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<DATE>2014-02-20</DATE>
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<NAME>Olivia Bottum</NAME>
<RESP>MURP</RESP>
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<TEXT LANG="eng">
<FRONT>
<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
<PB REF="1">
<PB REF="2" MS="y">
<P>THE Plain Engli&s;hman's Hi&s;torian: OR, A Compendious Chronicle OF ENGLAND, From its fir&s;t being Inhabited to this pre&s;ent Year 1679.</P>
<P>But more e&s;pecially containing the chief Re|marques of all our Kings and Queens &s;ince the Conque&s;t, their Lives and Reigns, Po|licies, Wars, Laws, Succe&s;&s;es, and Troubles.</P>
<P>With the mo&s;t Notable Accidents, as Dearths, Tem|pe&s;ts, Mon&s;trous Births, and other Prodigies that happened in each of their times re&s;pectively.</P>
<P>By <HI>H. C.</HI> Gent.</P>
<Q><HI>Non Multa, &s;ed Multum.</HI></Q>
<P><HI>LONDON,</HI> Printed for <HI>Langley Curtis</HI> in Goat Court on <HI>Ludgate-hill.</HI> 1679.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="license">
<PB REF="3">
<P>Licen&s;ed <HI>Aug.</HI> 9. 1678.</P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED>Roger L'E&s;trange.</SIGNED></CLOSER>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="to the reader">
<PB REF="3">
<GAP DESC="duplicate" EXTENT="1 page">
<PB REF="4">
<PB REF="4">
<HEAD>THE EPISTL TO THE READER.</HEAD>
<OPENER><SALUTE>Courteous Reader,</SALUTE></OPENER>
<P>AS the Mind of man is generally de&s;irous of <HI>Knowledge,</HI> &s;o there is &s;carce any Humane Knowledge more plea&s;ant or u&s;eful than that of <HI>Hi&s;tory,</HI> e&s;pecially of our own Native <HI>Coun|trey,</HI> which repre&s;enting the brave Actions of our Fore|fathers, &s;tirs up our thoughts with a generous Emulation to Glorious Attempts; and
<PB REF="5">by recording the di&s;a&s;trous ends of <HI>Rebellion, Trea|chery, Oppre&s;&s;ion, Tyran|ny, &amp;c.</HI> plants in us a ju&s;t abhorrence and dete&s;tation of &s;uch <HI>odious practices,</HI> fur|ni&s;hing us with lively pa|terns of Heroick Vertues, like <HI>Baits</HI> to allure us, and eminent <HI>Examples</HI> of Gods Ju&s;tice, as <HI>Sea-marks</HI> to warn us, while&s;t adorning with never fading flowers the Tombs of our <HI>Ance&s;tors,</HI> and re&s;cuing their Names from <HI>Oblivion and Du&s;t.</HI>
<PB REF="5">It exalts flitting <HI>Time</HI> to a kind of <HI>Immortality,</HI> and dige&s;ts <HI>barbarous Tradition</HI> into <HI>u&s;eful Knowledge.</HI></P>
<P>'Tis both a pity and a &s;hame to &s;ee &s;o many people <HI>utterly ignorant</HI> in the Sto|ry of their Countrey, and I have often lamented the ill Conduct of our <HI>Youth,</HI> who fool away their time in read|ing &s;illy Romances, that fill their heads with extrava|gant, and oft-times <HI>baneful</HI> Whim&s;ies, while&s;t they might as ea&s;ily &s;tock their Minds
<PB REF="6">with <HI>u&s;eful Notions:</HI> For I do not under&s;tand that there is much more <HI>Capacity</HI> re|quired to apprehend the <HI>great Acts</HI> of our &s;everal <HI>Princes</HI> &s;ince the Conque&s;t, than to remember the <HI>fabulous Ex|ploits</HI> of the <HI>Seven Cham|pions,</HI> or the <HI>ridiculous Ad|ventures</HI> of <HI>Guy</HI> and <HI>Sir Bevis.</HI> Nor know I, but a Child may improve his <HI>Me|mory,</HI> and delight his <HI>Fan|cy</HI> as much in the <HI>real and mighty Victories</HI> of <HI>Edw.</HI> the <HI>3^d^.</HI> or <HI>Henry</HI> the <HI>5^t^h.</HI>
<PB REF="6">as in the <HI>imaginary at|chievements</HI> of <HI>Pari&s;mus</HI> or the <HI>Knight of the Sun, Heros</HI> that never had <HI>be|ing,</HI> but in the <HI>fanta&s;tick Region</HI> of &s;ome <HI>idle Brain.</HI></P>
<P>To promote the&s;e <HI>more &s;olid and beneficial Stu|dies,</HI> I here pre&s;ent the Rea|der with <HI>a very brief Epi|tome of Engli&s;h Hi&s;tory,</HI> who&s;e <HI>bulk</HI> can neither <HI>wea|ry,</HI> nor its <HI>price impove|ri&s;h thee:</HI> and yet (if I <HI>mi&s;take</HI> not) thou maye&s;t therein <HI>at once take an en|tire
<PB REF="7">view</HI> (though as in <HI>Landskip</HI>) of the <HI>mo&s;t con&s;iderable affairs</HI> menti|oned in our <HI>Chronicles.</HI> There have been &s;everal <HI>E&s;|&s;ays</HI> in this kind heretofore, but 'tis conceived none with|out <HI>divers mi&s;takes,</HI> or at lea&s;t <HI>not aiming at,</HI> or <HI>&s;o briefly accompli&s;hing</HI> the <HI>Ends</HI> de&s;igned by the&s;e <HI>Col|lections;</HI> but of that let the <HI>Judicious</HI> cen&s;ure, and with|all charitably pardon <HI>any defects or errors,</HI> which po&s;|&s;ibly he may meet with:
<PB REF="7">Though in <HI>compiling</HI> it I con&s;ulted mo&s;t of <HI>our be&s;t Hi&s;torians,</HI> as voluminous <HI>Holling&s;head,</HI> diligent but &s;ometimes trifling <HI>Stow,</HI> la|borious <HI>Speed,</HI> and (who is <HI>in&s;tar omnium</HI>) Judicious Sir <HI>Richard Baker,</HI> who&s;e <HI>Chronicle</HI> I cannot but re|commend to thy <HI>peru&s;al,</HI> if thou ha&s;t <HI>lei&s;ure and abili|ty,</HI> as the <HI>be&s;t</HI> yet extant, to accompli&s;h thee in the <HI>Eng|li&s;h Hi&s;tory.</HI> As for this pre&s;ent <HI>Enchiridion,</HI> 'twill be enough if it <HI>&s;erve thee as
<PB REF="8">a Table of general Affairs,</HI> with the <HI>exact times</HI> where|in they happened: Its <HI>chief u&s;e</HI> de&s;igned being, to be read <HI>before larger Hi&s;tories</HI> as a <HI>Preparative,</HI> or <HI>after them</HI> as a <HI>Recapitulation;</HI> and yet even <HI>alone</HI> it will fur|ni&s;h the <HI>plain Engli&s;hman,</HI> that has not time for <HI>tedi|ous reading,</HI> with &s;uch a <HI>competent &s;tock of Know|ledge,</HI> as no other <HI>Collecti|on</HI> in this kind of <HI>&s;o &s;mall a price</HI> can pretend to; and con&s;equently may ju&s;tifie its Title, and de&s;erve his thank|ful Acceptance. <HI>Vale.</HI></P>
</DIV1>
</FRONT>
<BODY>
<DIV1 TYPE="text">
<PB N="1" REF="8">
<HEAD>THE <HI>Plain Mans Engli&s;h</HI> HISTORIAN.</HEAD>
<DIV2 N="1" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD>CHAP. I. <HI>The State of</HI> Britain <HI>before the Conque&s;t, under the</HI> Britains, Romans, Saxons, <HI>and</HI> Danes.</HEAD>
<P>THough the Story of <HI>Brute</HI> be count|ed by the be&s;t Authors fabulous, as fir&s;t hatcht by <HI>Geofry</HI> of <HI>Mon|mouth;</HI> yet &s;ince it has much ob|tained credit in the vulgar Creed, we &s;hall give you the Traditional Account of it, which is,</P>
<P>That <HI>Brute,</HI> de&s;cended from <HI>Aeneas,</HI> with a Troop of <HI>Trojans</HI> landed here about the
<PB N="2" REF="9">year of the World 2855, and near eleven hundred years before the Incarnation of our Saviour, being in the time of <HI>Samuel</HI> the Prophet. The Kin&s;man of this <HI>Brute, Cori|naeus</HI> by name, conquering <HI>Gogmagog</HI> a Giant, and flinging him off from <HI>Dover</HI> Cliff into the Sea, they &s;oon &s;ubdued the whole I&s;land, and built <HI>London,</HI> which in memory of their former Country, they called <HI>New-Troy.</HI> When <HI>Brute</HI> died he gave to his elde&s;t Son <HI>Locrine, England;</HI> to <HI>Cambrius, Wales;</HI> and to <HI>Albanact, Scotland;</HI> to whom &s;ucceeded many Kings, but of their Acts there is little of Truth recorded.</P>
<P>The mo&s;t con&s;iderable Adventure of which we have certainty, was that of the Roman General <HI>Julius Cae&s;ar,</HI> who having (much about 50 years before Chri&s;t) conquered <HI>France,</HI> attempted <HI>Britain;</HI> and was at fir&s;t manfully repul&s;ed, but afterwards made it &s;ubmit in a great mea&s;ure to that re&s;i&s;tle&s;s Fortune which had triumphed over the re&s;t of the World, though the whole were not &s;ubdued till the time of <HI>Domitian,</HI> almo&s;t 200 years after. The Country was &s;o well liked by the <HI>Romans,</HI> that &s;everal of their Emperours came hither in per&s;on, as <HI>Adrian</HI> in the year of Chri&s;t 124, and <HI>Severus</HI> al|mo&s;t an hundred years after. And what is
<PB N="3" REF="9">more con&s;iderable, the Great <HI>Con&s;tantine</HI> fir&s;t <HI>Chri&s;tian Emperour</HI> in the World, was both born here, and fir&s;t &s;aluted Emperour at <HI>York:</HI> But after the Land had remained un|der the Romans near 500 years, they being imbroyl'd at home &s;lighted it, and <HI>Vortiger</HI> King of the <HI>Britains</HI> oppre&s;&s;ed by the <HI>Picts</HI> and <HI>Scots</HI> about the year of Chri&s;t 448. cal|led in the <HI>Saxons,</HI> a people of <HI>Germany,</HI> un|der the Conduct of two Brothers <HI>Hengi&s;t</HI> and <HI>Hor&s;a.</HI></P>
<P>But fir&s;t we mu&s;t Note, That 'tis &s;aid this I&s;land received the <HI>Chri&s;tian Faith</HI> long be|fore, even in the year 63, by the preaching of <HI>Jo&s;eph</HI> of <HI>Arimathaea,</HI> who lies buried, they report, at <HI>Gla&s;&s;enbury.</HI> 'Tis certain <HI>England</HI> was honoured with the fir&s;t <HI>Chri&s;tian King</HI> that we read of in the World, <HI>viz. Lucius,</HI> in the year 180. But the&s;e <HI>Saxons</HI> were Pa|gans, and having beat off the <HI>Picts</HI> and <HI>Scots,</HI> according to the cu&s;tom of foreign Auxiliaries, u&s;urped the Dominion of the Land to them&s;elves; but in the Reign of King <HI>Ethelbert, Anno</HI> 596. were converted to Chri&s;tianity, and in &s;ome time afterwards erected &s;even Kingdoms in this I&s;land, com|monly called the <HI>Heptarchy,</HI> that is to &s;ay, That of <HI>Kent</HI> of the <HI>South-Saxons</HI> containing <HI>Su&s;&s;ex</HI> and <HI>Surrey;</HI> of the <HI>We&s;t-Saxons</HI> from
<PB N="4" REF="10"><HI>Bark-&s;hire</HI> to <HI>Cornwal;</HI> of the <HI>Ea&s;t-Saxons</HI> being <HI>E&s;&s;ex</HI> and <HI>Middle&s;ex;</HI> of <HI>Northumber|land,</HI> including <HI>York-&s;hire, &amp;c.</HI> of <HI>Mercia,</HI> be|ing all the In-land Counties; and of the Ea&s;t-Angles, <HI>viz. Suffolk</HI> and <HI>Norfolk,</HI> &s;o that in the Reign of <HI>Cadwallader</HI> in the year 689. the <HI>Britains</HI> had lo&s;t almo&s;t all, and were forced to retreat into the Mountains of <HI>Wales,</HI> where their Po&s;terity remains to this day. And about the year 818. <HI>Egbert</HI> King of the <HI>We&s;t-Saxons</HI> reducing the other petty Kings to his obedience, cau&s;ed all the South parts to be called <HI>ENGLAND</HI> from the <HI>Angles,</HI> a &s;pecies of the <HI>Saxons</HI> from whom he was de&s;cended.</P>
<P>But, <HI>how &s;hort-liv'd is worldly power!</HI> The <HI>Saxons</HI> had no &s;ooner thus compleated their Conque&s;t, but the <HI>Danes</HI> began to infe&s;t them, and though often beaten back, got in time po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion, exerci&s;ing all kind of rude|ne&s;s and cruelties, for re&s;i&s;ting of which, rare is the Example of the Nuns of <HI>Coldingham,</HI> who to avoid being ravi&s;ht by the&s;e Pagans, voluntarily <HI>cut off their own Lips and No&s;es,</HI> chu&s;ing rather Deformity than Pollution.</P>
<P>About the year 900. reigned King <HI>Alfred</HI> a Prince of extraordinary vertues, who of|ten triumphed over the <HI>Danes,</HI> and fir&s;t of all for more Civil Government, divided the
<PB N="5" REF="10">Land into <HI>Shires, Hundreds,</HI> and <HI>Tythings,</HI> and &s;o &s;uppre&s;&s;ed Robbers, that 'tis &s;aid, A Child might have travell'd with a Bag of Gold or Silver from one end of <HI>England</HI> to another without mole&s;tation; but &s;till and long after the <HI>Danes</HI> retain'd their foot-hold, and at la&s;t prevailed &s;o far, as to in&s;ult over the <HI>Engli&s;h</HI> as their Slaves, &s;itting idle and abu&s;ing their Wives and Daughters at plea|&s;ure, while&s;t the others only labour'd in Tillage, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> &s;o that they were generally termed <HI>Lord-Danes</HI> (whence to this day we call an Idle-pack, a <HI>Lurdan</HI>) whereupon King <HI>Ethelred</HI> to &s;hake off their yoak, granted a &s;ecret Commi&s;&s;ion to all parts of his Realm, that at &s;uch a prefixt time they &s;hould Ma&s;|&s;acre all the <HI>Danes,</HI> which was performed (and, as 'tis &s;aid, altogether by the women) on the thirteenth of <HI>November,</HI> 1002. But this (like to <HI>violent Phy&s;ick</HI>) did more <HI>harm</HI> than <HI>good;</HI> for herewith the <HI>Danes</HI> more ex|a&s;perated, came over in greater numbers, and at la&s;t <HI>Canutus</HI> (by aid of the treacherous <HI>Edrick</HI> again&s;t King <HI>Edmund,</HI> &s;urnamed <HI>Iron&s;ide,</HI> whom he perfidiou&s;ly &s;lew) obtain|ed the whole Kingdom, and as the fir&s;t Da|ni&s;h Monarch, was crowned at <HI>London</HI> in the year 1017. He made many good Laws, as that the Sabbath &s;hould be &s;trictly ob&s;erved
<PB N="6" REF="11">(for now the <HI>Danes</HI> were converted:) That the Communion &s;hould be received thrice a year; and that a Woman convicted of A|dultery, &s;hould have her No&s;e and Ears cut off; whence, perhaps, our jealous Wives cu&s;tom of marking &s;uch as they &s;uppo&s;e to be their Husbands Harlots, may take origi|nal. This Princes Flatterers would tell him his power was more than Humane (indeed he was a mighty Monarch.) To re|prove their vanity, being at <HI>Southampton,</HI> he cau&s;ed his Chair of State to be &s;et on the Sand at young Flood, and &s;aid in a Maje|&s;tick tone to the approaching Element, <HI>I charge thee that thou pre&s;ume not to flow any higher, nor wet my Royal Robes;</HI> but the &s;tub|born Ocean continuing its cour&s;e, wet fir&s;t his Skirt, and next him&s;elf up to the middle, whereupon ari&s;ing (as it was but time) in ha&s;te, he &s;aid in pre&s;ence of them all, <HI>You &s;ee how vain is the Power of mortal Kings, and that none is worthy of your Applau&s;e, but he who made and keeps both Heaven, Earth, and Sea in Awe.</HI></P>
<P>This <HI>Canutus</HI> dying, left his Kingdom of <HI>Norway</HI> to his elde&s;t Son <HI>Sweyne,</HI> and to <HI>Hardiknute England,</HI> but he being ab&s;ent, one <HI>Harold,</HI> an elder Brother by a former wife &s;ucceeds for four years, and then dying
<PB N="7" REF="11">without I&s;&s;ue, <HI>Hardiknute</HI> is invited over, and accepts the Crown in the year 1040. being &s;urnamed for his Gluttony <HI>Swynes|mouth.</HI> Nor was his <HI>End</HI> unlike his <HI>Life,</HI> for &s;oon after he fell down dead in a &s;olemn Banquet at <HI>Lambeth.</HI></P>
<P>After him &s;ucceeded <HI>Edward,</HI> &s;urnamed the Confe&s;&s;or, but not of the Dani&s;h Line, but Son to King <HI>Ethelred</HI> by his wife Queen <HI>Emma,</HI> crowned on Ea&s;ter Day, 1042, he was after his Fathers Death bred up in <HI>Nor|mandy,</HI> where grew the acquaintance be|tween him and Duke <HI>William,</HI> and thence at forty years of Age was &s;ent for, to take the Engli&s;h Crown; a Prince very diligent in compiling a Body of Laws, and adju&s;ting the forms of Proce&s;s and Pleadings; he was the fir&s;t that exerci&s;ed the Gift (ever &s;ince inherent in our Engli&s;h Kings) of Healing the Di&s;ea&s;e called the <HI>Evil,</HI> by Touching; and, 'tis &s;aid, &s;u&s;pecting his Mother of In|continency, put her to the tryal by <HI>Ordeal,</HI> which was to pa&s;s blindfold and barefooted over nine Plow-Shares red-hot laid in un|equal di&s;tance, which &s;he in te&s;timony of her Innocency perform'd unhurt.</P>
<P>After he had reign'd 23 years and &s;ix months, he ended his life in the Painted Chamber at <HI>We&s;tmin&s;ter,</HI> leaving behind him
<PB N="8" REF="12">no I&s;&s;ue; though he had de&s;igned <HI>Edgar</HI> Grand&s;on of <HI>Edmund Iron&s;ide</HI> to &s;ucceed, but he being young, <HI>Harold</HI> the Son of Earl <HI>Goodwin</HI> ju&s;tled him be&s;ide the Throne, and filled the place in his &s;tead, it being &s;aid, That King <HI>Edward</HI> before his Death had appointed the Crown variou&s;ly, &s;ometimes to <HI>William</HI> Duke of <HI>Normandy,</HI> &s;ometimes to the &s;aid <HI>Edgar,</HI> and &s;ometimes to this <HI>Ha|rold,</HI> who being upon the place, and a very Martial Man, counting his Right equal to either of theirs, was ea&s;ily induced by kind|ne&s;s to him&s;elf to prefer it before them both, and &s;o took upon him the Crown, which yet he enjoyed but nine months, and that with great trouble, and then was &s;lain by <HI>William</HI> of <HI>Normandy.</HI> It &s;eems the Family was unfortunate, or rather ju&s;tly puni&s;hed for their &s;ins, for his Father Earl <HI>Goodwin</HI> having cau&s;ed King <HI>Edwards</HI> Brother to be murdered, it happened many years after, as he &s;ate at Dinner with the King in <HI>Wind&s;or</HI>-Ca&s;tle, the Kings Cup-bearer &s;tumbled, &amp; not without much difficulty, recovered him&s;elf from falling, whereupon the Earl laught hear|tily, and &s;aid, <HI>There one Brother helped the other,</HI> meaning one Leg &s;upported the other, which the King ob&s;erving, &s;aid, <HI>Yea, and &s;o my Bro|ther</HI> Alfred <HI>might have lived to have a&s;&s;i&s;ted me,
<PB N="9" REF="12">had it not been for Earl Goodwin.</HI> Whereupon the Earl to excu&s;e him&s;elf, wi&s;ht if he were not innocent of that Princes death, a piece of Bread he was going to &s;wallow might <HI>choak</HI> him, with which he was choaked indeed, and fell down dead at the Table; and &s;hortly after all his Lands in <HI>Kent</HI> were eaten up and &s;wallowed by the Sea, being that dangerous Coa&s;t, which from his Name to this day is called <HI>Goodwin</HI>'s <HI>Sands.</HI></P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="2" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD>CHAP. II. <HI>Of</HI> William <HI>the Conquerour.</HI></HEAD>
<P><HI>WIlliam</HI> the Natural Son of <HI>Robert</HI> Duke <HI>Normandy,</HI> by <HI>Arlotte</HI> a Skinners Daughter (from whom, 'tis thought, &s;uch kind Souls are called <HI>Harlots</HI>) on pretence of a gift of the Crown from <HI>Edward</HI> the Confe&s;&s;or his Kin&s;man, invades <HI>England</HI> with a great Navy, and three&s;core thou&s;and men, landing at <HI>Pem&s;ey</HI> in <HI>Su&s;&s;ex;</HI> and on the fourteenth of <HI>October</HI> in the year, 1066. after a fierce and bloody fight, (wherein he him&s;elf had three Hor&s;es killed under him) vanqui&s;hes and kills <HI>Harold</HI> the then u&s;ur|ping King of <HI>England,</HI> and is crowned King,
<PB N="10" REF="13">taking an Oath to ob&s;erve King <HI>Edward</HI>'s Laws, <HI>&amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>In the fir&s;t year of his Reign he laid a grievous Tax on his Subjects, &s;eized on the Money and Plate of the Religious Hou&s;es, and that he might know what every man was worth, cau&s;ed a particular Account of all E&s;tates to be taken and recorded, called <HI>Doom&s;day-Book.</HI> He cau&s;ed all Pleas to be in French, and in&s;tituted the Four <HI>Terms,</HI> whereas Controver&s;ies before were decided monthly in the Hundred Courts.</P>
<P>In the third year of his Reign was &s;o great a <HI>Famine,</HI> that men were forced to eat Hor|fes, Dogs, Cats, Rats, and all &s;orts of Ver|mine and Carrion.</P>
<P>In his thirteenth year he &s;ubdued <HI>Wales,</HI> having before made <HI>Malcome</HI> King of <HI>Scots</HI> do him Homage. In his time Pope <HI>Gregory</HI> the Seventh fir&s;t ordained that Prie&s;ts &s;hould have no more Wives, and &s;uch as had them already, &s;hould either be divorced or lo&s;e their Benefices.</P>
<P>His elde&s;t Son <HI>Robert,</HI> whom he had left behind in <HI>Normandy,</HI> by the coun&s;el and aid of <HI>Philip</HI> King of <HI>France,</HI> invades and endea|vours to u&s;urp that Dukedom again&s;t his Father in his life, who had promi&s;ed him the &s;ame after his death. At which King
<PB N="11" REF="13"><HI>William</HI> being grievou&s;ly enraged, went over and gave him Battel, in which it for|tun'd, that <HI>Robert</HI> unawares encountred &s;ingly with his Father, and beat him down to the ground; but then knowing him by his voice, flung him&s;elf from his Hor&s;e at his feet, begging his Pardon, which the King readily granted; &s;o they were recon|ciled: yet 'tis ob&s;erved, that <HI>Robert</HI> did ne|ver thrive after this unnatural Rebellion, but died, as we &s;hall &s;ee afterwards, mo&s;t mi&s;e|rably.</P>
<P>This King being much delighted in Hunt|ing, made <HI>New Forre&s;t</HI> in <HI>Hamp&s;hire,</HI> (ca&s;t|ing down and depopulating &s;ix and twen|ty fair Towns, many Churches, and four|&s;core Religious Hou&s;es for the &s;pace of thir|ty miles for that purpo&s;e; which he &s;tockt with wild Bea&s;ts, making &s;harp. Laws for the maintainance and encrea&s;e of the &s;ame; but we may take notice, <HI>he had two Sons came to untimely ends in that very For|re&s;t,</HI> viz. <HI>Richard</HI> in his own life time, and <HI>William Rufus</HI> afterwards.</P>
<P>Being engaged in a War with <HI>France,</HI> by heat and leaping a Ditch on Hor&s;e-back he fell into a &s;ickne&s;s, and died at <HI>Roan</HI> the ninth of <HI>September,</HI> 1687. having reign'd twenty years and near eleven months, leav|ing
<PB N="12" REF="14">three Sons, <HI>Robert</HI> to whom he gave <HI>Normandy, William</HI> whom he appointed King of <HI>England, Henry</HI> to whom he gave five thou&s;and pound in money, though af|terwards he got to be King, and one daugh|ter named <HI>Adela,</HI> married to <HI>Stephen</HI> Earl of <HI>Blois,</HI> and Mother to <HI>Stephen</HI> afterwards King.</P>
<P>He was buried at <HI>Caen</HI> in <HI>Normandy,</HI> but when his Corps was ju&s;t ready to be interr'd, one <HI>An&s;elm Fitz-Arthur</HI> interrupted it, al|leading the Ground was the Floor of his Fathers Hou&s;e, unju&s;tly wre&s;ted from him by this King <HI>William,</HI> &s;o that they were forced to give him an hundred pound for Compo&s;ition before they could bury him. <HI>Thus Conquerours who think the world too little for them&s;elves living, can &s;carce get room for a Grave when Dead.</HI> 'Tis recorded for cer|tain, That the very &s;ame day he died at <HI>Roan,</HI> his death was known at <HI>Rome,</HI> being a thou&s;and Miles off. A little before his death there happened a terrible Fire in <HI>Lon|don,</HI> con&s;uming all along from <HI>Algate</HI> to <HI>Ludgate;</HI> and likewi&s;e in his time a great Lord &s;itting at a Fea&s;t, was &s;et upon by <HI>Mice,</HI> and though he were removed from Land to Sea, and from Sea to Land, yet the <HI>Mice</HI> &s;till followed him, and at la&s;t devoured him.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="3" TYPE="chapter">
<PB N="13" REF="14">
<HEAD>CHAP. III. <HI>The Life and Reign of</HI> William Rufus.</HEAD>
<P><HI>WIlliam</HI> the &s;econd of that name, &s;ir|named <HI>Rufus</HI> (that is to &s;ay the Red) was crowned the fifth of <HI>October</HI> 1087. He was a younger Son, but had the Crown bequeathed him by his Fathers Will: yet his elder Brother <HI>Robert</HI> endeavours by Arms to recover it from him, till <HI>William</HI> complied and con&s;ented to pay him three thou&s;and Marks a year during his life, and leave him the Kingdom after his own de|cea&s;e; which agreement put a period at pre&s;ent to their difference: and the &s;aid Duke <HI>Robert</HI> making an Expedition vvith <HI>Godfry</HI> of <HI>Bullen</HI> to <HI>Jeru&s;alem</HI> to recover the <HI>Holy Land</HI> from Infidels, pawned his Dutchy of <HI>Normandy</HI> to his Brother King <HI>William</HI> for <HI>6666</HI> pounds, or as &s;ome vvrite, for twelve thou&s;and and &s;ix hundred pound, which was &s;o va&s;t a &s;um in tho&s;e dayes, that 'tis &s;aid, he laid a grievous Impo&s;ition, &s;o that Bi&s;hops melted their Plate, and the Temporal Lords &s;poiled their Tenants to rai&s;e it.</P>
<P>This King had Wars with <HI>Malcome</HI>
<PB N="14" REF="15">King of <HI>Scotland,</HI> and &s;lew him and his El|de&s;t Son, which was &s;o grievous to <HI>Marga|ret</HI> Queen of <HI>Scots,</HI> his Wife, that &s;he dyed for grief. This <HI>Margaret</HI> was a mo&s;t Ver|tuous and Pious Lady, and the fir&s;t that cau&s;ed a barbarous cu&s;tome of <HI>Scotland</HI> to be abrogated, <HI>viz.</HI> That <HI>when a man married, his Lord &s;hould lye the fir&s;t night with his Bride;</HI> which Cu&s;tom, by her endeavours, was altered to a Payment in money.</P>
<P>He al&s;o made an ab&s;olute Conque&s;t of <HI>Wales,</HI> and &s;lew <HI>Rees</HI> the la&s;t <HI>Welch</HI> King. He built <HI>We&s;tmin&s;ter Hall,</HI> and when 'twas fini&s;h'd found great fault becau&s;e it was <HI>too little,</HI> and intended to have built one much larger. He was a Prince of great Courage, in&s;omuch that being to cro&s;s the Sea into <HI>Normandy,</HI> to relieve his City of <HI>Nants,</HI> then be&s;ieged; the Sea-men being afraid to venture becau&s;e of the tempe&s;tuous weather, he forc'd them to put out, &s;aying, <HI>He ne|ver heard of any King that was drowned.</HI></P>
<P>His Chamberlain having once bought him a pair of new Ho&s;e, he ask'd what they co&s;t, and being told three &s;hillings, began to &s;torm, asking if he thought tho&s;e of three &s;hillings fit for a King to wear? Get thee gone (&s;aith he) and let me have a pair of a Mark: His Chamberlain went, and bring|ing
<PB N="15" REF="15">him another pair &s;carce &s;o good as the former, and telling him they co&s;t a Mark; I marry (&s;aith the King) They are &s;ome|thing like: and was better &s;atisfied with hearing what they <HI>co&s;t,</HI> than with &s;eeing what they were <HI>worth.</HI> More prudent was his Reply, when there being a rich Abbey vacant, two Monks came to him &s;uing for the Place, offering great Sums, and each of them out-bidding another; Whereupon the King looking about, and &s;pying another Monk &s;tanding not far off, ask'd him what he would give to be made Abbot of &s;uch a Place? who an&s;wering, he neither <HI>had any thing to give, nor would he give any thing if he had it.</HI> Well (&s;aid the King) thou ha&s;t &s;poken hone&s;tly, and <HI>de&s;erv'&s;t</HI> it better than either of the&s;e, and &s;o gave it him for no|thing.</P>
<P>It was his common &s;aying, That <HI>even God him&s;elf was obliged by his Word,</HI> and yet he him&s;elf was often ob&s;erved not to keep his word. He is noted to have been very Covetous, and too much Irreligious, and &s;ome &s;ay very <HI>la&s;civious;</HI> which la&s;t may perhaps be the more excu&s;able, becau&s;e he was never married.</P>
<P>He Reigned twelve years, and &s;ome odd months, and then being hunting in <HI>New
<PB N="16" REF="16">Forre&s;t,</HI> Sir <HI>Walter Tyrel</HI> his Bow-bearer &s;hooting at a Deer, the Arrow glanced again&s;t a Tree, or as &s;ome &s;ay on the Back of the Deer, and flying forward hit the King on the Brea&s;t, whereof he in&s;tantly fell down dead, his body being drawn in a Colliers Cart with one Hor&s;e to <HI>Winche|&s;ter</HI> and there buried.</P>
<P>In the fourth Year of his Reign, above &s;ixty Hou&s;es in <HI>London</HI> were &s;uddenly blown down by the Violence of the Wind, which was &s;o great that it tore off the Roof of <HI>Bow</HI>-Church, and carried it a va&s;t height in the Air; then letting them fall &s;o furiou&s;|ly that &s;ix of the Beams almo&s;t Thirty Foot long a peice, were thereby driven twenty three Foot deep in the Ground, <HI>London</HI> Streets being then not paved. In his ele|venth Year a Well at <HI>Finchamp&s;tead</HI> in <HI>Bark|&s;hire</HI> ca&s;t out Blood for many Days, as be|fore it had done Water.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="4" TYPE="chapter">
<PB N="17" REF="16">
<HEAD>CHAP. IV. <HI>King Henry the Fir&s;t.</HI></HEAD>
<P>AFter this &s;udden Death of <HI>Rufus, Hen|ry</HI> the younger Brother taking the ad|vantage of <HI>Robert</HI>'s ab&s;ence in the Wars at <HI>Jeru&s;alem,</HI> took upon him to &s;ucceed, of which 'tis &s;aid his Father the Conquerour prophe&s;y'd when he gave him only a Pen|&s;ion, &s;aying, <HI>Content thy &s;elf</HI> Harry, <HI>for the time will come, that thy turn &s;hall be &s;erv'd as well as theirs.</HI> However &s;ome time after <HI>Robert</HI> returns, and with a great Army lands at <HI>Port&s;mouth</HI> claiming the Crown, but Friends agreed the Bu&s;ine&s;s that <HI>Henry</HI> &s;hould pay three thou&s;and Marks a Year as <HI>William</HI> had done before, and that <HI>Robert</HI> &s;hould enjoy the Kingdom if he &s;urvived.</P>
<P>Two Years after, <HI>Robert</HI> coming over again for a Vi&s;it and being highly treated, Relea&s;es his three thou&s;and Marks a Year, but after he was come home repents, and declares his Brother had cheated him, here|upon Wars ari&s;e between them, and in Conclu&s;ion <HI>Robert</HI> is taken Pri&s;oner, and &s;hut up in <HI>Cardiff</HI>-Ca&s;tle in <HI>Wales,</HI> having both his Eyes put out to prevent his E&s;|cape,
<PB N="18" REF="17">where he lamentably remained near thirty Years, and then died. The elde&s;t Son of a Monarch, and who &s;aw his two younger Brothers Kings, yet him&s;elf could never obtain a Crown. And 'tis ob&s;er|vable, that the Engli&s;h in this Battel with Duke <HI>Robert,</HI> did win <HI>Normandy</HI> the very &s;ame day fortieth Year that the <HI>Normans</HI> had Conquered <HI>England,</HI> which Dukedom of <HI>Normandy</HI> remain'd long after annext to the <HI>Engli&s;h</HI> Crown.</P>
<P>This <HI>Henry</HI> was as great as ever his Fa|ther the Conquerour was, and married his Daughter <HI>Mawd</HI> to the Emperour. He made &s;everal whole&s;ome Laws, and among&s;t others order'd, that Counterfeiters of Mo|ny &s;hould have their Eyes pull'd out, and their privy Members cut off. A Puni&s;h|ment (as one judiciou&s;ly ob&s;erves) both <HI>le&s;s than Death and greater.</HI> In his time the Marriage of Prie&s;ts being forbidden by a Canon, Cardinal <HI>John Cremen&s;is</HI> was &s;ent from the Pope about it, who in a Synod at <HI>London</HI> affirm'd their Marriage was no bet|ter than Adultery, highly applauding <HI>Cha&s;tity</HI> and &s;ingle Life, <HI>&amp;c. But was him&s;elf the very Night following taken in Bed with a Common Whore.</HI> More continent was <HI>Thomas</HI> Arch|bi&s;hop of <HI>York,</HI> who about the &s;ame time
<PB N="19" REF="17">falling Sick, his Phy&s;itians told him nothing would do him good but to accompany with a Woman, who an&s;wer'd, the <HI>Remedy was wor&s;e than the Di&s;ca&s;e,</HI> and &s;o re&s;olutely peri&s;h a Virgin and perhaps one of Follies Martyrs. This King married <HI>Mawd,</HI> &s;ome Authors call her <HI>Matild,</HI> Si&s;ter to the King of <HI>Scots,</HI> famous for her Charity; for a Brother of hers coming to vi&s;it her one Morning, found her amid&s;t a Company of Lame People, dre&s;&s;ing their Ulcers and Sores, and then Ki&s;&s;ing them when &s;he had done, where|upon he askt her how &s;he could think the King would like to Ki&s;s that Mouth which had Ki&s;&s;ed &s;uch filthy People, to which &s;he An&s;wer'd, <HI>She had a greater King to Ki&s;s, who She knew would like her never the wor&s;e for it.</HI> By this Saint King <HI>Henry</HI> had two Children, <HI>William</HI> drown'd at eighteen Years old (with many others coming out of <HI>France</HI>) and <HI>Mawd</HI> fir&s;t married to the Emperour, and after his Death to <HI>Jeffery Plantaginet;</HI> to this Daughter he cau&s;ed all the Bi&s;hops and Barones to &s;wear Allegi|ance, but failed in his De&s;ign of her &s;uc|ceeding him in the Throne.</P>
<P>He was Counted very Learned in that Ignorant Age, and thence called Beau|clarke; noted for a very temperate Prince,
<PB N="20" REF="18">and yet he died by Intemperance, for, Sur|feiting with eating a Lamprey he fell into a Fever, and died the fir&s;t of <HI>December,</HI> 1135. Having rained thirty five Years and in the &s;ixty &s;eventh of his Age. His Bowels, Brains and Eyes were buried at <HI>Roan,</HI> the re&s;t of his Body Stuffed with Salt and wrap|ed up in Oxe-hides was brought over and Interr'd at <HI>Reading,</HI> being notwith&s;tand|ing all their Art mo&s;t offen&s;ive all the Way, and his Brain &s;o putrified as &s;oon as he was dead, that the Chirurgion that opened the Head died with the noi&s;ome Stench thereof.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="5" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD>CHAP. V. <HI>King</HI> Stephen.</HEAD>
<P>NO &s;ooner was King <HI>Henry</HI> dead, but <HI>Stephen</HI> Son to the Earl of <HI>Blois</HI> by <HI>A|dela</HI> Daughter to <HI>William</HI> the Conquerour &s;natches up the Crown, many of the Great men (notwith&s;tanding both He and They had given their Oath to <HI>Mawd</HI> the Empre&s;s, King <HI>Henries</HI> Daughter and Heir,) joyning with him, which brought mighty Trou|bles upon the Land, his whole Reign being but one continued Vexation; for at la&s;t,
<PB N="21" REF="18">when he grew towards his la&s;t, we cannot &s;ay he was at quiet, being forc'd to make his Adver&s;ary his Heir, and leave his Crown to him that &s;ought his Life, that is to &s;ay, <HI>Henry</HI> the Second, Son of this <HI>Mawd.</HI></P>
<P>His fir&s;t Troubles were cau&s;ed by <HI>David</HI> King of Scots, who being Uncle to <HI>Mawd,</HI> e&s;pou&s;ed her Quarrel, and entred <HI>Northum|berland</HI> with a potent Army, committing unheard of Cruelties, in ravi&s;hing Maids, murthering Infants and &s;laughtering Prie&s;ts, even at the Altar; but at la&s;t were beaten back by &s;everal <HI>Engli&s;h</HI> Lords, eleven thou|&s;and <HI>Scots</HI> being &s;lain in one day; After this, &s;everal of the Nobility rebell'd again&s;t him, but were &s;oon appea&s;ed; then <HI>Mawd</HI> came over in per&s;on to <HI>Arundel</HI>-Ca&s;tle, and the City of <HI>Lincoln</HI> declaring for her, King <HI>Stephen</HI> be&s;ieges it, whither comes the Earl of <HI>Glouce&s;ter,</HI> ba&s;e Brother to <HI>Mawd,</HI> to Re|lieve it; between whom was fought a bloody Battel, in which King <HI>Stephen</HI> (af|ter he had perform'd wonders for his own Valour) was at la&s;t taken Pri&s;oner, and &s;ent to <HI>Mawd</HI> the Empre&s;s, who kept him very rigorou&s;ly in Fetters, and taking her pro|gre&s;s to <HI>London,</HI> was generally received as Queen: Whereupon <HI>Matild Stephen's</HI> Wife petitions for her Husbands Liberty, de&s;iring
<PB N="22" REF="19">only that he might lead a private Life; which being ra&s;hly denied, &s;he engages her Friends to rai&s;e new Forces, wherewith &s;he gives the Empre&s;s Battel, and routing her Army, &s;ets the King her Husband at li|berty, who be&s;ieges <HI>Mawd</HI> in <HI>Oxford</HI> &s;o &s;trictly, that &s;he had no way to e&s;cape but by a &s;tratagem; for it being a deep Snow, &s;he arrayed her &s;elf and four Servants all in white, and &s;o pa&s;s'd the Watches undi&s;co|vered, but in &s;uch a fright, that &s;he never ventured her Per&s;on again in Action, leav|ing the War to her Son <HI>Henry,</HI> between whom and <HI>Stephen</HI> &s;everal Rencounters happen'd, till at la&s;t King <HI>Stephen's</HI> Son <HI>Eu&s;tace</HI> dying &s;uddenly, he being thereby left Childle&s;s, was the more inclinable to a Peace, which was concluded upon terms, to hold the Kingdom during his Life, and then the &s;aid Prince <HI>Henry</HI> to &s;ucceed. From which time they lived as lovingly as a Fa|ther and Son; but it was not long e're <HI>Ste|phen</HI> was taken with an Iliack Pa&s;&s;ion and the Hemorrhoids, and died at <HI>Dover</HI> the twenty fifth of <HI>October,</HI> 1154. when he had Reigned almo&s;t nineteen years, and lived nine and forty; being buried at <HI>Fever|&s;ham.</HI></P>
<PB N="23" REF="19">
<P> He was a Prince of great Strength and extraordinary Valour: and whereas <HI>Ralp</HI> the great Bi&s;hop of <HI>Salisbury</HI> had rais'd him&s;elf from a poor Prie&s;t in <HI>Normandy,</HI> to be Chan|cellor of <HI>England;</HI> this King on jealou&s;ie of his Loyalty, &s;tript him of all his Preferments, and took from him forty thou&s;and Marks which he had in money; in tho&s;e dayes a va&s;t and prodigious Sum. In this Kings time lived <HI>Johannes de Temporibus</HI> one of the Guard to <HI>Charlemain</HI> the Emperour, who lived three Hundred &s;ixty and one Years. Al&s;o in his Dayes, there appeared two Children a Boy and a Girl, cloathed in Green, but of a Stuff unknown, of a &s;trange Language and of a &s;trange Diet, the Boy di|ed almo&s;t as &s;oon as he was Bapti&s;ed, but the Girl lived to be very old, and being askt from whence they came &s;he an&s;wer|ed they were of the Land of St. <HI>Martin,</HI> where there are Chri&s;tian Churches erected, but that no Sun did ever ri&s;e unto them, but where that Land is, and how &s;he came hi|ther &s;he her &s;elf knew not.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="6" TYPE="chapter">
<PB N="24" REF="20">
<HEAD>CHAP. VI. <HI>King</HI> Henry <HI>the Second</HI></HEAD>
<P>WAs Crowned at <HI>We&s;tmin&s;ter</HI> the &s;e|venteenth of <HI>December</HI> 1155. Being a greater Prince than any of his Aunce&s;tours, and not inferior to any in <HI>Chri&s;tendome</HI> in his time. For he had <HI>England, Normandy</HI> and <HI>Anjou</HI> in his own Right; and in the Right of his Wife, the Dutchy of <HI>Guyen</HI> and Earldom of <HI>Poictou:</HI> At his fir&s;t coming to the Crown, he made Choice of Wi&s;e and Di&s;creet Councellors, bani&s;ht Strangers, reformed Abu&s;es of the Laws, and made many excellent Regulations to heal the Bo|dy Politick of tho&s;e Di&s;tempers and Fra|ctures which the late Wars had occa&s;i|oned.</P>
<P>He had married <HI>Eleanor</HI> late Wife to <HI>Lew|is</HI> the &s;eventh of <HI>France,</HI> but by rea&s;on of their nearne&s;s of Blood from him divorced; with this <HI>Lewis</HI> he had &s;ome Differences ta|ken up at la&s;t by a Peace, to render which more firm he matcht his elde&s;t Son <HI>Henry</HI> not &s;even Years old to <HI>Margaret</HI> the <HI>French</HI> Kings Daughter &s;carce three.</P>
<PB N="25" REF="20">
<P> In the &s;ixteenth Year of his Reign he Cau&s;ed this <HI>Henry</HI> his Son to be Crowned King and reign with him&s;elf in his own time, who going back with his Queen to his Father-in-Law in <HI>France,</HI> he is there evilly per&s;waded to oppo&s;e his Father, and what was wor&s;e, his two Brothers <HI>Richard</HI> and <HI>Geoffry</HI> joyn in the Confederacy; nor was the King of <HI>Scots</HI> wanting to a&s;&s;i&s;t them, whence &s;everal bloody Battels in di|vers Parts were fought between them, in which their Fathers Arms were generally ble&s;t with Succe&s;s. At la&s;t a Reconciliation is made, and the <HI>French</HI> Kings other Daugh|ter betrothed to <HI>Richard</HI> the Second Son of the King of <HI>England,</HI> but afterwards his elder Brother <HI>Henry</HI> being dead, becau&s;e that Marriage was not Solemniz'd and &s;ome fits of Jealou&s;y, as if his Father were too kind to his intended Spou&s;e, <HI>Richard</HI> falls again into di&s;content, and by the Aid of the <HI>French</HI> King took the City <HI>Mentz,</HI> forcing his Father to retreat. However, a Peace was clapt up between them &s;hortly after.</P>
<P>Be&s;ides the&s;e troubles with his Children, he had others almo&s;t as bad with <HI>Thomas Beck|et</HI> Arch-Bi&s;hop of <HI>Canterbury,</HI> who would by no means con&s;ent that Clergy-men who
<PB N="26" REF="21">were Malefactors &s;hould be tried before the &s;ecular Magi&s;trate as Lay men were; the Contention growing hot the King &s;eizes on his Temporalities, and the Bi&s;hop excom|municated the King, and fled beyond Sea, at length he was admitted to return to his Office, but &s;till per&s;i&s;ting in his In&s;olence he was &s;oon after by &s;ome Per&s;ons mur|dered at Church, who was Canoniz'd for a Saint, and the King him&s;elf vi&s;ited his Tomb, and &s;uffered Penance there with a &s;trange Humility, of which Saint &s;ome Au|thors report abundance of Miracles, but the greate&s;t I ob&s;erve is, that he was a Mi|racle of Pride.</P>
<P>This King was the fir&s;t that Conquered <HI>Ireland,</HI> and 'tis thought left in his Coffers at his Death nine hundred thou&s;and Pounds, be&s;ide Plate and Jewels.</P>
<P>In the twenty third Year of his Reign it rained Blood in the I&s;le of <HI>Wight</HI> two Hours together.</P>
<P>He had five Sons, of which three lived to be Kings, <HI>viz. John</HI> crowned, and dying without I&s;&s;ue in his Life time, <HI>Richard</HI> who &s;ucceeded him, <HI>Geofry Plantaginet</HI> who dying in his Fathers Life time left a Son named <HI>Arthur;</HI> the fourth <HI>John,</HI> who after|wards was King, and <HI>William</HI> who died
<PB N="27" REF="21">young. And of his three Daughters were Queens, <HI>Elenor</HI> married to <HI>Alphon&s;e</HI> King of <HI>Ca&s;tile,</HI> and <HI>Jane</HI> to <HI>William</HI> King of <HI>Sicily.</HI></P>
<P>He died, as 'tis &s;uppos'd, of Grief, in the Year 1189. when he had lived &s;ixty one Years, and Reigned near thirty five, being buried in <HI>France.</HI> This was that Prince that kept fair <HI>Ro&s;amond</HI> in her Bower at <HI>Wood|&s;tock,</HI> which enraging his Queen with Jealou|&s;y, &s;he &s;tirred up her Sons to Revenge her Injuries, and occa&s;ion'd mo&s;t of his Trou|bles.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="7" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD>CHAP. VII. <HI>King</HI> Richard <HI>the Fir&s;t.</HI></HEAD>
<P>THis Prince (for his valour Surnamed <HI>Coeur de Lion</HI> (or Lions-Heart) being Crowned the third of <HI>September</HI> 1189. Af|ter he had &s;ettled his Realm, and provid|ed a mighty Trea&s;ure be&s;ides what was left by his Father, re&s;olves on an Expedition to the Holy Land, according to the Super&s;ti|tion of that Age, and &s;ets forth with an Army of thirty thou&s;and Foot, and five thou&s;and Hor&s;e, having appointed to meet
<PB N="28" REF="22">the <HI>French</HI> King in <HI>Sicily.</HI> In his pa&s;&s;age being affronted by the People of <HI>Cyprus,</HI> a&s;|&s;aults them, and &s;ubdues the I&s;land, bind|ing their King in Silver Fetters, thence he proceeds to <HI>Ptolomais</HI> which was &s;oon fur|rendred, and places a Garri&s;on in the Town of <HI>Joppa,</HI> becoming very famous for his A|ctions in tho&s;e Parts. Which being envi|ed by the <HI>French</HI> King, he pretends the Air did not agree with him, and obtains King <HI>Richard's</HI> Con&s;ent to return home, &s;wearing fir&s;t, not to mole&s;t his Territories in his ab&s;ence, which Oath he not ob&s;er|ving, King <HI>Richard</HI> was forc'd to quit his Glorious De&s;ign of winning <HI>Jeru&s;alem,</HI> to defend his own Countries, but in his re|turn privately for the greater Ha&s;t through <HI>Germany,</HI> by the Indi&s;cretion of extraordi|nary Expences is di&s;covered, and upon an old Grudg taken Pri&s;oner by the Duke of <HI>Au&s;tria,</HI> where he was detained fifteen Months, till an Agreement was made for his Ran&s;ome at one hundred thou&s;and Pounds, whereof four&s;core thou&s;and was paid down, the re&s;t afterwards relea&s;ed.</P>
<P>During his ab&s;ence &s;ome di&s;orders hap|pen'd at home, and &s;ome Mi&s;chief done by the <HI>French</HI> abroad; the fir&s;t his Pre&s;ence rectifyed, to redre&s;s the other he re&s;olves
<PB N="29" REF="22">on Arms again&s;t that Kingdom, and being told as he was at Dinner, that King <HI>Phillip</HI> had be&s;ieged <HI>Vernoil,</HI> he &s;wore he would not turn his Face till he was Revenged, and for Oath &s;ake cau&s;ed the Wall before him to be beaten down, that he might pa&s;s right forward, and &s;peeds to <HI>Vernoil,</HI> but the <HI>French</HI> made as much ha&s;t to be gone, not without very great lo&s;s and more di&s;|grace.</P>
<P>In the Proce&s;s of his Warrs be&s;ieging a Ca&s;tle and unwarily approaching too near, he was wounded with a poi&s;on'd Arrow in the Arm, which enraged him &s;o that he pre&s;ently &s;torm'd the Ca&s;tle, and enquiring who it was &s;hot him, one <HI>Bertrand</HI> own'd it, &s;aying he did it in Revenge, becau&s;e King <HI>Richard</HI> with his own hands had for|merly &s;lain his Father and his Brethren; the King after &s;ome Pau&s;e gave him his Pardon and Liberty. An Art that &s;hewed (&s;aith a good Hi&s;torian) <HI>that he had been at the Holy Land, or rather was going thither.</HI> For he died of that Wound, the &s;ixth of <HI>April</HI> 1199, having Reigned nine Years and nine Months. In his Reign were found the Bones of <HI>Arthur</HI> the famous King of <HI>Britain,</HI> in the old Sepulchre at <HI>Gla&s;&s;en|bury.</HI> And al&s;o there happened an extraor|dinary
<PB N="30" REF="23">Famine, followed by &s;o great and general a Mortality that the living were &s;carce able to bury the dead.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="8" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD>CHAP. VIII. <HI>The Reign of King</HI> John.</HEAD>
<P><HI>JOhn</HI> Brother of <HI>Richard,</HI> on A&s;cen&s;ion-day 1199. took upon him the Crown; but <HI>Arthur</HI> the Son of his elder Brother <HI>Geofry Plantaginet,</HI> though ab&s;ent in the Pro|vince of <HI>Anjou,</HI> yet &s;eeming to have a fairer Title, by the Aid of the King of <HI>France</HI> gave him much Trouble, till after &s;everal Tra|ver&s;es of War he took the &s;aid Prince <HI>Ar|thur</HI> Pri&s;oner, who &s;oon after died, whe|ther drowned in the River <HI>Sein,</HI> attempt|ing to make his E&s;cape, as &s;ome relate, or made away as others &s;ugge&s;t, is uncer|tain.</P>
<P>After this, Di&s;cord ari&s;es between the King and &s;everal great Lords of the Land, on Pretence of Grievances, and to have the two famous Charters commonly called <HI>Magna Charta &amp; Charta de Fore&s;ta</HI> confirmed and ob&s;erved, about which the Feuds grew to that height, that the Barons &s;ent to <HI>Phil|lip</HI>
<PB N="31" REF="23">King of <HI>France,</HI> requiring him to &s;end over his Son <HI>Lewis</HI> to their Aid, promi&s;ing they would &s;ubmit them&s;elves to be go|verned by him as their Sovereign; hereup|on <HI>Lewis</HI> lands at <HI>Sandwich,</HI> and is receiv|ed there and at <HI>London,</HI> and Allegiance &s;worn to him by many of the Peers and Prelates. So that though there were no great Battel fought between King <HI>John</HI> and him, yet the Nation was mi&s;erably wa&s;ted by them, two Armies being a foot at once, each of them &s;eeking to prey upon the other, and both upon the Country.</P>
<P>But before things came to this Extremi|ty, a quarrel happens between the Pope, who had nominated <HI>Stephen Langton</HI> for Arch-Bi&s;hop of <HI>Canterbury,</HI> and King <HI>John</HI> who oppo&s;ed him. The Pope hereupon threatned to excommunicate the King and Interdict the Kingdom, which at la&s;t he did, and the Realm remained under that Cur&s;e above &s;ix Years, during which time there was no publick Exerci&s;e of Religion, no Church open, no Sacraments admini|&s;tred, Children went unbaptized, all that died were buried like Dogs in Ditches and Corners, but only &s;uch as had purcha&s;ed or procured Licence from the Pope.</P>
<PB N="32" REF="24">
<P> But at la&s;t finding the Pope too hard for him, and the <HI>French</HI> King ready to invade him, King <HI>John</HI> is forced to &s;ubmit, and taking off the Crown from his head laid it at the Feet of <HI>Pandulphus</HI> the <HI>Popes</HI> Legate, who took it up and kept it three or four days before he re&s;tor'd it, all which time it might be truly &s;aid the Kingdom was without a King, as one <HI>Peter</HI> an <HI>Hermit</HI> had given out, that before &s;uch a day there &s;hould be no King in <HI>England;</HI> which though in &s;ome &s;ort true during all that time, yet it being in &s;ome &s;ort not true, and the King having a Prerogative of making his own Interpretation it co&s;t both the poor <HI>Hermit</HI> and his Son their Lives for his Prophecy.</P>
<P>Some time after, the King coming to <HI>Walpool</HI> in <HI>Norfolke</HI> (during the War be|tween him and Prince <HI>Lewis</HI>) and there lo&s;ing all his Carriages, and a multitude of his men drowned in attempting to pa&s;s over, Angui&s;h of mind ca&s;t him into a Fe|ver, whereof 'tis &s;aid he died, though o|thers confidently relate, that he was poi|&s;on'd by a <HI>Monk</HI> of <HI>Swine&s;heads</HI> Abbey, who put the Poi&s;on of a Toad into a Cup of Wine, and to avoid Su&s;pition drank fir&s;t thereof him&s;elf, whereof they both imme|diately dyed the nineteenth of <HI>October</HI> 12 16,
<PB N="33" REF="24">King <HI>John</HI> being aged fifty one Years, and having Reigned &s;eventeen Years and &s;ix Months.</P>
<P>He is noted to be &s;omewhat Irreligiou&s;ly di&s;po&s;ed, for &s;oon after he had made his Peace with the <HI>Pope,</HI> his Forces receiving a great overthrow in <HI>France,</HI> he &s;aid in a Rage, that <HI>nothing had pro&s;pered with him &s;ince the time he was reconcil'd to God and the Pope.</HI> Another time at the opening a fat Buck, &s;ee &s;ayes he, <HI>how this Deer hath pro|&s;pered, and how fat he is, and yet I dare &s;wear he never heard</HI> Ma&s;s. He &s;queez'd all &s;orts of his Subjects with &s;evere Taxations, and invented &s;trange Ways to get Money. A|bout his time a Quarter of Wheat was u&s;u|ally &s;old for twelve Pence, and a Quarter of Beans or Oats for a Groat, nor is the Price of Silver le&s;s altered, for then an Ounce was valued but twenty Pence, whereas now 'tis five Shillings, which &s;eems a Riddle, for &s;eeing Scarcity makes things dear, why &s;hould not Plenty make them cheaper, it being certain we have much more Silver now than then?</P>
<P>In his dayes the Government of <HI>London</HI> by a Mayor and two Sherifs was fir&s;t grant|ed, or at lea&s;t not till then fully &s;ettled. A fi&s;t was taken in <HI>Suffolk</HI> exactly in &s;hape
<PB N="34" REF="25">of a man, and kept &s;ix months on Land with raw Fle&s;h and Fi&s;h, but then becau&s;e they could not make it &s;peak, they flung it into the Sea again. In <HI>York&s;hire</HI> there were &s;een five Moons at once, one in the Ea&s;t, ano|ther in the We&s;t, a third in the North, a fourth in the South, and a fifth in the mid&s;t of the Element; and Hail&s;tones are recorded to have fallen as big as Goo&s;e-Eggs.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="9" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD>CHAP. IX. <HI>King</HI> Henry <HI>the Third.</HI></HEAD>
<P>NOtwith&s;tanding the Promi&s;es made to the <HI>French</HI> Prince <HI>Lewis</HI> after King <HI>John</HI>'s death, his Son <HI>Henry</HI> was Crowned King, chiefly by the means of <HI>William Mar|&s;hal</HI> Earl of <HI>Pembroke</HI> who had married his Aunt, and (the young King being but nine Years old) was appointed Protector of the Realm during his Minority, who drew off divers of the Factious Lords; and hav|ing utterly defeated <HI>Lewi&s;es</HI> Forces at <HI>Lin|coln,</HI> and de&s;troyed the Supplies &s;ent him out of <HI>France</HI> in a Fight at Sea, obliged him to a Compo&s;ition, for fifteen thou&s;and Marks, renouncing not only all his Pretences
<PB N="35" REF="25">to <HI>England,</HI> but al&s;o &s;wearing to re&s;tore when he came to be King all &s;uch Provin|ces in <HI>France</HI> as belong'd to this Crown; which he not performing, King <HI>Henry</HI> af|terwards made War upon him, but with|out any notable &s;ucce&s;s, Troubles encrea&s;|ing at home, becau&s;e the King abandon'd his Engli&s;h Lords and tru&s;ted Strangers in his Councels and grand Offices: By which means he was grown into &s;uch extream Nece&s;&s;ity for Money, that he coming to take up Money at Loan of a certain <HI>Abbot,</HI> told him, <HI>It was more Alms to give Mony to him, than to a Beggar that went from door to door.</HI> And yet, the Story &s;ays, the hard hearted <HI>Abbot</HI> would not lend him a Penny.</P>
<P>He &s;everal times promi&s;ed the Ob&s;erva|tion of the two great Charters of the Peo|ples Liberties, but yet &s;till they were little regarded, one time e&s;pecially they were confirm'd in the mo&s;t &s;olemn Manner that State or Religion could devi&s;e, a terrible Cur&s;e being pronounced again&s;t all that &s;hould break them.</P>
<P>The Bi&s;hop of <HI>Bononia</HI> comes into <HI>England</HI> from the <HI>Pope,</HI> who pretending the King|dom of <HI>Sicily</HI> was at his Di&s;po&s;e, would needs be&s;tow it upon <HI>Edmond</HI> the Kings
<PB N="36" REF="26">Son, &s;ending a Ring to inve&s;t him there|with, and King <HI>Henry</HI> takes it in &s;o good Earne&s;t, that he ever after calls his Son King of <HI>Sicily,</HI> but all this was done by the <HI>Pope</HI> only to bubble away the Kings Money, hav|ing drawn him into an engagement of an hundred and 50000 Marks for this kind|ne&s;s, whereas he was &s;o far from having Conquered that Kingdom, that <HI>Manfred</HI> Son of the Emperour <HI>Frederick</HI> had wholly routed his Holine&s;s's Forces, and was re|e&s;tabli&s;hed there.</P>
<P>Contentions between the King and Ba|rons encrea&s;ing, a Parliament is held at <HI>Ox|ford,</HI> called the <HI>Mad-Parliament,</HI> becau&s;e ma|ny things were Enacted again&s;t the Kings Prerogative, which proved after to the Confu&s;ion of the Realm and Death of many Noble-men; for their Acts not being ob&s;er|ved, at la&s;t both Parties betake them to Arms, and near <HI>Lewis</HI> in <HI>Su&s;&s;ex</HI> was fought a bloody Battel, wherein the Lords prevail|ed, the King, with <HI>Richard</HI> his Brother King of the <HI>Romans</HI> and twenty five other Noble-men being taken, and of the Com|mons above twenty thou&s;and &s;lain. But Difference ari&s;ing between the two great Heads of the Barons, <HI>Leice&s;ter</HI> and <HI>Gloce&s;ter,</HI> the Latter joyns with the Prince e&s;caped out
<PB N="37" REF="26">of Pri&s;on, and killing <HI>Leice&s;ter</HI> and routing his Forces &s;et the King at Liberty.</P>
<P>Both the Kings Sons <HI>Edward and Ed|mund</HI> undertake the Holy-War, where the fir&s;t carrying his wife <HI>Eleanor</HI> Daughter of <HI>Ferdinand</HI> King of <HI>Spain</HI> along with him, he happened to be treacherou&s;ly wounded in three Places by a <HI>Saracen</HI> with a poi&s;oned knife, which by the Surgeons were judg|ed and had proved Mortal, if &s;he in Ex|ce&s;s of Love had not with her Mouth &s;uckt the Poi&s;on out of his Wounds, thereby ef|fecting a Cure, which otherwi&s;e had been Incurable.</P>
<P>During their ab&s;ence, their Father in Peace after all his Troubles dyed, on the &s;ix|teenth of <HI>November,</HI> 1272. having reign|ed fifty &s;ix Years, leaving Sons, the &s;aid <HI>Edward</HI> who &s;ucceeded him, and <HI>Edmund</HI> created Earl of <HI>Lanca&s;ter,</HI> from who&s;e Per|&s;on the great Contention between <HI>York</HI> and <HI>Lanca&s;ter</HI> took beginning; and three Daugh|ters one married to the King of <HI>Scotland,</HI> the other to the Duke of <HI>Britain,</HI> the third died young.</P>
<P>In the &s;eventeenth year of his Reign was &s;o great a Dearth, that People were con&s;train|ed to eat Hor&s;e-Fle&s;h and Barks of Trees, and in <HI>London</HI> twenty thou&s;and were &s;tarv|ed
<PB N="38" REF="27">to Death for want of Food: and in his time was &s;ent over from the <HI>French</HI> King the fir&s;t Elephant that ever was &s;een in <HI>Eng|land,</HI> likewi&s;e <HI>Anno</HI> 1264. Five hundred <HI>Jews</HI> were &s;lain in <HI>London,</HI> becau&s;e one of them would have forced a Chri&s;tian to have paid above two Pence U&s;ury for the Loan of two Shillings for one Week.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="10" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD>CHAP. X. Edward <HI>the Fir&s;t, by Rea&s;on of his Tallne&s;s called</HI> Long-&s;hank.</HEAD>
<P>THis Heroick Prince began his Reign in <HI>November</HI> 1272. But being ab&s;ent in the Holy Land came not to <HI>England</HI> till above twelve Months afterwards, and then was joyfully Crowned. His fir&s;t Attempt was to re&s;train the Exorbitance of the Cler|gy, by the Statute of Mortmain, forbidding the Encrea&s;e of their temporal Revenues <HI>&amp;c.</HI> His next Enterprize was again&s;t <HI>Leolyn</HI> Prince of <HI>Wales</HI> who rebelled again&s;t him, but was &s;oon after &s;lain, and his head Crowned with Ivy &s;et upon the Tower of <HI>London.</HI> This was the la&s;t of the <HI>Welch</HI> Princes, in who&s;e &s;tead the Country being
<PB N="39" REF="27">wholly &s;ubdued, and King <HI>Edward</HI> having a Son born in tho&s;e Territories <HI>viz.</HI> at <HI>Caer|narvan,</HI> having caus'd ('tis &s;aid) his Queen to lye in there, on Purpo&s;e that they might have a Governour that was their Country|man, created him, <HI>viz. Edward</HI> that &s;uc|ceeded him in the Crown, Prince of <HI>Wales,</HI> whence the Title to this day belongs to the elde&s;t Son of our Kings.</P>
<P>And now grievous Wars ari&s;e with the <HI>Scots,</HI> who&s;e King <HI>Alexander</HI> breaking his Neck by a Fall, and leaving no I&s;&s;ue, &s;everal Competitors, but e&s;pecially <HI>John de Baliol</HI> and <HI>Robert Bruce</HI> pretended Title to the Crown, the Deci&s;ion whereof was referred to King <HI>Edward</HI> as alledging a Right of Superiority over that Kingdom, who pla|ced the Crown on the Head of <HI>Baliol,</HI> he doing Homage for the &s;ame to him&s;elf. But afterwards confederating with <HI>France</HI> again&s;t King <HI>Edward,</HI> a mortal Di&s;&s;ention grew be|tween them; whereupon K. <HI>Edward</HI> marches towards <HI>Scotland,</HI> and wins <HI>Berwick</HI> not with|out the lo&s;s of the Lives of 20000 <HI>Scots,</HI> and takes <HI>Baliol</HI> Pri&s;oner, leaving Officers there to manage that Realm, again&s;t whom <HI>Peter Walleys</HI> makes head, till <HI>Edward</HI> in a &s;e|cond Expedition at the Battel of <HI>Fonkirk</HI> kills above forty <HI>Scots,</HI> and &s;eemed Ma&s;ter of the whole Land, the <HI>Scots</HI> &s;wearing Feal|ty
<PB N="40" REF="28">to him the third time, but to little pur|po&s;e, for then <HI>Bruce</HI> &s;ets up for King, which &s;o incen&s;ed King <HI>Edward,</HI> that he provides a mighty Army, and &s;wears his Son and Nobles that if he died in that Expedition they &s;hould not bury his Corps, but carry it with them about <HI>Scotland,</HI> till they had vanqui&s;ht the U&s;urper, and ab&s;olutely brought the Country to Subjection, but be|fore his coming the Earl of Pembroke had put to flight the new King, with great &s;laughter at St. <HI>John</HI>'s Town, and our King had little to do but to cau&s;e Executi|on to be done on great Per&s;ons taken Pri|&s;oners, no Enemy daring to appear before, except that Invincible Enemy Death, who here &s;eiz'd him with a Bloody Flux, and put an end to his Triumphs the &s;eventh of <HI>July</HI> 1307. and thirty fifth Year of his Reign, having fir&s;t (among&s;t other things) charged his Son on his Ble&s;&s;ing never to re|call his old Companion in Extravagance <HI>Peirce Gave&s;ton</HI> from Bani&s;hment, that he &s;hould carry his Bones about <HI>Scotland</HI> till he had &s;ubdued it, and &s;end his Heart to the Holy Land, with thirty two thou&s;and Pounds which he laid by for that Pur|po&s;e.</P>
<PB N="41" REF="28">
<P> In this Kings time were all <HI>Jews</HI> bani&s;ht out of <HI>England,</HI> being above fifteen thou|&s;and, who had all their Goods confi&s;cate, he likewi&s;e by Proclamation forbad the burning of Sea-coal in <HI>London</HI> and the <HI>Suburbs,</HI> for avoiding the noi&s;ome &s;moak. In his time <HI>Roger Bacon</HI> and <HI>Thomas Bungey,</HI> two learned Fryars, flouri&s;ht; who being great Mathematicians, were in that Igno|rant Age counted Conjurers, whence were rai&s;ed the Fables of a Bra&s;en Head, and walling <HI>England</HI> round with Bra&s;s <HI>&amp;c.</HI> In the &s;ixteenth Year of this King, as he and his Queen &s;ate in their Chamber in <HI>Ga&s;coin</HI> upon a Bed talking together, a thunder-Bolt came in at the Window, pa&s;t between them, and &s;hew two of their Gentlemen that &s;tood behind them.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="11" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD>CHAP. XI. <HI>King</HI> Edward <HI>the Second.</HI></HEAD>
<P>THe fir&s;t Act this Degenerous Succe&s;&s;or of a glorious Prince did, was to break his Fathers Will, by calling home his Cro|ny <HI>Gare&s;ton,</HI> on whom he be&s;towed mo&s;t of the thirty thou&s;and Pounds that was ap|pointed
<PB N="42" REF="29">for the Holy War, and &s;o little minded carrying the brave old Kings Bones about <HI>Scotland</HI> that it had been well he had &s;uffer'd them quietly to be laid to re&s;t in <HI>England,</HI> for after the Corps had been kept &s;ixteen Weeks above Ground, and <HI>Langton</HI> the Trea&s;urer and Executor of his Will was bu&s;ie in preparing for the Fune|ral, he cau&s;ed him to be clapt up in Pri&s;on, and all his Goods given to <HI>Gare&s;ton,</HI> and then very indecently, before he perform'd his Fathers Funerals, enters into a Treaty of his own Nuptials with the Daughter of <HI>France,</HI> which were honour'd with the Pre&s;ence of four Kings, <HI>viz. France, Na|varr,</HI> the <HI>Romans,</HI> and <HI>Sicily,</HI> and three Queens, <HI>viz.</HI> of <HI>France,</HI> the old Queen of <HI>England,</HI> and Queen of <HI>Navarr,</HI> and yet <HI>Gare&s;ton</HI> exceeded them all in Bravery, who wholly po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ing the Kings Affections the Lords caus'd him &s;everal times to be ba|ni&s;ht, and the King as oft call'd him Home again: In&s;omuch that the Lords at la&s;t took Arms, and &s;uprizing the &s;aid <HI>Gare&s;ton</HI> in <HI>Scarborough</HI>-Ca&s;tle, cut off his Head, who&s;e Body the King cau&s;ed to be nobly buried, and built a Mona&s;tery on Purpo&s;e to pray for his Soul. He was the Son of an ordinary <HI>French</HI> Gentleman, of an
<PB N="43" REF="29">excellent Per&s;onage, and very witty, but exceeding debaucht.</P>
<P>And now <HI>Bruce</HI> King of <HI>Scotland</HI> under|&s;tanding this King <HI>Edward</HI>'s ea&s;ie Temper, takes Heart, and not only reduced all <HI>Scot|land</HI> but entred <HI>England,</HI> burning Towns <HI>&amp;c.</HI> At la&s;t King <HI>Edward</HI> rai&s;es an Army, but like him&s;elf, fitter for a Court than a Camp; many men and great Bravery, but no Souldiers; and accordingly they &s;peed, for though his Army con&s;i&s;ted of one hun|dred thou&s;and men, thirty thou&s;and <HI>Scots</HI> routed them at the fatal Battel of <HI>Bannocks-Borough,</HI> and as Hector <HI>Boetius</HI> will have it kill'd fifty thou&s;and of them; and after|wards were Ma&s;ters of the Land as farr as <HI>York:</HI> &s;o that after &s;everal Di&s;a&s;ters the King was forced to make Truce with them for fifteen Years.</P>
<P>After this he becomes to dote on two o|ther Favourites, one <HI>Spencer</HI> and his Father, as much as ever he did on <HI>Gare&s;ton.</HI> And much more mi&s;chief came of it; for the Lords &s;triving to remove them by force, and being defeated, the Earl of <HI>Lanca&s;ter</HI> and above twenty of the greate&s;t men in the Realm are put to Death. Then the Queen affronted by the &s;aid <HI>Spencer</HI> goes over into <HI>France</HI> with a Gallant, One <HI>Mortimer,</HI> and
<PB N="44" REF="30">refu&s;ing to come back is bani&s;ht, but then like a true Woman &s;he will come back, and to their Co&s;ts; for &s;he comes with an Ar|my, frights the King from <HI>London</HI> into <HI>Wales,</HI> where he is taken with his <HI>Spencers,</HI> Father and Son, which la&s;t are hang'd drawn and quarter'd, and him&s;elf that Winter kept Pri&s;oner till Chri&s;tma&s;s, and then depo&s;ed, and made to re&s;ign his Crown, when he had Reign'd almo&s;t nine|teen Years. He lived but half a Year after his Depo&s;ing, being by Means of the Queens pe&s;tilent Councellors hurried from Place to Place, in particular carrying him to <HI>Barkley-Ca&s;tle:</HI> To the End he &s;hould not be known, they &s;haved his Head and Beard in a mo&s;t in&s;olent Manner, for taking him from his Hor&s;e, they &s;et him on a Hillock, and ta|king puddle-water out of the next Ditch went to wa&s;h him, telling him, cold Water mu&s;t &s;erve for this time, whereat the mi&s;e|rable King looking &s;ternly upon them, &s;aid he would <HI>have warm Water to wa&s;h him</HI> whether they would or no; and to make good his Word pre&s;ently &s;hed a <HI>&s;hower of Tears.</HI> In the &s;aid Ca&s;tle after &s;everal hard&s;hips he was by his inhumane Kee|pers murdered, being fir&s;t &s;tifled in his Bed, and afterwards a red hot Iron thru&s;t
<PB N="45" REF="30">thorow a Pipe up into his fundament, that it might not be di&s;covered.</P>
<P>In the eighth Year of his Reign was &s;o terrible a Famine that Dogs and Hor&s;es were eaten, and Thieves in Pri&s;on pluckt &s;uch as were new brought in to pieces, and devour'd them half alive, which occa&s;ion'd &s;uch a Pe&s;tilence that the living were &s;carce able to bury the dead. And in his time digging the Foundation of a Work about <HI>Pauls,</HI> an hundred Heads of Oxen and Kine were found, which confirm'd the Opinion, that in the old time the &s;ame had been a Temple of <HI>Jupiter</HI> or <HI>Diana,</HI> where was Sa|crifice of Bea&s;ts. And then lived Sir <HI>John Mandevile</HI> the great Traveller, a Doctor in Phy&s;ick.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="12" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD>CHAP. XII. <HI>King</HI> Edward <HI>the Third.</HI></HEAD>
<P>AFter the depo&s;ing of the Father, <HI>Ed|ward</HI> the Son is proclaimed King, the &s;eventeenth of <HI>January</HI> 1327. But being not above fifteen Years of Age, during his Mino|rity Affairs were managed by the old Queen and her Friend <HI>Mortimer,</HI> who con|clude
<PB N="46" REF="31">a di&s;honourable Peace with the <HI>Scots,</HI> and a Match between <HI>David Bruce</HI> the <HI>Scots</HI> King's Son, but &s;even Years old, and our Kings Si&s;ter, not &s;o much. But in the third Year of his Reign the Queen by the Parlia|ment is confined to a Ca&s;tle, where &s;he re|main'd thirty Years, till her Death, with whom ju&s;t ready to go to bed, was taken <HI>Mortimer</HI> by the King in Per&s;on, and &s;everal Lords, who being charged among&s;t other Crimes with being too familiar with the Queen, and betraying the Realm, was drawn to <HI>Tyburn</HI> and there hang'd up, his Body remaining an opprobrious Spectacle for all Beholders.</P>
<P>About this time a Title to the Crown and Kingdom of <HI>France</HI> fell to this King <HI>Edward.</HI> For <HI>Charles</HI> the <HI>French</HI> King dy|ing without I&s;&s;ue, it came to him as being the Son of <HI>I&s;abel</HI> Si&s;ter to the &s;aid <HI>Charles,</HI> but they alleadging the Salick Law exclu|ded all Females, and &s;uch as claim under them from the Crown, &s;et up <HI>Phillip Va|lois</HI> King, as being though more remote, yet de&s;cended of a Ma&s;culine Line, and King <HI>Edward</HI> had yet no Lei&s;ure to di&s;|pute it, being engaged in <HI>Scotland</HI> on the be|half of young <HI>Baliol,</HI> with whom he joined to recover that Kingdom from the U&s;urper
<PB N="47" REF="31"><HI>David Bruce,</HI> though his Brother in Law; and in a Battel at <HI>Hallidown-Hill</HI> &s;low thir|ty thou&s;and <HI>Scots,</HI> e&s;tabli&s;hing <HI>Baliol</HI> in the Throne upon <HI>Homage</HI> perform'd, all which time <HI>Bruce</HI> and his Wife remained in <HI>France.</HI></P>
<P>Having &s;ecured that trouble&s;ome and dangerous <HI>back Door,</HI> he takes upon him|&s;elf the Title and Arms of King of <HI>France;</HI> and having de&s;troy'd a Navy of two hun|dred Ships that lay to hinder his Pa&s;&s;age, and &s;lain therein thirty thou&s;and men, he entred <HI>France</HI> with an Army of fifty five thou&s;and, and be&s;ieged <HI>Turnay,</HI> but a Truce was concluded for the pre&s;ent. However, about two Years after, King <HI>Edward</HI> goes again over with the <HI>black Prince</HI> his Son then but fifteen Years of Age, and takes <HI>Harfleur,</HI> the City of <HI>Caen,</HI> and divers other Cities, marching through the &s;everal Pro|vinces at his Plea&s;ure, till having much weakned &amp; le&s;&s;en'd the number of his men, being then above thirty thou&s;and, the <HI>French</HI> King with an Army of above &s;ixty thou&s;and gives him Battel at <HI>Cre&s;&s;y,</HI> but is totally routed, having thirty thou&s;and men &s;lain, and King <HI>Phillip</HI> him&s;elf forc'd to fly in the Night to <HI>Bray,</HI> where the Guards asking, <HI>who goes there?</HI> He an&s;wered mourn|fully,
<PB N="48" REF="32"><HI>the Fortune of</HI> France; and be|ing known by his Voice was received into the Town with the Tears and Lamentations of his People, this memorable Victory was obtained on <HI>Bartholomew</HI> day 1346. And &s;oon after, <HI>Calice</HI> is taken.</P>
<P>In the mean time <HI>David</HI> King of <HI>Scots</HI> invaded <HI>England</HI> with an Army of &s;ixty thou&s;and, but by &s;everal Lords and the Queen in Per&s;on is routed at <HI>Nevils-Cro&s;s</HI> in the Bi&s;hoprick, fifteen thou&s;and of his men &s;lain, and he him&s;elf taken Pri&s;oner and brought to <HI>London.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Phillip</HI> the <HI>French</HI> King dying, his Son <HI>John</HI> &s;ucceeds; and <HI>Edward</HI> the black Prince then grown up, having made great Hayock in <HI>France,</HI> at la&s;t happens the famous Battel of <HI>Poyctiers,</HI> the nineteenth of <HI>September</HI> 1357. The <HI>Engli&s;h</HI> were not above ten, &s;ome &s;ay but &s;ix thou&s;and, and tho&s;e weak and weary; but the <HI>French</HI> above three|&s;core thou&s;and, &s;o that the Prince was content to have &s;urrendred what Places he had got; but nothing would &s;erve the <HI>French</HI> King, but he mu&s;t, as vanqui&s;hed, ren|der him&s;elf and his Army to his Di&s;cretion; whereupon he rather chu&s;es to fight him, which &s;he did &s;o &s;ucce&s;sfully, that he ut|terly defeated that va&s;t Army, kill'd above
<PB N="49" REF="32">two thou&s;and per&s;ons of Quality, and took King <HI>John</HI> him&s;elf and divers Lords Pri&s;o|ners, who was brought over into <HI>England,</HI> to keep company with his Friend <HI>David</HI> King of Scotland, who both with King <HI>Ed|ward</HI> and the Prince, dined altogether at the Lord Mayors; and for this Victory, a Thank&s;giving was appointed throughout all <HI>England</HI> for eight dayes together.</P>
<P>The <HI>French</HI> King was afterwards Ran|&s;omed for three Millions of Crowns of Gold, and the Black Prince goes into <HI>Spain,</HI> and with one Battel with thirty thou&s;and again&s;t an hundred thou&s;and men, puts <HI>Peter</HI> King of <HI>Ca&s;tile</HI> into po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of his Kingdom, from whence he had been lately driven by the <HI>French</HI> and <HI>Arragonians;</HI> but returning from thence dies, to the great grief of King <HI>Edward</HI> his Father, who not long after, <HI>viz.</HI> the 21 of <HI>June</HI> 1377. died him&s;elf, in the &s;ixty fourth year of his Age, and two and fiftieth of his Reign. In his time happen|ed a grievous Pe&s;tilence, which continued eight or nine years, and for &s;ome time &s;o great, that in <HI>London</HI> between <HI>January</HI> and <HI>July</HI> died 57374 per&s;ons, and in <HI>Yarmouth</HI> in one year 7052. In the eleventh year of his Reign was &s;o great a Plenty, that a Quarter of Wheat was &s;old for two &s;hillings,
<PB N="50" REF="33">a fat Ox for a Noble, a fat Sheep for &s;ix Pence, and a Pig for a Penny. He was bu|ried in <HI>We&s;tmin&s;ter</HI> Church, where the Sword he u&s;ed in Battel is yet to be &s;een, being eight pound in weight, and &s;even foot long. In his time lived Sir <HI>Jeffery Chaucer,</HI> our <HI>Engli&s;h Homer,</HI> who happily turn'd the Groves of <HI>Wood&s;tock</HI> into the Banks of <HI>Heli|con.</HI> This King left &s;everal Children, but e&s;pecially <HI>John</HI> of <HI>Gaunt,</HI> who married the &s;ole Heir of the Hou&s;e of <HI>Lanca&s;ter,</HI> who&s;e I&s;&s;ue <HI>Henry</HI> came to be King; and <HI>Edmund</HI> of <HI>Langley,</HI> afterwards created Duke of <HI>York.</HI></P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="13" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD>CHAP. XIII. King <HI>Richard</HI> the Second.</HEAD>
<P>AFter the Death of King <HI>Edward</HI> the third, <HI>Richard</HI> the Son of the Black Prince, being by his Grandfather in his Life|time declared his Heir and rightful Succe&s;|&s;or, was Crowned <HI>July</HI> 16. 1377, being but eleven years old; Authority was com|mitted to <HI>John</HI> Duke of <HI>Lanca&s;ter</HI> and <HI>Ed|mund</HI> Duke of <HI>York</HI> his Uncles, with &s;eve|ral
<PB N="51" REF="33">other Lords and Bi&s;hops to Manage the State.</P>
<P>Now the <HI>French</HI> hoping for an advan|tage by the Kings Minority, burn the Town of <HI>Rye,</HI> and land in the I&s;le of <HI>Wight,</HI> and and offer Mi&s;chief at &s;everal other places, but are every where immediately repell'd with lo&s;s; as likewi&s;e the <HI>Scots</HI> were, who came on the &s;ame Errand. In his fir&s;t Par|liament, <HI>Alice Price,</HI> the late Kings Mi|&s;tre&s;s, was bani&s;h'd, and all her Goods (which were very con&s;iderable) confi&s;cated. In the &s;ixth year of his Reign, happened &s;everal great In&s;urrections, e&s;pecially in <HI>Kent,</HI> where a Collector of Poll-money coming to the Hou&s;e of one <HI>Wat Tyler</HI> a Thatcher, and demanding a Groat for his Daughters head, her Mother alledged &s;he was not of Age to pay; the rude fellow &s;wore he would pre&s;ently &s;ee that, and thereupon forcibly turn'd up her Coats; whereat the Mother making an out-cry, her husband, at work hard by, comes running, and with his Lathing-&s;taff beat out the Col|lectors brains; and pre&s;ently gathers a Rab|ble, and ripps up the ground of their mi&s;|government, and by degrees encrea&s;ed, and appeared at <HI>Black-heath</HI> near an hundred thou&s;and &s;trong; whence they march'd to
<PB N="52" REF="34"><HI>London,</HI> cut off the heads of the Arch-bi&s;hop of <HI>Canterbury</HI> Lord <HI>Chancellor,</HI> and Sir <HI>Ro|bert Hales</HI> Lord Trea&s;urer, burn'd the Law|yers Books and Writings in the Temple, and other mi&s;chiefs. At la&s;t <HI>William Wal|worth,</HI> Mayor of <HI>London,</HI> coming to <HI>Wat Ty|ler</HI> at the head of his Rabble in <HI>Smithfield,</HI> kill'd him with his Dagger, and immedi|ately the King comes riding up, crying out to the Commons, he would be their Cap|tain, and &s;ee all their Grievances redre&s;s'd, which, together with a power of armed men coming upon them, made them forthwith fling down their Weapons and beg for par|don, granted to all except <HI>Jack Straw,</HI> and &s;ome other Ring-leaders, who were execu|ted. For this Gallant Exploit <HI>Walworth</HI> was Knighted, and the Dagger added to the City Arms. The De&s;ign of the&s;e Rebels, as <HI>Straw</HI> declared at his death, was, to &s;eize the King, de&s;troy all the Nobles, Law|yers and Clergy, except begging Fryars, whom they would keep to admini&s;ter the Sacraments: to burn the City, take away the Cu&s;tom of Bondmen, devi&s;e new Laws, and &s;et up a King in each County <HI>&amp;c.</HI></P>
<P><HI>John</HI> of <HI>Gaunt</HI> Duke of <HI>Lanca&s;ter,</HI> in the right of his Wife <HI>Con&s;tance</HI> Daughter of the King of <HI>Ca&s;tile,</HI> pretends to the Crown of <HI>Spain,</HI> and goes thither with an <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 word">
<PB N="53" REF="34">where, after &s;everal Adventures a Peace is concluded, on agreement that <HI>Henry</HI> the King of <HI>Spains</HI> elde&s;t Son &s;hould marry <HI>Ka|tharine</HI> the Dukes Daughter, and the Duke receive ten thou&s;and Marks a year.</P>
<P>Differences ari&s;e between King <HI>Richard</HI> and his Parliament, he demanding Money, and they wary in Granting any, complain|ing of Favourites, and ill Mini&s;ters about him; in&s;omuch that thirteen Lords were cho&s;en by the Parliament to have the over|&s;ight of Affairs under the King, but this the King &s;oon after revokes; whereupon the Lords take Arms, and after &s;ome Treaties, come to <HI>London</HI> with an Army of forty thou|&s;and men, and bani&s;h &s;everal Great men from the Court.</P>
<P>After this a Parliament began (cal|led the Parliament that wrought won|ders,) the fir&s;t day whereof all the Judges (but one) as they &s;at in their places, were Arre&s;ted; and &s;ent to the Tower, and Sir <HI>Robert Tre&s;ilian</HI> Lord Chief Ju&s;tice, not then appearing, was &s;oon after found in an Apo|thecaries &s;hop, and hanged at <HI>Tyburn.</HI></P>
<P>About his fifteenth year, on occa&s;ion of a Riot and &s;ome undutiful carriage, the Li|berties of the City of <HI>London</HI> were &s;eized, and they at la&s;t forc'd to pay ten thou&s;and
<PB N="54" REF="35">pounds to have them re&s;tored. In his twen|tieth year, the King goes over into <HI>France,</HI> and had an Interview with the <HI>French</HI> King, with extraordinary Magnificence, where a Peace was concluded, and King <HI>Richard</HI> married the Lady <HI>I&s;abel</HI> (not above eight years of Age) Daughter of the <HI>French</HI> King. 'Tis &s;aid this Journey co&s;t him thir|ty thou&s;and Marks.</P>
<P><HI>Henry</HI> of <HI>Bullingbrook,</HI> Son of <HI>John</HI> Duke of <HI>Lanca&s;ter,</HI> and now Duke of <HI>Hereford,</HI> being bani&s;h'd, has tidings brought him in|to <HI>France,</HI> that his Father was dead, and that the King had &s;eiz'd on all his Lands; Whereupon, aiming at the Crown, and be|ing invited by a Faction, he comes back in|to <HI>England,</HI> pretending only to take po&s;&s;e&s;|&s;ion of his Dukedom of <HI>Lanca&s;ter</HI> and In|heritances de&s;cended to him from his Fa|ther, which drew in many to a&s;&s;i&s;t him. King <HI>Richard</HI> was at that time ab&s;ent in <HI>Ireland,</HI> who at length coming over too late, was taken at <HI>Flint</HI>-Ca&s;tle, and finding the Faction re&s;olved to depo&s;e him, did on the twenty ninth of <HI>September</HI> 1399. make a &s;eeming voluntary Re&s;ignation of his Crown, de&s;iring that his Cozen German the Duke of <HI>Lanca&s;ter</HI> might &s;ucceed. After which, he was conveyed to <HI>Leeds</HI>-Ca&s;tle in
<PB N="55" REF="35"><HI>Kent,</HI> and thence to <HI>Pomfret,</HI> where he is &s;aid to have been murder'd by one Sir <HI>Piers</HI> of <HI>Exton,</HI> having Reigned twenty two years and three months.</P>
<P>In his time <HI>John Wickliff</HI> oppo&s;ed Tran|&s;ub&s;tantiation, and other Errors of the Church of <HI>Rome.</HI> In his fourteenth year, on <HI>Chri&s;tmas</HI> day, a Dolphin was taken at <HI>London</HI> Bridge. In the la&s;t year of his Reign all the Bay-trees in <HI>England</HI> withered, and afterwards grew Green again; and a River near <HI>Bedford</HI> &s;uddenly cea&s;ed its Cour&s;e, &s;o as the Channel remained dry for three miles &s;pace; which was adjudged to &s;ignifie the Revolt of his Subjects. In the beginning of his Reign, <HI>viz.</HI> about the year 1380. Guns were invented by a <HI>German</HI> Monk, who beating Brim&s;tone in a Mortar, co|ver'd with a Stone, a Spark happening to fall therein, blew up the &s;tone; Where|upon taking the hint from that ob&s;ervation, mixing the Ingredients, and putting them into a Pipe of Iron, he at la&s;t fini&s;ht the deadly Engine.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="14" TYPE="chapter">
<PB N="56" REF="36">
<HEAD>CHAP. XIIII. Henry <HI>the Fourth.</HI></HEAD>
<P>AFter the Re&s;ignation of King <HI>Richard, Henry</HI> of <HI>Lanca&s;ter</HI> a&s;&s;umes the Crown, as de&s;cended in a right Line from <HI>Henry</HI> the third his great Grandfather, yet, but from a &s;econd Son of that <HI>Henry,</HI> whereas there was living <HI>Roger</HI> Earl of <HI>March</HI> Son and Heir of <HI>Philippa,</HI> elde&s;t Daughter and Heir to <HI>Lionel</HI> Duke of <HI>Clarence</HI> one of the Sons of King <HI>Edward</HI> the third, which <HI>Ro|ger</HI> in a Parliament of the fourth Year of King <HI>Richard</HI> the &s;econd had been declared and proclaimed Heir Apparent to the Crown, but at pre&s;ent mu&s;t &s;ubmit, though his Fa|mily afterwards obtained the Royal Digni|ty in <HI>Edward</HI> the fourth. And here began the Feuds betwixt the Hou&s;e of <HI>Lanca&s;ter</HI> or <HI>red Ro&s;e,</HI> whereof this King was the fir&s;t, and the Hou&s;e of <HI>Clarence</HI> afterwards called the Hou&s;e of <HI>York</HI> or <HI>white Ro&s;e,</HI> (for by tho&s;e Badges they were di&s;tingui&s;hed) which cau&s;ed mighty Slaughters and Trou|bles in the Land, not quite appea&s;ed for near four&s;core Years, <HI>viz.</HI> till they both became united by <HI>Henry</HI> the &s;eventh, true
<PB N="57" REF="36">Heir of the <HI>Lanca&s;trians,</HI> marrying <HI>Elizabeth</HI> elde&s;t Daughter of <HI>Edward</HI> the fourth true. Heir of the Hou&s;e of <HI>York.</HI></P>
<P>In the &s;econd Year of this King <HI>Henry</HI>'s Reign one <HI>Owen Glendour</HI> a <HI>Welch</HI> Gentle|man, but educated in one of the Inns of Court at <HI>London,</HI> rai&s;ed a Rebellion in <HI>Wales,</HI> and did much &s;poil, taking Pri&s;o|ner the Lord <HI>Edmund Mortimer</HI> who re&s;i&s;t|ed them. And &s;ome time after, the <HI>Pier|cies,</HI> Earls of <HI>Northumberland</HI> and <HI>Worce&s;ter,</HI> for relea&s;ing the &s;aid <HI>Mortimer</HI> their Kin&s;|man, enter into a Confederacy with the &s;aid <HI>Owen Glendour,</HI> (who was induced thereunto by a fooli&s;h Prophecy) to divide the Realm between them <HI>&amp;c.</HI> But King <HI>Henry</HI> fell upon them near <HI>Shrew&s;bury,</HI> and kill'd &s;ix thou&s;and of them, whereof 'tis &s;aid thirty &s;ix the King &s;lew with his own hands, after which, <HI>Glendour</HI> fled into the Mountains, and being abandon'd of all, was fami&s;hed in the Woods; a ju&s;t End for &s;uch as upon the conceit of ridiculous pretended Prophecies, will venture into Rebellion. <HI>Anno</HI> 1404. The <HI>French</HI> made &s;everal attempts upon the I&s;le of <HI>Wight,</HI> and other parts South and We&s;t, but were con|tinually beaten off with Lo&s;s. About this time was a Parliament a&s;&s;embled at <HI>Coven|try,</HI>
<PB N="58" REF="37">call'd <HI>Parliamentum Indoctum,</HI> or the Lay-mens Parliament, becau&s;e the Sheriffs were commanded not to return any Law|yers for either Knights or Burge&s;&s;es.</P>
<P>The Kings Son, Prince <HI>Henry</HI> being natu|rally valiant, and not yet full &s;ea&s;on'd, but drawn away with the wildne&s;s of Youth and ill Company, committed &s;everal Ex|travagances; and in particular, one of his Companions being arraigned for Felony, he would by force have taken him away from the Kings Bench Bar, but being with|&s;tood by the Lord Chief Ju&s;tice, he &s;tepped to him, and &s;truck him over the face; whereat the Judge nothing daunted, ro&s;e up, and told him, that he did not this af|front to him, but to the King his Father, in who&s;e place he &s;ate; and therefore to make him know his fault, he commands him forthwith to be committed; The Prince, upon recollection, being &s;mitten with his Grave and Maje&s;tick words, obey'd the Judges Sentence, and &s;uffered him&s;elf to be led to Pri&s;on; which being pre&s;ently told the King, he wonderfully re|joyced thereat, as well that he had a Judge of that Courage, as a Son of &s;uch Submi&s;&s;ion.</P>
<P>King <HI>Henry,</HI> having freed him&s;elf from all his Troubles, makes great preparation for a
<PB N="59" REF="37">Voyage to the Holy Land, though he were told by a South-&s;ayer that he &s;hould dye in <HI>Jeru&s;alem,</HI> which proved nearer home than he imagined; for being at Prayers at St. <HI>Edwards</HI> Shrine, he was &s;uddenly taken with an Apoplexy, and being carried into the Abbot of <HI>We&s;tmin&s;ter's</HI> hou&s;e, when he recovered his Sen&s;es, finding him&s;elf in a &s;trange place, he ask'd how they call'd it? and being told, in the Abbots hou&s;e, in a Chamber call'd <HI>Jeru&s;alem;</HI> Well then, &s;ays he, <HI>Lord have mercy on me,</HI> This is the <HI>Jeru|&s;alem</HI> where I was told I &s;hould dye: which happen'd accordingly, <HI>March</HI> the twentieth 1413. when he had reigned thirteen years and an half. He was buried at <HI>Canterbury.</HI></P>
<P>In the third year of his Reign, in <HI>March,</HI> appeared a Blazing Star, fir&s;t betwixt the Ea&s;t and North, and then ca&s;ting fiery beams towards the North. The &s;ame year, at <HI>Danbury</HI> in <HI>E&s;&s;ex,</HI> the Devil in the &s;hape of a Gray Friar came into the Church, and put the People into great affrightment, the rather, for that at the &s;ame time there was a mo&s;t violent tempe&s;t of Whirlwind and Thunder, that carried away the Steeple, and broke down half the Chancel, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> In the fourth year of this King died the famous <HI>William Wickham,</HI> who from a poor, and
<PB N="60" REF="38">but &s;mall Scholar, came to be Bi&s;hop of <HI>Win|che&s;ter,</HI> Lord Keeper, and abundance of other Preferments. He built New Colledge in <HI>Oxford,</HI> and the Colledge at <HI>Winche&s;ter,</HI> di&s;|charged all the Pri&s;oners throughout his Di|oce&s;e, that lay in Execution for debt under twenty pound; amended all the High ways from <HI>Winche&s;ter</HI> to <HI>London,</HI> on each &s;ide of the River, and divers other Noble Acts of Charity. The &s;ame year died <HI>Chaucer,</HI> and and five years after <HI>John Gower</HI> (who lies buried in St. <HI>Mary Overies Southwark</HI>) the two Fathers of <HI>Engli&s;h</HI> Poetry.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="15" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD>CHAP. XV. <HI>King</HI> Henry <HI>the Fifth.</HI></HEAD>
<P><HI>HEnry</HI> the fifth of that name, Son of <HI>Hen|ry</HI> the fourth, was Crowned on the ninth of <HI>April</HI> 1412. and with his Condi|tion, his Nature &s;eem'd wholly chang'd. Scarce &s;hall we read of a more extravagant Prince, no where of a more brave, regular, and noble King; which he pre&s;ently te&s;ti|fied
<PB N="61" REF="38">by &s;ending for all his old wilde Compa|nions, and giving them &s;uch competent Gifts as might maintain them in an hone&s;t and temperate cour&s;e of Life; but withal &s;trictly charged, that none of them &s;hould come within twenty miles of the Court, till they had given &s;ufficient proof of the amend|ment of their Manners.</P>
<P>He finding him&s;elf firmly &s;ettled on his Throne, began to revive the Title of his An|ce&s;tors to the Crown of <HI>France,</HI> which he &s;olemnly demanded by his Amba&s;&s;adours, but was &s;cornfully an&s;wer'd; and 'tis &s;aid, the Dauphin (who in the <HI>French</HI> Kings &s;ickne&s;s managed the State) &s;ent him a Tun of Tennis-balls, in deri&s;ion of his Youth, as fitter to play with them than to manage Arms; which &s;o incen&s;ed King <HI>Henry,</HI> that he vow'd it &s;hould not be long e're he would to&s;s &s;uch Iron Balls among&s;t them, that the be&s;t Arms in <HI>France</HI> &s;hould not be able to hold a Racket to return them. Accordingly he cro&s;&s;ed the Sea with an Army, and landed in <HI>Normandy,</HI> where he took the &s;trong Town of <HI>Harflew,</HI> and marching through <HI>Picardy,</HI> not having a|bove &s;even thou&s;and men, was encountred by the <HI>French,</HI> being near three&s;core thou|&s;and,
<PB N="62" REF="39">at a place call'd <HI>Agincourt;</HI> where, con&s;idering the number of his Enemies, and to avoid the fury of their Cavalry, he char|ged every Archer to take a &s;harp &s;take &s;tud|ded with Iron, about &s;ix foot long, and pitch them a&s;lope before them, removeable by Pioneers, as there &s;hould be occa&s;ion; which being provided, and publick Prayers humbly made, he expected the Enemy, who about nine of clock in the morning with much pride and &s;corn attacqu'd him, but their hor&s;es being gall'd on the &s;aid &s;takes, were put into confu&s;ion, and thereby di&s;|order'd the re&s;t of their Army behind them, &s;o that the Victory fell (with little lo&s;s) to the <HI>Engli&s;h,</HI> of whom were only &s;lain the Duke of <HI>York,</HI> who had the leading of the Van, and the Duke of <HI>Suffolk,</HI> of per&s;ons of Note, and not above twenty &s;ix com|mon People, as mo&s;t Writers te&s;tifie; which may be counted (as Sir <HI>R. Baker</HI> ob&s;erves) rather a Miracle than a Victory: for of the <HI>French</HI> there were &s;lain above ten thou&s;and. This Battel was fought the 25th of <HI>October,</HI> 1416. King <HI>Henry</HI> cau&s;ing his whole Army in Array as they were to give God thanks, by &s;inging that P&s;alm of <HI>David, When I&s;|rael went forth of Egypt,</HI> &amp;c. Proclamation being made that every one at the Words
<PB N="63" REF="39"><HI>Not unto us, O Lord, but to thy Name give the glory,</HI> &s;hould kneel down, and the Hor&s;e|men bow their Bodies, &amp;c. And at his re|turn to <HI>London,</HI> &s;hortly after, where he was Magnificently received, gave &s;trict order that no Ballad or Song &s;hould be made or &s;ung, more than of Thank&s;giving to God for his Succe&s;s, but without words of either di&s;|gracing the <HI>French</HI> or extolling the <HI>Eng|li&s;h.</HI></P>
<P>At this time the Emperour <HI>Sigi&s;mund</HI> came over to give King <HI>Henry</HI> a Vi&s;it, who was nobly treated at Wind&s;or, and admit|ted to the order of the Garter. The <HI>French</HI> attempting to retake <HI>Harflew,</HI> and having blockt up the Mouth of the River <HI>Syne,</HI> with a great Navy, the Duke of <HI>Bedford</HI> went again&s;t them with a powerful Fleet, and de&s;troyed in all five hundred Ships, and relieved the Town.</P>
<P>On the twenty third of <HI>July,</HI> in the third Year of his Reign, King <HI>Henry</HI> went over again into <HI>France</HI> from <HI>Port&s;mouth,</HI> with an Army of 25528 fighting men, and a thou&s;and Pioners, and took the Cit|ties of <HI>Caen,</HI> and <HI>Roan,</HI> and indeed went on victoriou&s;ly at his Plea&s;ure, till at la&s;t the <HI>French</HI> King &s;ued for Peace, which up|on an Interview was concluded. King
<PB N="64" REF="40"><HI>Henry</HI> marrying the Lady <HI>Katharine,</HI> the <HI>French</HI> King's Daughter, and being ap|pointed Regent of <HI>France</HI> for the pre&s;ent, and Heir apparent to that Crown, which was confirmed by the three E&s;tates of <HI>France</HI> in mo&s;t Authentick manner. The Lords &s;piritual and temporal &s;wearing to be obedient in all things to King <HI>Henry</HI> as Re|gent, and after the Death of <HI>Charles</HI> &s;hould become his true Liege men and Subjects. After he and his new Queen had for &s;ome time been honourably treated at <HI>Paris,</HI> they came over, and &s;he was Crowned at <HI>We&s;t|min&s;ter,</HI> at which the King of <HI>Scots</HI> was pre&s;ent.</P>
<P>Upon St. <HI>Nicholas</HI> day 1422. the Queen was delivered of a Son at <HI>Wind&s;or</HI> (that af|terwards &s;ucceeded to the Crown) of whom 'tis &s;aid, his Father, in a prophe|tick Rapture, thus expre&s;t him&s;elf, <HI>Good Lord! I Henry of</HI> Monmouth <HI>&s;hall &s;mall time Reign and much get, and Henry of</HI> Wind&s;or <HI>&s;hall long time Reign and lo&s;e all, but Gods Will be done.</HI> Which proved true, for the Dauphin, who had never con&s;ented to the Peace with King <HI>Henry,</HI> be&s;ieging a Town called <HI>Co&s;ney,</HI> King <HI>Henry</HI> went over to relieve it, but falling &s;ick, &s;ome &s;ay of a Fever, others a Pleuri&s;y, and &s;ome think
<PB N="65" REF="40">poi&s;on'd, he died at <HI>Bois de Vincennes;</HI> whence his Body was conveyed in State to <HI>Paris,</HI> thence to <HI>We&s;tmin&s;ter,</HI> and there In|terred, dying in the prime of his Age not above five or &s;ix and thirty, after he had Reigned nine Years and five Months, lea|ving his Brother, the Duke of <HI>Bedford,</HI> Regent of <HI>France,</HI> and his Brother the Duke of <HI>Gloce&s;ter</HI> (commonly called the good Duke) Protector of <HI>England,</HI> and of his Sons Per&s;ons, exhorting them to Unity between them&s;elves, to be Loyal to their young King, a&s;&s;i&s;tant to his dear Queen, pre&s;erve what he had got, and never make Peace with the Dauphin untill he &s;hould ab&s;olutely &s;ubmit.</P>
<P>His Queen <HI>Katharine</HI> afterwards married <HI>Owen Teudor</HI> an E&s;quire of <HI>Wales</HI> of a mo&s;t lovely Per&s;onage, by whom &s;he had <HI>Edmund</HI> afterward Earl of <HI>Richmond,</HI> who marrying the &s;ole Heir of <HI>John Beaufort</HI> Earl of <HI>Sommer&s;et,</HI> was by her Father, unto King <HI>Henry</HI> the &s;eventh the only Heir of the hou&s;e of <HI>Lanca&s;ter.</HI></P>
<P>In this King's Reign Sir <HI>John Old-Ca|&s;tle</HI> Lord <HI>Cobbam,</HI> favouring the Doctrine of <HI>Wicklife,</HI> was much troubled, and at la&s;t hang'd in a Chain by the middle in St. <HI>Giles</HI>'s Fields, and &s;o con&s;umed by Fire,
<PB N="66" REF="41">Gallowes and all; &s;aid to be for rai&s;ing Sedition, though he were al&s;o convicted of Here&s;ie, and thence 'tis like had a &s;hare in both Puni&s;hments.</P>
<P>The Arch-Bi&s;hop of <HI>Canterbury</HI> in a Sy|nod at <HI>Roche&s;ter</HI> made a Decree, that the Holy Scriptures ought not to be tran&s;lated into the <HI>Engli&s;h</HI> Tongue, but 'tis recorded, that &s;hortly after, his own Tongue &s;well'd &s;o big towards the Root, that he could neither &s;peak nor &s;wallow, but in Horrour lay langui&s;hing till with Famine he dyed. In the fourth Year of this King's Reign was began the Council of Con&s;tance, where 'twas decreed that <HI>England</HI> &s;hould have the Title of the <HI>Engli&s;h</HI> Nation, and one of the five principal Nations of Chri&s;tendome in Rank before <HI>Spain.</HI> At the &s;ame time <HI>John Hu&s;s</HI> and <HI>Jerom</HI> of <HI>Prague</HI> were both burn'd there, notwith&s;tanding the Emperour's Let|ters of Safe-conduct, and three Popes &s;et up all at once, were all three put down, and a new legitimate Pope cho&s;en, which had not been in the &s;pace of twenty nine Years before, &s;o great is the Unity and fair the Succe&s;&s;ion which the <HI>Romani&s;ts</HI> boa&s;t of.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="16" TYPE="chapter">
<PB N="67" REF="41">
<HEAD>CHAP. XVI. <HI>King</HI> Henry <HI>the Sixth.</HI></HEAD>
<P><HI>HEnry</HI> the only Child of <HI>Henry</HI> the fifth, being &s;carce nine months old &s;ucceed|ed his Father, who&s;e Infancy being a&s;&s;i&s;ted with good Protectors, his Affairs &s;ucceeded ed well, but afterwards began continually to decline, till at la&s;t he lo&s;t not only mo&s;t of his Father's Conque&s;ts abroad, but even his Crown at home.</P>
<P>His Regent in <HI>France</HI> was the Duke of <HI>Bedford,</HI> a&s;&s;i&s;ted by the two Terrors of the <HI>French, Thomas Montaeute</HI> Earl of <HI>Salisbury,</HI> and <HI>John</HI> Lord Talbot, who cau&s;ed their young King to be proclaimed in <HI>Paris,</HI> and overthrew the Dauphin (who upon his Fa|thers Death had likewi&s;e cau&s;ed him&s;elf to be proclaimed King of <HI>France</HI>) in &s;everal Battels.</P>
<P>In the Year 1431. King <HI>Henry</HI> not yet above nine Years old, being &s;ent for over by the Duke of <HI>Bedford,</HI> was with great Solemnity Crowned King of <HI>France</HI> in <HI>Pa|ris,</HI> and received the Oaths of Homage and Fealty of all the <HI>French</HI> Nobility that were pre&s;ent and of all the Inhabitants of <HI>Paris,</HI>
<PB N="68" REF="42">and places adjacent. A little before this, a woman called commonly <HI>La Pucelle de Dieu, the Maid of God,</HI> pretended to be &s;ent by Heaven to help the <HI>French,</HI> and expell the <HI>Engli&s;h,</HI> and marching along with the Ar|mies, by her Coun&s;el and Encouragement did the <HI>Engli&s;h</HI> much mi&s;chief, till at la&s;t &s;he was taken by them, and being Judicial|ly condemned for a Sorcere&s;s, was publick|ly burnt at <HI>Roan.</HI></P>
<P>But on the fourteenth of <HI>September</HI> 1435, the wi&s;e and valiant Duke of <HI>Bedford</HI> died at <HI>Paris,</HI> with whom we may &s;ay in a man|ner expired the good Fortune of the <HI>Engli&s;h</HI> in <HI>France.</HI> He was buried in a &s;tately Mo|nument at <HI>Roan,</HI> which &s;ome would after|wards have had demoli&s;ht, as di&s;honourable to the <HI>French</HI> Nation; but King <HI>Lewis</HI> an|&s;wered, <HI>"God forbid I &s;hould give way to &s;o di&s;honourable an Act, as to di&s;quiet his dead Bones who living would have di&s;quieted us all: it &s;avours of ba&s;ene&s;s to in&s;ult upon a dead Lion.</HI></P>
<P>Soon after this, <HI>Paris</HI> after having been &s;eventeen Years in Po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of the <HI>Engli&s;h,</HI> revolts, and expells them, who&s;e Example was followed by abundance of other Pla|ces.</P>
<PB N="69" REF="42">
<P> 1441. One <HI>Margery Jordan</HI> called the Witch of <HI>Eye</HI> in <HI>Suffolk,</HI> was burnt in <HI>Smithfield;</HI> for endeavouring to de&s;troy the King by Sorcery, making his Picture in Wax, which as it con&s;umed &s;o &s;hould his Body wa&s;t away.</P>
<P>Then King <HI>Henry</HI> contrary to the advi&s;e of many of his Lords, marries the Lady <HI>Margaret,</HI> Neece to the <HI>French</HI> Queen, and Daughter to the Duke of <HI>Anjou;</HI> who &s;ty|led him&s;elf King of <HI>Sicily</HI> and <HI>Naples,</HI> but had only the Title, which Marriage cau&s;es many &s;ad Inconveniences. For &s;he and the Marque&s;s of <HI>Suffolk</HI> (who made that Match) manage all things at their Plea&s;ure, and procure the Kings Uncle the good Duke of <HI>Gloce&s;ter,</HI> to be privately condemned for imaginary Crimes, and &s;ome &s;ay murder|ed, being found dead in his Bed; which indi&s;creet Act open'd a way to the Duke of <HI>York</HI> to pretend to the Crown, which he could not do during his Life, being de|&s;cended but from <HI>Edmund of Langly</HI> the fifth Son of <HI>Edward</HI> the third, whereas this Duke <HI>Humphery</HI> was de&s;cended from <HI>John a Gaunt</HI> the fourth Son; among&s;t other good Qualities, 'tis &s;aid he was well learn|ed in A&s;trology, whereof he wrote a &s;peci|al Treati&s;e intituled, <HI>Tabula Directionum.</HI></P>
<PB N="70" REF="43">
<P> <HI>Anno</HI> 1450, the Duke of <HI>York</HI> begins &s;e|cretly to cau&s;e di&s;turbances. One <HI>Jack Cade,</HI> otherwi&s;e called <HI>Mortimer,</HI> and pre|tended to be his Cou&s;in, &s;tyling him&s;elf Captain <HI>Mend-all,</HI> to redre&s;s Grievances, rai&s;ed great Multitudes in <HI>Kent,</HI> with whom he marched into <HI>London,</HI> and pa&s;&s;ing <HI>London-Stone,</HI> &s;truck his Sword therein, &s;aying, <HI>Now is</HI> Mortimer <HI>Lord of this City;</HI> but taking too much liberty at la&s;t of plundering, after &s;ome dayes mi&s;rule, he was driven out, his Company di&s;per&s;ed, and him&s;elf taken in a Garden in <HI>Su&s;&s;ex,</HI> though not yielding till he was &s;lain; who&s;e Body being &s;ent to <HI>London,</HI> his Head was &s;et on the Bridge, and his Quarters at four &s;everal Towns in <HI>Kent.</HI></P>
<P>In 1455, the Duke of <HI>York,</HI> in hatred to the Duke of <HI>Somer&s;et,</HI> joyns with <HI>Richard</HI> Earl of <HI>Salisbury,</HI> and his brave Son the Earl of <HI>Warwick</HI> and others, who levy an Army, and fight the King at St. <HI>Albans,</HI> where <HI>Somer&s;et</HI> is &s;lain, and with him five thou&s;and men; the King him&s;elf hurt in the Neck with an Arrow, flies to a poor thatcht hou&s;e, where the Victorious Lords come to him on their knees, de&s;iring pardon for what was pa&s;t, &s;ince now the Common Enemy was &s;lain; To which the good
<PB N="71" REF="43">King, being affrighted, an&s;wered, <HI>Let there be no more killing then, and I will do what you will have me.</HI> Whereupon a Parliament is called, and the Duke of <HI>York</HI> made Protector of the Kings Per&s;on, and the Realm; but the Queen &s;oon cau&s;ed this Agreement to be countermanded, and after &s;ome time <HI>Sa|lisbury</HI> is kill'd; the Duke of <HI>York</HI> retreats to <HI>Ireland,</HI> and <HI>Warwick</HI> to <HI>Calice,</HI> of which he was Captain, and are all in Parliament attainted of Trea&s;on, and their Lands and Goods &s;eized; But <HI>Warwick</HI> lands in <HI>Kent,</HI> gets the love of <HI>London,</HI> fights and routs the Kings Army near <HI>Northampton,</HI> and took his Maje&s;ty Pri&s;oner; but the Queen and Prince fled into the North.</P>
<P>And now in a Parliament 'tis agreed that <HI>Henry</HI> &s;hould be King for his Life, but <HI>Richard</HI> declared Heir apparent &s;hould &s;uc|ceed. And if any of <HI>Henry</HI>'s Friends &s;hould attempt the di&s;annulling this Act, then the Duke &s;hould have pre&s;ent po&s;&s;e&s;&s;i|on of the Crown; But the Queen procures an Army in the North, whom the Duke of <HI>York</HI> meets at <HI>Wakefield,</HI> and there is &s;lain with three thou&s;and of his men; Then his Son <HI>Edward</HI> is left to fini&s;h the difficult work which he had cut out; fir&s;t, he van|qui&s;hes part of the Kings Forces in the We&s;t,
<PB N="72" REF="44">then marches, (carrying King <HI>Henry</HI> with them) to fight the Queens Army at St. <HI>Al|bans;</HI> but there they are wor&s;ted, and the King relea&s;ed by his Queen; but her Army being di&s;orderly, <HI>London</HI> would not receive them, &s;o that they were forced to retire. In the mean time the new Duke of <HI>York</HI> &s;trengthens him&s;elf, and coming to <HI>London</HI> on the fourth of <HI>March</HI> 1460, is with great &s;olemnity made King. And here all Wri|ters agree to end the Reign of this King, though he lived twelve years after, and once more had the Sovereign Power, but it did not continue. He had now ruled thirty eight years, left one Son, who was after killed by Crook-back'd <HI>Richard,</HI> and &s;o likewi&s;e was the Father him&s;elf, as we &s;hall &s;hortly acquaint you. In the thirty &s;ixth year of his Reign it rained blood in <HI>Bedford|&s;hire.</HI> About this time the <HI>Turk</HI> took <HI>Con|&s;tantinople</HI> from the <HI>Chri&s;tians,</HI> which has ever &s;ince been the chief Seat of his Empire. And the Art of Printing found out at <HI>Mo|gunce</HI> in <HI>Germany,</HI> was practi&s;ed in <HI>We&s;t|min&s;ter</HI>-Abbey by <HI>William Caxton</HI> of <HI>Lon|don,</HI> Mercer; <HI>Anno</HI> 1471.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="17" TYPE="chapter">
<PB N="73" REF="44">
<HEAD>CHAP. XVII. <HI>King</HI> Edward <HI>the Fourth.</HI></HEAD>
<P>DUke <HI>Edward</HI> being acknowledg'd King, was not at lei&s;ure to attend the Ce|remony of Coronation, but mu&s;t once more fight for a Crown before he wears it. For King <HI>Henry</HI> had got together an Army in the North of three&s;core thou&s;and, again&s;t whom King <HI>Edward</HI> marcht, having not forty thou&s;and, and therefore being inferi|or in number, ordered no Quarter to be given; which occa&s;ion'd a mighty &s;laughter, there being &s;lain that day &s;ix and thirty thou&s;and &s;eaven hundred three&s;core and &s;ixteen Per&s;ons, whereby King <HI>Henry</HI>'s Ar|my being totally routed, he with his Queen and Prince fled to the King of <HI>Scots</HI> for Aid, and &s;oon after the Queen went on the &s;ame Errand into <HI>France;</HI> in the mean time <HI>Edward</HI> is triumphantly Crown|ed the twenty eighth of <HI>June</HI> 1461.</P>
<P>Some time after King <HI>Henry</HI> (on what occa&s;ion is not known, unle&s;s led by the Ill hand of De&s;tiny) venturing in di&s;gui&s;e in|to <HI>England,</HI> is taken in <HI>Lincoln-&s;hire,</HI> and brought Pri&s;oner to the Tower of <HI>London;</HI>
<PB N="74" REF="45">but is once more to be made the &s;port of treacherous Fortune. For King <HI>Edward</HI> &s;ending his great Champion the Earl of <HI>Warwick</HI> into <HI>France</HI> to treat about a Mar|riage for him with the Lady <HI>Bona</HI> Si&s;ter to that Queen, who having proceeded far therein, the King in the mean time falls in Love with and marries the Lady <HI>Elizabeth Gray,</HI> Widdow of Sir <HI>John Gray</HI> of <HI>Groby.</HI> This odd Action &s;o far di&s;obliged the Earl of <HI>Warwick</HI> at his return, finding his Em|ba&s;&s;y fru&s;trated, the Lady <HI>Bona</HI> deluded, the <HI>French</HI> King deluded, and him&s;elf made the In&s;trument of all this; that he re&s;olves to &s;et up King <HI>Henry</HI> once again, whom he had before pull'd down; to which Purpo&s;e he confederates with the Duke of <HI>Clarence,</HI> King <HI>Edward</HI>'s Brother, but at that time affronted; the&s;e rai&s;e Forces, and &s;urprize King <HI>Edward</HI> in his Bed, near <HI>Berwick;</HI> but he &s;oon makes &s;hift to e&s;cape from them, and forces <HI>Warwick</HI> to fly the Land, but, being invited by the People, returns, and gathers &s;o great a Strength, that King <HI>Edward,</HI> unable to re&s;i&s;t it, is him&s;elf for|ced to fly beyond Sea to the Duke of <HI>Bur|goine.</HI></P>
<P>Now the victorious Earl of <HI>Warwick</HI> re|lea&s;es King <HI>Henry</HI> from his Impri&s;onment
<PB N="75" REF="45">in the Tower, where he had lain almo&s;t nine Years; and <HI>Edward</HI> is every where proclaim'd a Traitor, yet by and by a&s;&s;i&s;ted by the Duke of <HI>Burgoine,</HI> lands in <HI>York&s;hire,</HI> declaring on Oath, that he came only to recover his own Inheritance; whereby the People thought he meant only his Duke|dome, and therefore would not oppo&s;e him, whereas the &s;equel &s;hew'd he intend|ed the Crown. For the Duke of Clarence being reconciled to him, he marches for <HI>London (Warwick</HI> at <HI>Coventry</HI> being unable to fight him.) Here King <HI>Henry,</HI> who &s;eem'd rather wholly pa&s;&s;ive than active in all the&s;e turmoils, is delivered into his hands; and the Earl of <HI>Warwick</HI> coming to <HI>Barnet</HI> is engaged by King <HI>Edward,</HI> and kill'd, but not without ten thou&s;and Lives to accompany him. All this time Queen <HI>Margaret</HI> was detained by tempe&s;ts in <HI>France,</HI> but when 'twas too late, landed at <HI>Wey|mouth,</HI> but is defeated in <HI>Gloce&s;ter&s;hire,</HI> and taken, with her Son, who being bold in his An&s;wers to King <HI>Edward</HI> was kill'd by crookback'd <HI>Richard,</HI> the King's Brother. Queen <HI>Margaret</HI> was afterwards ran&s;om'd by her Father for great Sums of Money, and the pious but unfortunate King <HI>Henry,</HI> &s;oon after this Overthrow of his Friends,
<PB N="76" REF="46">&s;truck to the Heart with a Dagger by the &s;aid Crookback'd Duke of <HI>Gloce|&s;ter.</HI></P>
<P>King <HI>Edward</HI> being thus at Peace at home <HI>Anno</HI> 1474, goes over with an Ar|my into <HI>France,</HI> demanding that Crown; but the Duke of <HI>Burgoine</HI> failing in his Pro|mi&s;es, a Peace was concluded, on Condi|tion that the <HI>French</HI> King &s;hould pay fifty thou&s;and Crowns a Year during the Life of King <HI>Edward;</HI> who on the nineteenth of <HI>April</HI> 1483, preparing for a &s;econd War with <HI>France</HI> for Non-payment of that Tri|bute, dyed at <HI>We&s;tmin&s;ter,</HI> leaving two Sons under age and &s;everal Daughters. He was one of the Goodlie&s;t Per&s;onages in the World, exceeding tall and maje&s;tical, ne|ver any man that married purely for Love, did &s;o little love marriage &s;ays Sir <HI>Richard Baker; for he took as much Plea&s;ure in other mens Wives as his own; being wont to &s;ay, that he had three Concubines that in their &s;e|veral Properties were excellent, one the merry|e&s;t, another the &s;ubtile&s;t, and the third the Holi|e&s;t Harlot in his Realm, as one whom no man could lightly get out of the Church to any place unle&s;s it were to his Bed.</HI> The merrie&s;t here intended was <HI>Jane Shore,</HI> a Cittizen's Wife, who afterwards died mi&s;erably.</P>
<PB N="77" REF="46">
<P> This King Reigned twenty two Years and one Moneth, in which time though there were wonderful Slaughters by Wars, yet two Pe&s;tilences happen'd that &s;wept away more than the Sword.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="18" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD>CHAP. XVIII. <HI>King</HI> Edward <HI>the Fifth.</HI></HEAD>
<P>THis Prince was eleven Years old at his Fathers Death, but was never Crown|ed; for being left to the Care of his Uncle the Crookback'd Duke of <HI>Gloce&s;ter,</HI> and coming up towards <HI>London</HI> from <HI>Ludlow,</HI> where he then re&s;ided, the crafty Duke fir&s;t made u&s;e of means to have the Guard at|tending his Nephew to be di&s;mi&s;t, and then &s;eizes on the Earl <HI>Rivers,</HI> his Uncle by the Mothers &s;ide, and other Kindred, whom &s;oon after he beheaded.</P>
<P>Having thus got the &s;ole Cu&s;tody of the King, the Queen-Mother fearing the wor&s;t, takes Sanctuary with her young Son the Duke of <HI>York,</HI> and Daughters; but to get him from her, he pretends it nece&s;&s;ary he &s;hould accompany the King to make him merry, and after much re&s;i&s;tance prevails
<PB N="78" REF="47">with the Queen to deliver him; where|upon they are both lodged in the Tower, and &s;oon after by &s;ome vile In&s;trument al|leadged Ba&s;tardy again&s;t the Princes, and by the Duke of <HI>Buckingham</HI> the &s;aid Duke of <HI>Gloce&s;ter</HI> is propo&s;ed at <HI>Guild-Hall</HI> as rightful Heir to the Crown, which he is &s;olemnly intreated to accept, and after &s;ome hypocritical refu&s;als, does take upon him, on the eighteenth of <HI>June</HI> 1483. two months and a few days after the Death of King <HI>Edward</HI> the fourth; the right Heir being kept with his Brother as Pri&s;oners in the Tower, where &s;hortly after they were cruelly murdered by one <HI>Miles Forre&s;t,</HI> and <HI>James Dighton,</HI> Hor&s;e-keeper to Sir <HI>James Tyrrel.</HI> who &s;tifled them with their Bed|ding, nor was it known where they were burled, though 'tis thought part of their Bones were not long &s;ince found in a Wall in the Tower. This Sir <HI>James Tyrrel</HI> was afterwards beheaded for Trea&s;on, <HI>Forre&s;t</HI> routed away peicemeal at St. <HI>Martins le Grand,</HI> and <HI>Dighton</HI> dete&s;ted of all men dy|ed mi&s;erably at <HI>Calice.</HI></P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="19" TYPE="chapter">
<PB N="79" REF="47">
<HEAD>CHAP. XIX. <HI>King</HI> Richard <HI>the Third.</HI></HEAD>
<P>THis cruel man having thus u&s;urp'd the Crown, never enjoy'd it with any quiet of mind, but &s;eem'd alwayes haunted with the Furies of Hell, and to bring him to de&s;truction, &s;ome mi&s;under&s;tanding &s;oon happens between him and his old friend the Duke of <HI>Buckingham,</HI> who being retired to his Ca&s;tle of <HI>Brecknock,</HI> where, at that time, the Bi&s;hop of <HI>Ely</HI> (a di&s;creet State&s;|man) was Pri&s;oner, they laid a plot to put down King <HI>Richard,</HI> and bring in the Earl of <HI>Richmond,</HI> who was fled for &s;afety to the Earl of <HI>Britain.</HI> This Earl, only Heir of <HI>Lanca&s;ter,</HI> they de&s;ign to marry to the Lady <HI>Elizabeth</HI> elde&s;t Daughter of King <HI>Edward</HI> the Fourth, and &s;o <HI>&V;nite</HI> the two Hou&s;es of <HI>Lanca&s;ter</HI> and <HI>York:</HI> But this contrivance was not carried &s;o privately, but King <HI>Richard</HI> had an inkling of it, and the Duke of <HI>Buck|ingham,</HI> betrayed by one of his Servants, is beheaded; However, the De&s;ign &s;till goes on. To fru&s;trate which, King <HI>Richard,</HI> that &s;crupled nothing that might &s;erve or &s;ecure his Ambition, u&s;es means to marry the &s;aid
<PB N="80" REF="48">Lady <HI>Elizabeth,</HI> and (&s;trange to &s;ay) the Queen Dowager, her mother, is prevailed with to give her con&s;ent. Nay more, to &s;mooth the way, King <HI>Richard's</HI> pre&s;ent Wife is &s;uddenly &s;ent out of the World, and now he re&s;olves by a Rape on the young Lady, if fair means cannot effect it, to bring her to his Bed. But whil&s;t the&s;e things are hatching, the Earl ha&s;tened by this news, arrived at <HI>Milford Haven,</HI> with not above 2000 men, but &s;oon encrea&s;ed by the coming in of the Country. To meet them King <HI>Richard,</HI> with what Forces he could, marches forwards, and at <HI>Bo&s;worth</HI> in <HI>Leice&s;ter&s;hire,</HI> on the twenty &s;econd of <HI>Au|gu&s;t,</HI> 1485. the Armies Engaged, where King <HI>Richard</HI> de&s;perately fighting was &s;lain, his Body &s;tript &s;tark naked, thrown upon an Hor&s;e behind a Pur&s;ivant all be&s;prinkled with Dirt and Mire, was brought to <HI>Leice|&s;ter,</HI> and there buried, and his Crown found among&s;t the &s;poil of the Field, &s;et upon the Earls head, who &s;ucceeded, as by right of Inheritance was his due.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="20" TYPE="chapter">
<PB N="81" REF="48">
<HEAD>CHAP. XX. <HI>King</HI> Henry <HI>the Seventh.</HI></HEAD>
<P>THe fir&s;t con&s;iderable Act done by this King, was (according to his promi&s;e) to marry the Lady <HI>Elizabeth,</HI> thereby &s;trengthening his Title to the Crown. Soon after happened the Sweating-&s;ickne&s;s, whereby many thou&s;ands &s;uddenly peri&s;h|ed; the only Remedy was, a&s;&s;oon as a man was taken to lie down for the &s;pace of twenty four hours, not provoking Sweat, but letting the Di&s;ea&s;e have its cour&s;e, eat|ing or drinking not at all, or very mode|rately.</P>
<P>One <HI>Simmond</HI> a Prie&s;t having a Scholar call'd <HI>Lambert Symnel,</HI> of a pregnant Wit and comely Per&s;onage, he gives him out to be <HI>Edward</HI> Earl of <HI>Warwick,</HI> Son of the Duke of <HI>Clarence,</HI> Brother to King <HI>Edward</HI> the fourth, lately e&s;caped out of Pri&s;on; whereas, in truth, the &s;aid Earl was kept clo&s;e in the Tower, getting with this Up|&s;tart into <HI>Ireland,</HI> he is there &s;aluted King, a&s;&s;i&s;ted by the Dutche&s;s of <HI>Burgoigne,</HI> who being of the Hou&s;e of <HI>York,</HI> bore a grudge to King <HI>Henry,</HI> as being of the Hou&s;e of <HI>Lanca&s;ter,</HI> and countenanced by the Earl of
<PB N="82" REF="49"><HI>Lincoln,</HI> who brought him over into <HI>Eng|land,</HI> but near <HI>Newark</HI> upon <HI>Trent</HI> were routed, the Earl kill'd, and <HI>Symnel</HI> taken, who was preferred, in&s;tead of a Crown, to be a Turn-&s;pit in the Kings Kitchin.</P>
<P>Yet the Dutche&s;s of <HI>Burgundy</HI> not di&s;|couraged, &s;ets up another counterfeit, one <HI>Perkin Warbeck,</HI> whom &s;he breeds well, and in&s;tructs to take upon him the name of <HI>Ri|chard,</HI> the younger Son of <HI>Edward</HI> the Fourth, whom they pretended to have been &s;pared in compa&s;&s;ion to his youth, when his Brother was murdered. This Cheat not only deceived the <HI>Iri&s;h,</HI> but the <HI>French</HI> King believ'd it, or at lea&s;t, &s;eem'd to do &s;o; as likewi&s;e the King of <HI>Scots,</HI> who in his quarrel entred <HI>England</HI> with a pui&s;&s;ant Ar|my, but was repul&s;ed; and upon making a Peace with King <HI>Henry,</HI> con&s;ents to bani&s;h <HI>Perkin,</HI> who afterwards making a di&s;tur|bance in <HI>Cornwal,</HI> is taken, and put in the Tower; whence making an e&s;cape, being retaken, he was hang'd at <HI>Tyburn,</HI> there con|fe&s;&s;ing his true Name and Parentage.</P>
<P>In the 17 year of his Reign, his Son Prince <HI>Arthur</HI> married the Lady <HI>Katharine</HI> of <HI>Spain,</HI> he being of the age of fifteen, and &s;he of eighteen years: At night they were put to bed, and lay together as man and
<PB N="83" REF="49">wife all night; when morning appeared, the Prince (as his &s;ervants reported) cal|led for drink, which before he had not u&s;ed to do; and being ask'd the cau&s;e, he an|&s;wer'd merrily, <HI>I have been too night in the mid&s;t of</HI> Spain, <HI>which is a hot Country, and that makes me &s;o dry.</HI> But five months after he dyed, and Prince <HI>Henry</HI> (afterwards <HI>Henry</HI> the Eighth) his Brother, by virtue of a Di&s;pen&s;ation, married his Widow, as not having been carnally known by his Brother, though married to him. The La|dy <HI>Margaret,</HI> the Kings elde&s;t Daughter, married the King of <HI>Scotland,</HI> in who&s;e Royal Po&s;terity both Kingdoms at la&s;t came to be united in the Per&s;on of King <HI>James.</HI></P>
<P>King <HI>Henry</HI> towards the end of his Reign, grew intent upon getting of Wealth; for which purpo&s;e, two fit In&s;truments, both Barons of the Exchequer, offered them&s;elves; <HI>Dudley,</HI> of a good Family, and <HI>Emp&s;on,</HI> the Son of a Sieve-maker, who turning Ju&s;tice into Rapine and Extortion, by unu&s;ual &s;ummary proceedings, did much hara&s;s the People; for which, in the fir&s;t year of King <HI>Henry</HI> the Eighth, they were both behead|ed, and &s;even of their inferiour Agents, cal|led Promoters, &s;et on the Pillory in <HI>Corn|hill,</HI>
<PB N="84" REF="50">with Papers on their heads, and then forc'd to ride through the City with their Faces to the Hor&s;e-tail, with the &s;hame whereof, in &s;even dayes after, they all died in <HI>Newgate.</HI></P>
<P>King <HI>Henry,</HI> in the twenty &s;econd year of his Reign, began to grow &s;ickly, and afterwards died of a Pti&s;ick at <HI>Richmond, April</HI> 22. 1508. and was magnificently bu|ried at <HI>We&s;tmin&s;ter,</HI> when he had reigned twenty three years and eight months, and lived fifty two years.</P>
<P>This King, in his eighteenth year, erect|ed that &s;umptuous Building, call'd by the name of his Chapel to this day at <HI>We&s;t|min&s;ter:</HI> and 'tis reported, had in his Coffers at <HI>Richmond,</HI> under his own Key and keeping, eighteen hundred thou&s;and pounds.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="21" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD>CHAP. XXI. <HI>King</HI> Henry <HI>the Eighth</HI></HEAD>
<P>SUcceeded his Father, and was with much joy and &s;olemnity Crowned. In the third Year of his Reign a War was conclu|ded in Parliament with <HI>France,</HI> for with|holding
<PB N="85" REF="50">our King's Inheritance, and the King of <HI>Spain</HI> promi&s;es Aid, but fails there|in; &s;o that little was done in the fir&s;t Ex|pedition. But afterwards the King going in Per&s;on, be&s;ieges the City of <HI>Terwin,</HI> where the Emperour <HI>Maximilian</HI> fought under his Banner, and received Wages, a hundred Crowns a day, an honour never done to any <HI>Engli&s;h</HI> King before. To re|lieve the Town with Victuals, came eight thou&s;and brave <HI>French</HI> Hor&s;e, but were beat off by the <HI>Engli&s;h,</HI> and glad to fly &s;o fa&s;t, that it was call'd <HI>the Battel of Spurs,</HI> as making more u&s;e of them in running away, than of their weapons in fighting: &s;o that King <HI>Henry took</HI> the Place, and al&s;o the Ci|ty of <HI>Tourney.</HI> In the mean time the <HI>Scots</HI> invade <HI>England</HI> with an hundred thou&s;and men, but by the Earl of <HI>Surrey</HI> at <HI>Flodden</HI> field are routed, and their King valiantly fighting, &s;lain with above ten thou&s;and of his People.</P>
<P>In <HI>May</HI> 1514. the <HI>Pope</HI> being offended with the <HI>French</HI> King, transferred by Au|thority of the Lateran Council the Title of <HI>mo&s;t Chri&s;tian</HI> from him to King <HI>Henry,</HI> which with great &s;olemnity was publi&s;hed at St. <HI>Pauls,</HI> but continued not long in u&s;e.</P>
<PB N="86" REF="51">
<P>1515, A Peace is concluded with <HI>France,</HI> the Lady <HI>Mary</HI> King <HI>Henry</HI>'s Si&s;ter being married to the <HI>French</HI> King, who eighty two days after, dyes; whereupon the Lady is &s;ent for back, and married to the Duke of <HI>Suffolk.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Thomas</HI> Wool&s;ey, the Son of a Butcher of <HI>Ip&s;wich,</HI> having by Learning and Diligence got to be King <HI>Henry</HI> the &s;eventh's Chaplain, grew the grand Favourite of <HI>Henry</HI> the Eighth, being made Arch-Bi&s;hop of <HI>York,</HI> Chancellor of <HI>England</HI> by the King, and Cardinal by the <HI>Pope;</HI> who to honour his Brother Cardinal <HI>Campejus,</HI> coming hither from the <HI>Pope,</HI> &s;ent &s;tore of red Cloth over to <HI>Callice,</HI> to make his Retinue fine, and re|ceived him on <HI>Black-heath,</HI> in a Tent of Cloth of Gold; eight Mules he had laden with Nece&s;&s;aries, but <HI>Wool&s;ey</HI> not thinking them enough, &s;ent him twelve more; but &s;ee the &s;hame of Pride! in <HI>Cheap&s;ide</HI> they overthrew their Coffers, who&s;e Lids flying open, in&s;tead of rich Trea&s;ures di&s;covered nothing but old ragged Cloths, broken Meat, marrow Bones, and Cru&s;ts of Bread, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> to the great Laughter of the People. This was that <HI>Wool&s;ey</HI> who&s;e Pride u&s;ed to write <HI>I and my King,</HI> and falling into di&s;|favour had all his va&s;t E&s;tate &s;eized, and
<PB N="87" REF="51">was arre&s;ted for Trea&s;on, and thereupon died for Grief; or, as &s;ome will &s;uppo&s;e, poi|&s;oned him&s;elf.</P>
<P><HI>Anno</HI> 1522. King <HI>Henry</HI> for writing again&s;t <HI>Luther,</HI> by a Bull from <HI>Pope Adrian</HI> the &s;ixth, had the Title of Defender of the Faith given him; the &s;ame Year a quarrel happens with <HI>France,</HI> but no extraordinary matters done.</P>
<P><HI>Anno</HI> 1528. Upon an overture of a Match between King <HI>Henry</HI>'s Daughter, the Lady <HI>Mary,</HI> and the Duke of <HI>Orleance,</HI> &s;e|cond Son to the <HI>French</HI> King, a que&s;tion was &s;tarted, whether the King's Marriage to the Lady <HI>Katharine,</HI> her mother, having been his Brother's Wife, were lawful or not? upon this (though &s;ome alleadg other Rea&s;ons) the King begins to declare his &s;cruple, after twenty Years living together, the Opinions of the Univer&s;ities abroad are de&s;ired, the King appoints Commi&s;&s;ioners and the <HI>Pope</HI> &s;ends a Legate to hear the Cau&s;e, from whom the Queen mode&s;tly ap|peals to the <HI>Pope;</HI> At who&s;e delays the K. be|ing offended, and at <HI>Wool&s;ey,</HI> as &s;ome occa|&s;ion thereof, fir&s;t &s;trips him of his Dignities, who thereupon dyes as you have heard, then ca&s;ts off the <HI>Popes</HI> Juri&s;diction, pa&s;&s;es an Act that none &s;hould appeal to the See of
<PB N="88" REF="52"><HI>Rome,</HI> and takes upon him&s;elf the Title of <HI>Supream Head of the Church.</HI> Then in a Parliament his Marriage is di&s;&s;olved, and decreed that &s;he &s;hould no longer be called Queen, but Prince&s;s Dowager, after which time the King never &s;aw her more, though &s;he lived four Years.</P>
<P>Soon after the King married <HI>Anne Bul|len,</HI> and by her had <HI>Elizabeth,</HI> afterwards Queen, born <HI>Septemb.</HI> 7. 1534. between three and four a clock i'th' afternoon; but after &s;he had been his Wife three years and three months, &s;he was on a &s;udden &s;eized with her Brother the Lord <HI>Rochford,</HI> and four of the Privy Chamber, were all behead|ed: who on her Tryal, being charged with pretence of Adultery and Ince&s;t, &s;he made &s;uch di&s;creet mode&s;t An&s;wers, as &s;eemed to clear all &s;he was charged with, and &s;o did all the re&s;t when they came to dye. How|ever &s;he was condemned, and took her Death mo&s;t patiently, de&s;iring to be Com|mended to the King, and that they would tell him, His Maje&s;ty had been con&s;tant in his cour&s;e of Advancing her, having from a private Gentlewoman made her a Marchio|ne&s;s, and from that a Queen; and now having left no higher degree of Worldly Honour, he would make her a Martyr. For
<PB N="89" REF="52">indeed &s;he was a very pious, vertuous Lady, and a Favourer of the Reformed Religion, which, together with the Kings affection to <HI>Jane Seymour,</HI> whom he married the very next day, were thought to be the only occa|&s;ions of her misfortune. For though the King had ca&s;t off the Popes Authority, yet he retained his Doctrine; &s;o that great numbers on each &s;ide were put to death, Papi&s;ts (as witty Sir <HI>Thomas More</HI> and o|thers) for denying the Kings Supremacy, and Prote&s;tants for denying the real Pre|&s;ence, or holding that the Sacrament ought to be in both kinds, that Prie&s;ts might mar|ry, that Monks Vows need not be kept, that private Ma&s;&s;es were not u&s;eful, or Au|ricular Confe&s;&s;ion nece&s;&s;ary; which points were called the &s;ix Articles. By Queen <HI>Jane</HI> the King had Prince <HI>Edward,</HI> but &s;he died in Child-bed of him. The Lord <HI>Crom|well</HI> being grown a great Favourite, pro|motes the Reformation in &s;ome things, and all the Religious hou&s;es as they call'd them, that is, Abbeys, Fryeries and Nunneries, tho&s;e Hives of Drones, were di&s;&s;olved, whereby the King got va&s;t E&s;tates, yet in &s;hort time was never the Richer; though the Revenues of tho&s;e Hou&s;es then &s;eized amounted in the whole to 183707 <HI>l.</HI> 13. <HI>s. per Annum.</HI></P>
<PB N="90" REF="53">
<P> Having continued a Widdow two Years, the King married <HI>Ann</HI> the Daughter of the Duke of <HI>Cleve,</HI> a Prote&s;tant Prince; but (as 'tis &s;aid) not liking her Per&s;on, and con|&s;equently di&s;plea&s;ed with <HI>Cromwel</HI> that made the Match, was divorced from her, and cau&s;ed him to be apprehended, and at|tainted by Parliament; and without ever being call'd to an&s;wer (by a Law he him|&s;elf had cau&s;ed to be made) he was behead|ed, but for what is &s;carce known, only, the Record in general mentions, Here&s;y and Trea&s;on. He was a Smith's Son at <HI>Putney,</HI> and rai&s;ed by <HI>Wool&s;ey.</HI></P>
<P>About two Months after <HI>Ann</HI> of <HI>Cleves</HI> Divorce, the Lady <HI>Katharine Howard</HI> was openly &s;hewed as Queen, and about a Year after was beheaded for &s;candalous living with one <HI>Deerham,</HI> whom &s;he had formerly been contracted to, and with one <HI>Thomas Culpeper</HI> of the privy Chamber, who 'tis &s;aid both confe&s;t their Indictments, the lat|ter being beheaded and the other hang|ed.</P>
<P>In his Thirty fourth Year he had Warrs with <HI>Scotland,</HI> where the Earl of <HI>Hart|ford</HI> took <HI>Leith,</HI> and did other con&s;iderable Services.</P>
<PB N="91" REF="53">
<P> Next year, the King took for his &s;ixth Wife, <HI>Katharine Parr</HI> the Widdow of the Lord <HI>Latimer,</HI> how &s;he would have &s;ped had he lived long, is not known; for, being a Prote&s;tant, &s;he was accu&s;ed of having Heretical Books, and a Warrant granted once for her Commitment; but pacifying the King with mode&s;t Excu&s;es, &s;he for the pre|&s;ent e&s;caped, he dying &s;hortly after, and then &s;he was married to <HI>Thomas Seymour</HI> Lord Admiral.</P>
<P><HI>Anno</HI> 1545, the Earl of <HI>Lenox</HI> coming in|to <HI>England,</HI> the King received him kindly, and gave him in marriage the Lady <HI>Marga|ret</HI> his, Si&s;ters Daughter, by whom he had <HI>Henry,</HI> Father to King <HI>James.</HI> The &s;ame year King <HI>Henry</HI> in Per&s;on went into <HI>France,</HI> and took <HI>Bulloigne,</HI> and &s;everal other exploits were done by his Forces, but by the media|tion of the Emperour a Peace is Conclu|ded.</P>
<P>And now King <HI>Henry,</HI> grown extream fat, fell into a langui&s;hing Fever, and ha|ving by Will appointed his Succe&s;&s;or and Council, died on the twenty eighth of <HI>Ja|nuary</HI> 1547. in the fifty &s;ixth Year of his Age, and thirty eighth of his Reign; leav|ing I&s;&s;ue by Queen <HI>Jane,</HI> Prince <HI>Edward;</HI> by his fir&s;t Wife <HI>Katharine</HI> of <HI>Spain,</HI> the
<PB N="92" REF="54">Lady <HI>Mary,</HI> and by <HI>Ann</HI> of <HI>Bullen</HI> the La|dy <HI>Elizabeth,</HI> who all &s;ucce&s;&s;ively came to the Crown.</P>
<P>In the fifteenth Year of his Reign divers things were newly brought into <HI>England,</HI> whereof was made this Rhyme.</P>
<Q><L>Turkeys, Carps, Hopps, Piccarel and Beer,</L>
<L>Came fir&s;t into <HI>England</HI> all in one Year.</L></Q>
<P>In his thirty &s;eaventh Year one <HI>William Foxley,</HI> a Potmaker for the Mint in the Tower, fell a&s;leep, and could not with pinching or burning be awaked for full fourteen days, and then was in all re&s;pects as if he had &s;lept but one Night, and lived fourty Years after. Nor could the Cau&s;e be found out, though he were examined &s;trictly by the Kings Phy&s;icians, and the King him&s;elf. Now flouri&s;hed the Learn|ed men beyond Sea, as <HI>Vives, Era&s;mus, Cornelius Agrippa,</HI> &amp;c. and in <HI>England, John Collet</HI> Dean of <HI>Pauls,</HI> who founded that School, <HI>William Lilly</HI> fir&s;t School-ma&s;ter there; whence our Grammar takes its name, though &s;uppo&s;ed to be compo&s;ed by <HI>Era&s;|mus</HI> and many others.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="22" TYPE="chapter">
<PB N="93" REF="54">
<HEAD>CHAP. XXII. <HI>King</HI> Edward <HI>the Sixth.</HI></HEAD>
<P>This Prince at nine Years old came to the Crown, the Earl of <HI>Hartford</HI> his Uncle being cho&s;en Protector of the King and Kingdom during his Minority; his fir&s;t Exploit is to invade <HI>Scotland,</HI> who refu&s;ed to make good the Marriage between their young Queen and King <HI>Edward.</HI> This forces the <HI>Scots</HI> to carry the Fire-Cro&s;s throughout the Land, which was two Fire|brands &s;et in fa&s;hion of a Cro&s;s upon the point of a Spear, making Proclamation, that all between &s;ixteen and &s;ixty years of age &s;hould forthwith take Arms, and bring Victuals with them, on pain of death. By this means having rais'd a great Army, he Engag'd the <HI>Engli&s;h</HI> at <HI>Mu&s;&s;elborough-field,</HI> but ten or twelve thou&s;and of them being &s;lain, and the re&s;t routed, the Earl <HI>Huntley</HI> taken Pri&s;oner, being ask'd how he was now inclined to the Marriage, very hand|&s;omly repartee'd, <HI>He lik'd the Marriage well enough, but did not &s;o well like that kind of wooing:</HI> And indeed all would not do, for the young Queen was privately convey'd
<PB N="94" REF="55">into <HI>France,</HI> and being but &s;ix years old, married to the Dauphin.</P>
<P>The two Popi&s;h Bi&s;hops, <HI>Bonner</HI> and <HI>Gar|diner,</HI> are &s;ent to the Tower, Images pull'd down, the u&s;e of Beads, Ma&s;s, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> re&s;train|ed; which occa&s;ion many &s;tirrs and In&s;urre|ctions, e&s;pecially in the We&s;t, but &s;oon ap|pea&s;ed, and many puni&s;hed, by Sir <HI>William King&s;ton,</HI> the Provo&s;t-Mar&s;hal, who coming in &s;hew as a Gue&s;t to the Mayor of <HI>Bodwin</HI> in <HI>Cornwal,</HI> de&s;ired him to erect a pair of Gallows for an Execution that was to be done there after dinner, which he cau&s;es to be done. Having dined with the Mayor at his hou&s;e, they walk to &s;ee the Gallows, and the Mar&s;hal askt him, if he thought them &s;trong enough? who an&s;wer'd, Doubt|le&s;s they are. Then get you up &s;peedily, &s;ays the other; for you have been a bu&s;ie Rebel, and &s;o forthwith hang'd him up. Near the &s;ame place, a Miller that had been concerned in the Tumults, fearing the Mar|&s;hal, goes from home, bidding a man he had to &s;ay he was the Miller, if any body ask'd for him; which the fellow ignorantly does to the &s;aid Mar&s;hal, that came pre&s;ent|ly after his Ma&s;ter was gone, but hearing order given for his hanging up on the next Tree, cryed out, he was not the Miller, but
<PB N="95" REF="55">the Millers man; Nay, &s;ays the Mar&s;hal, I'le take you at your fir&s;t word, <HI>If you are the Miller, you de&s;erve it, or if you are his man you can never do him better &s;ervice;</HI> and &s;o tru&s;s'd him up.</P>
<P>A fatal quarrel ari&s;es between the Lord Protector and his Brother the Lord Admi|ral, occa&s;ion'd by their Wives, the latter ha|ving married the Queen Dowager, the o|ther's Wife being a haughty woman, would not give her precedency, becau&s;e her hus|band was the elder Brother, and in higher Place. On this feud, &s;he per&s;wades the Pro|tector that the Admiral &s;ought his Life, who thereupon was beheaded; and then the Pro|tector, being left without &s;upport, was &s;oon &s;upplanted by his Enemies, and charged with Trea&s;on, but on his &s;ubmi&s;&s;ion relea&s;|ed; yet not long afterwards, being call'd to a &s;econd account, when he had nobly acquitted him&s;elf of all Trea&s;on objected, he was found guilty of Felony on a Statute of his own procurement; That if any &s;hould attempt to kill a Privy Coun&s;ellor, though the Fact were never committed, it &s;hould be Felony; for which he was be|headed on <HI>Tower-Hill.</HI></P>
<P>On the &s;ixth of <HI>July</HI> 1553. died King <HI>Edward</HI> at <HI>Greenwich,</HI> in the &s;eventh year of
<PB N="96" REF="56">his Reign, and &s;ixteenth of his Age. He was a mo&s;t vertuous, hopeful Prince, of great Learning, for his time, and &s;trict De|votion. Some &s;ay that he died of a Pleu|ri&s;ie, though &s;ome conceit he was poy&s;on|ed with a No&s;egay, it being generally mur|mured, after the two Uncles were taken out of the way, the Nephew would not long remain. Before he died, the Duke of <HI>Northumberland</HI> repre&s;enting the ob&s;tinacy of his Si&s;ter <HI>Mary</HI> in Popery, and how fit it was Religion &s;hould be pre&s;erved in pu|rity, which could not be, unle&s;s &s;he were put by the Crown, nor that hand&s;omly ef|fected, unle&s;s the other Si&s;ter were put by al&s;o; on &s;uch rea&s;ons (nothing being &s;o apt to take with the King as provi&s;ion for Religion) he was per&s;waded by his Will (excluding both his Si&s;ters) to appoint for his Succe&s;&s;or the Lady <HI>Jane Gray,</HI> Daughter of <HI>Mary</HI> King <HI>Henry</HI> the Eighths younger Si&s;ter, which &s;he had by the Duke of <HI>Suf|folk,</HI> after the death of the <HI>French</HI> King, to whom &s;he was fir&s;t married; which Lady <HI>Jane,</HI> you mu&s;t note, was lately married to the Lord <HI>Guilford,</HI> one of this Duke of <HI>Northumberlands</HI> Sons.</P>
<P>This King <HI>Edward</HI> gave <HI>Chri&s;ts</HI> Ho&s;pital for poor Children; for Lame and Di&s;ea&s;ed,
<PB N="97" REF="56">St. <HI>Thomas's</HI> Ho&s;pital in <HI>Southwark,</HI> and St. <HI>Bartholomews</HI> by <HI>Smithfield,</HI> and for riotous idle Per&s;ons, his Palace of <HI>Bridewell,</HI> there to be kept at work by Correction. And in the fourth year of his Reign, Sir <HI>Andrew Jud,</HI> Mayor of <HI>London,</HI> founded a notable Free-School at <HI>Tunbridge</HI> in <HI>Kent,</HI> giving &s;ixty pound <HI>per Annum</HI> Land to the <HI>Skinners</HI> Company, to pay twenty pound to the Ma&s;ter, and eight pound to the U&s;her there, and the re&s;t to other Charitable u&s;es.</P>
<P>After his death the Lady <HI>Jane</HI> was pro|claimed Queen; but the Lady <HI>Mary</HI> being in <HI>Suffolk,</HI> takes upon her likewi&s;e the Ti|tle, and gathers Forces; again&s;t whom goes the Duke of <HI>Northumberland;</HI> but his men revolting, and thereupon the <HI>Londoners</HI> de|claring for Queen <HI>Mary,</HI> he him&s;elf goes to <HI>Cambridge,</HI> and proclaims her Queen, but for all that is taken Pri&s;oner, and &s;oon after beheaded; the Lady <HI>Jane</HI> being told by her Father, that now &s;he mu&s;t put off her Royal Robes, and be contented with a private Life, an&s;wered, <HI>She would more willingly put them off, than &s;he put them on, which (&s;he affirm'd) &s;he had done meerly in O|bedience to him and her mother.</HI> And indeed, it proved fatal to them all, for both &s;he, her Husband, and Father were condemned,
<PB N="98" REF="57">yet po&s;&s;ibly had e&s;caped with life being re|prieved. If the later had not afterwards joyned with <HI>Wiat</HI> in his Rebellion for op|po&s;ing the Match with <HI>Spain,</HI> which enra|ged the Queen &s;o, that not onely he lo&s;t his Head, but his Son the Lord <HI>Guilford</HI> too, who with much devotion and con&s;tancy &s;ubmitted to the &s;troke of Death, which was given in the &s;ight of his mo&s;t excellent Spou&s;e the Lady <HI>Jane,</HI> placed at a Window for that purpo&s;e; the object &s;triking more terror to her heart, than the &s;ight of that fa|tal Ax by which &s;he was pre&s;ently to &s;uf|fer: For as &s;oon as he was dead &s;he was brought on the &s;ame Scaffold, and after a mo&s;t pious Prayer had her head &s;evered from her body. She was but 16 years of age, but a Miracle for Learning, excellently skill'd in the Tongues, and &s;ome of her E|pi&s;tles are yet extant. The&s;e qualificati|ons made her much lamented, and the Judge that pronounced &s;entence again&s;t her, pre|&s;ently after fell raving mad, crying always <HI>Take away the Lady Jane, take her away from me;</HI> and &s;o mi&s;erably ended his Life.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="23" TYPE="chapter">
<PB N="99" REF="57">
<HEAD>CHAP. XXIII. Queen <HI>Mary</HI></HEAD>
<P>WAs crowned the fir&s;t of <HI>October,</HI> 1553. and having &s;ettled her &s;elf again&s;t the Preten&s;ions of the Lady <HI>Jane,</HI> as you have heard, and re&s;tored the Ma&s;s and Po|pi&s;h Religion in all Churches, of which &s;he was ever zealous, as being of <HI>Spani&s;h</HI> Bloud, and bred up with the Mother of Cardinal <HI>Pool,</HI> and other Zealots of that Party, &s;he thought it time to marry being 37 years old; and at la&s;t <HI>Philip</HI> Prince of <HI>Spain,</HI> eld|e&s;t Son to the Emperour <HI>Charles,</HI> is pitch'd upon and concluded; but &s;ome ra&s;h Spirits oppo&s;e it, of whom the chief was Sir <HI>Thomas Wiat</HI> of <HI>Kent,</HI> pretending that this Match tended to bring <HI>England</HI> under the Yoke of <HI>Spain,</HI> and make the Land a &s;lave to &s;tran|gers. Again&s;t him Forces were &s;ent, but 500 revolted to him, who then boldly mar|ched towards <HI>London,</HI> with &s;o great terror to all people, that the Lawyers pleaded in <HI>We&s;tmin&s;ter Hall</HI> in Armour. The Queen by a loving Speech makes the City her Friend, who denied <HI>Wiat</HI> entrance; and his Army mouldring away, and being en|compa&s;&s;ed
<PB N="100" REF="58">by the Queens Forces, who offer|ed like a true Daughter of King <HI>Harry</HI> to have <HI>gone again&s;t him her &s;elf in per&s;on,</HI> he yielded up him&s;elf, and was beheaded and quartered.</P>
<P>In the mean time the Prince&s;s <HI>Elizabeth</HI> being accounted a Prote&s;tant is kept as a Pri&s;oner, &s;ometimes in the Tower and &s;ome|times at <HI>Wood&s;tock,</HI> and many Trains laid to en&s;nare her; to which purpo&s;e being que&s;tioned one day what &s;he thought of the Real Pre&s;ence, after &s;ome pau&s;e &s;he thus di&s;|creetly an&s;wered;
<Q><L>Chri&s;t was the Word that &s;pake it,</L>
<L>He took the Bread and brake it,</L>
<L>And what that Word did make it,</L>
<L>That I believe and take it.</L></Q> Thereby avoiding their Net better than by a direct An&s;wer &s;he could have done.</P>
<P>Three Bi&s;hops <HI>Cranmer, Ridley,</HI> and <HI>Lati|mer</HI> are adjudged Hereticks, and burnt at <HI>Oxford;</HI> but before them <HI>Rogers, Hooper,</HI> and <HI>Bradford,</HI> &s;uffered Martyrdom at <HI>London:</HI> and henceforward the Per&s;ecution continu|ed very fierce during all her Reign.</P>
<P>On the 20 <HI>July</HI> 1554. King <HI>Philip</HI> arri|ved at <HI>Southampton,</HI> and three days after
<PB N="101" REF="58">they were married at <HI>Winche&s;ter;</HI> and &s;hort|ly after Cardinal <HI>Pool</HI> coming over, this Kingdom was ab&s;olv'd from what they then called Here&s;ie and Schi&s;m, and re&s;tored to the Unity of the <HI>Roman</HI> Church. And the Queen in a fit of Devotion would needs de|liver up all the Lands belonging to Mona|&s;teries that were in her own hands, to be di&s;po&s;ed of as the Pope thought fit. And being told this would much le&s;&s;en her Re|venue, an&s;wered, She more valued her Salva|tion than any Revenue. A Saying howe|ver grounded perhaps on a mi&s;take as to particulars, yet certainly mo&s;t pious and Chri&s;tian in general.</P>
<P><HI>Anno</HI> 1557. there was a piece of notable Ju&s;tice: The Lord <HI>Sturton</HI> (though much in the Queens favour) being hanged at <HI>Sa|lisbury</HI> with four of his Servants, for a Mur|der by them committed, all the favour he had being that the Halter was of Silk.</P>
<P>The Queen engages in her Husbands quarrel again&s;t <HI>France,</HI> and took St. <HI>Quin|tine;</HI> but for that there was little cau&s;e of joy, for many of the Garri&s;on of <HI>Calis</HI> be|ing drawn out on that Service, the <HI>French</HI> took the opportunity to &s;urpri&s;e it, and took the two be&s;t Sconces on a &s;udden, coming to the Walls the <HI>Engli&s;h</HI> had laid a Train
<PB N="102" REF="59">of powder to blow them up; but their Cloths being wet by pa&s;&s;ing the Trenches dropping on it quench'd it, &s;o that it would not take fire, &s;o that the Town was taken for want of &s;trength to defend it, there be|ing not above 700 Souldiers in it, after it had been in <HI>Engli&s;h</HI> hands 200 years. The lo&s;s of which, together with her Husbands ab&s;ence, and the di&s;appointment of proving not with Child, as &s;he was generally report|ed, brought her into a &s;ickne&s;s, whereof &s;he died 17 <HI>Nov.</HI> 1558. having reigned 5 years and 4 moneths. Cardinal <HI>Pool</HI> dying the day before, &s;ome time before &s;he declared to this effect, <HI>That if when &s;he were dead they would look into her heart, they would find</HI> Cal|lis <HI>her greate&s;t di&s;temper.</HI></P>
<P>Her Reign is written in Hi&s;tories with bloudy Characters, for the burning of poor Prote&s;tants, of whom in her time there &s;uf|fered 5 Bi&s;hops, 21 Divines, and in all 277 per&s;ons.</P>
<P>In her &s;econd year appeared in the Sky a Rainbow rever&s;ed, and two Suns at a time. Near <HI>Alborough</HI> in <HI>Suffolk</HI> on a Rock by the Sea, where there never was gra&s;s nor earth, in a dear year there grew naturally of them|&s;elves &s;uch abundance of Pea&s;e, that the Poor gathered above 100 quarters.</P>
<PB N="103" REF="59">
<P> She died childle&s;s, and King <HI>Philip,</HI> as by Articles he was bound that he &s;hould not, &s;o he was out of the Land, and could not at|tempt any thing on the State; yet he af|terwards &s;ollicited Queen <HI>Elizabeth</HI> in the way of Marriage, (to whom before he had been very re&s;pective) but was put off by making an alteration in Religion, after which he never would pro&s;ecute his &s;uit further.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="24" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD>CHAP. XXIV. <HI>Queen</HI> Elizabeth.</HEAD>
<P>THis Virgin Prince&s;s, the Honour of our Nation, and Glory of her Sex, came to the Crown in the year 1558. and e&s;tabli&s;hed the publick profe&s;&s;ion of the Prote&s;tant Re|ligion, which as it made the Pope her mor|tal enemy, &s;o the &s;ame with the refu&s;al of his &s;uit in&s;tigated the King of <HI>Spain</HI> again&s;t her. The Queen of <HI>Scots</HI> being married to the <HI>French</HI> King, and he &s;oon after dying, Queen <HI>Elizabeth</HI> could not but look upon her with a jealous Eye, and the Presbyterian Faction beginning to play <HI>Rex</HI> in <HI>Scotland,</HI> driving out their &s;aid Queen, &s;he came into
<PB N="104" REF="60"><HI>England</HI> in the Year 1568, for aid, where &s;he was deteined eighteen Years and at la&s;t beheaded, an Action that Rea&s;on of State can never excu&s;e, from being a Blot in the fair Reign of our otherwi&s;e matchle&s;s Queen.</P>
<P><HI>Anno</HI> 1569. A Rebellion broke out in the North, on pretence to have the <HI>Romi&s;h</HI> Religion ree&s;tabli&s;h'd, but was &s;oon qua&s;h'd, &s;ome of the Inferiors hang'd, and ma|ny of the great ones fled the Realm.</P>
<P>Pope <HI>Pius Quintus</HI> ab&s;olves all the Queens Subjects from their Allegiance, and cur&s;es all that obey her, by his Declaratory Bull, which in the Night was fa&s;tned upon the Bi&s;hop of <HI>London</HI>'s Palace Gates, by one <HI>John Felton,</HI> who never fled, but in an af|fected humour of Martyrdome, confe&s;s'd and ju&s;tifyed the Fact, and was hang'd near the Place. If we con&s;ider the Duke of <HI>Buckingham</HI>'s murder long after, and the manner of that <HI>Felton</HI>'s Carriage, one &s;hall find &s;ome agreement in their extravagan|cies as well as Names.</P>
<P><HI>Anno</HI> 1571, Sir <HI>Thomas Gre&s;ham</HI> having fini&s;ht his Building in <HI>Corn-hil,</HI> for the u&s;e of Merchants, the Queen going to &s;ee it, cau&s;ed an Herauld with &s;ound of Trumpet to name it the <HI>Royal Exchange.</HI></P>
<PB N="105" REF="60">
<P> In the nineteenth Year of her Reign at the A&s;&s;izes at <HI>Oxford,</HI> as the Court was &s;itting, and one <HI>Jenks</HI> a Book&s;eller que&s;ti|on'd for opprobrious Words again&s;t the Queen, they were &s;uddenly &s;urprized with a noi&s;ome Vapour, of which the Judg, Sheriff, divers Per&s;ons of Quality, and in all three hundred Per&s;ons died in fourty Hours.</P>
<P>The poor di&s;tre&s;&s;ed States of <HI>Holland,</HI> offer to the Queen the Sovereignty and Po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of tho&s;e Countries, but &s;he re|fu&s;ed, only promi&s;ed to mediate for them to the King of <HI>Spain</HI> for a &s;afe Peace, but afterwards finding Don <HI>John</HI> of <HI>Au&s;tria,</HI> plotting to deprive her of her Life and Crown, &s;he did a&s;&s;i&s;t them with Men and Money, without which they had never been able to &s;ub&s;i&s;t.</P>
<P>In <HI>Ireland</HI> there happen'd &s;everal Rebel|lions fomented by the <HI>Pope</HI> and <HI>Spaniard,</HI> to quiet which co&s;t the Queen great ex|pence of Blood and Trea&s;ure, but they al|ways ended with the overthrow of the Au|thors.</P>
<P>On the 13 of <HI>November</HI> 1577. Captain <HI>Drake</HI> having before made &s;everal good Voiages to <HI>America,</HI> &s;ets forth again with five Ships and a hundred &s;ixty three Sea|men,
<PB N="106" REF="61">for the Southern Sea, pafs'd the <HI>Stiaeghts</HI> of <HI>Magellan</HI> and at the I&s;le <HI>Moncha</HI> took out of a Spani&s;h Ship four hundred pounds weight of Gold; in &s;everal places he found Ships with great quantities of Silver, and not a Por&s;on in them, &s;o inap|prehen&s;ive were the <HI>Spaniards</HI> then in that Coa&s;t, not fearing of any Enemy; after this he met with and took the <HI>Cacofago,</HI> a great <HI>Spani&s;h</HI> Ship, and took out of her, be|&s;ides Jewels, four&s;core pounds weight of Gold, thirteen Che&s;ts of Silver coyned, and a va&s;t quantity of other Silver, and continued on his Voiage, till in three Years time he had &s;ailed round about the World, his Ship being laid up for a Monument at <HI>Deptford,</HI> and he Knighted.</P>
<P>About this time great means were u&s;ed for a Marriage between the Queen and the Duke of <HI>Alan&s;on,</HI> afterwards <HI>Anjou,</HI> brother to the <HI>French</HI> King, who came over into <HI>England,</HI> and was favourably received, but on a &s;udden the Match was broken off, and after many Years treaty came to no|thing.</P>
<P>And now pa&s;&s;ing over le&s;&s;er matters comes on the Year 1688, wherein the <HI>Spani&s;h</HI> Armado &s;tyled invincible, con&s;i&s;ting of one hundred and thirty Sail, 19290
<PB N="107" REF="61">Souldiers, 8350 Mariners, 2080 Gally|&s;laves, and 2630 great Ordnance, invaded <HI>England,</HI> having fir&s;t received the <HI>Pope</HI>'s Ble&s;&s;ing, who would needs have twelve of their be&s;t Ships called by the re&s;pective names of the twelve Apo&s;tles. This Navy was to bring over the Prince of <HI>Parma</HI>'s Army, being fifty thou&s;and old Souldiers, out of <HI>Flanders;</HI> but whil&s;t they were wait|ing for him, the Queen having by a Camp at <HI>Tilbury,</HI> twenty thou&s;and men, laid on the Sea Coa&s;t, and a brave Army for de|fence of her Per&s;on; &s;ecured the Land, &s;et forth her Navy under the Lord <HI>Howard</HI> Admiral, and <HI>Drake</HI> Vice-Admiral, and af|ter &s;everal Engagements and the Stratagem of Fire-&s;hips, (then fir&s;t u&s;ed) utterly di&s;per|&s;ed that va&s;t Navy, above half their Ships being taken, de&s;troyed, or lo&s;t, and the re&s;t forced to fly round the North of <HI>Scot|land</HI> to get home. A Victory never to be forgot by either <HI>England</HI> or <HI>Spain,</HI> for it's contrary Influence on their Affairs.</P>
<P><HI>Anno</HI> 1594, <HI>Lopez</HI> a <HI>Jew,</HI> Phy&s;itian to the Queen, was executed for attempting to poi&s;on her. In 1600. the Earl of <HI>E&s;&s;ez</HI> having incurr'd the Queens Di&s;plea&s;ure in <HI>Ireland,</HI> and more by &s;candalous Speeches, and a kind of open Rebellion at his Hou&s;e
<PB N="108" REF="62">in <HI>London,</HI> being condemned by his Peers is beheaded. On the 24th. of <HI>March,</HI> or la&s;t day of the year 1602. died Queen <HI>Eliza|beth,</HI> having reigned above 44 years in as trouble&s;om times as any, yet full of Honour, and mo&s;t happy in the Love of her People.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="25" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD>CHAP. XXV. <HI>King</HI> James.</HEAD>
<P><HI>JAmes</HI> the Sixth King of <HI>Scotland</HI> of that Name, being de&s;cended from <HI>Margaret</HI> the elde&s;t daughter of King <HI>Henry</HI> the Se|venth, had after Queen <HI>Elizabeths</HI> death an undoubted Right to the Crown of <HI>England,</HI> and was accordingly proclaimed the very la&s;t day of the year 1602. and in <HI>May</HI> fol|lowing arrived in <HI>London,</HI> but was not crowned till a pretty while afterwards.</P>
<P>In the third year of his Reign was the horrid Gunpowder Trea&s;on, a Plot laid by <HI>Henry Garnet</HI> a Je&s;uit, <HI>Robert Catesby, Thomas Piercy, Thomas Winter, Guido Fawks,</HI> and other de&s;perate Papi&s;ts, to blow up both Hou&s;es of Parliament, King, Prince, Lords, and Commons, all together; to this pur|po&s;e having taken an oath of Secrecy, and
<PB N="109" REF="62">hired an Hou&s;e adjoyning, they began to un|dermine, but at la&s;t heard of a Cellar right under the Parliament Hou&s;e, to be let; which they hire and &s;tow their Powder in, covered over to prevent &s;u&s;picion with Billets and Faggots, the day appointed for the Parlia|ments meeting, and con&s;equently this Exe|cution was the Fifth of <HI>November;</HI> but 10 days before, a &s;tranger delivers a Letter to the Lord <HI>Mounteagles</HI> Man to give to his Lord, the words whereof were the&s;e.</P>
<LETTER LANG="eng">
<OPENER><SALUTE>My Lord,</SALUTE></OPENER>
<P><HI>O&V;t of the love I bear to &s;ome of your friends, I have a care of your pre&s;ervation; therefore I would wi&s;h you as you tender your life to forbear your attendance at this Parlia|ment; for God and Man have concurred to pu|ni&s;h the wickedne&s;s of this time. And think not &s;light of this Adverti&s;ement, but retire your &s;elf into your Country, where you may expect the event in &s;afety. For though there be no ap|pearance of any &s;tir, yet I &s;ay they &s;hall receive a terrible blow this Parliament, and yet &s;hall not &s;ee who hurts them. This coun&s;el is not to be contemned, and can do you no harm, for the dan|ger is pa&s;t &s;o &s;oon as you have burnt this Letter; and I hope God will give you grace to make good u&s;e of it, to who&s;e holy protection I commend you.</HI></P>
</LETTER>
<PB N="110" REF="63">
<P> Indeed God did give my Lord grace to make the be&s;t u&s;e of it, which was to &s;hew it to the King and Council; but being in a counterfeit imperfect hand, without Name or Date, they knew not what to make of it, till His Maje&s;ty by that word <HI>terrible blow, &amp;c.</HI> and <HI>the danger will be over as &s;oon as you have burnt this Letter,</HI> did mo&s;t &s;agaciou&s;ly conjecture it might be mi&s;chief by blowing up with Gunpowder, and ordered privy &s;earch to be made, where the very night be|fore the Parliament was to meet, coming in|to the &s;aid Cellar, and removing the Billets, they found fir&s;t one, and then the re&s;t, in all 36 Barrels of Powder, and took <HI>Fawks</HI> &s;tanding &s;u&s;piciou&s;ly in the Entry, and in his pocket a piece of Touch-wood, a Tinder|box, a Match, &amp;c. The re&s;t were gone down into the Country, on pretence of a Hunting Match to rai&s;e Rebellion, and &s;eize the Duke of <HI>York</HI> and Lady <HI>Elizabeth,</HI> which la&s;t then lying in <HI>Warwick-&s;hire,</HI> they intended to proclaim Queen, and rule all things at their plea&s;ure.</P>
<P>But now after &s;ome re&s;i&s;tance, wherein <HI>Catesby</HI> and <HI>Piercy</HI> fighting back to back, were both killed with one Mu&s;quet-&s;hot, and &s;ome others &s;lain. The re&s;t were ta|ken,
<PB N="111" REF="63">hang'd, drawn, and quartered; and the day ordered to be celebrated to all Genera|tions.</P>
<P>Next year <HI>Chri&s;tianus</HI> King of <HI>Denmark</HI> Queen <HI>Anns</HI> Brother came into <HI>England,</HI> and after a moneths magnificent Entertain|ment returned.</P>
<P>In the year 1610. Prince <HI>Henry</HI> aged 17 years was created Prince of <HI>Wales</HI> with great &s;olemnity, but 2 years after falling &s;ick of a malignant Fever he died on the &s;ixth of <HI>November</HI> 1612. who being a Prince of extraordinary hopes, and infinitely beloved of the people, his death cau&s;ed a general &s;ad|ne&s;s, and eclip&s;ed the joys of the Marriage between the Lady <HI>Elizabeth</HI> and Prince <HI>Fre|derick</HI> Count Palatine of the <HI>Rhine,</HI> which ju&s;t at that time was &s;olemnized.</P>
<P>About this time <HI>Hugh Middleton,</HI> Citizen and Gold&s;mith of <HI>London,</HI> with va&s;t co&s;t and labour brought the New River water to that City: and to add to the beauty of the Town near the &s;ame time <HI>Meorfields,</HI> which was nothing but dirty heaps and noi|&s;om common &s;hores, was made &s;weet and clean, and di&s;tingui&s;hed into Walks, and &s;et with Trees, and <HI>Smithfield</HI> fir&s;t of all pa|ved.</P>
<PB N="112" REF="64">
<P> 1617. Sir <HI>Walter Rawleigh</HI> condemned for Trea&s;on upon King <HI>James</HI> fir&s;t coming in, after 15 years impri&s;onment in the Tower, where he wrote the Hi&s;tory of the World, got leave to go to <HI>Guyana,</HI> affirm|ing he knew of a Gold Mine there, but pro|ving not &s;uccesful therein, <HI>Gondomor</HI> the <HI>Spa|ni&s;h</HI> Amba&s;&s;ador made &s;uch Complaints, that upon his former judgment he was beheaded in the Palace-Yard at <HI>We&s;tmin&s;ter;</HI> a man both for a Souldier, a Seaman, and a Scho|lar, &s;carce to be match'd in this later age.</P>
<P>1619. Queen <HI>Ann</HI> died, and about a year after, the Count Palatine having thus mar|ried the Daughter of the King of <HI>Great Britain,</HI> was thought fit to be King of <HI>Bohe|mia,</HI> and elected by the States, but was no &s;ooner crowned, but the Emperour with great Forces fell upon him, which occa&s;ion|ed much trouble afterwards to that. Illu&s;tri|ous Family.</P>
<P>A Match is propo&s;ed for Prince <HI>Charles</HI> with the <HI>Infanta</HI> of <HI>Spain,</HI> who to &s;peed it on undertakes a journey thither in per&s;on, travelling privately through <HI>France,</HI> where by chance he had a &s;ight of that incompara|ble Lady that was afterwards his Queen; for no good being to be done in <HI>Spain,</HI> wea|ried with delays, he returns and enters in|to
<PB N="113" REF="64">a Treaty with <HI>France,</HI> during which King <HI>James</HI> died of an Ague at <HI>Theobalds, March</HI> 27. 1625, having reigned 22 years, and in the 59th. of his age. A Prince ju&s;tly &s;tyled the Peace-maker, and for his Learning, Wi&s;|dom, and the Plenty of his Reign celebra|ted as our <HI>Engli&s;h Solomon.</HI></P>
<P>In the fir&s;t year of his Reign happened a great Plague, of which in one year 30244 per&s;ons died in <HI>London.</HI></P>
<P>In his &s;econd year one <HI>Ann Waters</HI> enti|ced by a Lover of hers, con&s;ented to have her Husband &s;trangled, and buried under the Dunghil in the Cow-hou&s;e. The man be|ing mi&s;&s;ing and &s;he pretending to wonder what was become of him, a Neighbour hap|pened to dream that the &s;aid <HI>Waters</HI> was &s;trangled and buried in &s;uch a place, who declaring his dream, a &s;earch is made, the body found, the Wife examined, and con|fe&s;&s;ing was burnt.</P>
<P><HI>Anno</HI> 1609. A Fire began in a Mault|hou&s;e in <HI>Saint Edmondsbury,</HI> and con&s;umed 160 Hou&s;es, towards rebuilding whereof the King gave 500 loads of Timber.</P>
<P><HI>Anno</HI> 1618. In <HI>November</HI> was the great Comet &s;een, after which followed the Wars in <HI>Germany.</HI></P>
<PB N="114" REF="65">
<P> On Friday <HI>October</HI> 24. 1623. At the Po|pi&s;h Conventicle in <HI>Black Friars</HI> by the fall of the Floor, the Prie&s;t, and almo&s;t 100 of his Auditors were killed.</P>
<P><HI>Anno</HI> 1606. The King fir&s;t granted a Pa|tent to <HI>London</HI> for a Plantation in <HI>Virginia,</HI> and another to <HI>Bri&s;toll, Exeter,</HI> and <HI>Plimouth,</HI> for a Plantation in <HI>New England,</HI> which then began to be peopled with <HI>Engli&s;h.</HI></P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="26" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD>CHAP. XXVI. <HI>King</HI> Charles <HI>the Fir&s;t</HI></HEAD>
<P>BEgan his Reign 27 <HI>March</HI> 1625, and in <HI>June</HI> following was married to <HI>Henrietta Maria,</HI> Daughter of <HI>Henry</HI> the Great.</P>
<P>In the year 1627. was the unfortunate Expedition to the I&s;le of <HI>Rhe,</HI> de&s;igned for the a&s;&s;i&s;tance of the <HI>French</HI> Prote&s;tants in <HI>Ro|chel,</HI> and the next year a &s;econd attempt in|tended; but the Duke of <HI>Buckingham</HI> pre|paring for it at <HI>Port&s;mouth,</HI> was a&s;&s;a&s;&s;inated by the barbarous hands of <HI>John Felton,</HI> who for that horrid Murther was fir&s;t hanged at <HI>Tyburn,</HI> and his body expo&s;ed in Chains at <HI>Port&s;mouth.</HI> Upon the noble Duke was made this Epitaph by one of the Celebrated Wits of that Age.</P>
<LG>
<PB N="115" REF="65">
<L><HI>Here lies the be&s;t and wor&s;t of Fate,</HI></L>
<L><HI>Two Kings Delight, but Factions Hate,</HI></L>
<L><HI>The Courtiers Star, the Kingdoms Eye,</HI></L>
<L><HI>A Man to draw an Angel by,</HI></L>
<L><HI>Fears De&s;pi&s;er, great</HI> Villiers <HI>Glory,</HI></L>
<L><HI>The Great mans Volum, All times Story.</HI></L>
</LG>
<P>Nor did <HI>Felton</HI> want an Epitaph, but had the following Lines be&s;towed on him, by a Pen who&s;e exqui&s;ite Fancy de&s;erved a more happy &s;ubject.</P>
<LG>
<HEAD>An Epitaph on <HI>John Felton,</HI> that &s;tabb'd the Duke of <HI>Buckingham</HI> at <HI>Port&s;mouth, Anno 1621.</HI> and was there hang'd in Chains.</HEAD>
<L>Here <HI>uninterr'd</HI> &s;u&s;pends (though not to &s;ave</L>
<L>Surviving <HI>Friends</HI> th'expences of a Grave)</L>
<L>Feltons <HI>dead earth,</HI> which to the world mu&s;t be</L>
<L>Its own &s;ad <HI>Monument,</HI> his <HI>Elegy,</HI></L>
<L>As large as Fame; but whether <HI>bad</HI> or <HI>good,</HI></L>
<L>I &s;ay not; By him&s;elf 'twas wrote in <HI>Bloud.</HI></L>
<L>For which his body is <HI>entomb'd</HI> in Air,</L>
<L>Arch'd o're with <HI>Heav'n,</HI> &s;et with a Thou&s;and fair</L>
<L>And glorious <HI>Stars,</HI> a noble Sepulcher,</L>
<L>Which <HI>Time</HI> it &s;elf can't ruinate, and where</L>
<L>Th' Impartial <HI>Worm,</HI> that is not brib'd to &s;pare</L>
<L>Princes (<HI>Corrupt</HI> in Marble) cannot &s;hare.</L>
<PB N="116" REF="66">
<L>His <HI>Fle&s;h</HI> (which oft the charitable Skies</L>
<L>Embalm with <HI>Tears,</HI> deigning tho&s;e Ob&s;equies</L>
<L>Belong to Men) &s;hall <HI>la&s;t</HI> till pitying <HI>Fowl</HI></L>
<L>Contend to <HI>reach</HI> his <HI>Body</HI> to his <HI>Soul.</HI></L>
</LG>
<P>The 29th of <HI>May</HI> 1630, was born <HI>Charles</HI> the 2d, our pre&s;ent Sovereign, a Star appear|ing at the &s;ame time at Noon-day, as an Il|lu&s;trious pre&s;age of the peculiar care Heaven would take of that Royal Native.</P>
<P>In the year 1639. the <HI>Scots,</HI> &s;tirred up and influenced by certain Presbyterian Factious Spirits, begin a Rebellion, and march to|wards <HI>England,</HI> whom the King meets with a &s;trong Army. A Pacification is made be|tween them; yet the next year they come on again, encouraged by a treacherous Party here, and a Treaty being had, a Truce is made with them.</P>
<P>The 3d. of <HI>November</HI> 1640. began that fatal Parliament, terribly known by the Name of the <HI>Long;</HI> and now the ill Weeds of Rebellion grow &s;o fa&s;t, that we mu&s;t one|ly hint at the time of principal Actions, without running out into Circum&s;tances.</P>
<P>On <HI>Wedne&s;day</HI> the 12th of <HI>May</HI> 1641, that prudent and loyal State&s;man <HI>Thomas</HI> Earl of <HI>Strafford</HI> was taken off by a popular fury, and noi&s;e of an Accumulative Trea&s;on, though
<PB N="117" REF="66">nothing Criminal was proved again&s;t him: But his Loyalty was to them Crime enough, and even them&s;elves &s;eemed to acknow|ledge his Innocence, &s;ince they thought fit to fling away the Helve of that Hatchet wherewith they cut off his head, by Enact|ing his Ca&s;e &s;hould never be drawn into Pre&s;ident.</P>
<P>In <HI>Augu&s;t</HI> following the King goes into <HI>Scotland,</HI> and is received with extraordinary joy at his Return. During his ab&s;ence, <HI>viz.</HI> on the 23. of <HI>October</HI> breaks out the horrid Rebellion in <HI>Ireland,</HI> and here at home Tu|mults increa&s;e with &s;uch in&s;olence, that the King finds him&s;elf obliged to retire for his &s;afety from <HI>Whitehall,</HI> and having u&s;ed all means that a mo&s;t loving and pious Prince could conde&s;cend to, to bring the Faction to moderation and a &s;en&s;e of their duty, be|ing denied entrance into his Town of <HI>Hull,</HI> and &s;eeing his Right of the <HI>Militia</HI> was be|gun to be invaded, &amp;c. re&s;olves to defend him&s;elf, and the Liberties of his People, by gathering what &s;trength he could, &s;etting up his Standard at <HI>Nottingham,</HI> 24 <HI>Augu&s;t,</HI> 1642. as on the contrary the Parliament form an Army under Command of the Earl of <HI>E&s;&s;ex.</HI></P>
<PB N="118" REF="67">
<P> The fir&s;t con&s;iderable Battel was at <HI>Edge-hill,</HI> 23 <HI>October</HI> 1642. wherein His Maje&s;ty had &s;o much the better, that he kept po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of the Field.</P>
<P><HI>Brainford</HI> Fight, 12 <HI>November</HI> 1642.</P>
<P>The Battel at <HI>Hopton Heath, March</HI> 19. 1642.</P>
<P><HI>Newbury</HI> fir&s;t Fight 20 <HI>Sept.</HI> 1643.</P>
<P>The terrible Battel at <HI>Ma&s;ton Moor</HI> near <HI>York,</HI> wherein the Kings Forces were at la&s;t wor&s;ted, and &s;everal per&s;ons of note &s;lain, <HI>July</HI> 2, 1644.</P>
<P>The Parliament Forces in <HI>Cornwall</HI> for|ced to &s;ubmit, and their <HI>General E&s;sex</HI> to fly away by Sea, <HI>Sept.</HI> 1644.</P>
<P><HI>Newbury</HI> &s;econd Fight 27 <HI>Oct.</HI> 1644.</P>
<P>Treaty at <HI>&V;xbridge</HI> began 30 <HI>January,</HI> 1644.</P>
<P>The Battel at <HI>Na&s;eby</HI> fatal to the Royal Intere&s;t, 14 <HI>June</HI> 1645.</P>
<P>27 <HI>April</HI> 1646. the Kings Maje&s;ty is for|ced privately to depart from <HI>Oxford,</HI> and went to the <HI>Scoti&s;h</HI> Army, who afterwards con&s;ent to &s;urrender his per&s;on to the pow|er of Rebels; whereupon after &s;everal Tra|ver&s;es of Fortune he is brought to <HI>Hampton Court,</HI> 28 <HI>Aug.</HI> 1648.</P>
<P>The King being now in re&s;traint, many of his Subjects that had before been mi&s;led
<PB N="119" REF="67">to take Arms again&s;t him, begin to look upon his E&s;tate with Commi&s;eration. A great part of the Navy revolt to the Prince of <HI>Wales,</HI> &s;everal Towns and Ca&s;tles, and particularly that of <HI>Pomfret</HI> was &s;urprized for his Maje&s;ties Service, the Duke of <HI>Ha|milton</HI> with Sir <HI>Marmaduke Langdale</HI> and others rai&s;e a &s;trong Army for the King in the North, and the <HI>Kenti&s;hmen</HI> in great numbers are up in Arms under the Com|mand of <HI>George</HI> Lord <HI>Goring</HI> Earl of <HI>Nor|wich,</HI> &s;o that a general Tempe&s;t &s;eem'd to threaten the Parliaments Affairs, but was all &s;oon blown over. For <HI>Cromwel</HI> then Lieutenant, quickly reduces the <HI>Welch,</HI> where <HI>Langhorn, Poyer,</HI> and <HI>Powel</HI> their Captains are executed: then marching again&s;t tho&s;e of the <HI>North,</HI> he meets them in <HI>Lanca&s;hire,</HI> and utterly defeats them, ta|king all their Foot, with their Cannon and Ammunition; and Duke <HI>Hamilton</HI> him&s;elf is brought up Pri&s;oner, as is likewi&s;e the Earl of <HI>Holland,</HI> taken at St. <HI>Neots</HI> in <HI>Hunt|ington-&s;hire.</HI> The <HI>Kenti&s;hmen</HI> &s;catter'd by Sir <HI>Thomas Fairfax</HI>'s Forces at <HI>Maid&s;tone,</HI> cro&s;s the <HI>Thames,</HI> and are be&s;ieged in <HI>Col|che&s;ter,</HI> which after a generous defence, and great Extremities endured for want of Provi&s;ion, was &s;urrendred the twenty eighth
<PB N="120" REF="68">of <HI>Augu&s;t</HI> 1648. And the brave Sir <HI>Charles Lucas,</HI> and Sir <HI>George Li&s;le</HI> &s;hot to death, the Noble Lord <HI>Capel</HI> being re&s;erved for the Scaffold, on which &s;ometime after he triumphantly &s;uffered. There being put to death with him, Duke <HI>Hamilton</HI> and the Earl of <HI>Holland.</HI></P>
<P>Notwith&s;tanding the&s;e &s;ucce&s;&s;es, the Hou&s;es finding the Nation in general breath|ing for a &s;ettlement, and in order to that not to be &s;atisfied without a <HI>Per&s;onal Trea|ty,</HI> recall their Votes of <HI>non-Addre&s;&s;es,</HI> and thereupon, on the eighteenth of <HI>September</HI> 1648. A Treaty did begin with his Maje|&s;tie at <HI>Newport</HI> in the I&s;le of <HI>Wight,</HI> whither his Maje&s;ty had privately retreated. But before any thing concluded on, &s;ome Ar|my Officers publi&s;h a Remon&s;trance dated at St. <HI>Albans</HI> the &s;ixteenth of <HI>November,</HI> &s;ignifying their Re&s;olutions to bring the King to Ju&s;tice (as they pretended) and thereupon &s;ome Officers were appointed to &s;eize his Per&s;on, and bring him over to <HI>Hur&s;t</HI>-Ca&s;tle in <HI>Hamp&s;hire,</HI> and thence by degrees to <HI>Wind&s;or,</HI> and at la&s;t to <HI>We&s;t|min&s;ter.</HI></P>
<P>In the mean time, they purge the Hou&s;e of all tho&s;e to whom his Maje&s;ties Graci|ous Conce&s;&s;ions had given &s;atisfaction.
<PB N="121" REF="68">Then they erected an unprecedented Court, called <HI>the High Court of Ju&s;tice,</HI> &s;o named &s;urely either becau&s;e <HI>Ju&s;tice</HI> was there <HI>Tryed and Ca&s;t,</HI> or el&s;e, becau&s;e they were re&s;olved never to &s;hew <HI>Mercy.</HI> Before the&s;e new Judges his Maje&s;ty was fir&s;t brought on the twentieth of <HI>January</HI> 1648. from his Pa|lace of St. <HI>James</HI>'s, into <HI>We&s;tmin&s;ter</HI>-Hall. Being under Re&s;traint his appearance could not be avoided, but no Con&s;traint could force him to own their Authority; again&s;t which he offered divers unan&s;wera|ble Rea&s;ons, but was not permitted to &s;peak them out. However, he plainly told them, that he would not &s;o far betray his Subjects Liberties to &s;ubmit to their arbi|trary and lawle&s;s Power, but rather chu&s;e to dye a Martyr for the Prote&s;tant Religion, and the Laws and Liberties of the Land: &s;o that on <HI>Saturday</HI> the twenty &s;eventh of the &s;ame Moneth the Pre&s;ident of the Court (one <HI>Brad&s;haw</HI> a Serjeant at Law, who was never after free from Terror, and Horrors of Con&s;cience to his dying day) proceeded to the horrid Sentence again&s;t their Liege Sovereign, that he &s;hould be Beheaded, which was Executed before the Banquetting-Hou&s;e at <HI>White-Hall,</HI> on the thirtieth of that Moneth. On which fatal
<PB N="122" REF="69">Morning the Bi&s;hop of <HI>London</HI> reading Pray|ers with him, and for the fir&s;t Le&s;&s;on the twenty &s;eventh Chapter of <HI>Matthew,</HI> being the Hi&s;tory of our Saviour's &s;ufferings. The King at fir&s;t thought the Bi&s;hop had cho&s;en the &s;ame as &s;uitable to that Juncture, but when he under&s;tood that it was the Chap|ter appointed for that day, he was much comforted with &s;o apt a Remembrance of his Saviours great Example in Sufferings.</P>
<P>After his Devotions he was led through the Park to <HI>White-hall,</HI> and after &s;ome time to the Scaffold, where having declared that he dyed a Martyr for the Laws and Liber|ties of his People, he made a Confe&s;&s;ion of his Faith, a&s;&s;erting that he dyed a true Son of the Church of <HI>England;</HI> then betook him&s;elf to his Private Devotions, and &s;o patiently &s;ubmitted his Royal Head to Mar|tyrdom, from the Hand of a di&s;gui&s;ed Ex|ecutioner. His body put into a black Vel|vet Coffin, and afterwards wrapt in Lead, was on the &s;eventh of <HI>February</HI> following, Interr'd at St. <HI>George</HI>'s Chappel at <HI>Wind&s;or</HI> in the &s;ame Vault with King <HI>Henry</HI> the eighth, in pre&s;ence of the Duke of <HI>Rich|mond,</HI> Dr. <HI>Juxon</HI> and others, but the man|ner appointed in the Liturgy could not be obtained to be u&s;ed. Nor had he any Epi|taph
<PB N="123" REF="69">affix'd, but only on the &s;heet of Lead, on a thin Plate fa&s;tned on the Brea&s;t, this plain In&s;cription &mdash; King <HI>Charles,</HI> 1648.</P>
<P>This Pious Prince at the time of his murder had Reigned twenty three Years and ten Moneths, and was then in the nine and fourtieth Year of his Age, having had by his mo&s;t dear and beloved Queen, in all nine Children, <HI>viz.</HI> fir&s;t, <HI>Charles-James</HI> born at <HI>Groenwich</HI> the thirteenth of <HI>May</HI> 1629, but died almo&s;t as &s;oon as born. Secondly, <HI>Charles</HI> the &s;econd our pre&s;ent mo&s;t graci|ous Sovereign born at St. <HI>James</HI>'s <HI>May</HI> the twenty ninth 1630. Thirdly, his Royal Highne&s;s <HI>James</HI> Duke of <HI>York,</HI> born at the &s;ame place the thirteenth of <HI>October</HI> 1633. Fourthly, <HI>Henry</HI> Duke of <HI>Glouce&s;ter</HI> born the eighth of <HI>July</HI> 1639. Fifthly, the La|dy <HI>Mary</HI> born the fourth of <HI>November</HI> 1631. married to <HI>William</HI> Prince of <HI>Orange</HI> the &s;econd of <HI>May</HI> 1641. Sixthly, the Lady <HI>Elizabeth</HI> born the twenty eighth of <HI>Janua|ry</HI> 1635. who died with Grief &s;oon after her Father. Seventhly, <HI>Ann</HI> born 17 <HI>March</HI> 1637. died before her father. Eighthly, <HI>Ka|tharine</HI> who died almo&s;t as &s;oon as born. And la&s;tly <HI>Henrietta</HI> born at <HI>Exeter, June</HI> the &s;ixteenth 1644. &s;ince Dutche&s;s of <HI>Orleance.</HI></P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="27" TYPE="chapter">
<PB N="124" REF="70">
<HEAD>CHAP. XXVII. <HI>The mo&s;t remarkable Pa&s;&s;ages in the Reign of King</HI> Charles <HI>the Second, hitherto.</HI></HEAD>
<P>OUr Gracious Sovereign King <HI>Charles</HI> the Second, rightfully began his Reign the thirtieth of <HI>January</HI> 1648. though hindred by the prevailing Rebels from full Exerci&s;e of his Authority. He did at that time re&s;ide with his Si&s;ter the Prince&s;s of <HI>Orange</HI> at the <HI>Hague</HI> in <HI>Holland,</HI> and the Rebels at home put out a thing they call'd an Act, to exclude his Succe&s;&s;i|on, taking upon them&s;elves the Title of the Keepers of the Liberties of <HI>England,</HI> &amp;c. yet the Kings faithful Subjects did in print proclaim him King in <HI>England,</HI> as did the Lord <HI>Inchequin</HI> in <HI>Ireland,</HI> and &s;o did the <HI>Scots</HI> too; for whence after much &s;tirr among&s;t them, &s;ome Propo&s;itions were &s;ent to the King in <HI>Jer&s;ey,</HI> de&s;iring him to &s;ign the &s;olemn League and Covenant, and divers Acts, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> Upon which follow|ed a Treaty between the King and them, at <HI>Breda;</HI> during which the Covenanters in <HI>Scotland</HI> &s;eiz'd the Gallant and Loyal Marque&s;s of <HI>Montro&s;s,</HI> and barbarou&s;ly
<PB N="125" REF="70">hang'd him. Which horrid In&s;olence was like to have broke off the Treaty, but the Nece&s;&s;ity of the King's Affairs forced him at la&s;t to agree with their unrea&s;onable Pro|po&s;itions; and thereupon is invited into <HI>Scotland,</HI> and was afterwards on the fir&s;t of <HI>January</HI> 1650, Crowned at <HI>Scoon,</HI> being the fourty eighth Monarch of that Kingdom there Crowned.</P>
<P>In the mean time, <HI>Cromwell</HI> is di&s;patch'd with an Army by the Parliament into <HI>Scot|land,</HI> and on the third of <HI>September</HI> routs the <HI>Scots</HI> at <HI>Dunbar,</HI> the King him&s;elf being at that time at St. <HI>John&s;tons,</HI> but afterwards re&s;olv'd to be Generali&s;&s;imo of the <HI>Scotch</HI> Army him&s;elf.</P>
<P>Whil&s;t the&s;e Things were tran&s;acting there, the Presbyterians hoping to e&s;tabli&s;h their Covenant and Di&s;cipline, began to hold &s;ome Corre&s;pondence with the Kings Friends; and &s;everal of their mo&s;t eminent Mini&s;ters engaged in the De&s;ign, of whom, two, that is to &s;ay, Mr. <HI>Love,</HI> and Mr. <HI>Gibbons</HI> were put to Death, Mr. <HI>Love,</HI> pre&s;ented four Petitions to the Parliament for his Life, the la&s;t of which was as follows.</P>
</DIV2>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="petition">
<PB N="126" REF="71">
<FLOATEXT LANG="eng" TYPE="petition">
<HEAD>To the Supream Authority, the Parliament of the Common|wealth of <HI>England.</HI></HEAD>
<HEAD TYPE="sub">The Humble Petition of <HI>Chri&s;topher Love,</HI> a condemned Pri&s;oner in the Tower of <HI>London.</HI></HEAD>
<OPENER>Sheweth,</OPENER>
<P><HI>THat your Petitioner doth humbly adore the wonderful Goodne&s;s of God, and mo&s;t thankfully acknowledg the great Mercy of the Parliament for &s;o &s;ea&s;onable and acceptable an Act of Grace to &s;uch an offended Suppliant, that when there was but a &s;tep between him and Death, the number of his days being ac|compli&s;hed, and he almo&s;t cut off from the Land of the living, then you mercifully inter|po&s;ed, and gave him his Life for a Moneth longer, which was to him as a Re&s;urrection from the dead. The Con&s;ideration whereof melteth the Heart of your Petitioner, and makes him (after a more narrow &s;earch into his Heart and Wayes) more deeply &s;en&s;ible than ever of his Sin again&s;t God, aad more &s;orrow|ful
<PB N="127" REF="71">for his high Crimes and Offences again&s;t the Parliament, in his late and great Mi&s;car|riages.</HI></P>
<P><HI>He humbly acknowledgeth be hath &s;o highly violated the Laws of the Common-wealth, as that thereby he hath rendred him&s;elf Guilty of the Sentence of Death, ju&s;tly pa&s;&s;ed on him by the High Court of Ju&s;tice. He doth al&s;o herewith humbly Offer to your Honours a free and full Narrative under his band of the whole De&s;ign (to the be&s;t of his Remembrance) which he leaveth to your Grave Wi&s;domes and favou|rable Interpretations, fully re&s;olved that he will neither Plot, Contrive, or de&s;ign any thing prejudicial to the pre&s;ent Government. But will in his Place and Calling oppo&s;e any De&s;igns what&s;oever (whether in this or the Neighbour Nation) that may tend to the Ruine of this Common-wealth.</HI></P>
<P>Your dying Petitioner with all humble im|portunity pro&s;trates him&s;elf at your feet, puts his mouth in the du&s;t, (O that there may be Hope!) craving your ten|der mercy, begging his Life at your hands, promi&s;ing never to imploy that Life again&s;t you he &s;hall receive from you; but doth hold it his duty to his place and calling, to lay out him&s;elf for
<PB N="128" REF="72">the glory of God, the good of his People, the peace and &s;afety of this Common|wealth.</P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED><HI>And your Petitioner &s;hall ever pray, &amp;c.</HI> CHRISTOPHER. LOVE.</SIGNED></CLOSER>
<TRAILER>Read Aug. <HI>14. 1651.</HI> Read again Aug. <HI>16. 1651.</HI></TRAILER>
</FLOATEXT>
<P>But notwith&s;tanding all the&s;e Submi&s;&s;i|ons and pa&s;&s;ionate Intreaties, the pretended Parliament was deaf, and on the 22th. of <HI>Augu&s;t</HI> 1651. brought him to the Block on <HI>Tower-hill,</HI> where at the &s;ame time one <HI>Gib|bons</HI> &s;uffered with him. The re&s;t concerned were pardoned.</P>
<P>The third of <HI>September</HI> 1651. happened the fatal Battel at <HI>Worce&s;ter,</HI> His Maje&s;ty ha|ving &s;uddenly &s;lipt by <HI>Cromwel</HI> in <HI>Scotland,</HI> and &s;o marched directly for <HI>England;</HI> but the other followed him clo&s;e, and the County Troops being every where rai&s;ed, His Maje&s;ties Forces were overpowered, though in his own Royal Per&s;on he gave them mo&s;t &s;ignal examples of Courage, ha|ving his Hor&s;e twice that day &s;hot under
<PB N="129" REF="72">him. After this Defeat His Maje&s;ty, getting away with much difficulty, retired to a Far|mers hou&s;e in <HI>Stafford-&s;hire,</HI> and there chang|ing his Habit, and &s;uffering his Royal Locks to be cut off with a Knife, for want of a more convenient In&s;trument: But not thinking him&s;elf &s;afe there, there being a Thou&s;and pounds offered to any that could take him, he took Sanctuary in that famous Oke, ever &s;ince dignified with the Title of <HI>Royal,</HI> &s;tanding in a Wood about 4 miles from <HI>Woolver-hampton,</HI> where he remained &s;ome days without any Company, &s;ave of one friend that towards night brought him Provi&s;ion. As &s;oon as might be he remo|ved from thence to the hou&s;e of Mrs. <HI>Jane Lane,</HI> an eminent In&s;trument in his Con|veyance beyond Sea, whither at la&s;t after a thou&s;and dangers, protected by Providence, he &s;afely got, pa&s;&s;ing in a &s;mall Ve&s;&s;el from <HI>Su&s;&s;ex</HI> to <HI>New Haven</HI> in <HI>France.</HI></P>
<P>In the year 1652. the <HI>Hogan Mogan</HI> State &s;corning to truckle to our Infant Common|wealth, a War broke out between us and <HI>Holland,</HI> wherein the <HI>Engli&s;h</HI> having the bet|ter, in five &s;everal &s;harp Engagements at Sea, in one of which their excellent Admi|ral <HI>Van Tromp</HI> the Elder was &s;lain, and there|by that Republick brought to great di&s;tre&s;s:
<PB N="130" REF="73">But afterwards on a &s;udden a di&s;honoura|ble Peace was clapt up by that grand U&s;urp|er <HI>Oliver Cromwel</HI> for his own ends, and the &s;ecuring of his U&s;urpations; he having fir&s;t on the 20th: of <HI>April</HI> 1653. by the un|controulable power of his Sword di&s;&s;olved his good Ma&s;ters the remainder of the Long Parliament.</P>
<P>On the 5th. of <HI>July</HI> in the year la&s;t men|tioned began the little &s;anctified Conventi|on at <HI>We&s;tmin&s;ter,</HI> called <HI>The Fanatick Parlia|ment,</HI> in which nothing (but &s;ome moneths time and Canting) having pa&s;s'd, on the 12th. of <HI>December</HI> following they were turn'd out of doors too by mighty <HI>Oliver,</HI> who 4 days after u&s;urp'd more than the power of a King under the Title of Prote|ctor.</P>
<P>On the third of <HI>September</HI> 1654. another thing called a Parliament was a&s;&s;embled, who beginning to que&s;tion the Lawfulne&s;s of the Power by which they were called, were in &s;ome &s;hort time likewi&s;e &s;ent packing.</P>
<P>And now began the War with <HI>Spain,</HI> on pretence of injuries to our Merchants, and Hard&s;hips to <HI>Engli&s;h</HI> Prote&s;tants to be de&s;ign'd; for in the beginning of the year 1655. was the unfortunate Expedition to <HI>Hi&s;paniola,</HI> which by ill Conduct mi&s;carri|ed;
<PB N="131" REF="73">however in their return they took the I&s;land of <HI>Jamaica,</HI> which has ever &s;ince re|mained in <HI>Engli&s;h</HI> hands, and is now become a flouri&s;hing Plantation.</P>
<P>On the 17th. of <HI>September</HI> 1656. comes another Mock-Parliament, with the Pagean|try of <HI>The other Hou&s;e</HI> for the Hou&s;e of Lords, in which <HI>Cromwel</HI> &s;ecretly u&s;ed great endeavours to be made King, and by his Creatures in the Hou&s;es was petitioned to accept that Title: but he having &s;ounded the bu&s;ine&s;s, and not finding it fordable, be|cau&s;e the Army was &s;o aver&s;e, did not think fit to venture upon't, and &s;o publickly refu&s;ed what he mainly pur&s;ued.</P>
<P>The later end of the &s;ame year was the Trial and Sentence of <HI>James Nailor,</HI> the Ringleader of the Quakers, who about <HI>Bri|&s;tol</HI> had a&s;&s;umed to him&s;elf Divine Honours, and for his Bla&s;phemies was fir&s;t whipt, then had his Tongue bored through with a red hot Iron, and the Letter <HI>B</HI> branded in his Forehead.</P>
<P>In 1657. <HI>Cromwel</HI> carried on the War a|gain&s;t <HI>Spain</HI> vigorou&s;ly at Sea, General <HI>Blake</HI> the 22th. of <HI>April</HI> with wonderful Gallan|try de&s;troying their Plate Fleet in the Bay of <HI>Sancta Cruz.</HI> Be&s;ides which a&s;&s;i&s;ting the <HI>French</HI> in <HI>Flanders</HI> with 6000 men, <HI>Dun|kirk</HI>
<PB N="132" REF="74">was taken, which was put into <HI>Engli&s;h</HI> hands. During the&s;e times there were ever and anon Plots for&s;ooth di&s;covered, &s;ome real, but more contrived to vex and fleece the poor Cavaliers: Of whom, on that &s;core, towards the end of his U&s;urpation &s;uffered the Reverend Dr. <HI>Hewet,</HI> and the noble Sir <HI>Henry Slingsby,</HI> being beheaded on <HI>Tower-hill,</HI> and three more drawn, hang'd, and quarter'd.</P>
<P>But now this blazing Meteor, that por|tended &s;o much evil to the World, which to make good the Pre&s;age it &s;elf effected, mu&s;t di&s;appear; for on Friday the third of <HI>Sep|tember</HI> (famous to him for his two Victo|ries at <HI>Dunbar</HI> and <HI>Worce&s;ter</HI>) in the year 1658. about three of the clock in the Af|ternoon, died <HI>Oliver Cromwel</HI> our Protector, (God ever protect us from the like) that day being u&s;hered in with a night as tem|pe&s;tuous, as had been known within the me|mory of Man.</P>
<P>His Son <HI>Richard</HI> took upon him to &s;uc|ceed in his Place and Title, and had a Par|liament of his own, and received numerous Addre&s;&s;es, calling him the <HI>Jo&s;hua</HI> that was to &s;ucceed their <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> and that they would live and die with him, &amp;c. but all prov'd Lies, for in <HI>May</HI> following, the Army ma|nag'd
<PB N="133" REF="74">by <HI>Fleetwood</HI> and <HI>Lambert,</HI> calling in the old Members of the Long Parliament, interrupted by his Father in 1653, he was quietly laid a&s;ide, and under his hand &s;ub|mits to their Power. A Per&s;on chiefly un|happy in being the Son of &s;uch a Fa|ther.</P>
<P>During this Dominion of the reviv'd Fag|end of a Parliament (thence commonly cal|led <HI>The Rump</HI>) about Harve&s;t-time 1659. Sir <HI>George Booth</HI> and divers other Gentle|men appeared for the King; but failing of the expected A&s;&s;i&s;tances, were overcome by <HI>Lambert,</HI> who de&s;irous to tread <HI>Olivers</HI> &s;teps, turn'd out the Rump once again; and now the Thing to govern the Nation was called <HI>A Council of Safety,</HI> con&s;i&s;ting of 23 Per|&s;ons, for the mo&s;t part Army-Officers. Things being in this confu&s;ion, the gallant <HI>Monk</HI> (in&s;pir'd by Providence) thought it a convenient opportunity to &s;tir, under the pretext of re&s;toring the late remnant Par|liament, and though in the depth of Winter 1659, marches into <HI>England. Lambert</HI> goes with a &s;trong Army to oppo&s;e him, but in his ab&s;ence the Rump once more gets to roo&s;t, and di&s;&s;olves his Committee of Safe|ty, &s;o that he being de&s;erted by his Souldi|ers, <HI>Monk</HI> victorious without &s;triking a
<PB N="134" REF="75">&s;troke marches his Army to <HI>London,</HI> out of which when he came near, he had prudently cau&s;ed the other Forces to be withdrawn. All the way he was courted in every Coun|ty with Addre&s;&s;es, but behaved him&s;elf &s;till with that admirable Conduct and Secrecy, as was nece&s;&s;ary for &s;o great and glorious a De&s;ign as he was engaged in. However ha|ving &s;ome &s;u&s;pitions to ca&s;t him into di&s;|favour with the City, the Rump put him upon the unplea&s;ing cour&s;e of pulling down their Gates, &amp;c. But the very next day he fully &s;atisfied the City by declaring for a Free Parliament, and cau&s;ing the <HI>Secluded Members</HI> (that is, a great number of Parlia|ment-men, which many years before had been illegally thru&s;t out of the Hou&s;e, becau&s;e they would not joyn in the mi&s;chievous Votes of the re&s;t, tending to the Murther of the late King) to be now readmitted to their places, who having made &s;ome pro|gre&s;s in the work, di&s;&s;olved them&s;elves, &s;um|moning a new Parliament to &s;ucceed them on the 25th. of <HI>April</HI> 1660, who being met, proceeded with &s;uch expedition to give publick te&s;timony of their Loyalty, that on the eighth of <HI>May</HI> His Maje&s;ty our graci|ous Sovereign was proclaimed, to the uni|ver&s;al &s;atisfaction of the People, who ex|pre&s;&s;ed
<PB N="135" REF="75">the &s;ame with all imaginable demon|&s;tration of Joy.</P>
<P>To complete which on the 29th. of the &s;ame Moneth (being his Royal Birth-day) arrived in <HI>England,</HI> and with him Happine&s;s and Order to the&s;e three long-di&s;tracted Kingdoms; for the re-&s;ettlement of which His Maje&s;ty was mo&s;t zealous in promoting and ha&s;tening the Act of Indempnity, which pa&s;&s;ed on the 29th. of <HI>Augu&s;t</HI> following.</P>
<P>On the 13th. of <HI>September</HI> 1660. died that mo&s;t vertuous and hopeful Prince <HI>Hen|ry</HI> Duke of <HI>Glouce&s;ter,</HI> the Kings younger Brother, in the 21th. year of his age; and about Chri&s;tma&s;s following his incompa|rable Si&s;ter <HI>Mary</HI> Prince&s;s of <HI>Aurange</HI> (Mo|ther to the Prince now living) who was come over to vi&s;it the King her dear Bro|ther, fell &s;ick and died, to the infinite grief of His Maje&s;ty and the Court, &s;he being bu|ried the 29th. of <HI>December.</HI> On which day the Parliament was di&s;&s;olved, which (as His Maje&s;ty mo&s;t prophetically told them) will to all po&s;terity be celebrated by the Ti|tle of <HI>THE HEALING AND BLESSED PARLIAMENT.</HI></P>
<P>In <HI>Jan.</HI> 1660. <HI>Venner</HI> a Wine-Cooper by Trade, and a Fifth-Monarchy man by Pro|fe&s;&s;ion, with about 30 of his de&s;perate Gang,
<PB N="136" REF="76">broke out into a mo&s;t Fanatick Rebellion in the City of <HI>London,</HI> in quelling of whom &s;e|veral people were &s;lain, and the &s;aid <HI>Venner</HI> and 11 of his Accomplices afterwards exe|cuted.</P>
<P>The 23th. day of <HI>April</HI> 1661, His Maje|&s;ty was crowned; and the 8th. of <HI>May</HI> fol|lowing a new Parliament was called, and with it a Convocation of the Clergy, who confirmed the Form of the Common Pray|er formerly e&s;tabli&s;hed.</P>
<P>The 22th. of <HI>May</HI> 1662. the King marri|ed the Lady <HI>Catarina, Infanta</HI> of <HI>Portugal.</HI> And the 14th. of <HI>June</HI> following Sir <HI>Henry Vane</HI> was beheaded on Tower-hill: <HI>John Lambert</HI> at the &s;ame time was tried, but by the Kings mercy had his Life pardoned; we wi&s;h he may never forget &s;o gracious a fa|vour, nor again tempt his own Fate by &s;ub|&s;equent Crimes.</P>
<P>Towards the end of the year 1664. and the beginning of 65. three &s;everal Comets or Blazing Stars appeared in the Heavens; nor were the events un&s;uitable to the Pre&s;ages, for immediately after happened the fir&s;t, or if you account that before the Kings Return, the &s;econd <HI>Dutch</HI> War, the lamentable Con|tagion, and the dreadful Fire in <HI>London,</HI> of each of which I &s;hall give you a brief ac|count.</P>
<PB N="137" REF="76">
<P> In 1664. Preparations were made for War with the <HI>Dutch,</HI> and to provoke us <HI>Bankert</HI> their Admiral brav'd it with his Squadron in our very River; but no grand Engagement happened till the third of <HI>Juno</HI> 1665. when the <HI>Engli&s;h</HI> Fleet under the Duke of <HI>York</HI> obtained a &s;ignal Victory, the <HI>Dutch</HI> lo&s;ing 20 Sail of Ships, and 4000 Men kill'd and wounded, and their Admi|ral <HI>Opdam</HI> blown up. On our &s;ide we lo&s;t the Lords <HI>Falmouth, Mu&s;carry, Portland, Marl|borough,</HI> Mr. <HI>Boil,</HI> Sir <HI>John Law&s;on,</HI> and Rear-Admiral <HI>San&s;om,</HI> and not above 500 com|mon people.</P>
<P>On the 10th. of <HI>February</HI> following a War was declared again&s;t <HI>France,</HI> but in the mean time we have a more dreadful Enemy than either of them both to grapple with, to wit, a mo&s;t devouring Pe&s;tilence, which began to be taken notice of in <HI>May</HI> 1665, one weeks Bill having then 9 in it of the Plague, which much alarm'd people; but the next week it decrea&s;ing to 3, their fears abate; but next week it &s;wells to 14, then to 17, next to 43, and &s;o continually all <HI>June, July, &amp;c.</HI> till at the later end of <HI>Au|gu&s;t</HI> there died within the Bills of Mortality 6102, of the Plague onely in one week, and afterwards in the third week of <HI>September</HI>
<PB N="138" REF="77">(which was the highe&s;t Bill of all) the num|ber did ari&s;e to 7165. From which time it abated till towards <HI>January,</HI> and then the City was wholly free; there dying that year within the Bills of Mortality of the Plague (as is verily believed) One hundred thou&s;and. In the mean time the Court and Parliament retire to <HI>Oxford,</HI> and there grant the King Twelve hundred and fifty thou&s;and pounds to carry on the War.</P>
<P>In the year 1666. our Fleet put to Sea, under Prince <HI>Rupert</HI> and the Duke of <HI>Albe|marl,</HI> and the former being gone with a Squadron to intercept the <HI>French</HI> Fleet which was expected, the <HI>Dutch</HI> in the mean time come up with the later, who on the fir&s;t of <HI>June,</HI> with the di&s;advantage of but 54 Sail again&s;t 91 of the Enemy enga|ged them, who were reinforced next day with another Recruit, &s;o that he was forced to fight them two days together, till the Prince came up, and then after a &s;harp Di|&s;pute for almo&s;t a whole day, they fled, lea|ving us Ma&s;ters of the Sea, though much &s;hattered and con&s;iderable lo&s;s, which on their &s;ide was nothing inferiour. In this fight Sir <HI>George A&s;cough</HI> was taken.</P>
<P>On the 25 and 26 of <HI>July</HI> happened an|other Engagement, wherein the <HI>Engli&s;h</HI> ob|tained
<PB N="139" REF="77">an indi&s;putable Victory; the <HI>Dutch</HI> taking &s;helter in their Sands, and &s;oon after Sir <HI>Robert Holmes</HI> burnt 150 of their Mer|chants Ships in the <HI>Vly.</HI></P>
<P>On the &s;econd of <HI>September</HI> 1666. being Sunday, about two of the clock in the morn|ing began the dreadful fire in a Bakers hou&s;e by <HI>Pudding-lane</HI> near <HI>Fi&s;h-&s;treet Hill,</HI> which &s;oon invaded St. <HI>Magnes</HI> Church, and de|&s;troyed it; then it burnt down a great &s;tack of Building on the Bridge, but being happily &s;topt from further progre&s;s that way, runs along <HI>Thames-&s;treet</HI> We&s;tward, having got as far that night as <HI>Garlick-hithe,</HI> and crept up into <HI>Cannon-&s;treet.</HI> On the Monday <HI>Grace-church &s;treet</HI> and part of <HI>Fan|church &s;treet</HI> are all in flames, which making way into <HI>Cornhill</HI> con&s;ume that &s;tately &s;treet, together with the Royal Exchange. On Monday night the Fire works backwards &s;trangely again&s;t the wind beyond <HI>Belins|gate,</HI> and up to <HI>Tower-&s;treet;</HI> We&s;tward it comes to <HI>Dowgate</HI> and <HI>Watling-&s;treet,</HI> and &s;o proceeds as a Conqueror into <HI>Cheap&s;ide.</HI> On Tue&s;day <HI>Cheap&s;ide</HI> and the &s;treets con|tiguous, as <HI>Soper-lane, Bow-lane, Bread-&s;treet,</HI> St. <HI>Pauls</HI> Church, <HI>Pater no&s;ter Row,</HI> and <HI>Ludgate</HI> &s;ubmit to its fury; and <HI>Guild-hall</HI> as a Palace of burni&s;h'd Bra&s;s &s;tands for &s;e|veral
<PB N="140" REF="78">hours like one bright burning coal, a mo&s;t amazing Spectacle. On Wedne&s;day morning the Fire receives &s;ome check at <HI>Leaden-hall,</HI> the <HI>Temple, &amp;c.</HI> wherein blow|ing up of hou&s;es was very in&s;trumental; and on Thur&s;day the Flames were extingui&s;h'd, having con&s;umed 87 Pari&s;hes within the Walls, and done much damage in the Sub|urbs.</P>
<P>The 29 <HI>June</HI> 1667. was concluded a Peace at <HI>Breda</HI> between the <HI>Engli&s;h</HI> and <HI>Dutch;</HI> but before the &s;ame was ratified they did us &s;ome mi&s;chief at <HI>Chatham,</HI> and carried away with them the <HI>Jonathan</HI> a &s;mall <HI>Dutch</HI> Prize, and the Hull of the <HI>Royal Charles;</HI> an Exploit whereof they have little to brag, being rather fortunate than wi&s;e, for 'twas a million to one that it had not mi&s;carried and endangered all their Fleet.</P>
<P>The 31 <HI>Aug.</HI> 1669. died the Queen Mo|ther of <HI>England</HI> at St. <HI>Colomb</HI> in <HI>France;</HI> and on the fourth of <HI>January</HI> following His Grace <HI>George Monk</HI> Duke of <HI>Albemarl.</HI></P>
<P>The 20 <HI>Iune</HI> 1670. died the Dutche&s;s of <HI>Orleans,</HI> pre&s;ently after her return from pay|ing a Vi&s;it to her Brother the King of <HI>Great Britain.</HI></P>
<P>In the beginning of 1672. began the &s;e|cond <HI>Dutch</HI> War, and the 28th. of <HI>May</HI> the
<PB N="141" REF="78"><HI>Dutch</HI> are beaten by the <HI>Engli&s;h</HI> Fleet under the Duke of <HI>York</HI> at <HI>Sould-bay,</HI> where the Earl of <HI>Sandwich</HI> was unfortunately lo&s;t. In 1673. Prince <HI>Rupert</HI> commanded the Fleet, who likewi&s;e on 28 <HI>May</HI> fought the <HI>Dutch,</HI> and made them retreat. And &s;o he did a|gain on 4 <HI>Iune</HI> following, and obtained an|other Victory on the 11 <HI>Augu&s;t,</HI> but not without lo&s;ing that expert Sea-Commander Sir <HI>Edward Spragg;</HI> and in <HI>Ianuary</HI> follow|ing a Peace was concluded with <HI>Holland.</HI></P>
<P>On 20 <HI>Sept.</HI> 1675. the far greater part of that eminent Corporation of <HI>Northampton</HI> was burnt down to the ground. The like &s;ad fate on 26 <HI>May</HI> 1676. befell the Borough of <HI>Southwark.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Thus have we with as much fulne&s;s and plainne&s;s as might con&s;i&s;t with our de&s;igned bre|vity, given you an account of the mo&s;t remarka|ble occurrences in the Kingdom of</HI> England, <HI>both before and &s;ince the Conque&s;t down to our Times, which leaving to the courteous entertainment of the Reader, I &s;hall conclude this Epitome of Engli&s;h Hi&s;tory with hearty prayers, That God would long pre&s;erve the Monarchy of</HI> Great Bri|tain, <HI>protect the per&s;on of our Gracious Sovereign, and continue in full &s;plendour among&s;t us the true Prote&s;tant Religion, in &s;pight of all publick Enemies or private Confederacies what&s;oever.</HI></P>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
</DIV1>
</BODY>
</TEXT>
</EEBO>
</ETS>
