A detection of the court and state of England during the four last reigns and the inter-regnum consisting of private memoirs, &c., with observations and reflections, and an appendix, discovering the present state of the nation : wherein are many secrets never before made publick : as also, a more impartiall account of the civil wars in England, than has yet been given : in two volumes / by Roger Coke ...

CHAP. III.

A further Account of this Reign, to the End of the third Parliament, in 1620.

IF from the Parliament we look into the Court, we shall see the King's Affections begin to alter towards his Favourites, which began upon this Occasion: My Lord of Northampton was Lord Warden of the Cinque-Ports, and by his Permission Romish Priests in great Numbers swarmed into England; this was observed, and great Clamours were made upon it, which came to the Earl's Ears: hereupon the Earl exhibits an Information against some of them; these justify the Truth of what they were accused of; the Arch-Bishop

Abbot, at the same time, produces a Letter from the Earl to Cardinal Bellarmine, wherein he says, That however the Condition of the Times compelled him, and the King urged him to turn Protestant, yet nevertheless his Heart stood for the Catholicks, and that he would be ready to further them in any Attempt.

This procured the King's Frowns, and the Prisoners Discharge; whereupon 'twas said Northampton took such Grief that he made his Will, wherein he declared He died in the same Faith wherein he was baptized, [viz. the Popish) and died the 15th of June. Now was Somerset left without his chiefest Support, and soon after another shall rise up, which shall turn him quite out of the King's Favour.

About this time one Mr. George Villiers appeared in Court, the youngest Son of Sir George Villiers of Leicestershire, by a second Venter, whose Name was Mary Beaumont: the Heraulds will tell you she was of the honourable Family of the Beaumonts; and I will tell you what a Lady of Quality told me, and one who might well know the Truth of what she said, her youngest Sister by a se∣cond Venter being married to the Eldest Son of Sir George Villiers, by Beaumont.

Mary Beaumont was entertained in Sir George Villiers his Family, in a mean Office of the Kitchin; but her ragged Habit could not shade the beautiful and excellent Frame of her Person, which Sir George taking notice of, prevailed with his Lady to remove Mary out of the Kitchin into an Office in her Chamber, which with some Importunity on Sir George's part, and unwillingness of my Lady, at last was done.

Soon after my Lady died; and Sir George became very sweet upon his Lady's Woman, which would not admit any Relief with∣out Enjoyment; and the more to win Mary to it, gave her 20 l. to put her self into so good a Dress as this would procure, which she did, and then Sir George's Affections became so fired, that to allay them he married her.

In this Coverture Sir George had three Sons, John after Viscount Purbeck, Christopher after Earl of Anglesey, and George, and one Daughter after married to the Earl of Denbigh: When Sir George died, George was very young; and Sir George having setled his Estate upon the Children born of his former Lady, could leave the Issue by his Widow but very little, and her but a Joynture of about 200 l. per Annum, which dying with her, nothing could come to these Children; nor was it possible for her, out of so contracted a Joynture to maintain her self and them, so as to make scarce any Provision for them after her Death; and the Issue of Sir George by his former Lady, both envied and hated her, so as little could be expected from them.

To supply these Defects, she married one Thomas Compton a rich Country Gentleman, whereby she became able to maintain

and breed up her Children in a better than ordinary Education; and George being of an extraordinary and exact Composition of Person, was sent abroad, and in France acquired those outward Advantages which more adorned the natural Parts, which Nature had given him.

The King this Year, about the Beginning of March 16 14/15, ac∣cording to his usual Methods, went to take his Hunting Plea∣sures at New-market; and the Scholars (as they called them) of Cambridg who new the King's Humour, invited him to a Play, called Ignoramus, to ridicule (at least the Practice of) the Com∣mon Law: Never did any thing so hit the King's Humour, as this Play did; so that he would have it acted and acted again, which was increased with several Additions, which yet more pleased the King.

At this Play it was so contrived, that George Villiers should ap∣pear with all the Advantages his Mother could set him forth; and the King so soon as he had seen him, fell into Admiration of him, so as he became confounded between his Admiration of Villiers and the Pleasure of the Play, which the King did not conceal, but gave both Vent upon several Occasions. This set the Heads of the Courtiers at work how to get Somerset out of Favour, and to bring Villiers in; but here it's fit to look a little back, and see the Occasion Somerset gave of Villiers's Rise, and of his own Fall.

Somerset was of mean and scarce known Parents, and as he was endued with no natural Parts, so neither had he acquired any, being brought up and bred a Page at Court; hereby he became as little capable of demeaning himself in Prosperity as Adversity. Af∣ter Sir Thomas Overbury's Confinement he gave himself up wholly to be govern'd by Northampton; and soon after his Marriage he fell into an universal Solitariness and Sadness, so that it was much taken notice of: which Northampton observing, and judging not un∣likely that the Cares of Somerset did arise from his Fears of the Discovery of Overbury's Death, wherein they were both deeply in∣gaged, which if it should come to pass, they had no other means to secure themselves, but by making themselves so great, as to oppose all who should charge them with it, or else by being Catho∣licks, they might draw all that Party to assist them, and in these they both agreed; and to make Matters more perplext, Northamp∣ton, by one Hamon did encourage the Irish to continue firm in their Religion, assuring them that God would one way or other protect his Church, and that now the greatest Favourite in England would stand firm to them, and also give Incouragement to the Papists in the North to meet openly at Mass, and foment the Feuds be∣tween the English and Scots; the English murmuring at the King's Favours more to the Scots than them. If I have erred here∣in, the Writer of the historical Narration of the first fourteen Years

of King James's Reign, cap. 30. led me into it. This sullen Humour of Somerset's little suted with the King's liking, being be∣fore better pleased with Somerset's Gaiety, in humouring him in all his Pleasures.

After Northampton's Death, he was left alone to himself, and all Northampton's Designs died with him; and then Somerset ha∣ving forsaken all Men, and being forsaken by them, appeared in his own Nature without any Disguise, wretchedly penurious and intolerably covetous: There was no coming at the King's Ear but by him, nor any coming at him but by excessive Bribes; and as the King began to loath him, so all Men detested and hated him: So it was every Bodies business to out Somerset, and bring young Villi∣ers, into the King's Favour.

All the Court took notice of the King's Affection to young Villiers, and the Queen observed it, and Villiers not to be wanting to himself daily appeared at Court: There was but one Obstacle to be removed, and the Way was plain and easy for Villiers to be the King's Favourite; the King would receive none into Favour, but who was first recommended to him by the Queen, and the Queen had observed something in young Villiers which she utterly disliked; and how to get the Queen to recommend young Villiers to the King, was the only business to be done.

The Queen (a Princess of rare Piety, Prudence, Temperance and Chastity) had a great Veneration for the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury Abbot, and the Arch-Bishop as much an Aversion to Somerset, not only for his Marriage with the Countess of Essex, but for his other detestable Qualities; so that the Arch-Bishop was the only Instrument which was judged could move the Queen to recommend young Villiers to the King.

It was no great difficulty to persuade the Arch-Bishop to un∣dertake this Business, being of himself disposed to it; but when he propounded it to the Queen, she was utterly averse from it, having before been stung with Favourites; but by her Observation of Villiers, she told the Arch-Bishop she saw that in that young Villiers, that if he became a Favourite, he would become more intolerable than any that were before him.

Hereupon the Arch-Bishop declined the Business, but Somer∣set declining daily from bad to worse, the Arch-Bishop was again prevailed upon to move the Queen to recommend young Villiers to the King, which he did with more Importunity than before, urging Somerset's intolerable Pride and Covetousness, and that he observed a good Nature and gentle Disposition in Villi∣ers; so that some Good might be hoped from him, which could never be expected from the other: at last the Queen assented to it, but withal told the Arch-Bishop, he among the rest would live to repent it.

After Villiers was recommended by the Queen, it became out of her Power, and the Power of the Kingdom to get him out of the King's Favour, or his Son's after him, and the Arch-Bishop himself shall find the Queen to have been a true Prophetess; how∣ever at first Villiers acknowledg'd his Favour with the King to have its Original from the Arch-Bishop, called him Father, and protested to be governed by him before all other Men; and the Arch-Bishop gave him some Lessons to observe towards the King and Queen, which Villiers repeated to him, and promised to ob∣serve, which you may read at large in the first part of Mr. Rush∣worth's Collections in the second Year of King Charles the First written by the Arch-Bishop.

In the beginning of Mr. Villiers's coming into Favour he was affable and courteous, and seemed to court all Men as they courted him; he promoted Mens Suits to the King gratis, which Somerset would not do, but for great Sums of Money; and hereby Villiers stole all the Hearts of the Courtiers and Petitioners to the King from Somerset, who was now wholly forsaken by God and all Men.

Somerset thus forsaken of all Men, and stung in Conscience for the Death of Overbury, and finding a Rival in the King's Favour, seeks by that small Portion which he had left, to procure a gene∣ral Pardon from the King to secure him in his Life and Estate, (which was far the greatest of any Subject in the King's Dominions) and to that purpose applies himself to Sir Robert Cotton to draw one, as large and general as could be, which Sir Robert did, where∣in the King should declare, That of his own Motion, and special Favour, he did pardon all, and all manner of Treasons, Misprisions of Treasons, Murders, Felonies, and Outrages whatsoever, by the Earl of Somerset had been committed, or hereafter should be committed; and this Pardon the King signed.

But Somerset grasping at too much, lost all, for my Lord Chan∣cellor Egerton refused to seal the Pardon: Somerset asked him the Reason, which the Chancellor told him was, because if he did it, he should incur a Praemunire; and this the Chancellor told the King, who was not displeased with it: So that now all Hopes of Pardon for Sir Thomas Overbury's Murder failing, he had recourse to other Artifices, of suppressing all Letters which passed between him, the Countess, and Northampton, either to Sir Thomas, the Lieutenant, or any of the Prisoners, and to make away Franklin the Apothecary, who was fled into France, and had given Sir Thomas the Glister which dispatcht him; but that which Somerset design'd for his pre∣servation, 'twas thought, proved his Overthrow: but this was the Product of next Year 1615, being the 13th of the King.

Tho Villiers had the Ascendant of the King's Favour far tran∣scending all other Favourites; yet the King's Necessities were never

so great, and the Exchequer so poor, and the King so much in debt, so as he had so much less means to gratify his new Favourite as his Affections to him were more: and here it will not be amiss to take some part of a View of the King's Prodigality (or if you please, Bounty) to some of his former Favourites; the Earl of Somerset had amassed (if my Author of the Historical Narration of the first 14 Years of King James, cap. 34. says true) in Money, Plate and Jewels, two Hundred Thousand Pounds, besides 19000 l. per Ann. The Earl of Salisbury (but a younger Son of Treasurer Burleigh) le••t an Estate, besides the noble House and Seat of Hatfield, equal, nay superior to most of the other Nobility; the Earl of Northamp∣ton (a younger Brother of the Duke of Norfolk, and born to little or no Estate) built that noble Structure in the Strand, now called Northumberland House, and being unmarried, left a very great Estate to the Earl of Arundel, and others of his House; the Earl of Suffolk (youngest Son of the Duke of Norfolk, who had no Estate but what he derived from the Crown) besides his other Estates, built Audley-Inn Palace, the noblest Structure ever built by any Subject in England, except Hampton-Court by Cardinal Wool∣sey, which by reasonable Estimates cost above 190000 l. besides the Largesses given to the Duke of Lenox, Sir Alexander Hays, and other Scotish Favourites, Sir Henry Rich, and other English Favourites.

These had only themselves to take care for, but this new Favou∣rite had a Mother, two Brothers, and a Sister, to pully up into Honours and Estates, tho their Parts could not entitle them to any other than Court-Preferment: but besides these, I do not find he regarded any other of his Father's Family, no more than they did him: However until the Discovery of Overbury's Murder, he con∣tained himself within the Bounds of Modesty, as well as Court∣ship; Somerset, till then, being a kind of Check upon him. However the King, in his Poverty of Affairs, gave him 1000 l. and upon the 23d of April, made him one of the Gentlemen of his Bed-Chamber, and next Day knighted him.

Sir Thomas Overbury's Murder had been about twenty Mont•• concealed, when about the middle of August it was brought 〈◊〉〈◊〉 light, but the Manner how was variously rumoured: Some ta••••∣ed that Sir Thomas his Servant gave notice of it to Sir Edwar•• Coke; others, that my Lord of Canterbury had got knowledge of it, and made it known to Sir Ralph Winwood, one of the Secretaries of State, and that by searching in a certain Place he should find a Trunk wherein were Papers, which would disclose the whole Business, which Sir Ralph did, and found it so.

The King at this time was gone to hunt at Royston, and Somerset with him; and when the King had been there about a Week, next day he designed to proceed to New-Market, and Somerset to return to London, when Sir Ralph came to Royston, and acquaint∣ed

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the King with what he had discovered about Sir Thomas Over∣bury's Murder: the King was so surprised herewith, that he post∣ed away a Messenger to Sir Edward Coke to apprehend the Earl; I speak this with Confidence, because I had it from one of Sir Edward's Sons.

Sir Edward lay then at the Temple, and measured out his time at regular Hours, two whereof were to go to Bed at Nine a Clock, and in the Morning to rise at Three: At this time Sir Edward's Son, and some others were in Sir Edward's Lodging, but not in Bed, when the Messenger about one in the Morning knockt at the Door, where the Son met him, and knew him: Says he, I come from the King, and must immediately speak with your Father: If you come from ten Kings, he answered, you shall not, for I know my Father's Disposition to be such, that if he be disturbed in his Sleep, he will not be fit for any Business; but if you will do as we do, you shall be welcome, and about two Hours hence my Father will rise, and you then may do as you please, to which he assented.

At three Sir Edward rung a little Bell, to give notice to his Servant to come to him, and then the Messenger went to him, and gave him the King's Letter; and Sir Edward immediately made a Warrant to apprehend Somerset, and sent to the King that he would wait upon him that Day.

The Messenger went back Post to Royston, and arrived there about Ten in the Morning: the King had a loathsom way of lolling his Arms about his Favourites Necks, and kissing them; and in this Posture the Messenger found the King with Somerset, saying When shall I see thee again? Somerset then designing for London, when he was arrested by Sir Edward's Warrant. Somerset exclaim∣ed that never such an Affront was offered to a Peer of England in the Presence of the King: Nay Man, said the King, if Coke sends for me I must go; and when he was gone, Now the Deel go with thee, said the King, for I will never see thy Face any more.

About three in the Afternoon the Chief Justice came to Roy∣••••on, and so soon as he had seen the King, the King told him, that 〈◊〉〈◊〉 was acquainted with the most wicked Murder by Somerset and 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Wife, that was ever perpetrated, upon Sir Thomas Overbury, and that they had made him a Pimp to carry on their Bawdry and Murder; and therefore commanded the Chief Justice, with all the Scrutiny possible, to search into the Bottom of the Conspiracy, and to spare no Man how great soever, concluding, God's Curse be upon you and yours, if you spare any of them; and God's Curse be upon me and mine, if I pardon any one of them.

The Chief Justice, as well by his Place as the King's Command, imprisons Weston, Mrs. Turner, Sir Jervis Elvis, Franklin, and Sir John Munson, and examines them; and also Simon Mason, Munson's Servant, Paul de la Bell, Weston's Servant, &c. against them:

Whereupon they were all, except Munson, arraigned, condemned and executed in the Months of October and November following, all of them, I say, except Munson, whom Justice Dodridg and Justice Hide (as well as the Chief Justice) declared to be as guilty of the Murder as any of the other. You may read the Trials at large, in the Narrative of the first fourteen Years of King James his Reign, entituled, Truth brought to light by time.

There was a general Rumour, that the Chief Justice, making a severe Inspection into Overbury's Murder, found some Papers a∣bout the poisoning of Prince Henry; and Sir Anthony Weldon in his History of the Reign of King James, says, That the Chief Justice had blabb'd abroad so much: I am sure there was never any such Acquaintance between the Chief Justice and him, that he should blab it out to Weldon; whether this were true or false I cannot tell, but sure the displacing Sir Edward Coke the next Year gave Reputation to these Rumours; and here we end this Year 1615. being the thirteenth Year of King James his Reign.

Tho Turner, Weston, Elvis and Franklin were convicted and hanged last Year for the poisoning of Sir Thomas Overbury, yet the Trial of the Earl of Somerset and the Countess was put off till the 24th of May this Year; yet the Earl being a Prisoner, and utterly cast out of the King's Favour, the young Favourite Villiers, having now no Competitor, rose as fast upon the Earl's Ruin as he fell; and began to appear in his own Colours, from being Sir George, and of the Bed-Chamber to the King, in the beginning of the Month of January to be made Master of the Horse; and upon the Conviction of the Earl and Countess, the King seized upon the huge Estate of the Earl, only allowing him 4000 l. per Annum during his Life (as was said) for the King reprieved the Earl and Countess too, not only from Death, but Imprisonment; and the Earl 24 Years after saw his Daughter married to the now Duke of Bedford, who proved to be the Mother of many Children, where∣of my Lord Russel cut off by King Charles the Second, was one, and a Lady of great Honour and Vertue.

The seizing of Somerset's Estate, at present afforded a plentiful Harvest to our young Favourite; and that proportionable Honours (which were no burden to him) might attend him, upon the 17th of August he is created Viscount Villiers, and Baron of Whaddon. We will stay a little here, and look abroad and see what Dishonour the King, by his Prodigality to his Favourites, and his ill Terms with his Subjects, brought upon himself.

This Year seven of the twelve Years Truce made between the King of Spain, the Arch-Dukes and the Dutch States in 1609. were worn out, and now the Dutch hugely swelled their Trade••▪ not only in Europe and Africa, but in the East-Indies, and to Turkey; but they could never be truly esteemed High and Mighty, so long

as the English possest the Brill, Rammekins and Flushing, which were the Keys of their Country, and opened the Passages into and out of the Maese, Rhine and Scheld: They could not now pretend Poverty, as they did to Queen Elizabeth for not payment of the Money, with Interest upon Interest at 10 per Cent. which being two Millions, when upon the Account stated between the Queen and them, due Anno 1598. besides the Payment of the English in Garison in the Cautionary Towns this Year, did amount to above six Millions of Money; and how to get rid of this Debt, and get the English out of the Cautionary Towns, was the Design of Barnevelt and the States.

Barnevelt had his Eyes in every corner of the Court, he obser∣ved the King was wholly intent upon his Pleasures, exalting his Favourites, and writing against Bellarmine and Peron, against their King-killing and Deposing Doctrines, and otherwise utterly neg∣lected his Affairs both at Home and Abroad; and by how much longer the King continued these Courses, so much better might the States make a Bargain with him about restoring their Cautio∣nary Towns, but not as Merchants, but Bankrupts. The Truce between the Spaniard and them was above half expired, and if the English should keep their Towns till the War broke out again, the King might impose what Terms he pleased upon them.

Barnevelt also observed the ill Terms which the King was upon with his Subjects upon the Dissolution of the last Parliament, a∣bout 14 Months before, and imprisoning the Members for repre∣senting the Subjects Grievances, which the King made worse by a Proclamation forbidding Men to talk of State-Affairs; and that he doted upon, and was wholly governed by Viscount Villiers, a raw and unexperienced Gentleman in State-Affairs, scarce of Age: Upon these Considerations Barnevelt advised the States not to pay the English in Garison in their Cautionary Towns, tho this was expresly contrary to the Agreement they made with Queen Eliza∣beth in 1598.

The English debarred of their Pay, apply themselves to the King for Relief; the King was incensed at the Dutch, and talked high what he would do, but upon Repose he advised what to do: the Lord Treasurer Suffolk told him there was no Money in the Exchequer, to call a Parliament would be a work of Time, and in the mean while the Souldiers in Garison in the Cautionary Towns must either starve or revolt; besides, the Wounds which the imprisoned Members had were so green, that the Parliament in all likelihood, would rather seek to cure them than supply the King's Necessities; and starve or revolt the Souldiers might, ra∣ther than the King would abate any thing of his Bounty to his Favourites.

Hereupon it was agreed, That the King should enter into a Treaty with the Dutch, concerning the Delivery of their Cautionary-Towns; the Dutch expected it, and had given Orders to their Am∣bassador here (called the Lord Caroon) to treat about it, and what they would give, the King must take; and Caroon's Instructions were to give two hundred and forty eight thousand Pounds in full Satis∣faction of the whole Debt, which was scarce Twelve Pence in the Pound, but was greedily accepted of by the King and his Favou∣rites. But how well this Agreement did sort with the Treaty made with the King of Spain and Arch-Dukes in August 1604, where in the 7th Article the King swears and promises in the Word of a King, That in a competent time he would assign a Treaty with the Dutch States, to acccept and receive Conditions agreeable to Justice and Equity, for a Pacification to be had with the renowned Princes his dear Brethren; which if the States shall ref••se to accept, his Majesty from thenceforward, as being freed from former Conventions, will de∣termine of those Towns according as he shall judg it to be Just and Ho∣nourable, wherein the said Princes, his loving Brethren, shall find there shall be no want of these good Offices, which can be expected from a friendly Prince; let the World judg.

Tho the Bargain were agreed, yet the King and Courtiers were in fear the Money should not be paid accordingly, and therefore the King wrote to the States in a Stile far differing from that he used to the Parliament; for, says my Author, William de Britain, fol. 12. the King told them, He knew the States of Holland to be his good Friends and Confederates, both in Point of Religion and Po∣licy (one as true as the other, for the Religion of the Dutch was Presbytery, which the King hated, nor did he ever imitate their Policy) therefore he apprehended not the least fear of Difference be∣tween them: In Contemplation whereof, if they would have their Towns again, he would willingly surrender them.

So tho the Dutch got their Towns again, yet the King got not all the Money, for my Lord Treasurer Suffolk kept back so much of it, as he was fined 30000 l. in the Star-Chamber for it, and had not scaped so, if Sir Francis Bacon, then Lord Chancellor, had not been his Friend.

After the Sale of the Towns was agreed on, the next Debate was, What should become of the Souldiers in Garison? But let them look to that, for the King being Rex Pacificus, had no need of them, they might go where they pleased; all the Care the Favou∣rites had, was how to share the Money among themselves.

The dishonourable Delivery of the Dutch Towns, made no Allay in his Affections to his new Favourite, tho wholly unacquainted with State-Affairs, who was as much given up to the Pleasures of Venus, as the King was to those of Bacchus; neither the Sale of the Dutch Towns, nor the seizing Somerset's Estate, would answer

the Expence of his Pleasures and Bounty, the disposing of all Places and Offices Ecclesiastical and Civil, all waved as he nodded; and herein his Venality was as profuse as his Venery.

One of the first that felt the Effects of his Power herein, was Sir Edward Coke, who at this time sat very loose and uneasy; he had highly disgusted the Court and high-Church-Party, in oppo∣sing Arch-bishop Bancroft's Articles against granting Prohibitions at Common-Law. He opposed my Lord Chancellor Egerton taking notice of a Cause in the King's-Bench, after Judgment given, con∣trary to the Act 4 Hen. 4. 23. and refused to give any Opinion in the Case of Commendums, being a Judg, before it came judicial∣ly before him: And however my Lord Chancellor Egerton, upon the swearing Sir Henry Mountague, when he succeeded Sir Edward Coke in the Office of Chief Justice, declared Sir Edward's depo∣sing was for being so popular; yet I have it from one of Sir Ed∣ward's Sons, that the Cause of his Removal was,

That Sir Nicholas Tufton being very aged, and having a Patent for Life of the Green-wax-Office in the King's-Bench, the Viscount Villiers by his Agents dealt with Sir Nicholas, that if he would surrender his Patent, the King would make him Earl of Thanet; and in the mean time Sir Francis Bacon treated with Sir Edward, to know whether in case Sir Nicholas surrendred his Patent, the Viscount should prefer another to the Office; Sir Edward would give Sir Francis no other Answer than this, That he was old, and could not wrestle with my Lord. However, after Sir Nicholas had surrendred, Sir Edward refused to admit of a Clerk by Villiers's Nomination, but stood upon his Right; and that the Judges of the King's-Bench served the King to their Loss, and therefore he would so dispose of the Office, that the other Judges of the King's-Bench's Salaries should be advanced; and that hereupon he was turned out of his Place, and Sir Henry Mountague put in, who disposed the Office as the Favourite pleased. But tho the Favou∣rite's Displeasure began here with Sir Edward, it did not end so, nor the Titles of our new Favourite, for upon the 5th of January following he was created Earl of Buckingham; however Sir Ed∣ward might have been restored again to the place of Chief Justice, if he would have given a Bribe, but he answered, A Judg ought not to take a Bribe, nor give a Bribe. See the second Part of the Bishop of Lincoln's Life, fol. 120. Tit. 116.

We begin this Year 1617, (after the King had created the Earl Marquess of Buckingham, on the first of January) with the Story of Sir Walter Raleigh's Voyage to Guiana, which was the Cause of his Death, tho upon another score, being condemned in the first Year of the King for High-Treason in Cobham's Conspiracy, for en∣deavouring to have hindered the King's coming to the Crown: But before we proceed we'll stay a little and take a view of him.

Sir Walter was of an antient Family, but a younger Brother; and as he was a Person of admirable Parts, excellently adorned with Learning, not Pedantick, but of a nobler Strain, so he had a Mind far above his Fortune, and accounted Poverty the greatest of Misfortunes; and to advance his Fortune he became a Courtier to Queen Elizabeth, who was as great a Discerner of Men, and their Qualities, as any Prince in her time, or perhaps before or since; and as such, and not as imposed by Favourites, she esteemed and preferred them; and upon this account she entertained and favoured Sir Walter.

The Queen made him Captain of her Guards, Lieutenant-Ge∣neral of Cornwall, and Lord Warden of the Stanneries: but these were rather Honorary Titles, than much profitable; and being at Enmity with the Earl of Essex (the Queen's greatest Favourite) and the whole Family of the Cecils, (who governed all in State-Affairs) these put a full stop to Sir Walter's further Rise at Court.

Sir Walter thus balk'd at Court, seeks Adventures abroad to raise his Fortunes thence; and the Wars continuing between the Queen and the King of Spain, in the Year 1595, he mans out a Ship to Guiana in the West-Indies, and by the Intelligence which he had with some of the Indians, and some Spanish Prisoners he had taken, believed he had made a Discovery of several rich Mines, and had certain Marks whereby to discover them again, if occasion should happen.

But if he got nothing else by his Voyage, he got this Advantage by it, that adding Experience to his excellent Theory in Naviga∣tion, he justly merited the Applause of the best Director of Sea-Affairs of his time.

After Queen Elizabeth's Death, he was kept 12 Years a Prisoner in the Tower, where he compiled his History of the World, a Design so vast, that no other Man of less Parts both of Body and Mind could have accomplished: And while he was thus confined, he was the first which made publick the Growth by Sea of the Dutch, and the Riches they derived by their fishing upon the Coasts of England and Scotland, and the Consequences which would necessarily follow, not only to the loss of the King's Soveraignty of the British Seas, but to the Trade and Navigation of England otherwise. After that, one Tobias Gentleman set forth another Treatise of this Nature, and how this Fishery might be carried on from the Ports of England, and dedicated it to the King; but the King wholly giving himself up to Pleasure, neither minded the one, nor regarded the other.

Sir Walter had been discharged out of the Tower about two Years and an half before, but by what means I do not find, and then Poverty stared him in the Face (for Somerset had begg'd his Estate) which to him was more intolerable than his Imprison∣ment,

and how to extricate himself out of it was all his Business: There was a new face of Court to what was in Queen Elizabeth' days, and Sir Walter unknown to any of them. His being freed out of Prison was such a Favour as any further was not to be hoped for: Happy had Sir Walter been if he had been still con∣fined, where in the restraint of his Person he enlarged the Facul∣ties of his Mind to nobler Pleasures than can be found in Sensuali∣ty, or any Temporal Greatness; where by his Freedom pursuing these, besides other concomitant Calamities, he brought De∣struction upon himself, having first seen his Son Walter slain in the Design he intended to raise his Fortunes by.

Tho the King was never poorer than at this time, yet the Na∣tion was far richer than in all the long Reign of Queen Elizabeth, by reason of the English Trade with Spain made free by that cele∣brated Law of the 3d of the King, cap. 6. and at this time, and many Years before, the King of Spain made Count Gundamor his Legier Ambassador in England; the Count would ape the King i•• all his Humours but his Cups, and hereby became so intimate with the King, that he discover'd all his Designs, and the Secret•• (if ther were any) of the Court.

In this Posture of Affairs Sir Walter informs the King, that 〈◊〉〈◊〉 he would grant him a Commission, he would bring Mountains of Gold into the King's Exchequer from Guiana: the King, who had stopt his Ears to Sir Walter's Advice concerning the Dutch Fishe•• upon the Coasts of England and Scotland, opens them both to Sir Walter's Project, and grants him a Commission, directed, Di∣lecto & fideli meo Waltero Raleigh Militi.

But this Commission ill agreed with the Treaty made between the King and the most renowned King of Spain, his dear and lo∣ving Brother, in the second Year of his Reign, wherein in the first Article it was agreed, That they should use one another with all kind and friendly Offices; and by this Treaty the English were restrain'd to their Trades in Europe: For the King of Spain was as jealous of his West-Indies as the Apple of his Eye, or the Pope 〈◊〉〈◊〉 of his Triple-Crown, or the King of his Prerogative.

The Fame of Sir Walter, and the Expectation of the Mountai•••• of Gold to be poured into the Exchequer by this Expedition, b••••zed it all abroad, so as Gundamor gave the King of Spain a•• account of it; and this became so much the more publick, by how much the King could not contribute any thing but his Com∣mission towards it: and tho Sir Walter's Fame induced many No∣bles and Gentlemen to join with him in it, yet this being distracted and divided into so many Interests, it went on more heavily, and became every day more known; so that tho Sir Walter intended to have proceeded on his Voyage this Year in the beginning of April, it was upward in August before he set out.

In his Passage a terrible Fever overtook Sir Walter, now in the 76th Year of his Age, which yet the Strength of his Constitution overcame, to bring him to his End by a worse Fate: When he arrived at Guiana, he found all the Marks which he and Sir Ni∣cholas Kemish had made, either worn out by Time, being twenty Years before, or alter'd by the Spaniards, who had so long before had notice of his Design; so that Kemish and Sir Walter fell at such odds about it, that Kemish killed himself; besides, the Spa∣niards to prevent Raleigh's Design, had built many new Fortifica∣tions unknown to Raleigh or Kemish.

Hereupon Sir Walter stormed the Town of St. Thomas, wherein he lost his Son Walter, but took the Town and sack'd it; and here the Souldiers took great Spoil, but with little Profit to Sir Walter, or any of the Adventurers with him: For the Souldiers and Sea-men, being Reformades, and being under no severe Discipline, kept what they had got.

Now was Sir Walter in a most desperate State, he had no Friends at Court, and, which made the matter worse, he had disgusted all the Nobles and Gentlemen who had engag'd with him in this Expedition: he need not consult the Augurs what should be his Fate upon his Return, to prevent which he endeavoured to have got into France, and carry his Ship with him; but the Sea-men, who now had his Fortune in Contempt, would not forsake their Wives and Children, to partake with him in his Misfortunes, and so brought him back again into England.

It was resolved that Sir Walter's Misfortunes should lose him his Head, but how to do it with a face of Justice was the Question; for his Commission protected him from any Prosecution for the sacking of St. Thomas; and it would seem strange to execute him upon the Conviction in Cobham's Conspiracy sixteen Years before, especially since the King had discharged his Imprisoment upon it, and had granted him a Commission, wherein he called Sir Walter his beloved and faithful Sir Walter.

However this was the best Face could be put upon it, and upon the 28th of October next Year 1618, Sir Walter was brought from the Tower to the King's-Bench, to shew Cause why Sentence of Death should not pass upon him, Mountague being Chief Justice, upon his former Conviction: to which Sir Walter pleaded his Commission, which pardoned his Crime; For he could not be a Traitor and the King's beloved and faithful Servant at one and the same time: but this was over-ruled by the Court, which answered, That Treason could not be pardoned by Implication, but by express words: And next day he had his Head cut off in the Palace-Yard at Westminster.

In granting Sir Walter Raleigh this Commission, you may see by what an undistinguished Power Covetousness governs the Actions of

Princes, as well as meaner Men, against their Honour and Inte∣rest; for at the same time when the King granted this Commission, he was by Sir John Digby (after Earl of Bristol) treating a Mar∣riage between Prince Charles and the Infanta of Spain, upon the Terms of a Portion of two Millions of Money with her: but if this Act of Raleigh's, and the difficulty of raising such a Portion, put no stop to the Progress of it, you'll soon see an Accident which shall make it utterly impracticable with the Maxims and Policy of Spain; yet so far was the King blinded with the Covetousness of getting the Portion, that he shall put his only Son into the Power of the Spaniards to obtain it.

Tho young Villiers and the King's Favourites governed the King without any Controul by the English, Conchino Conchini an Italian, Marquess d' Ancre and Marshal of France, and his Wife succeeded not so well in France; for after the Death of Henry the Fourth of France, these two governed Mary d' Medicis, Henry's Relict and Regent, as absolutely as our young Favourite did the King, which put the Princes of the Blood and Nobility into such a Ferment, that they several times rose in Tumults and Arms against them: Yet such was their Power with the Queen, that they continued as insolent after the King was declared of Majority as before, where∣upon the Feuds of the Princes of the Blood and Nobility grew higher; hereupon Luynes, the King's Favourite, prompted the King to take off Ancre any way, which was so ordered, that Ancre coming into the Louvre, and reading a Letter, Vitry, Captain of the King's Guard, arrested him: Me? said Ancre; Yes you, by the Death of God, answered Vitry, who cried out, Kill him! where∣upon he was killed by three Pistol Shots, the King owning the Fact. But Ancre's Fate did not end with his Life, for the next day after he was buried, the Lacquies of the Court, and Rabble of the City digged up his Coffin, tore his Winding-Sheet, and dragged his Body through the Gutters, and hanged it upon the Gibbet he had prepared for others, where they cut off his Nose, Ears and Genitors, which they sent to the Duke of Main, Head of the Po∣pish League (the great Favourite of the Parisians) and nailed his Ears to the Gates of Paris, and burned the rest of his Body, and hurled part of the Ashes into the River, and part into the Air; and his Wife soon after was condemned by the Parliament of Paris for a Witch, for which she was beheaded.

In the Year 1618, a Blazon Comet appeared, and the Marquess of Buckingham, by the removal of my Lord Admiral Nottingham (who was so in the famous Overthrow of the Spanish Armado in 1588.) was made Lord Admiral, being as well qualified for that Office, as he was for being Prime Minister in State-Affairs.

It was no wonder that Lewis XIIIth, after the Death of the Marquess d' Ancre and his Wife, should remove his Mother from

State-Affairs and confine her to Blois, to make room for Luynes, to govern him more absolutely than the Marquess and his Wife had done his Mother; for Lewis as he was of a feeble Constitution both of Body and Mind, so Luynes was a kind of Governor to him, appointed so by his Father Henry the 4th, to humour him in all his Childish Toys and Pleasures: So tho Rehoboam, when forty Years old, was governed by young Men, not in Years but Under∣standing; so neither was it any great wonder, that Edward the 2d, a young Man, should be governed by Pierce Gaveston, a Person of far more accomplished Parts than Buckingham, for Gaveston was bred up with Edward, and had so far by his Flatteries prevailed upon him, that Edward could not enjoy any Pleasure in his Life without him. But for an old King, having been so for above fifty one Years, to dote so upon a young Favourite, scarce of Age, yet younger in Understanding, tho as old in Vices as any in his time, and to commit the whole Ship of the Common-wealth both by Sea and Land to such a Phaeton, is a Precedent without any Ex∣ample.

But how much soever the Safety of the English Nation was endangered hereby, yet the but mentioning any thing hereof was an Invasion of the King's Prerogative, and meddling with State-Affairs, which was above the Capacity of the Vulgar, and even of the Parliament, as you will soon hear. But how absolute soever the King was at Home, the face of Affairs Abroad stood quite con∣trary; for the Dutch having retrieved their Cautionary Towns out of his Possession, had the King in such Contempt, that they neither regarded him, nor his new Lord High Admiral; and this Year, says the Author of the Address to the Free-men and Free-holders of the Nation, in his second Preface, f. 13, 14. The Dutch never before fished upon the Coast of England, till they had begged leave of the King or Governour of Scarborough Castle; but this was now thought beneath the Magnificence of the Hogan Mogans, and there∣fore they refused it. They had been formerly limited by our Kings, both for the Number of their Vessels they should fish with, and the time: Now they resolve to be their own Carvers, and in order to that, denied the English the Sovereignty of the British Seas; and as if this had not been enough, drew nearer and nearer upon the English Shores Year by Year than they did in preceding Times, without leaving any Bounds for the Country-People or Natives to fish upon their Princes Coasts; and oppressed some of his Subjects, with intent to continue their pretended Possession, and had driven some of their great Vessels through their Nets, to deter others by like Violence from fishing near them, &c. as Secretary Nanton, January 21, 1618. told Carleton, the Dutch Ambassador: And to justify all this, they set out Men of War with their Fishermen to maintain all this by Force. But it was not Fish our new Lord Admiral cared for; nor did he care for the

King's Soveraignty of the British Seas, so as he might be Lord High Admiral in Name.

The Sails of Buckingham's Ambition were not full swelled, till to the Title of Lord High Admiral, the Lord Warden of the Cinque-Ports was added to it, tho he regarded the guarding the Coasts of England as little as he did the Soveraignty of the British Seas: Nor did the accumulated Honours to himself alone satisfy his Ambition, but a new Strain, his Mother, tho a professed Papist, must be pullied up with him in a concurring Title of the same Honour, by being created Countess of Buckingham. And being thus exalted she forsook her Husband's Bed, which she sanctified by be∣ing converted to the Church of Rome; and as her Son governed the King, so she governed her Son, so that, as Mr. Wilson observes, fol. 149. tho her Son acted in appearance in all Removes and Advance∣ments, yet she wrought them in effect, for her Hand was in all Actions both in Church and State; and she must needs know the Disposition of all things, when she had a feeling of every Man's Pulse; for all Ad∣dresses were made to her first, and by her conveyed to her Son (for he looked more after Pleasure than Profit) which made Gundamor (who was well skill'd in Court Holy-Water) among his other witty Pranks, write merrily in his Dispatches to Spain, that there were ne∣ver more hopes of England's Conversion to Rome than now. [For there were more Oblations offered here to the Mother than to the Son.] Then he tells the Marquess's Behaviour to attain his Ends of Ladies, how he married the Earl of Rutland's only Daughter, the greatest Fortune in England, but being a Papist, how she was converted by Dr. White (tho the Bishop of Litchfield attributes her Conversion to Dr. Williams, Dean of Westminster) but was brought back to the Church of Rome by the Countess of Bucking∣kam.

The next Year, if you begin at January, Queen Ann died the 22d of March, but this is but a beginning of the King's Sorrows, at least of his Troubles: But this no way troubled our young Favourite, but to encrease the Honour of his Family by Sir George's second Brood, in June following he had his eldest Brother John created Baron Stroke, and Viscount Purbeck, tho I do not find he ever gave him one Penny to maintain these Titles.

Such disgust the King had taken at the Commons representing the Grievances to him in the last Parliament, that in his Cups, and among his Familiars upon all Occasions, he would inveigh against Parliaments, saying, God is my Judg, I can have no Joy of any Par∣liament in England; and that he was but one King, and there were alove five hundred in the House of Commons: So as if he could have helped it, he never would have been troubled with another: but as the Marriage of his Daughter with the Elector Palatine was the cause of his calling the last Parliament, so the Conse∣quence

of this Marriage put him upon the necessity of calling another.

But because Mr. Rushworth, Franklin, and all other our Writers at home, have either mistaken the Cause, or taken it too short, we will look into it from abroad.

Before Ferdinand, the first of that Name, Emperor of Germany, and younger Brother of Charles the 5th, the Kingdom of Bohemia was elective; and tho they often chose the German Emperors their Kings after the Turks became great in Europe, as Charles the 4th, Wenceslaus his Son, Sigismund and Albert (the first of the Family of the House of Austria) yet in the Year 1440 they chose Ʋla∣dislaus King of Hungary, who was a Polander, to be their King, who being slain at the great Battel of Varna against Amurath the 2d, 1444, they chose his Son Ʋladislaus (an Infant) King of Hungary, whose Guardian in his Minority was John Huniades, the famous Champion against the Turks. After Ʋladislaus (who died without Issue) the Bohemians in 1456, chose George Bogebracius. After him in 1470, they chose Ʋladislaus, the Son of Casimir King of Poland, who had Issue a Son named Lewis, and a Daughter named Ann, married to Ferdinand, Brother of Charles the 5th Emperor of Ger∣many: this Ʋladislaus was likewise chosen King of Hungary, and died in the Year 1516. his Son Lewis being then an Infant, was chosen King of Bohemia and Hungary; and ten Years after, viz. 1526, Lewis was overthrown and slain by Solyman the Great Turk, at the Fight at Mohatz.

With Lewis fell the Glory and Majesty of Hungary, the Para∣dise of the World, of a sweet and temperate Climate, a most health∣ful Air, the Soil exceeding fruitful, yet reserving Mines of Gold and Silver in its Bowels; abounding with Cattel, of a larger size than elsewhere, which it supplied Germany, Italy and Turkey with; wa∣tered with the noblest Rivers of Europe, the Danube, the Drave, Save, Tibiscus, &c. as fruitful with Fish as the Land was with Cattel, ex∣celling the Countries in manifold and fair built Cities and Towns.

Hungary, at the Death of Lewis, from the time when Matthias (the Son of the famous Huniades) began to reign over them, for 70 Years enjoyed perfect Peace within, and abroad had the Repu∣tation of the most Warlike Nation, and of all other the best Frontier, to stop the further Rage of the Turkish Arms in Europe: But in this long Peace, the People, especially the Clergy, became excessive rich, accompanied with intolerable Pride, and all other Vices which accompany Luxury and Ease.

In this high Conceit of themselves, the Clergy (especially Tome∣rius) put the King with an Army of 25000 Men only, to fight with Solyman with 300000 Turks, twelve to one, wherein not only the King, but also Tomerius, and the Flower of all the Nobility of Hun∣gary fell; here the Fate of Hungary began, but did not end here.

For Ferdinand having married Lewis his Sister, and assisted by his Brother Charles, set up for himself to be King of Hungary in right of his Wife, which the major part of the Nobility, not slain in the Battel of Mohatz, refuse to submit to, and chose John Se∣puce, Vaivod of Transilvania, to be their King; and John being too weak to oppose Ferdinand, flies to Solyman for his Assistance; so that Hungary, which before was the Barrier against the Progress of the Turkish Power in Europe, now opens her Gates to let it in: however the Turk being engaged in Wars against the Persians, Ferdinand prevailed against both, and John and Ferdinand came to this Agreement, That John should enjoy that part of Hungary whereof he was possest during Life, and Ferdinand the whole after his Death.

Soon after John died, leaving the Queen with Child, which proved a Son; and the Nobility, which before chose the Father King, now chuse the Son, and joining with the Queen, call in Solyman for their Assistance, who by this Call enters Buda (the Regal City of Hungary) and turns the Queen and her Son out, giving him only the Title of Vaivod of Transilvania: Now was Hungary become the Theatre for above 150 Years of all those Calamities which both Civil and Foreign Wars bring upon a Country; so that of the most fruitful and best inhabited Kingdom in Europe, it became the most de∣solate and uninhabited, the Inhabitants being made use of only to be Slaves either to imperious Souldiers, or lazy and idle Clergy-men.

If Hungary were the Paradise of the World, Bohemia was not less of Germany; and as an Island is encompassed with Waters, so is Bo∣hemia environed with Mountains, which, like a Garden with Walls, encompassed a most rich, pleasant and healthful Kingdom; and to this Kingdom, as well as that of Hungary, does Ferdinand lay Claim in right of his Wife; and being assisted by his Brother Charles, and further from the Assistance of the Turks, he forced the Bohemians to submit to his Empire; but this was not only during his and his Wife's Life, and her Heirs, but to his Heirs Male, tho he claimed in right of his Wife. And herein you must observe, That the Bohe∣mians at this time, as well as their Ancestors before, were Enemies to the Popish Tyranny and Heresies, so that Zisca, the famous Captain of the Hussites, about one hundred Years before, in many Battels, in Opposition to the Popish Tyranny, overthrew the Empe∣ror Sigismond; and Ferdinand was a zealous Maintainer of the Po∣pish Supremacy and Usurpations in Religion as well as Tyranny.

Ferdinand had Issue two Sons, Maximilian who succeeded him in the Empire, as well as in the Kingdoms of Bohemia and Hungary, and Charles the first Arch-Duke of Austria. Maximilian had Issue Maximilian, Rodolph, Matthias and Albert, Governour and Prince of the Spanish Netherlands, with whom King James in the second Year of his Reign made the League before spoken of.

Rodolph in 1576, succeeded Maximilian in the Kingdoms of Bo∣hemia and Hungary, as well as in the Empire: This Rodolph, Hel∣vicus says, was a Prince most worthy of all Praise, the Refuge of good Learning, Ensign of Peace and Clemency; and in the Year 1609, granted Liberty of Conscience to the Bohemians and Austrians.

Matthias, Rodolph's Brother, succeeded him in the Kingdom of Bohemia, and the Empire in 1614; but Matthias having no Issue, and the Issue Male of Maximilian ending in him, a Question might arise about the Succession to the Crowns of Hungary and Bohemia: for admitting the Succession were hereditary, then by the Laws of Inheritance these Crowns would devolve upon the King of Spain, Philip the Third, whose Mother Anna was Daughter to Maximilian the Second, and therefore to be preferred before Ferdinand, Arch-Duke of Austria, descended from Charles, Maximilian's younger Brother: To prevent this, the Popish Party, jealous of the Con∣sequences, prevail upon, or rather forced the Emperor Matthias to surrender his Title to the Kingdom of Bohemia to his Cousin Ferdi∣nand, a zealous Assertor of the Supremacy of the Church of Rome.

The Bohemians having this farther strain of their Crowns being disposed of to another, and dreading the Disposition of this Fer∣dinand, assembled at Prague (the Regal City of Bohemia) and de∣mand a General Diet of the Kingdom to bring their Grievances thither; herein they did not apply themselves to Ferdinand, as their King, but to Matthias the Emperor; but Matthias denied, or deferred it (to use Nani's words, who, tho a Venetian, seems to me to be very partial against the Bohemians) whereupon the Bohemians upon the 23d of May 1618, parted in a Rout, and be∣lieving the Counts Martinitz, Slavata, and Philip Fabritus, most zealous Papists, to be the Motives of Matthias his Denial, flung them out of the Windows of the Castle of Prague, but they escaped by a Miracle, as Nani says, lib. 4. p. 127.

The Count de la Tour in this Commotion, makes a most pathe∣tick Oration to the Bohemians, wherein he sets forth how the Pri∣vileges of the Kingdom were violated, and the Exercise of their Reli∣gion forbid, and made to descend upon the Will of Princes: That the usurped Crown of Bohemia passed from Head to Head, as the Revenue and Inheritance of one House; and to establish an everlasting Tyranny, being ravished before its time from Successors, in spite of Death is ne∣ver suffered to be vacant, &c. And then goes on, What have we not yet suffered? The use of Life comes now to be denied us, and the Ʋsufruit of our Souls contested; but all our past Miseries will not be able to call to Remembrance but some imperfect Representations of the Calamities to come: In sum, Rodolph lived amongst us, Matthias has reaped us as the first Fruits of his ambitious Desires; (for Mat∣thias had forced Rodolph to resign the Crown of Bohemia to him, as Ferdinand had done to Matthias) But what may we expect from

Ferdinand, unknown to us, and in himself rigorous, directed by Spanish Counsels, and governed by that sort of Religious Priests and People, who detest, with an equal Aversion, our Liberty and Belief? He was born and bred up in the Abhorrence of us Protestants, and why should we be so forward to make trial of it? Since the Persons banished, the Families displanted, the Goods violently taken away, demonstrate too cruelly to us, that he would abolish our very Being, if he could as easily command Nature as he uses Force, Wo to you Bohemians, to your Chil∣dren, to your Estates, to your Consciences, if you suffer this Ferdinand to keep his footing in the Throne: And when will you attempt to shake off the Yoke, if you have not Courage to do it at a time when without Power, without Guard, the Kingdom is in your own Power, and that you have two Kings to oppose you, one whereof is fallen, and the other to••ters? &c. which you may read at large in the fourth Book of Nani; and concludes, The Lot is drawn, Liberty, or the Hangman: If Conquerors, we shall be Just, Free and Princes; if overcome, Per∣••idious, Perjured and Rebels.

The Inhabitants of Prague before disposed, took fire at this Orati∣on of De la Tour▪ and chose a Magistracy of Thirty, with the Title of Directors, to carry on a Government in opposition to Ferdinand; and what happened in Prague, was no sooner divulged through the Kingdom, but all was in a Revolt, drawing also the Provinces of Lusatia and Silesia, adjoining to them, into their Confederacy.

Matthias had a Counsellor named Gleselius, upon whose Advice and Integrity Matthias relied above all other Men, who advised Matthias by all fair means possible to compose the Commotions of the Bohemians; for if he should come to a Rupture with them, and Matthias be compelled to raise an Army, the Interest of Fer∣dinand was such, not only in the Spanish Councils, but the Popish in Germany, and the hereditary Countries, that he would command it, and thereby be in a Condition to ravish the Empire from him, as he had done the Crown of Bohemia; and Matthias feeling yet this Flesh-wound, feared that mortal one, if Ferdinand were put on the Head of an Army.

Hereupon Ferdinand, without any regard to the Majesty and Au∣thority of Matthias, resolved to arrest Gleselius, and separate him from giving any farther Advice to Matthias; and one day being called to Council, where the King was with one Ognate, Gleselius was seized upon by d' Ampiere and Prainer, and put into a close Coach, and guarded by an hundred Horse, hurried away to Inspurg.

Matthias was astonished at this bold Insolence, which struck at his Authority in the tenderest part, and now without any Council, left in the Hands of his Cousin, who designed to rise out of his Ruin, became so overwhelmed with Melancholy, that both asleep and awake, he could not be with-held from crying out with a loud Voice, That Gleselius might be brought back again, but all to

no purpose, for he shall never live to see him again; and in these Agonies he had some thoughts to have cast himself into the Arms of the Bohemians, but it was not in his Power to do it. These things were in 1618, at the end whereof Matthias died.

These Commotions in Bohemia and other parts of the Empire, encreased after the Death of Matthias, so that the Election of an Emperor was controverted till the 30th of August 1619, when Ferdinand was chosen, having by large Promises prevailed upon George Duke of Saxony to vote for him.

But however, the Bohemians were stiff in opposing his Election to the Kingdom of Bohemia, and offered the Crown to Charles, Duke of Savoy, tho a Popish Prince, and who had a better Title to the Crown of Bohemia than Ferdinand; his Mother being a younger Daughter of Maximilian the 2d, but prevailed upon by the Pope and Spanish Councils, he refused it, as did the Duke of Saxony; and then they chose Frederick Count Palatine, hoping to receive great Assistance from King James his Father-in-law, but were mistaken in the Man.

Upon this Election Abbot Arch-Bishop of Canterbury was all on Fire, to perswade the King to assist his Son-in-law, and to that purpose wrote a long perswasive Apology to the King concerning it, which you may read at large in Rushworth's Collections, fol. 12. but the King and Bishop were not of the same Opinion; for the King would have it, that the Election of his Son-in-law was upon the Score of Religion, not Right, and therefore disswaded him from it; but being a mighty Man of Embassies, as well as Words, Nani says fol. 138. published, that he would assist his Son-in-law, and dispatched an Ambassador to Vienna, proposing that Bohemia should remain to Frederick: But if his Authority by words would not settle his Son-in-law, King James could not go further. Fre∣derick thus forsaken by his Father-in-law, raised upon his own account 10000 Foot and 2000 Horse, and entred Prague; and was crown'd King on the Fourth of November 1619, and was no sooner crown'd, but laid the Foundation of his own Ruine: for the Counts De la Tour and Mansfield, who had raised two Armies and kept up the Bohemians, till the King's coming to Prague, were not only neglected, but the Prince of Anhalt, whom the King brought with him, was made not only Generalissimo of the Army the King brought, but of the Armies raised by de la Tour and Mansfield; besides, the King, tho he had got a vast Treasure, was niggardly in paying the Souldiers, which necessitated them to take free Quar∣ters upon the Bohemians.

In this disgusted State with the Bohemians, the King having withd••awn so great Forces out of the Palatinate, left it exposed to the Ravages of the Spaniards, who under the Command of Am∣brose, Count Spinola, General of the Spanish Army, under the

Arch-Duke Albert (whom the King in the Treaty of the 2d Year of his Reign calls His renowned and dear Brother) made terrible Wars in the Palatinate.

Here you may see how unhappy King James was in the Peace or Truce he procured the King of Spain, and the Arch-Dukes to make with the Dutch in 1609, for twelve Years; for in this In∣terval, the Dutch did not only retrieve their Cautionary Towns out of the King's Possession, but the Truce still continuing, the Arch-Duke had not only an Opportunity to assist the Emperor, but to send Spinola with an Army to invade the Palatinate; and the Emperor by an imperial Ban, had proscribed the King's Son-in-law a Traitor and Rebel to the Empire, and thereupon for∣feited his Electoral Dignity and Estate, which he gave to Maxi∣milian, Duke of Bavaria, and committed the Execution of it to the Arch-Duke Albert, the Elector of Saxony, and Duke of Bavaria.

King James was startled at this Return to his Proposition at Vienna, that his Son-in-law shall possess the Crown of Bohemia; and now complains that his Childrens Patrimony would be lost, and that he would not sit still, and take no further Care in it, and therefore sent another Ambassadour to the Arch-Duke at Brussels, to expostulate the matter; and this was the utmost he was able to do, and was forced to strain his Credit for it: but lest this should not do, tho sore against his Will, he resolved to call another Parlia∣ment, and try their Good Will towards it.

But that we may take all things before us, as they stood at the Meeting of this Parliament, the King notwithstanding the Attempt of Sir Walter Raleigh upon the Spanish West-Indies, had still by Sir John Digby continued the Treaty of Marriage between the Prince of Wales, and the Infanta Maria of Spain, with the same Confidence of Success, as if the King of Spain had not been con∣cerned in Sir Walter's Expedition: But the Court of Spain, to check the King's forward Desires, demand high Privileges for the Romanists, which amounted to little less than a Toleration; and that the Pope must be satisfied in his Conscience, before he could grant a Dispensation for the Infanta to marry with an Heretick Prince; both which the King and Prince agreed to, and were signed by them both, though afterwards.

But however the Agreement between the Pope, King and Prince was not much known, the Liberty granted to the Roman Catholicks was generally taken notice of; and beside, the Generality of the Na∣tion, notwithstanding the Benefits received by the Spanish Trade, still retained an Aversion to the Spaniards, which made the Spanish Match hated and feared by them; and how much more they hated and feared the Spaniards, so much more zealous were they for the King's Assistance of his Son-in-law in his Title to the Kingdom of Bohemia, as well as in the Preservation of the Palatinate, now in∣vaded by the Emperor and King of Spain.

Thus things stood when the King's Necessities forced him to the unwilling Resolution of calling another Parliament: but they did not stay here, for upon the 9th of November happened the fatal Battel at Prague, fought by above 60000 Combatants, wherein, tho the Bohemians were superior in Number, the Imperialists were in Discipline and Valour; and tho the King was the principal Ob∣ject of the War, yet he thought not fit to engage in the Battel, but stood at a distance out of Harm's way to observe the Event of it.

After two hours Fight, the Bohemians were utterly overthrown and routed, 6000 being killed, and more taken Prisoners, with all their Colours, Baggage, Guns and Ammunition, and scarce 300 of the Imperialists killed; the Prince of Anhalt was the first who gave the King notice of his Overthrow, with Advice to provide for his Safety, which the King thought to do by flying back into Prague, but found no Safety there.

For the Duke of Bavaria, General of the Imperialists, followed him close, and summons him to surrender the City, and quit his Claim to the Kingdom: The King demands 24 Hours respite to answer, but Bavaria only grants him 8, to which without any Re∣ply, next Morning the King, with the Queen, big with Child, and their Children fly out of Prague, and by unfrequent Ways, by al∣most a Miracle, escape to Ʋratislavia, leaving the Heads of his Par∣ty in Prague to be Victims, after an horrible Sacrifice, to their en∣raged and bloody Enemies, and all that inestimable Wealth, which he had got together, and was so niggardly of to his Souldiers, to be a Prey to his Enemies also.

In this disasterous State, Frederick driven out of Bohemia, the Palatinate invaded and overrun by Spinola, and having lost all his Wealth, as well as Kingdom and Country, retires with his Wife and Children into Holland; more supported by the Dutch, Prince of Orange, and some of the English Nobility, and Arch-Bishop Abbot, than by the King, whose Bounty lay another way; and since he could not obtain Aids from his Father-in-law for the Pre∣servation of his Country, yet he became a Suitor to the King to solicite the Imperial Court for the Conservation of the Palatinate, which the King did, but did him no good, and further the King would not go; but vainly promised to himself he could do it, by the Marriage of his Son to the Infanta of Spain, and get two Millions of Money for her Portion to boot.

Though the English Nobility patiently truckled under the Am∣bition and Covetousness of Buckingham, yet the same Genius was not found in the French Princes of the Blood, and Nobility, un∣der the prodigious Pride, and exorbitant Promotions of Luynes: to restrain them, or it may be, to force Luynes from the King's Favour, the Queen-Mother made a League with the Count of

Soissons, (a Prince of the Blood) the Count Vendosm and Grand Prior of France, (both natural Sons of Henry the 4th of France) against him, and the Dukes of Longuevil, Main and Espernoon join∣ed with them, so did those of the reformed Religion under the Duke of Rohan, and his Brother Sobiez, Princes of the Blood of the Line of Navarr.

But these Commotions, being sudden and ungrounded, were soon supprest, and the King was reconciled to the Queen and Po∣pish Nobility, and the greatest Loss fell upon those of the Reform∣ed Religion, who lost St. John de Angely, Gergeau, Sancerre and Saumur, which were all the Cautionary Places which the Reformed had upon the Loire, and also Suilly, Merac and Caumont. King James, that he might as much appear for the Reformed, as he had done for his Son-in-law, sent Sir Edward Herbert, after Baron Herbert of Cherberry, his Ambassadour into France, to mediate a Peace between the King and the Reformed, and in Case of Refusal, to use Menaces, which Sir Edward bravely performed, to Luynes, and after to the French King himself; which being misrepresented to King James, Sir Edward was recalled, and the Earl of Carlisle was sent Ambassadour into France in his room; and the Earl find∣ing the Truth to be otherwise than was represented by Luynes, ac∣quainted the King with it: Hereupon Sir Edward kneeled to the King, and humbly besought him, that since the Business between Luynes and him was become publick, that a Trumpeter, if not an Herald on Sir Edward's Part might be sent to Luynes, to tell him, That he had made a false Relation to the King of the Passages be∣tween them; and that Sir Edward would demand Reasons of him with Sword in Hand on that Point: but the King was not pleased to grant it; and here began the Downfal of the Power of the Reformed in France, and the Rise of the French Grandeur by Land.

In this rotten and teachy State of Affairs, before the Meeting of the Parliament, the King issued out a Proclamation, (of which he was as prodigal, as bountiful to his Favourites) forbidding Men to talk of State-Affairs (as if his Favourite Buckingham, who governed all, was so mindful of them;) nor was the King less jea∣lous of the Parliament's meddling with State-Affairs, than of the Peoples talking of them out of Parliament, so that the King upon the opening of the Parliament the 30th of January, told them of the Constituting Parts of a Parliament, and how it was twelve Years since he had received any Aids from Parliaments; and how that though he had prosecuted a Treaty of Marriage between the Prince and Infanta of Spain, which if it were not for the Benefit of the Established Religion in England, and of the Reformed a∣broad, he was not worthy to be their King; and though he had refused to assist his Son-in-law in his Election to the Kingdom of Bohemia, being a matter of Religion contrary to what he had

wrote against the Jesuits, yet that he could not sit still, and see the Patrimony of his Children torn from them by the Emperor, and therefore was resolved to raise an Army next Summer; and that he would engage his Crown, his Blood and Soul for the Recovery of the Palatinate: And having before told the Commons of their Duty to petition the King, and acquaint him with their Grie∣vances, but not to meddle with his Prerogative; he after tells them, that who shall hasten after Grievances, and desire to make him∣self popular, has the Spirit of Satan.

The Parliament, notwithstanding the violation of their Pri∣vileges the last Parliament; by the King's imprisoning their Mem∣bers; yet being zealous to assist the King against the Emperor, and King of Spain, in favour of the Palsgrave; and though the Nation at no time before so much abounded in Corruption and Grievances, yet to humour the King, inverted the Methods of Proceedings in Parliament; and the Commons granted the King two entire Subsidies, and the Clergy three, before they entred upon Grievances, which so pleased the King, that in a Speech in the House of Lords; he declared it was more acceptable to him than Millions, it shewing he reigned in the Love and Affections of his Subjects, but he did not long hold in this Mind.

At this Sessions of Parliament, (if it may be called so, no Act but that of the Subsidies passing) Sir Giles Mompesson and Sir Fran∣cis Michel; were sentenced and degraded, for erecting new Inns and Ale-houses, and exacting great Sums of Money by pretence of Letters Patents granted for that purpose; Sir Giles fled, and so escaped a farther Punishment, but Sir Francis was condemned to perpetual Imprisonment in Finsbury Goal. Sir Francis Bacon, Viscount Verulam; and Lord Chancellor, was likewise censured, deposed, fined, and committed Prisoner to the Tower for Bribery; and Bacon's Fall was Doctor Williams's Rise, Dean of Westminster, to be Lord Keeper of the Great Seal.

But the Commons debating the Growth of Popery, and the dangerous Consequences of the Spanish Match, contrary to the King's Speech and Inclinations, he upon the Fourth of June (which the Commons took to be an Invasion upon their Privileges) by Commission adjourned them to the 14th of November, and by a Proclamation forbid the talking of State-Affairs. In this re∣cess the Spaniards took Stein in the lower Palatinate, and the Duke of Bavaria all the Upper Palatinate, and the Arms of Lewis prevailed more upon the Reformed in France; yet none of these prevailed upon the King, further than to mediate a Suspension of Arms, in order to treat an Accommodation between the Emperor and his Son-in-law, and the French King and the Reformed, which had no other Effect, but to make the King contemptible in Germany as well as France, his Power and Authority being bound∣ed

up only in Words and Messages, which the King's ill-Willers blazing abroad, cost the King more than would have recovered the Palatinate.

However the King abated nothing of his Pleasure and dissolute Life, but according to the usual Methods of his Life, in the Autumn went to New-Market to divert himself with Hunting, from the trouble of Affairs, either foreign or domestick, leaving his Favourite Buckingham Dictator of all his Affairs, when the Parlia∣ment met again: But how remiss soever the King was of his Affairs, the Commons were not, perhaps heated by their Adjourn∣ment, and alarmed at the Progress of Lewis against the Reformed in France; and of the Emperor, and King of Spain, not only in the Palatinate, but all over the Empire against the Protestants; and also with the Liberty which the Popish Party took, upon the hopes they conceived would accrue to them by the Spanish Match still as fervently pursued by the King and Prince as ever, the King being encouraged hereto by the Earl of Bristol, the King's Ambassa∣dor in Spain, but more by the Spanish Ambassador Gundamor here: A Person, as N••ni observes, who with a stupendous Acuteness of Wit, so confounded pleasant things with serious, that it was not easy to be discerned when he spoke of Business, and when he ral∣lied; he had so insinuated himself into the Mind of the King, that he need not take any further care of restoring his Son-in-law to the Palatinate, but by Prince Charles his marrying with the Infanta, the Treaty whereof now is 8 Years old, being brought to Maturity and Perfection so soon as the Pope should grant a Dispen∣sation.

The House of Commons hereupon, being ill satisfied with the Distribution of the Subsidies before granted to the King, resolve to proceed upon Grievance, before they granted more Supplies, and to that end drew up a long and particular Remonstrance, which you may read at large in Mr. Rushworth's Collections, fol. 40, 41, 42. setting forth the dangerous State of the Nation, and of Christen∣dom, by the Alliances of the Pope and Popish Princes, especially the King of Spain, chief of the League, and what dismal Conse∣quences would follow by the Marriage of the Prince with the Infanta, &c. yet resolve to grant the King another Subsidy for car∣rying on the War for the Recovery of the Palatinate; but withal humbly desired his Majesty to pass such Bills, as shall be prepared for his Honour, and the general Good of his People, accompanied with a general Pardon as is usual; concluding with their daily Prayers to the Almighty, the great King of Kings, for a Blessing upon their Endeavours, and for his Majesty's long and happy Reign over them, and for his Childrens Children after him, for many and many Generations.

The Noise of this Remonstrance so disturbed the King in his Pleasures at New-market, which all his Cares for the Preservation of his Son-in-law's Patrimony could not do, that upon the 3d of December he wrote to Sir Thomas Richardson, Speaker of the House of Commons, this Letter, which because of the Rarity of it by any King of England to his Parliament before, we will give verbatim.

Mr. Speaker,

WE have heard by divers Reports to Our great Grief, that Our distance from the Houses of Parliament, caused by our Indispo∣sition of Health, hath imboldned the fiery and popular Spirits of some of the Commons, to argue and debate publickly of Matters far above their Reach and Capacity, tending to Our high Dishonour, and breach of Pre∣rogative Royal. These are therefore to command you to make known in Our Name unto the House, that none therein from henceforth do meddle with any thing concerning Our Government, and deep Matters of State, and namely not to deal with Our dear Son's Match with the Daughter of Spain, nor to touch the Honour of that King, or any other of Our Friends and Confederates; and also not to meddle with any Man's Par∣ticulars, which have their due Motion in any of Our ordinary Courts of Justice. And whereas We hear they have sent a Message to Sir Edwin Sandys, to know the Reasons of his late Restraint, you shall in Our Name resolve them, that it is not for any Misdemeanor of his in Parlia∣ment; but to put them out of doubt of any Question of that nature, that may arise among them hereafter, you shall resolve them in our Name, that We think our self very free and able to punish any Man's Misde∣meanors in Parliament, as well during their Sitting as after, which We mean not to spare hereafter, upon any Occasion of any Man's insolent Behaviour there that shall be ministred unto Ʋs: And if they have al∣ready touched any of these Points, which We have forbidden, in any Petition of their which is to be sent to Ʋs, it is Our Pleasure that you tell them, That except they reform it before it comes to our Hands, We will not deign the Hearing nor Answering of it.

The Commons having a publick Trust reposed in them, and truly apprehensive of the dangerous State of the Protestants in Christendom, as well as of the Kingdom; and that not only the King's remisness in taking care of both, but the Designs he pro∣secuted, were equally dangerous to both; in a most humble and supplicant Remonstrance, represent to the King his recommenda∣tion of the Affairs of the Palatinate to them, and the dangerous State of Christendom: in discourse whereof they did not assume to themselves any Power to determine of any part thereof, nor intend to encroach or intrude upon the Sacred Bounds of his Royal Au∣thority,

to whom, and to whom only, they do acknowledg it does belong to resolve of Peace and War, and of the Marriage of the most noble Prince, his Son; but as his most loyal and humble Sub∣jects do represent these things to his Majesty, which otherwise could not, so clearly come to his Knowledg, &c.

They beseech his Majesty that they may not undeservedly suffer by the Misinformation of partial and uncertain Reports, which are ever unfaithful Intelligencers; and not give Credit to private Reports against all, or any of their Members, whom the House hath not censured, until his Majesty hath been truly informed from themselves, that they may stand upright in his Majesty's Grace and good Opinion, than which no worldly Consideration can be dearer to them, &c. Which you may read at large in Mr. Rushworth's Collections, Fol. 44, 45, 46.

The King having cast the Sheet-Anchor of all his Hopes upon the Spanish Match, whereby he should not only re-establish his Son-in-law in the Palatinate, and get more Money than he could hope for in Parliament, furled all his Sails, and resolved to ride out this Storm of the Commons; notwithstanding his Pleasures and In∣disposition of Health, in a long Invective against them in a Scotis•• Dialect, which you may read at large in Rushworth's Collections; the Heads whereof were,

1. That he must repeat the Words of Queen Elizabeth to a•• insolent Proposition, made by a Polonian Ambassador, Legatu•• expectabamus, Heraldum accepimus, that he had great Reason to have expected better from them, for the 37 Monopolies and Pa∣tents called in by him since the last Recess; and for the three, whereof Mompesson and Michel were censured: but of these he heard no news; but on the contrary, Complaints of Religion, ta∣citely implying his ill Government.

2. That the taxing him with trusting to uncertain Reports, and partial Informations concerning their Proceedings, was needless, being an old and experienced King, and in his Conscience the fre∣est of any King alive from hearing or trusting to idle Reports▪ That in the Body of their Petition, they usurp upon his Preroga∣tive Royal, and meddle with things far above their Reach, and then protest to the contrary; as if a Robber should take away▪ Man's Purse, and then protest he meant not to rob him.

3. That his Recommendation of the War for regaining the Pa∣latinate, was no other than if it could not be recovered otherwise; which can be no Inference, that he must denounce War against the King of Spain, break his dearest Son's Match, and match him to one of our Religion; which is all one as if we should tell: Merchant we had great need to borrow Money of him for raising an Army, and that thereupon it should follow, that we were bound

to follow his Advice in the Direction of the War: That this Plen••∣potency of theirs, invests them with all Power upon Earth, lack∣ing nothing but the Pope's, to have the Keys both of Heaven and Purgatory: That it was like the Puritans in Scotland, to bring all Causes within their Jurisdiction; or like Bellarmine's distincti∣on of the Pope's Power over Kings, in ordine ad Spiritualia, whereby he gives them all temporal Jurisdiction over them.

4. That he expected the Commons would have given him Thanks for the long maintaining a setled Peace in all his Dominions, when all our Neighbours about are in a miserable Combustion of War; but Dulce Bellum inexpertis.

5. That he had ever professed to restore his Children to their Patrimony by War or Peace, and that by his Credit and Inter∣vention with the King of Spain and Arch-Dukes, he had pre∣served the lower Palatinate from the farther conquering for one whole Year; and that his Lord Ambassador Digby had extraordi∣narily secured Heidelburg.

6. That he could not couple the War of the Palatinate with the Cause of Religion, and that the War was not begun for Religi∣on, but only by his Son-in-law's hasty and rash Resolution to take to himself the Crown of Bohemia; and that this Usurpation of it from the Emperor had given the Pope, and that Party, an Occasion to oppress and curb many thousands of our Religion in divers parts of Christendom.

Here I desire that the Reader take notice of the Case of the Bohemians, as it is set forth by Baptista Nani, fol. 126. Anno 1618, after they had Liberty of Conscience granted them by Rodolph the Emperor, and that Ferdinand had no colour of Title to the King∣dom of Bohemia, but as he forced the Emperor Matthias to surrender it to him.

Ferdinand, says he, bred up in the Catholick Faith, detested all sorts of Errour; and therefore by how much not succeeding to the Father, he found the Patrimonial Countries incumbred with false Opinions, so much more with signal Piety had he applied himself to promote the true Worship, with such Success, that at last those Provinces rejoiced to be restored to the Bosom of the Antient Religion: But this was not without some Sort of Severity, so that many not to leave their Errours were constrained to abandon their Country, and sell their Estates, living elsewhere in Discon∣tent and Poverty; and others driven away by force, and their Estates confiscate, saw them not without Rancour, possessed by new Masters; and all this done in the Life of Matthias: So that Ferdinand, as his Title was Ʋsurpation and Force, so was the Exercise of it Ty∣ranny in the highest Degree, to the Overthrow of the Bohemian Laws

and Liberties; therefore the Original of the Bohemian War was not founded in the Election of Frederick to be King, for Ferdinand per∣petrated these things two Years before.

Nani goes on and says, in the Empire therefore, in which the Religion no less than the Genius is for Liberty, there appeared great Apprehensions, that where Ferdinand should get the Power, he would exercise the same Reformation, and impose a Yoke so much the more heavy, by how much standing in need of Money, and the Counsels of Spain, he should be governed by the Rules and Maxims of that Nation, so hateful to the Germans: So that it was not the Election of Frederick to be King of Bohemia, that opened that Gate for the Pope and his Party, for curbing and oppressing of many thousand of our Religion in divers parts of Christendom, as the King said, for it was set wide open before by Ferdinand.

7. That the Commons Debates concerning the War with Spain and Spanish Match, were Matters out of their Sphere, and there∣fore Ne sutor ultra Crepida••, and are a Diminution to him and his Crown in Foreign Countries: That the Commons in their Petition had attempted the highest Points of Soveraignty, except the stamping of Coin.

8. That for Religion, he could give no other Answer than in general, that the Commons may rest secure, he will never be weary to do all he can for the Propagation of ours, and repressing of Popery; but the manner they must remit to his Care and Provi∣dence.

9. That for the Commons Request of making this a Sessions, and granting a General Pardon, it shall be their fault if it be not done; But the Commons required such Particulars in it, that he must be well advised, lest he give back double or treble of that he was to receive by their Subsidy; but thinks fit that of his free Grace he sends down a Pardon from the higher House containing such Points as he shall think fittest.

10. He thinks it strange the Commons should make so bad and unjust a Commentary upon some Words in his former Letter, as if he thereby meant to restrain the Commons of their antient Privileges and Liberties in Parliament, wherein he discharges them from meddling with Matters of Government and Mysteries of State, namely Matters of War and Peace, or his dearest Son's Match with Spain, or that they meddle with things which have their ordinary Course in the Courts of Justice: That a Scholar would be ashamed so to mis-judg and misplace Sentences in another Man's Book, for in the coupling these Sentences they plainly leave out Mysteries of State, and so err, a bene divisis ad mala conjuncta: that for the former part concerning Mysteries of State, he plainly restrained his meaning to the Particulars which were after mentioned; and for the latter, he confesses he meant it by Sir Edward Coke's foolish

Business, and therefore it had well become him, especially being his Servant, and one of his Council, to have complained to him, which he never did, tho he was ordinarily at Court, and never had Access refused him.

Sir Edward Coke's Business was a Conspiracy against him by my Lord Chancellor Bacon, one Lepton and Goldsmith, after he was dis∣charged from being Chief Justice, to have exhibited an Information against him in the Star-Chamber, or have sent him into Ireland: The Business was debated in the House of Commons, but Sir Edward com∣plained not, nor appeared to speak in it.

If the King were uneasy with the Commons Remonstrance, the Commons were not less with the King's Answer, and at the Reso∣lution taken at Court, to adjourn the Parliament to the 8th of January next, which the Commons took to be a Violation of their Privileges, and an Omen of their Dissolution; whereupon they entred this Protestation.

THE Commons now Assembled in Parliament, being justly occasion∣ed thereunto, concerning sundry Liberties, Franchises and Privi∣leges of Parliament, among others here mentioned, do make this Pro∣testation following, That the Liberties, Franchises, Privileges and Jurisdictions of Parliament, are the antient and undoubted Birth-right and Inheritance of the Subjects of England, and that the ardueus and urgent Affairs concerning the King, State and Defence of the Realm, and of the Church of England, and the maintenance and making of Laws, and Redress of Grievances and Mischiefs which may happen within this Realm, are proper Subjects, and Matter of Counsel and Debate in Parliament; and that in the handling and proceeding of those Businesses, every Member of the House of Parliament hath, and of right ought to have freedom of Speech, to propound, treat, reason, and bring to Conclusion the same: And that the Commons in Parliament have like Liberty and Freedom to treat of these Matters in such order, as in their Judgment they shall think fittest: And that every Member in the said House, hath likewise freedom from all Impeachment, Impri∣sonments and Molestation (other than by Censure of the House it self) for, or concerning any speaking, reasoning or declaring any Matter or Matters touching the Parliament, or Parliament-business. And that if any of the said Members be complained of, and questioned for any thing done or said in Parliament, the same is to be shewed to the King, by the Advice and Consent of all the Commons assembled in Parlia∣ment, before the King give Credence to any private Information.

If the King was alarmed at the Commons Remonstrance, this Protestation of the Commons was such an Invasion upon his Sa∣cred Prerogative Royal, that neglecting his Pleasures and Health,

which he took such care to preserve, by retiring into the Coun∣try; up he now comes to London, and upon the 30th of December, and in a full Assembly of Council, and in the Presence of the Judges, declares the said Protestation invalid, annull'd and void, and of none effect, & Manu sua propria, takes the said Protesta∣tion out of the Journal-Book of the Clerk of the Commons House of Parliament, and commanded an Act of Council to be made thereupon, and this Act to be entred in the Register of the Council-Causes.

And on the 6th of January the King by his Proclamation dissolved the Parliament, Shewing that the meeting, continuing and dissolving of Parliaments does so peculiarly belong to him, that he needs not give any account thereof to any other; yet he thought fit to declare, that in the Dissolution of this Parliament he had the Advice and Ʋni∣form Consent of his whole Council; and that some particular Members of the Commons took inordinate Liberty, not only to treat of his High Prerogatives, and sundry things not fit to be argued in Parlia∣ment, but also to speak with less respect of Foreign Princes: That they spent their time in disputing Privileges, and descanting upon the Words and Syllables of his Letters and Messages; and that these evil-temper'd Spirits sowed Tares among the Corn, and by their Carriage have imposed upon him a necessity of discontinuing this present Parlia∣ment, without putting to it the Name or Period of a Session. And lastly, he declared, That tho the Parliament were broken off, yet he intended to govern well, and shall be glad to lay hold on the first occa∣sion to call another.