Page images
PDF
EPUB

apon the Arch-Traytor Tir Owen; that her Men were diminished and large Sums of Money confumed without the Earl's doing that he was fent for; and that without her Highness's Order he entred into Parley with the Rebels: Hereupon her Majefty fent fharp Letters unto the Earl, upon the Receipt whereof, in Difcontent he hafted into England, well hoping to pacify the Queen's Difpleafure; but after a fhort verbal Welcome from the Queen he was commanded to his Chamber, and foon after committed to the Cuftody of the LordKeeper, 1599. In the Earl's Stead, Charles Blount, Lord Montjoy, was fent into Ireland, who held TirOwen very hard, and forced him to withdraw into his old lurking Places. But to ftrengthen the Irish Part, the King of Spain fent into Ireland Two thoufand old trained Spanish Soldiers, with certain Fugitive Irish under the Command of Don d'Aquila, who ftraight after his Arrival publifhed a Writing, wherein he flyled himself MafterGeneral and Captain of the Catholick King in the Wars of God, for preferving the Faith in Ireland. Unto these Two Thousand Spaniards more were fhortly fent, under the Conduct of Alphonfo Campo; but Alphonfo had not long nefted in Ireland, e'er himself and Three of his Capains were taken, and Twelve Hundred of his Spaniards vere flain.

And at the Siege of King fale the paniards made Suit to the LordGeneral for a Peace, which was ielded unto; whereupon the Spaiards departed, and the Irish fubnitted themselves to the merciful Queen.

The Earl of Effex, who had been committed to the Keeping of the Lord-keeper, was by her Majefty's

Clemency quit of that Durance, 1599. and only commanded to his own Houfe; but the Earl, of a daring Spirit, and exafperated by his martial Followers, likewife prefuming upon the Queen's high Refpect towards him, refolved by Force and Violence to have perfonal Conference with the Queen, and to remove from about her fuch as he deemed his Enemies. To effect which many of his Favourers affembled at his Houfe, as well Noblemen and Knights, as Captains and other Officers; but this being understood by the Statifts, they made it known to her Majesty, whơ thereupon fent four of her Honourable Counfellers to the Earl to of fer him Juftice, and to command the Affembly to depart. Thefe Counsellors accordingly went to the Earl of Effex's Houle, where they delivered their Meffage to the Earl, and commanded his Followers whom they faw about him to lay down their Weapons, and depart; but the Earl leaving thefe Counsellors under Cuftody in his own Houfe, with his Attendants, in tumultuous Manner, made into London, his Followers crying through the Streets, that the faid Earl of Effex fhould have been murthered by Cobham, Cecil, and Raleigh.

Howbeit, instead of finding that Friendship in London which they expected, the Earl was proclaimed a Traitor in divers Places thereof. Wherefore the Earl made Hafte back, and fortified his own House in the Strand; but after fome little Refiftance, yielded himself to the Lord Admiral, and the fame Night was fent Prifoner to the Tower. And upon February the Nineteenth, the Earls of Effex and Southampton were arraigned and condemned at Westminster, and on February 25, 1600, the Earl of Effex fuffered

N 2

Death

1600. Death on the Green within the Tower; whofe Dying Speech was to this Effect, That his Punifliment was just, his Sins innumerable, his laft Sin for which he died, a great, crying, bloody, and infectious Sin, that had drawn others, for Love to him, to offend God, their Sovereign, and the World. He prayed God to forgive his Sins, and her Majefty and the State to forgive him; prayed for them, thanked God that he was neither Atheist in denying the Scriptures, nor Papift in trufting to his own Merits for Salvation, but in the Merits of Christ Jefus his Saviour; prayed the People to join with him in Prayer, that his Soul might be lifted up by Faith above all earthly Things; defired Forgiveness of all the World, as he from his Heart forgave all Men.

His Head was with three Strokes

fevered from the Body, and his
Death generally lamented. For
Acceffories, Abettors in the Of-
fence, were executed, firft Captain
Lee, and after him Sir Gilliam Mer-
rick, and Henry Cuff, a learned Man,
were executed at Tyburn; and on
Tower-bill were beheaded Sir Charles
Davers, and Sir Chriftopher Blunt.
But as the Death of this Noble
Perfon was much bewailed of the
Subjects, fo was it of her Majefty,
who would oft times fhew Paffions
of her Grief for his Death, even
until her own Death, which, to the
great Sorrow of her People, befel
on the 24th of March, 1602.
Body was buried in Henry the
Seventh's Chapel at Westminster,
where her Succeffor King James
erected her. a Princely Monument,
Memoriæ Sacrum, &c. She was, 'tis
faid,

Spain's Rod, Rome's Ruin, Netherland's Relief,
Earth's Joy, England's Gem, World's Wonder, Nature's Chief.

In her Reign were executed in
England of Jefuits and Seminary-
Priefts, for fowing Sedition and
plotting Treason, the Number of
fixty-feven, and fifty-three more of
them were banished.

A. D. 1571, and February the Seventeenth, at Kingstone near Mar. lech in Herefordshire, the Ground opened, and certain Rocks, with a Piece of Ground, removed and went forward the Space of four Days. It removed felf betwixt Six of the Clock in the Evening, and Seven the next Morning forty Paces, carrying great Trees and Sheep cotes, fome with Flocks of Sheep in them. It overthrew Kinnaftone Chapel, alfo two Highways were removed nigh an hundred Yards with Trees and Hedges. The Ground thus carried being in all Twenty-fix Acres; and where Tillage Ground

Her

was, there Pafture is left in Place, and where Pafture there Tillage.

A. D. 1578, Mark Scalist, 2 Blackfmith of London, made a Lock of Iron, Steel, and Brafs, of eleven feveral Pieces, and a Pipe Key, a which weighed but one Grain c Gold. He alfo made a Chain of Gold of forty-three Links, which Chain being faftned to the Lo and Key, and put about a Fles Neck, the Flea drew them with Eafe. Chain, Key, Lock, and Fica weighed but one Grain and a half.

A. D. 1580, in the Marthes o Dainfey in Effex was fo infinite Number of Mice, that they almo covered the whole Marth, and tainted the Grafs with their vend mous Teeth, that the Cattle gra zing thereon were infected with th Murrain, and died, And by no A

coul

could Men deftroy thefe Mice, but at length Owls in abundance, to the great Admiration of the Country, came and devoured them.

In or nigh the Year of our Lord 1591, was William Hacket, a hotheaded Sectarist, arraign'd and found guilty of having fpoken many feditious and traiterous Words, &c. For the which he was brought from Newgate in London to a Gibbet in Cheapfide, and there executed. Divers Perfons called Brownifts, were executed in feveral Places of

England, for fowing Sedition, namely, Henry Barrow and John Greenwood, one Penrie a Welshman, Elias Thacker, and John Copping.

A. D. 1600, and Auguft the 5th, did James the Sixth, King of Scotland, narrowly escape a grand Confpiracy, practiced by the Earl of Gowry and his Brother.

A. D. 1586, that Mirror of Men for Letters and Arms, Sir Philip Sidney, died of a Wound he received at Zutphen Fight in Guelderland.

1602.

1602. K

AMES I.

AD. ING James's Title to the Crown of England fprung from Henry VII. whofe Iffue by the Male failing in the late deceafed Queen Elizabeth, the Off fpring of Margaret his eldest Daughter was the next Heir, which Lady Margaret being married unto James IV. King of Scotland, by him had Iffue James V. whofe only Daughter and Child Queen Mary was the Mother of King James VI. of that Name that had swayed the Scepter in Scotland. Which Learned Prince, when he heard of the Death of Queen Elizabeth, fet forward cut of Scotland, and was with great Joy received of all his English Subjects in his Way to London, and at his Approach unto that Honourable City, the Lord Mayor and Aldermen, with Five Hundred choice Citizens, all in Chains of Gold, and well mounted, met his Majesty, and with all folemn Obfervance attended him unto the Charter-Houfe. Then Preparations were made for his Coronation, but before the Day appointed thereunto, a Proclamation came

forth, that no Citizen fhould prefume to approach the Court, the City having buried in one Week above one Thousand of the Plague. And yet a greater Plague than this was intended against England about the King's coming in, had not God in his Mercy prevented it : For Pope Clement VIII. having sent unto Henry Garnet, Superior of the Jefuits in England, two Bulls, therein prohibiting any to be admitted to the Crown, unless he would firft tolerate the Romish Religion, and by all his beft Endeavours advance the Catholick Caufe. Hereupon the Pope's Creatures, to do their unholy Father the beft Service they could, combined with fome (whom private Difcontents had difcompofed) to furprize the King's Perfon and Prince Henry, intending to retain them Prifoners in the Tower; or if they could not gain the Tower, then to carry them to Dover-Caftle, there to keep them till they had brought. the King to their own Terms, and compleated their Defigns. The Perfons accufed for this Confpiracy, N 3

were

1604. were Henry Brook, Lord Cobham,
Thomas Lord Grey of Wilton, Sir
Walter Rawleigh, Sir Griffin Mark-
ham, Sir Edward Parham, George
Brook, and Bartholomew Brooksby,
Efquires; Anthony Copley, Gentle-
man; Watson and Clarke, Priefts.

A. D. 1603, and July 21, King
James and Queen Anne were
crowned at Westminster by John
Whitgift Archbishop of Canterbury,
and when the Coronation was over,
the Confpirators were conveyed to
Winchester (where the Term was
then kept because of the Plague at
London) and there had their Tryal,
and were all condemned by their
Jury, fave Sir Edward Parham
Howbeit only three of them were
executed, namely, Watson, Clarke,
and George Brook.
thus tranfacted for the Safety of
This Bufinefs
King and Kingdom, his Majefty to
gratify the Puritan or Presbyterian
Party (that had petitioned for a
Reformation in the English Church)
commanded an Aflembly of fe-
lected Divines to appear in his
Royal Prefence at Hampton Court,
whither the fummoned accordingly
repaired. Perfons fummoned
maintain the Caufe of the Church
to
of England, were the Archbishop of
Canterbury, Bishops of London, Dur-
bam, Winchefer, &c.

Perfons for the Reformation of
the Church were Dr. Reynolds, and
Dr. Sparks of Oxford, Mr. Knew-
Stubs, and Mr. Chaderton of Cam-
bridge. At this Conference his Ma-
jefty notably vindicated the Church
of England: See the Conference at
Hampton-Court, printed 1604. Af
ter an Endeavour of fettling Church-
peace, the King commanded a new
Tranflation of the Holy Scriptures,
which was accordingly done.

A. D. 1604, and Auguft the Nineteenth, was Peace proclaimed betwixt the two Nations of Spain

and England. And the King, to join the Nations of England and fed himself by Proclamation to be Scotland into an happy Union, cauftyled King of Great Britain. A Proclamation alío came forth, comPriests out of the Land; but these manding all Jefuits and Seminary Underminers of Church and State mean not to leave England fo, but defign to ftay and triumph in its Ruins, purpofing by one fatal Blow to deftroy the King, the Prince, ritual, the Knights and Burgeffes of the Peers both Temporal and SpiParliament.

that damnable Villany fhould be And the Traytors Intent, when effected, was to furprize the Queen, and Remainder of the King's Iffue, alter Religion. to bring in Foreign Powers, and to ham, an attainted Perfon, was ient Sir Edward Bernto the Pope to acquaint him with the defigned Gunpowder Treafon, and Thomas Winter brought with him out of Flanders, Guy Faux, as a fit Executioner of their hellifh Project. The Confpirators refolved among themselves, that it was lawthe Innocent with the Nocent, and ful for Eafe of Confcience to destroy this by the Authority and Judgment of Garnet himself.

fy, fwearing by the Bleffed TriThen they took Oath of Secrenity, and the Sacrament they then clofe, directly or in irectly, by Word were about to receive, never to dif Hand, or any of them to defi or Circumftance, this their Plot in from the Execution thereof, until the rest of the Confpirators should give leave.

This done, Mr. Teoadjoining to the Parliament House, mas Piercy hired an Houfe next ings, and Guy Faux, who changed pretending it to be for his Lodg his Name to Johnson, was to his Man, and to have the keeping

be

Footman of his in the Street, by an unknown Perfon, with a Charge to deliver it into his Lord's own Hand. This Letter, without Date or Subfcription of Name, fomewhat unlegible, and of ftrange Contents, perplex'd the Lord; he haftes therefore to Whitehall, there to impart it to the Lord Cecil, Earl of Salisbury, principal Secretary, who fhew'd it to the Lord Chamberlain and other Lords, and then convey'd it to the King. The Letter was as followeth :

1604.

of the Keys of the Houfe. December 11, 1604, the Traytors entred into their Work of Darkness, beginning their Mine, and by Chriftmas Eve they had brought their Work under an Entry unto the Wall of the Parliament-Houfe, under-propping all ftill as they undermined. The Wall, which was very hard, and Nine Foot thick, with great Labour they wrought half way through; but then it happening that a Cellar was to be let, which was under the Parliament-Houfe, they ceafed their undermining, and Thomas Piercy hired the Cellar for My Lord, Out of the Love I bear the laying in of his Winter Fuel, to fome of your Friends, I have a Wood and Coal. But instead of Care of your Prefervation. Therefore thefe, they ftored it with Thirty I would advise you, as you tender Six Barrels of Gunpowder, upon your Life, to desife fome Excufe to which they laid Bars of Iron, Logs Shift your Attendance at this Parof Timber, mafly Stones, Iron liament. For God and Man have Crows, Pick-axes, with the reft concurred to punish the Wickedness of their undermining Tools, and of this Time, and think not flightly to cover all, Store of Billets and of this Advertisement, but retire your Faggots: So that now all was in felf into the Country, where you may Readiness against the next Meeting expect the Event in Safety: For of the Parliament. The Secular though there be no Appearance of any Traytors had hitherto done their Stir, yet I fay, you shall perceive a Parts, nor were the Jefuitical Priests terrible Blow this Parliament, and wanting on their Parts in doing yet they shall not see who hurts them. their utmost. Their Maffes and This Counfel is not to be contemned, Sacrifices they ufually concluded because it may do you good, and can do with Prayers for their Brethrens you no Harm; for the Danger is past good Succefs, fupplicating their fo foon as you have burnt the LetGod to profper their Pains who later. And I hope God will give you botred in his Caufe Day and Night, the Grace to make good Ufe of it, and that Herefy might vanish a- to whofe Holy Protection I commend way like Smoke, and their Memory you. perth with a Crack, like the Ruin and Fall of a broken House. But through the Goodness of the God of Heaven, thefe Romish Saints were taken in the Snare that they had lait for the Jutt. They wrought ther own Destruction; for upon Thursday in the Evening, ten Days before the Parliament were to convere, a Letter directed to the Lord Mateagle, was delivered to a

[ocr errors]

His Majefty, after he had read this Letter, firft paufed a while; then reading it again, delivered his Judgment upon it: That he apprehended by thefe Words of receiving a terrible Blow this Parliament, and yet should not see who hurt them; that a fudden Danger by a Blaft of Gunpowder fhould be intended by fome base Villain in a Corner, no Infur

N 4

« PreviousContinue »