Rapin, Vol. XI. p. 305. "that lay in his Power to increase their Number 66 66 ally promised to put the Laws in Execution a"gainst Recufants, his Promifes had never been "performed; but on the contrary he trufted Re"cufants with the most important Posts." The King, in a Letter to the Marquifs of Ormond, Jan. 18, 1644-5, orders him to promife the Irish Rebels, that if they would give him the Affiftance they had promifed, he would confent to the Repeal of the Penal Laws against them by a Law. And in a Letter to the Queen, March 5, 1644-5He promises to take away all the Penal Laws aInquiry into gainft the Roman Catholicks in ENGLAND, if he Glamorgan's might have their Affiftance. And yet in a Meffage Tranfact. p. of his Majefty to the two Houfes, April 8, 1642, he called GOD to witness, That he would NEVER confent, upon wHATSOEVER PRETENCE, to a Toleration of the Popish Profeffion, or Abolition of the Laws now in Force against Popish Recufants in Ireland. "And in July, 1643, being juft go 278. ing to receive the Sacrament from Archbishop "Uber's Hands at Oxford, he made this folemn "Proteftation-May I fo receive Comfort from "this bleffed Sacrament, as I do intend the Establish- Ravin, Vol. "ment of the true reformed Proteftant Religion, as XII. pag.169. "it flood in its Beauty, in the happy Days of Queen "Elizabeth, without ANY CONNIVANCE at "POPERY! And may this Sacrament be MY "DAMNATION if my Heart do not join with my "Lips in this Proteftation." "And yet (aftonish- Hift. Stu. p. ing to read!) the very next Day was Peace 243. given to the bloody Irish Rebels by the Ceffation "then agreed on at Oxford: in which Toleration was granted to the Catholicks of İreland:" and in Treating of a Peace with those horrid Murtherers he made no Scruple to grant them the fame in the most ample Manner, as will presently appear. Alike hard is it to reconcile with Sincerity "his Majesty's Declaration from Newark (March 9, 1641,) in which he very seriously difowned "all Correfpondence Abroad for Engaging foreign "Aids: We are confident, fais he, no fober boneft "Man in our Kingdom can believe, that we are fo Bennet's Def defperate or fo fenfelefs as to entertain fuch De- Memor.p.109. figns as would bury our Name and Pofterity in per 86 petual Scorn and Infamy-And yet at the very "Tame Time the Queen was foliciting for Suc cor from Lorrain; (ten thousand Men, by the King's Letter "King's Privity and Direction) and Colonel Cok- to the Queen, ran appointed to treat with the King of Den- Feb. 19,1644. "mark for Arms and Men to be fent over from "thence into England. The King's Conduct as to the Condemnation of the Earl of Strafford feemed alfo not a little to reflect on his Veracity and Honour. "He had, fais Lord Clarendon, been prefent at the Earl's "Trial, and heard all the Teftimony given a"gainst him, and had heard Nothing proved by "which he could believe that he was a Traitor, Clarend. Vol. "either in Fact, or in Intention: and therefore I p.241, 243. H 2 "the Whitelocke's Mem. p. 44. Ibid. p. 36. 66 66 "the King declared it to be much against his Confcience, and that he neither could nor would give his Royal Affent to the Bill of Attainder against him."-"He took Advice (as fome report) of feveral of the Bishops, and others "his intimate Counsellors, what to do in this in"tricate Affair: and that the Major Part of them urged to him the Opinion of the Judges that "this was Treafon, and the Bill legal. But what "chiefly induced the King to pass the Bill, was faid to be a Letter fent from the Earl himself, in which he defires him to pass it: and adds, My Confent, Sir, herein shall more acquit you to GOD, "than all the World can do befides: To a willing "Man there is no Injury done After the King "had fign'd the Bill, he fent Secretary Carleton "to the Earl to acquaint him with what was done; "who seriously asked the Secretary, Whether his 66 66 Majefty had paffed the Bill? As not believing "without fome Aftonishment that the King would "have done it. And being affured it was paffed, "he rofe up from his Chair, lift up his Eyes to "Heaven, laid his Hand upon his Heart, and "faid Put not your Truft in Princes, nor in the "Sons of Men, for in them there is no Salvation. 66 "Great Cenfures were paft upon the King's "Signing this Bill, as a Giving up his most faithful Servant. Certainly he had great Remorfe "thereupon-For he had forced the Earl, con"trary to his earnest Defire, to appear in Parliament, and promised that they should not touch an "Hair of his Head." "The King's former Promife of Protection, "Archdeacon Echard obferves, muft needs be very uneafy to him in this Emergency-His Majefty was foon fenfible of his Error, and always remembered it with infinite Regret, and "as the just Caufe of all his Misfortunes. It is "obferved << observed that this Sin was one of thofe that carry Echard, pag. "their own Punishment along with them, and 503. "naturally produce it, abftractedly from the Re"morfe of Confcience, and the Chaftifement of "Heaven- -The King's Mind was filled with "relenting Thoughts and melancholy Reflec "tions." "His Majefty fent for Hollis, whofe Sifter the "Earl of Strafford had married (and who was "of great Influence in the House of Commons) "to know what he could do to fave the Earl. "Hollis advised the King to come next Day with 66 a Petition in his Hands, and lay it before the "two Houses, with a Speech which he drew for "the King: and he faid, he would try his Interest "among his Friends to get them to confent to it. "He prepared a great many by affuring them Burnet, Vol. I. "that if they would fave Lord Strafford, he would p. 32. "become wholly theirs in Confequence of his firft Principles. In this he had wrought on fo many, that he believed if the King's Party had "struck into it, he might have faved him. It "was carried to the Queen, as if Hollis had engaged that the Earl fhould accufe her, and dif 66 cover all he knew. So the Queen not only di"verted the King from going to the Parliament, 66 changing the Speech into a Meffage, but to the "Wonder of the whole World, the Queen pre"vailed with him to add that mean Poftfcript, if " he must die, it were Charity to reprieve him till Saturday: which was a very unhandfome Giv"ing up the whole Meffage. When it was com"municated to both Houses, the whole Court Party was plainly against it: And fo he fell truly by the Queen's Means." 66 Finally it was this Artifice and Diffimulation, with which the King's Conduct too generally abounded, that principally haftened his Catastrophe H 3 at at laft. Whilft the Parliament were negotiating the Terms of his Restoration (when a Prifoner at Hampton-Court) "He made a fecret Agreement "with Cromwel; by which, if the King closed "with the Propofitions of the Army, Cromwel "was to be advanced to a Degree higher than any other; to be Vicar General of England, as "Cromwel was under Henry VIII. 66 While the Affair was tranfacting "the King "wrote to the Queen, That though be affented to "the Armies Proposals, yet if thereby he could pro cure Peace, it would be eafier then to take off "Cromwel, than now be was the Head that go"verned the Army. "Cromwel, who had his Spies upon every Motion of the King, intercepts thefe Letters, and "refolved never to truft the King again." And fo finding Matters come to this dangerous Extremity that either the King or Himself muft fall, from thence forward, tis thought, he refolved to fecure Himfelf by the King's Execution. Echard, pag. 447, 455. CHA P. XIII. Of the KING's magnified Piety, and Concern for real Religion. KING Charles's Court, Echard acknowleges, was corrupt in Manners: full of Excefs, "Idleness and Luxury. The greatest Part of his "Ministers were chiefly intent upon their own "Accommodation in their Fortunes, in which "they did not abound; or in their Eafe and "Pleasure which they paffionately affected: having no further Care of the Publick, than that "no Disturbance might break in upon them in "their own Days"Mafques were encouraged and |