforesaid, that is to say, in the Parish and Ward aforesaid, of thy depraved mind, and most wicked imagination, in and by the aforesaid scandalous, poisonous, and traitorous book, Entitled, An impeachment of high Treason against Oliver Cromwell, and his son-in-law Henry Ireton, Esquires, late Members of the late forcible dissolved House of Commons; presented to public view by Lieutenant Colonel John Lilburne, close prisoner in the Tower of London, for his real, true and zealous affection to the Liberties of his native Country; falsely, maliciously, advisedly and traitorously, didst publicly declare amongst other things in the said Book, those false, scandalous, malicious and traitorous words following: but my true friends (meaning the friends of the said John Lilburne) I (meaning the foresaid John Lilburne) shall here take upon me the boldness, considering the great distractions of the present times, to give a little further advice to our friends aforesaid, from whose company or society, or from some of them, hath been begun and issued out the most transcendent, clear, rational and just things for the people's liberties and freedoms; That the foresaid John Lilburne, hath seen or read in this Nation, as your notable and excellent Petition of May the 20th. 1647. burnt by the hand of the common-hangman, recorded in my book called Rash Oaths Unwarrantable, page 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35. with divers Petitions of that nature; and the Petition of the 19th. of January 1648. recorded in the following discourse, page 45, 46, 47, 48. and the Masculine Petition of the eleventh of September, 1648. so much owned by petitions out of several Counties, yea, and by the Officers, of the Armies large Remonstrance from Saint Alban's, the sixteenth of November, 1648. page 67.68, 69. the subtance of all which I (thou the aforesaid John Lilburne meaning) conceive is contained in the printed sheet of paper, signed by my fellow prisoners, Mr. William Walwin, Mr. Richard Overton, and Mr. Thomas Prince and myself, dated the first of May, 1649. and entitled, The Agreement of the free people of England; which false, scandalous and traitorous Book called the Agreement of the people of England, tends to the alteration, and subversion of the Government aforesaid; the principles of the aforesaid Agreement, I (meaning yourself the said John Lilburne) hope and desire you (the friends of the aforesaid John Lilburne meaning) will make the final centre, and unwavering standard of all your desires, hazards and endeavours, as to the future settlement, of the peace and Government of this distressed, wasted, and divided Nation, the firm establishing of the principles therein contained, being that only which will really, and in good earnest marry, and knit the interest, what ever it be that dwells upon them, unto the distressed or oppressed Commons of this Nation. Not to instance the particular application how these and his other Books were stigmatised more at large in the Indictment, as also his traitorous intents, purposes, and designs to their extent displayed. The Indictment being reading, and the noise of the people in the Hall great, the prisoner said he could not hear, and had some few lines before read over to him. Master Lilburne therefore prayed the people to hold their peace; Gentlemen, I beseech you, be quiet, (speaking to the people) Lord Keeble replied, Quiet you yourself, we will quiet them for you. The Crier said, If any man can give any Evidence to my Lords, the Justices of Oyer and Terminer, against Mr. John Lilburne, let him come in and he shall be heard. Master Lilburne desired to be heard to speak two or three words. Lord Keeble said, It is not a fit time, you shall be heard in your due time, but hear what the witnesses say first. Master Lilburne replied, He conceived he was much wronged, in saying that he pleaded not guilty, for he pleaded no such plea, I appeal to the Court, and to all that heard me, whether I pleaded any such plea; for before I pleaded, the Court became engaged to me, to take no advantage of my ignorance of the formalities of the Law, and promised to give me as much privilege as my Lord Duke of Hambleton, and others enjoyed, before the Court of Justice. By your favours said he, I pleaded conditionally, and now I make my absolute Plea to the Indictment which was this; that he excepted against the matter, and form of it in matter, time and place, and humbly craved Counccel to assign, and plead to the errors thereof, He beseeched them to hear him a few words. Sir, with favour, he humbly craved liberty to speak a few words; he said, I shall keep me close to that, which is my right and my duty, and that is to the matter of Law in my Indictment: There are many things put into the Indictment by the Testimonies of Witnesses now sworn, that are pretended to be acted in several Countries; whether that be according to Law or no, I do not know, whether you will judge it so or no, but sure I am, if either those express Statutes, that I have already cited to the Jury, or the third part of Cooks Institutes be Law, I ought not to be tried for Treason, but by a Jury of the next Neighbourhood, in the selfsame County, the fact is pretended to be committed in: and therefore it is very questionable to me, whether my Indictment be legal, for that it chargeth me with facts of treason, committed in three several Counties, and that being matter of Law, I desire Counsel to argue that point in the first place: There are also a great many other exceptions I have to make against the Illegality of the Indictment, and having particularised one, I humbly crave that which is my right by Law, that I may have Counsel assigned to me; you have said, you will do what shall become ingenious and understanding men, and just Judges in it, and therefore I crave leave according to my undoubted Right, to have Counsel assigned to plead in matters of Law to the insufficiency of the Indictment, and particularly to that point I have nominated. There are also a great many things arise out of the matter of fact, that will be points of Law likewise, and some of them appear to be so, there were never two clear and positive witnesses to one fact sworn against me, but to most of the particular Treasons there is but one a piece, and I cannot yield tha to be legal but questionable in the Law, which I desire Counsel to dispute: I know not any of all the Books fixed upon me, but the Outcry, that hath two plain witnesses to it, and yet it is not sworn that I am the Author of it; the state of the first is this, that I was at the Printers before the Copy was taken away, and that I gave one of those Books to a Soldier: to sum up the Notes of the matter of fact, that thereon hath been endeavoured to be proved, is too hard a task to be done by me immediately, and therefore I conceive it but just for you to assign me Counsel, to agree with the Counsel against me, what are the points of fact upon the proof, from which the points of Law are to be deducted; and whatever you, that call yourselves my Judges, may think of this, yet I hope and verily believe, that these my honest fellow Citizens, that are the Gentlemen of my Jury, who have (thereby) as men, the issues of my life and death in their hands, and will think it but a just and rational motion and request; and therefore before them again, I desire to have Counsel assigned to plead in Law, to the errors of the Indictment, and also to the Law arising upon the fact; this with a larger privilege, was granted by one of your own brother-Judges, to Major Rolfe last year, as his right by Law; and I do again appeal to Mr. Justice Nichols, than one of Rolfes Counsel; for the truth of this, I pray speak Sir. is it not true? but the Judge sitting, as if he had neither life nor soul, Mr. Lilburne further said, I hope Sir, it doth not enter into your thoughts presently to put me to an undigested extemporary answer, to so large an Indictment as that is that hath been read against me; that it is possible for any man's brain, if it were as big as the biggest Magazine in London, to carry it in his head; and Sir, I hope you do not conceive that my memory is of a greater largeness than the greatest Magazine in this City; you engaged unto me when I pleaded first to my Indictment, that you would not take exceptions nor advantage against me, for my ignorance in the formalities of the Law; I desire you to make good your promise now unto me, and assign me Counsel to help my ignorance, that so the Counsel against me and my Counsel may agree, as I have seen it done hereofore in the case of Duke Hambleton, upon the points of fact, from which Law is to be deducted; and if you please to grant me this legal and equitable favour, I shall think myself very much obliged unto you; without which justice, I cannot conceive upon what ground it can be apprehended I can go on: for my time and strength now it is so far spent, that I conceive you cannot think my body is made of steel, to stand here four or five hours together, spending my spirits to answer so many as I have to deal with, and be able after all this, to stand to return an answer to above five hours' charge, and that upon life, when it seems you will suffer me to mend no blots; I hope you do not lie upon the catch to weary and tyre me out, by putting more upon me then a horse is able to endure; and then go about to hang me, because I through tiredness, want bodily strength and abilities to make and pronounce my defence. Sir, to my apprehension, there does arise upon the matter of fact divers disputes in Law; I beseech you therefore allow me my right in Law, by assigning me Counsel to help me where I am ignorant, and you shall see, I shall do that which shall become an ingenuous and rational man, and I will put myself clearly upon the Trial of the Country or my Jury according to the Law. The Lord Keble replied, Mr. Lilburne, This that you have heard, and that we have patiently sat to hear, and prepared a stool for you to have sat upon, to have given you that liberty that no body should interrupt you more than us, you have heard the fair course that hath been taken in it; The Books, the charges upon the matter, they are but three, they are not hard for your memory; The particulars of those we do not expect that the Jury should remember them; the Books are here, they have of them; but amongst them there are many more, but free yourself from the matter of fact, if you can, and these Books; and when you have freed yourself from the matter of fact charged upon you, and then make it appear that from the matter of Fact Law arises, and then if you can, when the matter of Fact is clear, and Law doth arise, you shall have Counsel; and you shall have no defect in us to interrupt you, but to help you in what we may properly know as our right to do; but if you do not first clear and make out this which is the issue upon the point, to answer the matter ouf Fact, we cannot allow you any Counsel: the thing that is to be disputed cannot possible be much on your side, it will be but very short; for it is not possible, I say, to be much in time, or confusion of your memory, to give an answer to this particular matter of Fact: the first is the publishing of those Books, and the owning of them; and the next is the Books themselves; But this must be first cleared, before you can have any Counsel assigned you at all. Now it was high time for Colonel John to pretend that he was tired out, he requested the Court for a Chamber-pot, which was granetd him; afterwards he fell to it back and sides. Says he, Well, seeing I must to it, the will of God be done; but his brother being next to him, was heard to press him to pause a little more; No brother, saith he, my work is done, I will warrant you by the strength of God, I will knock the nail upon the head; and so he went into the Bar, and set the Chair before him, and laid his Law Books open upon it, in order as he intended to use them, and being ready, said, Sir I humbly crave the favour, since it is my hard lot and fortune, at least in my own apprehension, to have so much hard measure and injustice as I have, to know whether or no you will permit me, after that I have pleaded to a matter of Fact, according to the Law of England, that has been allowed to the highest Traitors in all the Books that I have read of, that I may speak in my own behalf unto the Jury, my Countrymen, upon whose consciences, integrity, and honesty, my life, and the Lives and Liberties of the honest men of this Nation now lies, who are in Law Judges of Law as well as Fact, and you only the pronouncers of their Sentence, Will, and Mind; I say, I desire to know when I have pleaded to matter of Fact, whether you will be pleased to give me leave to speak to them a few words besides. Lord Keble. Master Lilburne, quietly express yourself, and you do well, the Jury are Judges of matter of Fact altogether, and Judge Cook says so; but I tell you, the opinion of the Court, they are Judges of matter of Law. Mr. Lilburne. The Jury by Law are not only Judges of Fact, but of Law also; and you that call yourselves Judges of the Law are no more but Norman Intruders, and indeed and in truth, if the Jury please, are no more but cyphers to pronounce their Verdict. Judge Jermyn replied, Was there ever such a damnable blasphemous heresy as this is, to call the Judges of the Law cyphers? Sir, I entreat you give me leave to read the words of the Law then, for to the Jury I apply, as my Judges both in the Law and Fact. Says the Lord Keble, We will not deny you a tittle of the Law. Says Judge Jermyn, Let all the hearers know, the Jury ought to take notice of it, that the judges that are sworn, that are twelve in number, they have ever been the judges of the Law, from the first time that ever we can read or hear that Law was truly expressed in England, and the jury are only judges, whether such a thing were done or no, they are only judges of matter of Fact. Mr. Lilburne says, I deny it, here's your own Law to disprove you, and therefore let not me but read it; it is a hard case when a man is upon the Trial of his life, that you will not suffer him to read the Law to the Jury, for his own defence; he was sure they have caused to be read at large those Laws that made against him. Lord Keble said, But I shall pronounce to clear the righteousness of that Law, whatsoever others will pretend against it that know it not. Master Lilburne replied, Sir, under favour I shall not trouble myself with any thing, but what is pertinent to my present purpose; here is the first part of Cooks Institutes, it is owned by all the Lawyers that I know, or ever heard of in England for good Law. Judge Keble answered, If you can convince us, that matter of Law does concern you the jury, you say something. Mr. Lilburne answered, Sir, I have been shuffled too much out of my Liberties already, give me leave to read but the Law to the Jury, I will make use of nothing now to them, but your own words; and when I have done, I will leave myself to them, and the guidance of God upon their conscience; and having the Book open in his hand, he said in the first part of Cooks Institutes, sex. 366. fol. 226, 227, 228. in his Exposition of Ployden hath these words. The Lord Keble answered, Have we dealt so fairly with you all this while, pray be confident, those that are quotations there, are not for your purpose; but I thought how good a Lawyer you were, for to set Cooks Commentaries upon Ployden; when there is no such Book or Commentary: go to your matter of Fact, which is clear, but for this let it fall down, and spare yourself, and trouble yourself no more with Cook; he has no Commentary upon Ployden. But Master Lilburne pressed to speak. Judge jermyn cries out, Hold Sir. Mr. Lilburne replies, What will not you allow me liberty to read your Law? O unrighteous and bloody Judges! Judge jermyn answers, By the fancy of your own mind, you would puzzle the jury, we know the Book a little better than you do, there is no such Book as Cook's Commentary upon Ployden. The Lord Keble said, Sir, you shall not read it. Judge jermyn says he cannot be suffered to read the Law, he had broached an erroneous opinion, that the jury are judges of the Law, which is enough to destroy all the Law in the Land; there was never such a damnable heresy broached in this Nation before. The Crier cries out, Hear the Court. Master Lilburne answers, Do your pleasure, than here I'll die: Jury, take notice of their injustice; but seeing they will not hear me, I appeal to you, and say, It is an easy matter for an abler man than I am, in so many interruptions as I meet with, to mistake Ployden for Littleton; I am surehere is Cooks Commentaries upon Littleton, and these be his words, In this case the Recognitors of the Assize may say and render to the Justices their Verdict at large upon the whole matter, which I am sure is good Law, forasmuch as we see it continually done in all actions of Trespass or Assault, where the Jury doth not only judge of the validity of the proof of the Fact, but also of the Law, by assigning what damages they think is just. Lord Keble said, I am sure you are in an error, in a gross one, as possible a man can be in; this is so gross, that I thought it could not have come from Master Lilburne, that professeth himself to be a rational and knowing man. Master Lilburn goes on. And in another place he saith, For as well as the Jurors may have Cognizance of the Lease, they also as well may have Cognizance of the condition. And further there Cook saith, Here it is to be observed, that a special Verdict, or at large, may be given in any Action, and upon any Issue, be the Issue General or Special. And in Section 368. Littleton hath these words; Also in such Case, where the Inquest may give their Verdict at large, if they will take upon them the knowledge of the Law, upon the matter they may give their verdict generally. Cook's words upon it are fully to the same purpose, who saith, Although the Jury, if they will take upon them (as Littleton here saith) the knowledge of the Law, may give a general Verdict. I am sure this is pertinent to my purpose, and now I have done Sir. The Lord Keble replies, You have spent a little time, but you have done yourself no good; I thought you had understood the Law better than I see you do. Master Lilburne, Now Sir, as to matter of Fact, according to your own desire, seeing you have broke your promise, and will allow me no Council, but lie at catch with me, says he, I shall come to it without any Preamble. The Statute of the 1 Edward 6. Chap. 12. (I desire the Jury may take notice of the Statutes) and the 5. and 6. of Edward the sixth, Chap. 11. here's the Statute Book, which doth expressly declare, That no man shall be condemned for Treason, petty Treason, nor any such like Crimes, but by the Evidence and clear proof of two legal and sufficient Witnesses. Sir Edward Cook in his third part Institutes, Chapter of High Treason, is absolutely of the same opinion folio 12, In this branch, says he, four things are to be observed. First, this word (proveablement) proveably, that is upon direct and manifest proof, not upon conjectural presumptions or inferences, or strains of wit, but upon good and sufficient proof of two Witnesses, and this is folio 12. And here in the Adverb, (proveablement) proveably hath a great force, and signifieth a direct and plain proof. And secondly, This word (attaint) necessarily implieth that he be poceeded with, and attainted, according to the due course and proceed of Law, and not by absolute power, or by other means, as in former times it hath been used. And folio 24. Chap. Petty Treason, he saith, It hath been holden, that upon the Trial of misprision of Treason, there must be two lawful Witnesses as well upon the Trial as the Indictment, as it was resolved by the Justices in the Lord Lumleys' case. Hill. 14. Eliz. reported by the Lord Dier under his own hand, and in the margin he hath this note upon it, That this is the last resolution of the Judges upon it: And a little below in the same folio, and folio 25 he saith, Therefore upon the Indictment, which is in manner of an accusation, by the Statutes of 1. Edward 6. Cap. 12. & 5. & 6. Edward 6. Cap. 11. Two lawful Witnesses are requisite. And in folio 240. he hath the same; his words are these: Attainders of Treason, etc. aught to be upon plain and direct evidence, (as before is said;) for if the party be executed, restitution may be had of his Lands, but never can be had of his life. Now I have done Sir. Lord Keble. I hope the Jury hath seen the Evidence so plain, and so fully, that it doth confirm them to do their duty, and to find the Prisoner guilty of what is charged upon him. J. jermyn, This that you have said, makes much for the Iury. Afterwards there were several witnesses examined, Mr. Thomas Newcomb as to a Book he printed, the last sheet of it, entitled, The Apprentices Outcry, which Mr. Newcomb by circumstances acknowledged, was taken before it was perfected. Afterwards John Took, John Skinner, Thomas Lewis, John Hawkins, John Merriman, the Witnesses were sworn; all which Master Lilburne did so order with his Queries and confident Questions, that they were at their wits ends; Mr. Lilburne all this while having the subtlety not to acknowledge his own hand, which occasioned Master Attorney Prideaux to say, you may see the valiantness of the Champion for the people's Liberties, he will not own his own hand. Master Lilburne said, he denied nothing, but would have them to prove it. For his other Book, an Impeachment of High Treason against Oliver and his Son-in-law Henry Ireton, late Members of the late forcibly dissolved House of Commons, presented to the public view by Lieutenant Colonel John Lilburne, close Prisoner in the Tower of London. Mr. Attorney said, My Lord, I doubt he will not own it. Mr. Lilburne said again, he should deny nothing he had done; but he had read the Petition of Right, which taught him to answer no questions against himself; he said, that he had read that it was practised by our Saviour Christ and his Apostles, our Saviour answering Pilate with only, Thou sayest it. For as to his Preparative to the hue and cry after Sir Arthur Haselrig, the Lieutenant of the Tower said, it was true that Lieutenant Colonel Lilburne gave him such a Book in the Tower, but he could not say whether that was the same Book he delivered him. Mr. Nutleigh and Mr. Radny, two Witnesses, put Mr. John shroudly to his shifts. He was come to St. Francis his equivocation, when one asked him that was newly rob, which way the thief went, he stretching out his arm, said, not this way, meaning through his sleeve. For his Book called, The Legal Fundamental Liberties of England, the Attorney General did not put much weight upon that, as also of his Book De salva libertate; but he proceeded to produce an Act of Parliament of the fourteenth of May 1649. declaring what offences should be adjudged High Treason, which were read over. The chief clauses that Master Attorney insisted upon against Mr. Lilburne were these; That if any person shall maliciously or advisedly publish by writing, printing, or openly declaring that the said Government is usurped, tyrannical, or unlawful, or that the Commons assembled in Parliament are not the Supreme Authority of this Nation: These, says Mr. Attorney, we shall join together with Mr. Lilburnes books; to which making particular application, he inferred, that Mr. lilburn's Books were accordingly traitorous; to which purpose he caused the Clerk to make particular references to several pages of his Books. Master Prideaux causing these words to be read out of one of Master lilburn's Books, That the Parliament are usurping Tyrants, and their new thing, called their Council of State, undoubtedly the most, if not all of them, must go to Tyburn or Tower-hill, there by the Halter or Axe to receive their just deserts, to which he affixed, Amen. There is an Amen pronounced to us, says Mr. Attorney, let him have it that deserves it, and according to the Attorneys direction, several pages of his Books were still quoted and read on; then Mr. Attorney expressed himself to the Court, to this purpose, says he, My Lords, if I should say nothing more to the jury but what hath been instanced and said, there is pregnant proof already; but yet my Lord, further to prove the malice of Mr. Lilburnes heart, and that he did intent to subvert and destroy the Parliament, he caused the Clerk to read some other passages of his Books, out of which he proved that he had blown a Trumpet for all his friends to take up Arms against the Parliament; to which purpose he went about to seduce the Army, which he calls his fellow Countrymen. Thus I have already expressed the particular advantages that might be for the Attorney's Plea to Master lilburn's detriment, to the proving of no less than High Treason through several pages, being quoted successively throughout every Book, to that determined purpose. Mr. Lilburne after he had compared the Judges to the Scribes and Pharisees, and their usage of himself to Christ, closing to his former expression, Thou sayest Mr. Prideaux they are my Books, he bid him prove it. Mr. Prideaux speaking to the Jury, said, Gentlemen there are proofs enough and too many; that he had no more to say to them, but that if they respected the government of the Parliament, the honour of the Council of State, the honour of the Nation, or of the Army, or the preservation of the Law, they could not but say that the prisoner was guilty of such crimes and treasons as he was lawfully accused of, and accordingly they could not but find him so. He ended, that he desired the Act of Treason might be made use of. Master Lilburne again pretended himself to be tired and oppressed, but at the present not being understood, he desired that he might refresh his body with the air, which could not be obtained. All this while he struggled out a little respite, at last after these linger, the Judge resolvingto be no longer delayed, commanded the Chair to be taken away, for it grew late. Now it was time for Master Lilburne to show himself a right Colonel john, after his so long baffling and fooling of the Judges, he was Counsel to himself; he pleaded his own Cause with such subtlety, with such a perfect recollection of all the former transactions of his Trial, and withal indisputably confident of his Jury, he knew he could not tread awry; he being left invulnerable, except in the heel, which was only in his own most necessary inscrutable reservations; he closed his long speech of clearing himself with some necessary insinuations to the Jury, where the strength of this Samson did chief lie. To them he declared the integrity of his life, his merits, and the hard usage he had received from the present Government; being interrupted, he earnestly desired the Jury to take notice of the bloodthirsty cruelty and malice of his enemies, all the while, sound clawing of his Jury with such words, that he was happy in the care and conscience of his honest Jury, fellow Citizens, and Freemen of England, who were to be the Conservators and Judges of his life, having in themselves the Judicial power of the Land, the Judges that sit there, being no more if they pleased, but as cyphers to pronounce the sentence of their Clerks, to say Amen. They being at the best in their originals, but the Norman Conquerors Obtruders. He called his Jury the keepers of his life, at whose hands if they did not do him justice, the Lord would require his blood; he desired the Lord God omnipotent to direct then, the Governor of heaven and earth, and all things therein contained, to go along with them, and give them counsel to do that which is just for his glory: the people with one voice crying, Amen, Amen. Which made the Judges look untowardly about them, and caused Major Gen. Skippon to send for three fresh Companies more of Foot Soldiers. After which, Mr. Attorney General told the Jury, that they had heard the evidence, in the behalf of State, laying the business to their conscience, that they should be careful to do justice. Mr. Lilburne enforced this as his main argument to the Jury, that there were none that swore as to his hand, that there was no Book proved his; and if that of the agreement of the people were his, it was before the Acts had a being or were in print. Master Attorney replied, Mr. Lilburne, these are but your own glosses, the jury answers to the matter of Fact, they are upon their Oaths sworn to do things that are just and right. My Lords, said he, I leave the evidence to them; all that he had more to say, was, that Mr. Lilburne since he came before the Lords, had not so much as owned the Power of the Court, but often called them Ciphers and the like. Mr. Lilburne desired that the Jury might read the first Chapter of Queen Mary in the Statute Book, and the last Clause of the Chapter in the 13. of Queen Elizabeth; but Judge Keble when according to the custom he was to speak to the Jury, said, That Mr. Lilburne had cited two Statutes to prove that there must be two Witnesses, whereas if there were but one Witness to each Fact, it were enough in Law; and therefore he said, Gentlemen of the Jury, what you have heard must not stick with you, you are not bound affirmatively to have two Witnesses, but that one Witness where the circumstances concur, that is sufficient; that which should prevail with you, was, to consider the strength of the accusation which rested in the Books, and did consist of three heads, which were laid down in the Books themselves. First, the so far vilifying the Parliament and State, as it was now established in England. The second looked on the counsels and incitations of Mr. Lilburne for the stirring up of Tumults, Motions, and Wars in the Nation. The third are the things cited in the Books to that end and purpose to divide the Army. These he said were the three main charges, and these the Books that came from him did so plainly testify: that the Books were proved to be his, they were fit Judges of, and it clearly appeared by those his Books that these things were his invention. He coucluded, that these Books being admitted, he said, that never man that acted the highest of Treasons as he had done, had so much liberty as he; nor any man of his condition, or any condition in England, that was indicted in such case, ever had a Trial in such a Court, such an Auditory, such a Presence as he had. Mr. Lilburne replied, the more was his sorrow, he had rather it had been any where else. The Judge enlarged himself, that his plot was of such a nature, that it struck at no lefs then the subversion of the Commonwealth, that there was never such another did proceed from a private man as he was; and therefore he desired the Masters of the Jury to look into their consciences, as he said to them; they having plainly before their eyes that there was not in one particular a single testimony but was aggravated with several circumstances. Therefore as he said, they being proper Judges of matter of Fact, being of the same Country, if they fully apprehended the dangerous things plotted in Mr. Lilburnes Books, they would elearly find that never was the like Treason hatched in England; so in God's name, as the prisoner did lead to their consciences, he desired them to go and do. Other petty transactions and cross answers passed betwixt Mr. Lilburne and his Judges, not worth the taking notice of; the Jury went forth at four of the Clock, the Court adjourned till six, the Court commanded the Lieutenant of the Tower and the Sheriffs to carry the prisoner to the Irish Chamber, which they did; the prisoner stayed about three quarters of an hour, and the Jury being come to the Court again. the prisoner was sent for; and after the Crier had caused silence, the Jurors names were called over again, the Clerk asked them if they were agreed, the Jury answered, yes; the Clerk asked who should speak for them; the Jury said, the foreman. The Crier said, John Lilburne hold up thy hand, what say you, look upon the prisoner? is he guilty of the Treasons charged upon him or not guilty? the foreman answered, not guilty of all of them. The Clerk replied, not of all the treasons, or of any of them that are laid to his charge. The foreman answered, No, not of all, nor of any one of them. The Clerk said again, did he fly for the same, the foreman replied, No. Which not, he pronounced with a loud voice; immediately the whole multitude of people in the Hall for joy of the prisoners acquittal gave such a loud and unanimous shout, as is believed was never heard in Guild-Hall, which lasted for about half an hour without intermission; the Bells being rung, and Bonfires made in most Streets in London. That night, divers of Master Lilburnes friends went to the Judges, the Parliament, and Council of State, by whose importunities and by the help of the Lord Grey of Groby, Colonel Ludlow, Mr. Robinson, and Colonel Martin, his discharge was procured. I shall close up the large particulars of this so eminent a Trial, with what I heard reported, one merrily said, That the Jurymen very well deserved the Medals that Colonel John presented them with, and that their own Pictures needed not to be cut, for they had engraven them themselves, and had questionless made admirable draughts for future Juries, to copy out the Liberties of the Subject. Lilburne having thus gotten his liberty, with some repute for practice, attended the Committees in nature of a grand Informer or Solicitor, pleading in all causes, where he might have any advantage thereby; yea, some report him so corrupt in his practice, as his own Party were ashamed of him; which if true, he was the more inexcusable, having vehemently cried out against the same in the Lawyers, and might with shame apply the Poet's words to himself, Turpe est Doctori, cum culpa redarguit ipsum. Unto a Teacher it's no small disgrace, When his own faults reprove him to his face. About the same time were dangerous insurrections, and horrible riots committed in the North, the occasion thus: at the expense of 175046. pounds, or thereabouts; there was drained or laid dry, 160000 Acres of land, lying contiguous within the Counties of York, Lincoln, and Nottingham, not worth before three shillings and four pence an Acre one with another; the which was made worth some ten, other twelve, yea some twenty shillings an Acre; in the Manor of Epworth was 7400. Acres, which had been peaceably possessed by the Drainers, and their assigns, the space of ten years; but several persons envying them the benefit accrueing thereby, in a tumultuous manner came into the level, and breaking down the fences, destroyed and laid waste above 4000 Acres of drained Land, and pulled down several houses standing thereon. Others afterward, several days (during the flowing of the spring tide) violently forced open a Sewer called Snow-Sewer, planted upon the River of Trent, purposely to let in the Waters; the which course they continued, till they had drowned 8000. Acres of Corn and Rape then growing, and the Corn stacks generally half way, with the greatest part of men's houses and habitations, by the space of ten weeks. Now fearing they should be punished for these insolences, and desirous to keep what they had thus gotten, they drew to their assistance Mr. Lilburne, J. W. and one Noddle a Solicitor; who notwithstanding the Court of Exchequer, made a decree for establishing the possession again with those from whom they had wrested it, and that this decree was published upon the place in presence of divers of the inhabitants; they openly declared, That they would not give any obedience thereunto, nor to any order of the Exchequer, or Parliament; and said, they could make as good a Parliament themselves; some said, It was a Parliament of Clouts, and that if they sent Forces; they would raise Forces to resist them: moreover from words they proceeded to action, so that within ten day's time, they totally demolished the whole Town of Stantoft, and other houses thereabouts, to the number of eighty two habitations, defaced the Church, Stables and Outhouses broke in pieces a Windmill, destroyed all the Corn and Rape on the ground, no less than 3400. Acres, so as the damage at that time was estimated to be 80000. pounds or more. Moreover Lilburne with his associates, agrees with several men of Epworth, that in consideration of 2000 Acres of Land for him and J. W. and 200. Acres to Noddel, they would defend them in all those riots, and insurrections, and maintain them in possession of the rest of the Land; this bargain being made, Lilburne with Noddle and others, came to Stantoft Church on the Lord's day, and forced the Congregation from thence, employing the same to the use of a Stable, Cowhouse, Slaughter-house, and to lay his Hay and Straw therein. For these tumultuous practices (as also for joining with one Mr. Primate, in seeking to defraud the Commonwealth of the Collory of Harraton in the County of Durham, the sequestered estate of Thomas Wray Esquire, which Mr. Primate pretended a right unto, though upon examination it proved otherwise) this following Act for his Fine and Banishment, was published against him. Whereas upon the fifteenth day of January, in the year of our Lord, one thousand six hundred fifty one, A Judgement was given in Parliament against the said Lieutenant Colonel John Lilburne for high Crimes and Misdemeanours by him committed, relating to a false, malicious, and scandalous Petition heretofore presented to the Parliament by one Josiah Primate of London, Leather-seller, as by the due proceed had upon the said Petition, and the Judgement thereupon given at large appeareth: Be it therefore enacted by this present Parliament; and by the Authority of the same, that the fine of three thousand pounds imposed upon the said John Lilburne to the use of the Commonwealth, by the Judgement aforesaid, shall be forthwith levied by due process of Law, to the use of the Commonwealth accordingly. And be it further enacted, that the sum of two thousand pounds imposed by the said Judgement upon the said John Lilburne, to be paid to Sir Arthur Hesilrige for damages, and the sum of two thousand pounds likewise imposed by the said Judgement upon the said John Lilburne, to be paid to James Russel, Edward Winslow, William Molins and Arthus Squib, in the said Judgement named; that is to say, to each of them five hundred pounds for their damages, shall be forthwith paid accordingly: And that the said Sir Arthur Hesilrige, James Russel, Edward Winslow, William Molins and Arthur Squib, their Executors and Administrators, shall have the like remedy and proceed at Law respectively, against the said John Lilburne, his Heirs, Executors, Administrators and Assigns, for the recovery of the respective sums so given to them by the said Judgement, as if the said respective sums had been due by several Recognizances in the nature of a Statute Staple, acknowledged unto them severally by the said John Lilburne, upon the said fifteenth day of January, in the year of our Lord, one thousand six hundred fifty one. And be it likewise enacted by the Authority aforesaid, that the said John Lilburne shall (within twenty days to be accounted from the said fifteenth day of January, one thousand six hundred fifty one) depart out of England, Scotland, Ireland, and the Islands, Territories and Dominions thereof: And in case the said John Lilburne at any time after the expiration of the said twenty days to be accounted as aforesaid, shall be found, or shall be remaining within England, Scotland, Ireland, or within any of the Islands, Territories or Dominions thereof; the said John Lilburne shall be, and is hereby adjudged a Felon, and shall be executed as a Felon, without benefit of Clergy. And it is lastly enacted by the Authority aforesaid, that all and every person and persons, who shall after the expiration of the said twenty days, wittingly relieve, harbour, or conceal the said John Lilburne, he being in England, Scotland, or Ireland, or any the Territories, Islands, or Dominions thereof, shall be hereby adjudged accessary of Felony after the Fact: And all Judges, Justices, Majors, Bailiffs, Sheriffs, and all other Officers, as well Military as Civil in their respective places, are hereby required to be aiding and assisting in apprehending the said John Lilburne, and in putting this Act in due execution. Lilburne hereupon sets Sail for Holland, with a resolution as he set forth in print, Never to see England so long as Cromwel's hateful and beastly tyranny lasted, unless it were in a way to pursue him as the grandest Tyrant and Traitor that ever England bred; some report that during his abode there, he negotiated with the Lord Hopton, Colonel Charles Lloyd, and others of the Royal Party, that for the sum of ten thousand pounds he would destroy the Lord General Cromwell, the Parliament and Council of State, that then sat at Westminster, and settle Charles Stuart in his Throne in England, or else he would have a piece of him nailed upon every post in Bruges. But for the truth of this (besides his own denial) I cannot conceive he should have any thought that Party would trust him (especially with such a sum of money) having before declared himself so great an enemy to the late King. But what ever were the motives that induced him, resolved he was to come into England again; to which purpose he sent Cromwell this introducing Letter. For his Excellency the Lord General Cromwell. These present. My Lord, At my discourse with you in your Gallery, about four or five months ago, I had thought I had given your Lordwip so full satisfaction in every thing, that might remove all jealousies from you, of my disserving you in any kind; that of all men in the Parliament, I little imagined to have found your honour to be the principal man to banish me into a strange Country, where for the safety of my life I am forced to print an Apology; and because you are named in it, I judge it but manlike to send you a Copy of it. And, if I had not been travelling last post-day, I had sent to you then. And I have also by this post sent to a friend three sheets of paper in writing to communicate to your Lordship. The which, if you please to read them, you will find that you are deeply concerned in them. I have no more to say to your Honour, but to desire God for you (if it be his pleasure) to make you speedily as righteous in actions, as you were some years ago in declarations, and to take leave to say, I am yet as much honest. John Lilburne, as ever I was in my life, that neither love's flattery, nor fears greatness or threaten. His Wife also solicits the General for a pass, which though not granted, yet over he comes; so confident he was, that at Canterbury, in his way to London, he presently gins to boast of his own interest in England, saying, He had no need of a pass, being as good a man as Cromwell, and that he did not fear what he could do unto him. Yet notwithstanding his monstrous confidence, he was committed to prison, and by order of Parliament, tried for his life, at the Session's House in the Old-Bailey, August the 20. 1653. where he pleaded that the Act whereupon he was Indicted, was a lie, a falsehood; that it had no Law nor Reason in it. That the Parliament could not make any Act of Parliament since the King's head was cut off; that by the same Law they voted him to death, they might vote his honest twelve Jury men; calling Jehovah to witness, and protesting before God, Angels, and Men, that he was not the John Lilburne intended in the Act; whereupon this Jury, following the example of the former, satisfied with his answers, and not questioning the validity of the Act, found him not guilty. Thus you see what endeavours were used to rid the Nation of him, by trials, banishment, and what not, though in vain, when as many a more heroic spirit and gallant heart far transcending him in birth and parts, have fallen by the Sword of Justice, in the twinkling of an eye: truth it is, he was a man of a restless and invincible spirit, that could never be deterred with threats, nor won with favours though (as it is reported) 3000. pounds was given out of the sale of Theobalds' as a sop to stop his mouth; he was questionless of a most implacable spirit, working and restless as the Sea, not to be appeased but with the blood of his adversaries; nor can I deny but some of those things he aimed at were honest and useful for the people, but he steered not the right course to attain those ends. It may be admired at by some how such an illiterate person as Lilburne, one whose breeding promised him more skill in his last trade of Soap, then in Cook, or to have had better judgement in rusticity in a Blow, then in Plowden; who from this low rise mounted no higher than to inferior employments, until in the late Wars he somewhat advantaged and preferred himself by his Sword; I say it may seem strange to some how this person thus qualified, should come to have so much knowledge and understanding in the Law? for answer to which, it is to be understood that Mr. Lilburne had formerly turned over some Statute Books, in which he had made a small progress, and that afterwards, at such time as he was committed in the Tower, there remained a prisoner there (though for a different Cause) that heart of Oak, and a pillar of the Law, Judge Jenkins; who finding Lilburne of an acute Wit, and one who dared to speak what some pusilanimous spirits were afraid to entrust their thoughts with, he selected him as fit person to bandy against the present Government, and by weakening their power, to advance his Master's interest; hereupon he helps him with tools wherewith to let up his trade, so that in short space Magna Charta and Cooks Institutions were made his familiars; by which means he quickly grew so cunning a gamester, that like unto a cat, throw him never so high, he would be sure to pitch upon his feet. Thus the old Judge and another reverend Divine in his learned volume of prophesying, published, to hook in the Independent party, so strangely mistake themselves, as that they could not have done their own cause a greater mischief. But the Squib is now almost run to the end of the Rope, we shall in the last place present our Proteus in the shape of a Quaker; the person that converted him was a single-hearted Shoe-maker, as he terms him in his Letter to his Wife, which he writ to her from Dover Castle, whither he was committed by the Parliament, part whereof (for your further satisfaction) I have transcribed, though curtailed, you have Mr. john's own words to his Wife. It is not much material what part of it I begin with, such Quaking Canting being to be read backwards like the Hebrew. The contents follow. And so in much mercy and endeared loving kindness, as God did in my great straits in the Bishop's time, provide and send unto me a poor despised (yet understanding) Priscilla, to instruct me in, or expound unto me his ways more fully, and perfectly; (whom I am compelled now to tell thee I shall love and respect therefore, the longest day I live upon the earth, let her continue by whomsoever to be judged never so rigid or contemptible) so here at this place he hath also provided for me an Aquila, being a contemptible, yet understanding spiritually, knowing and single-hearted Shoe-maker, to do the same now to my spiritual, and no small advantage, refreshment, and benefit, by means of all which I am at present become dead to my former bustling actings in the world, and now stand ready with the devout Centurion spoken of, Acts 10. To hear and obey all things that the lively voice of God speaking in my soul, shall require of me; upon the further manifestation of whose glorious presence, my heart with a watching fear and care, desires to wait, and to walk faithfully, and tenderly, and humbly in that measure of light already received, etc. In another place he thus insinuates with his Wife to gain her to his opinion; And now my dear love, for whom my soul travels with God for thy eternal good, with the same sincere heartedness as for my own, hoping that thy late out-fall and mine, was but for a set season, that so as Divine Paul in another sense speaks, Philem. 15. thy reconciliation and mine again might now remain firm in love for ever. And a little after, I therefore earnestly entreat thee not to cumber thyself in thy many turmoilings and journeyings for my outward liberty, but sit down a little, and behold the great salvation of the lord Subscribing his Letter thus, Thine in the strength of renewedness of true love, John Lilburne. From Dover Castle, the place of the present enjoyed, delightful dispensations of the eternal, everlasting love of God unto my soul, the 4th. day of the 10th. month, 1655. Tempora Mutantur. Thus the Protector first made him tremble, and the single-souled Shoe maker afterwards made him quake; and now he resolves, never hereafter to be an user of a temporal Sword more, nor a Joiner with those that so do. And accordingly he made good his resolutions, living in his strict way of opinion to the day of his death, which happened not long after, whilst he remained a prisoner in Dover Castle. His body was seized upon by the Quakers, and conveyed from thence to London, and at the Bull and Mouth in Saint Martin's (their meetingplace) was put into a plain Coffin, without any covering, and from thence, (with his head forwards, that his burying might be as preposterous as his actions) carried through Moor Fields (where formerly he had received a hurt on his eye) to the new Churchyard in Bedlam, where it was put into the earth; that as his turbulent life came near to madness, so the place of his burial was near to the distracted crew. I shall conclude this relation of our Wonderful, Impetuous, Magna Charta, Petition of Right, Lieu. Colonel John, with these merry verses which a choice Wit bestowed on him. Untimely cause so late, and late because To save much mifchief it no sooner was; Is John departed, and is Lilburne gone, Farewell to both, to Lilburne and to John: Yet being dead take this advice from me, Let them not both in one Grave buried be; Lay John here, lay Lilburne there about, For if they both should meet, they would fall out. There are many Anagrams upon him, but being they are too abusive, remembering the old Saw, de mortuis nil nisi bonum, (though to John Lilburne himself) I thought in more civil to omit them. The Life of OLIVER CROMWELL late Lord Protector. THe sweet-lipt Poet Ovid sings of Icarus, and of a Phaeton, that would ride in the Chariot of the Sun, to whom his displeased father gave this advice. — Non est tua tuta voluntas, Magna petis Phaeton, & quae non viribus istis Munera conveniunt; nec tam puerilibus annis, Plus etiam quam superis contingere fas est. Which the incomparable Translator, Mr. Sandyes renders thus. — What's so desired by thee, Can neither with thy strength nor youth agree; Too great intentions set thy thoughts on fire, Thou Mortal, dost not mortal thing desire; Through ignorance, affecting more than they Can undertake, that should Olympus sway. In our Modern Histories we read of some men, otherwise Wall-flowers for their growth, that have had the luck to be strangely active in Political Affairs, such as have boldly adventured to cut down all trees of State that have hindered their own prospect, taking the Reins of the horses of the Sun into their own hands, which in their managements of, they have either been too slack, or else pulling them too hard in, by over-winding the strings of Authority, have rendered themselves unfortunate, slowly perceiving the errors of their ambitions, till at last too late they were forced to pluck down those stairs by which they intended to ascend to their own greatness; so dangerous is an unlimited power, a sail too great for a vessel of Mortality to bear, though it were never so well ballasted with Justice, Moderation, and Piety. It shall be my enterprise, void of all partiality, neither inclining to the right hand or left, scorning so much as to reflect on the flatteries, much less as they are under my feet, to take up any of the dispersed Libels; the one party by their adulations, as the Papists and Puritans did Mary Queen of Scotland, making him to be more than a Saint; the other desperately malicious, as we have taken it up on Tradition from some Writers, rendering him to posterity more deformed than Richard the Third: it shall be my care to wave these petty factions, the flies that guilded themselves in his sunshine, as also those other mice, which whilst this Martial Lion seemed to them to sleep, yet without their large distance they dursts not approach him. I am resolved, though in this Epitome, to search the Cabulla of our late Affairs, to keep close to the truth, though I shall be forced to take up that old unavoidable excuse, Bernardus non vidit omnia. He was born at Huntingdon, descended of the ancient Family of the Williams', of the County of Glamorgan; and by adoption into that of the Cromwel's, the more noble Family, as descended of Thomas Cromwell Earl of Essex, the axe that hewed down the Abbeys in the time of King Henry the Eighth. His education in his youth was for a time at the University of Cambridge, where though he attained to no great perfection in learning, yet with his other additionals, the Fox's tail with the Lion's skin, his strength of reason with the sharp edge of his sword, stood him in great stead in his after Transactions; and which, together with his indefatigable industry, rendered him so fortunate, that he never fell short of what he undertook. After his return from the University, without any extraordinary respects from the Muses, whose unkindeness he afterwards most severely retaliated, he resolved for the future upon the first advantage to try the fortune of Mars; but long it was ere the blind goddess provided him any action; during which time he married a Gentlewoman of the ancient Family of the Bourchiers, (whence the Earls of Essex were descended) by whom he had two sons which survived him, Richard and Henry, and three daughters, Bridget, Mary, and Frances. For his private fortunes they were competent, a mediocrity betwixt riches and poverty; the one blunting the edge of wit and industry, the other by its hardship whetting it quite away. But what was wanting in his Estate was supplied in the greatness of his mind, which put him upon high attempts, which proved so successful, that at last they placed him at the Helm of Government. He took his first rise from the long Parliament, whereof he was a Member, being chosen Burgess for the University of Cambridge; in this Parliament that fire burst forth which had been long before in kindling, that fatal division betwixt King and Parliament; with which last he wholly sided: what motives induced him thereunto, I know not, nor will I determine of the integrity of his choice; this I am sure of, he took the more fortunate, or by his manhood made it so. When he delivered his mind in the House, it was with a strong and masculine eloquence, more able to persuade then to be persuaded; his expressions were hardy, opinions resolute, asseverations grave and vehement, always intermixed, Andronicus-like, with Sentences of Scripture, to give them the greater weight, and the better to insinuate into the affections of the people; he expressed himself with some kind of passion, but with such a commanding wise deportment, that at his pleasure he governed and swayed the House, as he had most times the leading voice. Those who find no such wonders in his speeches, may find it in the effect of them; most of the people he was concerned in, being as they term it, enemies to book learning; and whosoever should endeavour with an eloquent oration, or otherwise go about to reconcile them, & make them friends, should make them enemies; such great adorers are they of the Scripture phrase, though but little practisers; such as our late times have brought forth. Indeed he usurped his holy oil quotations very frequently, which was so advantageous to his designs, that Cicero and Demosthenes with all their Tropes and Figures, could never have so persuaded and moved the people, as he with one Text of Scripture aptly applied; the Dove, and the Serpent, of Scripture, and some small parcel of policy, to what he intended, slily intermixed. But his side standing in more need of action than eloquence, he quitted the House, and betook him to the Field; to manifest his courage as well as his eloquence, maintain by his deeds what his words had introduced. Having raised a Troop of Horse at his own costs and charges, he marched against the Muses to Cambride, (whereof he was Burgess) seizing on a very considerable sum of money and plate, which the Colleges had raised, and were sending away unto Oxford; which as it was very advantageous to his own side (money being the very life and sinews of War) so d d it much weaken the adverse party, who had always great want of it. The Parliament having on their side the rich City of London, that inexhaustible bank of treasure. By this means he strengthened himself with sufficient aids to oppose the Lord Capel, who was to have been seconded by Prince Rupert, and should have seized on Cambridge, thereby to have impeded the association of the adjoining Counties for the Parliament. He being advanced from a Captain to a Colonel, having completed a Regiment of Horse, to the full number of a thousand men, in the Spring of the year, he marches to Lowerstoft in Suffolk, where he suddenly surprised Sir Thomas Barker, Sir John Pettas his Brother, with above twenty other persons of note, who were entering into an association for the King; several persons of quality, and divers Noblemen hourly flocking to that rendezvouz, this other service was very seasonably rendered to the Parliament, the King's Party both in Suffolk and Norfolk, being much discouraged by this success. Having by new raised aids enforced his Army to a very considerable strength, he marched into Lilcolnshire, with a resolution to assist those Forces which lay about Newark, a very strong and stout Garrison of the Kings; where, by their daily excursions they kept all the Country thereabouts in awe; which he not only blocked up, but also defeated part of the Earl of Newcastles Army which came to relieve them. I shall not need to particularise all his actions, his other intervening Achievements are more at large related in the Life of King Charles. To look forwards, only to mention the Battle of Marston Moor, where by his valour he turned the scales of Victory, which at the first inclined to the King's side; as also at that fatal Fight at Naseby, where the King's Foot were all cut in pieces or taken Prisoners. His memorable discomfiture of the King's Forces at Preston in Lancashire over Duke Hamilton and Sir Marmaduke Langdale; the last of them as valiantly faithful to the King, as the other was disloyal: their united Forces amounting to twenty five thousand, his not above ten thousand at most; (although indeed he found little opposition, save only of those few Forces of Sir Marmaduke Langdales, who fought it out courageously to the last man. Should I thus continue to signalise his Trophies, I might tyre out the Reader with his strange Successes; let it suffice then, that his actions with such fame arrived at the House, that in recompense, they first bestowed on him the Generalship of the Horse and afterwards the Lieutenant Generalship of all the whole Army. Certainly if his ambition had terminated here, and his wonderful successes had not raised his thoughts higher, if he could not for his Martial merits have been beloved, he had power enough to have rendered himself-safe, and for his valiant Achievements feared, honoured, and admired. Raised to this degree of Command, he was more careful of hazarding his person then before; well knowing the loss of a General is the most irreparable of all losses; for him to expose his person to trivial hazards, in the breath of whose nostrils the victorious Achievements of the Soldiers remains, is too impertinently adventurous, as if 'twere more glorious to fight then command: whereas that is more especially the virtue of a common Soldier, this other of a Leader, whose principal talon lies more in direction then execution, more in the brain then hand; thus that ever to be deplored Laureate of our times, the Gentleman of the long Robe, the Oracle of the King's Counsels, the Lord Faukland, was as unfortunately lost, as unnecessarily engaged in the Field. But to proceed, he grew so subtly careful, as to maintain a fair correspondency; there was no place taken, no Battle won, but he was the first that brought or sent word to the House; by which he insinuated himself into the affections both of the Parliament and People: expressing his own actions in such terms, as whilst he seemingly attributed much to others, he drew the whole commendation thereof to himself, One thing that made his Brigade so invincible, was his arming them so well, as whilst they assured themselves they could not be overcome, it assured them to overcome their enemies. He himself as they called him Ironside, needed not to be ashamed of a Nickname that so often saved his life. These were his acts whilst Lieutenant General, by which he got so great a name in War, as Essex, Waller, and those other great names before him, excepting only Sir Thomas Fairfax's Laurels, which were interwoven with his, the rest were swallowed up in his most inimitable successes, even as great Rivers are swallowed up by the Ocean. For the rest of his actions whilst he was General, Itis conquering Ireland, his subduing Scotland, the many other Battles he fought till his finishing the War in England. To treat also largely of these his Trophies, would weary the pen of a serious, though industrious Writer, that sadly considers the incivility of those late Civil Wars, howsoever they were strange successes, and so many, that as a Modern Poet agrees with what I have expressed; — It were a work so great, Would make Olympus bearing Atlas' sweat. I shall therefore summarily relate the most notable Occurrences then happening, leaving the less Affairs to be related by more voluminous Authors. No sooner were the Civil Wars of England terminated by the discomfiture of all the King's Armies, the taking of his own person, and putting him to death: but the Parliament by a solemn Vote and Ordinance changed the Monarchical Government into a Commonwealth. The Kingdom of Ireland discontented at this change, uniting themselves, wned the late King's eldest Son, and solemnly proclaimed him King, no place considerable standing out for the Parliament saving only Dublyn, and London Derry; the first whereof was immediately besieged by an Army of two and twenty thousand men, commanded by the Marquis of Ormond, and the other by a considerable party of the Natives of the Country. To the reducing of this Kingdom was Oliver Cromwell nominated Governor of Ireland by the Commonwealth; who with a well appointed Army set sail for Dublyn: where although he found things in an indifferent good posture, the marquis of Ormond having been beaten off by the valour of Michael Jones the Governor, yet he met with work enough for his Army: for Droghedah, one of the best and considerablest places in all Ireland, held out stiffly against them, and having a strong party, bid defiance to his Army: yet notwithstanding after many assaults and much valour shown on both sides he at last took it, putting therein to death three thousand Irish; who though enemies, yet for their valour and undaunted resolution might have been looked on with a more merciful eye, as they were men, and more especially Christians. Soon after followed the surrender of Trim, Dundalke, Nury, Wexford, Rove, Bandonbridge, and Kingsale; yet notwithstanding the reducing of these Towns, many of the Irish retreating to their Bogs, and inaccessible places, held out for a long time in despite of the English. To proceed, not only the Irish shown their dislike of this change of Government, but also the Colonies in Virginia, and the Carybde Islands; to the reducing of whom the Parliament sent Sir George Askue with a Fleet of ships, who brought them again into obedience. In the mean time the Scots were very busy, they had commenced a Treaty with Prince Charles at Breda, which at last was concluded on, he assenting to their Presbyterian Government; and they to install and re-establish him in that Kingdom, and in the other accordingly as they questioned not but Fortune would answer their blind zealous Covenant expectations. The Prince puts forth to sea, and in despite of foul weather, and the English King fishers that lay there to intercept him, he landed safely at the Spey in the North of Scotland; now though the Scots had a King, yet (as if they had none) every one did that which was right in his own eyes; and as if they intended him only the Title, being now in their power, they forced him to follow the dictates of their haughty Clergy, in all their fanatic humours and imperious decrees. First then they bereft him of all his old Friends, Counsellors, and Confederates, whether of the Clergy or Laity, as those who adhered to Episcopal Government, and so not pure enough for so reform a people. Thus they hamstringed him not as what was formerly in the signpost only of printed papers. Next they make him take the Solemn League and Covenant, that strange fire which the Scotch believe descended from Heaven, and by which they at their pleasures kindle those Wars wherewith they infest England: then these Horse Farriers of the Conscience gave him another drench; he is taught to renounce the sins of his Father's house, and of his own, the Idolatry of his Mother, by a constant adhering to the cause of God, according to the Covenant, in the firm establishment of Church Government, as it is laid down in the Directory for public Worship, Confession of Faith, and Catechism. These with divers others of the like nature, they wrought so on his necessity, they obtruded, or rather rammed into his conscience (although with much reluctancy) he signed to, making many strange faces at these bitter pills he swallowed; yet it bettered not his condition, which was like that of a child under Tutors and Governors; for there was not an Officer in that Kirk or Commonwealth, how vile and abject soever in place or person, but enjoyed more freedom both in body and mind than he. Guarded indeed he was, but no otherwise then he was surrounded with the ignis fatuus of their zealous suspicions of him, so that move he must not but in the Sphere of the Kirk, their primum mobile: whereby its apparent, that the Government of that Nation might be almost questioned whether it ever were truly Monarchical, (though they had Kings.) To proceed, the Parliament having notice of all their proceed, recalled General Cromwell out of Ireland making him Generalissimo of the Commonwealths Armies in the Lord Fairfax his stead, who at the same time laid down his Commission; he with a choice Army marches into Scotland, and after many petty defeats, gives them a great overthrow at Dunbar, September 3. 1650. and prosecuting his victory takes Leith, a very considerable and advantageous place, as also Edinburgh the Metropolitan City of all Scotland. Thus he set firm there his sword, hewing his way for him to conquer that Country, which the King lost by his pen. Now were the Scots truly miserable, for besides a raging enemy in the very heart of their Kingdom, they were miserably divided amongst themselves, even to the kill and slaying of one another; one party in the North, was for the King without the Kirk; another party in the West, was for the Kirk without the King; a third party was for King and Kirk: yet notwithstanding these losses and divisions, they assumed new courage, levied more men, and Crowned their King with the greatest magnificence as the indigency and necessity of their Affairs would permit. The English on the other side, being resolved to terminate this War with Scotland, passed over into Fife, and having defeated four thousand Scots, they soon became Masters of Inchigravy Brunt-Island, and St. John's Town; mean while the Scots Army consisting of 16000 abandoned their own Territories, and by the way of Carlisle entered England. General Cromwell advertised hereof, leaves Colonel Monk with 7000. men in Scotland, to perfect the conquest of that kingdom, and with the rest of the Army pursues the Scots; who wheresoever they came, proclaimed their King, to be King of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, etc. But few stirred unto their aid, amongst others the unfortunate Earl of Derby, who having assembled 1200, men in Lancashire, was defeated by Colonel Lilburne, and to save himself was constrained to flee to Worcester; where the Scots after a long and tedious march, had pitched their Camp, whither General Cromwell soon pursued them; and having the aid of the Train Bands of several Counties, gave them Battle, which proved fatal unto the Scots; their whole Army being overthrown. The King in a disguise escaped into France, not without much difficulty and danger; the Parliament having promised five hundred pounds to any one that could discover his person. Such a list of prisoners as were then taken, we shall seldom meet with in any Battle but Cromwel's. The Earl of Derby, the Earl of Lauderdale, Duke Hamilton General of the Scotch Army, who afterwards died of his wounds, the Earl of Rothe, the Earl of Cornwarth, the Earl of Shrewsbury, Packington, Cunningham, and Clare, Knights. The Lord Spine, and Sinclear, the Earl of Cleaveland, of Kelley, and Colonel Greaves, six Colonels of Horse, thirteen of Foot, nine Lieutenant Colonels of Horse, eight of Foot, six Majors of Horse, thirteen of Foot, seven and thirty Captains of Horse, seventy and three of Foot, fifty five Quartermasters, eighty nine Lieutenants of Foot, Major General Biscotty, Major General Montgomery, the Lieutenant General of the Ordnance, the Adjutant General of the Foot, the Marshal General, the Quartermaster General, the Conductor General of the Baggage, seventy six Standards, ninety nine Ensigns; all which were hung up in Westminster Hall, for successive Parliaments to understand what vigour of spirits they by their influence can infuse into those they please to authorise, only the want of the allay of their ambitions often works them high, where it is impossible to set limits to generous minds. To continue the other Appendices to this victory, there were also taken nine Ministers, nine Chirurgeons, one hundred fifty and eight Colours, and all the Cannon and Baggage generally, the Royal Standard, the King's Coach and Horses, the Royal Robe, the Choler of the Order of the Garter, thirty of his domestic Servants, and that admirable Poet, his Secretary Fanshaw. Several other persons were also afterwards taken in the remotest Countries, as Major General Massey, (who being committed to the Tower, afterwards made an escape,) Major General Middleton, Lieutenant General David Lesley, and several others; insomuch as that it may be said, the glean of this victory were as considerable as the whole harvest itself. Many of the common Soldiers were transported into the Barbadoss, and other Plantations, this mercy extended to them in saving their lives, causing much gain to accrue thereby unto the Commonwealth, in selling the poor heathenish Highlanders to the Plantations. I shall only end these sad transactions with what Mr. Wharton chronologized in these words, since English Hogs eat our dear Brethren up. He only reflects on the half graves were made for them in Tuttle Fields. Of all this long list two only suffered death, viz. Sir Timothy Featherstone Knight, and the Earl of Derby, who on the 15. of October following was beheaded at Bolton in Lancashire, being conducted thither by sixty Foot, and eighty Horse, about two of the Clock he was brought forth to the Scaffold, which was built at the Cross, part of it with the Timber of his own house at Latham, there was not above an hundred lookers on, besides Soldiers; presently after his coming upon the Scaffold there happened a great tumult, (the occasion thereof not being certainly known,) in appeasing of which there were some cut, many hurt, and one child killed. The Earl was no eloquent orator, and the tumult put him out of his speaking what he intended: at last after some silence made, he began as followeth. Since it hath pleased God by this untimely death to shorten my days, I am glad it is in this Town, (where some have been made believe I was a cruel person) that I might vindicate myself from this aspersion, it was my desire the last time I came into this Country, to come hither as to a people that ought to serve the King, as I conceive, upon good grounds: it was said, that I was accustomed to be a man of blood, but it doth not lie upon my conscience, I was wrongfully belied; I thank God I desired peace. I was born in honour, and I shall die honourably, as I suffer for my Sovereign. I had a fair estate, good friends, and was respected, and did respect; those that were ready to do for me, I was ready to do for them; I have done nothing, but as my generous predecessors acted to do you good. It was the King that called me in, and I thought it my duty to wait upon his Highness to do him service. Here he was disturbed by the noise of the people, after some pause he said; I intended to have expressed myself further, but I have said. I have not much more to say to you, but as to my good will to this Town of Bolton, I can say no more, but the Lord bless you, I forgive you all, and desire to be forgiven of you all, for I put my trust in Christ Jesus. Looking about him he said, I did never deserve this hard measure. Honest friends (you that are Soldiers) my life is taken away after quarter given, by a Council of War, which was never done before. Walking up and down the Scaffold, he said, The Lord bless you all, the Son of God bless you all of this Town of Bolton, Manchester, Lancashire, and the rest of the kingdom; and God send that you may have a King again, and Laws. I die like a Christian, and a Soldier, Gods and my Sovereign's Soldier. Causing his Coffin to be opened, he said, I hope when I am imprisoned here, armed men shall not need to watch me. Looking upon them that were upon the Scaffold, he said, What do you stay for? it is hard that I cannot get a Block to have my head cut off. Speaking to the Executioner, he said, Thy coat is so troublesome and cumbersome, that I believe that thou canst not hit right, the Lord help thee, and forgive thee. Other words he used, which to avoid prolixity I willingly omit. At last submitting his neck to the Block, he had his head severed from his body with one blow; his sorrowful Son, who was a sad spectator of this woeful tragedy, out of a pious care, and filial duty, conveyed his Corpse back with him that night to Wiggan, and afterwards gave them honourable burial. Not long before at London was Colonel Eusebius Andrews apprehended, who having formerly practised the Law, changed his Gown into a Coat of Armour, and ventured his life in the King's service, having received a Commission from the King of Scots, for the raising men in England, he was tried in Westminster Hall at the High Court of Justice, than again newly erected, being the first unfortunate Gentleman that hanselled the Court. To pass over the large particulars of trial he was acknowledged by all that were understanding Auditors of his Plea, that he behaved himself like to a right English man, spoke as good, sound, and as honest sense, as any person before him upon such limitations as he was confined too; he shown himself an excellent Orator, an expert Lawyer, and a person of strong and clear reason: he acknowledged himself guilty as to the power of that present Government, that his life was at their disposal. He was condemned, and the 22. of August, 1650. brought to the Scaffold on Tower-hill, where he expressed himself to the people in these his last words. Christian Gentlemen and People, your business hither to day is to see a sad spectacle, a man to be in a moment unmanned, and cut off in the prime of his years, taken from further opportunities of doing good either to himself, his friends, the Commonwealth, or more especially as to my continued services to my Creator. Truly, if my general known course of life were but enquired into, I may modestly say, there is such a moral honesty upon it, as some may be so saucy as to expostulate why this great judgement is fallen upon me; but know I am able to give them and myself an answer, and out of this breast am able to give a better account of my Judgement and Execution than my Judgers themselves, or you are able to give: It is God's wrath upon me for sins long unrepented of, many judgements withstood, and mercies slighted; therefore God hath whipped me by his severe Rod of Correction, that he might not lose me. I pray join with me in prayer, that it may not be a fruicless Rod, that when by this Rod I have laid down my life, by his staff I may be comforted and received into Glory. I am very confident by what I have heard since my sentence, there is more exceptions made against proceed against me, than I ever made. My Triers had a Law, and the value of that Law is indisputable; and for me to make a question of it, I should shame myself and my discretion. In the strictness of that Law, something is done by me, that is applicable to some clause therein, by which I stand condemnable: The means whereby I was brought under that interpretation of that which was not in myself intended maliciously, there being testimony given (by persons whom I pity) so false, yet so positive, that I cannot condemn my Judges, for passing sentence against me, according to Legal Justice, though Equity lieth in the higher breasts. As for my Accusers, or rather Betrayers, I pity, and am sorry for them; they have committed Judas crime, but I wish and pray for them with Peter's tears, that by Peter's repentance they may escape Judas his punishment; and I wish other people so happy, they may be taken up betimes, before they have drunk more blood of Christian men, possibly less deserving then myself. It is true, there have been several addresses made for mercy, and I will put the obstruction of it upon nothing more than upon my own sin; and seeing God sees it fit, (having not glorified him in my life) I might do it in my death, which I am contented to do; I profess in the fear of God, particular malice to any one of State or Parliament, to do them a bodily injury I had none. For the cause in which I had long waded, I must needs say, my engagement or continuance in it hath laid no scruple upon my Conscience; it was on Principles of Law, the knowledge whereof I profess, and on principles of Religion: my Judgement satisfied, and Conscience rectified, that I have pursued those ways which I bless God I find no blackness upon my conscience, nor have I put it into the Bead-roll of my sins. I will not presume to decide controversies; I desire God to honour himself in prospering that side that hath right with it, and that you may enjoy peace and plenty, beyond all you possess here. In my Conversation in the world, I do not know where I have an enemy with cause, or that there is such a person whom I have to regret but if there be any whom I cannot recollect, under the notion of Christian men, I pardon them as freely as if I had named them by name, I freely forgive them, being in free peace with all the world, as I desire God for Christ's sake, to be at peace with me. For the business of death it is a sad sentence in itself, if men consult with flesh and blood: But truly without boosting, I say it, or if I do boast, I boast in the Lord, I have not to this minute had one consultation with the flesh about the blow of the Axe, or one thought of the Axe, more than as my passport to Glory. I take it for an honour, and I own thankfulness to those under whose power I am, that they sent me hither to a place, however of punishment, yet of some honour, to die a death somewhat worthy of my blood, answerable to my birth and qualification, and this courtesy of theirs hath much helped towards the pacification of my mind. I shall desire God that those Gentlemen in that sad Bead-roll to be tried by the High Court of Justice, that they may find that really there, that is nominal in the Act, an High Court of Justice, a Court of High Justice, high in its Righteousness, though not in its severity. Father forgive them, and forgive me as I forgive them. I desire you now that you would pray for me, and not give over praying till the hour of my death, not till the moment of my death, for the hour is come already, the instant of time approaches, that as I have a great load of sins, so I may have the wings of your prayers, to help those Angels that are to convey my soul to Heaven; and I doubt not but I shall see my Saviour, and my gallant Master the King of England, and another Master whom I much honoured, my Lord Capel, hoping this day to see my Christ in the presence of the Father, the King in the presence of him, my Lord Capel in the presence of them all; and my self there to rejoice with all other Saints and Angels for evermore. After the uttering of these and many the like words, declaring his faith and confidence in God, with as much undaunted, yet Christian courage, as possibly could be in man, he exposed his neck to the fatal Axe, commending his soul into the hands of a faithful and merciful Creator, through the meritorious Passion of a gracious Redeemer; and having said, Lord Jesus receive me, the Executioner with one blow severed his head from his body. For such a collateral design, not long after one Master Benson was executed at Tyburn, one that had some relations to Sir John Gell, who was tried for the same Conspiracy, with his man: Sir John's former services to the Parliament, being his best and most assured intercessors for his life, and at that time were more than ordinary advantages to him. And now being entered into this Tragical Scene of blood, I shall in the next place give you an account of the beheading of Sir Henry Hid: He was by the Scots King commissionated as Ambassador to the Grand Signior at Constantinople, and stood in competition with Sir Thomas Bendish (than Ambassador for the English) for his place: whereupon they had a hearing before the Vizier Bassa; the result whereof was, that Sir Thomas Bendish should dispose of the said Sir Henry Hid, as he thought good; who was to the same purpose sent to Smyrna, thence into England, and there condemned and executed before the Royal Exchange in London, March 4. 1650. I have inserted his Speech, which reflects on his Transactions; this unfortunate Gentleman's end, being by the divine disposal, from the foregoing part of his life as strange as ever I have read in History. His last words were to this effect. Christian People, I come hither to die, I am brought hither to die; and that I may die Christian like, I humbly beseech the assistance of your Christian prayers, that by the benefit of them my passage may be the more easy: Yet because men in that condition, which it hath pleased God to reduce me to, give the more credit to Speech; in the discharge of my duty towards God, I shall use a few words, and so conclude. I pray all of you join with me to praise this Almighty God, to whom I desire to render all hearty thanks; as for all his mercies, so in particular for this, that he hath brought me hither: that whereas I own a debt to sin and to nature, that now I can pay the debt to nature, I can pay it upon the account of Grace. And because it is fit to render the blessed account of that hope that is in me, I shall tell you, to the praise of Almighty God, that I have been born and bred up in the Doctrine of the Church of England, I have no negative Religion, believing to be saved by the only merits of my Saviour Jesus Christ, and whatsoever else is professed in the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England, authorized by Law; humbly beseeching Almighty God to restore unto this Church her peace, prosperity and patrimony, whereof I have been an obedient and a loving (however an unworthy) Son: and now both my hope being confident, and my faith perfected, there remains only Christian Charity; Charity we carry into heaven, Charity on earth, that I leave; beseeching all whomsoever I have offended to forgive me, as I from the bottom of my heart do all whomsoever; blessing Almighty God for the happy advantage he takes to bring me the sooner to heaven; I bless Almighty God that he hath given me this advantage, as he hath been merciful to me before the foundation of the world, in my Saviour, so that now he hath in mercy honoured me, with a suffering for his name, in obedience to his Commandment. On this day seven-night I was summoned before that Justice, which condemned me on Friday last, praised be Almighty God, that by this way he hath brought me nearer to himself. My charge I presume is public as my punishment is visible; if there have been any thing in the management of my part, being unskilful, having discontinued my own country many years, I shall beseech the Christian Charity of all you my beloved Countrymen, to impute it rightly to the ignorance of my unskilful ways of managing of affairs: it was objected unto me there, that I had a vanity of delighting in strange tongues; I do acknowledge that I was best skilled in the Italian (but free from that vanity, I thank Almighty God) and therefore I would in defence of my life (if it had been the custom here, or the Judge's favour) have used that language, which was almost as natural to me as my mother tongue. It was objected, that I did not so freely as a thoroughpaced Cavalier, own my Master: I was told since I came into England (this skill I have in our Laws) that a legal denial in Law might be tolerable; I hope I did not exceed the bounds of that in any thing, for God forbidden that I should be ashamed of serving so good, so pious, so just a Master; (putting off his hat) for this I rejoice, and I humbly beseech Almighty God to fill my heart and my tongue, and all that hear me this day, with thankfulness for it. As to the business, that another construction had been made and believed here, than what was there, the righteous God knoweth it; if any weakness were in the management, that was mine: I was sent to serve and protect, not to injure any, as God acquits me of the intention of matter of fact, as having not done any manner of evil that way, however here understood, blessed be his holy name (again putting off his hat) so those Gentlemen of the Turkey Company, if they would might acknowledge, for they know it very well, the impossibility of my doing them any manner of harm. Whereas that of the Embassy objected against me, that my Master honoured me with it, though I was never worthy of it; I was his messenger and Internuntio for the conservation only of his good Subjects, of all the Merchants, until such time as he could confirm that Gentlemen now Resident, or to send any other; and they themselves know that there was an unpossibility (as I bless God there was an innocency in me) unto any such intention to do them harm; for my Master's commands were point blank the contrary: I was only sent for their good; as I never owned the title, so the very letters themselves speaking no other: I never did so much as think of any manner of address to the Grand Signior, but gave him the letter from my Master; the rest of the English Nation that were there present, may, when they please, assert so much. This I would insert, that those Gentlemen, as they have been losers by the miscarriages of others, may now have a breach of their charity with me; but if it be, as it seems it is now in this Country, a sin to be loyal, I hope my God hath forgiven that, when it is upon harmless employment, not invading any, according to my just Master's order; for indeed I have been always bred up in the Religion of Loyalty, my Allegiance hath been incorporated into my Religion, and I have thought it a great part of the service due from me to Almighty God, to serve the King (again putting off his hat.) He said, I need not make any apology for any thing in relation to the present Affairs in England, for were I (as I spoke beformy Judges) were I as evil as my sentence here hath made me black, it were impossible for me to have prejudiced any body in England, or to England belonging, in that employment; but I bless God for his infinite mercy in Jesus Christ, who hath taken me to himself by this manner of way, it was the best Physic for the curing of my soul, and those that have done it, have no more Power than that of my body; I leave nothing behind me, but that I am willing to part withal; all that I am going to, is desirable: and that you may all know that Almighty God hath wrought in me a total denial of myself, and that there is that perfect reformation of me within, of my own corruptions, by the blessed assistance of his holy spirit; I desire Almighty God in the abundance of the bowels of his mercy in Jesus Christ, not only to forgive every enemy, (if any such be in the world, here or wheresoever) but to bring him into his bosom, so much good and particular comfort, as he may at any time, whether the cause were just or unjust, have wished me any manner of evil; for I take him to be the happy instrument of bringing me to heaven. I am tedious, but I have an inward comfort, I bless Almighty God: (pray Gentlemen give leave, speaking to some that pressed upon him) I should never do it but to give satisfaction to all charitable hearts. I have been troublesome. Here he made a pause, as discontented at the disturbance of those on the Scaffold, when the Sheriff said to him, Sir, you have your liberty to speak more if you please, at length he proceeded. But as to that part, Mr. Sheriff, that did concern the denial (as it was affirmed by Master Attorney General) of my Master's employment; truly, landing at White Hall, I told that Council, there was warrantable Commissions to an old Officer, which by the blessing of God, I have by me, and I have other acceptable things that God hath blessed me withal; we that are Merchants abroad, we allow ourselves any sufferance that may induce to our own safety, enlargement of trade, or preservation of what is ours. Why I had by the favour of my gracious Master, a confirmation of my old Commission of Consulage in Greece: but as to the Embassy, no more than my credential Letters did speak, nor no more than that I attempted, an Internuncio they call it in those places, which is a messenger between the one and the other King, they both unhappily died of several deaths, and both violent too: and it is a custom not unknown to you, Master Sheriff, and other Gentlemen that practise in the world, that Princes of course, for the continuation of amity do send messengers where there is peace, that the transaction of those public expressions of reciprocal affections may be performed; but for Embassy, God forbidden I should own it, I never had it, however they have used it as the happy means to bring me to God this day, whom I in the Bowels of my Saviour beseech to forgive those people that have done it; I own them no harm, God return better things into their bosoms with all the good of this, and an everlasting life. As for my part, I have been long absent, I have meddled with no affairs in England; sufficient to me is God's grace to the salvation of my soul. I have been always fearful of offending Almighty God, according to the grace he hath given me: but to learn a new Religion, or new ways, (that I must say Mr. Sheriff to you, and all others that hear me) I could never dispense with my conscience to give offence to Almighty God. I am now (if it may be with your Commission Master Sheriff) to pour out my soul to Almighty God in two or three words (the place is straitened) if I knew wherein to give any satisfaction to any person whatsoever that imagines I have offended him, or he me, I am here in the fear of God to do it. I forgive them with all my soul, and my forgiveness is clear, as I am now going to receive happiness at the hand of my Saviour: if I thought it were satisfaction to Sir Thomas Bendish, and all the company, or any who think they have offended me. I am come, Master Sheriff, to pay that debt I own to nature, to pay it upon the score of a Loyal Subject; my conscience within me informing me, that for the intentions of serving my Prince, I could not deserve such a death, though ten thousand times more other ways. Having expressed himself to this effect with much meekness, he submitted his neck to the Axe, having first said, Lord Jesus receive my soul, the Executioner at one blow severed his head from his body. Not long after Brown Bushel was beheaded under the Scaffold on Tower Hill, one who had formerly done great service to the Royal Party both by Sea and Land; crimes of such a nature, as brought him into compass of Piracy, and then of high Treason. These Funerals were still accompanied with more mourners. Soon after ensuing the deaths of Mr. Love and Mr. Gibbons, who were beheaded on Tower-hill the 22. of August, 1651. their Crimes objected, were, for combining with the Scots to re-establish Charles Stuart. Mr. Love's Trial, with his Speech, and manner of his death, are in a large printed volume, to which I refer my Reader; all that I shall insert, will be no more than what hath been by another already observed in print, that there was a monstrous storm about the time of Mr. Loves suffering, another about the time of the Protectors death; that Mr. Love, though with a late assent to Regal power, suffered as a Presbyterian Divine; Doctor Hewit as one always established and confirmed as a Primitive; after whose Execution within a short time after, great Cromwell expired: many others were apprehended upon the same account, but these two only suffered. Passing over these Golgotha's, the reader may be pleased to understand, that all these persons here mentioned, (save only the Earl of Derby) suffered death before that memorable Battle at Worcester, though in our History we have related them after, as not willing to discontinue the series of our affairs with Scotland by such diversions. I shall only insert without any reflection what I have read, of a person remarkable for his cruelties, that he, being told of a Comet Leaguer Star of heaven, that one said portended his death; answered, That he was very glad that the heavens were so merry as to make Bonfires for his triumph before he died. This miscreant entertaining this for a Maxim, that he that had put out so many eyes, if he stood in need should scarcely find a friend to close up his own. But to return to matters of more public concernment, the Isles of Jersey, Jernsy, and Man, who had hitherto held for the King, submitted themselves; so that now all seemed quiet, when suddenly a War broke forth with Holland, begun only at first upon points of, Honour at Sea, Van Trump the Dutch Admiral refusing to veil his Flag, a Ceremonial Honour which the English appropriate to themselves, as being Lords of these narrow Seas; whereupon a sharp Fight ensued betwixt them, wherein the Dutch were discomfited, one of their ships sunk, and another of thirty Guns taken, with the Captains of both, and about a hundred and fifty Prisoners. This Skirmish produced open War betwixt the two Nations, notwithstanding Overtures of Peace made by the Hollander, so that now both sides prepare to offend each other. General Blake, the English Admiral surprises twelve Dutch men of War towards the Isles of Orkney, Sir George Ascue in the Road betwixt Dover and Calais, sets upon their Fleet, being thirty in number, of which ten were taken and burnt, the rest hardly escaping. Soon after near Plymouth he gave them another fight, wherein the Dutch went again by the worst. These successes were seconded by others very remarkable, General Blake steering Northwards, took six Holland ships of a great value about the Downs. Captain Pen also took six more upon the Coast of France, as they were returning homewards from the Venetian service, richly laden being all men of War, of considerable burdens. Soon after so great their feud was, that the Navies engaged in another Fight at a place called the Kentish Knock, wherein the Dutch were again defeated, eleven of their men of War set upon four of the English in the straits, took the Phoenix Frigate, and much damaged the other. In a short space after another Sea Engagement ensued on the Backside of Goodwin Sands, wherein the English were worsted, four ships taken and a considerable loss of men. The greatest fight of all was near the Isle of Wight and Portland, wherein the Dutch received a great overthrow, fifty Merchants being taken, nine men of War, above two thousand slain, and fifteen hundred taken Prisoners. But this great Victory soon after received a check, the English Fleet in the Levant Seas being again worsted by the Dutch, with the loss of divers ships and men. But leaving off these Sea Affairs for a time, let us come to General Cromwell, from whom I have already been enforced to digress; who pretending for the better accomplishing of his own designs, the dilatory proceed, pernicious and arbitrary actings in the Parliament, to perpetuate their Session, to be very dangerous, and enthrall the Nation; this train of his he knew would take well with the people who were great adorers of the name of liberty and desirous of change; he therefore resolved to put a period to the Parliament, and accordingly accompanied by the chief Officers of the Army, he entered the House, and having declared his intentions, some by force, some through fear, and others not without a great deal of reluctancy and murmuring, departed the House. To set a fair gloss upon what he had done, and to give some satisfaction to the people, he publishes a Declaration, the substance whereof followeth. That after God was pleased marvellously to appear for his people, in reducing Ireland and Scotland to so great a peace, and England to perfect quiet; whereby the Parliament had opportunity to give the people the harvest of all their labour, blood, and treasure; and to settle a due liberty in reference to Civil and Spiritual things: whereunto they were obliged by their duty, engagements, and those great and wonderful things God hath wrought for them. But they made so little progress therein, that it was matter of much grief to the good people of the Land; who thereupon applied themselves to the Army, expecting redress by their means, who (though unwilling to meddle with the Civil Authority) agreed that such Officers as were Members of Parliament should move them to proceed vigorously, in reforming what was amiss in the Commonwealth, and in settling it upon a foundation of Justice and Righteousness; which being done, it was hoped the Parliament would have answered their expectations. But finding the contrary, they renewed their desires by an humble Petition in August, 1652. which produced no considerable effects, nor was any such progress made therein, as might imply their real Intentions to accomplish what was petitioned for; but rather an averseness to the things themselves, with much bitterness and opposition to the people of God, and his spirit acting in them: insomuch, that the godly party in Parliament were rendered of no further use, then to countenance the ends of a corrupt party, for effecting their desires of perpetuating themselves in the supreme Government. For obviating these evils, the Officers of the Army obtained several meetings with some of the Parliament, to consider what remedy might be applied to prevent the same; but such endeavours proving ineffectual, it became evident, that this Parliament, through the corruption of some, the jealousy of others, the non-attendance of many, would never answer those ends which God, his people, and the whole Nation expected from them: But that this cause which God had so greatly blessed, must needs languish under their hands, and by degrees be lost; and the lives, liberties, and comforts of his people be delivered into their enemy's hands. All which being sadly and seriously considered by the honest people of the Nation, as well as by the Army, it seemed a duty incumbent upon us, who had seen so much of the power and presence of God, to consider of some effectual means whereby to establish righteousness and Peace in these Nations. And after much debate it was judged necessary, that the Supreme Government should be by the Parliament devolved upon known persons fearing God, and of approved integrity for a time, as the most hopeful way to countenance all God's people, reform the Law, and administer Justice impartially: hoping thereby the people might forget Monarchy, and understand their true interest in the election of successive Parliaments; that so the Government might be settled upon a right Basis, without hazard to this glorious cause, or necessitating to keep up Armies for the defence of the same. And being still resolved to use all means possibly to avoid extraordinary courses, we prevailed with about twenty Members of Parliament, to give us a conference, with whom we plainly debated the necessity and justness of our Proposals: The which found no acceptance, but instead thereof it was offered, that the way was to continue still this Parliament, as being that from which we might probably expect all good things. This being vehemently insisted on, did much confirm us in our apprehensions: That not any love to a Representative, but the making use thereof to recruit, and so to perpetuate themselves, was their aim, in the Act they had then under consideration. For preventing the consummating whereof, and all the sad and evil consequences, which upon the grounds aforesaid must have ensued, and whereby at one blow the interest of all honest men and of this glorious Cause had been endangered to be laid in the dust, and these Nations embroiled in new troubles, at a time when our enemies abroad are watching all advantages against, and some of them actually engaged in War with us; we have been necessitated (though with much reluctancy) to put an end to this Parliament. This Declaration was seconded by another for settling a Council of State, to give some satisfaction to the people what Government they intended; which Declaration, for the Readers further satisfaction, take as followeth. Whereas the Parliament being dissolved, persons of approved fidelity and honesty are (according to the late Declaration of the 22. of April last) to be called from the several parts of this Commonwealth to the Supreme Authority; and although effectual proceed are and have been had for perfecting those Resolutions, yet some convenient time being required for the assembling of those persons, it hath been found necessary for preventing the mischiefs and inconveniences which may arise in the mean while to the public Affairs, that a Council of State be constituted, to take care of and intent, the peace, safety, and present mannagement of the Affairs of this Commonwealth: which being settled accordingly, the same is hereby declared and published to the end all persons may take notice thereof, and in their several places and stations, demean themselves peaceably, giving obedience to the Laws of the Nation as heretofore; in the exercise and administration thereof, as endeavours shall be used, that no oppression or wrong be done to the people, so a strict account will be required of all such as shall do any thing to endanger the public peace and quiet, upon any pretence whatsoever. O. Cromwell. April 30. 1653. Certainly Parliaments, if rightly chosen, are the best physic to cure and redress the distempers of the Body Politic, which might overflow in their intervals. King James after his dissolving of three Parliaments did comply with the last; he said he, should be in love with Parliaments, having learned so many things by them, which otherwise he should never have known. His Son afterwards dissolved three, whereof one of them proved fatal to him; whereas the Virgin Queen, that was well enough acquainted with the constitution of the Body of the Nation, called Parliaments frequently, but continued none very long, by which as she came to be Mistress of the affections of the people, so she was Commandress in chief of their purses. Whereas the connexion of Great Cromwell's Affairs, as he was enveloped in designs, forced him, as they were to be read like to Hebrew backwards, whatsoever he dissembled otherwise, to use the subtlest of his endeavours, like the Mole to undermine and render Parliaments odious to the people, which afterwards were no extraordinary friends to himself, though they may possibly be civil to his posterity. These domestic revolutions put new life into the Dutch, who hoping from these distractions to reap a Victory over the English, with great confidence put forth again to Sea; thinking upon nothing so much as Chapmen for the English Fleet, saying: It was to be cried out by the sound of trumpets and horns. But they were deceived in their expectations; for coming to a fight, on the North Foreland, near unto the South point of the Gober, their Fleet was defeated, eleven men of War, and two water Hoys being taken, besides six Captains and fifteen hundred Prisoners, and six men of War which were sunk. Certainly this War with the Dutch which the Parliament so successively drove on, had not without great advantages been ended by them, only the Protector at the present, as a leading Card to his other Treaties, entertained the Dutch tenders, he being forced to take the first opportunity to signalise his Honour, as also to please the more timorous sort of people with a sudden alliance of friends. Not long after, to set the better face on his resolute proceed, Cromwell calls another Parliament convened at Westminster, who met July 4. 1653. to whom General Cromwell made a long speech, declaring the wonderful mercies of God towards this Nation, the progress of Affairs since the famous Victory at Worcester, and the clearness of the Cull given them to take upon them the Supreme Authority, intermixed with sundry phrases of Scripture to make it the more plausible. Then he produced an Instrument under his own Hand and Seal, whereby the Supreme Authority of the Nation was devolved upon them, unto whom all persons were to yield obedience and subjection. He declared that they were to sit no longer than the third of November 1654. and three months before their dissolution they were to make choice of other persons to succeed them, who were not to sit above twelve months, and then to take care for a succession in Government. Now was the time come for the train to take the Dutch, having, as hath been expressed, cast the urine of the present Affairs, being quite tired with their continual losses, sent Commissioners over into England to treat of Peace. It hath been the result of the opinions of those that had their eyes in their heads, that the Dutch thought to have made up their mouths, to have taken our Navy napping in the time of the Treaty, the Fight happening betwixt them and us; but they found it otherwise, their whole Fleet was put to flight, their Admiral Van Trump, a man of eminent valour being slain, about thirty men of War sunk and fired, six Captains, and about a thousand men taken prisoners, and about six thousand slain. This great Victory did not a little conduce to hasten the conclusion of the peace, but on such terms as were (as one writes) at that time more honourable for his present designs, then advantageous to the English Nation. For this service, gold chains were presented to the Generals, Blake, Monk, Penne, and Lawson, and to the other Flag Captains; and silver Medals to the other Officers of the Fleet. Of the puissance of our Navies, and the Dominion of the English at Sea, accept what the Laureate of this Nation to the life expresses. Lords of the World's great waste, the Ocean, we Whole Forests send to reign upon the Sea, And every Coast may trouble or relieve, But none can visit us without our leave; Angels and we have this Prerogative, That none can at our happy seat arrive, While we descend at pleasure to invade The bad with vengeance, or the good to aid: Our little world, the image of the great, Like that amidst the boundless Ocean set, Of her own growth has all that Nature craves, And all that's rare as Tribute from the waves. As Egypt does not on the Clouds rely, But to her Nile owes more than to the Sky; So what our Earth, and what our Heaven denies, Our ever constant Friend, the Sea supplies. The taste of hot Arabia's Spice we know, Free from the scorching Sun that makes it grow; Without the Worm, in Persian silks we shine, And without planting drink of every Vine; To dig for wealth we weary not our limbs, Gold, though the heavy'st Metal, hither swims; Ours is the Harvest where the Indians mow, We plough the deep, and reap what others sow. To reckon up the several opinions which about this time, like Hydra's heads, continually sprung up one upon the neck of another, were a task ad infinitum, and those of several kinds; some for imposition of hands, anointing with oil, and washing of feet; some against them, Brownists; others, Millinarians, Arminians, Seekers, Ranters, Enthusiasts, Arians, Pelagians, Quakers, cum multis aliis, of all which, I shall only say thus much, God knows his own time, who suffers the Tares and the Wheat to grow together till Harvest; there ought to be a great care, least in plucking up the tares we pull up the wheat; we ought not to invade men's consciences but to wait God Almighty's leisure. The Parliament having sat about as many weeks as the other had done years, they dissolved themselves, immediately making way for General Cromwell, by their dissolution, to be chosen Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland, and Ireland, and of all the Islands and Territories thereunto belonging, December the 16. 1653. Thus all men in their right wits may perceive how he laid down his first principles of selfdenying; he having before waved many advantages of the times to make certain his Protectorship, which was to grasp all at once. The Articles of the Government to which he signed are as followeth. 1. That his Excellency be chief Protector of the three Nations of England, Scotland, and Ireland. 2. That he will call to his assistance Counsellors, not under the number of thirteen, nor above twenty one. 3. That he shall not act without the advice of his Council. 4. That there shall be every three years a Parliament called, freely chosen, to begin in September next, viz. four hundred, and the number for every County proportionable. 5. That no Parliament shall adjourn till they have sat above five months. 6. When ever any Bill is passed in Parliament, the Lord Protector shall have twenty days to advise with his Council; if he sign it not in twenty days, it shall pass without, unless contrary to these Articles. 7. That no Parliament be dissolved by the Protector, but end every three years, and the Protector to issue out Warrants. 8. All the Crown Revenues left, to go to the maintenance of the Lord Protector. 9 To make Peace or War as he pleaseth, with the advice of his Council, in the interval of Parliaments; but not to raise money without the Parliament, unless in extraordinary causes. 10. Whatsoever goes out in the name of the Keepers of the Liberties of England, to go out in the name of the Lord Protector. 11. That it is treason to speak against the present Government. 12. That all forfeited and confiscated Estates go to the maintenance of the Lord Protector. 13. That all Acts of Parliament made, and Estates sold, stand good and be enjoyed. 14. That the Lord Protector have power to confer titles of Honour, and to dispose of the great places of trust. 15. That in the interval of Parliaments, the Lord protector, with his Council, do order the Affairs of the Nation. 16. That all Articles of War be kept. 17. That the known Laws of the Commonwealth be continued. 18. That a standing Army be maintained of ten thousand Horse, and twenty thousand Foot. 19 That Christian Religion be maintained, such as is contained in the Word of God. 20. That all persons shall have Liberty of Conscience, provided that they disturb not the Civil Government, except the Popish and Prelatical party. 21. That no Papist or Delinquent in Arms since the year 1649. elect, or be elected, a Parliament Man, under penalty of forfeiture of one years' revenue, and the Moiety of his personal Estate. 22. That the Lord Protector have power to pardon all offenders, except Murder. 23. That Writs be issued out in July next for summoning the Parliament, either by the Protector, or in course. 24. That when the Protector dies, the Council then sitting shall summon all the members of the Council, the Major part to elect one to be Protector before they stir out of the Council Chamber, and the person so chosen, not to be under the age of twenty one years, nor of the family of the Stuarts. These Articles sworn to, he was proclaimed Lord Protector in the Palace-yard at Westminster, and by the Lord Major and Aldermen in their Scarlet Gowns at the Royal Exchange; who to ingratiate themselves with their new Governor, bestowed on him a costly feast at Grocer's Hall: it is an usual observation that persons that make their ways with their Swords, that their shows to take the people, generally are more stately than those of successive Princes; what he admitted of, as with his own permission, was nothing to those dutiful solemnities that pursued his memory; without dispute he had studied the art and ordinance of selfdenying, insomuch that the Parliament perceiving that he did but compliment his Generalship, which he might with safety and most right have accepted, they pressed him the less, as he seemed to push away that with his little finger that they were certain he was ready to grasp with both his hands: this was not so miraculous in him according to that of Ovid. Os homini sublime dedit, caelumque videre Jussit, & erectos ad sydera tollere vultus. The greatest admiration that hath surprised me, hath been what in the compass of a year I have observed, the tides and streams of petitions out of most Counties, that at the first rise or promise of greatness have pursued every alteration, as particoloured as joseph's Coat, and as variable as the Rainbow; it is not to be depictured how Janus-faced they have been on all occasions, with how many religious expressions and wishes they have made their addresses and masked their self-interests, if it were possible in so short an interim of time, at once adoring so many rising Suns. I shall reflect no otherwise on such confused transactions, then in the citation of a Verse which the Reader may understand as he pleases. Pope Innocent the chief of all the rout, Answered his name, but how if In were out. Since I have so strangely digressed, it will not be amiss to take notice of a book lately come forth, entitled, History and Policy reviewed, concerning the political transactions of the Protector, published in a strange name, written in the stile of the holy Court, in which, the Author undertakes a prodigious enterprise, to compare Cromwell to Moses; his pen is too palpably fraught with flattery, yet not without unparallelled subtlety; he having like the little Indian Gentleman, in the short jacket, picked the verminout of Nic. Machiavels head for his use; throwing of one side principals honester than this own; Machiavelli never so disguising himself with the vizard of Religion, that he appears to be an arranter devil than the Florentine; certain I am, that I never read a book that more pleased or dispeased me. But to proceed, at his first instalment, Heavens bless us, immediately follows a plot, miraculously discovered, eleven of the grand conspirators being apprehended, were committed to the Tower; where having remained a while, they were again set at liberty. This web was not well spun, his spies and informers which he entertained at a vast expense, put on their spectacles that they might see better against the next occasion. In the interim, the Scots under the Earls of Glencarne and Kenmore, raised another Army of 4000 Horse and Foot, but were soon dissipated by the vigilancy of Colonel Morgan, who after a short but smart fight, killed one hundred and fifty of them, and defeated all the rest. Suspicions are necessary alarms, as they at least suffer persons not to be overtaken with too much security of their affairs. Another great plot was now again discovered, the chief conspirators were said to be Mr. Thomas and John Gerrard, Brothers, John Jones an Apothecary, and Thomas Tender, Somerset Fox, and Master Peter Vowel; who were all condemned, but two only suffered, viz. Mr. Vowel who was hanged. Also about the same time the Portugal Ambassadors Brother was brought to his trial for the pistolling of one Mr. Greenwood by a Knight of Malta, one of his high spirited followers; the tumult being afterwards occasioned from his retinue, he having been first very uncivilly treated by Mr. Gerrard in his expatiating of the New Exchange, as he termed it in his Declaration; for which Mr. Gerrard received a prick with his Dagger, and afterwards had the honour to die the same death. The young unfortunate stranger suffered a very high favour to please the New Exchange Chevaliers. Mean while the Scotch Highlanders impatient of bearing the English yoke, resolved to try the other bout; to which purpose, they assembled together in great numbers, having General Middleton to their leader, who was newly come to them out of Holland: but all their endeavours vanished into smoke, General Monk on the twentieth of July, 1654. at a place called Loughberry, gave them such a charge as utterly defeated them, and made them incapable of ever after thinking of appearing in Arms again. Soon after was a Parliament called, who no sooner were set, but fell upon questioning the power by which they were convocated; and doubting of its lawfulness were soon dissolved by the same power which they disinherited. The Protector at the dissolution of this short Parliament, made a very long speech, wherein amongst many other passages he hath this expression; This one thing I speak as thus advised, and before God, as having been to this day of this opinion, and this hath been my constant judgement, well known to many that hear me speak, if this one thing had been inserted, that one thing, that this Government should have been, and placed in my family hereditary, I would have rejected it. And a little after, If this be of humane structure, and invention, and it be an old plotting and contrivance to bring things to this issue, and that they are not the births of providence, than they will come to nothing. But notwithstanding his speech was candied over with Scripture phrases, and great expressions of his zeal for the good government of the Land; yet these his actings much discontented the common people, whereupon ensued rise in Shropshire, Montgomery, Nottinghamshire, Northumberland, and Yorkshire; but the most considerable was at Salisbury, where Sir Joseph Wagstaff, Penruddock, and Jones, who had formerly been Officers in the late King's Army, having gotten together about 200. armed men, entered Salisbury, seized on all the Inns and chief Houses; and the Assizes being holden there at that time, they took away the Judges Commissions and Patents, and all their Horses, and so marched away. Sir Henry Slingsby and Sir Richard Malleverer assembled some Forces also in Yorkshire; but not being seconded according to their expectation, they dispersed themselves on their own account. For these actings were put to death Master Lucas, Thorp, Kensey, Graves, and Penruddock, Sir Henry Slingsby was taken and imprisoned, and afterwards beheaded upon another account, as I shall show you in its due place. About this time the great head-piece of Europe joins his Fox's tale to our Lion's skin; correspondencies are held betwixt the French and us, which occasioning some jealousies with some other bitter pills that had before been swallowed, but not digested by the Spaniard, caused some heart-burnings; which soon broke forth into an open War, first managed by the Generals, Pen and Venables, who on the 27. of December 1654. with a gallant Fleet set sail from Portsmouth, and on the 28. of January following, arrived at the Barbadoss, where they seized on 18. Holland Merchant men, who contrary to the Ordinance of the long Parliament trafficked in those parts; from thence they sailed to Hispaniola, arriving near to the port of Sancta Domingo, where by the deepness of the sands, and heat of the climate being infinitely tired, they were by the Spaniards put to flight, and enforced to march back again to their Ships; from thence they set Sail to the Island of Jamaica, which after a little resistance they mastered, and have since preserved, notwithstanding the Spaniards to regain the same, landed there with two or three thousand men, but were discomfitted with the loss of all their Cannon and Baggage. In the interim General Blake with a considerable Fleet of Ships, having cast Anchor before Tunis, April, 18. 1655. sent unto the Die of the place, demanding satisfaction for some English Ships, which the Pirates of those parts had carried away, and the liberty of the English slaves they had detained; but his message and himself was refused with scorn and derision: the Turks making this answer, Behold our Castles of Galleta, and our Castles and Vessels of Porto Ferino, do your worst against them, and do not think to brave us with the sight of your great Fleet. This answer so exasperated the English Admiral, that notwithstanding there were one hundred and twenty Guns planted on the shore, and in the Castle against them; yet regardless of all danger, he set upon their Men of War which lay in Porto Ferino, and in less than four ours space, burned all their Ships; being in number nine, to their very Keels, which enforced the King of Tunis to seek to the English for their friendship, and restored all the Prisoners for little or nothing. These successes were seconded by two other great Victories obtained over the Spaniards at sea; the one by General Montague about nine Leagues from Cadiz, where he destroyed six of their ships, whereof two were taken, two run aground, one sunk, and another burnt, and therein the Marquis of Badex, his Wife and Daughter; the young Marquis and his Brother, with a great deal of wealth being taken, and brought into England. This Fight being incomparably related by the Laureate of our times, I thought fit to insert it, not to deprive the Reader of so Elegant a Poem; let him wave the Poetical flattery of it as he pleases. Upon the present War with Spain, and the first Victory obtained at Sea. Now for some Ages had the pride of Spain, Made the Sun shine on half the World in vain; While she bid War; to all that durst supply The place of those, her Cruelty made die. Of Nature's Bounty men forbear to taste, And the best Portion of the Earth lay waste. From the New World, her Silver and her Gold, Came like a Tempest, to confound the Old. Feeding with these the bribed Elector's Hopes, She made at pleasure Emperors and Popes: With these, advancing her unjust Designs, Europe was shaken with her Indian Mines. When our Protector looking with disdain Upon this gilded Majesty of Spain; And knowing well that Empire must decline, Whose chief support, and sinews, are of Coin: Our Nation's solid virtue, did oppose To the rich Troublers of the World's repose. And now some months encamping on the main, Our Naval Army had besieged Spain. They that the whole World's Monarchy designed. Are to their Ports by our bold Fleet confined: From whence our Red Cross they triumphant see, Riding without a Rival on the Sea. Others may use the Ocean as their road, Only the English make it their abode: Whose ready Sails with every Wind can fly, And make a covenant with th' unconstant Sky. Our Oaks secure, as if they there took root; We tread on Billows with a steady foot. Mean while the Spaniards in America, Near to the Line, the Sun approaching saw; And hoped their European Coasts to find Cleared from our ships, by the Autumnal Wind. Their huge capacious Galleons stuffed with Plate, The labouring winds drives slowly towards their fate. Before Saint Lucar they their Guns discharge, To tell their Joy, or to invite a Barge. This heard, some Ships of ours, though out of view, As swift as Eagles to the Quarry flew. So heedless Lambs which for their mother's bleat, Wake hungry Lions, and become their meat. Arrived, they soon begin that Tragic play, And with their smoky Cannon banish day. Night, horror, slaughter, with confusion meets, And in their sable Arms embrace the Fleets. Through yielding Planks the angry Bullets fly, And of one Wound hundreds together die. Born under different Stars, one Fate they have, The Ship their Coffin, and the Sea their Grave. Bold were the men, which on the Ocean first Spread their new Sails, whilst shipwreck was the worst, More danger now from men alone we find, Then from the Rocks, the Billows, or the Wind. They that had sailed from near th' Antarctic Pole, Their Treasure safe, and all their Vessels whole; In sight of their dear Country ruin'd be, Without the guilt of either Rock or Sea. What they would spare, our fiercer Art destroys, Excelling storms in terror and in noise. Once Jove from Hyda did both Hosts survey, And when he pleased to thunder, part the Fray: Here Heaven in vain that kind Retreat should sound, The louder Cannon had the thunder drowned. Some we made Prize while others burnt and rend, With their rich Lading to the bottom went. Down sinks at once (so fortune with us sports) The Pay of Armies, and the Pride of Courts. Vain man, whose rage buries as low that store, as Avarice had digged for it before. What Earth in her dark bowels could not keep From greedy hands, lies safer in the deep: Where Thetis kindly doth from Mortals hid Those seeds of Luxury, Debate, and Pride. And now into her lap the richest Prize Fell, with the noblest of our Enemies. The Marquis glad to see the fire destroy Wealth, that prevailing Foes were to enjoy: Out from his flaming. Ship his Children sent, To perish in a milder Element. Then laid him by his burning Ladies side, And since he could not save her, with her died. Spices and Gums about them melting fry, And Phenix-like, in that rich nest they die. Death bitter is, for what we leave behind, But taking with us, all we love, is kind. What could he more than hold for term of life, His Indian Treasure, and his more prized Wife? Alive, in flames of equal love they burned, And now together are to ashes turned. Ashes more worth than all their Funerals cost, Then the huge Treasure which was with them lost. These dying Lovers, and their floating Sons, Suspend the Fight, and silence all our Guns. Beauty and Youth, about to perish, finds Such noble pity in brave English minds; That the rich Spoil neglecting, and the Prize, All labour now to save their Enemies. How frail our passion's? how soon changed are Our wrath and fury to a friendly care? They that but now to gain the Spanish Plate, Made the Sea blush with Blood, forget their hate; And their young Foes, while sinking, they retrieve, With greater danger than they fought, they dive. With these returns Victorious Montague, With Laurel in his hands, and half Perue. Let the brave General divide that Bough. Our great Protector hath such Wreaths enough. His conquering Head hath no more room for Bays, Then let it be as the whole Nation prays: Let the rich Oar forthwith be melted down, And the State fixed, by making him a Crown: With Ermines clad, and Purple; let him hold A Royal Sceptre, made of Spanish Gold. That these Poetical Addresses may not seem too full of flattery, it will not be amiss to insert what I have found under one of his Pictures engraven beyond the Seas. Cernimus hic omni caput admirabile mundo: Regibus hic Frater; Populis Pater, Host is multum, Nullius ille timet quam summi Numinis Arma. Quis dubitat sacro hoc si pergat Flamine Victor, Quod Reges, Populi, Barbariesque stupent. Barbariem, vera Religione domat Non timet; at Pacem cuillibet esse parat. Quin subito Meretrix de babylon cadet. These were the then glosses of several persons; he came nearest the mark that said, He was a Prince in his time. I shall wave these Hyperboles even to the Antipathy of what Vir quintae Monarchiae sets down, That as he was Protector, he had a more unlimited power then any King before him. About this time Christina Queen of Sweden made a resignation of the Crown, (a precedent seldom heard of) putting herself into the condition of a Lady Errand; to which purpose she made these propositions to the Prince her successor. 1. She will retain the best part of the Kingdom, and the Custom to herself. 2. She would not be subject, but free of herself without control. 3. That she would travel whither she pleased. To which the Prince returned this answer. 1. That he would not be a King without a Kingdom. 2. He would have no more Rival than she a Supericur. 3. He would not hazard himself about her designs abroad. How these different Proposals were composed, I know not: but in a short time she resigned up all, leaving herself only the bare title of, the Queen of Sweden, travelling up and down according as her wild fancy led her; and for the total finishing of this Comic Scene, she at length also resigned up her Religion, and was received into the bosom of the Church of Rome. This Christina being first undermined with money, which she wanted, having lived at a great height, Carolus Gustavus having a Regal aim, so supplied her occasions, as to the engaging of her Heroic Person to look more directly upon those respects; which though she was the Daughter of Great Gustavus, of a Masculine spirit, yet in respect of the constitution of the Nation which could not admit of a Feminine conduct, she was as it were forced to surrender; he was suddenly afterwards proclaimed King, the Queen having first formally resigned all to him. The Swede being now in his full power, the Protector honouring of his Martial spirit, comparing their somewhat resembling rises, balancing in his mind the Swedes monstrous successes, none in Europe being so like his own, either for the Discipline of the Sword, or to the future interests of Princes, as to their consternation and fear, more especially as he had poized in his discretion the Danish Affairs, he sends the Pick-lock of the Law, a Gentleman of admirable parts, and inimitable Civilities, the Lord Whitlock, who as his Ambassador, perfected an Offensive and Defensive League with the Swede, which is still continued, the death of the Protector, whose cordial assistance in his late Coppenhagen Affairs he could never have wanted, having been a great obstruction to that King's Affairs. About this time the blasphemies of many Sectaries in England were horrible; particularly of one James Nailor, who under a seeming Sanctity, and pretended illuminations, vented most horrible blasphemies, for which he was cast into Excester Goal; yet had this wretched Impostor so bewitched his followers to the committing of strange absurdities, that they ascribed to him Divine Honours, and gave him in Scripture phrase, the same titles which are applicable to none but Christ himself. In a Letter of one Richard Fairman to him, are these horrid expressions, [I am filled with joy and rejoicing when I behold thee in the eternal unity. O my soul is melting within me, when I behold thy beauty and innocency, dear and precious Son of Zion, whose mother is a Virgin, and whose Birth is immortal.] One of his she-Converts writes of him thus. [All the wise men shall seek for him, and when they have found him, they shall open their ears, and shall give unto him of their Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh.] The same woman in another Letter to him proceeds thus, [O thou fairest of ten thousand, thou only begotten Son of God, how my heart panteth after thee; O stay me with flagons, and comfort me with wine; my wellbeloved thou art like a Roe, or young Hart, upon the Mountains of Spices. Then by way of Postscript her Husband Thomas Stranger adds this, Thy name is no more to be called James, but Jesus. Also a Maid named Dorcas Erbury, being examined, declared James Nailor to be the Holy one of Israel, the only Son of God, and that she pulled off his stockings, & put her under his feet, because he is the holy Lord of Israel, and that she knew no other Saviour but him; affirming moreover, that the Spirit of the Lord within her commanded her to call him Lord and Master, and to serve him. That in Excester Goal he had raised her from the dead after she had been dead two days; and that he should sit at the right hand of the Father, and judge the world. Having seduced these silly souls into such damnable opinions, and gotten releasement out of Excester Goal, he began immediately to play his pranks at divers places in the West; particularly at Wells and Glastenbury thorough which Towns he road on Horseback, a man going bare before him, some walking afoot on each side of his stirrup, and others strewing their garments in the way; from thence he took his journey towards Bristol, and coming to a Village called Bedminster, about a mile from Bristol, rid thorough it in the same presumptuous blasphemous manner, as he did before at Wells and Glastenbury. There accompanied him two men, with each a woman behind on Horseback, which alighted when the came to the Suburbs of Bristol, and footed it along on each side of Nailors' Horse, the man still bareheaded leading the Horse, and all the way they went, they sung, Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God of Israel, and then the women led the horse with the reins in their hands, up to the high Cross of Bristol, and from thence to the Whitehart-Inne in Broad-street: by this time the Magistrates hearing of their do, sent for Nailor and his companions, who came singing all the way Hosanna, and Holy, Holy, Holy, etc. The Magistrates of Bristol having examined him, sent him up to the Parliament (together with the narrative of his actions committed in those parts,) to receive his sentence which was as followeth. That James Nailor be set with his head in the Pillory, in the new Palace at Westminster, during the space of two hours, on Thursday next, and shall be whipped by the hangman through the streets from Westminster, to the Old Exchange London; and there likewise be set in the Pillory, for the space of two hours, between the hours of eleven and one, on Saturday next; in each of the said places, wearing a paper containing an inscription of his Crimes: and that at the Old Exchange his Tongue shall be bored through with a hot iron; and that he be there also stigmatised in the forehead with the letter B. and that he be afterwards sent to Bristol, and conveyed into, and thorough the said City on a horse bare-ridged, with his face backward; and there also publicly whipped, the next market-day after he comes thither. That from thence he be committed to prison in Bridewell, London, and there restrained from the society of all people, and kept to hard labour, till he shall be released by Parliament; and during that time be debarred the use of pen, ink, and paper, and shall have no relief, but what he earns by his daily labour, which accordingly was executed upon him, December 17. 1656. His flies and familiars were still useful to him for the discovering of more strange designs; the revealing of which, no question kept many conspiracies from being attempted, to which effect there is yet another plot, against the Protectors life, intended by Miles Sindercomb, alias Fish, one who had formerly been a Parliament Soldier, under the command of Sir John Reynolds, together with one Cecil; induced thereunto, as is said by Don Alonso, the late Spanish Ambassador: to the effecting their designs, they are said to have hired a house at Hammersmith, adjoining by the Highway side, to have shot him in his Coach, as he passed by; but that failing, they intended to have shot him in Hyde-park, and to that purpose that they filled off the Hinges of the Gates, for their better escape; and this miscarrying, that they intended to have fired White Hall. For these offences Sindercomb was arraigned at the Upper Bench Bar in Westminster Hall, February, 9 1656. where being found guilty by the Jury, he was condemned to be hanged, drawn, and quartered at Tyburn; but before his Execution he was found dead in his bed, and several presumptions of a violent death appearing on him, it was concluded he poisoned himself. Afterwards he was drawn from the Tower unto Tower-hill, at a horse tail, with his head forward, and there under the Scaffold, turned into a hole stark naked, and a stake spiked and plated with iron, driven through him into the earth. It is to be observed that whatsoever the vigilancy of the Guard of the Tower was over this Gentleman, that he died with as fresh a colour as Sir Thomas Overbury is said to have expired with. But to return where we left, that successful Seaman General Blake, the Protectors indended Drake, an honest stout incomparable Seaman, he sailing with his Fleet to Sancta Cruza, in the Island of Teneriff, in which Port lay sixteen great Spanish Vessels, laden with rich Merchandizes from the Indies, or stored with provisions and other manufactures to be transported thither. He on the 20. of April, 1657. set upon them, and notwithstanding the Castle and six or seven forts which commanded the place, in less than four hours' time he destroyed them all, to their inestimable detriment, not sixty of his own men being lost. But to return into England, June the 20. 1657. the Protector with great pomp and magnificence was installed at Westminster, the Parliament then sitting; to which purpose at the upper end of Westminster Hall, a rich Cloth of State was set up, and under it a Chair of State placed upon an ascent of two degrees, covered with Carpets, and before it a Table with a Chair appointed for the Speaker of the Parliament, and on each side of the Hall upon the said structure were Seats raised one above another, and decently covered for the Members of Parliament, and below them, Seats on one side for the Judges of the Land, and on the other side for the Aldermen of the City of London. About two of the Clock in the afternoon, the Protector met the Parliament in the Painted Chamber, and passed such Bills as were presented to him; after which they went in order to the place appointed in Westminster Hall; the Protector standing under the Cloth of Estate, the Lord Widdrington Speaker of the Parliament, addressed himself to him in this Speech. May it please your Highness, You are now upon a great Theatre, in a large Chore of people; you have the Parliament of England, Scotland, and Ireland, before you; on your right hand my Lords the Judges, and on your left hand, the Lord Major, Aldermen, and Sheriffs of London: the most noble and populous City of England. The Parliament, with the interposition of your suffrage, makes Laws, and the Judges, and Governors of London are the great dispensers of those Laws to the people. The occasion of this great convention and intercourse, is, to give an investiture to your Highness in that eminent place of Lord Protector; a name you had before, but it is now settled by the full and unanimous consent of the people of these three Nations assembled in Parliament: you have no new name, but a new date added to the old name; the 16. of December, is now changed to the 26. of June. I am commanded by the Parliament, to make oblation to your Highness of four things in order to this Inauguration. The first is a Robe of Purple, an Emblem of Magistracy, and imports righteousness and justice; when you have put on the vestment, I may say, (and I hope without offence) that you are a Gown man. This Robe is of a mixed colour, to show the mixture of justice and mercy, which are then most excellent when they are well tempered together. Justice without Mercy, is wormwood and bitterness, and Mercy without Justice is of a too soft a temper for government; for a Magistrate must have two hands, Plectentem & Amplectentem. The next thing is a Bible, a Book that contains the holy Scripture; in which you have the honour and happiness to be well versed. This is the Book of life, consisting of two Testaments, the old and new. In the first we have Christum velatum, Christ in Types, Shadows, and Figers; in the latter we have Christum revelatum, Christ revealed. This Book carries in it the grounds of the true Christian Protestant Religion; it's a Book of Books, it contains in it both precepts and examples for good government. Alexander so highly valued the Books of his Master Aristotle, and other great Princes other books, that they have laid them every night under their Pillows. These are all but Legends and Romances to this one Book; a Book to be had always in remembrance: I find it said in a part of this Book which I shall desire to read, and it is this. Deut. 17. And it shall be when he sitteth upon the Throne of his Kingdom, that he shall write a copy of this Law in a Book, out of that which is before the Priests and the Levites. And it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord God, and to keep all the words of his Law and those Statutes, to do them. That his heart be not lifted up above his Brethren; and that he turn not aside from the Commandment, to the right hand or to the left, to the end he may prolong his days in his Kingdom, he and his Children in the midst of Israel. The next thing that I am to offer to your Highness, is a Sceptre, not unlike a staff, for you are to be a staff to the weak and poor; it's of ancient use in this kind; it's said in Scripture, in reference to Judah, the Royal Tribe, That the Sceptre shall not departed from Judah. It was of like use in other kingdoms and governments: Homer the Prince of the Greek Poets, calls Kings and Princes Scepter-bearers. The last thing is a Sword, not a Military, but a Civil Sword; a Sword rather for defence then offence; not to defend yourself only, but others also: the Sword is an Emblem of Justice. The noble Lord Talbot, in Henry the Sixths' time, wrote upon his Sword, Ego sum Talboti, propter occidendum inimicos meos; This Gallant Lord was a better Soldier than a Critic. If I might presume to fix a Motto upon this Sword, it should be this, Ego sum Domini Protectoris ad protegendum populum meum. I say, this Sword is an Emblem of Justice, and is to be used as King Solomon used his, for the discovery of truth in the points of Justice. I may say of this Sword as King David said of Goliah's Sword. There is none like this, Justice is the proper virtue of the Imperial Throne, and by Justice the Thrones of Kings and Princes are established. Justice is a Royal virtue, which as one saith of it, doth employ the other three Cardinal Virtues in her service. 1. Wisdom to discern the nocent from the innocent. 2. Fortitude, to prosecute, and execute. 3. Temperance, so to carry Justice that passion be no ingredient, and that it be without confusion, or precipitation. You have given ample testimony in all these particulars, so that this Sword in your hand will be a right Sword of Justice, attended with Wisdom, Fortitude, and Temperance. When you have all these together, what a comely and glorious sight is it to behold, A Lord Protector in a purple Robe, with a Sceptre in his hand, a Sword of Justice girt about him, and his eyes fixed upon the Bible. Long may you prosperously enjoy them all, to your own comfort, and the comfort of the people of these three Nations. The Speech being ended, Master Speaker came from his Chair, took the Robe, and therewith vested the Protector, being assisted therein by the Earl of Warwick, the Lord Whitlock and others. Which done, the Bible was delivered him; after that the Sword girt about him; and last of all he had the Sceptre delivered him. These things being performed, Master Speaker returned unto his Chair, and admimistred him his Oath, in haec verba. I do in the presence, and by the name of God Almighty, promise and swear, that to the uttermost of my power I will uphold and maintain the true Reformed Protestant Christian Religion, in the purity thereof, as it is contained in the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament to the uttermost of my power and understanding: and encourage the Profession and Professors of the same; and that to the utmost of my power I will endeavour as Chief Magistrate of these three Nations, the maintenance and preservation of the Peace and Safety, and just Rights and Privileges of the People thereof: and shall in all things, according to our best knowledge and power, govern the people of these three Nations according to Law. These Ceremonies being performed, a Herald of Arms by sound of Trumpet proclaimed him, Lord Protector of England, Scotland, Ireland, and the Dominions thereto belonging; hereupon the Trumpets sounded again, and the people (after the usual manner) gave several acclamations, with loud shouts, crying, God save the Lord Protector. His Highness had scarce accepted of these Honours, but as if the ill affected would not let him breath, yet another Plot is discovered, Colonel Edward Sexby is said to have conspired against the Lord Protector; for which he was committed to the Tower, where having continued about half a year, he died. But to reflect a little back, Mazarine that great Minister of State, on which hinge all the grand Affairs of France turn, perfects a Peace with England; the Protector having no regard to those advantages that Spain might render him as to Commerce, the places of Hostage which she proffered to put into his hands, as Gravelin, Dunkirk, and others, he was swayed with other Interest which he best understood himself, to prefer an Alliance and League with France before all those advantages, except his civility induceed him (which seldom had such power over him) to look more lovingly upon France as the weakest at that time, being abandoned by some of her Allies, as quite disordered by an Intestine War in her own Bowels, her Navigation totally ruined, as the Pirates of Dunkirk had blocked up all her Sea Ports; whereas the English scoured those Seas, chaste away the Pirates, and reduced the Mounsieur and Diego by their successes to their so likely advantageous peace. Indeed (as one writes) it was a high generosity, since the English caused the French to lose Gravelling and Dunkirk, to help France again to take those places. In the mean space was not here rare bandying of Interests? France having thus perfected a Peace with England, they jointly resolve to unite against the Spaniard; hereupon Sir John Reynolds with six thousand Foot was sent into Picardy, to join with the French Cavalry, which completed as gallant an Army as had been seen in France for many years together. These jointly besiege and take Mardike; a strong Fort of the Spaniards in Flanders, whereof Major General Morgan took possession for the English, as the earnest of further Conquests; which the Spaniards attempting for to regain, were twice repulsed with very great loss. But the joy of these Successes was mitigated by the death of Admiral Blake, who as he got his Honour by the Sea, died on it, and that within sight of Plymouth. He was a man who had deserved of his Country, and might justly be styled the Neptune thereof. His Body was brought with a Naval pomp by water from Greenwich to Westminster, being a suitable Ceremony to his employment, and was there buried in Henry the Sevenths' Chapel. Upon whom an Ingenuous person bestowed this Epitaph. Here lies a man, made Spain and Holland shake, Made France to tremble, and the Turks to quake: Thus he tameed men, but if a Lady stood In's sight, it raised a Palsy in his blood; Cupid's Antagonist, who in his life Had Fortune as familiar as a Wife. A stiff hard Iron Soldier: for he It seems had more of Mars then Mercury; At Sea he thundered, calmed each raging wave, And now he's dead, sent thundering to his Grave. Soon after was St. Venant taken by the English, the Lord Henry Cromwell made Deputy of Ireland. Sir John Reynolds, Colonel White, and some other Officers drowned upon Goodwin Sands, as they were coming out of Flanders into England. One writes, that the subtlety of discovering of Plots, though but in the Embryo, or before they are hatched, in the time of peace, is the most succinct way of letting of blood. March 24. (the last day of the year accounted for) 1657. a great Conspiracy was again discovered in London, several Regiments ' (as was said) being enroled; who on the first day of May in the night time should have set fire on several parts of the City, and whilst the confusion and horror thereof had seized all men, they should have made a general masacre of all who opposed them. Hereupon several persons were apprehended, as Doctor Hewet, Sir Henry Slingsby, Colonel Asbton, etc. and a High Court of Justice erected for the trial of them; and first they began with Sir Henry Slingsby, the Articles charged against them will in part discover themselves in their several speeches made just before their deaths. In short, they were both condemned, Dr. Hewet (professing himself to be ignorant of such Law, though amongst the most learned Divines few of them were more knowing in the Gospel) being taken in three defaults upon formalities of the Court, was proceeded against as mute. June 8. 1658. was the day appointed for their beheading, Sir Henry Slingsby first mounting the stage, spoke in effect as followeth. That he stood condemned by the Court of Justice, as contriving and endeavouring to withdraw divers Officers of the Garrison of Kingston upon Hull from their duty, and persuading them to a surrendering and yielding up of that Garrison, and one that held correspondence with some beyond sea to that end. That it was true, he had conference upon that account with the Officers of that Garrison; and that he gave Major Waterhouse a Commission signed Charles R. But that it was but an old one that had lain by him, though he thought fit to make use of it to the Major. Many passages he said there were which he would not insist on; that some friends of his had made application to his Highness for the saving his of life, but it seems it was thought fit not to be granted, and therefore he submitted, and was ready to die, etc. Having uttered these and the like words, he took off a Ring from his Bandstrings, wherein instead of a Seal engraven, was the Picture of the late King exactly done, and giving it to a Gentleman that stood by him, he said, Pray give this to Harry. Then he addressed himself to prayer, wherein he continued some time; taking leave of his friends, he submitted his neck to the Block, and had his head severed from his body at one blow by the Executioner. This at one blow by the Executioner, the Reader may observe hath been very often repeated in this Volume. His Tragic Scene being acted, that Religious and Reverend Divine Doctor Hewet, the golden-tongued Chrysostom, entered the Lists of Death. In this warfare the Doctor put on the spiritual armour of a blessed confidence, delivering his mind to the people in these following words. I am now become a public spectacle to men and Angels, and (I hope) God who is omniscient, is now beholding me with much pity, and great mercy and compassion; and the more, because I am now come to that end that his own Son came into the world to, to bear witness to the Truth; he himself said, For this end was I born, for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness to the Truth. I was brought into the world (the Christian world) for to bear witness to the truth of the Gospel, as a common Christian; I was brought into the world (the Church) as a Minister of his blessed Word and Sacraments; [Blessed be his name for that great honour and dignity;] and I came into the world to die more immediately for the testimony of Jesus, which God hath now called me to. I came into this world (this Commonwealth) to be a member thereof, to bear witness to the truths of the Customs, the Laws, the Liberties, and Privileges thereof; so I am a Member of the Commonwealth. And methinks it seems to me a strange thing, that in as much as we all plead for Liberty and Privileges, and I pleading for the Privileges, the Laws, the Statutes, and the Customs of this Land, yet I should die by those that should stand for the Laws, the Statutes, and Privileges of the Land. And I am here beheld by those that plead for their Liberties, and I hope I am pitied, because I here give up myself willingly and freely to be a State-Martyr for the public good; and I had rather die many deaths my self, then betray my fellow-freemen to so many inconveniences that they might be like to suffer, by being subject to the wills of them that willed me to this death. And it is worthy remembrance that Master Solicitor having impeached me of Treason to the Commissioners of the Court against his Highness, I did often (when brought before those Commissioners) plead for the liberties of the people of England, though I had no knowledge of the Law, yet I had instructions from those that were learned in the Law, and had several Lawcases and Precedents put into my hand, though not by them, and urged several Lawcases, and made my appeal. First, for the Judicature that I was to be tried by, Whether it were according to Law? Whether it were according to the Act? and whether it were according to the words of the said Act? I did appeal to have the said Act argued by learned Lawyers on both sides, and then to be resolved by his Highness own Council, which was denied me. [This by the by.] I pressing the Argument, made a second Appeal, that those Judges, if they would give singly their several judgements that it was a just and lawful Court of Judicature, I would answer to my Charge. I did make another Appeal to those that were his Highness' Council, and pleaded against me. That if they would deliver it to me under their hands to be according to Law, I would then go on to plead, and answer to the Charge. What was then said further my spirits being faint, I shall not say much, but only this, I was taken in three defaults upon formality of the Court. It seems it is a custom in all Courts, (which I did not know before) that if they answer not the third time speaking by the Clerk, that then they are guilty of three defaults, and proceeded against as mute: [I had no such knowledge of the Law.] So they found me guilty of those defaults; and when I would have pleaded, and resolved to begin to plead, I was taken from the Bar. I did the next day make my Petition to the Court in the Painted Chamber, two Petitions were presented, the same in effect; the former, the Title was mistaken. Yet because the title was mistaken, and no answer given, therefore it was that another Petition was drawn up to the same effect, with a new title given, (as I remember) presented by the Sergeant at Arms; and one writ it over in such haste, lest they should be drawn out of the Painted Chamber into the Court, that I had not time to read it over, only I subscribed my name, and there was in the front of the Petition a word left out, but what the word was, I know not; and this was taken so ill, as if I had put an affront and contempt on the Court: And it was thought they would have heard me plead; and then because of that mistake, they sent word, I should have my answer when I came into the Court, and my answer was the sentence of condemnation. And therefore I pray with all my soul, that God would forgive all those that occasioned the charge to be drawn against me, to give such unjust things against me: I pray with all my soul, that God would forgive all those that upon so slender and small grounds adjudged me to die, taking advantage of such simple ignorance as I was in. And I had at the very beginning of my pleading, engaged their Honours no advantage should be taken against me to my prejudice, that in as much as I understood nothing of the Law: And having heard that a man in the nicety of the Law might be lost in the severity thereof, merely for speaking a word out of simple ignorance, I made it my prayer to them that no advantage might be taken against me to the prejudice of my person: And there was to me a seeming consent; for the Precedent told, there should be no advantage taken against me; and upon these Considerations I am afraid there was too great uncharitableness: but I pray God forgive them from the very bottom of my soul, and I desire that even those that shed my blood, may have the bowels of the God of mercy shed for them. And now having given you the occasion of my coming hither, it is fit I should give you somewhat as concerning myself as I am a Christian, and as I am a Cleargy-man: First, as I am a Christian, I thank God I was baptised to the Holy Church, so I was baptised to be a Member of the Holy Catholic Church, that is, the Church of England, which I dare say for purity of Doctrine, and orderly Discipline, till a sad Reformation had spoiled the face of the Church, and made it a query whether it were a Church, or no; I say, it was more purely Divine and Apostolical, than any other Doctrine or Church in the Christian World, whether National, or Classical, or Congregational. And I must tell you, That as I am a Member of this Church, so I am a Member of the holy Catholic Church, and shall give a most just confession of my Faith both negatively, and affirmatively: negatively, I am so a Member of the holy Catholic Church, that I abhor all Sects, Schisms, Sedition, and Tyranny in Religion. Affirmatively so, that as I hold communion with, so I love and honour all Christians in the world that love the same Lord Jesus in sincerity, and call on his name agreeing with those truths that are absolutely necessary, and clearly demonstrated in the Word of God, both in the Old and New Testaments; though in Charity dissenting from some others that are not necessary. And I, as I am thus a Christian, I hope for salvation through the merits of Christ Jesus; his blood I rely on, his merits I trust to for the salvation of my own soul. Though to this Faith, good works are necessary, not meritorious in us, but only made meritorious by Christ his death; by his all sufficiency, by his satisfaction, and his righteous, they become meritorious, but in us they are no other than as defiled rags. And truly as I am a Member of the Church, so I told you I was a Member of this Community, and so pleaded for the Liberties and Privileges thereof. I must now answer something I am aspersed withal in the world. They talk of something of a Plot, and a Treasonable design, and that I had a great interest in the knowledge and practice thereof, and that for the saving my life, I would have discovered and betrayed I cannot tell what: I hope my conversation hath not been such here in this City, where I have been a long time very well known, as to make one imagine I should intermeddle in such an action, and go so contrary to the practice of my profession; and I hope there are none so uncharitable towards me, as to believe I had a knowledge of that design. Here I must come to particulars for a Plot, of having a design upon the City of London for the firing of it: I so much tremble at the thought of the thing that should have been done, as they say, for the carrying on of such a design, (if my heart deceive me not) had I known it, I so much abhor the thing, I should have been the first discoverer of it: nor ever had I correspondency or meetings with such persons as would have carried on such a design. It is said likewise, I entertained the Earl, the Marquis of Ormond; to my remembrance I never saw the face of that honourable person in my life. It is said, One Lords day I did preach at Saint Gregory's and the next Lord's day I was at Brussels or Bruges, and kissed the King's hand, and brought I cannot tell what orders and instructions from him: this I shall say, For these three years last passed together, I have not been sixty miles from this City of London, and I think it is somewhat further to either of those places then threescore miles. It is said that I kept correspondence with one Barrow and Bishop: they are persons I have heard of their names, but never saw their faces, and to my knowledge I do not know they know me; nor do I know them at all, but only as I have heard of their names. And whosoever else hath suggested such things against me, I know not. His Highness was pleased to tell me, I was like a flaming Torch in the midst of a sheaf of Corn: he meaning, I being a public Preacher, was able to set the City on fire by sedition and combustions, and promoting designs. Here truly I do say, and have it from many of those that are Judges of the High Court, that upon examination of the business they have not found me a meddler at all in these Affairs. And truly, I must needs say therefore, that it was a very uncharitable act in them (who ever they were) that brought such accusations against me, and irritated his Highness against me. I will not say it was malice, it might be zeal, but it was rash zeal which caused me to be sentenced to this place: the God of mercy pardon and forgive them all, and truly as I am a Member of the Church, and as a Member of the Community whereon behalf I have been speaking, I cannot but do as our Saviour himself did for his Disciples when he was to be taken from them, he blessed them, and ascended up to heaven. My trust is in the mercy of the most High, I shall not miscarry; and however my days are shortened by this unexpected doom, and shall be brought untimely to the grave: I cannot go without my prayers for a blessing upon all the people of this Land, and cannot but bless them all in the Name of God, and beseech God to bless them in all their ways, and his blessing be upon them. Let us pray. O most glorious Lord God, thou whose dwelling is so far above the highest Heavens, that thou humblest thyself but to look upon the things that are in heaven, and that are in earth, and thou dost whatsoever thou wilt both in heaven, in earth, in the sea, and in all deep places; in thy hands are the hearts of all men, and thou turnest them which way soever thou wilt, O Lord look in mercy and compassion we beseech thee, on this great and innumerous people of this Land; look upon them O Lord, with an eye of pity, not with an eye of fury and indignation; O look not upon all those great and grievous sins that have provoked thee most justly to wrath and displeasure against us. Gracious God, who can stand in thy sight when thou art angry? when thou with rebuke dost correct man for sin, thou makest his beauty to consume away like as it were a Moth fretting a Garment. O Lord, thy indignation and wrath lies heavy upon us, and thou hast vexed us with thy scourges, thou hast made us a reproach and a byword amongst our Neighbours, and the very heathen laugh us to scorn. O that thou wouldst turn us again, O Lord God of Hosts; that thou wouldst show us the light of thy countenance, that we may behold it; that thou wouldst humble us for all those sins and grievous transgressions that are amongst us; for those Atheisms, for those infidelities, horrid blasphemies, and profaneness; for those sacrileges, for those Heresies, for those Schisms, Errors, and all those blindnesses of heart, pride, vain glory, and hypocrisy; for that envy, hatred, and malice, and all uncharitableness, that hath set us one against another, that we are so dashed one against another, even to destroy each other; Ephraim against Manasseh, and Manasseh against Ephraim, and both against Judah. O Lord we are like those Moabites and Ammonies, etc.— This thou hast done to us O Lord, because we have rebelled against thee: O how greatly and grievously have we sinned against thee, yet for all this, thou hast not requited us according to our ill deservings, for thou mightest have brought us to desolation and destruction: fire might have come down from heaven, and destroyed us; our foreign enemies, and the enemies of thee, and thy Christ our Saviour, might have swallowed us up. What have we not deserved! yet O the long-suffering, and patience, and goodness of our God O Lord our God, we pray thee that thy patience and long-suffering might lead to repentance that thou wouldst be pleased, thou who delightest not in the death of a sinner, but rather that he should turn from his sins and live, that thou wouldst turn us unto thee O Lord, and we shall be turned: draw us, and we shall run after thee: draw us with the cords of Love, and by the bands of loving kindness, by the powerful working of thy holy spirit in our souls, working contrition in our hearts, and a godly sorrow for all our sins, even a sorrow to repentance, and a repentance to salvation never to be repent of. Lord break those stony hearts of ours by the hammer of thy word, mollify them by the oil of thy grace, smite these rocky hearts of ours by the rod of thy most gracious power, that we may shed forth rivers of tears for all the sins we have committed. O that thou wouldst make us grieve because we cannot grieve, and to weep because we cannot weep enough; that thou wouldst humble us more and more in the true sight and sense of all our provocation against thee; and that thou wouldst be pleased in the blood of Jesus Christ to cleanse us from all our sins; Lord let his blood that speaks better things then that of Abel, cry louder in thine ears for mercy, than all those mischiefs and wickednesses that have been done amongst us for vengeance. O besprinkle our polluted, but penitent souls, in the blood of Jesus Christ, that we may be clean in thy sight, and that the light of thy countenance may shine upon us. Lord be pleased to seal unto our souls the free pardon and forgiveness of all our sins: say to each of our souls, and say that we may hear it, that thou art well pleased with us, and appeased towards us. Lord, do thou by the Spirit assure our spirits, that we are thy children, and that thou art reconciled to us in the blood of Jesus Christ. To this end, O Lord, create in us new hearts, and renew right spirits within us. Cast us not away from thy presence, and take not thy holy spirit from us; but give us the comfort of thy help, and establish us with thy free spirit. Help us to live as they redeemed one's; and (Lord) let us not any longer by our wicked lives deny that most holy faith whereof our lips have for so long time made profession, but let us that call on the name of the Lord Jesus, depart from iniquity, and hate every evil way. Help us to cast away all our transgressions, whereby we have transgressed, and make us new hearts. Carry us along through the pilgrimage of this world, supplying us with all things needful for us; thy grace alone is sufficient for us: Lord, let thy grace be assistant to us, to strengthen us against all the temptations of Satan, especially against those sins whereunto we are most prone, either by custom or constitution, or most easily provoked. O Lord, with what affliction soever thou shalt punish us, do not punish us with spiritual judgements and desertions. Give us not over to our own hearts lusts, to our vile, lewd, and corrupt affections: give us not over to hardness and impenitency of heart, but make us sensible of the least sin, and give us thy grace to think no sin little committed against thee our God, but that we may be humbled for it, and repent of it, and reform it in our lives and conversations: and Lord keep us from presumptuous sins, O let not them get the dominion over us, but keep us innocent from the great offence, O Lord our strength and our Redeemer. And Lord sanctify unto us all thy methods and proceed with us, fitting us for all further tribulations and trials whatsoever thou in thy divine pleasure shalt be pleased to impose upon us: Lord give us patience, constancy, resolution and fortitude to undergo them, that though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we may fear none ill; knowing that thou O Lord, art mercifully with us, and that with thy rod as well as with thy staff thou wilt support and comfort us; and that nothing shall be able to separate us from thy love which is in Jesus Christ our Lord. And (gracious God) we beseech thee be thou pleased to look mercifully and compassionately on thy holy Catholic Church, and grant that all they that do confess thy holy Name, may agree together in the truth of thy holy Word, and live in unity and godly love. Thou hast promised O Lord, the gates of hell shall not prevail against thy Church; perform we beseech thee, thy most gracious promises both to thy whole Church, and to that part of it which thou hast planted, and now afflicted in these sinful Lands and Nations wherein we live: arise, O Lord, and have mercy upon our Zion, for it is time that thou have mercy upon her, yea, the time is come, for thy servants think upon her stones, and it pitieth them to see her in the dust. Lord maintain thine own cause, rescue the light of thy truth from all those clouds of errors and heresies which do so much obscure it, and let the light thereof in a free profession break forth and shine again among us, and that continually, even as long as the Sun and Moon endures. To this end, O Lord bless us all, and bless him, the posterity— which in Authority ought to rule over, and be above us: Bless him in his soul, and in his body, in his friends, and in his servants, and all his relations: Guide him by thy Counsel, prosper him in all undertake, granting him a long, prosperous, and honourable life here upon earth, and that he may attain to a blessed life hereafter. And gracious God, look mercifully upon all our Relations, and do thou bring them to the light of thy truth that are wandering and ready to fall. Confirm them in thy truth that already stand, show some good token for good unto them, that they may rejoice. O let thy good hand of providence be over them in all their ways. And to all orders and degrees of men that be amongst us, give religious hearts to them that now rule in Authority over us: Loyal hearts in the subjects towards their Supreme and loving hearts in all men to their Friends, and charitable hearts one towards another. And for the continuance of thy Gospel among us, restore in thy good time to their several places and callings, and give Grace O Heavenly Father to all Bishops, Pastors, and Curates, that they may both by their Life and Doctrine set forth thy true and lively word, and rightly and duly administer thy Holy Sacraments. And Lord bless thy Church still with Pastors after thine own heart, with a continual succession of faithful and able men, that they may both by Life and Doctrine declare thy truth, and never for fear or favour backslide or departed from the same: and give them the assistance of thy Spirit that may enable them so to preach thy word, that may keep the people upright in the midst of a corrupted and corrupt generation. And good Lord bless thy people every where with hearing ears, understanding hearts, conscientious souls, and obedient lives especially those over whom I have had either lately or formerly a charge, that with meek heart and due reverence they may hear and receive thy holy word, truly serving thee in righteousness and holiness all the days of their lives. And we beseech thee of thy goodness and mercy to comfort and secure all those that in this transitory life be in trouble, sorrow, need, sickness or any other adversity; Lord help the helpless, and comfort the comfortless, visit the sick, relieve the oppressed, help them to right that suffer wrong, set them at liberty that are in prison, restore the banished, and of thy great mercy, and in thy good time deliver all thy people out of their necessities: Lord do thou of thy great mercy fit us all for our latter end, for the hour of death and the day of judgement; and do thou in the hour of death and at the day of judgement, from thy wrath and everlasting damnation, good Lord deliver us, through the cross and passion of our Lord Jesus Christ. In the mean time, O Lord teach us so to number our our days, and me my minutes, that we may apply our hearts to true wisdom; that we may be wise unto salvation, that we may live soberly, godly, and righteously in this present world, denying all ungodliness and worldly lusts: Lord teach us so to live, that we may not be afraid to die, and that we may so live that we may be always prepared to die, that when death shall seize upon us it may not surprise us, but that we may lift up our heads with joy, knowing that our redemption draws nigh, and that we shall be for ever happy, being assured that we shall come to the felicity of the chosen, and rejoice with the gladness of the people; and give us such a fullness of thy holy Spirit that may make us steadfast in this faith, and confirm us in this hope; endue us with patience under thy afflicting hand, and withal a cheerful resolution of ourselves to thy divine disposing; that so passing the pilgrimage of this world, we may come to the Land of promise the heavenly Canaan, that we may reign with thee in the world to come, through Jesus Christ our Lord; in whose blessed name and words we further call upon thee, saying, Our Father, etc. Let thy mighty hand, and outstretched arm, O Lord, be the defence of me and all other thy servants, thy mercy and loving kindness in Jesus Christ our salvation, thy true and holy word our instruction, thy grace and holy Spirit our comfort and consolation, to the end, and in the end, through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen, His Speech and Prayer ended with much meekness and spiritual consolation. He submitted his neck to the stroke of the Axe, to as great a loss of the Church of Christ, and of all good men, as hath happened in our times. I have the more enlarged myself, that my Reader might not without a kind of a consternation or possession of strange amazement pass by the concernments of this blessed Hero. The same day of Doctor Hewets trial, was also tried John Mordant of Clement Danes Esquire, with whom he was a fellow-prisoner; the charge against him, was for combining with Henry Bishop of Parham in Sussex Gent. Hartgil Baron, and Francis Mansil, with divers others, for raising War against Oliver Lord Protector, in the behalf of Charles Stuart, and confering with J. Stapely, Esq; Henry Mallory, and others, how to effect the same: and delivering Commissions to several persons in the name of, and as from the said Charles Stuart, etc. He stood long upon it (as did the Doctor before) to have Council assigned him, and that he might be tried by a Jury; but finding it would not be granted, he at last pleaded not guilty, many witnesses deposited against him; yet he by his ingenuity so cleared himself; that notwithstanding many endeavours to the contrary, he was discharged. July the 17. following, Colonel Ashton and John Betley were executed, the one in Tower-street, the other in Cheapside: Colonel Ashton was the first, being drawn on a Sled, that Worthy Divine Doctor Warmestry submitting for the good of a poor Christians soul to lie along with him upon the Sled, that he might lose no time for his spiritual converse. They were drawn from Newgate to Towerstreet over against Mark-lane end, where a Gibbet was erected. As he ascended the Ladder, Doctor Warmestry said, Almighty God, who is a strong Tower, be with thee, and make thee know and feel, that there is no other name under heaven, whereby to attain everlasting life, but by the name of Jesus. The Blessing of God the Father, the Son, and Holy Ghost be with you henceforth and for ever, Amen. He being upon the Ladder, expressed a great deal of confidence he had in the merits and mercies of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ; not doubting but that through the red Sea of his blood he should arrive at the heavenly Canaan, and in little space behold his Saviour, whom his soul so much longed after. Then fixing his eyes upon the multitude, he spoke to this effect. I am brought here to a shameful death; I am an English man borne, and (as many know) a Gentleman born; I was drawn into this business by several persons, and am now brought here for my former sins: God hath delivered me several times from several judgements, he hath visited me at this time; because I slighted, and did not pursue that repentance that I promised. Therefore I desire all good people to leave off their sins for Christ his sake, and become new men, for it is that that brings all men to ruin: I beseech God of mercy have mercy upon my soul, Lord God I come to thee, Lord the Father of heaven have mercy upon me, O God the Son Redeemer of the world have mercy upon me, O God the Holy Ghost proceeding from the Father and the Son have mercy upon me. Remember not my offences, but spare me, good Lord God; I beseech thee spare thy servant whom thou hast redeemed, for thy dear Sons sake. I have no more to say, but desire the prayers of all good people. Having ended his Speech he committed his spirit into the hands of God, and having said, Lord have mercy upon my soul, he was turned off the Ladder, and instantly cut down, his belly ripped up, and his bowels burnt in a fire ready prepared for that purpose; he being not yet dead: then was his head cut off, and his body divided into four quarters, put into a basket and conveyed back to Newgate. Next they proceeded and fetched John Betley (for there was a great deal of business done by the Executioner that day) into Cheapside, where formerly the Cross stood; where was likewise a Gibbet set up: being come to the place with a Minister, the Minister read, and the people sung with him a Psalm, beginning thus, O Lord, consider my distress, etc. Then he went up the Ladder, and said as followeth. Lord receive my soul, and be merciful to me, I commit my soul into Almighty God's hands: for he is my Protector and Redeemer. I am not ashamed to live, nor afraid to die; for my conversation hath been such, in Christ Jesus I hope I shall find mercy. As concerning them that are my enemies, I pray God forgive them their sins, I freely forgive them all that have done me wrong. As for the late Plot, I was never but once in company with them concerned therein: I did know of such a thing, but deny that I acted therein. Shall I damn my soul at this instant? I will speak the truth. One Brandon, that was one of them, drew me into the business, and his man. I carrying work to him, could not refrain his house, he so often enticed me thereto, and would not let me alone, till he had got me into a house, where we drank together. I have no more to say as to the Plot, but desire mercy from God. Having this said, the Executioner turned him off, and the rest of the Sentence was executed upon him, as before upon Colonel Ashton, and his Head and Quarters were conveyed also to Newgate. Some two days after, one Edmund Stacy also about the same Conspiracy was executed in Cornhill over against the Exchange; as also a Youth in Smithfield having the rope about his neck, the horror of death being worse than death itself, but for his souls health, was reprieved, the torrent of Blood being for a while stayed. Whilst these Tragedies were acting on the Land, a strange accident no less prodigious happened on the water; a Whale of a monstrous bigness, at least sixty foot, and of a proportionable breadth, was cast up on the River of Thames near London; which by the common people was accounted a Prognostication of the Protectors death, which ensued not long after. But to return to Flanders, where we formerly left, the Sea whereof like a sharp humour did always nourish the wounds of incurable evils; nor was the French their letting of her blood sufficient, she wanted an English Physician to treat her. Our Armies, whose valours made not a stand at Mardike, but with a gallant Resolution besieged Dunkirk, which being a place of great importance, the Spaniard intended to relieve; and with an Army of sixteen thousand, came within an English mile and a half of the French Quarters; whereupon the English and French uniting their Forces, leaving some part of them before Dunkirk, to make good the approaches, and guard the trenches; with fifteen thousand men, and ten Pieces of Cannon, set upon the Spaniard, whom after a long and sharp Fight, they put to a total rout and confusion, with the loss of three thousand five hundred men; which Victocy was in a manner wholly attributed to the valour of the English. The loss of this day lost the Spaniard Dunkirk, who quickly after surrendered up the Town upon these following Conditions. 1. That the Town shall be yielded up, with all their great Guns, their stores of Victuals, Magazines of Arms, and Ammunition, without any embezlement. 2. That all Officers and Soldiers shall have liberty to march out with their Arms, Drums beating, Colours flying, two Pieces of Ordnance, and their Baggage. 3. That they shall have the liberty to march with a Convoy to conduct them to Saint Omers. 4. That the Inhabitants should remain indemnified in their persons and goods, and enjoying their former customs and privileges for two years, and not be molested touching the exercise of their Religion. The Articles signed, the Spaniards marched out, being about one thousand Horse and Foot, and seven hundred more that were wounded; the French (according as it was articled before) put the English in possession thereof, which ever since they have maintained. I have heard of an expression of the Governors of Ostend. A little before the Massacre there, a person of quality being sent thither about the exchange of Prisoners, after he was civilly treated, the glasses of wine going freely about; the Governor being in a safe place began to throw forth words to this effect; Sir, is this the mode of your Mushroom Protector, hath he no other way to pay my Master the King of Spain for his Bullion, but with Bullets. Soon after the taking of Dunkirk deceased the Lady Cleypoll, second Daughter to the Protector; a Lady whom posterity will mention with an honourable Character, who often interposed, and became an humble Supplicant to her Father for many persons designed to die; her last requests as it was thought, for some eminent persons being denied, was a means of hastening her death, which much sadned her father's spirits; nor did he long survive her, her death causing more wounds in his heart, than all he received in the Wars. But as his severity was great towards his enemies, so did he excel in gratitude unto his friends; amongst other examples, I shall instance in the person of one Duret a Frenchman, who attended him during his Generalship, and served him with so much fidelity and zeal, as that he entrusted him with the managing and conduct of the greatest part of his Domestic Affairs, always retaining him nigh his person, bearing so great an affection towards him, and reposing so entire a confidence in him, that during a great sickness which he had in Scotland, (& whereof it was thought he would have died) he would not be served by any one, nor receive any nourishment, or any thing else that was administered unto him, save from the hands of Duret, who both day and night continued to watch by his Master; tending him with a special care and assiduity, not giving himself a moment's rest until his master had recovered his perfect health: which long and continual watches of Duret, and the great pains he had taken, drove him into a sad fit of sickness; to recover him, his endeared Master in retribution of his great services, spared no cost, but applied all the possible means that could be procured, not only by his commands, but by his personal visits (so oft as his urgent Affairs would permit him.) Duret dying, he sends over into France for his Mother, Sister, and two Nephews, to requite in them the obligations he owed to his deceased Friend and Servant; and whereas by reason of the continuance of the Stotch Wars, he was as it were confined to the North, he wrote unto his wife, That she should proportion that kindness which during his absence she should show unto them, unto the Love which she bore unto him. Insomuch, that Durets mother was admitted into her own Family, and seated at her own Table; his Sister was placed in the rank and quality of a Maid of Honour, and his two Nephews were admitted to be her highnesses Pages, which love of his he extended towards them to the day of his death. One writes, that when he came to have more absolute power towards the latter end of his days, that he hath been heard often to wish, that those that had been put to death were yet alive; protesting solemnly, that if he could not have changed their hearts, he would have changed their Dooms, and converted their deaths into Banishment. Waving this digression, as in respect of the distance of time, we are now come to his own approaching Catastrophe. His death was ushered in by an extraordinary Tempest, and violent gust of Wether, which blew down some houses tore the trees up at the roots, one in the old Palace Yard by the Parliament House, which by the event hath signified no otherwise then the root and branch of his Government. It was a horrid Tempest, as if Nature would have the Protectors death to be accompanied with a general horror. The same is elegantly set forth in a Poem by the same Laureate. I shall set down his smooth Poem, which was answered as roughly in respect of the single rapiered sense, though otherwise in the same Virgil stile, line for line; the latter as too Satyrical I have omitted, the other follows. We must resign, Heaven his great soul doth claim In Storms as loud as his immortal fame. His dying groans, his last breath shakes our Isle. And trees uncut fall for his funeral Pile; About his Palace their broad roots were tossed, Into the Air, so Romulus was lost: New Rome in such a Tempest missed their King, And from obeying fell to worshipping. On Aetna's top, thus Hercules lay dead, With ruin'd Oaks, and Pines about him spread, Those his last fury from the mountain rend, Our dying Hero from the continent. Ravished whole Towns, and Forts from Spaniards reft, As his last Legacy to Britain left. The Ocean which so long our hopes confined, Can give no limits to his vaster mind: Our Bounds enlargement was his latest toil, Nor hath he left us Prisoners to our Isle. Under the Tropic is our Language spoke, And part of Flanders hath received our yoke. From Civil Broils he did us disengage, Found nobler objects for our Martial rage; And with wise conduct to his Country showed Their ancient way of conquering abroad. Ungrateful than it were no tears t' allow To him that gave us Peace and Empire too: Princes that feared him grieve, concerned, to see No pitch of Glory from the Grave is free. Nature herself took notice of his death, And sighing swelled the Sea with such a breath; That to remotest shores here Billows rolled, The approaching fate of their great Ruler told. September the third, 1658. he marched off from his earthly honours, and received his Writ of Ease from all his labours, as death alone was able to encounter him, which was on a day, one year after another, Anno 1650. and Anno 1651. rubrickt with two of his remarkable Victories; as Antipater died the same day of his rising. But as concerning the manner of his death, after he had been sick about a fortnight of the Disease, which at the beginning was but an Ague, of which Tamburlaine died; on Friday being the third of September 1658. in the morning he gave all the signs of a dying person; he remained in that manner till three of the clock in the afternoon; he had to his last a perfect and entire understanding, his greatest and most important Affair was to name a Protector to be his successor, which after his decease was consentaneously confirmed on his eldest Son Richard: he died in the midst of his Victories and Triumphs, and in a bed of Bucklers. On his deathbed he dispatched several businesses of consequence, answering the Physicians who reproved him, as the Emperor did, That a Governor ought to die standing. Alexander the Great was born on the sixth day of April, on the like day the famous Temple of Diana at Ephesus was burnt, presaging that fire which this Conqueror should kindle in Asia. The same Gnatho, from whom I borrow this example, who hath many more, but at last, saith he, to look no further than our own Country, into our own Histories; it is observed that the late Richard the succeeding Protector was installed in his Protectorship the third day of September, when as Richard the First so much spoken of in our Histories, begun his Reign: an accident, saith he, which cannot but promise him a most favourable omen, and good token: But a blunt Fellow in two rustical Verses hath since, as to the event, better specified. That his Successors Government ne'er stayed, A strayed Sheep's time, not to be yeared and dayed. As to the remarkable passages which happened on the like days of oliver's Life, some have observed, that on the third of September he was confirmed in his Protectorship by the Parliament; on the third of September he gained that Battle of Dunbar; on the third of September he gained that great Battle of Worcester; and on the third of September he died at White Hall. with all the comforts that good hopes could give in his posterity. His Corpse being embalmed, and wrapped up in a sheet of lead, were September the 26. about ten of the clock at night, privately removed from White Hall to , where it remained till the 23. of November, lying in the mean time in so great state, as would puzzle Antiquity to show such a Precedent; which by some was accounted an unnecessary vanity, the Commonwealth at that time being so involved in debts both to the Soldiery, the Navy, and others. The three first Rooms at where the Spectators entered, where hung with black, having in each of them a Cloth of State, with a Chair of State under the same, at the head of each cloth of State was fixed a large Majestic Scutcheon fairly painted and gilded upon Taffeta, and all the Rooms furnished with Scutcheons of his Arms, crowned with the Imperial Crown. The fourth Room where both the Corpse and the Effigies did lie, was completely hung with black Velvet, the Roof ceiled with Velvet, and a large Canopy or Cloth of State of black Velvet fringed, was plated over the Effigies made to the life in wax. The Effigies itself being apparelled in a rich suit of uncut Velvet, robed in a little Robe of Purple Velvet, laced with a rich gold lace, and furred with Ermines; upon the Kirtle was the Royal large Robe of the like Purple Velvet, laced and furred with Ermines, with rich strings and tassels of Gold: the Kirtle being girt with a rich embroidered Belt, wherein was a fair Sword richly gilded and hatched with Gold, hanging by the side of the Effigies. In the right hand was the golden Sceptre, representing Government; in the left hand the Globe, denoting Principality; upon the head a Purple Velvet Cap furred with Ermines, signifying Regality: Behind the head there was placed a Rich Chair of State of tissued Gold, and upon the Cushion which lay thereon was placed an Imperial Crown set with precious stones The Body of the Effigies lay upon a Bed of State covered with a large Pall of black Velvet, under which there was spread a fine Holland Sheet upon six stools of tissued Cloth of Gold: on the sides of the Bed of State was placed a rich suit of Complete Armour, and at the feet thereof stood his Crest. The Bed of State whereupon the Effigies did thus lie, was ascended unto by two steps covered with the aforesaid Pall of Velvet; at each corner whereof there was placed an upright Pillar covered with Velvet, upon the tops whereof were the four Supporters of the Imperial Arms, bearing Banners or Streamers crowned. The Pillars were adorned with Trophies of Military Honour, carved and gilded; the Pedestels of the Pillars had Shields and Crowns gilded, which completed the whole work. Within the Rails and Ballasters which compassed the whole work, and were covered with Velvet, stood eight great silver Candlesticks, or Standerts, almost five foot high, with Virgin-wax Tapers of a yard long; next unto the Candlesticks there were set upright in Sockets the four great Standards of his Arms, the Guydons, great Banners, and Banrolls of War, being all of Taffeta very richly gilded and painted. The Cloth of State which covered the Bed and the Effigies, had a Majestic Scutcheon; and the whole Room adorned with Taffeta Scutcheons, several of his servants attending bareheaded, to set out the Ceremony with the greater lustre. After this (to show there is no intermission of this vanity) his Effigies was several days shown in another Room. standing upon an ascent under a rich Cloth of State; vested in Royal Robes, having a Sceptre in one hand, and a Globe in the other, a Crown on his head, his Armour lying by him at a distance, and the Banners, Banrolls, and Standards being placed round about him, together with the other Ensigns of Honour, the whole Room being adorned in a Majestical manner, and his servants standing by bareheaded, as before. November the 23. was the day appointed for the Solemnisation of the Funerals, multitudes were the Spectators, which from all places came to behold it, so much are we taken with Novelty, that we think no cost too much for the beholding a two or three hours' vanity. The Effigies being a while placed in the middle of a Room, was carried on the Hearse by ten Gentlemen into the Court-yard, where a very rich Canopy of State was borne over it by six other Gentlemen, till it was brought and placed in a Chariot; at each end whereof was a seat wherein sat two of his late Highness Gentlemen of the Bedchamber: the Pall which was made of Velvet, and the White Linen was very large, extending on each side of the Carriage and was borne up by several persons of honour. The Chariot wherein the Effigies was conveyed, was covered with black Velvet, adorned with Plumes and Scutcheons, and was drawn by six Horses covered with black Velvet, and each of them adorned with Plumes of black Feathers. From to Westminster the streets were railed in, and strewed with sand; the Soldiers being placed on each side of the streets without the Rails, and their Ensigns wrapped up in a Cypress mourning Veil. The manner of the proceeding to the interment was briefly thus. First, a Knight Martial advanced on Horseback with his black Truncheon tipped at both ends with Gold, attended by his Deputy and thirteen men on Horseback to clear the way. After him followed the poor men of Westminster in mourning Gowns and Hoods, marching two and two. Next unto them followed the servants of the several persons of all qualities, which attended the Funeral. These were followed by all his own servants, as well inferior as superior, both within and without the Household, as alfo all his Bargemen at Watermen. Next unto these followed the Servants and Officers belonging to the Lord Major, and Sheriffs of the City of London. Then came several Gentlemen and Attendants on the respective Ambassadors, and the other public Ministers. After these came the poor Knights of Windsor in Gowns and Hoods. Then followed the Clerks, Secretaries, and other Officers belonging to the Army, the Admiralty, the Treasury, the Navy, and Exchequer. After these came the Officers in Command in the Fleet, as also the Officers of the Army. Next followed the Commissioners for Excise, those of the Army, and the Committee of the Navy. Then follwed the Commissioners for the approbation of Preachers. Then came the Officers, Messengers, and Clerks belonging to the Privy Council, and the Clerks of both Houses of Parliament. Next followed his late Highness Physicians. The Head Officers of the Army. The chief Officers and Aldermen of the City of London. The Masters of the Chancery, with his Highness learned Council at Law. The Judges of the Admiralty, the Masters of Request, with the Judges in Wales. The Barons of the Exchequer, the Judges of both Benches, and the Lord Major of London. Next to these the persons allied in Blood to the late Protector, and the Members of the Lords House. After them the public Ministers of Foreign States and Princes. Then the Holland Ambassador alone, whose Train was born up by four Gentlemen. Next to him the Portugal Ambassador alone, whose Train was held up by four Knights of the Order of Christ. And thirdly the French Ambassador, whose Train was also held up by four persons of quality. Then followed the Lords Commissioners of the great Seal. The Lords Commissioners of the Treasury. The Lords of the late Protectors Privy Council. After whom followed the Chief Mourner, and those persons of quality which were his Assistants, and bore up his Train. All the Nobles were in close mourning, the rest were but in ordinary, being disposed in their passage into several divisions, being distinguished by Drums and Trumpets, and by a Standard or Banner born by a person of Honour, and his Assistant, and a Horse of State covered with black Velvet, and led by a person of Honour, followed by two Grooms: Of which Horses there were eleven in all, four covered with black Cloth, and seven with Velvet. These being all passed in order, at length the Chariot followed with the Effigies, on each side of which were born six Banner Rolls, twelve in all, by as many persons of honour. The several pieces of his Armour were born by eight Officers of the Army, attended by a Herald and a Gentleman on each side. Next followed Gartar principal King of Arms, attended with a Gentleman on each side bareheaded. Then came the chief Mourner, together with those Lords and other Personages that were Supporters and Assistants to the chief Mourner. Then followed the Horse of Honour in very rich Trappings embroidered upon Crimson Velvet, and adorned with white, red, and yellow Plumes, and was led by the Master of the Horse. Finally, in the close of all followed those of his late Guard, and the Warders of the Tower. At the West Gate of the Abbey Church in Westminster, the Hearse with the Effigies thereon was taken off again from the Chariot by those ten Gentlemen who placed it thereon before, and in their passing on to carry it into the Church, the Canopy of State was by the former six Gentlemen born over it again: In which stately manner it was carried up to the East end of the Abbey, and there placed in a magnificent Structure purposely erected there to receive it; being interred amongst the Kings and Queens at Westminster: for all which expenses, his Son Richard might have taken up that sad expression in Virgil; Infandum Regina jubes renovare dolorem, had not the Parliament since dealt so generously with him, as to order the payment of his debts contracted by his Father's Funeral. Certainly the Gentleman expressed noble & truly dutiful respects to his memory, fit for brave minds to imitate. Thus as great Oliver lived victoriously, so he was buried honourably, Sic exit. It was a report that his Effigies was taken down and preserved from a threatening multitude of the rascally people; even he that had swayed and governed these three Nations five years, his Reign being troublesome, was necessitated after his death to be protected in his Picture; his Posterity after him being suddenly leveled. Thus after many a weary step, having traversed so many Crowns, I must now set my Reader down at a Commonwealth. I shall end all with a glimpse rather than a Character, some gleaned observations on this great Favourite of Fortune, I hope in terms agreeing to truth, such as are neither below nor above his estate. In his person he somewhat exceeded the usual middle stature, proportionable without any unevenness either of lineaments or parts, accordingly being of a becoming fatness, well shaped, his aspect having somewhat of the Soldiers, inclining to redness, his usual posture in his walking was his hand upon his sword; he had a sparkling fierce eye, nevertheless his usual deportments were both courteous and harsh at once in his encounters, where he found the least opposition. He was hardy and resolute in his reprehensions, subtle, temperate, and meek in his Counsels; he was of a strong constitution, and of an active body, an enemy both to ease and excess; being ever suspicious, circumspect, and over vigilant, of a notable head-piece; yet if he had any spare time, he disdained not to confer though in matters of least moment; he delighted to read men more than books, his eloquence being Masculine and Martial, rather a natural gift than an effect of Art, in which he did not want his holy vestments, always managing some passages of the sacred Writ, to which most charming part (as well as that of the Sword) he owed most of his victories. He was always accustomed to exhort his Soldiers at the undertaking of any great enterprise, or before a Battle: He had a strict eye over his Army, his greatest care being to see them provided of all necessaries, by which foresight he was the better able to execute severe punishment on them for their misdemeanours. He took great delight to discourse of the Affairs of the World, of the interests of other Princes, in which his judgement did so guide him, that without entering into their Cabinets, or partaking of their secret Counsels, he could discourse very pertinently of their Affairs, and foresaw their several issues and events; he was an excellent Physiognomer, having once seriously considered any one, he was seldom deceived in the opinion he had of him. He was no friend to the vain-gloriousness of habit, and though he was always as it were fierce, of a passionate constitution; yet he was so sly, as to keep his passions in; but when there was occasion to carry a business on, he exposed himself with so much vigour, as gave those he had to do withal to understand, that he was not easily persuaded from the thing he had once resolved. He had one knack above all the rest which stood him in much stead, he had a deep insight into the natures and dispositions of the common people, who as they are impatient of servitude, so are they incapable of entire liberty; frighted with the sight of the rod, but mutinous in the feeling of it, none talking more of liberty, nor understanding it less than they; more troubling themselves then their heads with their grievances, considering nothing, but repining at every thing; bold talkers so you suffer them but to talk: Above all, most tenacious of their liberty of Conscience, rather to follow any new fangled opinion, then to remain constant to the old; his policy herein was to allow them something to induce others to their dear liberty (or licence rather) of their tongues, which he knew he could not help, but so as that he had his Eavesdroppers every where, who seldom brought him word of what they said, except they also gave an account of what they had, and then their Estates paid for the malepertness of their tongues, and for their chiefest darling of all to err in their opinions: He permitted them to follow and embrace what Sect they pleased, so that they all remained in obedience to Civil Government. This was his Method, whilst men's reasons did comprehend so little, as that they needed their own experience to believe how he (Atlas- like) could support so mighty a Frame and Mathin, composed of so many different and disjointed parts, yet to keep them from slipping and falling in pieces; which he did, rivetting them so fast together, and making them all firmly cohere amongst themselves, as so many pieces of soft wax melted and moulded all in one could not cleave faster in a Ball or Globe: this was the great work he had begun, which had not death prevented him, he was on point of finishing, as he was a person indefatigable both of body and mind. Politicians hold, that in the changing the Government, all things, if it were convenient and possible, aught to be changed; the very Religion itself, if any were profane enough to meddle with it. To wave their Atheistical opinions, this may be observed, that both in respect of his policy and fortunes, he might very well, having so many advantages over the present distractions of the times, raise his thoughts to more than ordinary ambitions: It is only for God to search the heart, and try the Reins, he knows what our religious affections are, we ought to conjecture charitably of what we cannot determine: this we are certain of, he could so well see through Superstition (as in these times they term it) for his better advantage, as that his political conscience could dispense with more than ordinary Transactions: nevertheless he was still under the privilege of the Sanctuary, some of the Clergy (as they have ever done) stuck close to him, to raise him and themselves; whereas the late King undid himself for the then flourishing Clergy, and they themselves for him. 'Tis true, his actions were complying with a military soul, so that he had the less leisure to dispute cases of Conscience; only he might with the Emperor, as he did, cite Saint Paul, The good that I would, I do not; but the evil that I would not, that I do: now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that remains in me. The truth is, he made no haste in the settlement of Ecclesiastical Affairs, as he was too crafty to disturb the powerful party, those that were unsettled in their opinions. As to his State Employments he took several Oaths, which for the present might stand him in some stead, yet certainly they might have endangered him to much loss in his after erterprises, which depended upon faith. In his Youth I have heard he was so uncircumspect, as not to rise, experience having taught him in his latter time wisdom to repair himself, his better fortune miraculously making up all his breaches; his Martial spirit advancing him in times as it were set apart for his designs, full of mutations and rare accidents; for it is with times as it is with ways, with some they are up hill, and with some they are down hill: nor could he have made good his footing, had he not been full of suspicions, of secret thoughts, of serious observations, full of notes and memorial, especially as he was well read in the men of his time; whom to employ, whom to reward, whom to inquire of, whom to beware of; what were the dependency, what were the factions, as it were keeping a Journal of his thoughts. Indeed one can scarcely write that he was too suspicious, too apprehensive; though questionless he was by reason of his restless jealousies a trouble to himself as well as others, so that which did him good one way, did him hurt another. Although, as hath been already said, his Flies and Familiars were useful to him for the discovering of Conspiracies, the revealing of which no question preserved him from many dangers from being attempted, his nature being almost married to troubles, his confidence made him successful; to go through them; his cunning always winding him out, he being the more ready, and sharpened by the occasions of perils; howsoever the dazelings of his suspicions gave his industries enough to do to save himself and help others. Questionless he had wisdom, and a strange kind of rule and strain of Government, which all men acknowledged in the bitterest of times. His Armies neither in Civil nor Foreign Wars were ever unfortunate. As his great judgement in leading as well as preserving them, in courage personally fight with them, determined him to be both a daring Soldier, and an expert Commander; which endeared his Soldiers so much to him, as that they suffered him to act for the future for himself what they did not so well disgust. Many Battles he fought with them, in all which he triumphed, his fortunes being ever inviolable; thus as he appears strangely successful to posterity, so likewise most unhappy for those bloody Conquests he obtained, they being in the bowels of his own Country. He signalised the magnanimity of his mind by putting his Soldiers on miraculous attempts, as well in the Christian as the other Heathen parts of the world; the question is, so much honourable blood being shed in his time, whether future Histories will wash his memory clean from it, though malice itself cannot charge him that he was actually nocent, yet posterity will hardly believe but that he was in some degree guilty. But to come closer to him, of those three things which either should or ought to tie the hearts of the people to those that govern, Love, Fear, and Reverence; he only purchased of them chief to himself Fear, which is furthest from the heart; which forced him, being sometimes straitened in his Affairs, to retire much to his Cabinet Council, with whom he sat often in person, where he was always fair spoken, not without his sweetnesses and blandishments of words; but his Rhetoric was not so vainly spent, but that before he went he informed his Judgement; and though those were cunning that he employed, yet he had still a Reserve to himself, as he had the Master-reach; such an extent his Judgement had, though it was not much assisted by his former learning, or bettered by his future studies; the Trumpet and Drum sounding so loud in his ears, that he had little leisure to admit of the sober Counsels of Philosophy. He was nevertheless well enough furnished, as his wit had long before purchased Lewis the Eleventh's so well known slights, which he left to his Son as Maxims for his practice, as one in another case writes of Secrets, that they should be kept till the breath stinks. Questionless his dissimulation in transactings, together with his privacy and silence in his mannagements were to him assistances beyond all Arts and Sciences. In his time there were many that suffered, the more blood was drawn; the less love he found, the less Treasure, which with a good will he never received. One writes, that he distributed forty thousand pounds a year in charitable uses out of his own purse; he might have been more plain in his expressions, certainly he meant out of the Commonwealths Moneys. We may conclude thus much, that his annual incomes were not so great as malice hath given out, considering all his necessary expenses; without dispute they had been more enlarged, if the people had loved him but half so well as they feared him, though I must still acknowledge it to be hard to distinguish of his liberality, his necessities having so much limited his rewards; though his mind was high, and he pursued his own way as one that always revered his own will. If we look on his careful or rather politic liberality, somewhat may be said, as he was at charges, as he made good his dexterity to impropriate himself with Foreign Instruments to obtain good intelligence from all parts abroad; from which spies all wise men conclude, that he received more Articles of Inquisition than Negotiation, as he was still working and casting up others, not to be undermined himself. Some are so humbly minded as to believe his designs were too high for foreign parts, certain it is Carolus Gustavus lost a dear friend of him; and for other Princes howsoever they might look a squint on him, he was courted by two of the greatest, and was a friend (as if fortune attended him) to either of them both when he pleased, they having as much as they could allied themselves to his Interests, when they once found him to be at leisure to be helpful to them. 'Tis true for some time they stood at a distance, certainly if they did not so soon see into the passages of his Affairs, they did at last pass their Judgements on the issue of them; perhaps they at the first saw him only at strife, but they were afterwards forced to acknowledge him to be always aloft, so fortunate he was in all his erterprises. The Royal Party were once of opinion, that he having past his Laurels, he had a mind to reach at the Crown; they were somewhat mistaken, it had too many thorns in it, which of themselves are sharp enough to fetch blood, if we should not otherwise accept of the interpretation of the Fifth Monarchy Gentleman, who means by them the displeased Soldiery, to whom such lustres could never have been acceptable, as some other of our late Pamphleteers have libelled him to be another Henry the Fifth; that he would have stolen the more than protested against Diadem off from the Pillow; if he had a mind to it, it is more than they know, the worst they could have said of him had been, that he entertained somewhat more than selfdenying thoughts, or rather as the Poet hath it, Magnis tamen excedit ausis. Indeed outwardly he seemed to have little of vain glory in him, or else he turned his dark Lantern to himself, his closeness being always such, that this great Politician walked invisible; others stood in the light to him, but he in the dark to all, only for his most grand Transaction there was no vizard could disguise it, that he should after so many selfish refusals, (a word lately put into the new canting Dictionary of the Enthusiasts) that he should after the slighting as it were of so many tendered, forfeited, and sequestered Estates presented to him by the Parliament for his remarkable services; after that in parts and piecemeals he had denied the pomps and vanities of this wicked world, he made it his master-design to take in all at once, as he knew well enough how to cog a die, he had thrown for all, won all, and swept all at once; rendering his Motto, Pax quaeritur Bello, into that English which pleased him best, the Protectorship. To reflect briefly on his Domestical Affairs, he was not uxorious, but respectful to his Wife, to his Children he had a paternal affection, careful of their educations, and of their aspire to advancement; he endeavoured to cast a lustre on them, which did not take with the people, though as to his Son Richard there was a more than ordinary consent. For his pleasures there is no extraordinary news of them, some Frolicks I have heard of, with those he was most familiar, the truth is, he had too little leisure for trivial repasts; he did with them as great persons do with Banquets, come and look upon them, and so turn away. As he begun from a private fortune, as I have already intimated, that fortune quickened in him all seeds of observation, being always more prosperous in himself, then confirmed from the affections of others. For the imputations against him of moneys in his Treasury, certainly if he had been such a hoarder, the urgency of his pressing Affairs would never suffer him to be so poor as to stand still, and admire his riches. Before I end, I cannot choose but remark his hard deal with Parliaments, which he formerly so vindicated against the late King for his breach of privilege about the five Members, whatsoever fine thread he did twist for himself, in all his religious speeches, those that are right Englishmen will never clear him from his violations, though he managed those actings as that they were to him but short tempests, or small over-castings, as whatsoever injury the Nations endured, he had one pretence or other to shift it off from his own shoulders, extremely mistaking himself, as the people look less on the failings of those who have been their own choice, then on those who have taken on them to be earvers for themselves; he thought himself crafty enough for Parliaments, and from his deathbed he determined himself cock sure, as he was fleshed with his former fortunes; he could never have imagined his posterity should ever have been lean. 'Tis true, we may be so political, as on this earth to endeavour to grasp these humane Affairs to our own Interests, but we must lay down our greatest wisdoms when we come to sleep in the silent grave, as after death there is no providing against the cross blows of fortune. To conclude, as far as we can conjecture, his Confederates continuing alike victorious, and fortunate with him, he might if he had lived to it, extended his victories to some other parts of the world; if he did no more, it was either through the disturbances of the times, or long of himself, for what he minded he compassed. Certain it is, that he so husbanded his successes, that he did not live to see himself unfortunate, who having assumed or rather snatched his honours, shown himself to be one of the strangest sort of wonders that our late times have produced. One writ a strange Epitaph on him, Here lies Oliver Cromwell, who that he might be Protector himself, first brought the English Monarchy on its knees. FINIS. Courteous Reader. These Books following are printed for Nathanael Brooke, and are to be sold at his Shop at the Angel in Cornhill. Excellent Tracts in Divinity, Controversy,. Sermons, Devotions THe Catholic History collected and gathered out of Scripture, Councils, and Ancient Fathers, in Answer to Dr. Vane's lost Sheep returned home: by Edward Chesensale, Esq; Octavo. 2. Bishop Morton on the Sacrament, in Folio. 3. The Grand Sacrilege of the Church of Rome, in tataking away the sacred Cup from the Laity at the Lords Table, by D. Featley, D. D. Quarto. 4. The Quakers Cause at second hearing, being a full Answer to their Tenets. 5. Re-assertion of Grace: Vindiciae Evangelii, or the Vindication of the Gospel: a Reply to Mr. Anthony Burghess Vindiciae Legis, and to Mr. Ruthford: by Robert Town. 6. Anabaptists anatomised and silenced: or a Dispute with Mr. Tombs, by Mr. J. Crag; where all may receive clear satisfaction in that Controversy. The best extant, Octavo. 7. A Glimpse of Divine Light, being an explication of some passages exhibited to the Commissioners at White Hall for approbation of Public Preachers, against J. Harrison of Land Chappel, Lancashire. 8. The zealous Magistrate; a Sermon by T. Threscos'. Quarto. 9 New Jerusalem, in a Sermon for the Society of Astrologers, Quarto, in the year 1651. 10. Divinity no enemy to Astrology. A Sermon for the Society of Astrologers, in the Year 1643. by Dr. Thomas Swaddling. 11. Britannia Rediviva. A Sermon before the Judges, August 1648. by J. Shaw Minister of Hull. 12. The Princess Royal, in a Sermon before the Judges, March 24. by J. Shaw. 13. Judgement set, and Books opened, Religion tried whether it be of God or Man, in several Sermons: by J. Webster, Quarto. 14. Israel's Redemption, or the Prophetical History of our Saviour's Kingdom on Earth: by K. Matton. 15. The Cause and Cure of Ignorance, Error and Profaneness; or, a more hopeful way to Grace and Salvation: by K Young, Octavo. 16. A Bridle for the Times, tending to still the murmuring to settle the wavering, to stay the wand'ring, and to strengthen the fainting: by J. Brinsley of Yarmouth. 17. Comforts against the fear of death; wherein are discovered several Evidences of the work of Grace: by J. Collins of Norwich. 18. jacob's Seed; or, the excellency of seeking God by prayer: by Jer. Burroughs. 14. The sum of practical Divinity: or, the Grounds of Religion in a Catechistical way, by Master Christopher Love late Minister of the Gospel: a useful Piece. 20. Heaven and Earth shaken; a Treatise showing how Kings and Princes, and all other Governments are turned and changed: by J. Davis Minister in Dover, admirably useful, and seriously to be considered in these times. 21. The Treasure of the Soul, wherein we are taught by dying to sin, to attain to the perfect love of God. 22. A Treatise of Contentation, fit for these sad and troublesome times: by J. Hall Bishop of Norwich. 23. Select thoughts: or, choice helps for a pious spirit, beholding the excellency of her Lord Jesus: by J. Hall Bishop of Norwich. 24. The Holy Order, or Fraternity of Mourners in Zion; to which is added, songs in the night, or cheerfulness under afflictions: by J. Hall Bishop of Norwich. 25. The Celestial Lamp, enlightening every distressed soul from the depth of everlasting darkness: by T. Fetisplace. Admirable, and Learned Treatises of Occult Sciences in Philosophy, Magic, Astrology, Geomancy, Chemistry, Physiognomy, and Chyromancy. 26. Magic and Astrology vindicated by H. Warren. 27. Lux veritatis, Judicial Astrology vindicated, and Demonology confuted: by W. Ramsey, Gent. 28. An Introduction to the Teutonick Philosophy, being a determination of the Original of the soul: by C. Hotham Fellow of Peter House in Cambridge. 29. Cornelius Agrippa his fourth Book of Occult Philosophy, or Geomancy; Magical Elements of Peter de Abona, the nature of spirits: made English by R. Turner. 30. Paracelsus Occult Philosophy of the Mysteries of Nature, and his secret Alchemy. 31. An Astrological Discourse with Mathematical Demonstrations; proving the influence of the Planets, and fixed Stars upon Elementary Bodies: by Sir Christ. Heyden Knight. 32. Merlinus Anglicus Junior: the English Merlin revived; or, a Prediction upon the Affairs of Christendom, for the year 1644. by W. Lilly. 33. England's Prophetical Merlin; foretelling to all Nations of Europe, till 1663. the actions depending upon the Influences of the Conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter, 1642. by W. Lilly. 34. The Starry Messenger, or an Interpretation of that strange Apparition of three Suns seen in London, the 19 of November 1644. being the Birthday of King Charles; by W. Lilly. 35. The World's Catastrophe; or Europe's many Mutations, until 1666. by W. Lilly. 36. An Astrological Prediction of the Occurrences in England; part of the Years 1648, 1649, 1650. by W. Lilly. 37. Monarchy or no Monarchy in England; the Prophecy of the White King, Grebner his Prophecy concerning Charles, Son of Charles, his Greatness; illustrated with several Hieroglyphics: by W. Lilly. 38. Annus Tenebrosus, or the Dark Year; or, Astrological Judgements upon two Lunary Eclipses, and one admirable Eclipse of the Sun in England, 1652. by W. Lilly. 39 An easy and familiar way, whereby to judge the effects depending on Eclipses: by W. Lilly 40. Supernatural Sights and Apparitions seen in London. June 30. 1644. by W. Lilly; as also all his Works in one Volume. 41. Catastrophe Magnatum: an Ephemerideses for the Year 1652. by N. Culpeper, 42. Teratologia; or, a discovery of God's Wonders, manifested by bloody Rain and Waters: by J. S. 43. Chyromancy, or the Art of divining by the Lines engraven in the hand of man, by dame Nature, in 198. Genitures; with a learned Discourse of the soul of the World: by G. Wharton, Esq;. 44. The admired Piece of Physiognomy, and Chyromancy, Metoposcopy, the Symmetrical Proportions, and signal Moles of the Body, the Interpretation of Dreams; to which is added the Art of Memory illustrated with Figures: by R. Sanders, folio. 45. The no less exquisite than admirable Work, Theatrum Chymicum Britannicum; containing several Poetical Pieces of our famous English Philosophers, who have written the Hermitick Mysteries in their own ancient Language; faithfully collected into one Volume, with Annotations thereon: by the Indefatigable Industry of Elias Ashmole, Esq; illustrated with Figures. Excellent Treatises in the Mathematics, Geometry, of Arithmetic, Surveying, and other Arts, or Mechanics. 46. The incomparable Treatise of Tactometria, seu Tetagmenometria; or, the Geometry of Regulars, practically proposed, after a new and most expeditious manner, together with the Naural or Vulgar, by way of Mensural comparison, and in the Solids, not only in respect of Magnitude or Dimension, but also of Gravity or Ponderosity, according to any Metal assigned: together with useful experiments of Measures and Weights, observations on gauging, useful for those that are practised in the Art Metricald: by T. Wybard. 47. Tectonicon, showing the exact measuring of all manner of Land, Squares, Timber, Stones, Steeples, Pillars, Globes; as also the making and use of the Carpenter's Rule, etc. fit to be known by all Surveyors, Land-meters. Joiner's, Carpenters, and Masons: by L. Diggs. 48. The unparalleled Work for ease and expedition, entitled, The Exact Surveyor, or the whole Art of Surveying of Land, showing how to plot all manner of Grounds, whether small Enclosures, Champion, Plain, Wood-lands or Mountains, by the plain Table; as also how to find the Area, or Content of any Land, to Protect, Reduce, or Divide the same; as also to take the Plot or Chartley, to make a Map of any Manor, whether according to Rathburne, or any other eminent Surveyors Method; a Book excellently useful for those that sell, purchase, or are otherwise employed about Buildings: by J. Eyre. 49. The Golden Treatise of Arithmetic, Natural and Artificial, or Decimals; the Theory and Practice united in a simpathetical Proportion, betwixt Lines and Numbers, in their Quantities and Qualities, as in respect of Form, Figure, Magnitude, and Affection; demonstrated by Geometry, illustrated by Calculations, and confirmed with variety of Examples in every Species; made compendious and easy for Merchants, Citizens, Seamen, Accomptants, etc. by Th. Wilsford Corrrector of the last Edition of Record. 50. Semigraphy, or the Art of Shortwriting, as it hath been proved by many hundreds in the City of London, and other places, by them practised, and acknowledged to be the easiest, exactest, and swiftest Method; the meanest capacity by the help of this Book, with a few hours practice may attain to a perfection in this Art: by J. Rich Author and Teacher thereof, dwelling in Swithins-Lane in London. 51. Milk for Children; a plain and easy Method teaching to read and write, useful for Schols and Families: by J. Thomas D. D. 52. The Painting of the Ancients, the History of the beginning, progress, and consummating of the practice of that noble Art of Painting: by F. Junius. Excellent and approved Treatises in Physic, Chirurgery, and other more familiar Experiments in Cookery, Preserving. etc. 53. Culpeper's Semiatica Vranica, his Astrological Judgement of Diseases from the decumbiture of the sick, much enlarged: the way and manner of finding out the cause, change and end of the Disease; also whether the sick be likely to live or die, and the time when Recovery or Death is to be expected, according to the judgement of Hypocrates and Hermes Trismegistus; to which is added Mr. Culpepers' censure of Urines. 54. Culpeper's last Legacy, left to his Wife for the public good, being the choicest and most profitable of those secrets in Physic and Chirurgery, which whilst he lived, were locked up in his breast, and resolved never to be published till after his death. 55. The Yorkshire Spa; or, the virtue and use of that Water in curing of desperate Diseases, with directions and Rules necessary to be considered by all that repair thither. 56. Most approved Medicines and Remedies for the diseases in the body of man: by A. Read Doctor in Physic. 57 The Art of simpling, an Introduction to the knowledge of gathering of Plants, wherein the definitions, divisions, places, descriptions, differences, names, virtues, times of gathering, temperatures of them, are compendiously discoursed of: also a discovery of the lesser World: by W. Coles. 58. Adam in Eden, or Nature's Paradise: the History of Plants, Herbs, and Flowers, with their several original names, the places where they grow, their descriptions and kinds, their times of flourishing and decreasing; as also their several signatures, anatomical appropriations, and particular physical virtues; with necessary Observations on the Seasons of planting and gathering of our English Plants. A Work admirable useful for Apothecaries, Surgeons, and other Ingenuous Persons, who may in this Herbal find comprised all the English Physical Simples, that Gerard or Parkinson in their two voluminous Herbals have discoursed of; even so as to be on emergent occasions their own Physicians, the Ingredients being to be had in their own Fields and Gardens: Published for the general good, by W. Coles, M. D. 59 The Complete Midwife's Practice, in the high and weighty concernments of the body of Mankind: the second Edition corrected and enlarged, with a full supply of such most useful and admirable secrets which Master Nicholas Culpeper in his brief Treatise, and other English Writers in the Art of Midwifery have hitherto wilfully passed by, kept close to themselves, or wholly omitted: by T. Chamberlain, M. P. illustrated with Copper Figures. 60. The Queen's Closet opened: incomparable Secrets in Physic, Chirurgery, Preserving, Candying, and Cookery; as they were presented to the Queen by the most experienced persons of our times; many whereof were honoured with her own practice. Elegant Treatises in Humanity, History, Romances, and Poetry. 61. Time's Treasury, or Academy, for the accomplishment of the English Gentry in Arguments of Discourse, Habit, Fashion, Behaviour, etc. all summed up in Characters of Honour: by R. Brathwait, Esq; 62. Oedipus, or the Resolver of the Secrets of Love, and other natural Problems, by way of Question and Answer. 63. The admirable and most impartial History of New England, of the first Plantation there in the Year 1628. brought down to these times: all the material passages performed there, exactly related. 64. The tears of the Indians: the History of the bloody and most cruel proceed of the Spaniards in the Island of Hispaniola, Cuba, Jamaica, Mexico, Peru, and other places of the West-Indies; in which to the life are discovered the tyrannies of the Spaniards, as also the justness of our War so successfully managed against them. 65. The Illustrious Shepherdess. The Imperious Brother: written originally in Spanish by that Incomparable Wit, Don John Perez de montalban's; translated at the requests of the Marchioness of Dorchester, and the Countess of Stafford: by E. P. 66. The History of the golden Ass, as also the Loves of Cupid and his Mistress Psyche: by L. Apuleius translated into English. 67. The Unfortunate Mother: a Tragedy by T. N. 68 The Rebellion: a Comedy by T. Rawlins. 69. The Tragedy of Messalina the insatiate Roman Empress: by N. Richard's. 70. The Floating Island: a Tragicomedy acted before the King, by the Students of Christ's Church in Oxon: by that Renowned Wit W. Strode; the songs were set by Mr. Henry Laws. 71. Harvey's Divine Poems, the History of Balaam, of Jonah, and of St. John the Evangelist. 72. Fons Lachrymarum, or, a Fountain of tears; the Lamentations of the Prophet Jeremiah in Verse, with an Elegy on Sir Charles Lucas: by I Quarles. 73. Nocturnal Lucubrations, with other witty Epigrams and Epitaphs; by R. Chamberlain. 74. The Admirable ingenuous satire against Hypocrites. Poetical, with several other accurately ingenuous Treatises, lately Printed. 75. Wit's Interpreter, the English Parnassus: or a sure Guide to those admirable Accomplishments that complete the English Gentry, in the most acceptable Qualifications of Discourse or Writing. An Art of Logic, accurate Compliments, Fancies, Devices, and Experiments, Poems, Poetical Fictions, and A la mode Letters: by J. C. 76. Wit and Drollery; with other Jovial Poems: by Sir J. M. M. L. M. S. W. D. 77. Sportive Wit, the Muse's Merriment; a new Spring of Drollery; Jovial Fancies, etc. 78. The Conveyancer of Light, or, the Complete Clerk and Scrivener's Guide; being an exact draught of all Precedents and Assurances now in use; as they were penned, and perfected by divers Learned Judges, Eminent Lawyers, and great Coveyancers, both Ancient and Modern: whereunto is added a Concordance from King Richard the Third to this present. 79. Themis Aurea, The Laws of the Fraternity of the Rosy Cross; in which the occult Secrets of their Philosophical Notions are brought to light: written by Count Mayerus. and now Englisht by T. H. 80. The Iron Rod put into the Lord Protectors hand; a Prophetical Treatise. 81. Medicina Magica tamen Physica; Magical but Natural Physic, containing the general Cures of Infirmities and Diseases belonging to the Bodies of Men, as also to other animals and domestic Creatures, by way of Transplantation: with a Description of the most excellent Cordial out of Gold: by Sam. Boulton of Salop. 82. J. Tradiscan's Rarities, published by himself. 83. The Proceed of the High Court of Justice against the late King Charles, with his Speech upon the Scaffold, and other proceed, Jan. 30. 1648. 84. The perfect Cook: a right Method in the Art of Cookery, whether for Pastry, or all other manner of All a Mode Kick-shaws; with the most refined ways of dressing flesh, fowl, or making of the most poignant Sauces, whether after the French, or English manner, with fifty five ways of dressing of Eggs: by M. M. Admirable Useful Treatises newly Printed. 85. The Expert Doctors Dispensatory: the whole Art of Physic restored to practice: the Apothecary's shop, and Chirurgeons Closet opened; with a Survey, as also a correction of most Dispensatories now extant, with a Judicious Censure of their defects: and a supply of what they are deficient in: together with a learned account of the virtues and quantities, and uses of Simples and Compounds; with the Symptoms of Diseases: as also prescriptions for their several cures: by that renowned P. Morellus, Physician to the King of France; a Work for the order, usefulness, and plainness of the Method, not to be paralleled by any Dispensatory, in what Language soever. 86. Cabinet of Jewels, Man's Misery, God's Mercy, Christ's Treasury. &c, in eight excellent Sermons: with an Appendix of the nature of Tithes under the Gospel: with the expediency of Marriage in public Assemblies: by J. Crag. Minister of the Gospel. 87. Nature's Secrets: or the admirable and wonderful History of the generation of Meteors: describing the Temperatures of the Elements, the heights, magnitudes and influences of Stars, the causes of Comets, Earthquakes, Deluges, Epidemical Diseases, and Prodigies of Precedent times: with presages of the weather: and descriptions of the weatherglass: by T. Wilsford. 88 The Mysteries of Love ane Eloquence; or, the Arts of Wooing and Complementing; as they are managed in the Spring Garden, Hid Park, the New Exchange; and other eminent places: A work, in which is drawn to the life the Deportments of the most Accomplished Persons: the Mode of their Courtly entertainments, Treatment of their Ladies at Balls, their accustomed Sports, Drolls and Fancies, the Witchcrafts of their persuasive Language, in their Approaches, or other more Secret Dispatches, etc. by E. P. 89. Helmont disguised: or, the vulgar errors of imparcial and unskilful Practisers of Physic confuted: more especially as they concern the Cures of Fevers, the Stone, the Plague, and some other Diseases by way of Dialogue, in which the chief rareties of Physic are admirably discourcoursed of: by J. T. Books very lately Printed, and in the Press now Printing. 1. Geometry demonstrated by Lines and Numbers: from thence, Astronomy, Cosmography, and Navigation proved and delineated by the Doctrine of Plain and Spherical Triangles: by T. Wilsford. 2. The English Annals, from the Invasion made by Julius Caesar to these times: by T. Wilsford. 3. The Fool transformed: A Comedy. 4. The History of Lewis the eleventh King of France: a Tragicomedy. 5. The Chaste woman against her will; a Comedy 6. The Tooth-drawer. a Comedy. 7. Honour in the end: a Comedy. 8. Tell-tale: a Comedy. 9 The History of Donquixiot, or the Knight of the ill favoured face: a Comedy. 10. The fair Spanish Captive: a Tragicomedy. Sir Kenelm Digby, and other Persons of Honour, their rare and incomparable secrets of Physic, Chirurgery, Cookery, Preserving, Conserving, Candying, distilling of Waters, extraction of Oils, compounding of the costliest Perfumes, with other admirable Inventions, and select Experiments, as they offered themselves to their Observations, whether here or in Foreign Countries. 11. The soul's Cordial in two Treatises, the first teaching how to be eased of the guilt of sin: the second discovering advantages by Christ's Ascension; by that faithful Labourer in the Lord's Vineyard, Mr. Christopher Love, late Minister of Laurence Jury: the third Volume of his Works. 12. jacob's seed, the excellency of seeking God by prayer: by the late Reverend Divine, Master Jeremiah Burroughs. 14. The Saint's Tombstone: or, the Remains of the Blessed. A plain Narrative of some remarkable Passages in the holy Life, and happy Death of Mistress Dorothy Shaw, Wife of Mr. John Shaw, Preacher of the Gospel at Kingston upon Hull, collected by her dearest Friends, especially for her sorrowful Husband and six Daughter's consolation and imitation. 15. The so well entertained Work, the New World of English Words; or, a general Dictionary, containing the Terms, Etymologies, Definitions, and perfect Interpretations of the proper significations of hard English Words, throughout the Arts and Sciences, Liberal, or Mechanic; as also other subjects that are useful, or appertain to the Language of our Nation: to which is added the signification of Proper Names, Mythology, and Poetical Fictious, Historical Relations, Geographical Descriptions of the Countries and Cities of the World; especially of these three Nations, wherein their chiefest Antiquities, Battles, and other most memorable Passages are mentioned: A Work very necessary for Strangers, as well as our own Countrymen, for all persons that would rightly understand what they discourse, or read. Collected and published by E. P. for the greater honour of those learned Gentlemen and Artists that have been assistant in the most Practical Sciences, their Names are presented before the Book. 16. The so much desired, and learned Commentary on Psalm the fifteenth, by that Reverend and Eminent Divine, Mr Christopher Cartwright, Minster of the Gospel in York; to which is prefixed a brief account of the Authors Life, and of his Work: by R. Bolton. 17 The Way to Bliss, in three Books, being a learned Treatise of the Philosopher's Stone, made public by Elias Ashmole Esq; 18. Wit restored in several Select Poems, not formerly published: by Sir John Mennis, Mr. Smith and others. 19 The Judges Charge, delivered in a Sermon before Mr. Justice Hall, and Mr. Serjeant Crook, Judges of the Assize, at St. Mary Oueris in Southwark, by R. Purre, M. A. Pastor of Camerwel, in the County of Surrey: a Sermon worthy of the perusal of all such persons, as endeavour to be honest and just Practitioners in the Law. 20. The Modern Assurancer, the Clerk's Directory, containing the Practic part of the Law, in the exact Forms and Draughts of all manner of Precedents for Bargains, and Sales, Grants, Feoffements, Bonds, Bills, Conditions, Covenants, Jointures, Indentures; to lead the uses of Fines and Recoveries, with good Provisoes, and Covenants to stand seized, Charter parties for Ships, Leases, Releases, Surrenders, etc. And all other Instruments and Assurances now in use, intended for all young Students and Practisers of the Law: by John Hern. 21. Moor's Arithmetic, the second Edition much refined and diligently cleared from the former mistakes of the Press. A Work containing the whole Art of Arithmetic, as well in Numbers as Species. Together with many Additions by the Author, to come forth at Machaelmas Term. Likewise. 22. Exercitatio Elleiptica Nova, or a new Mathematical Contemplation on the Oval Figure, called an Elleipsis; together with the two first Books of Midorgius his conics Analized, and made so plain, that the Doctrine of Conical sections may be easily understood; a Work much desired, and never before published in the English Tongue: by Ionas Moor, Surveyor General of the great Level of the Fens, to come forth at Michaelmas Term 27. Naps upon Parnassus; a sleepy Muse nipped and pinched, though not awakened: such voluntary and Jovial Copies of Verses as were lately received from some of the Wits of the Universities, in a Frolic; dedicated to Gondibert's Mistress, by Captain Jones and others. Whereunto is added for D monstration of the Author's Prosaic Excellencies, his Epistle to one of the Universities, with the Answer; together with two Satirical Characters of his own, of a Temporizer, and an Antiquary, with Marginal Notes by a Friend to the Reader. 24. America painted to the Life, the History of the Conquest, and first Original undertake of the advancement of the Plantations in those Parts, with an exquisite Map: by F. Gorges, Esq; 25. Culpeper's School of Physic, or the Experimental Practice of the whole Art; so reduced, either into Aphorisines, or choice and tried Receipts, that the free born Students of the three Kingdoms may in this Method find perfect ways for the operation of such Medicines, so Astrologically and Physically prescribed, as that they may themselves be competent Judges of the Cures of their Patients: by N. C. 26. Blagrave's admirable Ephemerideses for the Year 1659. 27. The Joys of Heaven promised to the Saints on Earth, Christ's sermons on the Beatiudes preached on the Mount. An Exposition on the fifth Chapter of St. Matthew, delivered in several sermons by Master Jeremiah Burroughs, being the last sermons he preached a little before his death at St. Giles Cripplegate London; printed with the approbation of those godly and learned Divines, who were entrusted for the publishing of his Works. 28. Dr. Martin Luther's Treatise of the Liberty of a Christian: an useful Treatise for the stateing of the Controversies so much disputed in these times about this great point. 29. The Key of Knowledge, a little Book by way of Question and Answer, intended for the use of all degrees of Christians, especially for the Saints of Religious Families: by John Jackson. 30. The true Evangelical temper, a Treatise modestly and soberly fitted to the present grand concernments of the State and Church: by John Jackson. 31. The Book of Conscience opened and read: by John Jackson. 32. William's Clowes his Chyrurgical Observations for those that are burned with flames of Gunpowder, as also for the curing of wounds, and of the Lues venerea, etc. 33. The Moderate Baptist. in two parts showing the Scripture way for the administering of the Sacrament of Baptism, discovering that old error of original sin in Babes: by William Baitten. 34. History and Policy Reviewed in the Heroic Transactions on Oliver late Lord Protector, declaring his steps to princely perfection drawn in lively Parallels to the Ascents of the great patriarch Moses, to the height of thirty degrees of Honour: by H. D. Esquire. 35. J. Cleaveland Revived; Poems, Orations, Epistles, and other of his Genuine Incomparable Pieces: a second Impression with many Additions. 36. The Exquisite Letters of Master Robert Loveday, the late admired Translator of the Volumes of the famed Romance Cleopatra, for the perpetuating his memory; published by his dear Brother, Mr. A. L. 37. England's Worthies, Select Lives of the most Eminent Persons from Constantine the Great to the death of Oliver Cromwell late Protector: by W. Winstanley, Gent. 38. The Accomplished Cook, the Mystery of the whose Art of Cookery revealed in a more easy and perfect Method then hath been published in any Language; expert and ready ways for the dressing of Flesh, Fowl and Fish, the resing of Pastes, the best directions for all manner of Kickshaws, and the most poignant Sauces, with the terms of carving and sewing: the Bills of Fare, an exact account of all dishes for the season, with other Ala mode Curiosities, together with the lively Illustrations of such necessary figures, as are referred to practice: approved by the many years experience, and careful industry of Robert May, in the time of his attendance on several Persons of Honour. 39 A Character of France, to which is added Gallus Castratus; or, an Answer to a late slanderous Pamphlet, called, the Character of England; as also a fresh Whip for the Mounsieur, in Answer to his Letter, in vindication to his Madam, the second Edition. 40. The History of the Life and Death of Oliver late Lord Protector; wherein from his Cradle to his Tomb are impartially transmitted to posterity, the most weighty Transactions, Foreign and Domestic, that have happened in his time, either in Matters of Law, Proceed in Parliament, or others Affairs in Church or State: by S. Carrington. 41. The Scales of Commerce and Trade, the Mystery revealed as to traffic with a Debtor or Creditor, for Merchant's Accounts after the Italian way, and easiest Method; as also a Treatise of Architecture, and a computation as to all the charges of Building: by T. Wilsford, Gent. FINIS. These are to give notice, that the true and right Lozenges and Pectorals so generally known and approved of for the cure of Consumptions, Coughs, Astamas, Colds in general, and all other Diseases incident to the Head, are rightly made only by John Piercy, Gent. the first Inventor of them; and whosoever maketh them besides, do but counterfeit them: they are to be sold by Nathaniel Brook at the Angel in Cornhill.