A Memorial Offered to John Williams, Part of biography 2 · Floating text 2
REASONS to ſatisfie your moſt excellent Majeſty concerning my Carriage all this laſt Parliament.
18. Firſt negatively, That I did nothing diſſerviceably to your Majeſty, or the Duke. For firſt, I never ſpake at Oxford with any of the ſtirring Men, as was untruly ſuggeſted to your Majeſty, excepting once with Philips, with the Privity, and for the Service of the Duke. And with Wentworth at his firſt coming to Town, and before his coming to the Houſe. Who promiſed (and I do verily believe he perform'd it) to carry himſelf advantageouſly to your Majeſty's Service, and not to joyn with any that ſhould ſly upon my Lord Duke. The reſt are all Strangers to me: and I never ſpake with any one of them concerning any Parliamentary matters. Secondly, I did croſs the popular way, more than any of the Council; which I durſt not have done, if I had intended to run along with them. 1. In adviſing your Majeſty, knowing how you were engaged to the Queen, to reſerve to yourſelf the Execution of the Laws againſt Recuſants, at leaſt-wiſe for a time, as at Rycott. 2. In maintaining this Advice afterward before the Council at Oxford. 3. In lingring and ſtaying the Bill againſt Recuſants. 4. In direct Oppoſition to the Lord Saye, in ſtaying the Bill of Tonnage and Poundage, which was the Darling of the Active part in the Houſe of Commons. Had I intended to run any way with the People, I had been a Mad-man to have appear'd in any of theſe. Affirmatively, I offer'd my poor Service to your Majeſty, for the executing of any Directions, ſhould be given me in private. Firſt, I waited upon your Majeſty three or four times before your Journey to Dover, to know if you would give me any private Directions, but received none. 2. I waited upon your Majeſty and the Duke three ſeveral times while the Parliament ſat at Weſtminſter, and my Anſwer was ſtill, you had nothing to ſay to me. 3. I waited to know if your Majeſty had ought to command me privately at Windſor, at Biſſam, at Ricott towards the Oxford Sitting; and was ever anſwer'd as before. 4. I did the like to my Lord-Duke at Oxford, deſiring his Lordſhip to ſend me his Commands by any truſty Servant, and I would ſerve him to the utmoſt of my Power from time to time. His Grace ſaid he would ſend, but never ſent to me. So that if I had any Power in either Houſe (I had much the leſs at this time by reaſon of the Paucity of the Lawyers, who were in the Circuit) what uſe could I make of it without Directions? And to tell the plain truth, I durſt do nothing for fear of offending the Duke, otherwiſe than by Direction. Only 'tis known, that they that were for giving of Subſidies, repaired to me as often as to any other Lord, who can witneſs of my Care, both in Matters of Subſidies, and the Buſineſs of my Lord-Duke. Rationally it was unſafe for me to ſtickle at this time without Countenance and Employment by, and from your excellent Majeſty. Firſt your Majeſty knoweth, I was threatned before your Majeſty to be complained of in Parliament, on the third Day of your Reign. And though your Majeſty moſt graciouſly promis'd to do me Juſtice therein: Yet was I left under that Minacy, and the Minacer, for ought I know, left to his courſe againſt me. 2. My Lord-Duke confeſt he knew the Complaints, and Complainants; and gave me leave to ſuſpect his Grace (which indeed I had cauſe to do) if within three days, and three days he ſhould not acquaint me with the Names of the Parties. Which I deſir'd to know, not to expoſtulate, but to watch, and provide to defend my innocency. His Grace failed me in his promiſe herein. I employed Sir Charles Glemham, and Mr. Sackvile Crowe to preſs him for an Anſwer; which was ſuch, as they durſt not in modeſty return unto me. 3. Sir Francis Seymore (a Knight whom I know not by ſight) told many of that Houſe, who imparted it unto me, that upon his firſt coming to Oxford, he was dealt with by a Creature of my Lord-Dukes (whom I can name) to ſet upon the Lord-Keeper, and they ſhould be backed by the greateſt Men in the Kingdom. Who gave this Anſwer, That he found nothing againſt the Lord-Keeper, but the Malice of thoſe great Men. 4. Sir John Eliot, the only Member that began to thruſt in a Complaint againſt me: the Lord-Viſcount Saye, who took upon him to name Sir Thomas Crew to ſucceed in my Place: Sir William Stroud, and Sir Nathanael Rich, whom my Friends moſt noted to malice me, were never out of my Lord-Duke's Chamber, and Boſom. 5. Noble-men of good Place, and near your Majeſty, gave me often intelligence, that his Grace's Agents ſtirred all their Powers to ſet the Commons upon me. 6. I told the Lord-Duke in my Garden, that having been much reprehended by your Majeſty, and his Grace in the Earl of Middleſex's Tryal, for thanking the laſt King at Greenwich, for promiſing to protect his Servants, and great Officers againſt the People and Parliament, I durſt not be ſo active, and ſtirring by my Friends in that Houſe, as otherwiſe I ſhould be, unleſs your Majeſty, by his Grace's means, would be pleas'd to encourage me with your Royal Promiſe, to defend and protect me in your Service. If I might hear your Majeſty ſay ſo much, I would venture then my Credit, and my Life, to manage what ſhould be entruſted to me to the uttermoſt. After which he never brought me to your Majeſty, nor any Meſſage from you. Standing therefore upon theſe doubtful terms, unemploy'd in the Duties of my Place (which were now aſſign'd over to my Lord Conway, and Sir J. Cooke) and left out of all Committees among the Lords of the Council (which I know was never done by the direction of your Majeſty, who ever conceiv'd of me far above my Merit) and conſequently fallen much in the Power, and Reputation due to my place, I durſt not at this time, with any Safety, buſie my ſelf in the Houſe of Commons, with any other than that meaſure of Zeal, which was expreſt by the reſt of the Lords of the Privy-Council. Gracious and dread Sovereign, if this be not enough to clear me, let me periſh.
19. The King was a Judge of Reaſon, and of Righteouſneſs, and found ſo much in that Paper, that he diſmiſt him that preſented it graciouſly for that time, his Deſtiny being removed two Months further off, though it was ſtrongly urg'd, not to delay it for a day. But in St. Cyprian's words, Nemo diu tutus eſt periculo proximus. About a Fortnight after, at Holdbery in New-forreſt, the Duke unfaſt'ned him utterly from the good Opinion of his Majeſty, and at Plimouth, in the midſt of September, obtain'd an irrevocable Sentence to deprive him of his Office. If the Queen could have ſtopt this Anger, he had not been remov'd: with whom he had no little Favour, by the Credit he had got with the chief Servants of her Nation, and by a Speech which took her Majeſty very much, which he made unto her in May, upon her coming to White-hall, and in ſuch French as he had ſtudied, when he preſented his Brethren the Biſhops, and their Homage to her Majeſty. His Friends of that Nation ſhew'd themſelves ſo far, that Pere Berule, the Queen's Confeſſor, and not long after a Cardinal, was the firſt that advertis'd him, how my Lord-Duke had lifted him out of his Seat. 'Tis cuſtom to Toll a little before a Paſſing-bell ring out: and that ſhall be done in a Moral ſtrode; as Chaucer calls it. Such as would know the true Impulſion unto this Change, ſhall err, if they draw it from any thing, but the Spaniſh Negotiation. Not as if the Lord-Keeper had done any one, much leſs many ill Services, to the Duke, as one miſtakes. For I take the Obſervator to be ſo juſt, that he would have done as much himſelf, if he had been in place. King James was ſick'till that Marriage was conſummated; and died becauſe he committed it to the Skill of an Emperick. The Keeper ſerv'd the King's directions, rather than the croſs ways of the Duke, which was never forgiven. Though the late Parliament had wrought wonders to the King's Content, as it gave him none, this innocent Perſon had receiv'd the Blow, which was aimed at him, before the Parliament ſat. He beſtirr'd him in the former King's Reign, to check the encroaching of the Commons, about impeaching the great Peers, and Officers of the Realm, which the Duke fomented in the Earl of Middleſex's Caſe. Since that Houſe began to be filled with ſome, that were like the turbulent Athenians, foreign, Meurſius, Ath. Attic. p. 79. It grieved him at the Heart, that more time was ſpent by far, to pluck up an honeſt Magiſtrate, than to plant good Laws. There was no Sin, I think, that he hated more, than that Epidemick violence, which he ſaw was come about, that the People extoll'd them moſt, as it was once in the Days of Marius, that endeavour'd to thruſt down the moſt noble Patricians. This is the right Abſtract what was, and what was not the Cauſe of this Mutation.
20. There were yet other things, that did concur to precipitate his Downfall. Firſt, My Lord of Buckingham's honeſt Servants would ſay, that he gave their Maſter conſtantly the beſt Counſel: but that he was too robuſtious in preſſing it. Vim temperatam Dii quoque provehunt in majus, Horat. lib. 3. Od. Well, I do not deny it. But the more ſtout in that Point, the more true, and cordial He that loſes ſuch a one, that comes to prop him up, who had rather offend him, than not ſave him, Navem perforat, in quâ ipſe navigat, Cicer. pro Milone, he ſinks the Bark, wherein himſelf fails. The Scythians were eſteemed barbarous; but this is wiſe, and civil in them, as Lucian reports in his Toxaris, They have no wealth; but he is counted the richeſt Man, that hath moſt Friends. And that's a Friend, that will incur Anger, rather than leave his Friend to ſooth himſelf in a Miſchief. It had been well for the Duke, if his bold Friend had perſwaded him to take that Counſel, which Chriſtopher Thuanus gave to the Cardinal of Lorain, being in great Favour with Henry the 2d. of France, Si potentiam ſuam diuturnam cuperet, moderatè eâ uteretur, & in politicá adminiſtratione leges regni conſervaret; alioqui fore ut publicae invidiae impar, Procerum regni, & Nobilitatis contra ſe concitato odio, aliquando ſuccumberet, Aug. Thua. An. 1568. Secondly, Some of the Lords of the Council were willing to ſpare the Keeper, for that having a mighty ſtanding Wardrobe of Reaſon, likely he bore down that ſide which he oppos'd. Why would not Plato endure Homer in his Utopia? becauſe he was too great a Citizen for his City. And Ariſtotle. lib. 3. Polit. c. 4. Says the Argonautes were weary of Hercules, and diſmiſt him, foreign, his main ſtrength at the Oar was above his Fellows, his parts were unequal in ſupere minence. Nor did his Majeſty like it well, that he would never give over, till he was Conqueror in the Argument that he held: and he ever held him to be too nimble, and verſatile in his Diſcourſes. For the Taſte of that good King's Mind was much like to his Palate, he never loved Sauce with his Meat; nor Sharpneſs in his Counſels. He deſired to ſee all his way before him, and not to be led through Windings, and Allies. Another King was of that Conceit, ſays, Thua. lib. 11. Franciſcus magna ingenia ſuſpect a habere coepit. Thirdly, The blaff that help'd to blow down this Cedar, was the Breath of Obtreclators, and Tale bearers. Who are too much about great Men, as it may be ſaid by Alluſion from the 66 Pſal. v. 3. After the vulgar Latin, For the Greatneſs of thy Power ſhall the People be found Lyars unto thee. Theſe were too thick about the Duke, and cheriſh'd with his Countenance, and Liberality. For Reward not Minſtrils and you ſhall be ſure to be rid of them. If any are loth to put Biſhop Laud in this Number, I muſt either reform their Knowledge, or write againſt mine own. They are yet living that have heard it confeſt by the Lord Buckingham's Mother. And theſe words are in the Manuſcript remembred before, Penn'd by Arch-Biſhop Abbot, That the Counteſs of Buckingham told the Biſhop of Lincoln, that St. Davids was the Man that did undermine him with her Son, and would underwork any Man in the World, that himſelf might riſe. St. Davids ſaw no Man in the proſpect of likelihood but this one, to carry the higheſt Miter from him. Interna crevit Roma Albae ruinis, as Livy ſays. Fourthly, my Lord-Duke was ſoon ſatiated with their Greatneſs, whom he had advanc'd. It was the inglorious Mark of thoſe Thirteen Years of his Power to remove Officers. Which was like a ſweeping Floud, that at every Spring-tide takes from one Land, and caſts it upon another. In two Years of King Charles's Reign, Williams, Lee, Conway, Suckling, Crow, Walter had their Top-ſails pull'd down by him: and if Sir Henry Yelverton had liv'd, not only Sir A. Welden writes it, but common Rumour nois'd it, that he had been promoted to the Place of the Lord Coventry. Which was very prejudicious to the true Diſcharge of thoſe Dignities. As Theophraſtus complains in Tully, Men were ſo ſhort liv'd, that by the time they began to know the World, Death ſnatch'd them out of it: So a Magiſtrate can yield no great Fruit, that's pluck'd up before he be well rooted. Antonnius, call'd the Philoſopher, provided better for that, as Capitolinus hath it, as he was wiſe in all his Government,
21. Still the Plot was buſie againſt the Lord-Keeper, to diſplace him with ſome colour of Charge. And the King being come to Salisbury in September with a full Court, it came to a Cataſtrophe. He that was hunted after, was at harbour at a Houſe of the Lord Sand's in Barkſhire, five Miles from Windſor, call'd Foxly. Where he was ſurely inform'd, that after much ſifting ſpent, after all that ever he did, ſince his high Promotion, the old Matter was renewed, how he ſtirred up thoſe that lifted at the Duke at Oxford: which was urg'd with ſtrange, and punctual Confidence; and was the weakeſt, and leaſt grounded Surmiſe, that ever was hammer'd. Therefore it was ſupplied with another Objection: That at the ſame time and place he had abus'd the King with ill Counſel, adviſing him to vail his abſolute Sovereignty too much, to a ſocial Communication with his Subjects. Which being divulg'd, got him that was accus'd a ſtrong Gale of popular Favour, did his Majeſty no right and caſt the Duke upon ſuch a Shelf, as no High-tide could bring him off, while he liv'd. The Keeper hearing every day what Cavillations were fomented, and heard, to put him to blame and ſhame, found it in vain to coaſt the Seaſon any longer, to have the Great-Seal tarry with him. Only reſolv'd on the 21ſt. of September to prepare his way by his Pen, before he went to Salisbury, to ſalute the King's Ear with ſoftneſs, and to ſhew, that he did not deſpond, but that he was ready for a Juſtification, if he were call'd to anſwer. Which for all his Labour would hardly be believ'd. For all Treaſure hid in the Ground is the Kings: But how will he find it? So all truth that concerns his Juſtice and Proſperity is his: But how will he know it? This Man is not the firſt that made it true, which Sidon. Apoll. obſerves, Lib. 3. Ep. 3. That it is dangerous ſerving of Kings in a near place: who are compar'd by him to fire, Qui ſicut paululum à ſe remota illuminat, ita ſatis ſibi admota comburit. It is a good Element or light and warmth, to thoſe that ſtand aloof, but ſingeth that which comes too near it. Yet nothing venture, nothing have. One Arrow muſt be ſhot after another, though both be graſt, and never found again. In aequo eſt amiſſio rei, & timor amittendi, ſays Seneca. Nay, he loſeth more quiet of Mind, that looks every day to loſe that which he loves, than in the Minute, when he is deprived of it. One ſays, When the Brunt is over, the Heart will recover. Time and long day will mitigate ſad Accidents: 'tis a ſlow Medicine, but a ſure one.
22. Now let the Letter to his Majeſty be obſerv'd, which was his Harbinger.