A Memorial Offered to John Williams, Part of biography 1 · Letter 7 – Letter 10

A Memorial Offered to John Williams · Part of biography 1 · Letter 7 – Letter 10

p. 92Right Honourable,

104. I Owe more Service to that true Love and former Acquaintance, which your Lordſhip hath been pleaſed to afford me, now theſe full ten years, then to be ſparing or reſerved in ſatisfying your Lordſhip about any doubt whatſoever: The Reſolution whereof ſhall lie in my Power. Concerning that Offence, taken by many people, both this ſide the Borders, and in Scotland, from that Clemency, which his Majeſty was pleaſed to extend to the Impriſoned Lay-Recuſants of this Kingdom. And my Letter Written to the Juſtices for the Reigling of the ſame (which your Lordſhip did intimate unto me yeſterday, at Mr. Henry Gibb his Houſe, out of ſome News received from a Peer of Scotland) This is the plaineſt return I can make unto your Lordſhip. In the general, as the Sun in the Firmament appears unto us no bigger then a Platter, and the Stars but as ſo many Nails in the Pomel of a Saddle, becauſe of that Eſloinment and Diſproportion between our Eyes and the Object: So there is ſuch an un-meaſurable diſtance betwixt the deep Reſolution of a Prince, and the ſhallow Apprehenſion of Common and Ordinary people; that as they will be ever Judging and Cenſuring, ſo they muſt be Obnoxious to Error and Miſtaking. Particularly, for as much as concerns my ſelf, I muſt leave my former Life, my Profeſſion, my continual Preaching, my Writing (which is extant in the Hands of many) my private Endeavours about ſome great Perſons, and the whole bent of my Actions (which in the place I live in cannot be conceal'd) to Teſtifie unto the World, what favour I am like to importune for the Papiſts in point of Religion. For the King my Maſter, I will tell you a Story out of Velleius Paterculus. A Surveyor bragging toM. Livius Druſus, that he would ſo contrive his Houſe, Ut libera à conſpectu, immunis ab omnibus Arbitris eſſet; That it ſhould ſtand Removed out of ſight, and be paſt all danger of Peeping, or Eaves-dropping, was anſwer'd again by Druſus, Tu vero, ſi quid in te artis eſt, ita compone domum meam, ut quicquid agam ab omnibus conſpici poſſit. Nay my good Friend, if you have any devices in your head, contrive my Houſe after ſuch a manner, that all the World may ſee what I do therein. So if I ſhould endeavour to flouriſh up ſome Artificial Vault to hide, and conceal the intentions of his Majeſty, I know I ſhould receive the ſame Thanks that the Surveyor did from M. Druſus. I was not called to Counſel by his Royal Majeſty, when the Reſolution of this Clemency to the Lay-Recuſants was firſt concluded: But if I had been asked my Opinion, I ſhould have adviſed it without the leaſt Heſitation. His Majeſty was ſo Popiſhly addicted at this time, that (to the incredible exhauſtments of his Treaſury) he was a moſt Zealous Interceder for ſome Eaſe and Refreſhment to all the Proteſtants in Europe (his own Dominions, and Denmark only excepted) Thoſe of Swethland, having lately provoked the Pole, had no other hope of Peace: Thoſe of France of the Exerciſe of their Religion: Thoſe of the Palatinate and adjoyning Countries of the leaſt connivency to ſay their Prayers, then by the earneſt Mediation of our Gracious Maſter. And adviſed by the late Aſſembly of Parliament to inſiſt a while longer in this milky way of Interceſſion and Treaty, what a prepoſterous Argument would this have been to deſire theſe mighty Princes (Armed and Victorious) to grant ſome Liberty and Clemency to the Proteſtants, becauſe himſelf did now Impriſon, and Execute the Rigour of his Laws againſt theRoman Catholics. I muſt deal plainly with your Lordſhip, our Viperious Country-men the Engliſh Jeſuits in France, to fruſtrate thoſe pious endeavours of his Majeſty, had many Months before this Favour granted, retorted that Argument upon us, by Writing a moſt malicious Book (which I have ſeen, and read over) to the French King: Inciting him, and the three Eſtates, to put p. 93all thoſe Statutes in Execution againſt the Proteſtants in thoſe parts, which are here Enacted, and (as they falſly inform'd) ſeverely Executed upon the Papiſts. I would therefore ſee the moſt ſubtle State-monger in the World, chalk out away for … Majeſty, to mediate for Grace and Favour for the Proteſtants, by Executing (at this …) the Severity of his Laws upon the Papiſts. And that this Favour ſhould … Toleration is a moſt dull, and yet a moſt deviliſh, miſconſtruction. A Toleration looks forward to the time to come: This favour backward to the Offences paſt. If any Papiſt now ſet at Liberty ſhall offend the Laws again, the Juſtices may, Nay, muſt recomm… him, and leave Favour and Mercy to the King, to whom they properly belong. Nay, let thoſe two Writs directed to the Judges, be as diligently peruſed by theſe raſh Cenſurers, as they were by thoſe Grave and Learned Men, to whom his Majeſty referred the Penning of the ſame; and they ſhall find that theſe Papiſts are not otherwiſe out of Priſon, then with their Shackles about their Heels, ſufficient ſureties, and good recognizances to preſent themſelves again at the next Aſſizes. As therefore that Lacedaemonian oppoſed the Oracle of Apollo, by asking his Opinion of the Bird which he graſp'd in his hand, whether it were alive or dead: So it is a matter yet controverted and undecided, whether theſe Papiſts (clos'd up and graſp'd in the Bands of the Law) be ſtill in Priſon, or at Liberty. Their own demeanour, and the ſucceſs of his Majeſties Negotiations are the Oracles that muſt decide the ſame. If the Lay-Papiſts do wax inſolent with this Mercy, inſulting upon the Proteſtants, and Tranſlating this favour from the Perſon to the cauſe, I am verily of Opinion, that his Majeſty will remand them to their former State and Condition, and renew his Writ no more. But if they ſhall uſe theſe Graces modeſtly, by admitting conference with Learned Preachers, demeaning of themſelves Neighbourly and Peaceably, praying for his Majeſty, and the proſperous ſucceſs of his Pious Endeavours, and Relieving him bountifully (which they are as well able to do as any other of his Subjects) if he ſhall be forced and conſtrained to take his Sword in Hand: Then it cannot be denied, but our Maſter is a Prince, that hath, as one ſaid, plus humanitatis poene quam hominis: And will at that time leave to be merciful, when he leaves to be himſelf. In the the mean while this Argument fetch'd from the Devils Topics, which concludes a concreto ad abſtractum, from a favour done to the Engliſh Papiſts, that the King favoureth the Popiſh Religion, is ſuch a Compoſition of Folly and Malice, as is little deſerved by that Gracious Prince, who by Word, Writing, Exerciſe of Religion, Acts of Parliament, late Directions for Catechiſing and Preaching, and all Profeſſions and Endeavours in the World hath demonſtrated himſelf ſo Reſolved a Proteſtant. God by his Holy Spirit open the Eyes of the People, that theſe Airy Repreſentations of ungrounded Fancies ſet aſide, they may clearly diſcern and ſee, how by the Goodneſs of God, and the Wiſdom of their King, this Iſland, of all the Countries in Europe, is the ſole Neſt of Peace and True Religion. And the Inhabitants thereof, unhappy only in this one thing, that they never look up up to Heaven to give God Thanks for ſo great an Happineſs. Laſtly for mine own Letter to the Judges (which did only declare, not operate the Favour) it was either miſpenned, or much miſ-conſtrued. It recited four kinds of Recuſants only capable of his Majeſties Clemency: Not ſo much to include theſe, as to exclude many other Crimes, bearing among the Papiſts the Name of Recuſanties, as uſing the Function of a Romiſh Prieſt, ſeducing the King's Liege people from the Religion eſtabliſhed, Scandalizing and Aſperſing our King, Church, State, or preſent Government. All which Offences (being outward practiſes, and no ſecret Motions of the Conſcience) are adjudged by the Laws of England to be meerly Civil and Political, and excluded by my Letter from the benefit of thoſe Writs, which the bearer was imployed to deliver unto my Lords the Judges. And thus I have given your Lordſhip a plain Accompt of the Carriage of this buſineſs; and that the more ſuddenly, that your Lordſhip might perceive it is no Aurea Fabula, or prepared Fable, but a bare Narration, which I have ſent unto your Lordſhip: I beſeech your Lordſhip to let his Majeſty know that the Letters to the Juſtices of the Peace, concerning thoſe four Heads, recommended by his Majeſty, ſhall be ſent away as faſt as they can be exſcribed. I will not trouble your Lordſhip more at this time, &c.

Your Lordſhips I. L. C. S.

105. The Letter as it exceeds in length, ſo it excells in Judgment. Yet thruſting into the midſt of the Throng to part the Fray, he got a knock himſelf. For becauſe he was principally employ'd by his Office to diſtribute the King's Favours to ſome of the adverſe Sect, he was Traduc'd for a Well-willer to the Church of Rome, nay ſo far by a ranting fellow about the Town, that he was near to receive a chief promotion from that Court, no leſs than a Cardinals Hat. At p. 94the firſt Bruit of this Rumor the Scandal was told him, and one Sadler the Author diſcover'd, which he deſpis'd to proſecute, and paſs'd it by with this moderation, 'That the Reporters ſaw the Oar under Water, and thought it was 'Crooked; but he that had it in his hand knew that it was whole and ſtreight. An admirable Similitude to reconcile contraries to a good meaning; for the Eye were not right if the Oar under Water did not ſeem broken to it: And the Judgment were not right, if it had not a contrary Opinion. So the people that are upon the Shore judge one way; for they look upon things beneath the Water: But States-men judge another, who work at the Oar, or guide the Bark. The Error of the former is tolerable; the Senſe of the other is Magiſterial, and unqueſtionable. So great were this Lord's diſaffections to that corrupt and unfound Church, that he watch'd their Miniſters more narrowly then any Counſellor, when they ſhot beyond the Mark of his Majeſties late indulgences. It was ever the unlucky diligence of thoſe, that were Proctors to agitate the Recuſants Cauſe, to importune his Majeſty for thoſe things, which they did not hope to obtain, but the very offer of them with their Arts and Graceleſs Carriage, would make the Council Table odious, contribute much to embitter the Subjects, and to raiſe diviſions. So they dealt now. For they put a Paper into my Lord of Buckingham's hands to aſſiſt them for the Erection of Titulary Popiſh Praelates in this Kingdom. A moſt Natural ſuperfaetation; with the motion whereof the Lord Marqueſs being amuzed, he ſent to the Lord Keeper for advice, who damned the Project with theſe Reaſons enſuing, Firſt it will ſet all the Kingdom on Fire, and make his Majeſty unable to continue thoſe Favours and Connivencies to peaceable Recuſants, which he now moſt Graciouſly affords them. Secondly, It takes away from his Majeſty an Hereditary Branch of the Crown, which the Kings of this Land have ever enjoy'd, even before the Conqueſt, and hath never, ſince the days of King John, been ſo much as Challeng'd by any Pope, to Wit, the Inveſtitures of Biſhops. Thirdly, It is a far greater miſchief in a State (I mean in regard of the Temporal, but not of the Spiritual good thereof) then an abſolute Toleration. For a Toleration, as we ſee in France, doth ſo divide and diſtinguiſh Towns and Pariſhes, that no place makes above one payment to their Church-men. But this inviſible Conſiſtory ſhall be confuſedly diffuſed over all the Kingdom, that many of the Subjects ſhall to the intolerable exhauſting of the Wealth of the Realm, pay double Tithes, double, Offerings, and double Fees, in regard of their double Conſiſtory. And if Ireland be ſo poor, as it is ſuggeſted, I hold, under Correction, that this inviſible Conſiſtory is the principal cauſe of the exhauſting thereof. Fourthly, If the Princes Match ſhould go on, this New Erected Conſiſtory will put the the enſuing Parliament into ſuch a Jealouſie and Suſpition, that it is to be feared that they will ſhew themſelves very untractable upon all propoſitions. Fifthly, For the Pope to place a Biſhop in this Kingdom is againſt the Fundamental Law of the Land, and the King will be held unjuſt and injurious to his Succeſſors, if to his utmoſt power he ſhould not reſiſt and puniſh. This Draught was brought to the King, who was glad ſuch Pills were prepared to purge away the redundancy of the Catholic Encroachments. And his Majeſty gave Order to him, who had confected them ſo well, to Adminiſter them with his beſt skill to the Spaniſh Embaſſador. That they might work gently with him, the Lord Keeper at his Viſit made ſhew, that he was ſtartled at a heady motion that came from Savoy, as he thought, taking no notice of any Spaniſh Agent that had his Finger in it: And beſought his Excellency to ſend for the Savoyan, and to wiſh him to throw aſide his Advice for Titulary Biſhops, leaſt it ſhould hinder the King of Spain's deſire, in accomodating the Catholics with thoſe Courteſies, which had been granted; which took ſo well with the Spaniſh Embaſſador, his own indiſcretion being not Taxt, but the Folly laid at another Door, that the motion ſunk in the Mud, and was ſeen no more. I will add but one thing, how diſtaſtful it was to him, that the Papiſts ſhould have ſo much as the ſhadow of a governing Church in this Realm taken out of a Letter (Cabal. pag. 81.) Written to my Lord of Buckingham, being then at Madrid, dated Aug. 30. 1623. Doctor Biſhop, the New Biſhop of Chalcedon, is come to London privately, and I am much troubled at it, not knowing what to Adviſe his Majeſty, as things ſtand at this preſent. If you were Shipped with the Infanta, the only Counſel were to let the Judges proceed with him preſently; Hang him out of the way, and the King to blame my Lord of Caterbury, or my ſelf for it. Surely this doth not favour of addiction to the Purple-Hat, or the Purple-Harlot. Ovid. Nunquid ei hoe fallax Creta p. 95negare potes? Nay, it was a Pang, rather then a Paſſion, to the welfare of this Church, which forc'd ſentence of Blood out of his ſweet and mi'ky Nature.

106. Yet well fare thoſe good Fellows that did not defame him for a Papiſt: Much otherwiſe they charg'd him with a loud Slander, and a long Breach for it continued in his days of Sorrow) that he was a Puritan; of what Colour Si…s? Blew, or Black; Both theſe might he falſe (ſo they were) both could not be True. David ſays of God's Servants, whom he Tried as Silver is Tried in the Fire, that they went through Fire, and through Water, Miſe…ies of Repugnant Natures. So Sometimes they paſs through Defamations inconſiſtent, and as contrary one to another as Fire and Water. The Old Non conformiſts were call'd by the Nick Name of Puritans in Queen Elizabeth's days. I know not who impos'd it firſt, whether Parſons the Jeſuit, or ſome ſuch Franion: I know it grew not up like Wild Oats without Sowing. But ſome Supercilious Divines, a few years before the End of K. James his Reign, began to Survey the Narrow way of the Church of England with no Eyes but their own, and meaſuring a Right Proteſtant with their ſtreight line, diſcriminated, as they thought fit, ſound from unſound, ſo that ſcarce ten among a Thouſand, but were Noted to carry ſome Diſguiſe of a Puritan. The very Prelates were not free from it, but, Tantum non ni …piſcopatu Puritani became an Obloquy. At the Seſſion which theſe Ariſlarchuſſes held near to the Court in the Strand, the Lord Keeper, the moſt Circumſpect of any Man alive to provide for Uniformity, and to countenance it, was ſcratch'd with their Obeliske, that he favour'd Puritans, and that ſund…y of them had Protection through his Connivency or Clemency. All the Quarrel in good Sooth was that their Eye was Evil, becauſe his was Good. Such whom the Aemulous repin'd at, as he caſt it out himſelf, were of two Ranks. Some were of a very ſtrict Life, and a great deal more laborious in their Cure, then their Obtrectators. Far be it from him to love theſe the worſe, becauſe they were Stigmatiz'd, to the Offence of Religious and Juſt-men, with a by word of Contumely. Pacatus the Orator inveighed againſt it for a Rank impiety in his Pan…g. Quod Clarevati Matrorae objicicbatur, at que … exprobrabatur mulieri vi luae nimia Religio, & diligentius culta Divinitas. I will lay it open in one particular. The Lord Biſhop of Norwich Dr. Harſnet, a learned Prelate, and a Wiſe Governour (bate him perhaps a little roughneſs) began to proceed in his Conſiſtory, againſt Mr. Samuel Ward a Famous Preacher in Ipſwich; who Appealed from the Biſhop to the King. And the King committed the Articles exhibited againſt him to be Examined by the Lord Keeper, and by him to be Reported to his Majeſty. The Lord Keeper found Mr. Ward to be not altogether blameleſs, but a Man to be won eaſily with fair dealing. So he perſwaded Biſhop Harſnet to take his Submiſſion, and to continue him in his Lecture at Ipſwich. The Truth is, he found ſo much Candor in Mr. Ward, ſo much readineſs to ſerve the Church of England in its preſent Eſtabliſhment, and made it ſo clearly appear that he had gained divers Beneficed Men to conform (who had ſtumbled at that Straw) that the Lord Keeper could do no leſs then compound the Troubles of ſo Learned and Induſtrious a Divine. And I aver it upon the Faith of a good Witneſs, that after this, Biſhop Harſnet acknowledged, that he was as uſeful a man to aſſiſt him in his Government, as was in all his Dioceſe. Another Rank for whoſe ſake the Lord Keeper ſuffer'd, were ſcarce an handful, not above three or four in all the wide Biſhoprick of Lincoln, who did not oppoſe, but by ill Education ſeldom uſed the appointed Ceremonies. Of whom when he was certified by his Commiſſaries and Officials, he ſent for them, and confer'd with them with much Meekneſs; ſometime remitted them to argue with his Chaplain. If all this ſtirred them not, he commended them to his Old Collegiate Dr. Sibbs, or Dr. Gouch: Who knew the ſcruples of theſe mens Hearts, and how to bring them about, the beſt of any about the City of London. If all theſe labour'd in vain, he protracted the hearing of their Cauſes de die in diem, that time might molliſie their refractory Apprehenſions But had it not been better ſaid ſome foreign; to ſtop the mouth of the unruly, Tit. 1.11. I Anſwer, Their mouth was ſlept in St. Paul's meaning. Eſtius hath begun the diſtinction, and it is eaſily made up, Alind eſt ſilontium indicere, quod eſt imperamis: Alind ad metas ſaciturnitatis reduccre, quod eſt docte redarguentis. They were not imperiouſly commanded to be ſilent, but enough was ſpoken wifely to their Face, to put their Folly to ſilence. Men that are found in their Morals, and in Minutes imperfect in their Intellectuals, are beſt reclaimed when they are mignarized, and ſtrok'd gently. Seldom any thing but ſeverity will make them Anti-practiſe: For then they grow deſperate Facundus p. 96Dominus quoſdam a…fugam cogit, quoſdam ad mortem, ſays Seneca. And they are like to convert more with their ſufferings, then with their Doctrine. He that is openly puniſh'd, whatſoever he hath done, he ſhall find Condolement. But I will ſpend no more Words to wipe away this ſtur of Puritaniſm, it needs not a laborious Apology; foreign, as the Proverb is in Athenaeus; Let Lubbars Talk of it over a Winter Fire, when they Droll out Tales.

107. Yet I want not matter how to waſh out this ſpot of Jealouſie by great Actions: In this year 1622, he began to expend a great Sum upon St. John's College, the Nurſe of his hopeful breeding. A right ſtampt Puritan is not a Founder, but a Demoliſher of good Works. He laid the platform of his Beneficence on this Wife. Four Scholars he Added to the 40 Alumni in the College of Weſtminster. For their Advancement he provided and endowed four Scholarſhips in St. John's College, upon their Maturity and Vacancy of thoſe places to be Tranſlated to them. Two Fellowſhips he Newly Erected in that Houſe, into which only out of thoſe four the beſt were to be choſen. Withal he purchas'd the Patronage of four Rich Benefices to receive thoſe Scholars and Fellows of his Foundation upon the Death, or other Ceſſation of the Incumbents. But the Chief Minerval which he beſtowed upon that Society was the Structure of a moſt goodly Library, the beſt in that kind in all Cambridge. And as he had pick'd up the beſt Authors in all Learning, and in all plenty, for his own uſe, ſo he bequeathed them all to this fair Repoſitory. This was Epiſcopal indeed, to iſſue out his Wealth, as the Lord brought it in, in ſuch ways. This is the Purſe that Mr. H. L. ſays he Ran away withal, after he had departed with the Great Seal; wherein we ſee how far the Portion of over-flowing waſt, which … from Great Ones, and is ſpilt, if it were ſav'd, and well beſtow'd, would … the Land with all ſort of Monumental Bravery. What a good Steward he was for his Maſter Chriſt Jeſus's Houſhold and how provident to put none into part of the Care, but ſuch as were Obedient to Civil and Sacred Rulers, appears moſt in his happy choice of thoſe, upon whom he confer'd the livings that fell into his Patronage. They were ever pick'd out of the beſt Learned, the beſt Qualified, the moſt Cordially affected to our moſt Godly Liturgy, and to the Government of the Prelates. Within theſe Apoſtatizing times, wherein ſo many have departed from them without Cauſe, I cannot remember any of his preferring, but kept their Traces, and to their beſt Power, never run out of the Ring. I have a ſhort Story to tell, and then I leave this Subject. Among the poor diſtreſſed Proteſtants in Bohemia, many of them were Braziers by their Occupation Theſe ſent ſent ſome meſſengers from them with a Petition to his Majeſty, that they might Tranſplant a Colony into England, (London eſpecially) Men, Wives, Children, and their full Families. Signifying that they would bring with them to the Value of two hundred Thouſand Pounds in Coin, and Materials of their Trade. That their Subſtance and Labour ſhould be ſubject to all Cuſtoms and Taxes for the King's profit. They deſired to live in a Body of their own Nation, and to ſerve Chriſt Jeſus in that Church Diſcipline which they brought with them from Bohemia. Though they had inclin'd his Majeſty to admit them, being a great Swarm of People, and bringing Wax and Honey along; yet the Lord Keeper diverted it, from the Example of the Dutch and French that were ſetled among us. Theſe brought commodious Manufacture into the Realm; but they brought a Diſcipline with it, according to the Allowance of their Patent, which was a Suffocation to the Temperate Criſis of our own Church Government. Which Peril of Diſtemper would be increaſed by the Acceſs of the Bohemick Congregation. A great Forecaſt to keep our Hierarchy found from the Contagion of Foreigners; and he was more Religious to keep the Church of England in its Sabbath, and Holy Reſt, than to help out the Neighbours Ox, that was fallen into the Pit. Yet I have ſomewhat to alledge in the Behalf of the Bohemians. I have in my little Library, a Book printed 1633 (eleven years after the Lord Keeper appear'd againſt their Petition) called Ratio Diſciplinae, ordiniſque Eccleſiaſtici in unitate ſratrum Bohemorum. Their Platform in that Piece comes ſo near to the old Proteſtant Church of England, above all the Reformed, that for my part, I wiſh we had had their Company. This is ſufficient, I am ſure, againſt thoſe Oppoſite, and Self-overthrowing Aſperſions. Let them do their worſt, there is one Metal that will never be the worſe for them, of whoſe Property, this Lord partak'd. It is Gold, of which Pliny writes, Lib. 33. N. H. c. 3. that nothing makes it more precious, Quam contra ſalis & aceti, ſuccos domitores p. 97rerum, conſtantia. The Spirits of Salt and Vinegar (the moſt biting and ſowreſt Reproaches) cannot hurt it with their Tartneſs. That which corrodes all other Bodies, cannot diſſolve the Conſtancy of Gold.

108. How faithfully, and with what Courage, like himſelf, he adventur'd to maintain Orthodox Religion againſt old Corruptions, and new Fanglements, will be a Labour to unfold hereafter. One thing remains that is purely of Epiſcopal Diſcharge, which I will ſalute, and ſo go by it, before I look again upon his Forenſive, or Political Tranſactions. When he was Dean of Weſtminſter he had a Voice in the High Commiſſion Court, and ſo forth when he was in higher Degrees. For as Nazianzen commends Athanaſius, pag. 24. Encom. he was foreign, skiiful in all the various Arts of Government. He appear'd but once at Lambeth, when that Court ſat, while he was Dean. A ſign that he had no Maw to it. For he would ſay, that the Inſtitution of the Court was good without all Exception; That is, to Impower the Kings of England and their Succeſſors by Statute to iſſue out that Authority under the Great Seal, which was annexed to the Imperial Crown of this Realm, to aſſign ſome, as often, and to ſo long time as the King ſhould think fit, to be Judges for the Reformation of great Abuſes and Enormities. But that this Power ſhould be committed from the Kings and Queens of this Realm to any Perſon or Perſons, being Natural born Subjects to their Majeſties, to overlook all Eccleſiaſtical Cauſes, correct, puniſh, deprive, whether one or more, whether Lay or Clergy, whether of the vileſt as well as the nobleſt, nay whether Papiſt as well as Proteſtant, as no harm was to be feared from good Princes, albeit they have this Liberty by the Tenure of the Act 1 Eliz. Cap. 1. So if God ſhould give us a King in his Anger, who would oppreſs us, till our cry went up like the Smoke out of a Furnace, this Statute would enable them to enact Wickedneſs by a Law. This was a Flaw (to his ſeeming) in the Corps of the Statute, which gave Vigour to the High Commiſſion. But in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth, and her two bleſſed Succeſſors, God be praiſed, we were never the worſe for it. Better Commiſſioners than were appointed in their Days, need not be wiſh'd. What ail'd this wiſe Church-man then to be ſo reſerv'd, and to give ſo little Attendance in that Court? He was not ſatisfied in two things: Neither in the Multiplicity of Cauſes, that were pluck'd into it, nor in the Severity of Cenſures. It is incident to Supream Courts, chiefly when Appeals fly unto them; to be ſick of this Timpany, to ſwell with Cauſes. They defraud the lower Audiences of their Work and Profit, which comes home to them with Hatred. What a Clamor doth Spalat. make, Lib. 5. Eccl. Reip. c. 2. ar. 28. That the Judicatories at Rome lurch'd all the Biſhops under that Supremacy, of all Complaints that were promoted to their Conſiſtories. Eò lites omnes, cò diſpenſationes trahuntur. Fluviorum omnium tractus ad ſuam derivat molam, nobis quod ſugamus, nihil relinquitur. The Affairs of all Eccleſiaſtical Tribunes were little enough to drive that Mill: So the Conſiſtories of all the Suffragans in the Province of Canterbury became in a manner Deſpicable, becauſe the Matters belonging to every Dioceſs were followed before the High Commiſſion. That it might be ſaid to the neglected Praelates at Home, Are ye unworthy to Judge the ſmalleſt Matters, 1 Cor. c. 2. It ſeems ill Manners increas'd apace: For I heard it from one that liv'd by the Practice of that High Court, An. 1635: That whereas in the laſt Year of Arch-Biſhop Whitgift, eight Cauſes were left to be diſcuſs'd in Eaſter-Term, there were no leſs than a Thouſand depending at that time. This was one of his Exceptions, That the High Court drew too much into its Cognizance. The other Reaſon, which made him ſtand a loof from it, was, That it puniſh'd too much. Arch-Biſhop Abbot was rigorouſly Juſt, which made him ſhew leſs Pity to Delinquents. Sentences of great Correction, or rather of Deſtruction, have their Epocha from his Predominancy in that Court. (And after him it mended like ſowre Ale in Summer.) It was not ſo in his Predeceſſor Bancroft's Days, who would Chide ſtoutly, but Cenſure mildly. He conſidered that he ſate there rather as a Father, than a Judge. Et pro peccato magno paululum ſupplicii ſatis eſt patris. He knew that a Paſtoral Staff was made to reduce a wandering Sheep, not to knock it down. He look'd upon St. Peter, in whom the Power of the Keys was given to the Unity of all the Officers of the Church, who incurr'd a great Offence in the Hall of the High Prieſt (let the Place be ſomewhat conſider'd, but his Action moſt.) Ut mitior eſſet delinquentibus grandis delinquens, Saith St. Auſtin. It being the moſt indubitate Courſe of that Commiſſion, to deprive a Miniſter of his Spiritual Endowments; that is, of all he had, if Drunkenneſs, or Incontinency were prov'd againſt him. I have heard the Lord Keeper (who was no Advocate for Sin, but p. 98for Grace and Compaſſion to Offenders) diſ-reliſh that way, for this Reaſon. That a Rector, or Vicar, had not only an Office in the Church, but a Free-hold for Life by the Common Law, in his Benefice. If a Gentleman, or Citizen had been Convicted upon an Article of Scandal in his Life, was it ever heard that he did Confiſcate a Mannor, or a Tenement? Nay, What Officer in the Rolls, in the Pipe, in the Cuſtom-houſe, was ever diſplac'd for the like? Under St Cyprian's Diſcipline, and the Rigor of the Eliberitan Canons, the Lay were obnoxious to Cenſures as much as the Clergy. But above all (ſaid he) there is nothing of Brotherhood, nor of Humanity in this, when we have caſt a Presbyter cut of Doors, and left him no Shelter to cover his Head; that we make no Proviſion for him out of his own for Term of Life, to keep him from the Extremities of Starving or Begging, thoſe Deformed Miſeries.

109. Theſe Reaſons prevailing with him, to be no ordinary Frequenter of that Court; yet an Occaſion was offered, which required his Preſence, Mart. 30. 1622, which will draw on a Story large and memorable. M. Amonius de Deminis, Arch Biſhop of Spalato, made an Eſcape out of Dalmatia, an Engliſh Gentleman being his Conductor, he poſted through Germany, and came ſafe into England in the end of the Year 1616. The King gave him Princely Welcome: Many of the Religious Peers, and Chief Biſhops, furniſhed him with Gold, that he lack'd for nothing. He ſeem'd then, for all this Plenty brought in, to be covetous of none of theſe things; but was heard to ſay, That the Proviſion of an ordinary Miniſter of our Church would ſuffice him. For in the end of June, as he was brought on his Way to the Commencement at Cambridge, a Worthy and a Bountiful Divine, Dr. John Mountfort receiv'd him for a Night in his Parſonage-Houſe of Anſty. Where Spalat. noting that Dr. Mountfort had all things about him orderly and handſome, like a genteel Scholar; he proteſted to all that were in preſence, that if he could obtain ſuch a Houſe to dwell in, and no more than the Profits of ſuch a Pariſh to maintain him, he would go no further in the Deſire of the Things of this Life. But King James, no Niggard in Liberality, perſwaded him to take more than he ask'd; as Naaman urged Gehazi, who was as willing to receive, as Naaman to give, 2 King. 5.23. He was inſtalled Dean of Windſor, and admitted Maſter of the Savoy-Hoſpital in the Strand. Theſe together were worth to him 800 l. per Annum. They brought in no leſs, and he would not looſe a Peny of his Due; but ſtudied to exact more, than ever by Cuſtom had been received by any of thoſe Dignitaries. Of which Sharking, his Majeſty once admoniſhed him: Yet his Veins were not full, but he got himſelf preſented by the Church of Windſor, to a good Benefice, ſays Mr. Ri. Montagu, Weſt Ilſly in Barkſhire, where he made a ſhift to read the Articles of 1562 in Engliſh, pro more Clericali, and ſubſcribed to them. But Jeſurum waxed fat, and kicked, Deut. 28.15. For toward the end of January 1621, he came to Theobalds to be brought to the King, and with as bold a Fore-head, as ever any Face was dreſt in, he became an humble Suppliant to his Majeſty, that he might have his Leave to return for Italy. The Courtiers that ſtood by look'd up to Heaven in wonder: For no Man dreamt of this Inconſtancy, and certainly no Man leſs than the King. He that is not ready to do Evil, is ever flow to ſuſpect Evil of others. But his Majeſty carried it with high Wiſdom: For, as if this Recoiler had told him no News, he ſpake but this little, and diſmiſt him. If you have a mind to be gone, I will not ſtay you; and at my firſt Leiſure, I will appoint thoſe that ſhall confer with you about your Diſmiſſion. A brave Contempt, and well beſtow'd upon a Proud Man, that did not expect to be valued at a Triſle, which was not worth the keeping. Many have written before me the reaſon of this Arch-Biſhop's retrograde Motion, and likewiſe what it was that bore him up ſo ſtifly, to be very confident, or to ſeem to be, to preſent himſelf before the Roman Conclave. I ſhall not loſe my Thanks, I hope, If I add my Obſervations, with a little more than hath already been diſcovered. Firſt, About the middle of Autumn, Ann. 1621, Ant. de Dominis beſought the King to confer the Arch-Biſhoprick of York upon him. A haſty Suitor, for the Place was not void. The Error came about thus: The Arch-Biſhop then in being (called familiarly Toby Matthew) was ever pleaſant, and full of becoming Merriment; and knowing that his Death had been long expected, was wont every year, once, or oftner, to cauſe Rumours to be raiſed that he was deceaſed. And when he had put this Dodgery ſtrongly upon thoſe at London, that gap'd for the Vacancy to ſucceed him, it was a Feaſt of Laughter to him, to hear what Running and Riding there was to fill up his Room, who jear'd them behind the Lattuce. No wonder if p. 101Spalat. a Stranger, were catcht in this Trap; but he had worſe Luck than to be derided for his Forwardneſs, for the King bade him ſit quiet, and ſeek no further. It was not now as in Lanfranke and Anſelm's Days, to make a Stranger a Metropolitan of England. The Man, impatient that his Requeſt had ſo large a Denial, offers his Departure, as 'tis ſaid before, not diſtruſting, but that the King would bid for ſuch Ware, as much as the Man thought himſelf to be worth. But being over-ſhot, and laid aſide with Scorn, he would have eat his Words, and eaſt out Speeches in oblique before ſome of the Council, that whatſoever he had uttered, he was diſpos'd more to pleaſe the King, than to pleaſe himſelf. But he found no Place for Repentance. And of all this the Lord Keeper is my Author.

110. But what can be ſo quick ſighted as the Devil? that ſpies the firſt Spark of attentation, and blows it into a Flame. The vigilant Men at Rome knew better than we in England, that the Jade had a mind to ſlip his Halter, and to run away, becauſe we did not fill his Rack, and plump him up with Provender. Therefore in the beginning of January, (Hui! tam cito?) a Packet came to his Hands from Cardinal Mellino, whoſe Contents were, That Paul the Fifth was dead, from whoſe Anger he had made haſte to be gone, becauſe he had provok'd him in defending the Venetian Quarrel againſt him; but Gregory the Fifteenth, of the Ludoviſian Family, was then in the Papal Throne, as propenſe unto him of old as any Friend, and as true to him as his own Brother. That he had ſent him an Apoſtolical Brief to Bruſſels (for ſuch Miſſives were not welcomed in England) to give him Aſſurance of good Speed at Rome, with a plenary Indulgence for all the Provocations of his Writings. And Mellino added (for that muſt not be left out) That a great Dignity lay in Lavender for him, Eaque valde opima. So Dr. Crakanthorp cites it from Spalato's own Mouth, Pretium octuplicis ſtipendii, eight times more in value than his engliſh Preferments, Defen. Eccl. Angl. c. 8. art. 5. But a Man not half ſo wiſe as Spalat. might diſcern, that if he did conſide in this Ludoviſian Pope alone, the Security was very rotten. Every Child preſaged his Life was not long. Death was ready to arreſt him every day upon two Suits, great Age, and great Infirmity. This Renego ſailed from our Ports in the end of April, arrived at Rome in June, and this Pope, the Hope of his Life and Fortunes, expired July 8, Stilo Novo, 1623. Neither was he ignorant of this Gregory's approaching Mortality, his own Phyſicians confeſt he was of ſhort Continuunce. Be that very probable, ſaid they that undermined him, and plied him with Packets from beyond Seas, all the better. For who is the Riſing-Sun? Who is the Prelate upon whom all Eyes are caſt for the certain Succeſſor, but Cardinal Mellino, his other Self, the Undertaker for his Indemnity, and Advancement? Certainly he was bewitch'd with that Impoſture, yet an Impoſture that had Truth in it, as well as Cunning. The Conclave how Urban the Eighth was choſen Pope, Aug. 6. 1623, was Printed at London by Licenſe, An. 1642. Therein is diſcourſed, how Cardinal Burgeſi, the leading Prelate of the Conclave, labour'd ſo ſtifly for Mellino, that July 22, he had fifteen Voices in the Scrutiny, and eleven in the Acceſs, Which filled his Friends with Hopes to get ten Voices more to conſummate the Election. Again, July 27, he had moſt Voices both in the Scrutiny and Acceſs: Whereupon Cardinal Sforza was ſo tranſported in his own Imagination to advance him, that if Mellino might have been created Pope by Adoration (as formerly the Cuſtom would have done it, but was croſt by a new Bull) it had been effected. Mellino had a good Courſe for it, though Cardinal Barberino catcht the Hare, and was as near to the Papacy, and as publickly cry'd up, as Cardinal Sachetti in the late Conteſtation of the tedious Conclave, wherein the now inthroned Alexander the VII. had much ado to ſtep before him. But Mellino loſt the Day and thereupon Am. de Dominis his Cake was Dough; who ſet his Reſt upon a Card before it was drawn. Yet that was the leaſt part of his Folly; he remains for an Example of the moſt beſotted Caſt-away that ever I read. Ita ſe res habet, ut plerumque cui fortunam mutaturus eſt Deus, conſilia corrumpat, ſays Paterculus. The Judgment of Blindneſs fell upon Sodom, before the Vengeance of Fire. How durſt this bold Bayard look the Court of Rome in the Face upon any Terms, whoſe Writings were more copious againſt the Amplitude of the Papacy, than ever came out of the Preſs? An Italian never forgives an Injury. But Indignities written, and with the Pen of a Diamond, againſt the Sublimity Pontifical, are more unpardonable with them, than Blaſphemies againſt Chriſt. Had Cardinal Mellino, his Confident, been elected Pope, the Pope would have forgotten all that the Cardinal had promiſed him. What had Fulgentio the Servite done, to be compared with his Scopuli, and ſuch jerking Books? He had maintained the Venetian juſt Laws againſt Paul the Fifth's Abrogations; yet ever p. 102abode in the Boſom of the Roman Church. He had wrote the Life of Frier Paul, whom they hated, to the full pitch of his Praiſe. But what were theſe Toys to the Eccleſiaſtical Republick of Antonius de Dominis? Yet after twelve years that Fulgentio had provok'd them, he having obtained ſafe Conduct to go to Rome, under the Fiſher's Ring, and Berlingerius Geſſius, the Apoſtolical Nuntio at Venice, pawn'd his Faith to the poor Man for his Incolumity; yet he was cited before the Inquiſition, Condemn'd, and Burnt in Campo di Flora: And his Aſhes were ſcarce cold, when this daring Wretch came wittingly into the Den of the Lion.

111. I forbear a while to tell his Diſaſter, for a third Reaſon remains of the retroceſſion of this Crab, whoſe Brains were fallen into his Belly. He proteſted he came hither, and returned to the Place from whence he came for the ſame end, to finiſh the Work which G. Caſſander began, to compoſe a Method of Concord for the Eaſtern and Weſtern Churches, Greeks and Latins; for the Uniting of the Northern and Southern Diſtractions of the Reformed Evangelical Divines, and the Papalins. That this had been his Deſign within his own Breaſt for twenty years; and that his Studies were now come to that Maturity, that he ſaw no Unlikelihood to prevail. But what if the Arch-Biſhopric of York had fallen into his Mouth, which he gap'd for? Certainly he would have forgot his Trade of Compoſing Churches, and caſt Anchor upon this Shoar for ever; for his Religion was a Coat that had all Colours, but wanted Argent and Ore. Yet if a Mountain of ſome ſuch Promotion had ſtopt his way, I do not diſ-believe him, but that he was traverſing in and out to attone the Differences of the moſt principal Chriſtian Sects. So Mr. Camden underſtood him, under whoſe Hand I find this Note among his Diary Records. Accingit ſe aditer Romam Verſus, neſcio quâ ſpe convocandi generalis concilii, & rem religionis componendi. He was packing for Rome, in hopes to ſee a General Council call'd to cure the Diſtractions of Religion. I appeal alſo to the Writer of the beſt Appeal, Biſhop Morton, our Holy Polycarpus, who told me that he dehorted Spulat. from his Vagary into Italy, to accommodate Truth and Peace, for the Italians would never be perſwaded to retract an Error. Spalat. takes him up for it churliſhly, An putas Papam & Cardinales diabolos eſſe, quod non poſſunt converti? Says our Biſhop again, Neque puto Spalatenſem Deum eſſe, ut poſſit eos convertere. Further, When he was convented before the High Commiſſioners, Mart. 30, he requeſted their Lordſhips to think charitably of him, that his Departure hence was not that he took any Diſlike at the Church of England, which he held to be ſound and Orthodox, and that he would avouch before the Pope, Grackan. c. 85.to whom he was going: Etiamſi hoc fiat cum diſcrimine vitae meae, though it coſt him his Life. And it will not coſt you leſs, ſays the Lord Keeper, for you may propound to the Pope the Conciliation you drive at; but you will never be ſuffered to live to proſecute it. God's Will be done, ſays the other, I do not fear it; yet I ſuſpect it the more, that ſo wiſe a Man preſageth it. The ſame had dropt from his Pen, Lib. 7. Eccl. Reip. c. 7. ar. 133. Conciliation and Union to reduce Chriſt's Flock to feed together without Schiſm, is ſo brave a Work: Ut pro hôc negotio ſi contingeret nobis vitam cum ſanguine fundere, praeclari martyrii laudem apud Deum & Eccleſiam mereremur. For all this, ſew believ'd him that he was in earneſt. He that is untrue in many things, is juſtly preſum'd to be bad in all. But I am brought over, by palpable Evidences, to ſuſpect him of ſo much Honeſty, that he followed that good Work, with all the Might of Wit and Labour, to bring the Churches of Chriſt together, which were withdrawn from one another in Hatred and Hoſtility. And it was an eaſie thing to him to ſurmiſe it feaſible, becauſe he was of ſo looſe a Religion. Nay, He thought it was ſo near to be effected, that it was already as good as done, if both ſides would take prudent notice that it was done. For he builds upon this Bottom, 7 de Rep. Eccl. c. 12. a. 13. Nihil ſive in dogmatibus, ſive in ritibus in alterutrd parte adeo intolerabile eſſe invenw, ut propterea ſeparatio facienda ſit, aut ſchiſma fovendum. On all ſides, all Opinions were ſo tolerable in his Preſumption, that the White and the Black Church were both of a Colour. For Example, theſe Inſtances which follow, and many others, may be found in that 12 Chap. raſhly ſlubber'd over. We may communicate with them that hold Tranſubſtantiation, for it deſtroys Nature rather than Grace: it is an Error of a good Mind, not out of Diſhonour to Chriſt, but out of Devotion. For Image-worſhip, it is the leaſt thing of an hundred to be paſt over; for as when the Bible lyes before us, and we Pray out of the Pſalms, we do not adore the Bible, no more do they the Crucifix that is plac'd before them. The Supremacy of the Pope is no neceſſary Cauſe of Divorcement; for John and p. 103Cyriacus of Conſtantinople took to themſelves the Title of Univerſal Biſhop; yet Gregory the Great, who highly inveighed againſt their Error, kept Unity with that Church: And ſo ſhould we do upon like Provocation, Art. 117. Thus he patcheth up the Rents, but it was beyond his Skill to draw up the Pieces. Another of his Reconciliatory Devices, is in Art. 119. That the moſt of Reformation conſiſts in the right Direction of our mental Intention, which God only ſees: Et Eccleſia non judicat de occultis. As a Proteſtant may be preſent at Maſs, and do his Duty at it; kneel down with the reſt, and pray to God, but not adore the viſible Hoſt. Chiefly, as Lib. 12. c. 6. He relies much upon this Diſtinction, Alia eſt eccleſia manca, alia monſtroſa. That the Church of Rome is not mutilated for want of any integral Part of Faith, but monſtrous and luxuriant in too much which is ſuperadded. Which Deformity, they that are ſtrong may bear with, ſince they are enlivened with all the ſaving Faith that we profeſs, and we need not partake with their Redundancies. Therefore he perſwades, Art. 21, that without any Offence to Conſcience, you may abide in either Church, keeping a good Purpoſe of Mind and Heart. But he ſpeaks with the wide Mouth of a compleat Libertine, Lib. 7. c. 17. Art. 120. Rideo illos ego, qui ingenti incommodo & periculo, ab unâ ad aliam partem, ſolus conſcientiae cauſâ trasfugiunt What then? Make it his own Caſe. Was it not Conſcience that remov'd him hither? Not a jot, for it follows in the ſame Sentence, Illi ſoli prudenter id faciunt, qui de abuſibus alterutrius partis liberi diſſerere, & ſcribere ibi volunt, ubi nullum impedimentum inveniant. We thank him for his Company. It ſeems he took Refuge in England, not out of Conſcience to leave the Roman Church, but out of Prudence to write ſafely againſt their Errors, and to draw up the great Schiſm to an Overture of Concord among merciful Men, that would not perſecute him for his Good Will. I will repreſent him in a Line or two, that he was as indifferent, or rather diſſolute in Practice, as in Opinion. For in the ſame Cap. Ar. 35. this is his Nicolaitan Doctrine, A pluralitate uxorum natura humana non abhorret; imò fortaſſe neque ab earum communitate. Thus leaving all Differences of Religion indeterminat, & in vago, he thought it would be his great Honour to be the Conciliator of Chriſtendom. All's made ready to ſhake Hands: For you need not lick any Point into the Shape of a diſtinct Concluſion, but involve all in the Lump of an indigeſted Concord. Therefore, though he was poſted up for a Shittle-cock in all Univerſities, and even Balladed by Boys for his Inconſtancy, they were miſtaken: For both Churches to him were one, and when he was in one, he was in both. In his Paſſage hither and thither, he made no Salt from one Religion to another, but he was ſtill walking in his long Gallery, ſometimes with his Face to the Eaſt, ſometimes to the Weſt.

112. There is ſuch a fag end, which remains to piece this out, after I have brought the unhappy Man to his Friends at Rome, that ſent for him, that the Judicious will find upon it, that he juggled with himſelf, rather than with us. He would have bleſs'd God if he had been us'd with that Lenity there, which he found in England. For our High Commiſſioners made this end with him, Mart. 30. 1622. That ſince he had ungratefully reproach'd his Majeſties Liberality, proſeſſing that he was hired to depart for a better Stipend: Since he held Correſpondence with ſome of the Popes great Council, by Name with Cardinal Mellino, who are preſumed Illwillers, if not Enemies to the King, and this State: Since he profeſs'd open Adherence to the Romiſh Church, and did not renounce the Miſſatical Corruption of their Prieſthood, againſt whom our Laws have Decreed the utmoſt Puniſhment, therefore Sentence was given to Deprive him of all the Spiritual Preferments which he held in this Realm, with a ſtrict Command to depart out of the ſaid Realm within Twenty Days, and never to return again into any his Majeſties Dominions, upon pain of undergoing the Penalty of the Statute againſt Prieſts and Jeſuites. 'Twas too late for him to Reply. So on the 18th Day of April, Count Suartzenburg, Ambaſſador Extraordinary from the Emperor Ferdinand, after he had been very ſplendidly entertain'd for the ſpace of 16 Days, return'd homewards, and took Shipping at Graveſend, in whoſe Company, but in another Veſſel, Spalat. croſs'd the Seas, and coming to Bruſſels, after a little ſtay, the Eagle flew away with the Buzzard, and dropt him at Rome. After he was ſetled there, the firſt News we heard from him was his Book call'd Conſilium reditus. How wonderfully doth he appear in that Book to be a chang'd Man? He defies the Church of England, backbites, picks new Quarrels; nothing in it that favour'd of Caſſander, the Moderator of Contentious Diſputes, but of Eudaemon, or ſome ſuch Jeſuite. His other Works being prohibited ſo ſtrictly and minatorily, that Biſhops p. 104might not read them; this laſt abortive piece, born out of due time, was thought to be his Doctrine by the Ultra-montans, and nothing elſe. I do not ſay it was not his Pen: to my Senſe the Style bewrays him; but to be his Mind and Judgment, I oppoſe it to this hour. He wrote it in a noiſom Priſon, deſpairing of Liberty for ever, unleſs he could releaſe himſelf by impudent Forgeries, and Contradictions. Ultimum malorum eſt ex vivorum numero antequam morier…s, exire, ſays Senec. de Tran. c. 3. 'Tis an unexpreſſible torment to be ſhut up cloſe in a ſtinking Hole, and to be buried quick. He was kept in continual fear to be burnt, as if he were torn with an Harrow of Iron, and made to paſs through the Brick-kiln, 2 Sam. 12.31. What would he not do to eſcape that Death, who was better prepar'd to ſpend an Ounce of Ink in the Devils Cauſe, than a Spoonful of Blood for Chriſt? Therefore I reckon that Book to be the Iſſue not of this Man, but of his carnal fear. A Subſcription to Articles in time of Dureſs, and ſtrict Cuſtody, what is it worth in Law? I am ſure one of the beſt Sconces in Europe, Sir Nic. Throgmorton, aſcertein'd Mary Queen of Scotland, Ceſſionem in carcere extortam, qui juſtus est metus, planè irritam eſſe, Camd. Elizab. An. 1567. Take it likewiſe from the Judgment of the great Athanaſius, Ep. ad ſolit. vit. agen. p. 839. The Pope Liberius ſtood to Athanaſius, foreign, when he was free to do what he would. But being thrown out into Baniſhment, and hunted to be deſtroy'd as a Partridge in the Mountain, he ſubſcrib'd againſt his own Hand, which yet did not prejudice Athanaſius his Innocency. foreign. Thoſe things which Liberius acted againſt his firſt Judgment, were not his doing, that was awed with fear; but the reſults of thoſe that compell'd them with Tyranny. And that our M. Antony was cudgel'd into a Recantation with the impendent fear of an horrid Death, will be made clear, becauſe after he had dazled the World with that falſe Light, he never pleas'd his Judges, that had ſecretly tried the Conſtitution of his Conſcience. Sir Edward Sackvile, (who ſhortly ſucceeded his Brother Richard in the Earldom of Dorſet) was at Rome Ann. 1624. and had Welcom given him with much Civility in the Engliſh College, ſo far that he preſum'd to ask, rather out of Curioſity than Love, to ſee this Priſoner de Dominis. Mr. T. Fitz-herbert the Rector did him the Obſervance to go with him to the Jayl. He found him ſhut up in a Ground-Chamber, narrow and dark; for it look'd upon a great Wall, which was as near unto it as the breadth of three ſpaces. Some ſlight forms being paſs'd over, which uſe to be in all Viſits, ſays Sir Edward, My Lord of Spalato, you have a dark Lodging: It was not ſo with you in England. There you had at Windſor as good a Proſpect by Land, as was in all the Country: And at the Savoy you had the beſt Proſpect upon the Water, that was in all the City. I have forgot thoſe things, ſays the Biſhop; here I can beſt Contemplate the Kingdom of Heav'n. Sir Edward taking Mr. Fitz-Herbert aſide into the next Room; Sir, ſays he, tell me honeſtly, Do you think this Man is employ'd in the Contemplation of Heav'n? Says the Father Rector, I think nothing leſs; for he was a Male-content Knave when he fled from us, a Railing Knave while he liv'd with you, and a Motley parti-colour'd Knave now he is come again. This is the Relation which that Honourable Perſon made Ann. 1625. which I heard him utter in the hearing of no mean Ones.

113. But by this time Spalat. was dead, either by his fair Death, or by private ſtrangling. Gallo-Belgicus, that firſt ſent the News abroad, knew not whither. But he knew what became of his Body, that it was burnt at the ſame place in Rome, where Hereticks do end their Pain. It is a Proceſs of Juſtice which is uſual with their Inquiſition, to ſhew ſuch abhorrence to Hereticks, (that were ſo in their ſenſe) to call them to account, though they be dead and rotten. Firſt, They are ſo Hiſtrionical in their Ceremonies, as if they made a Sport of Barbarouſneſs, that they cite the dead Men three ſeveral Days to appear, or any that will anſwer for them, (but happy they if they do not appear) then their Carkaſſes, or Bones, are brought forth, and burnt in the common Market with a Ban of Execration. The lateſt that were uſed ſo among us were Reverend Bucer and Fagius at Cambridge, Anno 1556. And Dr. Scot, Biſhop of Cheſter, one of Cardinal Pole's Viſitors, defended it before the Univerſity, Haud mirum videri debeat, ſi in mortem quoque iſta inquiſitis extendatur, Bucer, Scrip. Angl. p. 925. Sic poſtulare ſacros Canones, p. 923. This is their Soverity, from which the Dead are not free. Now by the Blaze of that Bonfire in which De Dominis his Trunk was conſum'd, we may read an Heretick in Fiery Characters: I mean, as he was entred into the black Book of the Roman Slaughter-Houſe. He lived and died with General Councils in his Pate, with Wind-Mills of Union to concord Rome and England, England and Rome, Germany p. 103with them both, and all other Siſter-Churches with the reſt, without asking leave of the Tridentine Council. This was his Piaculary Hereſie. For as A…orius writes Tom. 1. Moral. Lib. 8. Cap. 9. Not only he that denies an Article of the Roman Creed, but he that doubts of any ſuch Article is an Heretick, and ſo to be preſented to Criminal Judgment. Si quem in foro exteriori l gitime allegata & pro…ata probaverint in rebus Fidci ſcienter & voluntarie dubitaſſe, arbitrer cum ut v re & propriè haereti…um puniendum. Therefore if Spalat. had return'd a Penitent in their Conſtruction, and imbodied himſelf into that Church as only true and Apoſtolical, he could not have ſuffered in his Offals and Carkaſs as an Heretick. So the ſame Azorius confeſſeth, Lib. 8. Cap. 14. And Alphonſus à Caſtro is angry with Bernard of Lutzenburg for holding the contrary, Lib. 1. Cap. 9. Quis unquam docuit eum eſſe dicendum haereticum, qui errorem ſic tenuit, ut monitus & conviclus non crubuerit palinodiam cantare? This was the ſucceſs of the variable Behaviour of M. Antonius de Dominis. De Domims in the plural, ſays Dr. Crakanthorp, for he could ſerve two Maſters or twenty, if they would all pay him Wages. He had an Hearing, as it is mention'd before, in our High Commiſſion: To countenance the Audience of ſo great a Cauſe, the Lord Keeper gave attendance at it. I began at that end of his Troubles, and, having footed all the Maze, am come out at the other.

114. Johoſaphat diſtinguiſheth between the Lord's Matters, and the King's Affairs, 2 Chron. 19.12. So do I in the Subject before me. I have given ſome Says of his Church-Wiſdom in the former Paragraph: I go on to ſet the Sublimity of his State-Wiſdom in the latter. I muſt look back to a ſmall Service which he did perform in Michaelmas-Term 1621. for as much as the Conjunction of ſome things, which rais'd a Duſt in the Year following, are ſit to go together. Upon the ſolemn Day, when the Lord Cranfield (then Maſter of the Wards, and immediately created Earl of Middleſex) took his Place as Lord Treaſurer in the Exchequer-Chamber, the Lord Keeper gave him his Oath, and ſaluted his Admiſſion with a ſhort Speech following: My Lord, You are called to ſerve his Majeſty in the Place of a Lord Treaſurer, by the moſt Honourable and moſt Ancient Call in this Realm, the delivery of a Staff, to let you know, that you are now become one of the ſureſt Staffs or Stays that our great Maſter relies upon in all this Kingdom. And theſe Staffs Princes muſt lean upon, being ſuch Gods as die like Mon; and ſuch Maſters as are neither omni-ſufficient, nor independent. For St. Auſtin writing upon that place of the Pſalm, I have ſaid unto the Lord, Thou art my God, my Go…ds are nothing unto thee; obſerves that God only is the Maſter that needs no reference to his Servant. All other Maſters and Servants are proper Relatives, and have a mutual Reciprocation and Dependence. Eges tu Domino tuo, ut det panem: Eget te Dominus tuus ut adjuves labore. As the Servant wants a Maſter to maintain him, ſo the Maſter wants a Servant to aſſiſt him. For the preſent ſupplying of this want in his Majeſty, I will ſay as the Hiſtorian did of the Election of Tiberius, Non quaerendus quem eligeret, ſed eligendus qui emineret: The King was not now to think of one whom he ſhould chooſe, but to chooſe one who was moſt eminent. For as Claudian ſaid of Ruffinus,

—Taciti ſuffragia vulgi,

Vel jam contulerant, quicquid mox addidit Aula.

You were ſtated in this Place by the Votes of the People, before you underſtood the Pleaſure of the King. Now for your own private, I make no queſtion but I may ſay of you, my Lord, as one ſaid of Coccius Nerva, Foelicior longè quàm cum foeliciſſimus; That you were greater a great deal in your own Contentment, than now that you have worthily attained to all this Greatneſs. But as in this World of Things every Element forſakes his Natural Diſpoſition; ſo as we many times ſee the Earth and Water evaporating upward, and the Fire and Air darting downward, ad conſervationem univerſi, as Philoſophy ſpeaks, to preſerve and maintain the common courſe: So in this World of Men, private Muſt give way to publick Reſpects. Now if it be expected that I ſhould ſay any thing for your Lordſhips Direction in this Great Office, your Lordſhips Wiſdom, and my Ignorance will plead pardon, though I omit it. I will only ſay one word, and that ſhall be the ſame which Pliny ſaid to one Maximus appointed Queſtor, that is, Treaſurer for Achaia, Memeniſſe oportet Oſſicii titulum; Remember but your Name, and you ſhall do well enough. Your Lordſhip is appointed Lord Treaſurer: Take ſuch Order in his Majeſties Exchequer, that your Lordſhip do not bear this Denomination and Title in vain; and your Lordſhip p. 104ſhall be worthily honour'd for the happieſt Subject in this Kingdom. And ſurely as your Lordſhip hath the Prayers, ſo you have the Hopes of all good Men, that Si Pergama dextrâ defendi poterant: If any Man living can improve the Kings Revenue with Skill and Diligence, you are that good Husband. And ſo I wiſh your Lordſhip as much Joy of your Place, as the King and the State do conceive of your Lordſhip. This was the Perfume which was caſt upon the new Treaſurer in his Robes of Inſtalment. The King was pleaſed much in his Advancement: For his Majeſty had proved him with Queſtions, and found that he was well ſtudied in his Lands, Cuſtoms, in all the Profits of the Crown, in Stating of Accompts And in the general Opinion the White-Staff was as fit for his Hand, as if it been made for it. The moſt that could be objected was, that he was true to the King, but gripple for himſelf: A good Steward for the Exchequer, but ſower and unreliſhing in Diſpatch: A better Treaſurer than a Courtier. There was nothing in appearance but Sun-ſhine and warm Affections between him and the Lord Keeper. The Lord Treaſurer, I know well, had croſs'd the other in one or two Suits which had been beneficial to him, and not drawn a Denier out of the Kings Purſe. He dealt ſo with every Man; therefore the Sufferer gave little ſign of Grievance: It was not his Caſe alone. Another Pick in which they agreed not, (I cannot ſay diſagreed) was about a Brood of Pullein, which were never hatcht. The laſt Parliament being diſſolv'd, it was well thought of by ſome of the Lords of the Council-Board, to ſweeten the ill reliſh, which it had in ſome Palats, with a Pardon of Grace, that might extend to a fair Latitude, for the eaſe of thoſe that were queſtion'd for old Debts and Duties to the Crown, for concealed Wardſhips and not ſuing out Liveries, and ſuch charges of the like kind, which put thoſe that were ſecure in their Improvidence to a great deal of trouble, and diſanimated their beſt Friends, for fear of ſuch blind Claps, to be their Executors. When the Lord Keeper had brought this Pardon ſo near to his Birth, that the Atturney-General was ſent for to draw it up, the Lord Treaſurer mov'd, That ſuch as took out this Pardon ſhould pay their Fees, which are accuſtomed in that kind, to ſuch Officers as he ſhould appoint, that the Advantage might enrich the King, and that himſelf might have that ſhare, which the Lord Chancellour us'd to have, who put the Seal to thoſe Pardons This was heard with a dry laughter, and denied him. But from thenceforth he ſtruggled to correct the luſty Wine of the Pardon with ſo much Water, that there was no comfort in it; and falling ſhort of that Grace which was expected, was debated no more. The Lord Keeper having obtein'd a good Report for the Conception of the Pardon, and the Lord Treaſurer a great deal of Envy for the Abortion, it curdled in his Stomach into Choler and Miſchief. And wherefore was he angry with his Brother Abel? Look what St. John anſwers, 1 Epiſt. Chap. 3. Verſ. 12. He endeavoured firſt to make a Faction in Court againſt the Lord Keeper, and it would not hit, becauſe he had no Credit with the Great Ones. Then he falls to Pen and Paper, and ſpatters a little Foam, draws up Ten What-do-you-call-Um's, (ſome of them are neither Charges of Miſdemeanour nor Objections) which were meant for Accuſations, but are moſt pitiful failings, entramell'd with Fictions and Ignorance. They are extant in the Cabal, Pag. 72. which the Lord Keeper puts away as quietly, as the Wind blows off the Thiſtle-Down: Puſheth his Adverſary down with his little Finger, yet inſults not upon his Weakneſs. As Pliny writes to Sabin, Lib. 9. Ep. Tunc praecipua manſuetudinis laus, cum irae cauſa juſtiſſima eſt. It was very laudable to be ſo mild, when there was juſt cauſe given to be more angry. Yet he complain'd by Letters to the Lord Marquiſs, as if he were ſenſible of the deſpite, and unto him was very loud in his own Juſtification. From whom he got no more remedy, but that his Adverſary was not believ'd: And was will'd to conſider that he dealt with one, whoſe ill Manners would not pay him Satisfaction for an Injury. Unto which the Lord Keeper rejoyn'd to the Lord Marquiſs, His Majeſties Juſtice and your Lordſhips Love are Anchors ſtrong enough for a Mind more toſt than mine is, to ride at. Yet pardon me, my Noble Lord, upon this Conſideration, if I exceed a little in Paſſion, the Natural Effect of Honeſty and Innocency. A Church-man and a Woman have no greater Idol under Heav'n than their Good Name: And they cannot Fight, nor with Credit Scold, and leaſt of all Recriminate to Protect and Defend the ſame: The only Revenge left them is to grieve and complain. Then he concludes, Whom I will either Challenge before his Majeſty to make good his Suggeſtions, or elſe (which I hold the greater Valour, and which I wanted I confeſs before this Check of your Lordſhips) go on in my courſe, and ſcorn all theſe baſe and unworthy Scandals, as your Lordſhip ſhall direct me. What need more be ſaid? In the ſpace of a Month they wrangled themſelves p. 105into very good Friends, and the Lord Keeper was Goſſip to the next Child that was born to the Treaſurer. As Nazianzen ſays of Athanaſius, Encom. p. 21. foreign, There was the Condition of two kinds of Stones in his Nature, that are much commended: He was an Adamant to them that ſmote him, found and firm, and would never break: But a Loadſtone to draw them to him that diſcorded with him, though they were as hard as Iron.

115. Among the Exceptions with which the Lord Cranfeild did exagitate him, one may require a larger Anſwer, than he thought him worthy of in that Humour. He replies to him very briefly in the Laconcick Form, becauſe ſuch brittle Ware would break with a Touch. The Treaſurer was miſinform'd, or coin'd it out of his own Head, That the Keeper diſpatch'd great Numbers of Cauſes by hearing Petitions in his Chamber, and that he did uſually reverſe Decrees upon Petitions That Forty Thouſand Pounds had been taken in one Year among his Servants by ſuch ſpurious and illegitimate Juſtice. Yet Sir An. IV. all whoſe Ink makes blots, could not imagine how ſuch a Man ſhould be raiſed out of that Practiſe, but that it was Calculated to be worth to him and his Servants Three Thouſand Pounds per Annum. A great fall, and the leſs charge. I do not ſay that either of them did learn to ſuſpect by their own practiſe: Let God judge it. But I knew this Man ſo well, that he would as ſoon have taken a ſhare out of Courteſans Sins, as the Pope doth, as out of his Servants Purſes. But ſtate the Caſe thus, That he did much Work by Petitions, and trebble as much in the firſt Year, as in thoſe that ſucceeded, 'tis confeſt. Firſt, The Hindrances had been ſo great which the Court ſuſtein'd, before he began to rectifie them, that unleſs he had allow'd poor Men ſome Furtherance by Motions in Petitions, they had been undone for want of timely Favour. Even Abſalom won the Hearts of thoſe, whom he ſeem'd to pity, that were in that condition, 2 Sam. 13.3. A Plaintiff makes great moan for redreſs of Wrongs; but a delaying Judge is his greateſt Oppreſſor. Secondly, All high Potentates, and Magiſtrates under them, have ever employ'd ſome at their Hand to give Anſwers to Supplicants, that made Requeſts unto them. Papinian ſerv'd in that Office under Severus Pertinax: So did Ulpian under Alexander Mammaeus. Many more may be produc'd, who were greatly honour'd for that Imployment. All the Praefecti Libellorum, and Magiſtri Scriniorum, who are mention'd of old, were of this Conſtitution. Every Proconful ca…ried ſuch a Scribe with him into his Province, and heard the Oppreſſions of the People by Petition, and redreſs'd them. Not that main Cauſes were not pleaded in the open Face of the Praetorian Court, as it is in the Pandects, Ubi decretum neceſſarium eſt per Libellum, id expedire Proconſul non poteſt. But an Exception ſtrengthens a Rule, as Cicero ſays pro Corn. Balbo. Quod ſi exceptio facit, ne liceat: Ibi neceſſe eſt licere ubi non eſt exceptum. And where Decrees were not neceſſary, a Subſcription to a Supplication was a common way, to relieve thoſe, who needed not the Ceremony to be undone with longer Obſtruction. Thirdly, What if I ſhould grant, without Derogation to the Lord Keeper's admired Sufficiency, that when he took that litigious Work of Chancery firſt in hand, if ſome crabbed Difficulties were mine'd ſmall into a Petition, he could the better ſwallow them. Every man may judge better of that which he reads, than that which he hears; chiefly, he that is initiated into a Profeſſion. Allow him Cork that learns to Swim, to keep him from Sinking, he ſaves himſelf, and hurts no man. Therefore it was a moſt certain way to overcome ſome part of the Tediouſneſs of Buſineſs by Petitions; and it was no leſs incorrupt, innocent, legal, expedite to do good to the People. Some that practis'd at the Bar, repin'd that they might not have a Glut of Motions: Of whoſe covetous Diſcontents, this Lord was aware; as Pliny ſays of Apelles, Lib. 31. Poſt tabulam latens vitia quae notarentur auſcultabat. He was at the back of the Frame which he ſet forth, and heard what Errors the Paſſengers noted in his Picture. So this Man's Ears were open, and his Eyes waking, groundleſs Repining never took him winking. Therefore to ſtraiten his Courſe againſt all Preſumption of Errors, he directed two Remonſtrances, the firſt to the Lord Marqueſs, September the 8th; the other to his Majeſty, October the 5th, 1622, which follow as he penn'd them.

p. 106My moſt noble Lord,

116. I Am half aſham'd of my ſelf, that any Man durſt be ſo ſhameleſs, as to lay upon me the leaſt Suſpicion of Corruption, in that Frugality of Life, Poverty of Eſtate, and Retiredneſs from all Acquaintance, or Dependencies wherein I live. But I have learnt one Rule in the Law, that Knaves ever complain of Generalities. And I long to be Charg'd with any Particular. Petitions are things that never brought to any Man, in my Place, either Profit or Honour, but infinite Trouble and Moleſtation. Three Parts of four of them are poor Mens, and bring not a Peny to my Secretaries. The laſt part are ſo ſlighted and diſ-reſpected by my Orders, that they cannot be to my Secretaries (whom I take to be honeſt men, and well provided for) worth their Trouble, or Attendance. All Petitions that I anſwer, are of theſe Kinds. 1. For ordinary Writs to be ſign'd with my Hand. 2. For Motions to be made in Court. 3. For to be plac'd in the Paper of Peremptories. 4. For Licenſe to beg. 5. For referring of inſufficient Anſwers. 6. For a day to diſpatch References recommended from the King. 7. For Reigling Commiſſions to be diſpatch'd in the Country. 8. For my Letter to the next Juſtices to compound Brables. 9. For Commiſſions of Bankrupts, Certiorari eſpecial. Stay off an Extent till Counſel be heard, &c.Let any Man, that underſtands himſelf, be queſtion'd by your Lordſhip, whether any of theſe poor things can raiſe a Bribe, or a Fee, worth the ſpeaking of. I proteſt I am fain to allow twenty Pounds a year to a Youth in my Chamber, to take care of the poor Mens Petitions, the Secretaries do ſo neglect them.

In a while after, Thus to the King.

May it pleaſe Your moſt Excellent Majeſty,

TO pardon the firſt Boldneſs of this kind of interrupting Your Majeſty. Although I do find by ſearch thoſe particular Charges of Chamber-Orders ſhew'd unto me by my moſt Noble Lord, the Lord Admiral, to be falſly laid, and wilfully miſtaken, as being either binding Decrees, or ſolemn Orders pronounced in open Court, and purſued only to Proceſſes of Execution by theſe private Directions. Yet do I find withal, that I have adviſedly, and with mature Deliberation, upon my entring into this Office, made many Diſpatches upon the Petitions of the Subjects, to mine own exceeding great Trouble, and to the Eaſe of their Purſes many thouſand Pounds in the Compaſs of this Year. For that Motion, which upon a Petition will coſt the Party nothing, if it be deny'd, nor above Five Shillings to the Secretaries (unleſs the Party play the Fool, and wilfully exceed that expected Fee) when it is granted, being put into the Mouth of a Lawyer, will coſt the Client, whether granted or deny'd, one Piece at the leaſt, and for the moſt part, Five, Ten or Twenty Pieces, as is notoriouſly known to all the World. Yet have I moſt willingly obſerved in all Orders upon Petitions, theſe Cautions following, which I received from Your Majeſty. Firſt, To order nothing in this kind, without Notice given to the adverſe Part, and Oath made thereof. Secondly, To reverſe, correct, or alter no one Syllable of any Decree or Order pronounced in Court, upon Counſel heard on both Sides. Thirdly, To alter no Poſſeſſion, unleſs it be in purſuance to a former Decree, or Order pronunced in open Court; or to ſave (by a Sequeſtration to indifferent Hands) ſome Bona peritura, which commonly be a Tithe, or a Crop of Hay or Corn, which are ready to be carried away by force, by unreſponſal Men, and will not ſtay for a Decree in Court. Now I humbly crave Your Majeſty's Opinion, whither I may go on this way, as ancient as the Court, for eaſing Your Majeſty's Subjects with theſe Cautions and Limitations, the Clamor of the Lawyers, and Ignorance of ſome Men,Qui me per ornamenta feriunt, notwithſtanding. For although no Party grieved doth, or indeed can complain againſt theſe Diſpatches, and that in the corrupteſt Times it was never heard, that any Bribes have been taken for Anſwers upon Petitions: Yet what Reaſon have I to over-toil my ſelf in eaſing the Purſe of the Subjects, if it be objected as a Crime againſt me, and be not a Service acceptable to Your Majeſty and the Realms? I have eaſed my ſelf there three days in this kind, but am ſo oppreſſed with the Clamor of poor People, who come for ordinary Diſpatches, that I am enforced to prevent their Complaint by this humble Repraeſentation unto Your Majeſty. I moſt humbly therefore crave Your Majeſty's Directions, deny'd to none of Your Servants that deſire them, to be ſignified unto me by the Lord Admiral, at his Lordſhip's beſt Conveniency.

117. Thus much perhaps is too much, but that as Alexander ſaid in Curtius, Satius eſt purgatos eſſe quàm ſuſpectos. 'Tis better to clear an Error imputed, than to p. 107be ſuſpected. The King ſtood to him, as he did always, and ſent him a gracious Meſſage. It was his Conſcience he diſpenced in that Court, and he had his Approbation in all he had heard of. Truly, I believe his Majeſty's Love wrought that Ableneſs in him, to make him more than elſe he would have been. Neither did the Lord Marqueſs ſee any Reaſon, but to juſtifie his Integrity and Diligence, Yet before Michaelmas Term was ſpent, An. 1622, that great Lord dropt ſome Words, that he was not altogether pleas'd with the Lord Keeper's Obſervance, and look'd upon him with a ſtranger Countenance than before; ſo as from that time the Lord Keeper failed but with an half Wind in that mighty Lord's Favour; which he hid moſt prudently, and ſhew'd not the leaſt appearance that he was faln into that diſlike. As Macrobius commends Piſiſtratus, Lib. 7. c. 1. whoſe Children ſecretly made Head againſt him. Yet Piſiſtratus diſſembled ſtrangely that all was well between them, that the City of Athens might not practiſe upon their Enmity. So it was covered as artificially from Court and City, that theſe two Luminaries were near to Oppoſition. The firſt Man that was like to know it from the Lord Marqueſs, was the Biſhop of St. Davids; for about this time he ſtiles himſelf Confeſſor to his Lordſhip, in Mr. Prinn's Publications. And within the compaſs of this Time, he ſays, he dreamt that the Lord Keeper was dead, that he went by, and ſaw his Grave a making. And how doth he expound this Viſion, which he ſaw in his Sleep, but that he was dead in my Lord of Buckingham's Affections? Some are like to ask, what it was that did the ill Office to ſhake the Stedfaſtneſs of their Friendſhip? That will break out hereafter. But the Quarrel began, that ſome Decrees had been made in Chancery, for whoſe better Speed, my Lord Marqueſs had undertaken. An Undertaker he was, without Confinement of Importunity, There was not a Cauſe of moment, but as ſoon as it came to Publication, one of the Parties brought Letters from this mighty Peer, and the Lord Keeper's Patron. For the Lord Marqueſs was of a kind Mature, in Courteſie more luxuriant, than was fit in his Place; not willing to deny a Suit, but prone to gratifie all Strangers, chiefly if any of his Kindred brought them in their Hand; and was far more apt to believe them that askt him a Favour, than thoſe that would perſwade him it was not to be granted. Theſe that haunted him without ſhame, to have their Suits recommended to great Officers, made him quickly weary of his faithful Miniſters, that could not juſtly ſatisfie him. I had mentioned none, but that I am beholding to the Cabal to fall upon one, the worſt of twenty, Sir John Michel, P. 84. of whoſe Unreaſonableneſs the Lord Keeper writes thus, God is my Wuneſs, I have never deny'd cither Juſtice or Favour (which was to be juſtified) to this man, or any other, that had the leaſt Relation to your good, and moſt Noble Mother. And I hope your Lordſhip is perſwaded thereof. Budaeus, P. 67. Upon the Pandects, writes offenſively upon the medling of ſuch Lady Advocates, Why may not Women be our Magiſtrates, and govern us, if they think to govern them, that are our Magiſtrates? But he complains with more Impatience againſt the Courtiers of Paris, P. 188. Quotuſquiſque eſt qui modo in aulâ interiore ſit alicujus nominis, qui non ſe dignum cenſeat, propter quem leges & conſtitutiones, quamvis gravi ſanctione munitae, violari debeant? which makes the Place of a Judge a Burthen that cannot be ſupported. For as no Artiſt can make the Year run even by the Courſe of Sun and Moon, ſo no Juſtice can run even between the imperious Directions of a Favourite, and the Conſcience of a juſt Man. The Lord Marqueſs had uſed his Power to aſſiſt the Lord Keeper in his Lifting up; but good Turns are not to be counted a Servile Bond, to impoſe as much as ſhall be obtruded to be done, with a Blind-fold Readineſs: For no man in Earth is all in all a Servant, but to God. Gratitude may exact much, but Innocency is free from paying a Tribute. And 'tis pity they ſhould ever have the Ability to do Benefits, who over-lay their good Turns, and would not have thoſe, to whom they have been gracious, perſevere in Integrity. Yet many do ſo far value their own Kindneſs, that they think, for their good Works Sake, they have bought God's Part in us; which, if it be ſubſtracted, none are ſo ready to diſmount a Man, as they that did promote him. It is obſerv'd before me, by Aurelius Victor, in the Lite of Nerva, Qui cum ſe merreri omnia praeſumant, ſi quicquam non extorſerint atrociores ſunt ipſis hoſtibus. Therefore let a private Man be content, and take ſweet Sleeps. He holds his Conſcience in no Tenure but of God. He that is out of great Place, is out of great Tentation. Tuta me mediâ vehat vita decurrens viâ, Sence. in Ad.

118. I have touch'd upon the very Thread, where the Lord Marqueſ…s Friendſhip began to unravel. I have ſhewn how blameleſs the Lord Keeper was, and that the Offence on his Part was undeclinable. Yet I will not ſmother with partiality, p. 108what I have heard the Counteſs Mother ſay upon it: That the Lord Keeper had great Cauſe ſometimes to recede from thoſe Courſes which her Son propounded; that ſhe never heard him different but that his Counſels were wiſe and well-grounded, ever tending to the Marqueſs's Honour, Safety and Proſperity; but that he ſtirr'd her Son to Offence with Reprehenſions that were too bold and vehement. I heed this the more, becauſe it was uſual with the Lord Keeper to be very angry with his beſt Friends, when they would not hearken to their own Good. Pardon him that Fault, and it will be hard to find another in him; as Onuphrius ſays of P. Pius the Fifth, for his Cholerick Moods, Hoc uno excepto vitio, non erat in illo quod quiſquam poſſit reprehendere. And if the Teſtimony of that Lady be true, (it is but one, and a moſt domeſtick Witneſs) I do not ſhuffle it over as if his Meanor to the Lord Marqueſs were not a little culpable. It was not enough to have Juſtice of his Side, without Diſcretion. Good Counſel is Friendly, but it muſt be mannerly. St. Ch…yſoſtom though a Free, and a very hot man himſelf, preach'd thus at Antioch, Hom. 27. That ſome Inflammation will not be touch'd, no, not with a ſoft Finger: foreign. Words as ſoft as Lint muſt be us'd to ſome Ears, who diſdain to be dealt withal as Equals. Let me joyn Ric. Victor to him, enforcing the like from David's Playing on the Harp when Saul was moved: When ſtubborn Oppoſition will vex ſome great Men into Fury, Dignum eſt ut elocutionis noſtrae tranquilitate, quaſi citharae dulcedine, ad ſalutem revocentur. Uſe them tenderly, and play, as it were, a Leſſon upon the Harp, to flatter them into Attention and Tranquility. This is enough to reprehend a few ſtout Words; but the Lord Keeper, for all the Frown of the Lord Marqueſs ſtaid upon him, carry'd as true a Heart toward him, and all his Allies, as exuberant in Gratitude, as ever liv'd in F…eſh. He never wrote to him, no not when he was quite forſaken; but he refreſh'd the Benefits he had receiv'd from him in his Memory. He never commanded him, but he obeyed in all, which was to be juſtified. No Danger impending over his Lordſhip, but he was ready to run an honeſt Hazard with him, even to the laying down of his Life. In his Abſence, when a Friend is beſt tried, when his Lordſhip was in Spain, far from the King, and giving no little Diſtaſt there by his Bearing, then he ſmooth'd his Errors to his Majeſty, and kept him from Precipitation, knowing that he had threatned to bring about his own Ruine. Yet in ſtrict Juſtice, a Founder loſeth his Right of Intereſt, that would deſtroy, or debauch his Foundation As Amber and Pearl are turned to mean Druggs and Duſt, when the Chymiſts hath drawn their Elixir out of them. At this ſtop I can reſolve one Queſtion, which many have ask'd me, whence the Occaſion ſprung, which transformed Biſhop Laud from a Perſon ſo much obliged Eighteen Months before to the Lord Keeper, to the ſharpeſt Enemy. As ſoon as ever the Biſhop ſaw his Advancer was under the Anger of the Lord Marqueſs, he would never acknowledge him more, but ſhunn'd him, as the old Romans in their Superſtition walk'd a loof from that Soil, which was blaſted with Thunder. It was an Opportunity ſnatch'd to pluck him back, that was got ſo far before him. Hold him down, that he might not riſe, and then he promiſed himſelf the beſt Preeminence in the Church; for he ſaw no other Rival. As Velleius ſays of Pompey, That he was very quiet, till he ſuſpected ſome Senator that thruſt up to be his Equal. Civis in tagá, niſi ubi 'vereretur ne quem haberet parem modeſtiſſimus. But, will a good Chriſtian ſay, did ſo much Hatred grow up from no other Seed? From no other that ever appear'd; and look upon the World, and marvel not at it, for it is frequently ſeen, that thoſe Enemies which are moſt cauſleſs, are moſt implacable; which our Divines draw out of this, that no Reaſon is expreſs'd by Moſes, why the Devil tempted our firſt Parents, and ſought their Fall. The like was noted by the graveſt Counſellor of our Kingdom, the Lord Burleigh, who condoled when he heard the Condemnation of Sir John Perrot, with theſe Words, Odium quo injuſtius, eò acrius. Ill Will is moſt vehement, when it is moſt unjuſt, Cambden, Eliz. An. 1592. But when himſelf was not harm'd a jot, would he be ſo unkind to his Benefactor? Phoed. Act. 1. Se. 3.Acts 1What ſays a long Tongu'd Fellow? In Plautus mortuus eſt qui ſuit, qui vivus, eſt. He that was, was loſt. He dreamt his Benefactor was defunct, there was Life in my Lord of Buckingham; and it was good Cunning to jog along with his Motions. I am confident to give this Satisfaction to the Queſtion above. For the Lord Keeper did often proteſt upon his Hope in Chriſt, that he knew no other Reaſon of their Parting. Reader, ſay nothing to it, but hear what Solomon ſays, Proverbs 18. ver. …. according to the Septuagint, and the Vulgar Latin. foreign p. 109foreign. Occaſiones querit, qui vult recedere ab amico; omni tempore erit exprobrabilis.

119. Theſe Enmies were blowing at the Forge three years well nigh, before the Ingeneers could frame a Bar to lift him off the Hinges of his Dignity; for he was faſt lock'd and bolted into the Royal Favour. He bore up with that Authority, that he could not be check'd with Violence; and Occaſions grew faſt upon his Majeſty to uſe his Sufficiency and Fidelity. For though he was a King of profound Art, yet he was not ſo fortunate in that Advice which he took, to ſend his dear Son the Prince with the Lord Marqueſs into Spain Feb. 17, 1022. So ſoon as thoſe Travellers had left the King with his little Court at New-Market, the King found himſelf at more Leiſure and Freedom, in the Abſence of the Lord Marqueſs, to ſtudy the Calling of a Comfortable and Concordious Parliament, wherein the Subject might reap Juſtice, and the Crown Honour. And Occaſion concluded for it, that ſince the Prince like a Reſolute and Noble Wooer, had truſted himſelf to the King of Spain's Faith in the Court of Madrid, whether his Adventure ſped or not ſped, he muſt be welcomed Home with a Parliament. The King prepared for the Conception of that Publick Meeting, that it might fall to its proper Work without Diverſions. He conceiv'd there was no Error more fatal to good Diſpatch, than that ſome Members took up the greateſt part of the Time, in ſpeaking to the Redreſs of petty Grievances, like Spaniels that rett after Larks and Sparrows in the Field, and paſs over the beſt Game. Therefore his Majeſty, to looſe no time, drew up a Proclamation with his own Pen, Feb. 20, to this end, that certain of the Lords of the Privy Council, ſhould have Power and ſpecial Commiſſion to receive the Complaints of all the good People of this Land, which ſhould be brought before them concerning any Exorbitances, Vexations, Oppreſſions, and Illegalities, and either by their own Authority, if it would reach to it, to ſee them corrected, or to give Orders to cut them off by the keeneſt Edge of the Laws. That Complainants ſhould be encouraged to preſent their Grievances, as well by the Invitement of the Proclamation, as by the Signification of the Judges to the Country and Grand Juries, in their reſpective Circuits. The Draught of this, the Features of his Majeſty's own Brain, came by Poſt to paſs the Great Seal. Yet for all that Haſt, the Lord Keeper took time to ſcan it, and ſent it back with Advice, that the Project would be ſweeter, if it were double refined; preſuming therefore, that his Majeſty would not be unwilling to ſtop a little at the Bar of good Counſel, he wrote this enſuing Letter to the Court, Feb. 22.

May it pleaſe Your moſt Excellent Majeſty,

120. I Do humbly crave Your Majeſties Pardon, that I forbear for two or three days to ſeal Your Proclamation for Grievances, until I have preſented to Your Majeſty this little Remonſtrance, which would come too late after the Sealing, and Divulging the Proclamation. Firſt, As it is now coming forth, it is generally miſconſtrued, and a little ſadly look'd upon by all men, as ſomewhat reſtreining, rather than enlarging Your Majeſties former Care and Providence over Your Subjects. For whereas before they had a ſtanding Committee of all the Council-Table to repair unto, they are now ſtreitned to four or five only: Moſt of which number are not likely to have any leiſure to attend the Service. Secondly, I did conceive Your Majeſty, upon Your firſt Royal Expreſſion of Your Grace in this kind, in a Reſolution to have mingled with ſome few Lords of Your Privy-Council, ſome other Barons of Your Kingdom, Homines (as Pliny ſaid of Virginius Rufus) innoxiè Populares. Whoſe Ears had been ſo opened to the like Grievances in the time of Parliament, as their Tongues notwithſtanding kept themſelves within the compaſs of Duty, and due Reſpect to Your Majeſty, as the Earls of Dorſet, and Warwick; the Lord Houghton, Dr. Morton.the Lord Dennie, the Lord Ruſſel, the Lord North. And among the Lords Spiritual, the Biſhops of Lichfield, Rocheſter, and Ely; and eſpecially, unleſs Tour Majeſty in Your deep Wiſdom have ſome Reaſons of the Omiſſion, Dr. Buckeridge.the Lord Arch-Biſhop ofCanterbury. This mixture would produce the theſe Effects enſuing. Firſt, An Intimation of Your Majeſties Sincerity and Reality in this Proclamation. Dr. Felton.Secondly, A more free and general Intimation to Parties Aggrieved, who will repair ſoonear to theſe private Peers, then to the great Lords of Your Majeſties Council. Thirdly, The making of theſe Lords, and the like, Witneſſes of Your Majeſties Juſtice, and good Government againſt the next enſuing Parliament, and the ſtopping of their Ears againſt ſuch ſuppoſed Grievances at that time, as ſhall never be heard of in their Sitting upon this Commiſſion. Fourthly, and Laſtly, The gaining of theſe Temporal Lords to ſide with the State, being formerly much wrought upon by the Factious, and Diſcontented. If Your Majeſty ſhall approve of theſe Reaſons, p. 110it is but to Command Your Secretary to interline theſe, or ſome of theſe Names in the Commiſſion, which in all other reſpects is already wiſely and exceeding well penn'd, with two ſhort Clauſes only: Firſt, That theſe Lords ſhall attend very carefully and conſtantly in Term-time, when they are occaſion'd to be at London. Secondly, That they be inſtructed to receive all Complaints with much Civility and Encouragement, giving them full Content and Redreſs according to the merit of their Grievances: For nothing will ſooner break the Heart of a People, or make them loſe their Patience, than when hopes of Juſtice are fruſtrated, after the Royal Word is engaged. But if Your Majeſty in Your high Wiſdom will overpaſs theſe Particulars, which I have dutifully preſented, upon the return of the Proclamation as it is, it ſhall be ſealed, and divulged with all expedition.

But theſe Reaſons were not overpaſs'd: Both the Proclamation, and private Orders to the Lords Commiſſioners were reformed by the Contents of that weighty Letter; His Majeſty greatly inclining to the Lord-Keeper's Readineſs and eſpying Judgment in all Conſultations. For as Laertius in Zeno's Life ſaid of a famous Muſician, foreign: That Iſmenias could play well upon all Inſtruments. So this was another Iſmenias, who had the Felicity to make all Deliberations pleaſing and tuneable; eſpecially he had that way, above all that I knew, to make ſweet Deſcant upon any plain Song that was prick'd before him. It will be to the Profit of the Reader, if I rub his memory with one Paſſage of the Letter (for it is but one, though it come in twice,) which preſſeth the King to Sincerity and Reality; to fix his Word like the Center of Juſtice, that cannot be moved. Righteous Lips are the delight of Kings, Prov. 16.23. And a King of Righteous Lips is moſt delightful. Since the coercitive part of the Law doth not reach him, upon what Nail ſhall thoſe Millions that ſtand before his Throne hang their Hopes, if his Word do not bind him? A People that cannot give Faith to their Sovereign, will never pay him Love. It ſeems that the ancient Latin Kings did profeſs to uſe Crookedneſs, and Windings of Diſſimulation in their Polity; therefore their Scepter was called Lituus, becauſe it bent in toward the upper end. But the Scepter of thy Kingdom (ſays David of GOD) is a right Scepter. A right one indeed: For Contracts and Promiſes bind God to Man, much more muſt they oblige the King to his People. An Author of our own, Dr. Duck, in his very Learned Treatiſe, De uſu Juris Civilis, p. 44. hath well delivered this Morality; Princeps ad contractum tenetur uti privatus; nec poteſt contractum ſuum reſcindere ex plenitudine poteſtatis cum maximè in eo requiratur bena ſides: Falſhood is Shop-keepers Language, or worſe; but 'tis beneath Majeſty.

121. A Parliament being not far of, either in the King's Purpoſe, or in Proſpect of Likelihood, Serj Crooke. Cvew. Finch. Damport. Bramſton. Bridgman. Crawly. Headly. Thin. …. Authurſt. Blng. D…y.the Lord Keeper was provident, that the Worthies of the Law ſhould be well entreated. Their Learning being moſt comprehenſive of Civil Cauſes and Affairs, they had ever a great Stroke in that Honorable Council. Therefore he wrought with his Majeſty, to ſign a Writ for the Advancement of ſome of the Graveſt and Greateſt Pleaders, who were ripe for Dignity. And a Call of Serjeants was ſplendidly ſolemnized, for Number Thirteen, for Quality of the beſt Reputation, May 6, 1623: Who on that Day made their Appearance before Lord Keeper, ſitting in the High Court of Chancery, who congratulated their Adoption unto that Title of Serjeancy with this Oration.

AS upon many other Occaſions, ſo likewiſe upon this preſent in hand, I could wiſh there ſate in this Place, a man of more Gravity and Experience, than can be expected from me, to deliver unto you thoſe Counſels and Directions, which all your Predeceſſors have ſucceſſively received at this Bar. Yet among many Wants, I find one ſingular Comfort, that as I am of the leaſt Ability to give, ſo you are of the leaſt Need to receive Inſtructions, of all the Calls of Serjeants, that any Man now alive can bring to his Remembrance. You are either all, or the far greater Number of you, moſt Learned, moſt Honeſt, and well accompliſh'd Gentlemen. Leſt therefore my Modeſty, or your Integrity might ſuffer therein, I will not be tedious in this kind of Exhortation; but like thoſe Mercuries, or High-way-Statues in Greece, I will only point out thoſe fair Ways, which my ſelf, I confeſs, have never trodden. In the beginning, for my Preface, be aſſured, that your Thankfulneſs ſhall be recommended to his Majeſty, who hath honoured you with this high Degree, making your Learning only, and your Integrity, His Praevenient, and all other Reſpects whatſoever; p. 111but ſubſequent and following Cauſes of his Gracious Pleaſure towards you. Turning my Speech next to your ſelves, I will obſerve mine own common Exordium, which hitherto I have uſed to all thoſe, whom I have ſaluted with a few words, when they were Inſtalled in their Dignities; and I have it from the manner of the old Romans, Meminiſſe oportet Oſſicii T…lum, Remember the Title of your Degree, and it will afford you ſufficient Matter of Admonition. You are call'd Servientes ad Legem, Sergeants at the Law; Verba bractrata, Words very malleable and extenſive, and ſuch as contein more Leſſons than they do Syllables.

122. The word Sergeant, no doubt, is Originally a Stranger born, though now for many Years denizon'd among us. It came over at the firſt from France, and is handled as a French word by Stephen Paſquier, in his Eighth Book of Recherches, and the Nineteenth Chapter. They that are too luxuriant in Etymologies, are ſometimes barren in Judgment, as I will ſhew upon the Conjectures of this Name. For they are not call'd Sergeants, quaſi Caeſariens, ſome of Caeſars Officers, as the great Guiacius thinks. Nor Sergents, qu iſi Serregens, becauſe they laid hold on Men, as inferiour Miniſters. But Sergiens in the old French is as much as Serviens, ſaith Paſquier, a Servant, or an Attendant: As Sergens de Dicu, the Servants of God, in the old Hiſtory of St. Dennis: Sergens & Diſciples de la Sanchitè, Servants or Diſciples of his Holineſs the Pope, in the Life of St. Begue: And Sergens d'Amour, Servants of Love in the Romance of the Roſe, a Book well known in our Country, becauſe of the Tranſlator thereof Geoffry Chaucer. And therefore as Paſquier thinks, that thoſe inferiour Officers are called Sergeans, that is Servants, becauſe at the firſt Bailiffs or Stewards employ'd their own Servants in ſuch Summons: So this more honourable Appellation of Sergeant at Law, hath received it; Denomination, becauſe at the firſt, when the Laws were no more than a few plain Cuſtoms; When as the Year-Books had not yet ſwelled; When the Caſes were not ſo diverſified; When ſo many Diſtinctions were not Coined and Minted; When the Volumes of the Laws through our Miſdeeds and Wilineſs were not ſo multiplied, Men employ'd their own Servants to tender their Complaints unto the Judges, and to bring them home again a plain and preſent Remedy. But afterward Multitude of Shifts begetting Multitudes of Laws, and Multitudes of Laws Difficulties of Interpretations, eſpecially where the Sword had engraven them in ſtrange Languages, as thoſe induced by the Saxons, Danes and Normans into this Iſland, the State was enforced to deſign and ſelect ſome learned Men to prepare the Cauſes of the Client for the Sentence of the Judge, and the Sentence of the Judge for the Cauſes of the Client; who though never ſo Enobled by their Birth and Education, yet becauſe they ſucceeded in thoſe places of Servants, were alſo call'd Servientes, Sergeants, or Servants. Great Titles have grown up from ſmall Originals, as Dux, Comes, Baro, and others, and ſo hath this, which is Enobled by the affix unto it, a Sergeant at Law.

123. Though you are not the Rulers of Cauſes, and Maſters upon the Bench, yet it is your Pre-eminence that you are the chief Servants at the Bar: In the Houſhold of our Dread Sovereign, the Chief in every Office, who Commands the lower Miniſters, is advanced to be called the Sergeant of his Place, as Sergeants of the Counting-Houſe, Carriages, Wine-Cellar, Larder, with many others. In like manner your Name is a Name of Reverence, though you are ſtyled Servants: For you are the Principal of all that practiſe in the Courts of Law; Servants, that is, Officers preferr'd above all Ranks of Pleaders. For every thing muſt be Ruled by a Gradual Subordination. You are next in the Train to my Lords the Judges: And ſome of your File not ſeldom employ'd to be Judges Itinerant. But you are all conſtantly promoted to be Contubernales & Commenſales: You have your Lodgings in the ſame Houſes, and keep your Table and Diet with thoſe Pillars of the Law, who therefore call you, and love you as their Brethren. Forteſcue in his ſixth Book De laudibus Legum Angliae, Cap. 50. compares your Dignities with the chief Degrees of the Academies: And there is no Argument that proves the Nobleneſs of the one, but it is as ſtrong and militant for the other. I will touch upon the Reaſons, as they are ſet down in Junius his Book De Academiâ, and apply them in order to this purpoſe. Firſt, This Degree is as a Caveat to the whole State and Commonwealth, that by it they may know whom to employ, and whom not to employ in their weighty Cauſes and Conſultations. And ſo doth Forteſcue appropriate Omnia Realia Placiata, all the Real Actions and Pleadings of his time to the Sergeants only. Secondly, As St. Paul ſaith to the Corinthians, Epiſtola noſtra vos eſtis; You are our Letter, or Epiſtle; So may we the Judges in our ſeveral Places ſay unto the Sergeants, Epiſtela p. 112noſtra vos estis; You are, by reaſon of your Degrees, our Letters of Recommendation unto the Kings Majeſty, for his Choice and Election for the Judges of the Kingdom. Becauſe, as Forteſcue alſo truly obſerves, no Man, though never ſo Learned, can be choſen into that eminent Place, Niſi ſtatu & gradu Servientis ad Legem fuerit inſignitus. Thirdly and laſtly, This Degree of Honour is foreign, a kind of Spur and Incentive to all the Students of the Law, that they might more eaſily concoct thoſe otherwiſe inſupportable Difficulties, and Harſhneſs of their Studies, in hope one Day to attein unto thoſe Honours, wherewith all of you by his Majeſties Favour, and your own Merits, are now to be Inveſted. Thoſe outward Decorums of Magnificence which ſet forth your Exaltation this Day, are very ſpecious, and ſparkle ſo much in the Eyes of the young Fry, that ſwim up after you, that they cannot but make very ſenſible Impreſſion in their Minds, to follow your Induſtry, that they may attein to your Dignity. That Gold which you give away, ſecundum Conſuetudinem regni in hoc caſu, implies that by your faithful Labour and Gods Providence, you have attein'd to the Wealth of a fair Eſtate. And Wiſdom is good with an Inheritance, Eccleſ. 7.11. Nay, I wiſh heartily that all wiſe Men had plentiful Inheritances; and that the Silly and Sottiſh were not ſo fortunate in gathering Treaſure: For a Rich ignorant Man is but a Sheep with a Golden Fleece. Then your great and ſumptuous Feaſt is like that at a Kings Coronation. At which you entertain the Ambaſſadors of Foreign Kings now Reſident about the City, and the prime Officers and Nobility of this Realm. But to aſcend higher, King Henry the Seventh in his own Perſon did Grace the Sergeants Feaſt held then at Ely-Palace in Holborn: So eſtimable was your Order in thoſe Days to that Mighty Monarch. I ſhould be too long if I ſhould ſpeak of the Ornament of your Head, your pure Linen Coif, which evidences that you are Candidates of higher Honour. So likewiſe your Librata Magna, your abundance of Cloth and Liveries, your Purple Habits, belonging antiently to great Senators, yea to Emperors; all theſe, and more, are but as ſo many Flags, and Enſigns to call up thoſe young Students, that fight in the Valleys, to thoſe Hills and Mountains of Honour, which you by your Merits have now atchieved.

—Neque enim virtutem amplectimur ipſam

Praemia ſi tollas.

124. Gentlemen, I have told you from the Explanation of your Title, what you are by Denomination. You muſt be dutiful, and reſpect my Lords the Judges, becauſe you are but Servientes, Servants. And you muſt be Reverenced by all of your Robe, but the Judges, becauſe you are Servientes ad Legem, Journey-Men of the Law; whereas the reſt, though call'd to the Bar, are no more than Diſcipuli in Juſtinian's Phraſe; or, as your own Books term, Apprenticii, mere Apprentices. You ſerve in that Law which is of excellent Compoſure for the Relief of them that ſeek Redreſs in this Nation through all Caſes: And of rare Privilege it is, above the Tryals of all other Kingdoms and States, for the Tryal of thoſe that are under Criminal Attainder, by a Jury of their own Peers. Which I find as one to have uſed in antient Polities, but Cato major in his own Family. Supplicium de Servo non ſumſit, niſi poſtquam damnatus eſt conſervorum judicio. He puniſh'd none of his Bondmen, unleſs they were caſt by the Verdict of their fellow Bondmen. To be elected the prime Servants of our moſt wiſe, and moſt equal Laws, ſuppoſeth in you great Reading, great Reaſon, great Experience; which deſervedly caſts Honour upon your Perſons. Emulous, I may ſay Envious Cenſurers, ſpeak ſcornfully of your Learning and Knowledge, that it is gainful to your at Home in your own Country; but of no uſe or value abroad. For what is a Sergeant or Counſellor of theſe Laws, if he get Dover Cliffs at his back? So I remember Tully in his Oration pro Murenâ, being more angry than he had cauſe with S…lpitius, who was Vir juris conſultiſſimus, diſdains his Skill with this Taunt, Sapiens exiſtimari nemo poteſt in eâ prudentiâ, quae extra Romam nequicquam valet: That was a wiſe Art indeed, which was wiſe no further than the Praetors Courts in R…e. Let Sulpitius anſwer for himſelf. But in your behalf I have this to anſwer, That beſide your Judicious Inſight into the Reſponſa Prudintum, and the laudable Cuſtoms of this Kingdom, which are proper, with our Statute-Laws, to our own People; I ſay, beſide theſe, the Marrow of the whole Wiſdom of the Caeſarcan Tranſmarine Law, is digeſted into our Common and Statute-Laws, as wi… eaſily appear to him that examines the Book of Entries, or Original Writs: p. 113Which makes you ſufficient to know the Subſtance and Pith of the Civil Law in all Courts through Europe: So that you would be to ſeek in their Text, not in their Reaſon; and in their Traverſes and Formalities of Pleadings, which are no prejudice to the Worthineſs of your Function. Now I have told you as a judge, that you are Servants, but Honourable Servants of the Law; before I con…, let me admoniſh you as a Biſhop, that you are in your higheſt Title the Servants of God. Therefore keep a good Conſcience in all things. Serve that holy Law, which bids you Not to pervert the Right and Cauſe of the Innoc…. I know it is very hard to diſcern the Right from the Wrong in many Suits, till they come to be throughly ſiſted and examin'd. So truly did Quimilian ſay, Lib. 2. Cap. 8. Poteſt accidere ut ex utráque parte vir bonus dicat. An honeſt Man in many Plea… may be entertain'd on either ſide. Therefore it is no diſcredit to your Profeſſion, that as the Aetolians in Greece of old, and the Suitzers in the Cant…ns at this Day are often Auxiliaries of both ſides in a pitcht Battail; ſo you ſhould be Feed to try your Skill either for Plaintiff or Defendant. But when you diſcern a Clients Cauſe is rotten, then to imploy your Cunning to give it Victory againſt Juſtice, is intolerable. The more vulgar that Iniquity is, the more it is odious. As Pliny ſaid, Lib. 8. Epiſto. ad Ruſſiuum, Decipere pro meribus temporum prudentia eſt; It was the great Blindneſs and Corruption of the Times, when Cheating paſt for Wiſdom. He that labours by Witty Diſtortions to overthrow the Truth, he ſerves Lucre, and not God; he ſerves Mammon, and not the Law. You know you cannot ſerve thoſe two Maſters; for they are utterly oppoſite But, to conclude, three Maſters you may, nay, you ought to ſerve, which are ſubordinate; Serve God; Serve the King; Serve the Law. Ite alacres, tantaeque precor confidite Cauſae. I have ended. The Fear of God go with you; and his Bleſſing be upon you.

125. All things upon this Feſtival Day of the new Sergeants were anſwerable to this Eloquent Speech. Yet every Day look'd clowdy; and the People were generally indiſpoſed to Gawdy Solemnities, becauſe the Prince was in a far Country. Others may undertake to write a juſt Hiſtory of that Journey into Spain, (and a juſt Hiſtory gives Eternity to Knowledge) I fall upon no more, than came under the diſpatch of one Perſon, upon whom I inſiſt. Yet ſome Paſſages upon the whole Matter will require their mention; the parts of the Narration needing as it were Sinews and Tendons, without which they cannot grow together. Two Years and little more were run out after the Death of Prince H…nry, ſo much miſs'd, ſo much bewailed, when the principal Stateſman then in Spain under King Philip the Third, the Duke of Lerma, opened the Motion firſt to Sir J. Digby, our King's Embaſſador Reſiant in the Court of Madrid, for a Match between our Prince, (who was by this time every where renown'd for the Diligence he ſhew'd to that brave Education which was given him) and the Infanta Maria, the much praiſed Daughter of his Maſter, the Mightieſt Chriſtian Potentate in Europe. Our King was paſſing well pleas'd, when his Servant Digby ſent him word of it, and encouraged him to bring it to as much ripeneſs as he could. The Treatiſe went on very chearfully with the great Ones on both ſides, who were only, or chiefly concern'd in it. But no People meddle more, or more impertinently, with the diſcourſe of great things which are above them, than the paultrieſt of the Engliſh, I mean Shop-keepers, and Handycrafts-men. Theſe had ſome vain Fears which made them deaf to Reaſon, and ſwift to murmur. But the King was too wiſe to put his Honour, and his greateſt Actions under the Hazard of their Interpretation. That ſome of our Nobles ſided with the common Mans Opinion, it weighed as little. For they were ſuch as loved it like their Life to be commended by open Fame, and could not diſſemble, that their coldneſs to the Match was not without a Fever of Popularity. No diſcreet Perſon thought that the Succeſs would be the worſe, becauſe a few gay Coats forbid the Bands, with the Tryes and Dewces of Sedentary and Loitering Men. Pliny ſays of Miſcellen Pulſes, ſowed together in Italy in his time, Nihil ocymo faecundius, quod maledictis & probris ſerendum praecipiunt, ut laetius proveniat, Lib. 19. N.H. C. 7. The Husbandmen had a Superſtition to curſe it, or to give it all ill words, when it was ſown, and thought it would grow the better. With more Reaſon I may affirm it were Superſtition to imagine, that a good Deſign would the ſooner go back, becauſe it was raſhly malign'd by them that walk'd in Pauls, or throng'd together in the Markets. There was nothing like a halt in the Treaty of this Marriage between the two Kings, till the Prince Elector, our Kings Son-in-Law, made his Excurſion into Bohemia, and left his p. 114own Country naked and undefenſible behind him, and loſt it. Though in fair dealing now the Nuptials ſhould have haſtned faſter to a Concluſion, than before, becauſe the young Parties were grown up to a mature Age for Marriage: Yet the Spaniard could be brought on to no diſpatch, but took reſpite of time about three Years, to reſolve how the Bridal-Joy ſhould be doubled with the Settlement of the Palſgrave in his own Principality. For till that was done, Peace between the two Kingdoms was but in a doubtful, and a catching Condition.

126. The Caſtilian Court is ever ſlow; but, to make it worſe, it was ſuſpected, as I incline to think, uncharitably, that in this great Buſineſs it would not be ſure. It is incident when one State offends another, to impute the fault not to that one Errour, but to a general and National Vice. So the Spaniards were ſet out to the Prince in ſome buſie Pamphlets, and other Draughts put into his Hand, for ſuch as the Parthians are deſcrib'd in Juſtin. Lib. 41. Parthi Naturâ taciti, ad faciendum quam ad dicendum promptiores, ſides diclis promiſſiſque nuila, niſi quatenus expedit. Such as were given to ſuppreſs and conceal their Counſels: Such as would ſooner bite, than bark: Such as would keep no Faith, but when it ſerv'd their turn. The Prince both diſcountenanc'd and diſcarded thoſe, that, in Zeal to his Affairs, preſum'd to write contumeliouſly of that Prepotent, Wiſe and Grave Nation He had caſt the Anchor of great Hopes and Joys upon that Shore. Every Tongue gave loud Commendation to the Infanta his Miſtreſs. He loved the report of her Vertues and Beauty; and he that is ſick of Love, will be more ſick of Procraſtination. Thereupon, as he did publickly before the enſuing Parliament take it upon himſelf, … Heroick Thought ſtarted out of his own Brain, to viſit the Court of …, as well to ſhew what Confidence he had in the Juſtice and Honour of that King, committing the ſafety of his Perſon to him in a ſtrange Land, as to bring his Comforts to a ſudden Conſummation, if his Catholick Majeſty meant ſeriouſly … bellow his Siſter upon him. But if he had plaid an ignoble part by counte …ing Pro…tions, then reſolutely to give King Philip no leiſure to abuſe him any longer. And ſet the Diſcredi…e at his Door, that had done the wrong; for it is more honourable to ſuffer an injury, than to do it. The Lord Marqueſs of Buckingham, then a great Gra…o, was put on by the Prince to ask the Kings liking to this Amour… … …enure: Of whom he obtein'd both his Conſent, and his Secreſie, … …ere over the Seas. For this was the Pirithous, that went with … his Love. They left New Market on the 17th of … on the 18th; from thence poſted to Dover, and were in France before they were miſs'd. But then upon the Bruit of the Prince's ſudden departure, ſo thinly Guarded for ſo long a Journey, even the Wiſeſt were troubled. The Courtiers, chiefly thoſe that wanted their Maſter, talk'd out their Diſcontents boldly. The Lords of the Counſel look'd dejectedly, that they were pretermitted in a Conſultation of ſo great Importance; but prayed heartily, That ſince his Majeſty was pleas'd to walk ſoftly that he might not be heard, his chance were not to tread away. Among them all, the Lord Keeper was the only Counſellor ſuſpected to be of the Plot. Yet he knew as little as the reſt; and ſatisfied their Lordſhips, that Ignorance was often a happy thing; as in this inſtance. For if the Prince had gone out of the Kingdom privily with their Lordſhips Knowledge and Counſel, and ſome miſfortune (which God avert) ſhould prevent his ſafe return, their Heads would be forfeited to Juſtice, and their Names expos'd to perpetual Infamy. Indeed this was but the ſecond time that King James had baulk'd his whoſe Counſel upon a like Occaſion: Not out of Confidence that he knew enough without them; but out of tenderneſs to their ſafety, that they might not undergo the Anger exacted upon ill Events, if God ſhould cauſe them. In the Year 1589. he cauſed ſome Ships to be Rigg'd, that the Admiral of Scotland might fetch Queen Ann out of Denmark: But when the Fleet was ready, he went Aboard himſelf, hoiſted Sails, and took his leave of no Man. For which ſudden Voyage, not imparted to the Lords that fate cloſe at Edinburgh, he gives this Satisfaction to them in a Letter, (ſee it in worthy Spotſwood, pag. 377.) I took this Reſolution, none of … unſel being preſent, keeping my Intention from my Chancellor himſelf, from whom I never kept any of my weightieſt Buſineſs: Becauſe if I had made him of my Counſel in that purpoſe, he had been blamed for putting the ſame into my Head; which had not been his Duty. For it becometh no Subject to give his Prince Advice in ſuch Matters. In this Story it appears, that the Father-King trod the way to his Son to undergo ſuch an Audacious Journey in the purſuance of his Love. Quid non effraeno captus amore Audeat. Ovid. p. 115Then that he Perſiſted in his Principles of Secrecy for a generous End, that he might not draw his Chief and Beſt Servants, whom he loved moſt, into a Snare of Guiltineſs.

127. Let Proviſion be made to the moſt that could be for the ſafety of all others, yet Sir Ant. W. in his Court and Character of K. James, hath one Exception. That the King ſet this Wheel on Running to deſtroy Buckingham, for the hatred which he had long bore him, and would not think it ill to looſe his Son, ſo Buckingham might be loſt alſo, Pag. 149. O Horrid! But the beſt is the Foundation is Rotten: For Buckingham as all Men about the King would Teſtifie, was in as high Favour at that time, as any Subject was ever with his Sovereign. But when Sir A. to make out the Proof, he lays it upon Sir H. Yelverton, diſplaced from the Office of Attorney General to the King, and committed to the Tower; 'twas he that aſſured the Marqueſs that the King hated him more than any man Living, pag. 159. Sir Harry was Unfortunate, but too honeſt a Man to ſow Diſcord between the King, and his principal Peer and Attendant. Now mark upon what Bottom the Contriver of this Tale doth wind his Forgery. Sir W. Balfore, at the time of his Lieutenancy of the Tower, brought the Marqueſs at Midnight to Sir H. Yelverton's Chamber, being then his cloſe Priſoner: Where Sir William heard thoſe Paſſages, and a great deal more between them. And by one or other, who came to the knowledge of it, but this Sir Anthony? O Wicked Servant to thy good Maſter! O fowl Bird that defileſt the Neſt, wherein th…u wert hatch'd, and well fledg'd! Thou art catch'd in thine own Lime; for thou never couldſt have Conſerence with Sir W. Balfore, or Sir H. Yelverton about ſuch a matter. For Learned Yelverton was never Priſoner to Valiant Balfore, Sir Allen Apſley was Lieutenant all the time of that worthy man's reſtraint. And Sir W. Balfore was not preferr'd to that Office of great Truſt, in more than four years after Sir Harry had obtain'd his Liberty; when Knaves will turn Fools, it is not amiſs to be merry with them. And I will fit Sir Anthony with a Jeſt out of Illuſtrius the Pythagorean, p. 23. One Daphidas came to the Pythian Deity, to beſeech his Oracleſhip to tell him when he ſhould find a Gelding of his that was gone aſtray. You ſhall find him very ſhortly, ſays Apollo's Miniſter. I thank you for your good News, ſays Daphidas, but I have neither loſt a Horſe, nor have a Horſe to looſe. So I turn Sir Anthony over to the Committee of Oracles and proceed. After the Princes Out Leap, the King lingred at New-market, till the time was nigh, that every day Tidings were expected of his ſafe Arrival in Spain, that he might ſhew himſelf to the Lords at White-hall with better Confidence, which he did March 30. being the firſt day that the Lord Keeper ſpake with the King about his dear Sons Planetary Abſence. No ſooner had he made moſt humble ſign of his Majeſties Welcome by Kiſſing his Hand, but the King Laugh'd out this Queſtion to him; Whether he thought this Knight-Errant Pilgrimage would be lucky to win the Spaniſh Lady, and to convey her ſhortly into England. Sir ſays the Lord Keeper, If my Lord Marqueſs will give Honour to Conde Duke Olivares, and Remember he is the Favourite of Spain: Or if Olivares will ſhew Honourable Civility to my Lord Marqueſs, Remembring he is a Favourite of England, the Woing may be Proſperous. But if my Lord Marqueſs ſhould forget where he is, and not ſtoop to Olivares, or if Olivares, forgetting what Gueſt he hath Received with the Prince, bear himſelf haughtily, and like a Caſtilian Grandee to my Lord Marqueſs, the Provocation may be Dangerous to Croſs your Majeſties good Intentions. And I pray God that either one or both of them do not run into that Errour. The King drew a Smile at the Anſwer, but bit his Lip at the preſage Diſcourſe, being Enlarg'd between them, the King perceiv'd that his Counſellor had other Fears, and that his Brain teemed with Jealouſies of very hard Encounters, which he knock'd upon ſoftly, that his Majeſty might diſcern them, and not ſeem to apprehend them. Only thus far the King proceeded, to ask him, If he had wrote to his Son and to the Lord Marqueſs clearly, and upon what Guard they ſhould ſtand. Yes Sir, ſays he for that purpoſe I have diſpatch'd ſome Packets. Then continue, ſays the King, to help me and themin thoſe difficulties with your beſt Powers and Abilities, and ſerve me faithfully in this motion, which, like the higheſt Orbe, carries all my Raccolta's, my Counſels at the preſent, and my proſpects upon the Future, with it, and I will never part with you. The Cauſe which made His Majeſty ſo ſolicitous, made the Lord Keeper need no Provocation to diligence. He was before hand. And upon the 25 of February, by a Currier that was at Madrid almoſt as ſoon as the Prince, he wrote two Letters following to his Highneſs and to the Lord Marqueſs