A Memorial Offered to John Williams, Part of biography 1 · Floating text 2 – Letter 44

A Memorial Offered to John Williams · Part of biography 1 · Floating text 2 – Letter 44

p. 185Gentlemen,

THat are the Knights, Citizens, and Burgeſſes of the Houſe of Commons. I am directed by my Lords to open this Conference, with acquainting the Houſe of Commons (with whom their Lordſhips deſire to hold all fair and ſincere Correſpondence) with a double Preface.

Firſt, with a Supplement to that Narration made by his Highneſs and my Lord the Duke of Buckingham his Grace to both the Houſes; and then with an Opinion of their Lordſhips ſuper totam Materiam, upon the whole Proceed of the great buſineſs. Now becauſe in this Conſultation the Supplement did co-operate with the Narration for the producing of their Lordſhips Opinion, I hold it the beſt Method to begin with that. The Supplement is of a Threefold Nature;

The Firſt Concerns the Treaty of the Marriage.

The Second, the Reſtitution of the Palatinate,

The Third a moſt Heroical Act and Reſolution of the Princes Highneſs, which their Lordſhips held neceſſary to be imparted, firſt to you the Univerſality, and Body Repreſentative, and then by you to all the Kingdom.

That Supplement which concerns the Treaty of the Marriage is no more but this, That by a Letter of the Earl of Briſtols writen Nine Years ago, 3 Novem. 1614. it appeared plainly unto their Lordſhips, that this Treaty of the Marriage had the firſt beginning by a Motion from Spain, and not from England, even from the Duke of Lerma, who promiſed all ſincerity in the Match, and as little preſſing as might be in matters of Religion. Yet though the Propoſal began ſo ſoon, and was follow'd ſo earneſtly, it is now like an untimely Birth, for which the Mother endureth a painful Travail, and it enjoyeth not the Fruit of Life.

That Supplement which Concerns the Reſtitution of the Palatinate is this, That whereas in that Treaty a demand is preſſed by his Majeſty upon the King of Spain, to promiſe us aſſiſtance by Arms, in caſe Mediation ſhould not prevail, it hath appeared to their Lordſhips by the Papers of the Earl of Briſtol, preſerved in the Councel-Chamber, that the King of Spain hath formerly promiſed Aſſiſtance by Arms, upon ſuch a ſuppoſition, which notwithſtanding he now utterly refuſeth, and offers but bare Mediation. But as Symmachus ſays in an Ep. to Auſonius, Pa. vis nutriment is quanquam à morte defendimur, nihil tamen ad Robuſtam valetudinem promovemur. We may keep Life, and ſcarce that, with a poor Diet, but we ſhall never grow ſtrong with ſuch a pittance. If the Knights, Citizens and Burgeſſes of that Honourable Houſe deſire a Sight of theſe Diſpatches, they ſhall be Read unto them.

Thirdly, That Supplement which tends ſo much to the Honour of his Highneſs is this. Sometime in July laſt, when his Highneſs was in Spain, a Rumor was ſcatter'd, that his Highneſs had provided to ſteal away ſecretly, inſomuch that ſome of the King of Spain's Miniſters were appointed as a Watch to detein him openly, and avowedly as a Priſoner. Hereupon my Lord's Grace was ſent to the whole Committee with this Heroical Remonſtrance, that though he ſtole thither out of Love, he ſcorn'd to ſteal away out of Fear, neither was his Heart guilty of taking ſo poor and unworthy a Courſe. A brave and magnanimous Reſolution; yet ſhort of that which followeth. For the Prince made a diſpatch to his Father at that inſtant, and ſent this Meſſage unto him by Mr. Grimes, That if his Majeſty ſhould receive any intelligence, that he was deteined in that State as a Priſoner, he would be pleaſed for his ſake never to think of him more as a Son, but to reflect with all his Royal Thoughts upon the good of his Siſter, and upon the ſafety of his own Kingdoms; Sic omnes unus amores vicit amor patriae. p. 186And ſo far to the Supplements; I muſt now explicate their Lordſhips Opinion; who having by the Command of his Majeſty taken into their Mature Conſiderations the whole Narration made by the Prince his Highneſs, and my Lord Duke to both Houſes in this place, and all the Letters and Diſpatches read unto them to corroborate the ſame. And Laſtly theſe Supplements and Additions recited before, are of opinion upon the whole Bulk of the matter; that his Majeſty cannot rely upon, or maintain any longer either of both theſe Treaties, concerning the Match with Spain, or the Reſtitution of the Palatinate, with the ſafety of his Religion, his Honour, his Eſtate, or the Weal and Eſtate of his Grand-Children. And his Highneſs together with their Lordſhips, are deſirous to know, whether you Gentlemen, the Knights. Burgeſſes, and Citizens of the Houſe of Commons do concur with their Lordſhips in this their Opinion, which they ever referred to this further Conference with your Honourable Houſe.

192. As Plutarch ſaid of the Laconick Apothegms, foreign, they were Clean and Sound Timber, with the Bark taken off: So the Reader may obſerve in theſe Reports, that the Matter is Heart of Oak, the Style clear from Obſcurity, and disbark'd quite from ſuperduity. But regarding the Auditors, and their Affections at that Seaſon, nothing could be more proper: for he ſpake to their Content as if he had been within them, with Sweet and Piercing Expreſſions, reſembled in the Harp, and the Quiver of Arrows, with which the Heathen Trimm'd up Apollo, their Deity of Graceful Speech. They that detract from ſuch Worth, would be glad it were their own, as ſays our compleat Poet upon the like,

A good Man's Envied by ſuch as would,

For all their Spight be like him if they could.

But this beginning preſaged good Luck to the enſuing Counſels debated in that Seſſion. This is called to this day the Bleſſed Parliament, and ſo Poſterity will take it from us. Says Tully, very well 3. Philip. Magna vis eſt, magnum numen unum & idem conſentient is ſenatus. A full Senate, Head and Members conſenting in one, carries a Majeſtick and Oraculous Authority with it. This is the Confirmation of it, when the people brought before the King the Fruits of their Wiſdom, which they had Studied: And the King did ratifie him chearfully with the Wiſdom of his Power. They opened their Purſe to him; and, which was more beneficial to them, then if they had ſpared a little Mony, he let fall ſome Flowers off his Crown, that they might gather them up, which indeed was no more then deſluvium pennarum, the Molting of ſome Feathers, after which the Eagle would Fly the better. He opened his Ear to them in all their Petitions, and they liſtned as much to him; and gave their Ear-Rings to Jacob, Gen. 35.4. So the King and the Subject became perfect Uniſons. And as God doth knit his own Glory, and the Salvation of mankind together; ſo the King did imitate God, and Married his Honour with the welfare of the Kingdom. Who is it that reads the Statutes 21 Jacobi, and doth not admire them? The Peers took it to be their greateſt Nobility to look well to the Publick: And the other Houſe did light upon the True Companion of Wiſdom, S…data Tranquillitas, a Calm Tranquility, as Rivers are deepeſt where they Foam leaſt. And all the Land had cauſe of rejoycing, that the Houſe of Commons was never better Repleniſh'd in Man's Memory, with Knights and Burgeſſes of rare Parts and Tempers, eſpecially the Gown-men of the Inns of Courts, who were extoli'd for Knowledge and political Prudence, as no Age had afforded a better Pack. And I give the Lord Keeper his Right and no more, knowing his Traces perfectly at that time, that he labour'd as for Life to keep an Harmony between the King and this Parliament, to ſuck out his Majeſties aſſent to all their Proceedings, that he might ſhew himſelf as good as he was great. Which I think was the greateſt, certainly the happieſt part of Honour, that ever the Lord Keeper Merited. How he mitigated Diſcontents and ſoftned refractorineſs, how he obliged the leading Voices with benefits, how he kept the Prerogative of the Supreme Power, and the Extravagancies of pretended Liberty on the other ſide from Encroachments, the Wiſe only knew (but they that knew it not were the better for it) and that he was chiefly us'd in Conſultation for compiling thoſe wholeſom Laws, which had their double Reſining and Clarifying from Lords and Commons. In all likelihood proſperous ſucceſs might be expected from this Parliament, becauſe it was Pious; and Pious becauſe it was a p. 187ſtrict preſerver of the Holy Patrimony Allotted to God. Quae … erunt, quam quibus Deus praeſtitit auxilium; ſays Anſonius to the Emperor … What Counſels are more compleat, then thoſe that are help'd by God? Nay, What Councels can be more compleat, then theirs that defend the Right of God? As worſer times would let the Clergy keep nothing; ſo thoſe times by their good Will would let them part with nothing. Let the Trial be obſerv'd, as the Caſe follows.

193. The Duke of Buckingham lack'd a dwelling according to the Port of his Title, and to receive a very populous Family. It muſt be near to Whitehal, and it muſt be ſpacious. None could be found ſo fit as the Arch-Biſhop of York his Houſe: It was nigh to Charing-Croſs, and he came little to it. The Duke us'd the Lord Keeper to move Arch-Biſhop Mathew for his Conſent, and to make the Bargain between them; cauſing him to make proſſer of ſuch Lands in the County of York as ſhould be equivalent, or better, then the Houſe, Garden, and Tenements belonging to the Arch-Biſhop's Place. For nothing was intended but Exchange with conſiderable Advantage to him and his Succeſſors. And that was ſure as touch, becauſe the Houſe was to be paſt by Act of Parliament to the Kings Majeſty. So the Duke had made it his humble Requeſt, and drew on the King hardly to make a Chop with thoſe Demeaſnes, to which the Name of God and his Chriſt were made the Feoffees in the firſt Donation, for the uſe of that Tribe, which peculiarly ſerves him in Sacred Offices. Yet with inſtance and much Suit the King was wrought to it for the Duke's ſake. As M. Antony ſaid to his Confident Septimius, Quod Concupiſcas tu videris, quod concupieris certè habebis. Tul. 5. Philip. So this Beloved Minion ſhould be Wiſe to ſee what he ask'd, for his Maſter had no Power to ſay him nay. His Majeſty was moſt Nice and Cautious to make the Compoſition profitable to the Church, and that there ſhould be no Violation of Juſtice in the Grant; for which he caſt his Eye religiouſly upon that Warrantable Rule, Levit. 26.19. He that will Redeem that which is Sanctified, muſt add a fifth Part to the Eſtimation. So this Godly King was ſuperabundant in his Care, that the See of York ſhould be Richer by parting with this Houſe, as is manifeſt by the Lord Keeper's Letter ſent to that Worthy Patriarch of the North, whoſe Age would not ſuffer him to come to London.

May it pleaſe your Grace,

I Have been as Careful, as lay in my Power, to further your Wiſe and Religious intent, which your Grace ſo really expreſſeth, in making an advantageous Exchange for your Succeſſors, between York-Houſe, with Warders tenement, and the Mannor of Brighton in the County of Ebor,together with the Woods; which Woods I am aſſured are out of Leaſe. And I conceive that part of the Exchange ſo well ſettled (if the particulars be true, as I probably preſume, and your Grace may better find then I) that your Succeſſors ſhall have good Cauſe to bleſs God for the ſame. Now His Majeſty and the Duke are very willing to fetch in the reſt of the Tenements unto the Houſe, and to deal with you and your See Graciouſly, and bountifully in the Exchange. For when I kneeled before His Majeſty in the preſence of the Prince, and others, to crave Pardon that I ſtood ſo ſtrictly upon Terms of Benefit and Good Accommodation to your Grace, who had Truſted me in this Exchange, the King gave me hearty Thanks for doing ſo, and deſired me that for His ſake and Buckingham's, to ſee that your Grace ſhould convey nothing at all to his Majeſty, but that your See ſhould receive back again for the ſame, double Recompenſation. Your Grace therefore ſhall receive by your Son Sir Tobie(whom His Majeſty and the Duke would needs employ perſonally for the expediting of this Buſineſs with your Grace) two particulars more propoſed for an Exchange with the Tenements belonging to York-Houſe. The which particulars if they hold out in Value and Eſtates, as they be preſented (which your Grace by the Induſtry of one of your Servants may in two days perceive, by Reaſon of their vicinity to the City of York) be of far more profit to your Grace and Succeſſors then theſe Tenements can poſſibly be, their States and Demiſes conſider'd. If thoſe two particulars ſhould diſlike your Grace, inſtance upon any other thing lying in Charge to the King, and in more conveniency to your Grace, and I find his Majeſty ſo over good in this kind, that I preſume he will deny nothing that can be demânded without bluſhing. Your Son, my very good and much reſpected Friend, hath been ſo induſtrious for the good of your See, as though he were the Son of that Church as well as your Grace's, as I would he were, and I hope he may be; I reſt ever—

May 4. 1624.

p. 188194. All things being agreed upon this Bargain on this ſide Trent, and beyond it, an Act is drawn up, and brought into the Houſe of Commons. The Proviſion for the Exchange is apparent without Fallacy, or Fear of Wrong, and better than the Redemption of a thing ſanctify'd under the Levitical Preſcriptions; yet it ſtuck in the Houſe of Commons, and ſtruggled with great Oppoſition. The King's Counſel pleaded well, that his Majeſty's Lands were more profitable by a good Size, than that which the Arch-Biſhop contributed in lieu; but it was anſwered by a worthy Knight, Let Caeſar keep that which is Caeſar's, and let God keep that which is God's. And that Scruple was held in diſpute for many days (although the Duke did then appear to be a Perſon that deſerved to be gratify'd) till evident Reaſon, like a Condenſation of Light, did ſhine more and more before them, that Love and Conſcience, tender to preſerve the Church her Rights, ought not to hinder her Augmentation. Or had it been no more than barely one for another, it would be no worſe than with the Man in Famianus Strada, that ſneezed once, and blew out his Candle, and ſneezed a ſecond time, and blew it in again. Therefore when the Commons had ſhewn their Good will not to violate Sacred things, as if the Spirit of thrice honoured Sir Harry Spelman had poſſeſt them; when they had ſaid much upon it, and received handſome Satisfaction; when they were at a wit-ſtand, and could reach no further, the Bill was carried by ſome Votes, and the Permutation concluded. A noble Affection to the Biſhops, and to that Portion which our virtuous Progenitors had given them; and little followed within twenty years after, by ſuch as the Prophet deſcribes, Iſa. 50.11. That walk in the Light of their own Fire, and in the ſparks which themſelves have kindled. Thoſe Prelates that not long ago had ſo many Friends to ſupport their Demeſns, are now like Abraham, when God ſent him into a ſtrange Land, where he had no Inheritance, no not ſo much as to ſet his Foot upon, Act. 7.5. Now thoſe Mannors and Houſes which were kept entirely for them, are ſold to make Payment, 'tis well known to whom. But ſuch Work, ſuch Wages. Publick and Private, Civil and Sacred Lands, Civil Wars can gulp down all. And yet the Grecians, that knew not the true God, invited all to take Arms againſt the Phocenſes, in the Quarrel of Sacriledge, and called it the Sacred War. When the whole Eſtate of Pompey the Great was Confiſcate, after Caeſar had prevailed in the Pharſalian Battle, ſays Tully, Philip 2. Qui ad illud ſcelus ſectionis auderet accedere, inventus eſt nomo praeter Antonium: None could be found ſo impudent to buy his Lands, but Antony. But enow are found in theſe Dominions that are ready to buy Gods Lands: Their Peny-worths are cheap, if there were no Account to be made to the Lord of the Vineyard hereafter. Theſe Huxters cannot chuſe but think of it; and if any of them ſhould ſay he did not drive this Trade, at leaſt with a doubting Conſcience, in good Faith I would not believe him 'Tis the Envy of the Devil, when he cannot hinder Reformation, to diſcredit it with Sacriledge. And he is cunning at that horrid Sin, ever ſince he mixt it in his firſt Temptation. For the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, which was not to be eaten, had a Sacramental Signification in it, and ſtood in Paradice for an Holy Purpoſe, and was an holy Poſſeſſion; in regard whereof, to eat of the forbidden Fruit, was Theft in the Act, and Sacriledge in the Circumſtance. But ſuppoſe a Church be unſound, ſurfeited, and fit to be purged of Offences; What Phyſician that undertook to cure a ſick Man, did ever plunder him of all that he had for his Fee? Who will think elſe that his Heart was ſet upon the Good of his Patient, and not upon filthy Lucre? He that reaps down Errors, and fills his Barns with golden Sheaves, he works for Mammon, and not in God's Harveſt. The antient Chriſtians, that deſaced Idols of Silver and Gold, would Purſe none of the Metal, for fear of giving Scandal to the Heathen. Stilico demoliſhed ſome ſuch Images, and he and his Wife were found to wear the Ornaments that had belonged to them; for which they were cry'd out upon, ſays Baronius, An. 389. c. 57. Quia apud antiquae probitatis Chriſtianos nefas erat in Idola graſſari, ut in uſum privatum aliquid verteretur, ut appareat pietate nos iſta deſtruere, non avaritiâ: A very wiſe, and a pious Courſe; for an avaricious Zeal is a poyſoned Cordial. And few will captivate their Underſtanding to edifie by a Sacrilegious Reformer. I hope Looſers may have Leave to breath out their Sorrows, eſpecially for Sion's ſake. However, I beſeech God to preſerve his Ark among us, though the Pot of Manna be loſt, to bleſs the pure Doctrine, and the Sacraments of the Goſpel to all, to whom they belong, that the Infant be not rob'd of the one, nor ſuch as are of grown Age of the other. Then as the Earth is the Lords in all its Fulneſs, ſo the true Church is Chriſt's in all its Penury and Emptineſs. And this is enough to let p. 189the Reader ſee what was intended to be made good before, that a moſt Churchloving, was a moſt happy Parliament.

195. Yet no feaſt was ever ſo bountiful, but ſome went away unſatisfied; and no Court was ever ſo Righteous upon Earth, but ſome Appellants thought they were prejudiced. If any man had Cauſe to complain of the Juſtice of this Parliament, it was the Lord Treaſurer Cranfield. About whoſe Tryal, if I ſhould ask, as the Phariſes did about Divorces, Is it lawful to cenſure a principal Officer for eve-Cauſe? I muſt ſay as Chriſt anſwered them, From the Beginning it was not ſo. A Parliament is a Judge among Gods; a Terror to Magiſtrates, that are a Terror to any, but to them that deſerve Evil; the only, or the beſt Inquiſitor into the Ways of them that Rule in high Places, that he that ſtands may take heed leaſt he fall. But if it grow common, if every Seſſion make it their Work, or their Recreation to hunt ſuch Game down, and root up Cedars, that might have ſtood without Offence; Moderation will be deſired, and the Prudent will think it is not fit, many a Week ſhould be loſt anent the providing of good Laws, when a Month or two paſs over in bringing a white Staff, or ſome ſuch Grandee, to the Stake, to be baited by Informers. The Lord Treaſurer had ſome Petitions preferred againſt him in March, which at firſt he laugh'd at, and thought to ſcorn them down with Unguiltineſs. For who regards the firſt Grudgings of a Sickneſs? Yet none periſh ſooner than they that are not provident againſt the firſt beginning of an Evil. The Petitioners were countenanced, becauſe he, whoſe Harm they ſought, was one that was not beloved. 'Tis true, he was ſurly, and of hard Acceſs. But be it remembred, he ſate in his great Places, not to be popular, and get Affections, but to be Juſt, and to Husband the Revenue of the Crown with Prudence. But ſubtle Knavery is like to be longer unqueſtioned, than rough-caſt Innocency. He was charged with Corruption, and ſordid Bribery; all the while many Sages contended that the Proofs came not home to a full Diſcovery. One preſs'd it cloſe, that he gave him Five hundred Pound to break well through a long Suit in the Court of Wards. To which the Treaſurer anſwered, That the Money was paid him for a Place in the Cuſtom-Houſe, for which the Complainant had often moved him, which his Secretaries, and other Witneſſes, made good, and that upon the Payment of that Sum, one of the Six and thirty Portions in the Cuſtom-Houſe was reſerved for him. Albeit, the weight of this ſuſpected Bribe (not a Bur hanging upon his Gown beſide) preſs'd him down in the Concluſion. This was not to turn Foxes into Fleas a Bed, as H. Grotius doth in his Notes upon the Canticles; but it is to turn Fleas into Foxes, or rather Flea-bites into the mortal Spots of the Peſtilence. Whether the Treaſurer had great Faults, it is uncertain, and waits Report; but 'tis ſure he had great Adverſaries. The Duke of Buckingham and all his Party appeared againſt him. Whereupon Sir A. Wel. the moſt virulent Defamer of the Lord Treaſurer, writes, That a ſmall Accuſation, as his was, would ſerve to turn him out of his Honor, whom the Duke did then oppoſe. But why did his Grace heave at his Couſin by Marriage? 'tis very dark. It ſeems the Courtiers had no Mind to let us know it. For as Lampridius Notes in Vit. Alex. Sev. Secreta omnia in aulâ eſſe cupiunt, ut ſoli aliquid ſcire videantur. It is perhaps, that the Treaſurer would have brought a Darling, Mr. Arthur Bret, his Counteſs's Brother, into the King's Favour, in the great Lord's Abſence. Or that he grudg'd that the Treaſury was exhauſted in vaſt Iſſues by the late Journey into Spain, and denied ſome Supplies: Or that he dealt too plainly at the Council-Table, in giving no kind Ear to his Couſin's Relations of his Doings at Madrid, having not the Art to catch his Affections in the Springes of Flattery. But down the Duke caſt him, as meſeems, being not aware, how every man hath ſo many Relations, that he that deſtroys one Enemy, makes himſelf ten more. Or as I heard another ſay long ago much better upon it, that my Lord of Buckingham did never undo any of his Enemies, but he ruin'd many of his Friends. And in this Lord's Overthrown, the Prince abetted him▪ was Privy to the Undertakings of his Adverſaries, and accompaſſed Suffrages to Condemn him. The bitter Welden, P. 168. could not reſ…ain to Comment upon it. That the Prince diſcerned ſo much Juggling in the Parliament, in Cranfield's Caſe, that it was not much to be wondred at, being come to be King, that he did not affect them. King James being all that time of this Storm, not at Newmarket, as our late Miſtakers ſay, but at Greenwich, was ſo ſad, that a truſty Servant, and an able, ſhould be thus handled, forced from him and quipt every day with ignominious Taunts that the kind Correſpondencies between him and the Parliament began to have a Cloud over them. He courted many to take ſide with his Treaſurer, and prevailed little, becauſe the p. 190moſt did love to warm themſelves in the Light of the Riſing Sun. He tutored his Son, the Prince, that he ſhould not take part with a Faction in either Houſe, but ſo reſerve himſelf, that both Sides might ſeek him; and chiefly to take heed, how he bandied to pluck down a Peer of the Realm by the Arm of the Lower Houſe, for the Lords were the Hedge between himſelf and the People; and a Breach made in that Hedge, might in time perhaps lay himſelf open. But the Duke had thruſt on the Prince ſo far, that he could not retreat, elſe the Treaſurer had been reſcued by the Power and Juſtice of his Royal Maſter. His Majeſty perceived that the Actions of this unfortunate Man, rack'd with the ſtricteſt Enquiries, were not Sins going over the Head, ſcarce reaching to the Ankles, and why ſhould he ſuffer him to ſink under the Waves of Envy? Therefore he ſent for the Lord Keeper to Greenwich, and gave him his Senſe: That he would not make his Treaſurer a publick Sacrifice. Sir, ſays the Lord Keeper, I have attempted, among my ſureſt Friends, to bring him off fairly. All ſhrink, and refuſe me; only the ſtout and prudent Lord Hollis adventured upon the Frowns of the Prince and Duke, and gave his Reaſons why Middleſex to him appeared an Innocent. I were mad, if, for my part, I ſhould not wiſh him to eſcape this Tempeſt, and be ſafe under the Harbor of Your Majeſty's Clemency. Suam quiſque fortunam in conſilio habet, quando de alienâ deliberat. Curt. lib. 5. When I deliberate upon him, I think of my ſelf. 'Tis his Fortune to day, 'tis mine to morrow. The Arrow that hits him, is within an Handful of me. Yet Sir, I muſt deal faithfully: Your Son, the Prince, is the main Champion that encounters the Treaſurer; whom, if you ſave, you foil your Son. For though Matters are carried by the whole Vote of Parliament, and are driven on by the Duke, yet they that walk in Weſtminſter-Hall, call this the Prince's Undertaking, whom you will blaſt in his Bud, to the Opinion of all your Subjects, if you ſuffer not your old, and perhaps innocent Servant to be pluck'd from the Sanctuary of Your Mercy. Neceſſity muſt excuſe you from Inconſtancy, or Cruelty.

In the Cloſe of this Speech, the Kings Reaſon was convinced, that he muſt uſe this Counſel. foreign. Iliad. foreign. So the Treaſurer ſuffered the Diſhonour, or rather the Calamity of a Cenſure. Himſelf was ſo comforted to his dying Hour; as the engraved Poſie ſpake his Thoughts in his great Chamber at Copt-Hall in Eſſex. Quae venit immeritò paena dolenda venit. And I ſpake with few, when it was recent, that were contented with it, except the Members of the Houſe, who would not diſlike their own Action.

196. Popular Favor continued a while with the Duke, and now he was St. George on Horſeback, let the Dragon take heed, that ſtood in his Way. The Earl of Middleſex was removed, and he that preſided over the great Accounts, did now ſtand for a Cipher. The Lord Keeper perceived his turn was next; although he wanted not fair Words, and fair Semblance from the Contriver. But an Ambuſh is more dangerous than a pitch'd Battel, becauſe it is hid, unleſs the Leader look about him in his March, and ſearch every Hedge by Vant-curriers, as he did. A vigilant Man will not ſleep with both Eyes, when he ſuſpects Danger. Cauto circumſpectu vita quae variis caſibus ſubjacet eſt munienda. Apul. inſtam. lib. 11. The Keeper knew he had deſerved no ill; yet he truſted not to that, for he knew likewiſe how a Judge that hears many Cauſes, muſt condemn many, and offend many. And if Juſtice ſhould ſhrink in, to decline Offences, what were it ſo like unto, as to one in the Fable, that would feed upon nothing but Spoon-meat, becauſe he would not wear out his Teeth? He was not ignorant of the laudable, or at leaſt the durable Cuſtom of the Commons, to countenance all Proſecutors, and to file the Medly of all Complaints. Therefore this Prometheus kept a careful Watch to repulſe Embroilments as much as he could; for though he had a ſound Bark, yet none but a phrantick Pilate would be willing to be toſs'd in a Storm. And he had been an ill Keeper, if he had not been wary to keep himſelf; to which I may fitly apply the Orators Words, Philip 12. Qui mul…rum Cuſtodem ſe profitetur, eum ſapientes ſui primum capitis aiunt Cuſtodem eſſe oportere. He had made the Prince his faſt Friend before; who was ſo ingenious, that when he had promiſed Fidelity, there was no fear that he would ſtart; chiefly becauſe he ſought to lay hold on his Highneſs upon no other Conditions, than p. 191to mortifie thoſe ſpiteful accuſations (if any ſuch hapned) with his Frown, that durſt not ſtand the Breath of Truth. Concerning the Duke, he was not ſo ſilly to look any longer upon himſelf, as growing on the former Root of his Favour; yet he was not ſo rude to expoſtulate with him, according to the Merit of his Unkindneſs, and provoke him further; but as it occurs, Cab. P. 80. He tells his Lordſhip, That Suſpicions of his Diſpleaſure, tranſported him not a Jot further, than to look about him, how to defend himſelf: that he begg'd Aſſurance of his Grace's former Love, yet not in the leaſt deſire to crave the Patronage of any corrupt, or unjuſt act of his, that ſhould be objected againſt him in Parliament; nor to take Refuge to him in any Cauſe or Clamor, otherwiſe than according to Juſtice and fair Proceeding. A ſufficient Number of other Friends were made already to him by his Wiſdom and Deſervings, whom he never requeſted (as he had no need of it) to make a Side for him; but to be intentive to diſcloſe ſuch Winding Inſinuations, which are apt to twine about ſome weak Underſtandings. This Forecaſt made him ſtand unmoveable and unaffrighted, when Petitions and Remonſtrances of Perdue-Cauſes were entred againſt him. They came about him like Bees, and were extinct like Fire among the Thorns. And what were they that made a Noiſe with their Grievances? Itane nihil fortunam puduit, ſi minus accuſatae innocentiae, at accuſantium wilitatis? Boeth. de conſol. 'Tis a ſhame that Innocency ſhould be accuſed; but what Remedy ſhall it have againſt baſe and beggerly Accuſers? againſt the very Kennel of the Fleet, and other Goals? againſt ſuch, whoſe Suits would admit of no good Order, and their Forwardneſs of no bad. I knew a Plaintif and Deſendant, Morgan and Bouglar, that complained one as much as the other of the ſame Decree to the Parliament; and at the Hearing of the Cauſe, one of the Counſel proteſted, that Two hundred and twelve Commiſſions, References, and Orders, had paſt upon it. After a while, a Bundle of thoſe frivolous Objections being read and examined, were caſt out of Doors, and the Houſe, in the Afternoon, being put into a general Committee, Seven and thirty of thoſe Paper-Kites ſlew away that ſame day, and were never heard of more. Some of the Members would have repaired the Lord Keeper, and asked him what he would have done to his Adverſaries? Nothing, ſays he, for by this time they have all fretted themſelves into Patience, and ſome of them, perhaps, into Repentance. Which proved even ſo: For many of them came privily to be admitted to his Favour, condemned their own ſcandalous Petitions, and laid it upon a great Name, that they were encouraged to bring them in, whom he caſt off, as a Man would do a beſmeered Dog, that deſiles him with his Fawning. Some, I know, will ſay, Why did he not bring thoſe Caitives to Submiſſion, or to ſome open Diſgrace? Becauſe he had a ſtately Mind; and as Craterus ſaid to Alexander, Cito gloria obſoleſcit in ſordidis hoſtibus, An Eagle will not ſtoop to ſuch Quarry. The better Reaſon is, that he was un-revengeful, content to get the Better, and no longer diſpleaſed with thoſe he overcame. Yes, but they would not have ſerv'd him ſo, very likely; but the Folly of brutiſh Men is not to be imitated, but contemned.

197. There are two that impleaded him for wand of Juſtice, who are more remarkable than others. There was one Morley, a Woodmonger, that kept a Warf in Fleet-Street, an Oppreſſor of the Court of Chancery, with Bills of all ſorts, for many Years. If any ask how long he had been in Law, I anſwer, as the Father in the Goſpel anſwered our Saviour, How long the evil Spirit had haunted his Son, foreign, of a Child, Mark. 9.41. Morley obſerving that Seven and thirty Venturers had loſt their Labour in the Houſe of Commons, printed his Caſe, and preferred it to the Lords, wherein he did not ſpare to defame the Lord Keeper. The Grave and Learned Biſhop of Oxon Doctor H. was buſie in diſperſing theſe Petitions. The Biſhop had commenced a Suit againſt Sir H. Martin, for ſome Demeſus lying in Bray Pariſh, in the County of Berks, wherein he had not Satisfaction to his Deſire, by this Man's Decree, which wrought upon his Anger to do this Office, not befitting one Biſhop againſt another; but as Nazian. deplores it, Orat. ad 150 Epiſc. foreign. Prelates prove Anti-prelates one to another, ſometimes upon ſmall Occaſions. But Morley was paſt Redemption for his Impudency, and was Condemned by the upper Houſe to an infamous Puniſhment. For whoſe Pardon the Lord Keeper ſued, but with no Succeſs; their Lordſhips telling him plainly, That they would not be entreated in ſuch a Varlets Behalf. Crates, as Laertius relates it, was wounded in the Face by Nicodromus, a Fidler: To divulge the Injury, Crates clapt a Paper upon his own Forehead, like a Plaiſter, and wrote upon it in great Letters, haec fecit p. 192Nicodromus: Nicodromus had given him that Mark. A moſt hair-brain'd Revenge for a ſerious Philoſopher to take. But the Keeper made ſlight of the ſcratch that Morley had given him, and interceded for the Delinquent, that his Forehead might not carry a White-Paper upon it in the Pillory. But he was one of a hard Deſtiny, and the Shame could not be ſhunned: Of which Grief Morley died within a Year after, and on his Death-bed proteſted to a Reverend Divine, by what mighty Authority he was ſet on. Which took with all Mens Belief that heard it; except this Lord, who was moſt concern'd.

198. All theſe Aſſays did more good than harm: For Innocency will ſtand its Ground the better when it hath wreſtled with Antagoniſts. Linum Orchomenium ſemper injuriâ fit melius, ſays Pliny, l. 19. N. H. The Flax growing in ſome Fields of Baeotia, the worſe you uſe it the better it thrives. So the Lord Keeper had as much Succeſs in theſe Combats, as he could wiſh; for all gave him Honour by the Invalidity of their Oppoſition. There was one more that hunted him cloſe, Sed tergo decut it haſtas. Aen. li. 10. It was a Lady, but a Virago; And Abimelech would be loth to have it ſaid, that he periſht by the Hand of a Woman, Jud. 9.54. It was the Lady Darcies Charge, which was the moſt dangerous that aemulous Power could raiſe againſt him. For it was upon the ſtopping of an Original Writ, which is every Mans Inheritance, and the only way by which the Subjects wrongs are to be redreſſed, and theſe of courſe are iſſued out of the Court of Chancery, which gives occaſion to that Maxim in the Law, Nemo recedit à Cancellariâ ſine remedio. The Caſe came to this Head. The Rectory of Sutton in the County of Surry was void by the Death of the Incumbent. The Right of Donation was in Mr. Ed. Darcy, but under Age, and the Kings Ward. The Lord Keeper preſents to the Rectory in the Kings Title, Jure minoris Aetatis, and his Clerk had Inſtitution and Induction before ever the Lady Darcy, Mother to Mr. Edward, and Mr. George Wilmore, Guardians for the Minor, brought their Claim. The Lady Mother, (for Mr. Wilmore ſtirr'd not) allegeth that ſhe had compounded for the Wardſhip of her Son, and had procured in her Compoſition the Donation of that Living; which neither was ſo, nor ought to have been granted both to the prejudice of the Lord Keeper, and the Maſter of the Wards. She tries to enforce her Right by way of Quare impedit; which was the right way to Commence her Suit, and to try her Title. The Lord Keeper Commands the Officer not to iſſue forth the Writ, it being ſo appointed under the Kings Signet, as it followeth.

To Our Truſty and Well-Beloved Counſellor the Lord Keeper, &c.

WHereas Our Chaplain Dr. Grant is preſented by Us to the Rectory ofSutton, by Reaſon of the Minority of E. Darcy our Ward, and is threatned to be Moleſted by a Suit at Law, by Reaſon of a Title derived alſo from Us, and Our Court of Wards by the ſame Right; Theſe are to Will and Require you, that, to avoid all Cauſeleſs Moleſtations of Our ſaid Chaplain, and all Claſhing of Juriſdictions between theſe Our two Courts, you ſtay any Quare impedit that ſhall be Sued forth in this kind. And this ſhall be your Warrant ſo to do, &c.

Sept. 6. 1621.

When theſe Proceedings were Canvaſs'd in the Houſe of Commons, the Lord Keeper makes Anſwer;

Firſt, That the Lady Darcy had no Injury done to her in her Title.

Nor, Secondly, Any Injury by the Quare impedit.

And Thirdly, Though it bad a ſhew of Injury, the Court of Chancery was bound to proceed ſo, leaſt it ſhould do it ſelf a greater Injury.

To the former he declares, That the Lady Darcy, and G. Wilmore Ex. Committees of the Kings Ward, took a Leaſe from the King of the Wards Lands, under the Seal of the Court of Wards. And by other Indentures of the ſame date Covenanted with the King as followeth. That if any Spiritual Promotion belonging to the ſaid Heir happen to be Void, before he come and be of his full Age of Twenty one years, that then the ſaid Committees, or their Aſſigns, ſhall, within one Month next after Knowledge by them had of any ſuch Diſcent or Vacation, give knowledge thereof to the ſaid Maſter and Council of the Court of Wards, ſo as the Kings moſt Gracious Pleaſure may be known for the juſt Order and Diſpoſition of the ſame. And there is another Proviſo in the Leaſe to the like Effect, with ſome Alteration, that the Allowance of the Maſter and Council of the Court of Wards be had, for a ſit, and apt Clerk to be preferred p. 193to the ſame. Hence it plainly appears by the ſaid Covenant, and Proviſo, that the ſaid Committees, as to the Advouſon of the Church of Sutton, belonging to the ſaid Ward, are but Leſſees in Truſt, to preſent ſuch a Clerk to the ſame, as the King, or the Maſter and Council of the Court of Wards for the King, ſhall Name or Appoint. Then it is Pregnant, That the Clerk being refuſed, whom the Lady offered to the Rectory without the Kings Conſent, &c. no Injuſtice is offered.

199. He rejoyns to the Second, That the ſaid Church being become Void, the Lord Keeper by Virtue of his Place, as time out of mind hath been uſed, preſented Dr. Grant the Kings Chaplain in his Majeſties Name. The Maſter of the Wards preſented likewiſe. Dr. Wilſon, in the Kings Name, to the ſame Church: But Dr. Grant was firſt preſented, admitted, and Dr. Wilſon gave way. After both theſe, the Committees preſent their Clerk in their own Name, and pray a Quare Impedu to remove the Kings Clerk, and to have their own Clerk admitted in his room. This Quare Impedit, by the Kings Commandment to the Lord Keeper, was denied them. For which much is alledged. Lands in Queſtion in Chancery were Decreed by the Lord Ellſmore to Peacock, in Equity againſt Revell, who had a good Title in Law. Revell would have had an Original Writ of Aſſiſe againſt Peacock, to have recover'd the Lands from him by Law. The Writ was denied him by the Lord Ellſmore. If Revell would have made a Leaſe, or a Feoffment to any Friend in truſt, which Friend would have ſued for an Original Writ, to have recover'd the Land, the Writ might as well be denied to him, as to Revell himſelf. So the Maſter of the Wards preſented a Clerk to the Church of Sutton in the Kings Name, before the Lord Darcy preſented: If that Clerk would have ſued for a Quare Impedit in the Kings Name, the Lord Keeper by the Kings Appointment might have denied the Writ. And by the ſame Reaſon may he in like manner deny the Writ to the Lady Darcy, who as to the Advouſon is but a Leſſee in truſt, to preſent ſuch a Clerk, as the Maſter of the Wards for the King ſhall name: As by the Covenant and Proviſo in the Leaſe doth appear. If Lands in Queſtion in the Chancery be, by Order of the Court by both Parties conveyed to one of the Six Clerks in truſt, that he ſhall convey the ſame, as the Court ſhall Order upon the hearing of the Cauſe, who refuſeth to convey the Land according to the truſt, and prayeth a Writ of Aſſiſe to recover the Land from him, to whom the Court hath order'd the ſame, (for the truſt appears as plainly to the Court, as in the Caſe of a Decree;) This Writ may be denied. So the Lady Darcy being a Leſſee of the Advouſon in truſt to preſent ſuch a Clerk as the King, or the Court of Wards ſhall name or allow of, if ſhe will preſent a Clerk of her own, contrary to the truſt repoſed in her, and ſue for a Quare Impedit to remove the Clerk preſented by the King, and to put in her own choice, this Writ by the Kings Appointment may be denied her; for the truſt appears of Record. So if Bonds be taken of a Defendant in Chancery in the Name of a Maſter of the Chancery, with Condition to perform the Order or Decree of the Court: The Court Decrees Money to be paid by the Defendant to the Plaintiff at a Day, who pays the ſame the next Day after, which the Plaintiff accepts, and the Court allows of. If the Maſter of Chancery will pray an Original Writ of Debt upon this Bond, to recover the Money to his own uſe, this Writ may be denied him. The Lord Ellſmore preſented a Clerk in the Kings Name Ratione Minoris AEtatis; The Lady Mordant pretended Title to preſent, and having four Feoffees in truſt of the Mannor or Lands, to which the Advouſon did belong, as ſhe pretended, would have had four Writs of Quare Impedit againſt the Kings Clerk, in the Names of her four Feoffees ſeverally. The Lord Ellſmore denied them all. There are many more Precedents to be ſhewed in like Caſes, where Original Writs have been denied.

200. Yet ſince it is to be done with great Tenderneſs and Diſcretion, and ſeldom or never, but when it appears that one Injury muſt be prevented neceſſarily with another, he declares, Thirdly, That the Lady Darcy's Proceedings thruſt in ſo dangerouſly between two great Courts, that ordinary Juſtice could not but be denied her, for fear an extraordinary Difference ſhould be raiſed between the ſaid Courts, being thus laid open. When the Lord Ellſmore was Lord Chancellor, and Robert Earl of Salisbury Maſter of the Wards, there fell out a Conteſtation between theſe two Potent Lords, whoſe Right it was to preſent to the Wards Livings, which were under Value of 20 l. in the Firſt-Fruit-Office: And the Contention grew ſo inſoluble, that King James, with all his Pacificous Wiſdom, could not readily light upon a way to reconcile it. Yet at the laſt it was compounded thus, That which ſoever of thoſe two Officers ſhould firſt preſent to ſuch a Benefice, his p. 194Preſentation ſhould be Valid for the Poſſeſſion of the Living. If both Preſentations ſhould come together to the Biſhop, (which perhaps would not happen in an Age) then there was Caſus pro amico on the Biſhop's behalf, as the Canoniſts ſpeak. This Agreement had continued amicably to that very Day, and was then in danger to be infring'd. For if a Suit had commenced, as the Lady deſired, the Lord Keeper could not avoid to charge the Court of Wards with Fraudulency, in paſſing away the Donations of Livings in the Compoſitions for Wards, which was a pre-occupating, or rather plain deluding of the Patronage, which was in the Lord Keeper by the Agreement. Wherefore he waves the ſtrong and full defence he had made upon the ſtopping of an Original Writ, and deprecates all offence by that Maxim of the Law, which admits of a miſchief rather than an inconvenience. Which was as much as to ſay, That he thought it a far leſs Evil, to do the Lady the probability of an Injury, (in her own ſenſe) than to ſuffer thoſe two Courts to claſh together again, and fall into a new Diſpute about their Juriſdiction, which might have produc'd a publick inconvenience, which is moſt carefully to be avoided. This Plea ſatisfied the Houſe and cleared him in the general Opinion; or as ſome Interpreted, excus'd him rather for his other good Parts, then abſolutely cleared in this intricate Point, as Livie li. 1. ſays, Horatius eſcaped Sentence by the Voice of the people, becauſe they loved his Perſon, rather then lik'd the Fact upon which he was queſtion'd, Abſolveruntque admiratione magis virtutis, quam jure Cauſae. Yet it goes ſtrongly to juſtifie the Lord Keeper in the Fact, that all the Lawyers in the Houſe did unanimouſly concur to propugn him. And in fine this great complaint produc'd but ſmall Effect, towards that for which it was ſo vigorouſly follow'd. The cloſe of all is the beſt part of the Story. The Lady Darcy, ever impotent in her Paſſions, and the more in this Caſe, becauſe ſhe could not endure the Calling, and hated the Honour of a Biſhop, was even diſtracted with Anger, that ſhe was croſs'd in her will; whom the L. Keeper mitigated with ſuch Sweetneſs and Generoſity, that ſhe came out of her froward Mood, and confeſs'd ſhe had had no cauſe to be his Enemy. In the inſtance whilſt the Cauſe was hot in Agitation, he ſent to her Ladyſhip to let her know, That if ſhe would accept of the Living from him, and in his Right he would diſpoſe of Dr. Grant in ſome other Place, and preſent her Clerk Mr. Glover. But her Ladyſhip would not hearken; her thoughts were too high; for the cauſe was depending, ſhe hop'd to obtain it with Dr. Grant's Ejection, and his Patrons Ruin. After all was cleared againſt her, and ſhe found her ſelf at a loſs of her expectation, the Lord Keeper ſent to her upon the Old Terms, That if ſhe would ſubmit to have right done her in the right way, and take the preſentation from him; let her ſend the Man to him for whom ſhe had contended in vain, and it ſhould be effected; which ſhe accepted of very gladly, when neceſſity had taught her Wiſdom, and a milder Temper. In all this his Lordſhip ſhew'd that he had no particular Spleen againſt the Lady, not the leaſt aim to oppreſs her with his Power, but his Scope was to preſerve the Juriſdiction of his Court (in which he was ever ſtiff and unvanquiſhable) and when that was acknowledg'd, it was an Heroick Spirit in him to paſs by a moſt violent proſecution, as if it had never concern'd it. It was an Object ſit to prove all the dimenſions of Chriſtian forgiveneſs. For what more true then that of Pliny to Sabinianus; as I have cited it before, Ep. lib. 9. Tune praecipua manſuetudinis laus, cum …rae cauſa juſtiſſima eſt; What more Charitable, then not only not to return Offence for Offence, but to make a beneficent Requital? For he found that Yoke of Chriſt eaſie to him, which is ſo heavy to others, Do good to them that deſpitefully entreat you. Matth. 5.45.

201. Let all now be drawn up into a Word; no Garland could look more freſh upon a Magiſtrates Head then this, that being narrowly look'd into by the Eyes of all the Kngdom, nothing was amiſs, nothing out of Frame in all his Carriage; which Credit ſtuck ſo cloſe to him in the next Parliament, in which he ſtill kept the Great Seal, That not ſo much as a Dog did open his Mouth againſt him, Judith 11.19. Nor was awak'd out of ſecurity with the leaſt Whiſper of a Grievance. Yet I am as ready to ſay it as another, that to be acquit from having done no ill, is a Teſtimony of harmleſs, not of fruitful Honeſty. I admire Coriolanus for that Elogy in Halicarn: Vix inter virtutes numeravit innocentiam. He ſcarce reckon'd Innocency for a Virtue. Innocency is none of the Artillery of Virtue, with which it tries and ſhews it's ſtrength, but only a privy Coat, to keep a Man from being Wounded. I bring him forth therefore from this ſhade into the light of Action, in an inſtance wherein he did ſo well, that it will break forth, that p. 195he had a Wit which was ſuch a ſudden Architect of Deviſes, ſo apt in a pleaſant cunning, ſo full of Pit-falls to catch the Bird he would ſnare, yet not to hurt it, as never a Head-piece in this Nation could overtake him in that ingenuity. And the ſucceſs ſuited with the Stratagem, Fortune favouring it to the help of his beſt Friends, the continuation of a Happy Parliament, and the enlightning of his Majeſty who was ſtricken far into Melancholly by a perſidious contrivance, and illegitimate, born in an ill day in the Spaniſh Embaſſadors Houſe; which Family was vext to the Gall, becauſe their Nation was curried in Parliament, and moſt of all, that the Match, the Treaty, and Friendſhip with them, were handled there, as the Prince and Duke had ſet them on, with ſharp and declamatory diſdeigns. Therefore they caſt about to infect the King with an ill opinion of the Proceedings and the perſons; and like deſperate men, they look'd for Redreſs from Malice, and ſafety from Confuſion. Nothing did put them by their Piots ſo long, as that they had not the freedom to ſpeak with his Majeſty, and could never get an Audience in the Abſence of Buckingham: So that Sir W. Aſton writes, That it was complain'd in Spain, that Marq. Inoioſa hath lately advertis'd hither, that he hath ſeveral times deſir'd to have private Audience with his Majeſty, and hath not been able to procure any, but what your Grace aſſiſts at, Cab. p. …. But after this Parliament had fate ſeven Weeks, and touſed their matters ſufficiently, that Marqueſs, with Don Carlo de Colonna, came adventurouſly to White-Hall, and outreach'd the Spies that watch'd them. For while Don Carlo held the Prince and Duke with earneſt Diſcourſe, Inoioſa put a Paper into the King's Hand, and made a ſign with a Wink of his Eye, that his Majeſty would thruſt it into his Pocket, which was done, and not diſcern'd. Nothing can be more broken and imperfect; or more corrupt in time and other circumſtances, then what is Entred into the Cabal. p. …7. and p. 90. out of this Paper. There was a worſe Pad in the Straw then is there diſcover'd, or elſe Inoioſa, that juggled the Paper into the Kings Hand, had not been ſo roundly check'd by the Lords of the Privy Counſel. And if for his part he put no more into the Paper, then to procure his Secretary private Acceſs to the King to tell Tales, it would not have been diſputed whether he ſhould be deveſted of the Privileges of an Embaſſador; or whether the Speakers of both Houſes then ſitting ſhould call him to an Account. But he that is confeſt in the Cabal to be the Pioneer that blew up the Mine, and found out the Plot, hath leſt a Note of the particulars in the Paper ſo Tragical and Scandalous, that certainly the Spaniſh Don would never have ſtufft it with them, Si unquam jub legum ac judiciorum poteſtatem ſe caſurum putaſſet, as Tully ſaid of Verres, Act. 7. If he had ever dreamt to be Confronted for them, and brought Face to Face.

Firſt, He ter…iſies the King, that he was not, nor could be acquainted with the Paſſages either of the Parliament, or of his own Court; for he was kept from all faithful Servants that would inform him, by the Miniſters of the Prince and Duke; and that he was a Priſoner as much as King John of France in England, or King Francis and Madrid, and could not be ſpoken with, but before ſuch as watch'd him.

Secondly, That there was a ſtrong and violent Machination in hand, which had turn'd the Prince, a moſt Obedient Son before, to a quite contrary Courſe to his Majeſties Intentions.

Thirdly, That the Counſel began laſt Summer at Madrid, but was lately ripen'd and reſolv'd in England, to reſtrain his Majeſty from the Exerciſe of the Government of his three Kingdoms; and that the Prince and the Duke had deſign'd ſuch Commiſſioners under themſelves, as ſhould intend great Affairs and the Publick Good.

Fourthly, That this ſhould be effected by beginning of a War, and keeping ſome Troops and Companies on Foot in this Land, whereby to conſtrein His Majeſty to yield to any thing; chiefly being brought into Streits for want of Monies to pay Souldiers.

Fifthly, That the Prince and Duke incloſing his Majeſty from the ſaid Embaſſador, and other of his own Loyal People, that they might not come near him in private, did Argue in them a fear and diſtruſt of a good Conſcience.

Sixthly, That the Emiſſaries of the Duke had brought his Majeſty into Contempt with the Potent Men of the Realm, traducing him for ſlothful and unactive, for addiction to an inglorious Peace, while the inheritance of his Daughter and her Children are in the Hands of his Foes; and that this appear'd by a Letter which the Duke had writ into Holland, and they had intercepted.

p. 196Seventhly, That his Majeſties Honour, Nay, his Crown and Safety did depend upon a ſudden Diſſolution of the Parliament.

Eighthly, They Loaded the Duke with ſundry miſdemeanors in Spain, and his violent Oppoſition of the Match.

Ninthly, That the Duke had divulged the King's Secrets, and the cloſe Deſigns between his Majeſty, and their Maſter K. Philip, about the States of Holland, and their Provinces; and labour'd to put his Majeſty out of the good Opinion of the Hollanders.

Tenthly, That the Duke was guilty of moſt corrupt dealing with the Embaſſadors of divers Princes.

Eleventhly, That all things were carried on in the Parliament; with a headlong Violence, and that the Duke was the Cauſe of it, who courted them only that were of troubled Humours.

Twelfthly, That ſuch Bitterneſs, and Ignominies were vented againſt the King of Spain in Parliament, as was utterly againſt all good Manners, and the Honour of the Engliſh Nation.

Thirteenthly, Is a flat Contradiction to the Precedents, wherein they made the Prince privy to dangerous things; yet in this they ſay, That the Puritans, (of whom the Duke was Head) did wiſh they could bring it about, that the Succeſſion of the Kingdom might come to the Prince Palatine, and his Children in Right of the Lady Elizabeth.

Thus lay the Notes of the Lord Keeper. This is the Dirt which the Swallows, or rather unclean Birds pickt up, and made their Neſt of it. And this is not all. But that which remains ſhall be burnt in the Fire.

Latere ſemper patere quod latuit diu.

Saepè eruentis veritas patuit malo.

Senec. in Aedipo.

In a Poſtſcript the Paper prayed the King, That Don Franciſco Carondelet, Secretary to Marqueſs Inoioſa, might be brought to the King, when the Prince and Duke were ſitting in the Upper Houſe, to ſatisfie ſuch doubts as the King might Raiſe; which was perform'd by the Earl of Kelly, who watch'd a fit Seaſon for Franciſco at one time, and for Padre Maeſtro the Jeſuit at another time; who told their Errand ſo ſpitefully, that the King was much troubled at their Relations.

202. He that ſays (U. Sanderſon, P. 562.) that not a day paſt, but that he was preſent, and acquainted with all the Tranſaction (of theſe pernicious Delators) to the end, ſhould have ſaid, he knew it at the end, when the Monſter was brought to light; then his Hiſtory indeed will juſtifie it ſelf, that it did not ſtartle the King. But his Majeſty's Sorrow increaſed, while it was ſmothered; and Fear ſet in apace, till a wiſe Remonſtrance reſiſted it. And it was no Wonder that he was abuſed a while, and dim ſighted with a Character of Jealouſie: For the Parliament was about to land him in a new World, to begin and maintain a War, who thought that ſcarce any Miſchief was ſo great, as was worth a War to mend it. Wherein the Prince did deviate from him, as likewiſe in Affection to the Spaniſh Alliance, but otherwiſe promiſed nothing but Sweetneſs and Obedience. He ſtuck at the Duke moſt of all, whom he defended in part to one of the Spaniſh Miniſters; yet at the ſame time complained, that he had noted a turbulent Spirit in him of late, and knew not how to mitigate it. Thus caſting up the Sum, he doubted it might come to his own Turn to pay the Reckoning. The Setters on expected that their Pill could not chooſe but have a moſt violent Operation. And it wrought ſo far, that his Majeſty's Countenance fell ſuddenly, that he muſed much in Silence, that he entertained the Prince and Duke with myſtical and broken Speeches. From whence they gathered all was not right; and queſting for Intelligence, they both heard that the Spaniſh Secretary, and the Jeſuit Maeſtro had been with him, and underſtood that ſome in the Ambaſſador's Houſe had vaunted, that they had netled the Duke, and that a Train would take Fire ſhortly to blow up the Parliament. While his Majeſty was gnawn with this Perplexity, he prepared for Windſor, to ſhift Ground for ſome better Eaſe in this Unreſt, and took Coach at St. James's-Houſe-Gate in the end of April, being Saterday Afternoon. He received his Son into the Coach, and ſound a ſlight Errand to leave Buckingham behind; as he was putting his Foot in the Boot, which brought Tears from him, and an humble Prayer, that his Majeſty would let him know, what could be laid to his Charge, to offend ſo gracious a Maſter, and vowed it, by the Name of his Saviour, to purge it, or confeſs it. The King did not ſatisfie him in it; it ſeems p. 197the time of Detection in his deep Judgment was not come, and he had charged all that were privy to the Occaſion to be very ſecret. Cab. P. 77. But he breathed out this Diſguſt, That he was the Unhappieſt alive, to be forſaken of them that were deareſt to him; which was uttered and received with Tears from his own Eyes, as well as the Prince's and Duke's, whom he left behind, and made haſt with his Son for Windſor. The Lord Keeper ſpared not for Coſt, to purchaſe the moſt certain Intelligence of thoſe that were his feed Penſioners of every hours Occurrencies at Court; and was wont to ſay, That no man could be a Stateſman without a great deal of Money. Of this which had hapned, his Scout related preſently what he could ſee, for he heard little. Which News were no ſooner brought, but he ſought out the Duke at Wallingford-Houſe, and had much ado to be admitted to him in his ſad Retirement: Whom he found laid upon a Couch, in that immoveable Poſture, that he would neither riſe up, nor ſpeak, though he was invited to it twice or thrice by courteous Queſtions. The Lord Keeper gave his Grace the Faith of a deep Proteſtation, that he came purpoſely to prevent more Harm, and to bring him out of that Sorrow into the Light of the King's Favour. That he verily believed God's directing Hand was in it, to ſtir up his Grace to advance him to thoſe Honours which he poſſeſs'd, to do him Service at this Pinch of Extremity. He beſought his Grace to make haſte for Windſor, and to ſhew himſelf to his Majeſty before Supper was ended; to deport himſelf with all amiable Addreſſes, not to ſtir from his Perſon Night nor Day. For the Danger was, that ſome would thruſt themſelves in, to puſh on his Majeſty to break utterly with the Parliament; and the next Degree of their Hope, was, upon that Diſſolution, to ſee his Grace committed to the Tower, and then God knows what would follow. The Keeper adjured his Lordſhip to lock up this in his own Breaſt, which was imparted as charily to him, as under the Seal of Secrecy; but to be quick and Judicious in the Prevention, more was not to be ſaid, becauſe loſs of time might looſe all. The Duke parted with many Thanks, and lingred not but came to Windſor, before he was look'd for. Though he ſuſpected not ſo much Evil; yet he knew the Danger might be the worſe for being contemned. Nihil tuto in hoſte deſpicitur. Quem ſpreveris valentio rem negligent iâ facies. Curt. lib. 6.

903. No doubt but all this was diſclos'd to the Prince. foreign, ſays Eurip. in Oenomao; we conjecture at unevident things by that which is evident. The Duke ſtirr'd not from Windſor, but waited on his Majeſty, and was inſeparable as his ſhadow. The Prince was early at the Lords Houſe, before their Lordſhips began to ſit on Munday Morning. His buſineſs was with the Lord Keeper, whom he took aſide into a Lobby, and proteſted how well it pleas'd him, that he had given Buckingham faithful warning for his ſafety; And you, ſays his Highneſs, that have gone thus far, may receive greater Thanks of us both, if you will ſpread open this black contrivance, which hath loſt him the Good Opinion of my Father, and my ſelf am in little better Condition. Sir ſays the Lord Keeper, Let my Soul ſuffer for falſhood, if I know any more, than that ſome in the Spaniſh Embaſſador's Houſe have been preparing miſchief, and infuſed it about four days ſince into his Majeſty. But the Curtain of Privacy is drawn before the Picture, that I cannot gueſs at the Colours. Well my Lord, ſays the Prince, I expected better Service from you; for if that be the Picture-Drawers ſhop, no Counſelior in this Kingdom is better acquainted then your ſelf with the Works, and the Workmen. I might have been, ſays the Keeper, and I am pang'd like a Wom…n in Travail, till I know what miſhapen Creature they are Drawing. But your Highneſs and my Lord Duke have made it a Crime to ſend unto that Houſe, and they are afraid to do it, who are commanded from his Majeſty. It is a Month ſince I have forbidden the Servants of that Family to come at me. But, ſays the Prince, I will make that Paſſage open to you again without Offence; and Enterpriſe any way to bring us out of this Wood, wherein we are loſt. Only, before we part, keep not from me, how you came to know, or imagin that the Spaniſh Agents have Charged Buckingham to my Father, with High Miſdemeanors, or perhaps Diſloyalty. I would hear you to that Point, that I may compare it with other Parcels of my Intelligence. Sir, ſays the Keeper, I will go on directly with you. Another perhaps would Bluſh, when I tell you with what Heifer I Plow; but knowing mine Innocency, the worſt that can happen is to expoſe my ſelf to be Laugh'd at. Your Highneſs hath often ſeen the Secretary Don Franciſco Carondelet. He loves me, becauſe he is a Scholar; for he is Arch-Deacon of Cambray. And ſometimes we are pleaſant together, for he is a Wallcon by Birth, and not a Caſtilian. I have diſcover'd him to be a Wanton, and a Servant to ſome of our Engliſh Beauties, but above all p. 196duplicate page p. 197duplicate page p. 198to one of that gentle Craft in Mark-Lane. A Wit ſhe is, and one that muſt be Courted with News and Occurrences at home and abroad, as well as with Gifts. I have a Friend that hath brib'd her in my Name, to ſend me a faithful conveyance of ſuch Tidings as her Paramour Carondelet brings to her. All that I inſtructed the Duke in, came out of her Chamber. And ſhe hath well earn'd a piece of Plate or two from me, and ſhall not be unrecompenced for this Service, about which your Highneſs doth uſe me, if the Drab can help me in it. Truly, Sir, this is my Dark Lahthorn, and I am not aſham'd to inquire of a Dalilah to Reſolve a Riddle; for in my Studies of Dlvinity I have glean'd up this Maxim, Licet uti alieno peccato; though the Devil make her a Sinner, I may make good uſe of her Sin. Yea, ſays the Prince Merrily, do you deal in ſuch Ware? 'In good Faith Sir, ſays the Keeper, I never ſaw her Face. So this Conference Ended.

204. The Lord Keeper took his Place in the Lords Houſe to moderate Affairs as Speaker. But all the while his Fancy was Whiſtling to another Tune, how he might play his Game diſcreetly: He held the Prince his Cards, and would not for his Life that he ſhould looſe. He had well conſider'd, and brought the Caſe to this Touch ſtone of Judgment, that he ſhould never know how the whole Scene had been Acted but by Secretary Franciſco He had requeſted him to refrain his houſe above the whole ſpace of a Month. If he ſent for him on even Terms, nothing would run freely from him. Well fare a good Invention, or a good Genius that prompted him. For a knack came into his Head, to fetch Franciſco to him without any invitation, as if a Conjurer had brought him in a Whirl-wind So he becken'd to a Servant, and bad him, that his Purſivant Captain Toothbie ſhould wait him without fail, as ſoon as the Houſe was up: The Purſivant at that hour took punctual Directions from him to ſeize upon an Engliſh Maſs-Prieſt, lodg'd in Drury …me, Named and Deſcrib'd exactly (for he had the Art to fetch ſuch a Fowl or twain out of the Coope at an hours warning) to receive him without any Noiſe into his Cuſtody; and upon Entreaty (as that, and proffer of Mony would not be wanting) to carry him to his own Houſe, till further Order, and not to the common Goal. The Prieſt was apprehended and laid up: The Man that was dearer to Franciſco (which the Lord Keeper know) then his own Confeſſor, or any of that Coat; which made him wild when he heard of the miſchance; for he knew the Law, and how hard it would be to ſave his Life, if he came to be Tried at the Seſſions, the Parliament then Sitting. He was in a fort baniſh'd from the Keepers Houſe, and he a poor Stranger knew not to whom elſe to turn him, to implore Mercy in his Friends behalf. Howſoever he ſaw it was no time to obſerve the Niceneſs of Modeſty, but ſent his Requeſt to the Lord Keeper to be admitted that day, though he ſhould never ſee his Face again. With a ſeeming unwillingneſs it was allowed him, keeping a cautious limit, not to make his Viſit till Eleven of the Clock that Night, and by the back door of the Garden, where a Servant ſhould receive him. He came at his hour, and being brought into a Gallery, fell into an abrupt Exordium, That nothing but a matter as dear unto him as his Life, ſhould have forced him to break Rule to Offend his Lordſhip with his Preſence. So he bewailed the diſaſter of his Confrere's Attachment, and moſt paſſionately implor'd his Lordſhip to compaſs him Enlargment. And would you have me, ſays the Keeper, run ſuch a hazard, to ſet a Prieſt at Liberty, a Dead Man by our Statutes, when the Eye of the Parliament is ſo vigilant upon the breach of Juſtice, eſpecially in this kind, to the ſadding of our Godly Men, who deteſt them that creep hither out of Seminaries, above all Malefactors, becauſe they come with an intent to pervert them, who have lived in the Boſom of our Church. My Lord, ſays Franciſco (and accented his Words with paſſionate Geſture) let not the dread of this Parliament trouble you, I can tell you, if you have not heard it, that it is upon Expiration. By this hint the Keeper was got into the Out-Works of the Project, and play'd ſo Artificially with the Secretary, that he took the Main Fortreſs. Pick'd out of him at that time, the Heads of all the Articles in the Paper, with all Reaſons, Circumſtances, diſtorted Proofs, and Expoſitions to confirm them. The Copy of the main Paper, ſcratched in ſome places with Don Carlo Colonna's Hand (for the Keeper knew his Writing) was not brought him till four Nights after. He had enough of their Brewing at the firſt running; for he kept Don Carendelet till two of the Clock in the Morning, and let him not part, till he had ſqueez'd him dry. But to gratifie his Information, he call'd for the Purſivant, a Reſerve at Hand, and bad him immediately Releaſe the Prieſt, with Caution that he ſhould croſs the Seas that Day, or the next, that he might not p. 199be produced to Confront, if the matter ſhould come to Light to be queſtion'd. So the Lord Keeper and Don Franciſco parted with much ſhew of Love, each having obtain'd that which they met for. Some that will make us believe, that they are very ſcrupulous and Conſcientious, will ſnuff at ſomewhat related, as if it were not plain dealing; but it is as good; for it is harmleſs Policy; 'tis profitable and Pleaſant. Et iſta quidem ſine noxâ decipiunt: Quo modo praeſtigiatorum acetabula & calculi; in quibus me fallacia ipſa delectat: They that do Feats with ſlight of hand, delude us, and pleaſe us with their cunning, ſays Seneca. So do men employ'd for the Publick; their Motions may be like the Suns, oblique but regular. Magiſtratus tentat, non decipit. A Magiſtrate may uſe by-ways and pretences, to prove others, not to deceive them. As Solomon did in the Caſe of the two Harlots and the Child, which both challeng'd to be their own.

205. The Story lacks yet the latter Part; the Lord Keeper after the Good Night given to Franciſco, retired to his own Thoughts, and poured the whole Conſerence out of his Memory into his Papers, as if Franciſco had ſtood by to dictate every Line. He was ſo well gifted in a moſt happy Memory, that he forgat nothing, but what he had a mind to forget. He digeſted the ſeverals into a Method, and confected an Antidote for every Poyſon, Chriſtal-clear Anſwers, well weighed in Judgment, to Gag the Spaniſh ill Framed Jealouſies, and as demulcing as ſhortneſs of time would permit, to make all ſweet with the Old King. He ſaw no Sleep that Night with his Eyes, nor ſtirr'd out of the Room till about ſeven in the Morning he had trimm'd up a fair Copy of all the Proceedings, which he preſented to the Prince in St. James's, and told him he had the Viper and her Brood in a Box. His Highneſs Read the Charges, and admir'd at the virulency; with the Anti-ſcripts of the Keeper, which were much commended. So the Coach was called to be made ready for VVindſor. Nay Sir, ſays the Lord Keeper, let your Highneſs be pleas'd to take my Petition along with you; Where is it ſays the Prince? 'In my Mouth ſays He; for I humbly beg, that you will conceal me in all that I have done in this Matter; and as you tender my Life, to keep the knowledge of my ſhare in this from your Father. Vetus Diſciplina regum ſilentium vitae periculo ſanxerat, Curtius; is an Old Rule. I have committed two great Crimes in a Sworn Counſellor.

Firſt, To ſearch into the King's Counſels, which he would not ſhould be open'd.

Secondly, When I had found them out, to diſcover them, though to your Highneſs

The Prince thought there could be no hurt in that, which was good for all perties, yet gave him aſſurance, he ſhould not be drawn out of the Tiring Houſe, to the open Stage. His Highneſs came very chearful to Windſor, and calling Buckingham aſide, reach'd him the Papers, with the counterfeit Brats in one Column, and the Apology in the other Column which daſht them againſt the Wall. The Writing was a Servants, whoſe hand was not known at Court. But the Duke lik'd the whole Bulk extreamly, and moſt humbly thank'd the Prince, that his Caſe was enwoven with his Highneſs, and their double Vindication put into one Frame. And beſought to know what Vitruvius had compacted a Piece of Architecture; of ſuch concinnity, in ſo ſhort a time; but could not obtein it. The Prince and Duke made no longer preparation, but forthwith deſir'd a private hearing with the King, and with a modeſt and comfortable confidence gave up the Schedule to his Majeſty's moſt Excellent Conſideration. He Read all deliberately, and at many ſtops ſaid 'twas well, very well, and an enlivening Spirit Danced in his Eye. Then he drew his Son and Buckingham near to him, and Embraced them, proteſting that it ſorrowed him much, that he had aggrieved them with a Jealouſie ſomented by no better then Traytors. Aſſur'd them the Exhalations were diſpers'd, and their Innocency ſhin'd as Bright as at Noon Day. And that you may know, ſays his Majeſty, How little you ſhall pay me for Reconciliation, I ask no more but to tell me, who is your Ingeneer, that ſtruck theſe Sparks out of the Flint, and lighted the Candle to find the Groat that was loſt. The Prince ſtood Mute: The Duke avowed he knew not the Author. Well ſays the King, I have a good Noſtril, and will Anſwer mine own Queſtion, my Keeper had the main Finger in it, I dare Swear it was he that bolted the Flower, and made it up into this Paiſt. Sir ſays the Prince, I was precluded by my Promiſe not to Reveal him, but I never promis'd to tell a Lye for him. Your Majeſty hath hit the Man. And God do him good for it, ſays the King. I need not tell you both what you owe him for this Service; and he hath done himſelf this Right with me, that I diſcern his ſufficiency more p. 200and more. All this the Prince Related at his next Meeting to the Lord Keeper. This paſſage ſo memorable hath pluck'd on a Prolix Narration for divers Reaſons. It was a ſecret manag'd between few perſons, (though the greateſt) and likely to be buried for ever, unleſs it riſe from the Duſt, where it was ſmother'd, upon this occaſion. It will expound to inquiſitive Men; why, after this time, the old King never retrieved the Spaniſh Match, as if ſuddenly it were ſunk, and ſet beneath the Horizon of his Thoughts; it demonſtrates, why in a year after, being the Firſt of King Charles, there was ſuch Willingneſs in the young King, and ſuch Readineſs in the Duke, to Rigg a great Navy, and to ſend it with Defiance of Hoſtility to Cales; for though the Grandee Inoioſa received a ſharp Rebuke here, to vex his Gorge, and ſuddenly pack'd up his portable Gods, and went to his own Country in a Fume, yet he received no Diſfavour or Frown upon it from the Court of Spain. Nihil nefas eſt malitiae. It tells you what a Stone of Offence was laid before the King, able to make him to Diſſolve the Parliament, juſt upon the Expectation of a happy Winding up, if the Lord Keeper had not removed the Jealouſie away, which is one of the beſt Offices of a Chriſtian; for it is God's own Attribute in the Prophets, to be a Repairer of Breaches. Laſtly, His Wit was in Conjunction with the Safety of his great Friend the Duke, Et vincente Odenato, triumphavit Gallienus, ſays Pollio: The Keeper had Content enough, that the Duke triumphed over thoſe Foes, whom he had vanquiſhed for him.

206. Soon as thoſe Hobgoblins, which haunted the King to fright him, were frighted away themſelves, and the Magicians which conjured them up, were rendered odious, his Majeſty was never in a better Mood to pleaſe his Subjects, and the Subjects in Parliament, never, from that day to this, in ſo dutiful a Frame to pleaſe their Soveraign. Fatebimur regem talibus miniſtris, & illos tanto rege fuiſſe digniſſimos. Curt. l. 4. As Alexander deſerved ſuch brave Commanders under him; ſo they deſerved to be commanded by ſo brave a Prince as Alexander. Their long Counſels, which had been weather bound, came to a quiet Road, and their Veſſel was lighted of thoſe Statutes, which are of immortal Memory. The wiſe Men of thoſe times ask'd for good Laws with Moderation (for Moderation had not yet out-liv'd the Peoples Palate) and they were brought forth with Joy and Gladneſs. And that which was gotten with Peace and Joy, will out-laſt that, were it ten times more, which is extorted in a Hurly-burly. There were no Rents, no Diviſions among the Members, much leſs did the Stronger Part ſpurn out the Weaker. The Voices went all one way, as a Field of Wheat is bended, that's blown with a gentle Gale, One and all. And God did not let a general Concurrence paſs without a general Bleſſing. Sic viritim laboraverunt, quaſi ſumma res ſingulorum manibus teneretur. Nazar. Paneg. The Laws deviſed were confirmed in Cluſters by the Royal Authority. And though one of them, about the ſtrict Keeping of the Sabbath, was then ſtop'd, the Name of Sabbath being unſatisfactory to the King's Mind, yet Amends were made, that the Kingdom had a Sabbath granted it from many Suits and Unquietneſſes. That which Crowned all, was the Pardon, the moſt general that ever was granted, which was the ſooner got, becauſe the Pillars of the Common-wealth had diſcharged their publick Truſt without Offence. The next Seſſion of this Parliament was appointed in April following; and this Seſſion ſhut up with the End of June. The Lord Keeper was not a little joy'd with the ſweet Cloſe of it; for which he had gained a noble Report. —Praeter laudem nullius avarus, Horat. Ar. Poet. And after three years Experience, having now ſpent ſo much time in the High Court of Chancery, his Sufficiency was, not only competent, but as great as might be required in a compleat Judge. He was one of them, in whom Knowledge grew faſter upon him, than his Years. As Tully praiſed Octavius Ceſar, Ex quo judicari poteſt virtutis eſſe quàm aetatis curſum celeriorem, Philip 8. In eminent Perſons, Virtue runs on ſwifter than Age. And it is a Slander (whereof late Writers are very rank in all Kinds) which one hath publiſh'd, that this Man's Succeſſor, the Lord Coventry, reverſed many of his Decrees, and corrected his Errors. I do not blame Lawyers, if they would have us believe, that none is fit for the Office of Chancellor, but one of their own Profeſſion. But let them plead their own Learning, and able Parts, without traducing the Gifts of them, that are excellently ſeen in Theological Caſes of Conſcience, and ſingularly rare in natural Solertiouſneſs. Lord Coventry was a renowned Magiſtrate, and his Honour was the p. 201Honour of the Times, wherein he liv'd, the vaſt Compaſs of that Knowledge wherein he was always bred, and his ſtrong Judgment in ſearching into thoſe Cauſes, did tranſcend his Predeceſſor; yet not to obſcure him, as if he were wanting in that, which was required to his Place. A good Carpenter knows how to frame a Houſe, as well as the Geometer that ſurveyed the Eſcurial. Let me quote a couple of Witneſſes, what they aſſerted herein, and they are rightly produced, as God, the great Witneſs of all things, knows. The Duke of Buckingham, in the beginning of the next Term, at Michaelmas, perſwaded the Lord Chief Juſtice Hobart, either to deliver it to the King with his own Mouth, or to ſet it under his Hand, that Lord Williams was not ſit for the Keeper's Place, becauſe of his Inabilities and Ignorance; and that he would undertake thereupon, to caſt the Complained out, and himſelf ſhould ſucceed him. My Lord, ſays Reverend Hobart, ſomewhat might have been ſaid at the firſt; but he ſhould do the Lord Keeper great Wrong that ſaid ſo now. After this Grave and Learned Lord, I bring forth Mr. G Evelin, one of the Six Clerks, and, in his time, the beſt Head-piece of the Office, who delighted to divulge it, as many yet living know, that Lord Keeper Williams had the moſt towring, ſublime Wit that he ever heard ſpeak; magnified his Decrees, as hitting the White in all Cauſes, and never miſſing. That Lord Coventry did ſeldom after any thing he had ſetled before him, but upon new Preſumptions, and ſpake of him always in Court with due Praiſe, and Juſtification of his Tranſactions. He that hath inſinuated the contrary, aiming to do Honour to none, but to the Students of the Laws, hath run out of the Ring. And is it not honeſter to ſay nothing, than to go about to do good with a Miſchief?

207. And that Man might ſee better to do Juſtice, who would never receive a Bribe to blind his Eyes, 1 Sam. 12.3. This was known, not only to me a Domeſtick, but to all that walked the Streets; who were informed, what Repulſes they had, who tempted him with Gratifications. This I am ſure of, as I know what is ſweet by mine own Taſt, and by the common Opinion. One thing I will remember, not becauſe it is of great Moment, but becauſe it is pleaſant. His Lordſhip being retired to Nonſuch in the Summer, took the Air in the great Park; and viewing from one of the Hills, the little Village of Malden, he eſpied a Church new built, and asked at whoſe Charge it was done. Mr. George Minors, that attended him, told him who was the greateſt Benefactor. And hath he not a Suit now depending in Chancery? ſays the Keeper. The very ſame, ſays the other. And the very ſame, ſays the Keeper, ſhall not fare the worſe for building of Churches. Which being related by Mr. Minors to his Neighbour, the Gentleman the next Morning ſent a Taſt of the Fruits of his Orchard, and of the Poultry in his Yard, to Nonſuch-Houſe. Nay, carry them back George, ſays the Keeper, and tell your Friend, he ſhall not fare the better for ſending of Preſents. If any were ſo uncharitably ſuſpitious, that this Lord ſold Juſtice for Gold or Silver, though not for meaner things, and gathered where he ſhould not, there could be no Ground to ſurmiſe it; but becauſe he ſcattered much. For he was magnificent in great Works, profuſe in Hoſpitality, very expenſive in Liberality to poor Scholars, and decay'd Perſons. To maintain all this, he had plenty coming in, which wanted not the Art of good Husbandry to lay it out. He was as Provident, as he was Bountiful. He never feaſted the King, and very rarely exhauſted himſelf upon Courtiers in laviſh Entertainments. But according to the honeſt, and thrifty Rule of Caſſiodor, Fundit potiùs qui mittit in plenum: & illud reconditur, quod vaſis vacuis congregatur. He ſpread not out his Compoſt upon rich Soil, but upon hungry Land. He gave ſo faſt to Scholars, that it was not poſſible his Leſt-hand ſhould know what his Right-hand did. Quod momentum aut beneficio ſterile? Aut vacuum laude? Plin. Paneg. If they were young, he did it to encourage them; if aged, to reward them. And Gentlemen that were brought low, not by their Vices, but by Misfortune, Poveri vergogneſi, as the Tuſcan calls them, Baſhful, and could not Crave, though they periſhed, he prevented their Modeſty, and would heartily thank thoſe that diſcovered their commiſerable Condition to him. The Priſoners of the Gate-Houſe found the way to their Neighbour's Purſe every Week. It were endleſs to take notice of his good Works, but in great Conſtellations. Fugiunt ſine nomine ſigna, Manil. lib. 1. Stars, that appear Small and dim, were never numbred. And though he was better at Liberality than Patience; yet when he had overgone three years in the Court of Chancery, he watched his Paſſions ſo well, that the Heat of his old Brittiſh Complexion was much abated, and carried all things with far more Lenity, than Choler: Would chide little, and bear p. 202much. Vehement he was often to recall Pleaders to the Point, and to preſs Order and Diſpatch. Vehemency is miſtaken, if it be called Anger: As Cicero defends himſelf to Fuſius Calenus, Vehementer me agere fatcor, iracundè nego. Philip 8. But if his Paſſion break out too far beyond the Meaſure of Vehemency, he never reſted till he had made ſome Amends to him, whom he had ſadded or offended. which is the Apology that St. Ambroſe makes for the good Emperor Theodoſius the Elder in his Funeral Rites. Tunc proprior fuiſſet veniae, cum fuiſſet commotio major iracundiae—Optabatur in eo, quod in aliis timebatur, ut iraſceretur. So the Clients at the Bar had ſtudied the good Nature of this Lord, and preſaged, that after he had chaſed at their Miſ-uſance, they might promiſe to themſelves a good Caſt of his Office long before the Sun ſet, which never ſet before he was returned to Patience and loving Kindneſs.

208. Difficulties in Parliament, Labours in Chancery were well paſs'd over; but to keep in long with the Duke of Buckingham was inſuperable; unleſs the Lord Keeper would be ſtupid, and oppoſe him in nothing, though the Dukes, as well as his Ruine were upon Contrivance, and the notorious Hurt of them, that were better than them both. Since his Grace's Return from Spain, you ſhall find the Keeper in every of his Letters in the Cabal, few excepted, endeavouring to take off the Edge of ſome late ſtarted Quarrel. As P. 96. in a Date July 21, 1624, in this Submiſſion. If ever I have offended your Grace, I take Almighty God to witneſs, it was for want of a perfect Underſtanding of thoſe high Matters (let the Reader be informed it was about the Earl of Briſtol's Recriminations) not out of any Corruption of Affections towards your Grace, or the leaſt ſtruggling in a continued Reſolution, to live and dye your Grace's moſt conſtant, and moſt faithful Servant. But whether it would ſucceed to good Liking or no, he was reſolved to divert him from ſome deſperate Courſes, into which his Grace was entring, to raiſe vaſt Summs of Money, the Nerves of a ſudden War with Spain, which he meant to begin, as ſoon as he could be furniſhed with Coin. The Keeper was very ſick of a Fevor and a Flux at this time; and, after Danger of Life, recovered by that great Secretary of Nature, Dr. William Harvey, being not able to go into the Air, he writes to my Lord Duke, what he conceived about his former Project, Octob. 21.

May it pleaſe your Grace.

I Hear a Whiſpering, rather than a Report, out of Weſtminſter-Hall, that ſome great Alteration is preſently to be made of the ſmall Remainder of his Majeſty's or rather the Crown Lands. Although I know not certainly, being unimployed and unprofitable, whether I ought to take notice hereof at all, or what to adviſe; yet preſuming upon that Favour I have ever found, and of late, as much as ever with your Grace, I have ſent you this Ticket to read and burn. If there be any Reſolution taken for the general Alteration of the Crown Lands, yet this is not a convenient time to go about it.

Firſt, Becauſe there is not yet a Lord Treaſurer, that it may be Chriſtned to be his Act.

Secondly, Becauſe it hath not been debated at the Council-Table; for want of whoſe Advice, it will be appropriated to be your Grace's Act.

Thirdly, It cannot be ripe for Execution, till the next Seſſion of Parliament is diſſolved; for otherwiſe it will undoubtedly ſerve as an Excuſe for not Granting Subſidies.

But ſetting thoſe Conſiderations of Delay aſide, I humbly deſire your Grace, that no Univerſal Alteration may be made of the Tenure of the Crown Lands.

And Firſt, Becauſe the Money got thereby will not be much, and will inſtantly be gone.

Secondly, The Infamy in Chronicles will be eternal upon our moſt gracious Maſter.

Thirdly, The Prince cannot cordially aſſent thereunto; or if he do, it is impoſſible (his Wiſdom conſidered) but that hereafter he ſhould repent him, and much abhor the Authors, and Actors of this Counſel.

Laſtly, If the Prince ſhould be of the ſame Mind with his Father, yet their Succeſſors will have good Pretences to proſecute everlaſtingly the Names and Poſterities of all ſuch Adviſers.

In this It may be ſeen, that it is common with Projectors to Angle for Wit, and catch Folly; to ſpread their Nets for a Draught, and to drag up nothing but Weeds and Mud. What Brokerly Bargain was here about to be made? How unſuiting to the King of Great Britain? fitter for a poor Merchant that was ſunk, to ſell all he had, and fly his Country. What! depart with all, to make two or three merry Years of it? Is it not like the Man that burnt his Houſe in a cold Winter, which ſhould ſhelter his Head for ever, to warm his Hands? Would p. 203thoſe Vermine, that did eat up the Wealth of the Court, expoſe their Maſter to that Tyranny, to have him live wholly upon the Common Spoils, when he had made away his own Subſtance, and was driven to that Neceſſity? And were they not worthy to be thought upon, that ſhould live in the next Generation? Our Fore-Fathers were good Stewards, and treaſured up for their Children; and ſhall we undo Poſterity before they are born, and ſpend their Part as well as our own, as if we wiſh'd the World might die with us? One good Heathen was worthy twenty ſuch Chriſtians, in Zeal, to the eternal flouriſhing of a Common-wealth. Says Tully in the Mouth of his Laelius, Non minori mihi curae eſt, qualis poſt mortem Reſpub. futura ſit, quàm qualis eſt hodie. Thoſe that were not publick Spirits, but contrary to the ſucceeding Glory of this Monarchy, the Lord Keeper could not brook; but as he had got Honour by being Wiſe and Faithful, ſo he was reſolved to be Wiſe and Faithful, though he loſt his Honour.

209. The next Deſign made this ſick Man haſten to come out of his Chamber, a Letter would not ſuffice to oppoſe it. There is no Script of it remaining in the Cabal, nor in any other Pamphlet, that I have read. It was a Miſchief not better prevented, than concealed from the World that it was prevented. But the Relation of the Lord Keeper to him that heard it of him, when it was freſh and in motion, hath been preſerved in the Desk, and comes forth now to publick Knowledge. Rem tibi auctorem dabo, as Plautus ſays; whereby the Men of theſe times may ſee, how the Sale of Church-Lands was plotted, before they were ſwept away with an Ordinance, and that Earneſt was offered for them long ago. Dr. Preſton, the Maſter of Emanuel Colledge, entred far into ſuch a Propoſition, a ſhrewd wiſe Man, a very Learned, and of eſteemed Piety; but zealous for a new Diſcipline, and given to Change. When I ſee good Parts not always well uſed; or a worthy Scholar not well affected to the Church, that begat him in Chriſt, and nurſed him up, I cannot but remember a Tale in Baronius, Ann. 513. com. 27. thoug I care not for believing it. That Theodorus Biſhop of Seleucia, was much in love with the ſtrict Life and Piety of a Monk, a Syrian by Nation, that cared not for the Communion of the Church; at which Theodorus was ſcandalized, that ſo vertuous a Man ſhould incline to be a Schiſmatick, till God ſatisfied him in a Viſion, for, ſays he, Vidi columbam ſuper caput ejus ſtantem fuliginoſam & ſqualidam; he ſaw the Holy Ghoſt come upon him, but in the Shape of a ruſty ſooty coloured Dove. But before the Artifice of Dr. Preſton be diſplay'd, Judgment muſt paſs how the great Duke was prepared to be wrought upon. When all men talkt jocundly upon the next Seſſion of Parliament, appointed for April, they that were watchful for the Duke's Safety, ſaw Cauſe to fear, leaſt the Predeſtination of that Seſſion might turn to be his Grace's Reprobation. The King his Maſter was too Politick to ſeem weary of him, now become the moſt affected of his Son; but half an Eye might diſcern he was not fond of him. The Earl of Briſtol, who had ſeen much Abroad, and knew much at Home, was charged, in his Abſence, from his Mouth, with great Errors, that he had deluded the King with Hopes of a Marriage from Spain, never intended; and with Crimes, that he had, if not Counſelled the Prince to alter his Religion, yet to temporize, as if he held it in a ſlip Knot, and could paſs it eaſily from him, if his Highneſs might win the Garland he came for. The Earl, in his Replication defied the Duke, and vowed to charge upon his Head, that in his Expedition to Spain, he had done the worſt Service, and the higheſt Wrongs, that a Subject could do to a Soveraign. His Majeſty umpir'd between both with that fatal Indifferency, that he would hear Buckingham againſt Briſtol, and Briſtol againſt Buckingham before the two houſes in due time. And his manner of Juſtice was not unknown, that he would ſhelter no man againſt the General, and Concluded Sentence of a Parliament. Antoninus was a wiſe Emperor, that never ſtood out againſt the Common Vote of the Senate, and never varied from that Saying, ſays Capitolinus, Aequum eſt ut ego tot ac talium amicorum conſilium ſequar, quàm ut tot & tales amici mei unius voluntatem ſequantur. And if the King ſhould ſhrink from him, the Peers and Commons were like to receive him unkindly. His Greatneſs, though it wained with the Father, it increaſed with the Son, and was like to flouriſh ever by this latter Spring; but the more it grew, the worſe it was lik'd. He was the Top-ſail of the Nobility, and in Power and Truſt of Offices far above all the Nobility. Whither the Lords maligned this, becauſe they did not ſhare, or whither they conceived it dangerous to the State, their own Hearts knew beſt. One thing is ſure, that many of them did not palliate their Diſ-reliſh, but girded at it upon all Occaſions. It was come to paſs, that he only turned the Key to all that were p. 204let in to the King or Prince: And his multiformous Places compell'd ſuch a ſwarm of Suitors to hum about him, that the Train, that continually jogged after him, look'd like the Stream of a Blazing Star, fatal and ominous. Therefore it was ſtudied by the wiſeſt of thoſe, that were upheld by his Grace, and reſorted moſt unto him, that either his Lordſhip muſt hope in a War, and that ſpeedily, and be fluſh of Money, to be prodigal among the Commanders: Or if he came to be tried in the Furnace of the next Seſſion of Parliament, he had need to make the Refiners to be his Friends.

210. Here ſteps in Dr. Preſton, a good Crow to ſmell Carion; and brought Conditions with him, to make his Grace malleable upon the great Anvil, and never break. This Politick Man, that he might feel the Pulſe of the Court, had preferr'd himſelf to be Chaplain to the Prince, and wanted not the Intelligence of all dark Myſteries, through the Scotch eſpecially of his Highneſs's Bedchamber. Theſe gave him countenance more than others, becauſe he proſecuted the Endeavours of their Countrymen Knox. To the Duke he repairs. And be aſſured he had more Skill, than boiſterouſly to propound to him the Extirpation of the Biſhops, remembring what King James had ſaid in the Conference at Hampton-Court, Anno 1. No Biſhop, No King. Therefore he began to dig further off, and to heave at the Diſſolution of Cathedral Churches, with their Deans and Chapters, the Seminary from whence the ableſt Scholars were removed to Biſhopricks. At his Audience with the Duke he told him, He was ſorry his Grace's Actions were not ſo well interpreted abroad, as Godly Men thought they deſerved. That ſuch Murmurings, as were but Vapours in common Talk, might prove to be Tempeſts when a Parliament met. That his ſafeſt way was to Anchor himſelf upon the Love of the People. And let him perſwade himſelf, he ſhould not ſail to be Maſter of that Atchievement, if he would profeſs himſelf, not among thoſe that are Proteſtants at large, and never look inward to the Center of Religion, but become a warm and zealous Chriſtian, that would employ his beſt help ſtrenuouſly to lop off from this half-reformed Church, the ſuperfluous Branches of Romiſh Superſtition, that much disfigured it. Then he named the Quire-Service of Cathedral and Collegiate Churches, with the Appennages, which were maintained with vaſt Wealth, and Lands of exceſſive Commodity, to feed fat, lazy, and unprofitable Drones. And yet all that Chanting and Pomp hindred the Heavenly Power, and Simplicity of Prayer: And furthered not the Preaching of the Goſpel. And now, ſays he, let your Grace obſerve all the enſuing Emoluments, if you will lean to this Counſel, God's Glory ſhall be better ſet forth, (that's ever the Quail-Pipe to bring Worldings into the Snares of Sacrilege:) The Lands of thoſe Chapters eſcheating to the Crown, by the Diſſolution of their Foundations, will pay the King's Debts. Your Grace hath many Alliances of Kindred, all ſucking from you, and the Milk of thoſe Breaſts will ſerve them all, and nouriſh them up to great Growth with the beſt Seats in the Nation. Laſtly, Your Grace ſhall not only ſurmount Envy, but turn the Darling of the Commonwealth, and be reverenced by the beſt Operators in Parliament, as a Father of a Family. And if a Crum ſtick in the Throat of any conſiderable Man, that attempts to make a contrary part, it will be eaſie to waſh it down with Mannors, Woods, Royalties, Tythes, &c. the large Provent of thoſe Superſtitious Plantations.

Thus far the Doctor, and to theſe Heads, as the Duke in a good Mind reveal'd it. The moſt crafty, and clawing Piece of all was, That the Deſtruction of theſe Sacred Foundations would make a Booty for a Number of Gentlemen: And as the Greeks ſay proverbially, foreign, When a great Oak falls, every Neighbour may ſcuffle for a Faggot. You may be ſure the Duke ſent this Doctor away with great Thanks, and bad him watch the beſt times of leiſure, and come to him often, who did not loſe the Privilege of that Liberty, but thruſt into his Bedchamber at leaſt thrice a Week with a ſly Audacity. The Lord Keeper heard of it, and wondred what occaſion'd their private, and frequent Meetings; Nor could he knock off the Bar of the Secret with his Golden Hammer, till it was revealed to him by ſome of the neareſt about his Majeſty. For the Duke had caſt forth the Project in a dark imperfect Form before the King; and the King, muffling his true Face that it could not be ſeen, heard him with a diſſembled Patience, becauſe he was pleas'd to have him nibble upon this Bait, that he might divert the Yonker as long as he could from forcing him to undertake a War, which was a violent Cauſtick that ſeared up the Comfort of his Majeſties Heart. All this was conveyed to the Lord Keeper, and being feeble, and ſcarce upon his Legs again, it wrought upon his ſick Spirits with great Anxiety. He was ſure his Majeſty had p. 205no Stomach to devour ſuch an unſanctified Morſel: Yet againſt that aſſurance he objected to himſelf, That the Duke was wont to overturn all Obſtacles that ſtood in his way: And that the Imperial Eagle of Neceſſity would ſtoop to any Prey. Then he took Chear again, that he had never Noted in the Lord Duke a Diſplicency againſt the Proſperity of the Church: Again, his Comfort was rebated, that Self-Preſervation will make a Saint a Libertine, and that Nice Points of Religion are not uſually admitted to give Law againſt it. Howſoever, he reſolv'd to hazard all to cruſh this Cockatrice in the Egg. Cauſa jubet ſuperes m…lior ſperare ſecundos. He that ſtickles for Gods Cauſe ſails by the Cape of Good Hope.

211. At the firſt Onſet he had ſmall Encouragement: For he came to Wallingford-Houſe to break with the Duke upon this matter, who was then ſhut up with Dr. Preſton in cloſe Conſultation, where the Great Seal, and the Keeper of it, waited two Hours in the Anti-Camera, and was ſent Home without the Civility of Admiſſion. Next Day he got Speech with Dr. Preſton, by Friends employ'd to bring him to Weſtminſter: And after much Pro and Con in their Diſcourſe, ſuppoſing the want of Preſerment had diſguſted the Doctor, he offer'd to him, if he would buſie himſelf no more in contriving the Ruine of the Church, that he would the next Day reſign the Deanery of Weſtminſter to him. But the wily Doctor did not believe him: For he came to cheat, and not to be cheated: So they parted unkindly. The Lord Keeper ſaw now that this Nail was driven in far: Yet he did not deſpair to pluck it out with his Wit: And thus he went into the Adventure. He obtain'd an Opportune Conference with the Duke, and in the Defence of the Church he could never be taken unprovided. He pray'd his Grace to believe, That no Man wiſh'd his Safety more cordially than himſelf, by whoſe Hand he was lifted up to that Place of Pre-eminence wherein he ſate. Therefore it was his Duty to admoniſh him timely, that he was building that Safety upon hollow Ground. He had ſpoken with Preſton, who had offer'd his Grace flitten Milk, out of which he ſhould churn nothing. There were other ways to level Envy, than by offending God: And if he meant to gather Moneys for War, let him Wage it with the Prayers of the Clergy, and not with their Curſes. That Generation of male-contents, to whoſe Love an Evil Counſellor woed him, was ever falſe and untruſty; not ſuſpected, but known, ever ſince the Faction was firſt rock'd in the Cradle, to be tied by no Benefits: Importunate Suitors, and ever craving: And having ſped, think their Cauſe, and their Deſervings have paid Thanks ſufficient to their Patron. And look what Colours the King our Maſter hath laid upon them, (and they are in Oyl, which will not be got out) in his Inſtructions to his Prince Henry, where, upon bitter Experience, he tells him, That he was more faithfully ſerved by the Highlanders. Then what a Merchant have you got of this ſpiteful Miniſter, who would have you to commit your Stock to their Managing, who would bring you Hatred for Love, and Infamy for Honour? But if your Grace conceive that I am hitherto rather upon the Invective than the Proof, I will ſtep into another Point, and clear it againſt all Contradiction, That if your Grace appear in diſtracting the Church-Lands from their holy and rightful uſe, your Endeavours ſhall be cried down in Parliament, not to terrifie you, that your Adverſaries will increaſe, and batter you with this great Shot, that you attempted to diſſolve the Settlement of Church and Laws. You loſe your ſelf, ſays the Duke, in Generalities: Make it out to me in particular if you can, with all your Cunning, what ſhould lead you to ſay, That the Motion you pick at ſhould find repulſe and baffle in the Houſe of Commons. I know not how you Biſhops may ſtruggle, but I am much deluded if a great part of the Knights and Burgeſſes would not be glad to ſee this Alteration. The Lord Keeper had a Liſt of their Names in readineſs, a Scrowle which he always carried about with him, which he pluck'd out, and pray'd his Grace he might give him a Cypher of the Inclinations, either of the moſt, or of the Bell-weathers. And having entred a little into that tedious Work, the Duke ſnatch'd the Scrowle out of his Hand, and running it over with his Eye, ſaid no more but, I find abundance of Lawyers among them. Yes, Sir, ſays the Keeper, most of them Men of Learning, and Renown in their Profeſſion. I think by my continual Negotiating with them, I know their Addictions in Religion, whether they ſtand right, or which way they bend. I will not prejudge the Speaker, and one or two more, God knows their Hearts. But for the reſt, I know they will be ſtrong for the ſupportance of the Cathedral Chapters. Is it ſo, ſaid his Grace? And what do you think of Sir Edward Coke? Marry, ſays the Keeper, no Friend to an old Friend. In the 39 of Queen Elizabeth, when he was Atturney-General, he Damm'd a Patent, ſurreptitiouſly gotten before his time by thoſe Lime-Hounds employ'd for Concealments, by which they went far to ſwallow up the greateſt part of the Demeaſns of the Biſhop of Norwich, revived the p. 206Right of thoſe Religious Poſſeſſions by his own Induſtry and Proſecution, and for the most part at his own Charge; and reſted not, till for more Security, after the Patent was overthrown, he had confirm'd thoſe Lands to the Biſhop by an Act of Parliament. Therefore I would we had no worſe Strings to our Bow than Sir Edward Coke. But whom doth your Grace name next. Nay, ſays the Duke, you are come to me, my Lord, in a lucky Hour. I was never further than in an Equipoiſe about this Project; Now I have done with it. 'Tis ſtill-born, and let it be interr'd without Chriſtian Burial. My Good Lord, ſays the Lord Keeper, I thank God for it: And I would all the Kingdom knew as well as I do, how ſoon your good Nature is brought to a right Underſtanding.

212. Both did well: The one preſt his Doctrine home, the other caught it up quickly like a good Diſciple. The beſt refuge to come out of an Errour is undelaying Repentance. And as Curtius ſpeaks for Alexander, Lib. 10. Bona ejus Naturae ſunt, vitia temporum: So I am ſure the times put the Duke upon theſe Shifts, and not his own Inclination. If he had not been cleanſed from thoſe pernicious Infuſions, what a Sin had he drawn upon himſelf? What Folly? Worſe then Ahab's, that would cut down a poor Neighbors Vineyard to ſet Pot-Herbs: But this were to root up God's Vineyard to ſuccour a War, that is, to ſet Thorns and Thiſtles in the Room. They that care not to be good, will think how to be wife. Yet did they ever think of that, that make away the Inheritance of God's Holy Tribe in an Out-ſale? 'Tis an unthrifty Sin: And in Twenty Years, or in half the time, the Sacrilegious themſelves will find, that the common Purſe of the State is the poorer by the Bargain. foreign, ſays an Heathen, and to the purpoſe, Athenae. Lib. 6. Cap. 20. Prudent Men will continue the Oblations of their Forefathers Piety. They were ever readier to ſupply the publick need in the Cuſtody of the Church, than in the Maws of Cormorants. But where was he that taught the Duke ſo well? VVhere was he, you will ſay, in the hour of darkneſs, when the Thief came in, and the Troop of Robbers ſpoiled without? Hoſ. Chap. 7. Verſ. 8. VVhen all that had been given to God in a Thouſand Years, by them that had the Godlieſt, and the largeſt Hearts, melted like Wax before the Fire of Hell. To the Friends of Sion, and to them that lament her waſte places, I return thus to them, and to their Queſtion: Every one that wore a Mitre and a Linnen Ephod before the Lord, was driven out of that place, where Wickedneſs was Enacted as a Law. He that was Couragious among the the Mighty, did flee away naked in that Day, Amos 2.16. But what if he had been in the Throng? He might as well have commended a Beauty to a Blind Man, or the ſmell of Nard to him that hath no Noſtril, as to have conteſted with them not to divide the Prey, whoſe Ears God had not opened.

Multum refert in quae cujuſque tempora Virtus inciderit.

Plin. N.H. Lib. 7. Cap. 28.

Virtue is beholding to Good Times to act its part in, as well as Good Times are beholding to Virtue. Our moſt Laureat Poet Spenſer, Lib. 1. Cant. 3. tells of a ſturdy Thief Kirkrapine,

Who all he got he did beſtow,

To the Daughter of Corcea blind and ſlow;

And fed her fat with Feaſts of Off'rings,

And Plenty which in all the Land did grow.

To meet with him, and give him his hire, Una had a fierce Servant for her Guard that attended her, a Lyon who tore the Church-robber to pieces. And what is meant by Una's Lyon? That's not hard to gueſs at. But rather what's become of Una's Lyon? The Poet ſays afterward that Sans-Loy, a Paynim-Knight had ſlain him. Belike none is left now to defie Kirkrapine.

213. Alſo ſome Care is to be taken againſt them that are unworthily promoted in the Church. Wherein the Lord Keeper interceded with the Duke to the incurring a mighty Anger, as may be ſeen by the Letters of Decem. 24. and Jan. 4. Cab. p. 99. If Threatings had been mortal Shot, he had Periſht; for he never had ſuch a Chiding before: but he kept his Ground, becauſe he held the fairer ſide of the Quarrel. Dr. Meriton the Dean of York, was lately Dead, and much Deplor'd: For he was an Ornament to the Church. My Lord Duke, entreated by great ones, named a Succeſſor, that had no Seaſoning or Taſt of Matter in him, one Dr. Scot: But a Doctor, Inter Doctores Bullatos, for he never ſtood in p. 207the Commencement to approve himſelf; beſide too many Faults to be ript up. I have known a Scholar in Cambridge ſo bad a Rider, that no Man for Love or Price would furniſh him with a Horſe. I would have thought no Man would have furniſht ſuch a Scholar as this with a Deanery, chiefly of York. It came about ſtrangely. Scot was a Prodigal Gamſter, and had loſt upon the Ticket to a Noble Perſon far more then he was worth. Which Debt his Creditor knew not how to recover, but by Thruſting him, aided with my Lord Dukes Power, into this Rich Preferment. The Caſuiſts among all the Species of Simony never Dream'd of this, which may be called, Simonia Aleatoria, when a Gameſter is Inſtalled into a goodly Dignity, to make him capable to pay the Scores of that which he had loſt with a bad Hand: And yet the Man Died in the Kings-Bench, and was not Solvent. The Lord Keeper intending to put of Dr. Scot from this place, beſought for the remove of thoſe moſt worthy Divines, Dr. White, or Dr. Hall, or to Collate it upon Dr. Warner, the moſt Charitable, and very Prudent Biſhop of Rocheſter. But he was ſo terrified for giving this good Counſel, that he writes, now he knew his Graces Reſolution he would alter his Opinion, and would be careful in giving the leaſt Cauſe of Jealouſie in that kind again. Yet it is a received Maxime, Defuturos eos qui ſuaderent, ſi ſuaſiſſe ſit periculum, Curt. l. 3. Certainly with others this might work to his Eſteem, but nothing to his Prejudice. And I dare confidently avouch, what I knowingly ſpeak, (that I may uſe the Words of my induſtrious Friend, Mr. T. F. in his Church Hiſtory) That the Solicitation for Dr. Theodore Price, about Two Months after, was not the firſt motive of a Breach between the Keeper and the Duke, (the day-light clears that without dusky conjectures) no, nor any Proceſs to more unkindneſs then was before, which was indeed grown too high. The Caſe is quickly Unfolded. Dr. Price was Country. Man, Kinſman, and great Acquaintance of the Lord Keepers. By whoſe procurement he was ſent a Commiſſioner into Ireland two years before, with Mr. Juſtice Jones, Sir T. Crew, Sir James Perrot, and others, to rectifie Grievances in Church and Civil State that were complain'd. In Executing which Commiſſion he came of with Praiſe, and with Encouragement from His Majeſty, that he ſhould not fail of Recompence for his Well-doing. Much about the time that the Prince return'd out of Spain the Biſhoprick of Aſaph ſoll void; the County of Merioneth, where Dr. Price was Born, being in the Dioceſs. The Lord Keeper attempted to get that Biſhoprick for Dr. Price. But the Prince, ſince the time that by his Patent he was ſtyled Prince of Wales, had Claimed the Biſhopricks of that Principality for his own Chaplains: So Dr. Melburn, and Dr. Carlton, were preferr'd to St. Davids and Landaff. And Aſaph was now Conferr'd upon Dr. Hanmer his Highneſs's Chaplain, that well deſerv'd it. A little before King James's Death, Dr. Hampton, Primate of Armach, as ſtout a Prelate, and as good a Governor as the See had ever enjoy'd, Died in a good old Age. Whereupon the Keeper interpoſed for Dr. Price to Succeed him. But the Eminent Learning of Dr. Uſher, (for who could match him all in all in Europe?) carried it from his Rival. Dr. Price was very Rational, and a Divine among thoſe of the firſt Note, according to the ſmall skill of my Perceivance: And his Hearers did teſtifie as much, that were preſent at his Latin Sermon, and his Lectures pro gradu in Oxford. But becauſe he had never Preach'd ſo much as one Sermon before the King, and had left to do his calling in the Pulpit for many years, it would not be admitted that he ſhould Aſcend to the Primacy of Armach, no, nor ſo much as ſucceed Dr. Uſher in the Biſhoprick of Meth. To which Objection, his Kinſman, that ſtickled for his Preferment, could give no good Anſwer; and drew of with ſo much eaſe upon it, that the Reverend Dr. Uſher had no cauſe to Regret at the Lord Keeper for an Adverſary; Neither did Dr. Price ever ſhew him Love after that day; and the Church of England, then, or ſooner, loſt the Doctors Heart.

214. It is certain that all Grants at the Court went with the Current of my Lord Dukes Favour. None had Power to oppoſe it, nor the King the Will. For he Rul'd all his Majeſties Deſigns: I may not ſay his Affections: Yet the L. Keeper declin'd him ſometimes in the Diſpatches of his Office, upon great and juſt Cauſe. Whereupon the King would ſay in his pleaſant Manners, That he was a ſtout Man that durſt do more than himſelf. For ſince his Highneſs's return out of Spain, if any Offices were procur'd in State of Reverſion, or any Advouzons of Church Dignities, he interpos'd, and ſtopt the Patents, as Injurious to the Prince, to whoſe Donation they ought to belong in juſt time, and preſerv'd them for him, that all ſuch Rewards might come entire and undefloured to his Patronage. Wherein his Highneſs maintain'd his Stiffneſs; for that foreſight did procure, that p. 208his own Beneficence ſhould be unprevented. And he carried that Reſpect to the Dukes Honour, nay to his Safety, (for notice was taken of it) that he would not admit his Meſſages in the Hearing of Cauſes, (no not when his chief Servants attended openly in Court to Countenance thoſe Meſſages) to carry him a-wry, and to oppreſs the Pooreſt, and whoſe Faces he had never ſeen, with the leaſt wrong. Judicii tenax ſuit, neque aliis potiùs quàm ſibi credidit, as Capitolinus makes it a good Note of Maximus. He would believe his own Judgment, and his own Ears, what they heard out of Depoſitions, and not the Repreſentation of his beſt Friends that came from partial Suggeſtions. Such Demands as are too heavy to aſcend, let them fall down in pieces, or they will break him at the laſt, that gives them his Hand to lift them up. In this only he would not ſtoop to his Grace; but pleas'd himſelf that he did diſpleaſe him. And being threatned, his beſt Mitigation was, That perhaps it was not ſafe for him to deny ſo great a Lord, yet it was ſafeſt for his Lordſhip to be Denied. It was well return'd. For no Arrand was ſo privily conveyed in that kind, to preſs an Injury againſt any Man, but might come about to be Scann'd. Little did a greater Man than the Duke, the Emperor Ludovicus, called the Holy, Dream, That he ſhould be Perſecuted ſo far by his Son Lotharius. and Edo Biſhop of Rhemes, to ſet under his Hand an Acknowledgment of his Errors in forcing Judges to do unjuſtly: Yet it was ſo, as it is in Baron. An. 833. Com. 17.

Inter Ludovici crimina quae publicè agnouit

Quod Judicantes ad falſum Judicium induxit.

Of two Evils the leſs was to be choſen by the Keeper, rather to provoke one Man, then all Men; nay, rather to provoke Man than GOD: That ſome will be provok'd it cannot be avoided. It is beſt to inſtance in a whole Nation, to give no Offence. Ariſtides in one of his Orations Cenſures the Old Romans, (and the Modern are no better.) They held all that were under them for Slaves, and all that would be Freemen, and not Slaves, for Enemies. The King heard the noiſe of theſe Craſhes; and was ſo pleas'd, that he Thank'd God before many Witneſſes, that he had put the Keeper into that Place: For, ſays he, He that will not wreſt Juſtice for Buckingham's Sake, whom I know he Loves, will never be corrupted with Money, which he never Lov'd. His Majeſty would have a Judge to be ſuch a one as Juſtinian aimed at, Novel. 17. Vir optimus, & purus, & his contentus quae à fiſco dantur: A good Man, that took nothing of the People, but was contented with ſuch Wages as the King gave him. He had found the Man. And becauſe the Lord Keeper had Husbanded that Stock Three years and half, and lived fairly upon it, and was not the Richer by the Sale of one Curſitors Place in all that time, His Majeſty Granted him a Suit, by the Name of a New-Years-Gift, after the ſize of the Liberality of that good Maſter, which was enough to keep a Bountiful Chriſtmas twice over. The Giver did not repent him, but thought himſelf repaid, with a Conceit, that this moſt uſeful Counſellor produc'd at that Seaſon, about the Children of the Prince Elector. The Spaniſh Treaties were laid aſide, and new Ones from France roſe up in their Room; which being Examin'd, it could not appear that they did portend any Comfort to the Recuperation of the Palatinate. His Majeſty bewailed that his Grand-Children, then Young and Tender, would be very Chargeable to England when they grew to be Men. It was their Sole Refuge. They might Seek their Fortune in another place, and come home by Spills-Bury. Sir, ſays the Lord Keeper, Will you be pleaſed to liſten to me, taking in the Prince his Conſent, of which I make no doubt, and I will ſhew, how you ſhall furniſh the Second and Third Brothers with Preferments ſufficient to maintain them, that ſhall coſt you nothing. Breed them up for Scholars in Academial Diſcipline; keep them ſtrictly to their Books, with ſuch Tutors as will Teach them, not to abuſe themſelves with vain Hopes upon the Greatneſs of their Birth. For it is a Folly to gape after the Fruit hanging upon a high Tree, and not to know how to Climb it. If they fall to their Studies, deſign them to the Biſhopricks of Durham and Wincheſter, when they become void. If that happen in their Nonnage, which is probable, appoint Commendatories to diſcharge the Duty for them for a laudable Allowance, but gathering the Fruits for the ſupport of your Grand-Children, till they come to Virility to be Conſecrated. George Duke of Anhault, having Miniſterial Gifts, was Ordain'd into that Holy Calling at Magdeburg, and yet put to no Shifts; as Melancthon is my Author, and many more. The Prieſtly Office was eſteem'd from the beginning fitteſt for the beſt Gentlemen; for the Firſt-Born among them that ſerv'd the Truo God. And the Romans, who ſerv'd them p. 209that were no Gods, learn'd it at Athens from Theſeus, (Plut. in vità.) foreign That Citizens of the Nobleſt Blood ſhould be train'd up in knowledge of Sacred Things, and be made the Adminiſtrators of Divine Myſteries. And I am at another Benefit, wherein I praiſe God that I am aſſured Your Majeſty will concur with me, That the Office of a Biſhop, imprudently by many M…lign'd, (I might charge them with a worſe Crime) will be the more Invi…lable, when the Branches of Your Royal Stock have ſo great an Intereſt in it. And ſuch Proviſion is Needful againſt Schiſmatical Attempts, both for Religious Sake, and the Publick Weal. For if ſuch great Superſtructions ſhould fall, all would come to Ruin that is round about them. I will yet go further: If Your Majeſty think a Biſhoprick, though of the beſt kind, too little for either of them; you may pleaſe to annex to each of them one of your principal Offices of State, as You find them Truſty and Diſcreet. When he had ended, As I Live, ſays the King, I will fellow this Direction: I thank you heartily for it; and I attend it, that it will ſave me more then the worth of a Subſidy. Thus far theſe Matters were well Chewed: But becauſe they were not followed, when others bore the ſway, they never came to a ſecond Conc…ction.

215. The Peaceable Period of King James's Reign drew on, when the times were active about a Marriage between our Prince, and a Daughter of France, the youngeſt of Henry the Great's Poſterity, (for ſhe was a Poſthuma) a Princeſs eminently adorn'd with many Rays of Honour, celebrated far and wide for Beauty, Wit, and ſweet Diſcloſures of Behaviour. The Lord Keeper was not us'd in Counſel about it, till after many ſendings to and fro: Yet what fell out at laſt for his part, to the better Underſtanding of Conditions of Agreement, is worthy to hang upon the File of Honourable Regiſtry. Viſcount Kerſ…ng…. Created of Holland in the purſuance of that Service, was ſent into France almoſt a Twelve-Month before, to diſcover what Approbation was like to follow, if this Match were offer'd. The Earl had an Amorous Tongue, and a Wiſe Head, could Court it Smoothly as any Man with the French Ladies, and made ſo Fortunate an account into England after Three Months of his Introductions, that he ſaw no fear of denial in the Suit, nor of Spinoſity in the Articles. But becauſe he was … put in Truſt by the Lord Duke, and our King would ſcarce acknowledge that he had given him Authority for all that he had done, He ſent the Earl of Carlile after him, His Majeſty much affying in that Lords Fidelity, and put them both into the ſame Commiſſion. They were Peers of the beſt Luſtre in our Court, Elegant in their Perſons, Habit, and Language; and by their nearneſs to King …, apt Scholars to learn the Principles of Wiſdom, and the ſitter to improve their Inſtructions to Honour and Safety. While theſe Things went on, the … made it is Thought and Study, what to do befitting a Counſellor, and … upon the proſpect of the hopeful Marriage. When the Eyes of all our … were ſet upon the Infanta of Spain, he took into his Houſe, as it is formerly remembred, a Spaniard by Birth, and a Scholar, John Taxeda, by whoſe Converſation he grew expert in the Spaniſh Grammar, in the Caſtilian Pronunciation, and in the Knowledge of thoſe Authors, that in Ten Weeks he could not only underſtand the moſt difficult Writers of that Nation, but was able to Entreat with the Ambaſſadors without an Interpreter. How much will Fruit upon in one Mans Intellectuals before anothers, who hath the advantage of ſo much Sun and Warmth in his Brains. Now, when the Glorious Nuptial Torch was in Election to be lighted from the Neighbour Kingdom of France, he endeavour'd to make himſelf expert in that quaint and voluble Language; and by parling often with a Servant, whom he had liſted into the Check of his Houſe for that purpoſe, a Frenchman, that was continually at his Elbow, in Three Months he was as ready at it to Read, Write, or Speak, as he that had lyen Liegier Three years for it at Paris. And to Evidence that he had a publick Soul in every thing, where he put his Finger, as he had cauſed a Tranſlation of our Liturgy out of Latin into Spaniſh, to be finiſh'd by Taxeda, and Printed it at his own Coſts; ſo to go no leſs in his Preparations for this French Aſſociation, he encourag'd a moſt able Divine. Mr. Delaun Miniſter of the French Church in Norwich, to turn that Excellent Liturgy into his Country Language, which was effected, and the accurate Tranſlator greatly both Commended, and Rewarded. Hereupon how it hapned that our Liturgy, now made legible to the French, did clear the Church of England, even to the Conſcience of its Enemies, eſpecially from the groſs Slanders of Fugitives, that had gone out from us, is a paſſage that may challenge Publication, with the Attendance of its Circumſtances.

p. 210216. His Majeſty having in the behalf of his Son, begun the woing part to Madam Henrietta Maria, with due Ceremony of State: The Queen Mother, Moderatrix of this and all other Solemn Negotiations in France at that time, bethought ſeriouſly to have this Happineſs, and high Honour ſetled upon her Daughter. And her Firſt prudential forecaſt was, not to loiter out time with a Spaniſh Pauſe, nor to endanger the forfeiture of a Bond of ſuch Royal Love, for want of payment of Courteſie at the due day. Therefore ſhe diſpatch'd Marqueſs Fiatte, afterward the great Financer, and Monſieur Villoclare, one of the principal Secretaries, Embaſſadors extraordinary into England, to remove all Obſtructions by their Commiſſion, and wiſe management of it, and to entwine the Roſe and Lilly upon one Matrimonial Stem. When they Landed, the King had removed himſelf from New-Market to Trinity College in Cambridge, where he gave Audience to thoſe Embaſſadors, providing to their welcom this Grace more then ordinary, That he receiv'd them where his choiceſt Darlings, the liberal Arts were round about him. Now that the Conferences about this Marriage were gone ſo far, and ſeemed, as it were, to be over the laſt Fire, and ſit for Projection, his Majeſty would have the Lord Keeper taken into the Cabinet, and to make him known by a Mark of ſome good Addreſs to the French Gallants, upon the return of the Embaſſadors to London, he ſent a Meſſage to him, to ſignifie that it was his pleaſure, that his Lordſhip ſhould give an Entertainment to the Embaſſadors, and their Train, upon Wedneſday following, it being Chriſtmaſs-Day with them, according to the Gregorian Prae-occupation of ten days before our Account. The King's Will ſignified, the invitement at a Supper was given and taken. Which was provided in the College of Weſtminſter, in the Room Named Hieruſalem Chamber; but for that Night it might have been call'd Lucullus his Apollo. But the Ante-paſt was kept in the Abby, as it it went before the Feaſt, ſo it was beyond it, being purely an Epiſcopal Collation. The Embaſſadors, with the Nobles and Gentletlemen in their Company, were brought in at the North-Gate of the Abby, which was ſtuck with Flambeaux every where, both within, and without the Quire, that ſtrangers might caſt their Eyes upon the ſlatelineſs of the Church. At the Door of the Quire the Lord Keeper beſought their Lordſhips to go in, and to take their Seats there for a while, promiſing in the Word of a Biſhop that nothing of ill Relliſh ſhould be offered before them; which they accepted; and at their Entrance the Organ was touch'd by the beſt Finger of that Age, Mr. Orlando Gibbons. While a Verſe was plaid, the Lord Keeper preſented the Embaſſadors, and the reſt of the Nobleſt Quality of their Nation, with our Liturgy, as it ſpake to them in their own Language; and in the Delivery of it uſed thoſe few Words, but pithy, That their Lordſhips at Leiſure might Read in that Book, in what Form of Holineſs our Prince Worſhipp'd God, wherein he durſt ſay nothing ſavour'd of any Corruption of Doctrine, much leſs of Hereſie, which he hoped would be ſo reported to the Lady Princeſs Henrietta. The Lord Embaſſadors, and their Great Train took up all the Stalls, where they continued about half an Hour, while the Quire-men, Veſted in their Rich Copes, with their Choriſters, ſung three ſeveral Anthems with moſt exquiſite Voices before them. The moſt honourable, and the meaneſt perſons of the French Attended all that time uncover'd, with great Reverence, except that Secretary Villoclare alone kept on his Hat. And when all others carried away the Looks of Common Prayer commended to them, he only leſt his in the Stall of the Quire where he had ſate; which was not brought after him (Ne Margarita, &c.) as if had forgot it.

217. At the ſame time among thoſe Perſons of Gallantry that came into England, to make up the Splendor of the Embaſſage, and were preſent at this Feaſt d'Amours, as ſome of themſelves call'd it, there was an Abbat, but a Gentleman that held his Abbacy …lla mode de France, in a lay Capacity. He had receiv'd the Gift of our Service Book, and to requite the Doner, having much of a Scholar, and of ingenuous Breeding, he laid aſide all other buſineſs to read it over. Like a Vowed Perſon to another Profeſſion he was not haſty to praiſe it, but ſuſpended his Sentence, till he might come in Place to ſee the practice of it. It was well thought of by him, that the Tryal of the ſoundneſs in Religion conſiſts not all together in the Draught of a Book, but in the motion likewiſe, and Exerciſe of it. The Abbat made his mind known to the Lord Keeper by Sir George Goring (now Earl of Norwich) that he would gladly be preſent in the Abby of Weſtminſter upon our Chriſtmaſs Day in the morning, to behold and hear how that great Feaſt was ſolemnized in our Congregations, which heard very ill beyond the Seas for Profaneneſs: Whereas the Book for Uniformity of Publick Prayer, which he p. 211had receiv'd, though it was not ſet off with much Ceremony to quicken Devotition, yet it wanted neither a ſtamp of Reverence, nor the metal of Godlineſs; Yet he would be careful in Launching out ſo far in Curioſity, to give no Scandal to Catholicks, whoſe Jealouſie might perhaps ſuſpect him, as if he thought it lawful to uſe both ours and the Church of Rome's Communion. Therefore he made ſuit to be placed, where none could perceive him, and that an Interpreter of the Liturgy might aſſiſt him, to turn the Book, and to make right Anſwers to ſuch Queſtions, as fell by the way into his Animadverſions. None more forward then the Lord Keper to meet the Abbat in this Requeſt. Veritas oculatos teſtes non refermidat. The Abbat kept his hour to come to Church upon that High Feaſt, and a Place was well fancied aloft, with a Latice and Curtains to conceal him. Mr. William Beſwell, like Philip Riding with the Treaſurer of Queen Candace in the ſame Chariot, ſate with him, directing him in the Proceſs of all the Sacred Offices perform'd, and made clear Explanation to all his ſcruples The Church Work of that ever Bleſſed day fell to the Lord Keeper to perform it; but in the place of the Dean of that Collegiate Church. He ſung the Service, Preach'd the Sermon, Conſecrated the Lords Table; and being aſſiſted with ſome of the Prebendaries, diſtributed the Elements of the Holy Communion to a great multitude, meekly kneeling upon their knees. Four hours and better, were ſpent that morning before the Congregation was diſmiſs'd with the Epiſcopal Bleſſing. The Abbat was entreated to be a Gueſt at the Dinner, provided in the College-Hall, where all the Members of that Incorporation Feaſted together, even to the Eleemoſynaries, call'd the Beads-men of the Foundation; no diſtinction being made, but high and low Eating their Meat with gladneſs together, upon the occaſion of our Saviours Nativity, that it might not be forgotten, that the poor Shepherds were admitted to Worſhip the Babe in the Manger, as well as the Potentates of the Eaſt, who brought Rich Preſents to offer up at the ſhrine of his Cradle. All having had their comfort both in Spiritual and Bodily Repaſt, the Maſter of the Feaſt, and the Abbat, with ſome few beſide, retired into a Gallery. The good Abbat preſently ſhew'd that he was Bred up in the Franco-Gallican Liberty of Speech, and without further Proem, defies the Engliſh that were Roaſted in the Abbies of France for lying Varlets, above all others that ever he met. We have none of their good word, I am ſure, ſays the Keeper; but what is it that doth empaſſion you for the preſent againſt them? That I ſhall calmly tell your Lordſhip, ſays the Abbat, I have been long inquiſitive what outward Face of God's Worſhip was retein'd in your Church of England? What Decorums were kept in the external Communion of your Aſſemblies. St. Paul did Rejoyce to behold good Order among the Coloſſians, as well as to hear of the ſtedfaſtneſs of their Faith, cap. 2.5. Therefore, waving Polemical Points of Doctrine, I demanded after thoſe things that lay open to the view, and pertain'd to the Exterior Viſage of the Houſe of God. And that my Intelligence might not return by broken Merchants, but through the beſt Hands, I conſulted with none but Engliſh in the Affairs of their own home; and with none but ſuch as had taken the Scapular, or Habit of ſome Sacred Order upon them, in Affairs of Religion. But Jeſu how they have deceiv'd me! What an Idea of Deformity Limm'd in their own Brain, have they hung up before me? They told me of no compoſed Office of Prayer uſed in all theſe Churches by Authority, as I have found it this day, but of extemporary Bablings. They traduc'd your Pulpits, as if they were not poſſeſt by Men that be Ordein'd by impoſition of Hands, but that Shop-keepers, and the Scum of the people Uſurp that Place in courſe one after another, as they preſum'd themſelves to be Gifted. Above all they turn'd their Reproaches againſt your behaviour at the Sacrament, deſcribing it as a prodigious Monſter of Profaneneſs: That your Tables being furniſh'd with Meats and Drinks, you took the Scraps and Rellicks of your Bread and Cups, and call upon one another to remember the Paſſion of our Lord Jeſus. All this I perceive is infernally falſe. And though I deplore your Schiſm from the Catholick Church, yet I ſhould bear falſe Witneſs, if I did not confeſs, that your Decency which I diſcern'd at that Holy Duty was very allowable in the Conſecrator and Receivers.

218. My Brother Abbat, (ſays the Lord Keeper with a Smile,) I hope you will think the better of the Religion, ſince on Chriſt's good Day your own Eyes have made this Obſervation among us. The better of the Religion ſays the Abbat (taking the Words to relate to the Reformed of France) nay taking all together which I have ſeen among you (and he brought it out with Acrimony of Voice, and Geſture) I will loſe my Head, if you and our Hugenots are of one Religion. I proteſt

p. 212Sir, ſays the Keeper, you divide us without Cauſe. For the Harmony of Proteſtant Confeſſions, divulg'd to all the World, do manifeſt our Conſonancy in Faith, and Doctrine, And for diverſity in outward Adminiſtrations, it is a Note as Old as Irenaeus, which will juſtifie us from a Rupture, that variety of Ceremonies in ſeveral Churches, the Foundation being preſerv'd, doth commend the Unity of Faith. I allow what Irenaeus writes, ſays the Abbat, for we our ſelves uſe not the ſame Offices and Breviares in all Places. But why do not the Hugonots at Charenton, and in other Diſtricts, follow your Example; Becauſe, ſays the Lord Keeper, no part of your Kingdom but is under the Juriſdiction of a Dioceſan Biſhop, and I know you will not ſuffer them to ſet up another Biſhop in the Precincts of that Territory, where one is eſtabliſh'd before; that would ſavour of Schiſm in earneſt. And where they have no means to maintain Gods Worſhip with coſtly Charge, and where they want the Authority of a Biſhop among them, the people will arrogate the greateſt ſhare in Government; ſo that in many things you muſt excuſe them, becauſe the Hand of conſtraint is upon them. But what conſtreins them, ſays the Abbat, that they do not Solemnize the Anniverſary Feaſt of Chriſt's Nativity, as you do? Nay as we do? for it is for no better Reaſon, then becauſe they would be unlike to us in every thing? Do you ſay this upon certainty, ſays the Keeper, or call me Poultron, if I feign it, ſays the other. In good troth ſays the Keeper, you tell me News. I was ever as Tully writes of himſelf to Atticus, in Curioſitate foreign, apt to ſearch narrowly into Foreign Churches; and I did never ſuſpect, that our Brethren, that live with you were deficient in that Duty. For the Churches of the Low-Countries, of Heidelberg, Helvetia, Flaſſia, Breme, and others, do obſerve a yearly Day to the Memory of our Saviours Birth. I conceive the like for Geneva. For when Calvin had retir'd to Baſil, ſome mutation about Holy Feaſts was made in Geneva. Upon his Return thither again, Hallerius both in his own and in Muſculus his Name, complains that the Celebration of that Memorable Feaſt was Neglected. Calvin Returns him Anſwer (the Epiſtle is extant dat anno 1551. Jan.) Sancte teſtari poſſum me inſcio, ac ne optante quidem hanc rem …uiſſe tranſactam—Ex quo ſum revocatus, hoc temperamentum quaeſivi, ut Chriſti Natalis celebraretur veſtro more. But will you have the Judgment of Proteſt out Divines, when they were in a Globe, and Collection together from all Quarters: At the Synod of Dort, convened about ſix years paſt, all the Divines, with the Aſſeſſors from the States, intermitted their Seſſions againſt the Feaſt of Chriſt's Nativity with … Suffrages, and the Reaſon is given in plain Words Seſſio. 36. Decem. 1…. Quia to tempore Feſtum Natalis D. N. Jeſu Chriſti inſtabat, propter cujus celebrationem, &c. It will be the harder for thoſe of the Religion in France to Anſwer for this Omiſſion. Yet Judg more Charitably, then to think they do it only out of Croſsneſs to diſconform to your Practiſe. He that runs backward further then he need from his Adverſary, plays his Prize like a Coward And I uſe to ſay it often, that there ought to be no ſecret Antipathies in Divinity, or in Churches, for which no Reaſon can be given. But let every Houſe ſweep the Duſt from their own Door. We have done our endeavour, God be Praiſed, in England, to Model a Churchway, which is not afraid to be ſearch'd into by the ſharpeſt Criticks for Purity, and Antiquity. But as Pacat. ſaid in his Paneg. in another Caſe, Parum eſt quando caeperit, terminum non habebit. Yet I am confident it began when Chriſt taught upon Earth, and I hope it ſhall laſt till he comes again. I will put my Atteſtation thus far to your Confidence, ſays the Abbat, that I think you are not far from the Kingdom of Heaven. So with mutual Smiles and Embraces they parted.

219. Paulo Majora. The next was the greater grapple, upon Terms Political and Scholaſtical, between the Lord Keeper, and Mounſieur Villoclare, who is mention'd before. The King was now at White-Hall; and the French Agents plied it to concord Conditions for the Royal Marriage. And who ſo buſie to trouble the Scene, with a new part not concern'd in the Plot of the Comedy, as our Nimble-headed Recuſants? The Secretary Villoclare was accounted, and not miſtaken to be a ſervent Zealot in his own Religion; which our Engliſh had learnt, by reſorting daily to Maſs in the Embaſſadors Houſe. Theſe found Acceſs unto him and ſighed out their Grievances before him, that their Prieſts, who adventur'd to come to them for their Souls Health, were Executed for Traytors; and themſelves were ſet ſuch Fines for their Conſcience, that they were utterly impoveriſh'd. How happy ſhould that Honourable Perſon be, that would skreen them from the ſcorching of this Perſecution? That his Lordſhip had Opportunity for his Power, and his Piety could not want will, to enter into a Motion for a relaxation of their Miſeries, among ſuch Articles as were to be Granted for the Honour, and Happineſs of the approaching Nuptials. The Secretary heard them, and condoled p. 213with them; promis'd his Pains, and to be an earneſt Proctor in their Cauſe, holding it moſt meritorious, to go or run on ſuch an Errand. And he ſell to his work in good earneſt, and ask'd ſuch large conceſſions for his Clients, (or rather challeng'd ſuch Grace with horrid Liberty, then Petition'd for it) that the King was obſerv'd to begin to be cooler in the Treaty for the Marriage, then he had been. The Lords that plied it beyond the Seas at the L…r, had not diſcouraged the Embaſſadors before they ſet forward; but rather pleaſed them with hopes of Engliſh Courteſies, and condeſcentions. And I fear they were perſwaded into too much confidence; for I have heard it often from the Followers of the Earl of Carlile, that after Articles had been drawn, and Engroſs'd, ſome things were Erazed, ſome things Interlaced, which never had his Lordſhips Approbation Our Courtiers at White-Hall, through whoſe Counſels and Reſolves the Grants of Monſieur Villoclare were to paſs, though directly they did dot yield to him, yet, his driving was ſo furious, that they declin'd to deny him, and ſhift for themſelves that the firſt Storm of his Paſſion might not fall upon them. Therefore they told him, they could not aſſure him he had prevail'd, till he had ſpoke with the Lord Keeper, whoſe Duty it was to Examine ſuch things, upon his Peril, what were ſit, or not ſit for the King's Conſcience, Honour, and Safety, before the Great Seal were put to. The Keeper heard of all this, and ſent to the Duke, as he had wrote to him before, Cab. p. 95. I ſhall be in a pitiful perplexity, if his Majeſty ſhall turn the Embaſſadors upon me altogether unprovided, how to Anſwer. But he caſt it up into this ſhort Sum, that the diſappointment of this Vexatious Solicitor, ſo far engag'd, muſt light upon himſelf, and the diſpleaſure of all the French, that wiſh'd it good ſpeed. He was not to learn, that a Magiſtrate in his Place muſt have a ſtrong back to bear the Burthen of Envy. So he Collected his thoughts into rational preparations, and was provided for a Bickering; which began on the Eighth of January, and held long. And it muſt be warned, that the Report of it which follows extends the length, above that which paſt between them on that occaſion. The Secretary Vill…are after he had parted from the Lord Keeper, and brought his buſineſs to a juſtifiable Maturity, through the direction of ſome of our beſt Lawyers, as the way was chalked to to him, had Audience with the King, and Entreated with his Majeſty upon Terms of greater moderation, then formerly he had done; which he confeſt was brought about from a Conference with the Lord Keeper. And told his Majeſty, That Counſellor had given him ſmall content in a long Argument vext between them; for he had Preach'd to him till he was weary to hear his Divinity, tho' it was Learned, and of more Acuteneſs then he expected in that Cauſe, but unſatisfactory to Catholicks, as could be fram'd: Yet he made him amends with ſuch Counſel in the end, that now he knew upon what Ground he ſtood; what Laws and Statutes were in force againſt that model of Mercy, which he had urg'd; and how the Clemency, and Power of his Majeſty was retrench'd by them. Therefore as he hoped to find his Majeſty Sweet and Gracious, ſo his Majeſty ſhould find him tractable, that the Thrice Noble and Primary deſign, about which he came, might not hover any longer in ſuſpence. Bleſſed be the Reduction of things to this good paſs, ſaid the King. And that Aequanimity might not ſlip the Knot, his Majeſty Commanded the Keeper to draw up the Diſcourſe lately paſt between the French Embaſſador and him, and to bring it with him; which he finiſh'd carefully, but with Enlargements in ſome Places, as he can remember that turn'd his Books, and aſſiſted the Expedition. In ſome things more, in ſome things leſs was ſpoken at firſt, but thus goes the Draught which the King received.

My Lord Embaſſador Villoclare gave me a Breviate of the Inſtrument of Grace, which he agitated to paſs in the Behalf of the Romiſh Recuſants. When he ſuppoſed I had read it almoſt to the End, he ſpake thus to the Matter, That it would be a great Token of Aſſurance, that their Lady and Miſtreſs ſhould be received into this Realm with the Love of the King, the Prince, and all good Engliſh People, if the diſtreſſed Catholicks, combined with her Highneſs's Obedience to the ſame Church, might obtain, for her Sake, Indemnity from our grievous Laws, live in ſecurity of Conſcience for hence forth from continual Perſecution, and call this Year the Jubilee of the long afflicted, and the end of their Oppreſſion. I told him to this, that I ſhould reply to him in ſtanumering, and ill pronounced French, but with clear Engliſh Satisfaction. Our Laws, ſaid I, againſt … whoſe Clientele you undertake, have been diſputed both by Church-men and States. …, the Books are well known: And by Debate of Arguments, we have juſtified the p. 214Wiſdom and Moderation of our Parliament, to all that can correct prejudice by Reaſon. What Law is rigid which impendent Danger extorts for the Safety of the People? The Storms lookt black over our Heads in thoſe times, when ſuch Statutes paſt, ſo offenſive to your Lordſhip, and were enacted not out of Revenge for Wrongs ſuſtained, but out of Forecaſt againſt Harms to be prevented; not out of Spleen towards Adverſaries, but out of Charity to our ſelves. So much, and without Pauſe or Faultring, I am compelled to ſay for our Laws, becauſe I am a principal Judge by the Favour of the King my Maſter, and ſworn to the Maintainance of the Law. This Anſwer, though neither tart nor umbragious, yet it ſet my Lord Ambaſſador's Teeth on edge, and he roſe up to theſe high Words at one pitch, That he could not imagine how our Laws could have been ſharpned with more Cruelty againſt the Catholicks: For it would look like Mercy to take away their Lives; or rather than to cut them ſo low with the Sickle of Penal Statutes, that they had ſcarce Stubble to maintain their Bodies, and their Souls were utterly ſtarved for want of Prieſts to inſtruct them; none of them daring to adventure to hold out Breaſts of Apoſtolick Doctrine, to feed them with ſincere Milk; but that reſolved to be ript up, and quartered for their Holy Duty. Yet (he goes on) I bewail not ſo much thoſe Excellent Servants of God executed upon your Gibbets, they are recompenſed with the Crown of Martyrdom: But you murder the Souls of the Lay-Catholicks; and if you pity them not to the Good of their Salvation, all other pretended Favours light upon them like Mildews, which are not a fruitful, but a fatal Moiſture? You know my meaning Sir, you are Learned in Caſes of Divinity, and need not to be told that the Uſe and Fruition of the Sacraments are the vital Part of Chriſtian Religion in our Catholick Apprehenſion. Who ſhall celebrate them? Who ſhall impart them to this People robbed of Chriſt? Who ſhall ſatiate their Souls with thoſe Comforts, if the Prieſts, the Diſpenſers of thoſe Myſteries, be utterly kept from them? You commonly ſay, you have done well for the Generality of Catholicks, that they have Liberty of Conſcience. I ſay your Gift is uſeleſs, if you permit them not Teachers that are ſet over their Conſcience. We are more clement to the Churches of Hugonots, and allow them their Miniſters. Without that Favour, a Ruſh for all the reſt. Should I ſend Cloth and Food enough to a Fraternity of Religious Men, What Good ſhall they reap from that Charity, if none ſhall be ſuffered to make them Garments with that Cloth? None permitted to dreſs the Meat that is ſent them? Or let me ſpread before you your Unmerciful Dealing in this Similitude; you have not made a Law to pull out their Eyes, but you have paſt a Law that they ſhall have no Light to ſee by. My Lord, Why ſhould I make it a Labour to conteſt with you, to have no ſuch Statutes in Force? Methinks it is enough to prompt you, that ſuch Incongruities, of very bad Fame Abroad, ſhould be ſuperviſed and corrected upon ſo demulcing an Occaſion as this Marriage? Thus far my Lord Secretary: To whom I ſaid in this Manner.

221. Provident Men, and the Learnedeſt in all Faculties, voted thoſe Laws to be in Power, and at ſome times to be put in ure, which your Lordſhip condemns with a very ſtinging Invective. At which I leſs marvail, becauſe you are a Stranger here, and not acquainted with the Reaſons and Motions that produced them. And ſince you know not how they roſe, you are no competent Judge when they ſhould fall. In Fifty Years after they were firſt ordained, they that have ſucceeded in Power and Authority, have not repented of them; but all, to whome the Care of the Kingdom's Welfare is committed, have continu'd them. Being nevertheleſs as pitiful as any, that have ſoft Hearts, and Chriſtian Principles. For though the Terror of the Laws is great, yet the Execution hath been gentle. Such as are convict of Recuſancy (who are no great Number in this Land) they alone pay Pecuniary Mulcts; but upon ſuch eaſie Compoſitions, that they have both the Cruſt and the Crumb of their Eſtates to themſelves, and the King hath ſcarce the Chippings. The Disburſments of the Crown are great, and the more under a moſt Munificent King; ſo that the Exchequer ſometimes expects the Aid of a plentiful Tribute: Yet theſe, your Lordſhip's Clients, never contributed the Fifth Part of that which might have been called for, leaſt they ſhould ſay, We have made Abraham rich. But, my Lord, moſt Men live, as if they lived to this World only, and therefore never think they have enough of Wealth. I am willing to refer it to this Diſeaſe, which is common to moſt in corrupted Nature, that they that put on this Complaint, fill your Lordſhip's Ears with Whining that their Purſes are no fuller. If they ſay they are become indigent, or Bankrupts by the Iſſues of ſlender and mitigated Payments, the Lye is written in their Fore-heads: We live with them, we know their Poſſeſſions: Their Seats are well repaired, and bravely furniſhed; their Credit is good with our Marchants; They give Portions in Marriages with their Daughters, as great as the beſt of the King's Subjects, conſidered to have p. 215equal Eſtates of Wealth. Their Gallantry, their Feaſting, their Revelling and Gaming are ſeen in the broad Day-light. They bear their Heads as high as their Equals in all Expences. Theſe then are no Symptoms of Poverty: Neither do I blame them for beſtowing a generous and liberal Part of their own upon themſelves; I ſhould rebuke the contrary.

—Nonne eſt manifeſt a phreneſis

Ut locuples moriaris egentis vivere fato?

But let them be thankful for their Store, and not attempt by Murmerings and Outcries to make the Goverment odious, under which they proſper; as if the Chief Shepherd of the People had not ſhorn a Lock of Wooll from their Backs, but devoured them. But what if they had been diminiſhed to a viſible Share of their Subſtance? No worſe Man than a Pope, Gregory the Firſt, hath given us that Counſel. Lib. 3. Ep. 26. To Januarius Biſhop of Calaris in Sardinia: Si quis ruſticus tantae fucrit perfidiae, & obſtinationis inventus, ut ad Dominum venire minimè conſentiat tanto penſionis onere gravandus eſt, ut ipſà exactionis ſure poená compellatur ad reclitudinem feſtinare. But we are guilty of none of Gregories Exactions. And let not your Friends, my Lord, think they walk in a Miſt, as if the King and his Miniſters of State did not know what Sums they effund by dangerous Conduit-Pipes, both to the Impoveriſhing of their own Subſtance, and the exhauſting of the Kingdom. Firſt, The Prieſts, that jog about from Shire to Shire, from Houſe to Houſe, are great Grinders: I know how coſtly they are to their Diſciples, who are like thoſe in a facetious Author, H…min…s c…itellarii, magni ſunt oneris, quicquid imp…ni… vehunt. Plautus M…ſtella. I know they pay the Charges of the Prieſts Journey to and fro to the utmoſt Penny, their Fraught by Ship hither, their Horſes and Convoys by Land; their Entertainment cut deep, Obits, Dirges, Maſſes are not ſaid for nothing. Then in every Family, where they are received, they diſperſe Books for Meditations and Holy Exerciſes, for which they are paid hee ſold more than the Value. And above all, thoſe indefinite Sums, impoſed for Satisfaction by the Will of the Confeſſor, are the ſtrongeſt Purgation. My Lord, the Prieſt's little Finger is thicker than the King's Loins. What they pay by Virtue of our Laws ſo remi…ſly exacted, is but like an honorary Preſent to a Lord in Chief; but what they pay to their Ghoſtly Fathers, by their own Canonical Cuſtoms, is above a Rent of Vaſſalage. And all this while the over-flowing Tide of their Expences is but coming in. I am not but now at the high Water-Mark. King Philip the Second of Spain, founded two Colledges for Jeſuits of this Nation, at Sevil and Valledolid, and he gave a Competency to their maintainance; but their Well-wiſhers in England reach forth ſuch Liberality to them, as makes them flouriſh above their Foundation. Who but the ſame Benefactors ſupply the Seminaries of their Countrymen in Artois and Flanders? Gregory the Thirteenth gave little more than bare Walls to the Engliſh Colledge at Rome: Yet they are able to keep Feſtival Days with Bounty, and relieve Strangers wit Hoſpitality, ſo long as their Treaſurers receive plump Contributions from England; let them be once ſtopt, and their Kitchin Fire will go out. And now be Judge your ſelf, Sir, if theſe Men as you ſuppoſed, were cut ſo low with the Sickle, that their Lives were irkſome, and that they had ſcarce Stabble to maintain them.

222. Hitherto I have proved, that we have been juſt in our Duties towards Men, as Men, and as we are accountable to the ſecond Table of the Law. Your Pontificians, though eſloigned from us in the Way of God's Worſhip, yet their Perſons are our Neighbours, therefore we do not forget them in the Debentures of our Love. I grant it, before a Challenge be made, that I have performed little, unleſs I can juſtifie our Piety in the Survey of the firſt Table. And to make it perſpicuous and intelligible, I will fall into your Lordſhip's Method, according to my beſt Remembrance. Conſider, Sir, that the Comp…ainants, for whoſe Sakes this Ball of Contention is toſt to and fro, are they that live among us, yet profeſs Obedience to another Church. This we reckon to be a Diſeaſe, and a ſore one. The Care of their Souls belongs to the Supream Magiſtrate, who is to provide for all that are under his Allegiance, that they may lead Godly, as well as quiet Lives. He would cure the Ill Affected by his own Phyſicians. The Patients, very confident that they can chooſe beſt for themſelvs, will liſten to none, but ſuch as the Magiſtrate, no leſs ſtrong in Confidence than they, foredooms, that by their Applications, both ſuch as are unſound will be paſt Hope p. 216of Recovery, and ſome that are ſound will fall away by Contagion Both of theſe being fixed upon the reſpective Perſwaſions of their Minds, Which of them ſhould yield with leaſt Offence, and moſt Reaſon? I ſpeak as to external Compliance. Surely a publick Conſcience ought to be more ſcrupulous than a private. The Supream Ruler is foreign, if he permits that which his Heart condems, his Sin is compleatly voluntary. If the Inferior and the Subjected yearns for Inſtructions and Helps in Religion, which under great Forfeiture are prohibited to them, they caſt their Burden upon Neceſſity, and he is very rigorous, that will not ſay they are excuſable. The loudeſt Bell of the Petitioners Grievances, and that which is furtheſt hard, is, that they are Men in Danger of Shipwrack for want of P…ots; their own Prieſts, to whoſe Overſight they commit the Care of their Souls, are kept from them, and cannot, with Comfort and Confidence, light their Knowledge from any other Lamps. Conſcience reclaims it, and if they are blind, yet blind Men muſt not be i… entreated for their Blindneſs, but be led by the Hand. My Noble Lord Villoclare, This Complaint, above all that can be ſaid beſide, is apt to work upon Affections, to compaſſionate the Breathings of a Soul, which proteſts it languiſheth for want of due Means to know God, and to worſhip him. But Affections, and the moſt tender of them, which is pi…y, have no Taſte in them, till they be ſeaſoned with the Salt of Prudence. The Simple believeth every Word, but the Prudent looketh well to his going, Prov. 14.15. Conſcience is offered, and ſet out as it were for a Lan horn upon the Pharos of this Motion. But your Lordſhip, ſo excellent a States-man, knows none better, that the greateſt Cheats that are put upon the World, are in the good Names of Love and Conſcience. Who hath the Power to hurt, ſo ſoon as he, that would be believed that he loves, and doth not? And who ſo dangerous to overthrow Peace, as he that pleads that Conſcience is the only Cauſe of his Diſcontents and Diſobedience? He that baits his Hook with Niceneſs of Conſcience, may catch—What my Lord? Gudgions, but not a Salmon, for the Deluſion is ſtale.

I muſt enter further into the Cloſet of this Objection. What Out-cries are theſe, that if their own Prieſts be reſtrained from them, their Souls ſhall periſh for lack of Knowledge? They that refuſe to ſerve God with the King, and his liege People, either already they know a better way, or they do not. If they do, Why do they complain, as if they were brought to the utmoſt Extremity of Periſhing for want of Inſtructions? If they do not, Why do they chooſe a contrariant Religion blindfold? Chriſtians commonly thirſt for Knowledge, not perceiving that the chief thing they want is Obedience? This Itch hath deſcended from our Blood Royal, from the Top of our Kindred in Paradiſe. I amplifie my ſelf further, that I may not give Scandal, as if I did not magnifie Knowledge; and how ſhall they know and hear without a Preacher? Rom. 10.14. I do ſubſcribe it is the Powerful Ordinance to beget Children unto Chriſt, to enliven them that are dead in their Sins; and to keep them to the Motions of Sanctity, that are raiſed up to Newneſs of Life. Whoſoever may enjoy that Bleſſing, and out of Pride contemns it, or out of Sloath difuſeth it, it will beget in him an erroneous Underſtanding, a decaying Faith, and a corrupt Life. And where the holding out of that Light is withdrawn from a Church by Darkneſs of Perſecution, it is God's Curſe upon a Nation. And where it begins to clear up again, after the Interpoſition of a Total, or a partial Eclipſe, God call it his great Mercy. Thy Teachers ſhall not be removed into a Corner any more, but thine Eyes ſhall ſee thy Teachers, Iſa. 30.20. But where Chriſtians know the Principles of the Doctrine of Chriſt, both for Faith and Holineſs, yet are reſtrained by Laws (whether Juſt or unjuſt, is all one to this Argument) from Church Officers to be among them, do they look to be believed when they ſay, they are quite ſtarved, becauſe none are among them, in their Senſe, lawfully ſent, to feed them with the Bread of the Goſpel? Is there no way to preſerve that which is committed to them by Meditation, by Conference, by Reading? We exact ſeverely upon them, as they cry out, becauſe we permit them not the Tongues of ſome Men to edifie them: But who are more hard-hearted? Who are they that in ſuch a Caſe of Deſtitution, will not allow them the Reading of the Scriptures, that is, the Voice of God, to ſpeak to them? As the Rock, of which the Iſraelites drank, is ſaid to go along with them in the Wilderneſs, And the Rock was Chriſt, 1 Cor. 10.4. So the Eſſence of a Church goes every where with them, that nouriſh the Tradition of the true Faith in their Heart. I ſay, the Church (and Chriſt ruling in it) is with ſuch, whereſoever they live, p. 217whereſoever they wander, though it be not Organized, as a complete Church ſhould be, with Biſhops and Teachers. Our Engliſh Merchants Trade many Years together at Sevile, Madrid, Alicant, and in other places, wanting the Angels of thoſe Churches, to whoſe Trumpets only they will hearken: Yet, whether they live or die, many of the moſt Virtuous are well prepared for the Lord, becauſe they carry his true Church with them. He may go along in the ſtrength of the Spiritual Food, which he hath eaten, who was fed like Elijah by an Angel ſent from Heaven. Let the Plant that is newly ſet be ſtaked to prop it up, let it be water'd every Day: Doth a grown Tree require ſuch Tendance and Labour? So a People that have lived always in Gentiliſm and Idolatry, but have given admittance to Evangeliſts newly to enter in among them, let them be ſwift to hear: And thoſe happy Meſſengers, that bring the Glad-tydings of Salvation into thoſe Regions of Darkneſs, let them be as ſwift to ſpeak. Who would not blow hard to make green Wood kindle? If I were in their Room, that came to lay the Foundation of Faith, where no Builder had been before, I ſhould allow my ſelf no intermiſſion of Preaching, but for ſmall Repaſt, and neceſſary Reſt. If I were in ſuch a City as Athens, that worſhipp'd an unknown God, I hope I ſhould do as St. Paul did at the ſame Athens, Acts 17.17. He Preach'd not only to the Jews and deveut Perſons in their Synagogues, but in the Market daily with thoſe that met with him. But to be inſtant with that Importunity, where a People is ſufficiently enrich'd already in all Knowledge, ſome perhaps would apply the old Proverb unto it, That it were to bring Owls to Athens. I thank your Lordſhip with all humbleneſs for your Patience and Attention: And I am ſure your Lordſhip underſtands, that it is not to be expected, that a Nation ſhould diſorder the frame of their Laws, to heap Teachers for every Sect in Religion.

223. But the fineſt ſlight to make the reſtraint of Prieſts odious, is upon the neceſſary uſe of their Hand to confer the Sacraments. And they that are contented with no leſs than ſeven, will pretend ſooner to miſs their Adminiſtration, than we that give God thanks for two. My Lord, I will give no offence to your Lordſhip, upon any thing that is controverted Dogmatically between us and you, nor maintain a vexatious Problem in your hearing. I leave you to the management of your Sacraments in France and Italy, as they are conſtituted in ſuch Nations by the Laws of Holy Church. Sail in what Veſſels you will in your own Seas. I conſider now, I have done it often before, and with the joint advice of moſt judicious Scholars, whether thoſe Diſciples of the Roman Church, that live upon our Soil, are ſo ſtreitned in the uſe of their own Religion in this Land, that they ſhould account themſelves to be violently, and as it were ſacrilegiouſly kept from the Kingdom of Heaven, (as in thoſe words ſome of them have complain'd, and your Lordſhip ſeems to think no leſs) except that ſome of the Order of Prieſthood be permitted to be Conveyors of the Sacraments of Grace unto them. Which I conceive is not ſuitable to the Proviſions of Caſes exempt, and milder Conceſſions of their own Doctrine. The Lord Ambaſſador had been offer'd a Chair before, and refuſed it: But the Point coming as it were to the Cuſpis, or Horoſcope of Fortune, he accepted it, and ſaid, My Lord Keeper, your ſmooth Wit hath ſearch'd far into many Scruples, but this Knot will not be unlooſed with a gentle Hand, but with Violence, which is foul Play to be uſed to the ſtricteſt Bonds of Eternal Life. To which I return'd, I fear no prejudice, where ſo much Reaſon fits Judge, as your Lordſhip brings with you. So I went on. That Sacrament which is the Introduction into Memberſhip of the Church of Chriſt is Baptiſm. The Apoſtles and their Succeſſors were appointed Stewards of it by Chriſt, to impart it to all Nations, which were call'd firſt to be his Diſciples. This is the direct way. Yet it is agreed in your Schools, That if any Chriſtian Man or Woman Baptize an Infant with the Element of Water in the right form, that is, in the Confeſſion of the Holy Trinity, the Child is ſufficiently Baptized, and is not excluded the Kingdom of Heaven, for want of that Ordinance. This ſhift is vulgarly approved among you in all places of the World. Then let that content Catholick Parents in England, which is ſo general a remedy among your own Devotees in caſe of neceſſity. And this Buſh will ſtop the firſt Gap. Next, If the Baptized die without Confirmation, none ever made it a Salvation-hazard. Eſpecially that Ceremony being not ſtubbornly rejected, but privatively intercepted, becauſe the proper Inſtrument is not in the way to act it. For how many Biſcainers have never heard of it? In whoſe Craggy Mountains, I am told, a Biſhop appears as ſeldom as a black Swan. I preſume your Lordſhip is a Mainteiner of the Canonical Privileges of Epiſcopacy; and you know without a Biſhop's p. 216duplicate page p. 217duplicate page p. 218ſhop's Hand, the Bleſſing of Confirmation hand no Validity by the Canons, and perhaps no Entity in the Doctrine of the beſt Antiquity. Now if this Sacrament, which comes limping after Baptiſm, muſt have a Biſhop's Croſier to ſtay it up, I know not whether our Romiſh Male contents demand that? Then here's a Tale of new Tidings comes to my Ears, that, to integrate Sacred Offices, they would have the Preſence of a Biſhop, as well as of a Prieſt; and then theſe Adonijahs fly ſo high to ask for Abiſhag, that they may ask the Kingdom alſo. The Miniſters of the King of Spain, upon ſuch an Occaſion as your Lordſhip is employed in, offered at ſuch a thing in their Propoſitions to my Royal Maſter's Commiſſioners. It pleaſeth the Caſtilian Mouth to ſpeak big, and ask high; but we checkt them with repulſe and diſdeign. And good Cauſe for it. A Biſhop will think his Wings pinion'd if he have not a Conſiſtory for Juriſdiction: Vexations of Juriſdictive Power will provoke Appeals to the Court of Rome: And then my Maſters People ſhould crouch for Juſtice to a Foreign Potentate. But that Beaſt ſhall never get the Head to run a Wild-Gooſe-Chaſe where it liſts, while he holds the Bridle in his Hand.

My Lord Ambaſſador, There is nothing diſcoverable, though the wideneſs of the Britiſh Ocean flow ſtill between us and your Biſhops, that their abſence ſhould croſs their Party that is among us from entering into Eternal Life. Which makes the Sacrament of Order not to belong to our Argument. But Marriage doth, it is Gods Ordinance, who joyned Man and Woman together in Paradiſe, and is fitteſt to be celebrated among Chriſtians in the Paradiſe of the Church-Aſſembly: And to be bleſſed by thoſe Servants of God his Prieſts, who are to bleſs his People in all things, eſpecially in ſo great a Myſtery. The Queſtion is, Whether a Man ſhould ſcruple not to Wed a Woman, unleſs ſhe were joyned to him by the Prieſts of his own Communion? My Lord, Let me ſet the ſhape of it before you in another Glaſs. If a Roman born and bred made choice of a Greekiſh Woman for his Wife among Greeks, in Morea or Theſſalonica, would the Wedlock be eſteemed ineffectual, if a Prieſt of the Ordination of the Greek Church did tie the Knot? The Ordination of our Clergy is nearer to you, than the Greeks. Indeed I never heard but a good Wife, and a rich Portion would be welcom to a Recuſant, though a Miniſter made by Impoſition of Hands in this Kingdom did joyn them. And I never heard that ſuch Married Ones, as departed out of our Church to yours, were queſtion'd among you upon the Truth of their Matrimony, which they brought with them from hence. And 'tis well done of you, leſt we ſhould require Exceptions, and make the Iſſue of the moſt of the Roman Catholiques in the Land Illegitimate. It is in our Power to do ſo, becauſe they are not ſcrupulouſly Married by that Form, which our Laws have provided, and with an even Obedience to every tittle of our Preſcriptions. But many things are lawful, which are not expedient.

224. The Annoiting of the Sick may come in next, or in what Order you will, my Lord. I know it is called Extreme Unction in ſome Writers ſenſe, becauſe it is the Extreme Sacrament, when the Soul is about to take its leave of all Sacraments As ſoon as I have named it, I am ready to ſhake Hands, and part with it. What if ſome, in the infirmity of their Sickneſs, deſire it, becauſe the Tradition of the Church hath commended it? Yet none is ſo ſuperſtitious to think, that Comfort cannot be infuſed into them, that are at the point of Death, ſufficiently without it. St. Stephen departed without Extreme Unction, and yet the Lord Jeſus receiv'd his Spirit. Men condemn'd by the Law, and led to Execution, but well prepar'd for a better Life by their Ghoſtly Fathers, neither have it, nor crave it. But they that are moſt impotent, moſt affected with Languor, are ſubject to a moſt diſorder'd Appetite. Why, ſuppoſe then one that is ſick, ſhould have this Pica, and long to be Annoiled? Why might not a Lay-Friend Annoil, as well as Baptize? Eckius would have us believe that the bleſſed Virgin, and your peculiar Saint, St. Genouefa, have Anointed many that were ſick, and they have recover'd. Yet leſt it ſhould be evaded, that theſe were Perſons of miraculous Endowments, hear the Words of Pope Innocent the Firſt, that are as large as can be, and allowed to be his, ſpeaking of this ſick Man's Salve: Omnibus uti Chriſtianis licet in ſuâ aut ſuorum neceſſitate inungendo. Which Papal Sentence our Countryman Bede quotes, and makes it full on this wiſe, not only Preſbyters, but any Chriſtians may Anoint the Infirm in caſe of neceſſity. Will you have the Judgment of ſome that are latter than Innocent and Bede? Hear one, but a ſound Card, Bonaventure upon the Sentences, Poteſt diſpenſari in caſu neceſſitatis à non Sacerdotibus. For the Sacrament of the Altar, my Lord, as you ſpeak p. 219in your Dialect, it is neceſſary Neceſſitate Praecepti, non Medii, ſay both your Divines, and ours. That is in a longer Paraphraſe, the Commandment to Take, and Eat, I and to Drink too, muſt neceſſarily be obeyed by them that can keep it: But it hath not ſuch a ſtrict tie with the Covenant of Salvation, That all they ſhall fail of final Mercy, who are impeded to partake without any fault of theirs. Infants lack the taſte of that Heavenly Food, and are not prejudiced: For our Saviour requir'd it of none, but of ſuch as could actually believe that he died for the Sins of the World. Is not the ſame Indulgence intended towards them, and far rather, who believe in Chriſt's Death, and would enjoy the Sacrament that Annuntiates his Death, but cannot. Your Graveſt Authors do pleaſe themſelves in the Words of Rupertus, and they are grown to be the trivial Quotation upon this Caſe, Non judicatur apud Deum non manducare, niſi qui manducare noluit, qui non curavit, qui neglexit. The deſire of the Heart ſupplies the defect of actual Manducation. Time was more than 1300 Years ago, when thoſe that ſate at the Helm of the moſt Dignified Churches, and ſteered the Concluſions of Divine Truth, were more rigid upon this Theme, than they that hold the ſame Sees in theſe Days. They were ſo literal in the ſenſe of thoſe words, Job. 6.53. Except ye eat the Fleſh of the Son of Man, and drink his Blood, you have no Life in you; that an Infant Baptized was preſently admitted to the Sumption of the Sacred Elements: That believing People, in danger to be ſeparated from their Paſtors in time of Perſecution, were ſuffered to reſerve the Conſecrated Bread, and to eat it reverently at Home. Theſe Cuſtoms are utterly melted away into diſuſe, and the latter overthrown by a Curſe in the firſt Council of Toledo. At this Day your Canons enjoyn no more, But that every faithful Man and Woman partake of Chriſts Body once a Year at Eaſter. And how gentle are your Caſuiſts in their Copious Relaxations upon the Obligation to this Canon? You ſhall hear but one ſpeak, Navarr Enchirid. Cap. 21. Every Notorious Cauſe excuſeth thoſe that receive not once a Year. And it is allowed to be a Notorious Cauſe if danger to loſe Life, or Hmour, or Fortunes doth diſtein a Chriſtian. Therefore a Woman that hath a Child at her Breaſt is diſpens'd with for the Sucklings ſake. And a Widow in ſome places, who keeps the faſhion to mourn a twelve-month at Home, before ſhe appears in publick. Nay, Caution is made to abſolve them that are raggedly, or meanly apparell'd, and would be aſhamed to have the Eyes of ſome caſt upon them in their homely Garments. You cannot go lower, unleſs you could throw leſs than one Ace upon a Dye. Excuſes you ſee are cheap, becauſe that Sacrament is not rated ſo dear, as if it were taken, or not taken upon the price of Salvation.

225. And now, that your Lordſhip may undergo no longer Penance to hear me upon this Subject, I will diſpatch with the Conſideration of your Sacrament of Penance: For whoſe uſe and neceſſity the Prieſts contend more than the People. And if we of the Reformed Clergy had not ſet before our Eyes the Naked Simplicity of the Goſpel, rather than our own Intereſts and Emolument, we would never have ridden that ſtiff-headed Beaſt the Multitude without this Bridle. The Power of the Keys, do you call it? And ſo ye may: For the Locks of all Secrets fly open before it; and every Mans Coffers are at the Command of the Confeſſon. Confeſſion of all Sin, eſpecially the moſt to be bluſh'd at, though lodged in the darkeſt Cellar of the Heart, is a heavy Burden: Yet any wiſe Man will reſolve not to be ſhame-faced, but to endure that, which he muſt bear by a rigid, and peremptory Law. If there be no remedy, as the Confeſſors ſay, but either reveal your Sin, even to all their Minutes and Circumſtances, and obtein Sacerdotal Abſolution, or never look Chriſt in the Face, I cannot then blame your Brethren to ſay, Give us Ghoſtly Fathers, or elſe we die. But hold there. I will ſpread your own Doctrine impartially before you. Your ſevereſt Writers ſay, That Confeſſion of waſting and mortal Sins is to be made to a Prieſt upon the Commandment of Chriſt. Such a Law they have fixed, partly by Conſequences, partly by their Expoſition of the Text. Now it is fit to hear what may be ſaid upon this Law, when the Caſe is removed into a Court of Equity. I move then in the behalf of a Sinner: Is he bound, as ſoon as he hath committed a mortal Sin, with all competent Celerity, to confeſs, that he may be abſolv'd? Not ſo, ſays the Chancery of Divinity. Let him proſtrate himſelf before the Knees of the Poenitentiary once a Year, and rehearſe his Crimes. Is that reſolved Scripture? Is Confeſſion once a Year of Divine Right? No, ſays old Navarr, there is no Divine expreſs Word, that chargeth the Penitent when, and how often to come to that Sacrament; but by Human Authority all Offenders are obliged thereunto once a Year.

p. 220I move once more at the Bar of Favour. Is that Canon as inflexible as the Laws of the Medes and Perſians? Or will it admit of Relaxation? Why not, ſays Azorius, Lib. 7. Moral. Cap. 40.

Quod quiſque fidelium ſemel quotannis confiteatur, Eccleſia Imperavit.

Et Autoritate Pontificiâ poteſt quis eximi à lege annuae Confeſſionis.

One Exception by all Votes is admitted, That a Perſon born dumb ſhall not have his Sins reteined for want of Confeſſion, Cajet. Sacerd. Lib. 3. Cap. 6. And are not their Mouths ſtopt, as if they were dumb-born, in whoſe Vicinage, nay, in whoſe Country, none of Holy Orders out of that Tribe ought to be found by the Laws to take their Confeſſion? Or will it come to one effect, if they put down ſuch faults, as they call to mind they have committed, in writing? And ſo ſend this blotting Paper to them that have the Tutelage over them in ſuch Caſes. This Trick wants not thoſe that applaud it: Eſpecially among the Jeſuits; who I think would teach Pigeons to carry ſuch Meſſages to and fro, ſince they would have all the Work in their own Hands, and cannot be in all places. But your ſounder Divines condemn that Device: Either becauſe the Circumſtances of Sins, which alter Caſes exceedingly, cannot be Interrogated ſo well in conveyance of Letters: Or leaſt the Offendor, while his Letter is under the Meſſengers diſpatch, ſhould relapſe into his former Sin, and abuſe the Grace of Abſolution: Or principally, becauſe that which is under a Mans Hand is permanent; and if it miſcarry, it may be produc'd afterwards to his ſorrow and vexation by the Secular Power. Therefore this Rule muſt be the Coronis of all this Diſpute, That he that hath not a Competent External Judge to confeſs his Sins unto, may quiet his Conſcience, when he confeſſeth them to none but GOD.

226. What ſay you now, my Lord? Doth Salvation neceſſarily depend upon your Septemfluous Sacraments? Or do they depend all upon the Adminiſtration of the Prieſts? O Sir, King David was coſen'd, for believing his Son Amnon, who pretended he could eat nothing, unleſs his Siſter Tamar dreſs'd it. But ſomewhat about Sacramental Confeſſions hangs yet in my Teeth; and I ſhall not ſpeak it, but ſpit it out. It is ſo reaſonable, that I beſpeak you not to be offended. He that takes it ill, it is at his own adventure. Salus populi ſuprema Lex eſto: We muſt firſt look to common ſafety. And they that think to build upon the Ruines of it, will find a falſe Foundation, I hope. Court us not ſuffer Confeſſors to creep into Corners among us. For they profeſs they will not diſcover Treaſon plotted againſt the King and Kingdom, if it be diſcloſed under that Privy Seal. Nay, it hath appeared by Examinations, by Witneſſes, by Letter under their own Hands, by all ſorts of Proofs, that they did not reveal it, when they knew the fatal Hour was at Hand, to blow up our Sovereign, the Prince his Heir, and the whole Flower of the Realm with that Infernal Powder-Plot. Not reveal it, ſaid I? Yes more, it was hatch'd in their Brain, and confirm'd with their Bleſſing. If Clanculary Confeſſion was caſt out of the Church of Conſtantinople for one Mans Luſt; What juſt cauſe have we to gagg it for forty Mens Treaſon? I would have him hang'd for his Wit, that ſhould invent a way to diſcharge a Piſtol, that might give no Report. Now let me forfeit my Credit, if wiſe Men will not ſay, That Conſpiracies buzzed into the Ear, and impoſed never to be detected, upon the deepeſt Obligations of Faith, Church-Love, Merit, &c. are far more dangerous than Powder and Shot, that kill and crack not. Would you in good earneſt have us Repeal our Laws of Correction againſt ſuch dangerous Flambeaux? Were not that to break down our Walls, and to let in the fatal Horſe with his Bellyfull of Enemies? If they plead that there is no ſuch danger in them now; Let them tell it to deaf Men. We know, and can demonſtrate, that the moſt of Contrivances againſt our State have been whetted upon the Grind-ſtone of Confeſſion. Our Sages that made the Laws to blow away the Locuſts into their own Red-Sea, have given us a taſte of their Malice in the Preface of the Statute Eliz. 27. That they came into the Land to work the Ruine, Deſolation and Deſtruction of the whole Realm. Therefore marvel not if ſome have loſt their Lives, that have tempted the Rigour of thoſe Laws. Neither doth it move us, that our Fugitives thereupon have ſprinkled their Calenders with new Martyrs. What if Jeroboam's Prieſts had paſs'd their own Bounds, and come to Jeruſalem, where it is likely they would have been cut off for Enemies and Rebels, ſhould their Names have been crowded into the Catalogue of the good Prophets, that were ſtoned by Tyrants? Beſhrew your Superiours beyond Seas, that Conjure up ſuch Spirits, p. 221to come into our Circle. It grieves us, God knows our Hearts, to Execute our Laws upon one ot two in Seven Years for a Terror to others. But Prudence is a ſafer Virtue then Pity. And it is far better our Adverſaries ſhould be obnoxious to our Tribunal, then we to theirs, by the Thraldom of our Nation; which is the drift of thoſe unnatural Emiſſaries. And if the Venetians, that are under the Obedience of your Church, have baniſh'd ſome of that Stamp, and irrevocably, out of their Territories: Nay, if your ſelves in France did ſometimes Expel the ſame Faction, accept it favorably from us, who will never be under that Obedience, if we Baniſh all.

227. Hold out your Great Courteſie my Lord, to a few Words more. The Anſwering of an Objection or two will not ſtay you long. And before I conclude I will deal you a good Game to make your Lordſhip a Saver, if you will follow Suit. You pleaſe your ſelf, Sir, becauſe you ask no more Liberty for your ſacrifical Prieſts in our Land, then the Reformed Miniſters enjoy with you in France. But the Compariſon doth not conſiſt of equal Terms. The Proteſtants receive a benefit of ſome Toleration in your Realm, to ſtop the miſchief of Civil Wars, and to ſettle a firm Peace among your ſelves. It is the Reaſon which your Wiſeſt and moſt candid Hiſtorian Thuanus doth often give, and Mounſieur Bodin before him, p. 588. Reip. Ferenda ea Religio eſt, quam ſine interitu reip. auferre non poteſt. If you did not ſo, you would pull up much of your own Wheat, with that which you call Tares. But ſuch a Toleration in this Kingdom would not only diſturb Peace, but with great Probability diſſolve it. In the next place you urge that ſuch a memorable Favour might be done to gratifie the ſweet Madam, our intended Princeſs, upon the Marriage. O my Lord you are driven by Blind Mariners upon a Rock. If this could be Granted by the King, which you contend for, and wereeffected; Sweet Lady, ſhe would be brought in the Curſes of this Nation, and would Repent the day, that ſhe drew the Offence of the whole Land upon her Head. Let me ſay on the Husbands Part, what your Country-man Auſonius ſays for the Wife, Saepe in conjugiis fit noxia, ſi nimia eſt dos. If the Prince ſhould make a Joynter to his Wife out of the Tears and Sorrows of the People, it were the worſt bargain that ever he made. His Majeſties Conſort of Happy Memory Queen Ann, did not altogether concord with our Church. Indeed the Diverſity between us, and the Lutherans, among whom ſhe was bred, is as little as between Scarlet and Crimſon: The Colours are almoſt of the ſame Dip. But ſhe carried it ſo prudently, that ſhe gave no notice of any diſſention: Neither ever did demand to have a Chaplain about her of the Lutheran Ordination. This were a Precedent for the moſt Illuſtrious Madam to follow, rather to procure the love of the generality, then of a few Male-contents; from whom you your ſelf, my Lord, will have Cauſe to draw off, when I tell you all. They deal not with your Lordſhip ſincerely. They thruſt your whole hand into the Fire, and will not touch a Coal with one of their own Fingers. They that incite, and ſtir theſe Motions behind the Curtain, dare not upon pain of their Lives ask it in Parliament, where they know the Power Reſts, and no where beſide to ratifie the Grant. And when they Solicite your Lordſhip to obtain theſe indulgences for them in the Court, they know you beat the wrong Buſh. Upon my Faith the Bird is not there.

Noli amabo verberare Lapidem, ne perdas manum.

Plaut. in Curcul.

Knock not your Fingers againſt a Stone to Grate them.

Perchance my Lord, you think I have pinch'd you all this while with a ſtreit Boot, which you can neither get on, nor off. Your Lordſhip ſhall not depart from me with little Eaſe, if Truth and plain dealing will purchaſe me to be called your Friend. None can Repeal our Laws but his Majeſty, with the Votes of the three Eſtates, as you term them, the Lords Spiritual, and Temporal, and the people. And to diſpenſe with the Execution of a Law abſolutely, and unreſtreinedly, is as much as to Repeal it; which if the King ſhould aſſay, it were null in Law, and in Revenge of it in the next Parliament, it would be faſter bound, and perchance the Rigour of it increaſed. But Favour and Mercy may be ſhewn, Praeter ſententiam legis, in ſome exempted Caſes, and to ſome particular perſons. Clemency againſt the Capital Sentence of the Laws is the Kings Prerogative; the Life of his Subject when it is forfeit to him, he may chooſe whether he will take the forfeiture. Every Varlet, ſays Seneca, may kill a Citizen againſt the Law; but then he turns to the Emperor, Servare nemo praeter p. 222te, &c. None but the Supreme Majeſty can ſave a Life againſt the Law. Work upon that my Lord; and it were a good days work to extract advantage out of it. But wherein lies the way? You ſhall have better Heads then mine to help you, if you pleaſe to be directed by me. None can furniſh you with the right Art of it, but ſome of our ſage Counſellors of our Common Laws. I wiſh you therefore my Lord to proceed with the ſpecial knowledg of the Roman Catholicks that ſtir moſt in this Project. Let them cull out ſome of the Learnedeſt Practiſers together. Let the King's Attorney General make one, for my ſake: For the reſt let your Clients pick out as they like. An hundred Crowns among them, that is, a Fee of five pounds a Man, will not be ill beſtowed upon them. Let them lay their Heads together. And I will loſe all I am worth, if you do not thank me for having referred you to thoſe, who will fetch out by their Skill ſo much to be Granted, that you will never be put to Conteſtation hereafter, that you obtain'd much of the King, and are never the nearer. The Courtiers with whom alone you have had to do to this time, have Complemented with your Lordſhip. So could I do likewiſe; give you Large conceſſions in Words and in Wax; but in effect nothing. Like Galley Pots Entitled with the Name of Cordials, but have Cob-Webs in them, and no more. My Lord, all that I have to ſay is no more but this, will you be lead by me? or will you wander ſtill? Sir, ſays the Embaſſador, Uſe me honeſtly. I am a Stranger, and while I am in England, I will ſurrender up ſelf to your Directions. Nay, I will poſſeſs our Virtuous, and Illuſtrious Madam, that you are a clear dealing Man, and of good Faith, and moſt worthy of her Truſt, when ſhe comes into a ſtrange Land. And after a very civil Farewel at the preſent, Mounſieur Villoclare made uſe of thoſe Inſtructions; For though he Climbed not ſo High as he looked, yet he Climbed better; for he ſtood ſure, where he could not fall.

228. Which Papers came to the King, with more ſatisfaction, as he was pleas'd to ſay, then he could have expected. Not any Line of Wiſdom or Learning could be loſt to him, who ſaw as far, and as ſoon as any Man, into the Intellectuals of another. For, as the Lord Bacon wrote, his Majeſty had a light of Nature, which had ſuch readineſs to take Flame, and blaze from the leaſt occaſion preſented, on the leaſt ſpark of anothers knowledg deliver'd, as was to be admir'd. And this was the laſt preſent in that kind, that the Lord Keeper ſent to the King; who finding ſome indiſpoſition of Health, retired for freſh Air and quietneſs to his Mannor of Theobalds, VVhere Jacob gather'd up his Feet into the Bed, and yielded up the Ghoſt, Gen. 49.33. The Lord Keeper on March 22. being Tueſday, receiv'd a Letter from the Court, that it was feared his Majeſties Sickneſs was dangerous to Death; which Fear was the more confirm'd, for he, diſpatching away in all haſte, met with Dr. Harvey in the Road, who told him, That the King us'd to have a Beneficial Evacuation of Nature, a ſweating in his left Arm, as helpful to him as any Fontinel could be; which of late had failed. And that argued, that the former Vigour of Nature was low, and ſpent. This Symptome of the Kings Weakneſs I never heard from any elſe. Yet I believe it upon ſo learned a Doctors Obſervation. And this might well cauſe a Tertian Ague, and a Mortal, when the Spring had Entred ſo far, able to make a commotion in the Humours of the Body, and not to expel them, with accuſtom'd vaporation. After the L. Keeper had preſented himſelf before his Lord the King, he moved him unto chearful Diſcourſe, but it would not be: He continued til Midnight at his Bedſide, and perceiv'd no Comfort; but was out of all Comfort upon the conſultation that the Phyſicians held together in the Morning. Preſently he beſought the Prince, that he might acquaint his Father with his Feeble Eſtate, and like a faithful Chaplain mind him both of his Mortality, and Immortality; which was allowed and committed to him, as the principal Inſtrument of that Holy and neceſſary Service. So he went into the Chamber of the King again upon that Commiſſion, and Kneeling at his Palat, told his Majeſty, He knew he ſhould neither Diſpleaſe him, nor diſcourage him, if he brought Iſaiahs Meſſage to Hezekiah, to ſet his Houſe in Order; for he thought his Days to come would be but few in this World, but the beſt remained for the next World. I am ſatisfied, ſays the Sick King; and I pray you aſſiſt me to make me ready to go away hence to Chriſt, whoſe Mercies I call for, and I hope to find them. After this the Keeper, now of his Majeſties Soul, kept about him with as much Diligence, as a Body of Fleſh could endure. He was ever at hand; helpful not only in Sacred, but in every kind of Duty; never from that time put off his Cloaths to go to Bed, till his Maſter had put off his Tabernacle, which appear'd in his Looks on Sunday Night, p. 223when he return'd to VVeſtminſter; employed himſelf Night and Day, unleſs the Phyſicians did compoſe his Majeſty to reſt, in Praying, in Reading, moſt of all in Diſcourſing about Repentance, Faith, Remiſſion of Sins, Reſurrection, and Eternal Life. To which the King made Anſwer, ſometimes in Latin, always with Patience, and full of Heavenly Seaſoning; which Hallowed Works were performed between them on VVedneſday, as a Preparation to the Paſſover on Thurſday, the Fortifying of his Majeſties Soul againſt the Terrors of Death, with the lively Remembrance of Chriſt's Death and Paſſion in the Holy Communion. At which the King made moſt humble Conſeſſion of his Sins, craved Abſolution, rendred the Confeſſion of his Faith before many Witneſſes, Profeſs'd he Died in the Boſom of the Church of England, whoſe Doctrine he had defended with his Pen, being perſwaded it was according to the mind of Chriſt, as he ſhould ſhortly Anſwer it before him.

229. All this while God did lend him ſuch Strength, to utter himſelf how well he Reliſh'd that Sacred Banquet of Chriſt's Body and Blood, and how comfortably the Joy of the Holy Ghoſt did flow into his Soul, as if he had been in a way of Recovery. And his mournful Servants that ſaw and heard it, rejoyced greatly, that unto that time Sickneſs did not compreſs his Underſtanding, nor ſlop his Speech, nor Debilitate his Senſes, and ſubmitted more willingly to God to have their Maſter taken from their Head, becauſe they believed the Lord was ready to receive him into Glory. The next day his Soul began to Retreat more inward, and ſo by degrees to take leſs and leſs Notice of external things. His Cuſtos Angelus, as I may call him, his Devoted Chaplain ſtirr'd very little out of the Chamber of Sorrow, both to give an Far to every Word the King ſpake in that extream condition, and to give it him again with the Uſe of ſome Divine Meditation; as alſo to Repulſe thoſe who crept much about the Chamber Door (he was ſure for no good) Nay, and into the Chamber. They were of the moſt addicted to the Church of Rome, whom he controuled for their Sawcineſs, and commanded them as a Privy Counſellor further off. Impoſtors, that are accuſtom'd to beſtow Rubrick Lies upon the beſt Saints of God, and whom they cannot pervert living, to challenge for theirs when they are Dead. So, being rid of theſe Locuſts, he was continually in Prayer, while the King linger'd on, and at laſt ſhut his Eyes with his own Hand, when his Soul departed. Whatſoever belong'd to Church Offices about the Royal Exequies fell to his part afterward. He perform'd the Order of Burial, when the Body was repoſed in the Vault of King Henry the Sevenths Chappel, appointed only for that famous King's Poſterity, and their Conforts. He Preach'd the Sermon at the Magnificent Funeral, out of the 2 Chron. c. 9. v. 29.30. and part of the 31. Now the reſt of the Acts of Solomon Firſt and Laſt are they not written in the Rock of Nathan the Prophet, and in the Propheſie of Ahijah the Shilonite, and in the Viſions of Iddo the Seer againſt Jeroboam the Son of Nebat? And Solomon Reigned in Jeruſalem over Iſrael Fourty Years. And Solomon ſlept with his Fathers and was Buried in the City of David his Father; and no further. Out of which Text he fetch'd two Solomons, and Match'd them well together. And I conceive he never Studied any thing with more care, to deliver his mind apud honores, exactly to the Truth, and Honour of the King. He enquired after the Sermon which Biſhop Fiſher made at the Funeral of King Henry the Seventh, and procur'd it; likewiſe for the Oration which Cardinal Peron made for King Henry the Fourth of France, and had it by the means of Dr. Peter Moulin the Father. Theſe he laid before him to work by, and no common Patterns. 'Tis uſeleſs to Blazon this Sermon in the Quarters; take it altogether, and I know not who could mend it. It is in the Libraries of Scholars that are able to judg of it. And ſuch as Read it ſhall wrong King Charles his Son, if they conceive any Paſſage Reflects upon him, becauſe Eloquence in the Body of the Sermon, and in the Margent is commended in King James, and Extoll'd to be very uſeful in Government. Doth this derogate from the Honour of the Succeſlor. Chriſippus non dicet idem, nec mite Thaletis ingenium. Juvenal. Sat. For King Charles might be allowed for an Elegant Speaker, and choice in his matter, if he had not ſtood ſo near to his Fathers Example.

230. To whoſe Memory I ſtand ſo near, having been carried on to Record his Happy Departure, that I am preſt in Conſcience to do ſome right to his Worthineſs. He was a King in his Cradle,

p. 224—Aequaevâ eum Majestate Creatus,

Nulla que privatae paſſus contagia ſortis.

As Claudian of Honorius Paneg. l. 7.

As he was born almoſt with a Scepter in his Hand, ſo he had ſtudied long to uſe it; which made him much conteſt to keep Regal Majeſty intemerated; which was as good for us, as for him. Summum dominium eſt Spiritus vitalis, quem tot millia Civium trahunt, ſays Grotius out of Seneca. de Ju. B. & P. l. 2. c. 9. con. 3. Which will Expound that Phraſe in the Book of Lamentations, That Joſiah is call'd the Breath of the Jews Noſtrils. Some thought that the good King ſtudied to Enthral the people; far from his mind God wot. But his ſpeculation was, that Northern Nations love not a Yoke upon their Necks, and are prone to Anarchy; that they will ruin themſelves, if they be not held down to a good temper of Obedience; and that, by too much Liberty, Liberty it ſelf will Periſh. It is is an Excellent Speech which Artabanus makes to Themiſtocles in Plutarch. We hear of you Greeks foreign, that you love Liberty and Parity; but among many good Laws, this is the Chief in Perſia, foreign, &c. To Honour our King, and to Worſhip him as the Image of God. And I trow the Perſian Monarchs have laſted longer then the Burgo-Maſters of Greece? The Graſt will have no Cauſe to Repent, that it is bound cloſe to the Stock, it will grow the better. But as King James did rather talk much of free Monarchy, then execute it: So no people did ever live more proſperouſly then we did under him, and he made no oſtentation of it. If all were not turn'd upſide downward of late, I might declame out of the Paneg. to Conſtantine, Quis, non dico reminiſcitur, ſed quis non adhuc quodam modò videt, quantis ille rebus auxerit, ornarit que rempub.? To what an immenſe Riches in his time did the Merchandize of England riſe to above former Ages? What Buildings? What Sumptuouſneſs? What Feaſtings? What gorgeous Attire? What Maſſy Plate, and Jewels? What Prodigal Marriage Portions were grown in faſhion among the Nobility and Gentry, as if the Skies had Rained Plenty? The Courts of Laws Civil and Common never had ſuch practiſe, nor the Offices belonging to them ſuch Receipts upon their Books. The Schools in the Univerſities, and the Pulpits, with Wits of all Arts and Faculties, never flouriſh'd ſo before over all the Land. Let Zion and the Clergy be joyful in the Remembrance of their King. God beſtowed with him upon the Land the Gift which Homer ſays Jupiter promiſed to Ulyſſes his Reign in I…haca, foreign, Odyſs. a. Enough of Wealth and Peace. And they that ſuck at thoſe two Breaſts, and are forward, they know not what is good for them, and are inſenſible of a Benefit. Let them keep ſilence with ſhame enough, that Ball aloud, we were corrupted by them; whoſe Fault was that? Therefore God hath taken them away from us, and will give them to a people that will uſe them better. Ne que jugi pace, aut longo otio abſoluta ingenia corrumpis, ſays Capitol. of M. Antonius. A Soul of good Metal will never Ruſt in the Scabbard of Peace. O with what mony would we be content to buy ſo many years of Peace again, now Wars have trodden us under foot like Dirt? If there be a Milky Circle upon Earth, a Condenſation of many comfortable and propitious ſtars, it is Peace; which this Peace-maker preſerv'd at home, and purſued it for his contemporary Potentates abroad; till his Son-in-Law made an Attempt upon Bohemia, unfortunate to himſelf, and to all Chriſtiandom. But what ſays Ar. Wil. to this p. 160. His maintaining of Peace, howſoever the World did believe it was out of a Religious Ground, yet it was no other but a Cowardly diſpoſition, that durſt not adventure. Like as when L. Opimius had ſuppreſt C. Gracchus, with the raſcal Rabble that follow'd him, and Opimius having pacified the uproar Dedicated a Temple to Concord. The Seditious flouted it with this Verſe,

foreign.

Plut. in vit. Grach.

Opus vaecordiae Templum concordiae facit. So if ſuch a Monument had been Raiſed by this King, the Temple of Peace and Unity had been with the Malicious the Temple of Sloth and Vanity. 'Tis a Buff Coat Objection, that his Majeſty conſum'd as much in Embaſſies to ſettle differences by accord, and did no good, as would have maintain'd a Noble War, and made him ſure of his Demands. Nay, hold Sirs, aſſurance is only in the Power of God; And the Die of VVar, ſays the Proverb, caſts an uncertain Chance. Howſoever, p. 225was it not more Chriſtian to buy a Childs Portion with Mony, then with Blood? Gallantry hath made Embaſſages very chargeable; but they devour not like War. I ſhall make ſome Smile to tell them, that Aeſchines accus'd Demoſthenes for putting the Common-Wealth to the Expence of two Servants to carry his Sumpter, when he went Embaſſador. And in the time of C. Gracchus, lately ſpoken of, the Romans ſays Plutarch, allowed Nine Obols, or Fifteen Pence a day to him that was ſent Abroad upon a publick Treaty. A Parſimony as bad as our Prodigality. But attend to the Opinion of our King Harry the Eighth, as I take it from Lord Cherbury's Hiſtory, Pag. 171. The Maintaining of a ſure Peace at Home, was almoſt as coſtly as to make War Abroad. Yet he had rather ſpend his own Treaſure that way, than to expoſe his People to Slaughter, and to Miſeries, that are worſe than Slaughter.

231. But our King James did not weigh which was cheapeſt or deareſt, Peace or War; but which was more anſwerable to times of Grace, and the Aeconomy of the Goſpel. For Thriſt and Saving, he could never be brought to think of them. I have heard, that he never loved a Servant till he had given him enough for a Livelihood; and ſuſpected thoſe that were modeſt, and did not ask, as if they loved not him. It might rightly be ſaid of his Exchequer, what Salmaſius notes upon Lampridius Diadumenns, Praefectus aerarii comes largitionum vocatur; quaſi ad nullam aliam rem princeps aerarium haberet, quàm ad largiendum. The chief Treaſurer was called the Count of Largeſs, as if the Prince's Revenue ſerved only for Bounty and Largeſs. But as wiſe Spotſwood ſays upon Malcolm the Second. Neceſſity is the Companion of immoderate Largition, and forceth to unlawful Shifts. Therefore it is better for a Prince to proportion Giſts to his own Revenews, than to the Expectation of publick Supplies. Thus far King James may be magnified, he ſpent to pleaſe his Mind in gratifying and obliging many, not to pleaſe his Body. His Cloaths were thriſty, and of better Example than his Courtiers would follow. He was temperate in his Diet, ſays Sir An. W. and to be believed, becauſe in every thing almoſt he is an affected Defamer; but this he knew well, for he was Clerk of the Kitchin, and waited at the Table. Where, as an eye Witneſs, he adds, that he was temperate alſo in his Drinking, drinking often, but very often not above one or two Spoonfuls at once, which Strangers obſerving, and not knowing the ſmall quantity he ſip'd, carried away an Error with them, which grew into a falſe Fame: But I never ſpake with that Man that ſaw him overtaken. Take him for a Scholar, and he had gathered Knowledge to aſtoniſhment; and was ſo expert to uſe it, that had he been born in a private Fortune, he might have deſerved to be a Biſhop of the higheſt Promotion. Let the Learnedeſt of the Nobility, the Lord Bacon, ſpeak for the Learnedeſt of Monarchs. There hath not been ſince Chriſt's Time, any King, which hath been ſo Learned in all Literature and Erudition, Divine and Humane. And let him win and wear that in Auſon, Paneg. which cannot be denied him, Quid aliud es quàm ex omni bonarum artium ingenio collecta perfectio? Piety is the Baſis of all Vertue, and the Baſis of Piety in corrupted Nature, is rather Repentance than Innocency. When this King called to mind in his Retiring-Chamber, or in his Bed, that he had been that Day overtaken with Paſſion, As he that offends not in Word, the ſame is a per-Man, Jam. 3.2. he uſed to ſend for Biſhop Montague, the only Prelate that ever was ſworn of his Bed-Chamber, or for Dr. Young, the Dean of Winton, whom he would exhort to Pray with him for the Forgiveneſs of his Sins. He was infinitely given to Prayer, ſays Sir Ant. W. but more out of Fear than Conſcience. That's Satan's Gloſs upon a good Text. What Fear ſhould move him to Prayer, but that which is the beginning of Wiſdom? Few dye Saints, that live Libertines. God would not have impowered him to expreſs ſuch good Effects of Religion, at his parting out of this Life, if he had not been his faithful Servant in his Life before. To trumpet theſe, and many more Triumphs of Praiſe, Fame, will wake for him, now he is faln aſleep. And the more Ages to come that will ſtudy him, the more they will renown him. I have read it quoted out of Galen, that the Surentine Wine is never mellow for the Taſte till it be ſeventy years old; and becauſe few will keep it ſo long, the Goodneſs is little known. So the longer the World keeps this King's Memory, it will be the ſweeter. Perhaps it is yet harſh to ſome malevolous and unthankful.

232. It is the Virulency of wrathful Writers, that the Dead, that ſhould be ſpared, are moſt traduced by them. They cannot bite again, when they are bitten; as Budaeus ſaid of Portius, Lib. 5. de Aſſe. Fol. 169. That Portius would not write againſt him while he was living: Placabiliùs homo peritus actum iri meis cum p. 226manibus a ſeſe, quàm mecum intelligebar. And the miſerable Condition of Kings deceaſed is above others, eſpecially if their Poſterity be not in a Condition to do them right, they are moſt like to be wounded in their Honour by all thoſe (who muſt be many) that have been offended in their own Perſons and Suits; or in the Injuries, as they interpret them, of their Friends and Relations. Eſpecially it is to be deplored, and defied, that ſome are ſo touchy upon the niceſt Points of Religion, that they will not ſpare the Good Name, no, not of the Lord's Anointed, if he have diſtaſted them with Oppoſition of Opinions, if he not dogmatize with them in all abſtruſe and intricate Problems of almoſt unſearchable Truths. For which, they that ſue their Adverſaries hotly, and, as it were, go to Law for every Quirk and knotty Point, are no better than common Barretters in Divinity. This was King James's hard Fortune, to be blotted with the Inks of Parſons, Schioppius, Scribanius, furious Papiſts, and as many more of them as would ſill Juſtice-Hall in New-gate: by the Preciſe, that were alienated from the Ceremonies and Diſcipline of the well framed Proteſtant Church; as Wdden, Wilſon, Payton, and a Sanhedrim of Scots, that contended againſt the Articles of Perth; and (which I did not look for) by one (and no more I hope) devoted to thoſe Corollaries of Theology, which in this laſt Age are named from the Belgick Doctor Arminius. It is the Obſervator on H. L. If King James had not ſtopt the Current of thoſe Opinions, eſpecially, as he ſays, P. 23. in his Declaration againſt Vorſtius: Or, if for Reaſons of State, he had not joyned himſelf to his dear Confederate, Maurice Prince of Orange, to call the Synod of Dort, to ſuppreſs a Party under the Countenance and Command of Jo. Olden Barnev…, by him uſed to undermine the Power of Maurice; I doubt not but he had ſcap'd free from the Obſervator's Cenſure. But ſince he was vigilant to attend the Affairs of the Proteſtant Churches in all their Harbors, and looked circumſpectly to quell Commotions in the Netherlands, he muſt by no means paſs for Great-Britain's Solomon; nay, it is no hard matter to prove, that he was over-witted, and made uſe of to other Mens ends, by almoſt all that undertook him. This is too large a Field to run over; but many wiſe Princes have been abuſed in ſome Treaties; as Queen Elizabeth at St. Quintins, about the Reſtoring of Calis in 88, by the dodges of the Prince of Parma; and over and over by King Henry the Fourth of France. So was this King foiled at Madrid, about the Marriage of his Son, upon which his Chief Plots did depend, by the Cro…neſs of his own Miniſters. I have heard ſome obſerve, like this Cenſurer, that his Wiſdom wanted Pertinacy and Severity, which proceeded from the Gentleneſs of his Nature, not apt to keep others in ſo hard, as he ſhould. In this Kingdom, I am ſure his greateſt, and moſt dangerous contriving Enemies found his Wiſdom, that maugre all Devices to oppoſe his Title, he took the Crown of England ſo quietly, and enjoyed it ſo peaceably, that it was the Amazement of all Princes. Ireland found his Wiſdom, ſo admirably civiliz'd, ſo enriched with Trade by the Plantation at London-Derry, ſo furniſhed with true Religion, and excellent Learning, and Means to nouriſh it; ſo quiet from Rebellion in all his Days, that whoſo doth not praiſe it, muſt be ſtupid, or envy it. Scotland found his Wiſdom, whoſe Borders he ſcoured from Thieves, whoſe Fewds he reconciled, whoſe Eccleſiaſtical Government he ſetled, whoſe Mouths (a ſmall few excepted) he kept from Murmering, and whoſe Swords he kept ſheathed, ſo ready to be drawn upon every Alarum; that thoſe Days were Halcyonian Days from Tweed to the Orcades. But for England, ſays the Obſervator, he neglected the Affairs of State, and Care of Government, to hunt after Pleaſures, deſerting the Imperial City, to ſport himſelf at Roiſton and Nowmarket, and ſuch obſcure Places, which were to him as the Iſle of Capreae was to Tibarius Caeſar. What! the Iſle of Capreae, where Tiberius practiſed his odious Laſts not to be named, which the well-moralized Romans did abhor? Hac v…rò ni P. Clodius dixit unquam. Cic. Phil. 2. The Devil and the Jeſuits durſt not ſay ſo, the moſt venemous Scorpion did never touch him with that Sting. And did ever any Chriſtian in the firſt Ages of the Church, when their Blood was ſhed like Water on every ſide? did ever any of them ſtigmatize the moſt loathſome-liv'd Emperor and Tyrant with ſuch Words? Never. And let the great Annaliſt be heard. Baron. an. 75. com. 4. Nunquam, in tot acerbiſſimis ab Imperatoribus illatis in Chriſtianos perſecutionibus, quem piam illorum ob diccitatem conventum eſſe judicio, quis poterit invenire. I will give this Complaint over, though it deſerves a long Invective; for I treat of a moſt merciful King, who was moſt remiſſive of Wrongs, no Spiller of Blood, but of Beaſts in Hunting, that never ſhewed himſelf unſavory with the Froward, 2 Sam. 22.27. Nec quicquam eſt glorioſius Principe impune Leſ…, Senec. lib. 1. ….

p. 227233. It is ſaid, but miſtaken, that Government was neglected at thoſe Hunting-Houſes; and by the way, Why are they called obſcure Places? Royſton and Newmarket, petty if compared with London; but they are Market-Towns, and great Thorow-Fares; where the Court was ſo frequented, both for Buſineſs and Recreations, that many of the Followers could not find a Lodging in that Town, nor ſcarce in the Villages round about it. I held Acquaintance with ſome that attended the Principal Secretaries there, who proteſt they were held to it cloſer, and ſate up later in thoſe Retirements, to make Diſpatches, than at London. The King went not out with his Hounds above three Days in the Week, and Hunting was ſoon over. Much of the time his Majeſty ſpent in State Contrivances, and at his Book. I have ſtood by his Table often, when I was about the Age of Two and twenty Years, and from thence forward, and have heard learned Pieces read before him at his Dinners, which I thought ſtrange; but a Chaplain of James Mantague, Biſhop of Winton, told me, that the Biſhop had read over unto him the four Tomes of Cardinal Bellarmine's Controverſies at thoſe Reſpites, when his Majeſty took freſh Air, and weighed the Objections and Anſwers of that ſubtle Author, and ſent often to the Libraries in Cambridge for Books, to examine his Quotations. Surely then, whatſoever any Caper witted Man may obſerve, neither was the King's Chaſtity ſtained, nor his Wiſdom lull'd aſleep, nor his Care of Government ſlackned, by Lodging in thoſe Courts remote from London, where he was freer from Diſturbances. But as I…ocrates ſaid of Evagoras, foreign, He had the Dexterity to purchaſe leſs Labour with much Eaſe, and to ſhift the Toil of a King ſometimes into the Pleaſure of a Scholars Studies. Neither would I have had the Obſervator tax him, that he ict looſe the golden Reins of Diſcipline, held by his Predeceſſors with ſo ſtrict a Hand, and opened the firſt Gap unto theſe Conſuſions, and what Diſcipline King James is charged to ſlacken, the Obſervator beſt knows his own Meaning. I am no Phormio, to teach Hannibal how to Govern. But to draw our fatal Confuſions from the Proſperity enjoyed by his Mildneſs and Peace, muſt be ſtretch'd out of long ſpun Deductions; like that in Tully, Wo to the Mountain Ida, where the Trees grew, whoſe Timber made the Ships, that carried Paris to Rape Helen, which ſtir'd up the Greeks to revenge it, and to Sack Troy. Or thus: Wae be to Joſeph, that ſent for his Father and Brethren, and planted them in Aegypt, in a fat Soil, where their Stock increaſed, whoſe Increaſe was dreaded; which cauſed the Male Children to be drowned, and the Iſraelites to be oppreſſed by Pharaoh's Task-Maſters. This was viſible before our Eyes, the precious Things of Heaven, and the precious Things of the Earth, and the Fulneſs of the Earth abounded in his Reign, and many years after, by the Good-will of him that dwelt in the Buſh. All that hath fallen out ſince, is from the Hand of the Lord, upon a People, the moſt Unthankful, and the moſt Guilty of their own Ruine, that ever was heard of in any Hiſtory. And now let a Man of more Authority, Judgment and Experience than the Obſervator, ſpeak upon the Wiſdom of my Lord the King. It is the moſt Reverend Spotſwood in his laſt Page. He was the Solomon of his Age, admired for his wiſe Government, and for his Knowledge of all manner of Learning, for his Wiſdom, Moderation, Love of Juſtice, for his Patience and Piety (which ſhined above all his other Vertues, and is witneſſed in his Learned Works he left to Poſterity) his Name ſhall never be forgotten, but remain in Honour ſo long as the World indureth. We that have had the Honour and Happineſs many times to hear him diſcourſe of the moſt weighty Matters, as well of Policy as of Divinity; now that he is gone, muſt comfort our ſelves with the Remembrance of thoſe Excellencies, and reckon it not the leaſt Part of our Happineſs, to have lived in his Days. It is well that King James paſſeth for a Solomon with that Holy Biſhop, and wiſe Counſellor. Now that I may decline an over-weening Opinion of any mortal Man, Nazianzen minds me very well, Orat. in laud. Athenaſ. that among God's Worthies, he commends foreign, Solomon in ſome things, not in all. No Man ruled the leaſt Principality ſo well, much leſs three Kingdoms, with Iſles adjacent, and remote; but the Modeſt and Impartial might have required ſomewhat to be amended in the Adminiſtration, for it is true what Pliny ſays in his Paneg. Nemo extitit, cujus virtutes nullo vitiorum confinio laeder…mur. If ſmall Motes be diſcerned by piercing Eyes, yet ſuch Minutes are eaſily covered over with egregious and heroical Vertues. And the hard Heart of Sir An. W. ſoftned into this Confeſſion at laſt. Take him all together, and not in pieces, ſuch a King, I wiſh this Kingdom have never any worſe, on the Condition not any better.

p. 228234. I have borrowed thus much Room to ſet up a little Obelisk for King James, out of that which is only intended to the Memorials of his Lord Keeper; which Servant of that King's (foreign) if he had any Senſe of it, would be willing to lend that, and more to his good Maſter: With whoſe Death, the Day of the Servant's Proſperity ſhut up, and a Night of long and troubleſome Adverſity followed. Which if I can compaſs in my Old Age, and decay'd Health, to bring into a Frame, for the Reader to behold, he may ſay as Socrates did of Antiſthenes in Laertius, foreign, that two Athenians would not make up one ſo Noble as Antiſthenes. And two Men would never have diſcharged thoſe two Parts ſo well, as this one Man performed them. Which Repreſentation may meet with ſome, perchance, that will not be favourable to it; whom I wiſh to take heed of the Character which Theophraſtus gives of an impure Man, foreign. I will lengthen it thus, he acts his own Part ill, that Hiſſeth at him that deſerves to be applauded.

FINIS.

A MEMORIAL Offer'd to the Great Deſervings OF JOHN WILLIAMS, D.D. Who ſometimes Held the PLACES of LORD-KEEPER of the GREAT-SEAL OF ENGLAND, Lord Biſhop of LINCOLN, AND Lord Arch - Biſhop of YORK.

Written by JOHN HACKETT, Late Lord Biſhop of Coventry and Litchfield.

PART II.

Iſocrates ad Evagoram, pag. 80.

foreign.

Saluſt. de Caio Caeſari,

In te, praeter caeteras, artem unam egregiè mirabilem comperi; ſemper tibi majorem in adverſis, quàm in ſecundis rebus auimum eſſe,

pag. 171.

LONDON: Printed for Samuel Lowndes, over-againſt the Exchange, in the Strand, MDCXCIII.