The history of England giving a true and impartial account of the most considerable transactions in church and state, in peace and war, during the reigns of all the kings and queens, from the coming of Julius Cæsar into Britain : with an account of all plots, conspiracies, insurrections, and rebellions ... : likewise, a relation of the wonderful prodigies ... to the year 1696 ... : together with a particular description of the rarities in the several counties of England and Wales, with exact maps of each county / by John Seller ...

The Reign of King JAMES the First.

QUeen Elizabeth, a little before she died, having de∣clared King James the Sixth of Scotland her Suc∣cessor, as indeed he was the next Allied to the Crown of England, as being great Grand-Son to the Lady Margaret, Eldest Daughter to Henry the Seventh; he was, upon that Queens death, Proclaimed by Secretary Cecill and others, and solemnly Invited to fill the va∣cant Throne; when having disposed Affairs in Scotland, for the preserving the Peace of that Kingdom, he set forward with a very splendid Equipage: And his first Act was to Establish and Continue Religion as it had been Setled by the deceased Queen; causing the Old and New Testaments to be Translated from the Ori∣ginal; and set many at liberty who were Imprisoned on sundry occasions by the Queen deceased. But whilst these things were doing, there wanted not some who envied his Accession to the Throne; and secret con∣trivances were laid to Depose him, and set up the Lady

Arabella, a Branch sprung from the same Stem by ano∣ther Branch; but it being timely discovered, divers were Apprehended, Tryed and Condemn'd; yet only George Brook, Brother to the Lord Cobham, and two Popish Priests, suffered Death, Sir Walter Rawleigh and divers others, being Pardoned; and on the 25th of July 1603, the King and Ann his Queen were Crowned at Westminster in the Marble Chaire brought out of Scotland by Edward the First, which fullfilled the Pro∣phecy Inscribed on it, and mentioned in that Kings Reign; and Prince Henry the Kings Eldest Son, was made Knight of the Garter, and stiled Prince of Wales; and Honours were conferred on divers Persons.

The next thing the King proceeded to do, was to decide the Controversy between the Church of Eng∣land and the Party that then stiled themselves Puritans, and a Conference to that purpose was appointed at Hampton-Court, where the King so Learnedly Argued, that the former carried the day. And the Jesuits pro∣ving over-hot, in stirring up the People to change in opinions (thereby to work their own ends) were Ba∣nished the Kingdom, and a Proclamation put out for Uniformity in the Church.

Soon after this the King Assembled a Parliament, recommending to them the care of the Nation, and a lasting settlement of Peace and Tranquility, and there∣upon restored the Antient Name of this Island, causing himself to be Proclaimed King of Great Britain. And whilst he and the Parliament happily accorded, a pri∣vate design was carried on to destroy them both, for the Popish Party being denied the Tolleration they had petitioned for, contrived one of the most Stupendious Mischiefs that ever entered into the Hearts of Men, for their heat of Mallice would not be quenched with the Royal Blood, but that of the Nobility and Gentry, the

representative body of the whole Kingdom united at Westminster, was to have been shattered in pieces and dismembered by a blast of 36 Barrells of Gunpowder, which they had placed in a Cellar under the Parliament House; but it was Discovered by a Letter to the Lord Monteagle the Morning before it was to have been put in execution. The principal Conspirators were Robert Catesby, Thomas Piercy, Robert Winter, Thomas Winter, John Garnet, Ambrose Rookwood, John Wright, Francis Fresham, Sir Everard Dighby, and Guido Faux. This Latter was to have set Fire to the Train, and was taken with his Dark-Lanthorn at the Enterance of the Cellar, on the 5th of November, 1605. Which day by Parlia∣ment was appointed Annually a Day of Thanksgiving for that memorable Deliverance.

Upon this Discovery, the Conspirators that escaped by flying, were divers of them slain by Forces raised by the High-Sheriff of Warwickshire; Faux upon Exa∣mination before the Council, confessed the whole mat∣ter, saying, God would have had it prosper, but the Devil Discovered it; expressing himself sorry that it had not taken effect. Garnet the Jesuite, and others, were Executed on this account, and some Lords who were absent from Parliament, and were suspected to have notice of the Design, were committed to the Tower, but after some confinement were released again, and soon after this a rumour was spread, without any cer∣tain Author, That the King was Stabbed and Slain with an Impoisoned Knife, as he was Hunting near Ockingham, which for a time much troubled the People; nor could their fears be allayed, before a Proclamation came out to satisfie them of the contrary; and the King of Denmark, the Queens Brother, coming to White-Hall, was Magnificently Entertained; and ha∣ving stay'd about a Month, departed highly satisfied.

The Kingdoms of England and Scotland, that had long continued in bloody Wars, were now United by both their consents in their Representatives, on a foun∣dation advantagious to either Nation, and so it has e∣ver since continued.

The Duke of Juliers about this time dying, the Dukes of Newburg and Brandenburg strove for that Dutchey, but whilst they weakly contended, Spain (more powerful) resolved to take it from them both, seizing on the City of Juliers, the principal place of the Province; which obliged King James at the States of the Netherlands supplication, to send 4000 English un∣der the Command of Sir Edward Cecill and Sir Hatton Cheek, by whose Valour it was chiefly Reduced. Soon after Henry the Fourth of France was Stabbed in his Coach by one Ravilliack, passing the Ironmongers-street in Paris, for which the Murtherer was pulled to pieces with Burning Pincers, yet could not be com∣pelled to tell who set him on that wicked Enterprize; and King James startled with this untimely Death, put out a Second Proclamation to Banish the Jesuits out of the Kingdom, and all Popish Recusants Ten Miles from the Court.

The Lord Sanquire, a Scotish Baron, having his Eye put out by one Turner, a Fencing-master in White-Fryars, in revenge hired two Persons to Murther him; for which he was Hanged before Westminster-Hall-Gate, in the Palace-Yard, and Dyed very penitently, tho' great intercession was made to save him. And the Queen of Scots, (Beheaded in the foregoing Reign) was by the Kings order removed from Peterborough to Westminster, and there magnificently Interred; and soon after the Elector Palatine of the Rhin•• came into England, and Married the Lady Elizabeth, the Kings Daughter.

But the splendour of the Nuptials were Eclipsed by

the Death of Prince Henry the Kings Eldest Son; which happened a little before the Weding, not without su∣spicion of Poison, as some have it, by the Scent of Per∣fumed Gloves, others by eating a Bunch of Grapes; but the Disease affecting mostly the Brain, it carried him off in Five Days, tho' the Physitians gave out he dyed of a Malignant Fever. Whatever his Disease was, it carried him off on the 6th of November, 1610. in the blossom of his Youth, he being 18 Years, 8 Months and 17 Days Old: He was a Prince of Extraordinary Wisdom and Piety much above his Years: Of strength and ability of Body equal to most Men, of a Noble and Heroick Disposition; and an hater of Flattery and Flat∣terers: He had an high Esteem of Sir Walter Rawleigh, and used to say, No other King but his Father would keep such a Man as Sir Walter in such a Cage, meaning the Tower. He kept his Court at St. James's, which was much frequented by the most sober of both the Nobili∣ty and Gentry. Something of the gravity of the Prince's temper, may be known by the following story: Once when the Prince was hunting the Stagg, it chanced that the Stagg being spent, crossed the Road where a Butcher and his Dog were travelling, and the Butchers Dog killed the Stag, which was so great, that the Butcher could not carry him off: When the Hunts∣men and Company came up, they fell at odds with the Butcher, and endeavoured to incense the Prince against him; to whom the Prince soberly Answered, What if the Butcher's Dog killed the Stagg, what could the Butcher help it? They Replyed, If his Father had been served so, he would have Sworn at that rate, That no Man could have endured it. Away, replyed the Prince, All the Pleasure in the World is not worth an Oath. In the time of his Sickness, a Person whom he lov'd, and who had been the Companion of his Diversions, coming to see him,

and asking him how he did, the Prince among many other sober Expressions answer'd him thus, Ah Tom! I in vain wish for that time I lost with thee and others, in vain Recreations. But England was not worthy of so great a Blessing as the Life of this Excellent Prince. For whom, notwithstanding the Court was not long in Mourning, because of the Nuptials that ensued; and the Elector Palatine having been highly Feasted and Entertained, departed with his Bride.

The King having raised one Sir Robert Carr, who had been his Page, high in his Favour, creating him Vis∣count Rochester, so that he Acted as it were all in all, and the Earl of Essex's Lady falling in Love with him, and complaining of her Husbands inability in perfor∣ming his Nocturnal Duties, the King gave order to the Archbishop, that a Divorce might be sued out, which accordingly was done, and she Married the Vis∣count. But Sir Thomas Overbury, who had been his great Favorite, inveighing much against this Marriage, and labouring to disswade him from it, because the Lady lay under much scandal of Lust and Incontinency, was by his and her procurement committed to the Tower, and there by tampering with Sir Gervis Ellows the Lieutenant of that Garison, and one Weslon and o∣thers, they procured him to be Poisoned, and the Earl of Northampton, who was privy to it, the better to colour the business, gave out he dyed of the Pox; and that strange noisom Sores were found on his Body; but this did not long conceal so wicked a practice; for it proved their Ruine: Northampton dyed soon after in a Melancholly disordered condition; and a little after, the Apothecaries Man, who was hired to give Sir Thomas Overbury a Glister, that had been poisoned, falling Sick at Flushing, revealed what he knew, as to the Poisoning; and who was concerned in it. This

News coming over by the means of Sir Ralph Winwood, who had been Ambassador in Holland, made a great noise, and more and more suspicion appearing, the King sent for the Judges to search narrowly into the Truth of it; Imprecating a Curse on them and their Posterity, if they were negligent in it; and the like on himself and Posterity, if he favoured any Guilty Per∣son; so that the Viscount made Earl of Somerset in consideration of his Marriage with the Lady Catharine Howard, Daughter to the Duke of Suffolk, and Niece to the Earl of Northampton, who had been Divorced from the Earl of Essex, when he had got his Pardon signed, as being charged before with Imbezling the Crown Jewells, &c. had it stopped under the Broad Seal; and the Lord Chief Justice Cook sending for him, he went to the King, to complain of the Indignity put upon him, looking on it as a great presumption in the Man that had done it. But the King, much to his dis∣satisfaction, replied, Thou must go then, for if Cook sends for me, I must go too; and when he parted with him, turning his back, he smiling said, I shall never see thy Face more; and the same Day the Earl and his Countess were made Prisoners, and divers others, as Weston, Mrs. Turner, a great confident of the Countesses, Sir Jarvis Ellows, and one Frankling: The Four last being first Tryed, were found Guilty, received Sentence of Death, and were Executed, confessing the fact; and soon after, the Earl and his Countess were Tryed and Condemned; but the King Pardoned them, or rather Reprieved them, giving them only a Lease of their Lives for Term of Years, utterly Banishing them the Court and his Favour: So that deprived of all Honours, places of Trust, and Fortunes, they led mean and despicable Lives, the dying very miserably, her Privy Parts Rot∣ting; and he of Discontent and Melancholly: So

punctual is God in his Providence, to revenge Innocent Blood on the shedders of it, and bring them to shame, even in this Life.

The fall of this Favourite made way to the rise of George Villers, Son to Sir George Villers of Lancashire, by a second venture; who being a comely Person, and his Parts improved by Travel, the King upon his first arrival at Court cast his Eyes on him, made him his Cupbearer at large, and in the End created him Duke of Buckingham, growing in a little time as high in favour as the former, doing all with the King as he pleased, and continued so to do till he was Stabbed by one Felton at Portsmouth, as will appear in the next Reign.

Sir Thomas Mason being Arraigned, as concerned in the Murther of Overbury, had his Tryal set aside, and the Lord Chief Justice chequed for venturing to insinuate, That in this there might be the Discovery of more than a Private Person; intimating, tho' not plain∣ly, That Overbury's untimely remove, had something in it of retaliation, as if he had been guilty of the same crime against Prince Henry; and glancing some what that the Earl of Northampton had (but how truly I de∣termine not) assured the Lieutenant of the Tower, That the making away of Sir Thomas Overbury, would be ac∣ceptable to the King, he had his wings ever after clipped.

Soon after this the Lady Arabella Dyed in the Tower, which set Mens Tongues and Fears on work, that she followed the same fate, but nothing publick appeared in it. She was Daughter to Charles Stewart, Younger Brother to the King's Father, and Elizabeth Cavendish; she Married Sir William Seymour, Son to the Lord Beaucham, and both at a distance being Allyed to the Crown, made the Marriage distasted; but her Husband

escaped out of the Tower, whether he had been Com∣mitted for this conjunction, and fled beyond Sea; and she escaping from her House at Highgate, to follow him, was intercepted, and Dyed in the place aforesaid.

There being a Peace confirmed with all Nations, the King treated with Spain about a Marriage between his Son Charles, now Prince of Wales, and Heir apparent to the Crown, and the Infanta, but Ambassadors being sent, many delays were made about difference in Reli∣gion and some other Objections; which the Earl of Salisbury, who Negotiated the matter, perceiving would come to no good effect, the Treaty of Marriage was laid aside, and overtures at the same time made in the Court of France; but that, as the former, then succeeded not, by the means of the Duke of Savoy.

The King having been some Years out of Scotland, went thither with a splended Retinue; and unluckily about this time the Book of Sports was Published, allow∣ing, on the Sabbath Day, for the Recreation of the Younger sort, after Evening-Service, Dancing about May-Poles, Church-Ales, and such like; which much displeased sober People to behold that Sacred Day so Prophaned; however, notwithstanding many com∣plaints, it continued, and some were punished for op∣posing it, by Writing or otherways.

Sir Walter Rawleigh making overtures to the King to find out a Rich Mine of Gold-Ore in Gunia, by the di∣rections of Captain Kentish, once his Servant, he was dismissed with some Ships and Men, but Gondemar, the Spanish Ambassador, getting notice of this design, writ to Spain about it with such Expedition, that Letters from thence arrived in the West-Indies, to Advertize of his preparations long before he came; so that finding almost all places Fortified, except St. Thomes, they took that, and attempted the River, but in passing, found

such opposition as constrained them to retire, without attchieving their ends; which so perplexed Kentish, that he Shot himself in his Cabin; and Sir Walter, upon his Return, was seized by Sir Lewis Stukley his Kinsman; and being brought to London, was at the earnest in∣stance and clamour of the Spanish Ambassador, sent to the Tower, and many grievous complaints laid to his charge, of Imposing on the King, and indangering a War with Spain; That it would likewise break off the Treaty of Marrying again, renewed between the Prince and Infanta of Spain; with such aggravations, that the King gave way; he was brought to the King's-Bench Bar at Westminster, where the Records of his former Arraignment were Read, and he demanded, why Exe∣cution should not be done upon him, according to the Judgment that had been pronounced against him; and he going about to Justifie himself on the account of his Voyage, was told it was not in question; but that he stood there upon his former Judgment, which the King would have Executed upon him; and tho' he urged much against it, as the King's Trust by a new Com∣mission, which he look'd upon as a Pardon, &c. his Exe∣cution was appointed, and he Beheaded in the Old Palace-Yard at Westminster, in the 60th Year of his Age, which pacified the Spaniard for the Loss sustained by the West-India Voyage.

Soon after this, Queen Ann dyed of a Dropsie at Hampton Court, a prodigeous Blazing Star ushering her to another World: And briefly thus stands her Cha∣racter, She was in her great Condition a good Woman, not tempted from the heighth she stood on to Embroil things below her, only giving herself content in her own House, with such Recreations as might not make Time tedious to her; so that nothing can be fixed on her, but that she may have Engraven on her Monument a Character of Virtue.

The Bohemians having chosen Frederick, Elector Pa∣latine of the Rhine, who Married the Lady Elizabeth, King James's Daughter, their King, Revolted from the Emperour Ferdinand; but being Overthrown by the Duke of Bavaria, the Imperial General, and all Bohemia recovered, upon his return home, he found his Palatinate Invaded by the Spaniards, who with other Aides beat him out of it, tho' King James sent about 6000 English to his Assistance, who did many brave things; but being worsted by great Numbers, the poor remains of them in the conclusion of the War returned home.

This made the King call a Parliament to Refund his Treasure wasted in this War, and on chargable Em∣basseys; but they would not hearken to it before sun∣dry Grievances were redressed; and hereupon divers who had oppressed the People, and mis-spent the pub∣lick Treasure, were Questioned and Disgraced; and among others the Lord Chancellour Bacon, for Bribery and Extortion, a thing he had always condemned in others, and for it lost his Peerage, and the Great Seal, spending his days very melancholly afterward, carry∣ing only the empty title of Viscount St Albans to his Grave. And after many contendings between the King and Parliament, they not answering his expecta∣tions in giving the Sums required, he Dissolved it, and put out a Proclamation to restrain the peoples Talking to his prejudice, but it little availed; and the Earl of Oxford having been accused on that account by one White a Papist, and the Earl of Southampton by others, they were committed and continued a considerable time Prisoners.

The Kings Ambassadors found but slender success in their Negotiations, being delay'd in the Courts of the Empire, Spain, and with the Duke of Bavaria,

which much troubled and vexed him. And there be∣ing many strange Opinions creeping up, the King sent his Letter to the Arch-Bishops for Regulating the Ministry, and Reforming Abuses therein; but the Jesuits and other restless People, under-hand laboured to Embroil the Factions, and caused many disturbances, which, with other dissatisfactions from abroad, cast the King into a Melancholly Temper, especially the slights that were put upon the Prince his Son, who went thither to Court in Person, attended by Bucking∣ham and others, they endeavouring to pervert him in change of his Religion, &c. so that he was Indisposed and so much out of order a long time, that his Fa∣vorites durst scarcely speak to him. Then hearing the Spaniards still trifled, his care was to get the Prince home again, least having so wealthy a Prize, they should detaine it, and sent him secret notice to return: Whereupon taking leave of the Queen of Spain and Infanta, and the other Ladies and Grandees, he was attended to the Sea Coast; and in his return being in a Barge some distance from the Ships, by a suddain Tempest he narrowly escaped being castaway, for a time neither being able to reach the Ships, or Shoar; but at length he arrived safe, to the high satisfaction of the King his Father; but this Match after vast Ex∣pence and Trouble, came to nothing, tho' the Lady had a long time had Tutors to Teach her English, and pleased enough she appeared at it; but this was at last found only a device to retard the King from medling in the Affairs of the Palatinate, and the design of this Marriage was his chief aime to restore it; whereupon he gave orders to the Earl of Bristol, his Ambassador, positively to declare to the King of Spain That unless that was restored to the Elector, the Treaty should proceed no further; and that being refused, the Prince

grew cold in his Love, and so all was dashed, upon his thoughts with a Match with the Youngest Daughter of Henry the Fourth of France, whom he had seen in his passage that way to Spain, and to whom (after his Fathers death) he was Married.

Upon this the King called another Parliament, and missing the Duke of Richmond his old Friend, and send∣ing to his Lodging, he was found dead in his Bed, without any Wound or sign of force upon him, which put the King into such grief and consternation, that he would not go to the House in his Robes; and so put them off for some Days longer. This Parliament greatly inveighed against the Duke of Buckingham, for perswading the Prince to take such a hazardous Jour∣ney out of the Land, and advised the King, since so many Delays and Tricks had been put upon the Ho∣nour of the Nation, to break the Treaty with Spain, protesting to assist him for the regaining the Palatinate, with their Lives and Fortunes, &c. They insisting on a Religious War, that might be Aiding to the af∣flicted Protestants in Germany and France; but the King however seemed more to encline to Peace, as appeared by his Letters and Speeches on this occasion; for fearing that when the War was begun, he should not find wherewithal to maintain it; and therefore thanking them for their proffers and advice, he told them he would consider better of it; however the Treaty with Spain was utterly dissolved. This, and some forwardness for War, so fretted the Spanish Am∣bassador, that whether out of Truth and Knowledge (as he pretended) or Malice only, cannot be determi∣ned, he sent to the King to let him know, that Bucking∣ham had some dangerous Design against him, tending to his destruction; and that it would be the safest to confine him to some Country-House for his Life;

however, tho' it was generally thought to proceed from spight, because the Duke set himself against the Spanish Interest, it put the King into such fears, being now grown Old, that all the Duke's protestations could not a long time remove them, nor till the Duke's Friends gave upon Oath their knowledge of the Duke's sincere intentions, and that this was contrived with the Ambassador by the Advice of a Jesuite; and this Parliament, the Earl of Middlesex, by Buckingham's procurement, was Questioned, but there came no great matter of it; for the Parliament knowing it was done by the Duke's means, upon his Questioning for the Money excessively spent in Spain, they had no great mind to back him in it.

Whilst these things passed, a melancholy Account came from the East-Indies, where the English had five several Factories, two at Hitto and Lerico, and two at Latro and Cambello, in the Island of Seran; but the Principal of them was at Amboyna, which is the chief Place in all the East-Indies, where Nutmegs, Mace, Cinnamon, Cloves, and other Spices grow; and from these Factories the English supplied not only England, and all Europe with Spice; but Persia, Japan, and o∣ther Countries in the East-Indies. This made the Dutch to Envy the English, and therefore resolved to dispossess them of the Spice-Trade, which is the best in all the East-Indies. The English in all these Islands were better beloved than the Dutch, and had built a Fortress in Amboyna for the safety of their Trade; but the Dutch having two hundred Soldiers on that Island, forced this Fortress from the English, and then pretending a Plot between the English and the Na∣tives of Amboyna, for the Recovering of the said Fort from the Dutch to the English; the Dutch by horrid Torments, burning them under the Soles of their

Feet, and under their Armpits, and pouring Water down their Throats when stretched on a Rack, till they were ready to burst, and by other barbarous ways Massacred the English there, and seized upon the Eng∣lish Factories, to the value of Four Hundred Thousand Pounds; making the rest of the English (that had escaped their Massacre) Slaves, and sent them into o∣ther Islands which the Dutch had possessed themselves of: This was in the Year 1622; when but three Years before the Dutch had concluded a Treaty of Trade between the English and Dutch in the East-Indies.

This News extreamly troubled the East-India Com∣pany, who humbly petitioned the King to demand sa∣tisfaction of the States General: But the King cared not for War; and tho' the Dutch refused to make any satisfaction for this Unheard-of Villany, the King on∣ly told the Dutch Ambassador, That he never heard nor read of a more Cruel and Impious Act than that of Am∣boyna; yet, said he, I do forgive them, and I hope God will; but my Sons Son shall revenge this Blood, and punish this horrid Massacre. And so left the Dutch in the quiet Possession of what they had so basely gotten from the English, without offering to draw his Sword against them: Which perhaps occasion'd his being pictur'd with his Sword in his Scabbard, and two Men pulling at it, but could not get it out.

And now the King having permitted the Count Mansfield, General for the Elector Palatine to raise some Forces here, he soon after fell sick of a Tertian Fever; a little before his Death he called for the Prince, and rowsed himself as desirous to speak to him; but being too weak, sunk down in his Bed again, and Dyed at Theobalds, on the 27th of March, 1625. when he had Reigned over all Britain 22 Years and three Days, being the Twenty Third of his Reign

and Fifty Ninth of his Age. He was buried at Westminster.

He was of a Stature inclining to tallness, being somewhat higher than Ordinary; his Body very well compacted, his Hair of an Aubourn Colour, and of a Pleasing Countenance; and towards his latter End somewhat fat and burly. He had the repute of a Wise Prince; but his Reign did not shew it: He indeed Writ several Books against the Jesuite's King-Killing Doctrin, but that shewed his Fear more than his Learning; and that he was therein acted by a Principle of Self-Preservation: For the Gunpowder-Plot in England, and the Assassination of Henry the Fourth by Ravilliac in France, were enough to make him afraid of the Jesuites. He was wholly ruled in all things by his Favourites, to whom he was ex∣cessively bountiful, and thereby squandered away the Treasure of the Nation. At his coming to the Crown he found the Exchequer Rich, but at his Death (which was a great Unhappiness to his Son) he left it very poor; and well he might, giving so profuse∣ly as he did to his Flatterers and Favorites. It is reported of him, That having given Sir Robert Carr Twenty Thousand Pounds, the Lord Treasurer Salis∣bury, that he might make the King sensible of what he had done, invited him to an Entertainment, and so ordered it, that he should pass to it through a Room wherein he had placed four Tables, and on each Table Five Thousand Pounds in Silver; when the King came into the Passage, he started, as ama∣zed at the sight, (having never before seen such a Sum) and asking the Treasurer the meaning of it? The Treasurer told the King, It was the Boon he bad given to Sir Robert Carr: Swounds Man, says the King (which was the Oath he usually swore)

but Five Thousand Pounds shall serve his Turn. By which means the Lord Treasurer sav'd the King Fifteen Thousand Pounds. This shewed how easie he was to be impos'd upon, giving his Favourites what they pleas'd to ask, without knowing what it was. His letting the Dutch redeem their Cauti∣nary Towns upon their own terms, and letting them also dispossess the English of their Factory at Amboyna in the East-Indies, by the most horrid Massacre that any Age had heard of, without any reparation or satisfaction for it; however it might Entitle him to be Rex Pacificus, it could never be an Argument of his Wisdom, nor make him ap∣pear a Second Solomon, which his Flatterers usually stiled him.

In the beginning of this King's Reign a Plague raged, of which in London and the Liberties, in one Year Dyed Thirty Thousand Five Hundred Seventy Eight Persons.

A terrible Blazing Star appeared before the Queens death, and the breaking out of the Wars in Hungary.

Anno 1603 John Lepton Rode Five times between York and London in Five Days, beginning his Jour∣ny on Monday, finishing it the Friday after.

Anno 1605 William Calverly of York, Esq Mur∣thered two of his own Children in his House, Stab∣bed his Wife, and went out with intentions to have Kill'd his Child at Nurse, but was prevented; and was Pressed to death for refusing to Plead.