A discourse of monarchy more particularly of the imperial crowns of England, Scotland, and Ireland according to the ancient, common, and statute-laws of the same : with a close from the whole as it relates to the succession of His Royal Highness James Duke of York.

SECTION VII.

Admitting what has been before offer'd, wherein has our present King merited less than any of his Royal Ancestors? with a short recapitulation of Affairs, as they had been, and were at his Ma∣jesties most happy Restauration: and that he wanted not the means of a just Resentment, had he design'd any.

I Have hitherto shewn, that the Crown of England, &c. is Su∣preme, Sovereign, and Imperial; nor will it be from the purpose now, to demand, Wherein has our present King, less merited, than any of his Regal Ancestors, that it should appear less on his Head, than theirs; especially consider∣ing he is so far from not getting up to 'em, that (his Royal Father on∣ly excepted) he has out-gone them all in his own example; albeit he

wanted not the too many just oc∣casions of having been otherwise. To recapitulate some few of them;* 1.1 nor is it less than fit, to burn Incense, where ill Odors have been cast, or rais'd. To have seen (then) three famous Kingdoms, that had so often acknowledg'd his Princely Progenitors, their un∣doubted Heirs, (like Aesop's Pots) broken, against one another: To have examin'd the Quarrel, of which (whatever were the pre∣tences) nothing other was in the bottom, than to kill the Heir, and divide the Inheritance: To have beheld his Glorious Father, Dis∣arm'd by one Party, and in that condition, left to the growing de∣signs of another, and the merci∣less Cruelty of both: To have consider'd him, not forsaken only, but ingratefully edg'd forward to

his Destruction, by those Mush∣romes, whom his Royal Influence had fermented into somewhat: To have recollected his many Messages, fruitless Treaties, and that after all condescensions, no∣thing would content them, with∣out the Kingdom also: If there be yet room for a thought; to have remember'd (after the Faith of both Houses given him) how he was brought to Jerusalem to be Crucifi'd by the Jews: To have once more remembred, Him, The Fountain of all Law, Justice, and Honor, publickly arraign'd, by the Tail of the People, and that too, under the false detorted names of Law, Justice, and Ho∣nor of the Nation, nor without the Fucus of their Religion also, brought in, to sanctifie the Ordi∣nance: To have remember'd

him (I say) Traiterously Sen∣tenc'd by his own Subjects, and as ignominiously (even while the Heads of the Faction (as the Phrase of that time was) Were seeking God) Infesto Regibus exem∣plo,* 1.2 Securi percussum, and Mur∣der'd before his own Palace; Kingly Government abolish'd; the Name, Stile, Title, and Test of the King,* 1.3 alter'd into, The Keepers of the Liberty of England, by Authority of Parliament: That notion of a Parliament too, which by the same fatal blow, cut them∣selves off, also: Let me not seem tedious, to have remembred him∣self, Proscrib'd, and thereby, made High Treason, to Proclaim him King; The Oaths of Allegi∣ance, and Supremacy damn'd; The Royal Ensigns defac'd; The Coin alter'd; The Regal Statue

thrown down, and under that Vacancy, Engraven, Exit Tyran∣nus, Regum ultimus, Anno Liberta∣tis restitutae, primo: In short, to have remembred his helpless Friends, either starving at Home, or by not complying, necessitated into Forein Arms, and not the least number of them, so unfor∣tunate, as to have surviv'd the Ruines of their (once) Families; and lastly, the more unhappy himself, that could only look on and pity them.

—Quis talia fando, Temperet?—

What private Gentleman could have born it? But perhaps you'l say, he wanted the opportunity; I think not: For if we consider him, as he was at that time, not

only return'd from his Fathers Al∣lies,* 1.4 but the same Profest Son of the Church of England, he first went out, and in that, the Darl∣ing of the People; what particu∣lar person, or number of men, might he not have singled from the Herd, as a just Sacrifice to his Fathers Ashes, and his own Re∣venge; had he design'd any? He had an Army at his beck; The Navy regenerated; All Forts, and Garrisons re-inforc'd with Royal∣ists; The Country return'd to its former Allegiance; and the City, crying out, Yea, let him take all, since my Lord the King is return'd to his own House in peace? What (I say) might he not have done? especi∣ally considering, that such as had been obnoxious, could not but ex∣pect, that the Cloud must break, and be afraid, where it might

fall, and consequently ready, each man to have given up his nearest Relation, to save himself,

—Et quae sibi quisque timêre Unius in miseri exitium convertere—* 1.5

Can a Mother forget her Son? Or a Son, such a Father? And yet,

Quanquam animo redit usque Pater,* 1.6 tamen excutit omnem, Rex melior—

he so far forgot it, as to avoid the occasions of remembring it: Nay, which of his Enemies lookt up to him, and return'd empty? Was not the Childrens Bread thrown among them, while the helpless Orphans scarce lickt up the Crums? And has not that fulness of Bread, provok'd them into

wantonness? They have eat, drunk, and now rise up to play; and 'tis a shrewd sign they are idle, when nothing will serve them, but they must be Sacrificing in a Wil∣derness; yet, what greater Testi∣monies could there be, of an en∣tire Forgiveness? And if so, this methinks should at last mind us, that as Vapors rising from the Earth, stay not long in the Air, but fall on the same Earth again, That we also, as truly sensible of the Mercy, return him (at least) the grateful Acknowledgments of an humble Obedience.

Notes

• * 1.1

  A short Reca∣pitulation of Affairs, before his Majesties return.
• * 1.2

  Part of the Epitaph, of Mary Queen of Scots.
• * 1.3

  Scobel's Colle∣ction of Acts, 1648.
• * 1.4

  That he wan∣ted not op∣portunities of resenting them, had he design'd it.
• * 1.5

  Virgil.
• * 1.6

  Strada.